During the Clinton Administration, one in which the liberals love to point to as "booming economic times" and "peacetime"... the deficit rose $1.2 TRILLION DOLLARS. No 9/11, No war in Afghanistan, No Iraq war, and no tax cuts. Makes you ask.. just where did all that spending go?
ENTITLEMENTS
I love this topic since I I've studied public finance for quite some time now. First off the current 'deficits' are not just a matter of "Bush Spending". The fact of the matter is ENTITLEMENTS are increasing the deficit by huge factors. The national debt, debt limit, and deficit is not just "now" money, it represents not just the debt that the public holds (I will avoid the "benefits" of issuing debt and the income generated into the economy for another day) but more importantly, notional credits in government trust funds - IE, the Intergenerational Transfer of Wealth otherwise known as Social Security is the largest culprit. Only 58% of the national debt is held by the public. In 1990, the "trust funds" accounted for 25% of total federal debt. In 2003? 42% and will exceed 45% of total national debt by 2010. No matter how frugal the Administration in office is, mounting pressure to the debt "limits" is going to be persistent.
If you want to talk about debt and deficits as a percentage of GDP, in 2004 after financing tax cuts and the war on terror, the current debt load is slightly LESS THAN the peak of the Clinton Administration as a percentage of GDP. So take into account the economy is still recovering and we are still paying for war efforts, the "mounting deficit" fallacy holds little water in terms of doom sayers predictions. Of course it is a concern as you do not want a runaway deficit, but under the circumstances and current economic climate, this isn't a primary concern at this time. More incredible if you buy into all the BS the Liberals feed you about how "horrible" the economy is. If it's truly that horrible, then holding the level of debt as a percentage of GDP to what it is today would demonstrate just how shitty a job the Clinton Administration must have done then because they were in "boom times". ;)