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Who was the last Republican President to balance the budget?

Thorgasm

Thorgasm

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Anyone know?
 
Ummm... Dwight Eisenhower, I think? Let me look it up.

Yep it was Ike.
 
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Thorgasm said:
Who was the last Republican President to balance the budget?
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It's a trick question. The President doesn't make the budget; Congress does. If the budget is balanced or not, that's Congress' doing, not the President's.
 
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Bob Blaylock said:
It's a trick question. The President doesn't make the budget; Congress does. If the budget is balanced or not, that's Congress' doing, not the President's.
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So the 16 trillion dollar deficit isn't Obama's fault?

Good to know. ;)
 
The statement that Congress balances teh budget is correct. But from what i understand our budget has never been "balanced" in our history until Clinton. I am not that familiar with Eisenhowers years but with the war debts and expenditures going on at that time I doubt it was ever "balanced"
 
Thorgasm said:
So the 16 trillion dollar deficit isn't Obama's fault?

Good to know. ;)
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Well, technically, no, it was the Democrat-controlled Congress. The irresponsible and reckless policies that gave us this unprecedented deficit were passed by Congress, with President Obama's full support, so he certainly bears a fair share of the blame. It's not like he made any vestige of an attempt to encourage any bit of fiscal responsibility.
 
Bob Blaylock said:
Well, technically, no, it was the Democrat-controlled Congress. The irresponsible and reckless policies that gave us this unprecedented deficit were passed by Congress, with President Obama's full support, so he certainly bears a fair share of the blame. It's not like he made any vestige of an attempt to encourage any bit of fiscal responsibility.
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:lamo

We all saw that coming

BUT... BUT.. .BUT....

Obama's spending is down by far compared to most recent presidents.

spendingobama.JPG
 
Fruityfact said:
Now you're attacking the visual graph???
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Just pointing out that it does not show what the person who posted it claims that it does.

PoweRob claimed that “Obama's spending is down by far compared to most recent presidents.”, and then, to support this claim, posted a graph that clearly shows that Obama's spending has been higher every year that he's been in office, than Bush's spending was. The lowest spending shown on that graph under Obama is higher than the highest spending shown as having happened under Bush. The graph contradicts the claim that it was being used to support.
 
Bob Blaylock said:
Just pointing out that it does not show what the person who posted it claims that it does.

PoweRob claimed that “Obama's spending is down by far compared to most recent presidents.”, and then, to support this claim, posted a graph that clearly shows that Obama's spending has been higher every year that he's been in office, than Bush's spending was. The lowest spending shown on that graph under Obama is higher than the highest spending shown as having happened under Bush. The graph contradicts the claim that it was being used to support.
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Going to play the Naive card...
Looking at the graph and WHAT IT'S TITLE IS...you can pretty clearly conclude that he was referring to the increase in spending is down.
Play ignorant if you wish though
 
Thorgasm said:
So the 16 trillion dollar deficit isn't Obama's fault?

Good to know. ;)
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There is no 16 trillion dollar deficit! There is a 16 trillion dollar debt load yes, but not a deficit!

No wonder Republicans cant balance budgets.. they cant even use the correct terms! :)
 
Fruityfact said:
Going to play the Naive card...
Looking at the graph and WHAT IT'S TITLE IS...you can pretty clearly conclude that he was referring to the increase in spending is down.
Play ignorant if you wish though
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What he said was “Obama's spending is down…”. What the graph shows is that spending under Obama is up. That it may be up by a smaller increase than that by which spending increased in previous years does not justify the claim that spending is down. Spending is still up. He was being dishonest in claiming that spending was down, as are you in defending that claim.
 
Spending GROWTH is down.

So, better question:

Q: Under which president did this explosion of deficit spending commence?

A: Ronald Reagan.

Between WWII and Ronald Reagan the federal government managed to reduce the huge debt wrung up during WWII. Almost every year, before Reagan, we reduced the debt as a percentage of GDP. The debt went from about 125% of GDP to a low of about 35% of GDP when Reagan took over. Between Reagan and Bush I, debt shot back up to about 60% of GDP. Clinton brought it back down to about 55%, and then Bush II shot it up to about 85% of GDP. It continued to rise when Obama came in, but it has been falling again the last few years.
 
The really good question here is: If no Republican has ever balanced the budget, how can we expect Mitt Romney to? Specially considering the fact that under him, Massachussett's debt grew.
 
AdamT said:
Spending GROWTH is down.

So, better question:

Q: Under which president did this explosion of deficit spending commence?

A: Ronald Reagan.

Between WWII and Ronald Reagan the federal government managed to reduce the huge debt wrung up during WWII. Almost every year, before Reagan, we reduced the debt as a percentage of GDP. The debt went from about 125% of GDP to a low of about 35% of GDP when Reagan took over. Between Reagan and Bush I, debt shot back up to about 60% of GDP. Clinton brought it back down to about 55%, and then Bush II shot it up to about 85% of GDP. It continued to rise when Obama came in, but it has been falling again the last few years.
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Which party was in control of Congress when these events happened? Which party controlled Congress when “Clinton brought it back down…”?

It seems that the President, along with his party, always gets credit or blame for what the economy does, but it is Congress that has the power to determine fiscal policy.
 
Bob Blaylock said:
Which party was in control of Congress when these events happened? Which party controlled Congress when “Clinton brought it back down…”?

It seems that the President, along with his party, always gets credit or blame for what the economy does, but it is Congress that has the power to determine fiscal policy.
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Sorry, but you don't get to pick and choose who to blame based on who's in the WH. And in point of fact, Bush II had a Republican Congress for most of his two terms.
 
Thorgasm said:
Anyone know?
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Here's a pretty good article discussing this. Clinton was the last president to preside over a balanced budget. Both Houses of Congress were Republican for all of those balanced Budgets, the last one ending in 2001.

The last Republican president to preside over a balanced budget was Ike and the last Democrat Congress to pass a balanced budget was in 1969.

http://cnsnews.com/node/62793
 
Thorgasm said:
So the 16 trillion dollar deficit isn't Obama's fault?

Good to know. ;)
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It is the fault of the do nothing, know nothing don't pass a budget and fail to plan government run by the Obamabots.
 
wolfman24 said:
The statement that Congress balances teh budget is correct. But from what i understand our budget has never been "balanced" in our history until Clinton. I am not that familiar with Eisenhowers years but with the war debts and expenditures going on at that time I doubt it was ever "balanced"
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According to this table, the budget was in surplus in 1956 and 57.

U.S. Federal Deficits, Presidents, and Congress
 
Thorgasm said:
I know. ;)

At least they have until recently. :lol:
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True. Under Obama and Reid's "leadership" we have never had a budget. When is the last time this has happened for four years in a row? It would be difficult to balance the budget when you've never had one.
 
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