Long Burn: Socially conservative fiscal liberals

March 30, 2008

Thanks to Mellow Velo for this figure showing the budget deficit through time.

At March 30, 2008 8:55 AM , Steve said...: I've seen similar graphs before, and what I hear from right-wingers is that Clinton wasn't responsible for the economy and Bush had to deal with a war.....which begs the question, why does the right wing care who is elected president?
At March 30, 2008 10:55 AM , Matt_J said...: The Presidency does carry some weight, and Clinton made the economy the key element of his campaigns and policies. The idea was a strong economy was good social policy.

My own feeling is that since Bush felt so strongly about the war he should have made his case to the American people and asked them to pay for it, instead of passing the buck to the next generation.

The trend is pretty consistent through many administrations. How do the right-wingers explain the Reagan and Bush I deficits?
At April 04, 2008 8:41 PM , Anonymous said...: We can't 100% blame the republicans as they get effectively beat up by democrats/AARP when they attempt entitlement reform. This doesn't get them off the hook, though, for promising same benefits while cutting taxes. We have somehow borrowed everything from the next generation energy, environment, finances.

I want to live in a treehouse.