A very different situation than what Clinton did. You can read the article I posted to get the in-depth details of the virtual "surplus" under Clinton.
Was the budget under Clinton better than Reagan,Bush and Trump? Was the deficit lower when Clinton left office than when he took office?
Economy surged mightily with the tech boom while Clinton was in office so there was huge economic growth and revenues to the federal government, especially after 92 recessions. Bush Jr faced the housing crisis and 9/11 military surge so all that surplus was spent away really fast. I dont credit or blame each president because we know Congress couldnt balance a budget if they still had two brain cells to rub together. Sometimes presidents are just victims of their time. After Bush Jr., the spending and deficits simply stuck and I do not expect we will ever have surplusses every again with how we spend. Also we are an even bigger service economy which in my opinion adds less to GDP growth and revenues then a producer economy like China.
I dont let Bush off the hook that easily.He massively cut taxes for the rich while massively increasing military spending(unpaid for),started 2 wars (unpaid for) and a new expensive medicare expansion (again,unpaid for). Obama got the deficit down to 585 billion from 1.4 trillion so Trump could have balanced the budget if not for the tax cuts,increased defense spending and covid spending imo. I agree there will never be surpluses ever again.I have given up all hope for the budget and deficits.Even if a President turned the current 2 trillion dollar deficit into a trillion dollar surplus and every President after maintained that surplus it would still take 37 years to pay off the debt.Im just waiting for it all to crash at this point.
Bush did not start the war. We were attacked by the Al-Qaeda terrorist pan-Islamic militant organization. No different then people in the 1939 saying Poland started a World War by attacking Germany or United States started a World War in 1941 by attacking Japan at Pearl Harbor...all propaganda bullshit and lies. Why? Al-Qaeda hoped that, by attacking these symbols of American power, they would promote widespread fear throughout the country and severely weaken the United States' standing in the world community, ultimately supporting their political and religious goals in the Middle East and Muslim world. #remember-911 wrbtrader
Fair enough about Afghanistan but he certainly started the Iraq war,which was the more expensive war if I'm not mistaken. Point is he waged 2 wars without paying for them which in part turned a 236 billion surplus into a 1.4 trillion dollar deficit.