How to Respond to Claims of Republican Financial Conservatism

By Daniel Miessler on September 13th, 2009: Tagged as Politics

First the presidential terms:

  • Carter (1977-1981)
  • Reagan (1981-1989)
  • Bush Sr. (1989-1993)
  • Clinton (1993-2000)
  • Catastrophe (2000-2009)

And then the charts:

usdebt

Now, find the Republicans and Democrats on the map. Better yet, here’s one with the Presidents overlaid on the data:

How to Use This Information

  1. When someone claims Republicans are financially responsible, show them this.
  2. Enjoy the disbelief on their face.
  3. As them to explain the numbers.
  4. When they can’t, hit them with an eagle-fist to the neck.

[ ** Step 4 is optional. ]

Links

[ US Deficit Data | wikipedia.org ]

::

  • Tv

    I'd be careful with using that graph. The obvious increases we due to a very obvious reason in both cases. Look before you leap.

    Also, why is Bush being lumped with Obama?

  • http://danielmiessler.com/ Daniel Miessler

    So what were the reasons?

  • tv

    You don't know the major world events of those Presidents? I'm a little surprised :) And actually, there was a another major one in the 80s.

    Is there any raw data? Lumping Bush and Reagan together is dumb (unless you are trying to skew the results to your liking).

    Oh, and the other major problem with the graph…the republicans weren't in charge for the largest increase on the right of the graph.

    So, if I made this graph I'd probably go back and rethink this out. The graph actually isn't supporting democrats. :(

    Also, I'd like to see the data without the major events of those 2 presidents (for example, that Billy didn't have) and then repost the data. Or, at least see the debt impact numbers so we can take that out and then recompare.

  • http://danielmiessler.com/ Daniel Miessler

    Everyone can make excuses for WHY they skyrocketed the budget, but the fact
    is that it did go up at certain times, when certain presidents were in
    office.
    To me, the Cold War is not much different in terms of “necessity” from what
    Obama just did. In both cases there were concrete reasons, and in both cases
    there are people who cite the budget increases as irresponsible.

    The point is that, for whatever reason, the numbers DID go up significantly
    more during the watches of the fiscally responsible Republicans. Reagan ran
    one of the largest deficits in history, and this is a fact that no
    Republican likes to discuss.

  • tv

    I don't think there are any excuses. There were major world events that, for example, didn't happen when slick Willy was in office. It happened. Not an excuse.

    The Cold War wasn't one of those events that I consider contributing to the deficit.

    How about: 1) S&L Crisis 2)Wars 3)9/11

    Comparing Slick Willy to the Bushes and Reagan is like comparing a football to Mars.

    And that's my point. I don't recommend using that graph. It's actually for the republicans if someone knows an ounce of economy and world history during those times.


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