Dwain Northey (Gen X)

I am so very confused by the people that want to reinstall Donald the DumbAss and saying that their decision is based on the economy. In fact, I can’t comprehend how the people that insist that the Republican party is the party of fiscal responsibility and that the economy is better under GOP leadership. (Wow typing GOP Leadership was harder than I thought).

Let’s look at the numbers.

Federal budget deficits throughout Carter’s term remained at around the $70 billion level reached in 1976, but as a percentage of GDP the deficits fell from 4% when he took office to 2.5% in the 1980–81 fiscal year. Reagan left three major adverse legacies at the end of his second term. Roland Reagan the federal debt increased from 22.3 percent of GDP to 38.1 percent and, despite the record peacetime expansion, the federal deficit in Reagan’s last budget was still 2.9 percent of GDP. Under George H.W. Bush household debt grew dramatically during the period to a record level, rising from $7.4 trillion in Q1 2001 to $14.3 trillion in Q4 2008, an increase of $6.9 trillion. Measured as a percent of GDP, it rose from 70% GDP to 99% GDP. This debt addition was a driver of the housing bubble and crises that followed. Bill Clinton had budget surpluses for fiscal years 1998–2001, the only such years from 1970 to 2023. Clinton’s final four budgets were balanced budgets with surpluses, beginning with the 1997 budget. The ratio of debt held by the public to GDP, a primary measure of U.S. federal debt, fell from 47.8% in 1993 to 33.6% by 2000. President George W. Bush added $5.85 trillion to the national debt. That’s a 101% increase, putting him in fourth. Bush launched the War on Terror in response to the 9/11 attacks, which led to multi-trillion-dollar spending on the War in Afghanistan and the War in Iraq. Bush also dealt with the 2001 recession and the 2008 financial crisis.

The economy improved markedly under former President Barack Obama, from the start of 2009 through the end of 2016. Faced with the specter of another Great Depression in winter 2009, President Obama enacted a series of policies that helped the economy avoid that fate. The economy was growing again by the second half of 2009, and jobs followed suit by early 2010. Economic growth continued apace for the rest of President Obama’s time in office, and job growth logged its longest expansion on record by early 2017, dating back to 1939.¹ Employment opportunities improved, the unemployment rate fell, wages eventually increased, and household debt dropped sharply.

One of President Donald Trump’s lesser known but profoundly damaging legacies will be the explosive rise in the national debt that occurred on his watch. The financial burden that he’s inflicted on our government will wreak havoc for decades, saddling our kids and grandkids with debt.

The national debt has risen by almost $7.8 trillion during Trump’s time in office. That’s nearly twice as much as what Americans owe on student loans, car loans, credit cards and every other type of debt other than mortgages, combined, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. It amounts to about $23,500 in new federal debt for every person in the country.

President Biden cut the deficit by more than $1.7 trillion during his first two years in office—the largest decline in American history. The economy has added more than 12 million jobs—more jobs in two years than any president has created in a four-year term—including 800,000 manufacturing jobs. The unemployment rate has fallen to 3.4 percent, the lowest in 54 years.

I could go on and on quoting numbers the diverge from what Fox news and the republicans want you to believe but I suppose those that want to walk into the night without a light will always do so. The republican claim to be the party of fiscal responsibility and small government but their track record does not prove that out. Now the small government party wants to tell women that they have no say in their own health care and if they get back into power, they will criminalize who you can love. (Not small government)

Sorry for boring you with numbers…