A Case for Democratic Budget Balancing

In my lifetime, (I am approximately middle aged), there has been one President who balanced the budget, Bill Clinton; there have been two Presidents who entered into war, both Bushes; there was one President who spent enormous amounts on defense without a war, Reagan; and there was one President who was just nice, Carter. I don't remember LBJ or Nixon, except as History Channel specials. This is a highly subjective over-simplification but it's where my memory starts.

I have always thought that Democrats seemed better at balancing the budget than Republicans.

I decided to put this idea to the test tonight. I decided to look for the facts (that's what this blog is about). Below is a link to the document I would have written had someone else not already done it. This article was written by Dr. Stephen Bloch of Adelphi University.

For those of you who can't bear to slog through a scholarly article, although easy to read and well written, let me summarize:

First, the information is derived from the Department of the Treasury. Dr. Bloch explains everything he did and why.

The last Democrat to show a budget deficit was LBJ. The last Republican was George W. Bush.

The largest deficits in history are all under Republicans, that includes FDR during World War II and the Great Depression.

Personal observations: Democratic economic principles allow the "little guy" to get off the ground. Witness the stellar economy under Clinton. The dot-com economy was bound to collapse under its own weight, but the Clinton administration policies made it possible for business people who are not established to get a start. It helps that Al Gore invented the Internet! :)

Republican/Conservative principles do exactly what the name says: they conserve the status quo. This means that those who are already successful will continue to be successful, but those who are trying to get a foothold will have a harder time.

One example is the idea that under Democrats, the Federal Government will provide more small business grants than under a Republican administration. This helps start-ups to get off the ground.

The "tax and spend" concept might make good bumper stickers or talk radio, but if you tax and spend on the right things, the economy gets better. The rest is simple: More people making more money pay more taxes therefore less deficit.

What does all of this mean for today... As the economy improves, the tax rolls will expand. Leaving taxation levels alone will go most of the way to solving the country's debt problems. Then we need to plug the heinous gaps in our spending, foremost of which is the wars that we are cleaning up, which at one point cost the US taxpayer $1 billion per week each!

Click here to read Dr. Bloch's article: U.S. Federal Deficits and Presidents Stephen Bloch.

Dr. Bloch's personal page at Adelphi University is here.

I would like to thank Dr. Bloch for his hard work and for showing all of his sources and methodology.