Since the National Debt seems to be the subject of the media and some pundits, the real story should be told so people can understand the facts. The real story has been told in PolitiDose commentary for the past 12 years so it is time once again to explain the facts. The national debt was not a problem at the end of President Carter's last fiscal year when it ended on 9/30/81 when it came in at $997 billion, that is less than one trillion dollars.
The explosion in the debt came during the administration of Ronald Reagan and at this writing the national debt stands at $40 trillion. Listed below are the administrations that followed President Carter and what took place with the debt on their watch during their fiscal years. The federal government's official records are kept on a fiscal year that begins on October 1 and ends on September 30. The listings are in the order the President served.
At the end of Reagan's 8 fiscal years, the debt was $2.857 trillion, an increase of $1.895 trillion for a whooping increase of 186% in the national debt. It took the nation over 200 years to reach a national debt of less than a trillion dollars and only took the Reagan administration 8 years to add $1.895 trillion to the debt.
At the end of George H.W. Bush's 4 fiscal years the national debt was $4.411 trillion, an increase of $1.554 trillion or an increase of 54% in the national debt.
At the end of Bill Clinton's 8 fiscal years, the debt was $5.607 trillion, an increase of $1.395 trillion or an increase of 31% in the national debt.
At the end of George W. Bush's 8 fiscal years, the national debt was $11.909 trillion, an increase of $6.402 trillion or a 105% increase in the national debt.
At the end of Barrack Obama's 8 fiscal years the national debt was $20.2 trillion, an increase of $8.2 trillion for a 69% increase in the national debt.
At the end of the Donald Trump 4 fiscal years the national debt was $28.4 trillion, an increase of $8.2 trillion for a 41% increase in the national debt. (Trump's first term)
At the end of Joe Biden's 4 fiscal years the national debt was $37.8 trillion, an increase of $9.4 trillion for a 33% increase in the national debt.
Note: Trump's first fiscal year of his second term ends this month on 9/30 and the national debt has already increased $2.2 trillion. President Clinton reduced federal spending every year his first four fiscal years and then balanced the federal budget the last 4 fiscal years and his budget surpluses exceeded his deficits by $62 billion. Clinton also paid down $400 billion on the national debt. None of the other Presidents accomplished that.
The record clearly indicates that both parties are responsible for the increases in the debt but that the democratic party does the better job of controlling the debt. The Clinton, Obama and Biden administration all completed their last fiscal year with a smaller federal deficit than the one left to them by the previous administrations. All four republican administrations completed their last fiscal year with a larger federal deficit than the one left to them by the previous administrations. President George W. Bush was the first President to have a single year federal deficit that topped $1 trillion. His last fiscal year's budget deficit came in at $1.4 trillion. President Trump was the first President to have a single year fiscal deficit of a $2 and $3 trillion federal deficit when his third fiscal year deficit came in at $3.1 trillion and his last fiscal year deficit came in at $2.7 trillion. No democratic administration had a single year deficit that hit the one trillion dollar mark. All 7 administrations had to deal with a number of negative issues.
The record also indicates that President Clinton when leaving office, left the Bush administration 4 straight years of budget surpluses and the Bush administration turned those surpluses into deficit spending in his very first fiscal year and every one of his 8 fiscal years. Those deficits are what President Obama had to deal with. All four republican administrations gave the U.S. an economic recession that began on their watch. No economic recession began on the watch of the three democratic administrations. Reagan, Bush and Trump cut taxes for you know who that was supposed to help balance the budget but never did in all of the 24 years they served. Clinton raised taxes on those same folks and the nation's fiscal house was in better shape on his watch.
President Reagan started the fairy tale that the democratic party are the big spenders and the media ate it up and has run with the fairy tale ever since. Conservative opinion writers are still trying to sell that same fairy tale but it won't wash with the facts. The below list tells the readers the amount of deficit spending on each President's watch.
Reagan 8 fiscal years of deficit spending $1.4 trillion.
Bush 41 4 fiscal years of deficit spending $1.03 trillion
Clinton 4 fiscal years of deficit spending $496.5 billion.
Bush 43 8 fiscal years of deficit spending $3.5 trillion.
Obama 8 fiscal years of deficit spending $6.5 trillion.
Note: President Obama's last fiscal year budget deficit was $666 billion and that is what Trump inherited. On the other hand, Trump's last year fiscal deficit was $2.7 trillion and that is what Biden inherited .
The following lists the percentage increase in the national debt on each President's term in office.
Ronald Reagan, the national debt increased186%
George W. Bush, the national debt increased 105%
Barrack Obama, the national debt increased 69%
George H.W. Bush, the national debt increased 54%
Donald Trump, the national debt increased 41%
Joe Biden, the national debt increased 33%
Bill Clinton, the national debt increased 31%
No matter what way one looks at the numbers and the facts, democratic administrations did a better job on governing the economy and the country's fiscal house. The record also indicates that democratic administrations passed on to republican administrations that followed a better hand fiscally than the republican administrations passed onto the democrats. Part II will be about total federal spending and that will also illustrate how democratic administrations did a better job at controlling federal spending.
This commentary written by Joe Lorio
Note: All numbers used above taken from the historical records of the CBO, the White House Office of Management and Budget and the Treasury Department.
