Well, Bush has gone and set a new record by plunging the U.S. into a $304,000,000,000 deficit, which is only likely to get worse and worse (I’ve seen some estimates eventually putting us at the trillion level) should we start turning Iraq into a molten slagheap. Doubly impressive when only a few years ago, at the end of Clinton’s time in office, the US actually had a $236 billion surplus — according to this infographic, the first time the US budget had been in the black at all since the Johnson/Nixon switchover. Previous recordsetting defecits had been set by King George the First ($290.4 billion) and his predecessor, Ronald Reagan ($221.2 billion).
I guess there’s always that drive to show up your folks by doing them one better, eh? Seems to me that Bush (and the country) would have been better off if he’d tried to show Clinton up by increasing the surplus, but hey, I’m no politician.
And yes, I know that the Sep. 11th attacks have contributed heavily to our current deficit. However, I also know that the surplus was virtually wiped out prior to Sep. 11th with Bush’s tax rebate checks.
Grrr. Can we just get to the next round of elections please? My single vote might not be enough to get Bush out of office on its own, but I’m sure itching to do my part to try.