Monday, December 06, 2010

Some facts

I think we need to re-visit some history... President Bill Clinton raised taxes.... we had the one of the greatest economic booms in history. We had a huge budget surplus. We had low unemployment and times were good. Bush took over. Gave tax cuts to the wealthy. They, instead of using the Republican trickle down theory which never works, pocketed the money. Jobs started to go, the deficit ran wild (as it always does under Republican rule) and we were on the verge of a second great depression.

Who had a better economic policy?

3 comments:

Robert E Wilson said...

You mistitled your post. Rename it to "Some Misinformation".

Here are some real facts.

President's don't raise taxes, Congress does.

GDP and unemployment were okay for most of the Clinton Presidency, but not spectacular except during the brief dot.com. bubble.

A Republican Congress in 1996 raised taxes which lead to a relatively small budget surplus PROJECTION. There never was an actual budget surplus despite how much Democrats want to believe there was and how much they want to credit Clinton for it.

Clinton tried to spend the money from the PROJECTED surplus with all sorts of programs that Congress rebuked.

The economy was dropping fast when Clinton left office. Bush became President during a time when the economy appeared to be going into recession.

Bush lowered taxes. This almost immediately lead to GREATER tax revenues. The economy dipped again after 9/11 but began rising shortly after.

The economy rose to tremendous heights and by 2006, GDP was at an all time high and unemployment was around 4% - far better than any time during the Clinton Administration. The PROJECTED surplus never saw fruition due to the Iraq War, No Child Left Behind, and Expanded Medicare. These soaked up and overspent the PROJECTED surplus. (You obviously know all about this.)

Taxes were raised during Carter Administration - Economy was Horrible

Taxes went down during Reagan Administration - Economy recovered and thrived throughout the second half of the term.

Taxes were raised during Bush (HW) Administration - Economy went down

Taxes initially stayed neutral during Clinton Administration - Economy was stable (as you pointed out although your glasses are a little rose-colored). Later taxes were raised - Economy suffered

Taxes were lowered during Bush (W) Administration - Economy climbed for 5 years. (Admittedly, it fell the later two indicating taxes aren't the only factor.)

Obama campaigned promised to raise the taxes that were lowered during the previous administration. This has lead to uncertainty for large and small businesses and has helped keep the economy in bad shape.

Erik said...

You can make up your facts or get them from fox news which is the sane thing I actually have THE FACTS. sorry you wont win here cause I have scoreboard and history on my side.

Robert E Wilson said...

What did I make up?