Thread by @physicsgeek

I'm still flabbergasted at the brain donors who keep saying "Obama cut the deficit more than any other president in history!" Sure, create $1 billion deficits and have them shrink to only $600 million is properly managing the money.

Riddle me this, morons: if he cut the deficit SO much, how did the debt more than double while he was in office?

I've got no use for any politician who bleats about the deficit and/or debt and then spends more, but trying to pretend (and that's what it is: pretense) that Obama was awesome on spending is so detached from reality that it beggars belief.

TBF, individual presidents have little impact on spending other than using the bully pulpit and signing budgets. Speaking of budgets, when is the last time Congress actually did one of the few things it is Constitutionally required to do?

These continuing spending resolutions are bullshit, to put it bluntly. They merely provide cover for politicians who don't want to sign on to any increase or ::cough:: cut. Because elections.

BUT CLINTON CUT THE DEFICIT AND CREATED A SURPLUS!!!

Yes, a surplus was created while he was president. Let's examine that, shall we? I remember the Democrat and Clinton budgets proposed and their projections for the future. You know what they foresaw?

$200+ billion deficits for the foreseeable future. That didn't happen for a couple of reasons.
1) The dot com bubble, before it burst, created more tax revenues than anyone predicted. Govt said "We're gonna spend more than the economy can make" and the economy said "Hold my beer"

2) Check the timeline of Clinton's presidency. Which party held the majority in Congress when a surplus finally occurred? This is not to provide cover for the GOP, a party I find mostly useless at the national level. Rather, it's a reality check on how spending actually occurs.

Clinton, above all else, wanted to be popular/get reelected. He therefore supported policies that the majority of Dems in Congress opposed, such as welfare reform, which were popular with the public.

Interesting idea, right? Both parties in Congress and the WH work together to come to a compromise that pisses off everyone, but generally works out okay.

Sadly, that ended during Bush the younger's terms and it's only gotten worse. No more "Hey, let's work it out". It's all the exercise of raw political power. Whoever has the 1 vote majority drops trou and waves their asses at the opposition.

Oh, and speaking of Bush. The deficit once again increased due to both the dot com bubble bursting AND the USA increasing military spending due to something that "just happened" on 9/11/2001.

Also, if you bother to check, you'll notice that deficits were decreasing during Bush's last few years, heading back towards that zero line. Until the great econ implosion of mid-to-late 2008.

And then the "let's spend money like water to fix this problem" during Barry's first term (note: that does not and did not work) became the new spending baseline and of course it hasn't gotten better with Trump in office.

So we're going to keep seeing $1 trillion or more deficits until it all collapses. And it will, eventually. Math doesn't care about your feelings.