HMC Rich
Umm, Aren’t the questions a bit skewed in their delivery? I don’t want to be rude in my response like some others here. I just found the way the questions were phrased were not neutral. Not that they have to be.
Question 1. Generalizing fiscal responsibility to only Presidents does not justify Dem vs Rep. Here is why. Congress is in charge of spending money. Presidents submit budgets but they are not followed. Clinton balanced the budget. Republicans controlled the House and set the tone. The Contract with America made a difference to the electorate. After Clinton’s disastrous first 100 days he at least realized he could get a “win” by declaring the era of Big Government was over. Roosevelt’s attempt to balance the budget in 1938 caused a decline in growth and raised unemployment.
Quite often when Democrats control the house they spend more than their Republican counterparts. Although one reason for the 2006 Democrats election success was due to Republicans abandoning the party because the people who were supposed to keep spending down were spending.
Which leads to #2.
Budget deficit increased under Reagan because to implement the tax cuts he tried to compromise with Democrats and more moderate Republicans. Reagan had spoken with these Representatives and less conservative Republicans to control spending. They did not. He knew, and it has been proven that decreasing tax rates would spur the economy. The economy took off. Revenues skyrocketed but congress did not cut back. John F Kennedy said the same thing as Reagan. So if Reagan was wrong then Kennedy was wrong.
I don’t give Bush a pass. But also 9/11 happened and he moved toward protecting the country and declared the war on terrorism. He left the fiscal responsibility of domestic affairs to the House and Senate. Unfortunately both parties were unable to control their spending.
And I wish the current President would take a page out of the Clinton book but has not and will not.
I certainly wish I had more time to answer more of these questions.