Tom Sixkiller wrote:

"Peter" wrote in message
news:6_YUb.234289$I06.2628540@attbi_s01...

John wrote:


"Dennis O'Connor" wrote in message

...

John it sounds to me like you will be happy whichever big party controls

the

oval orifice becasue they both intend to spend their way to relection...
denny


I always thought that neither governments nor families should go into
debt or live beyond their means. It is disappointing that neither
party is focused on managing the debt, as this will create much bigger
problems in the future.

Neither party may be sufficiently focused on it, but there's been a
substantial difference between Republican and Democratic administrations

in

this regard. Since WWII, Republican presidents have been in office for 31
years and during their terms the national debt has increased an average of
9.1% per year; Democrats have been in office 27 years and the debt has
grown at a much smaller 3.7% per year during their terms. There's a huge
difference between a growth rate of under 4% compared to over 9%.

The DEFICIT took it's biggest LEAP under the democrats and their baseline
budget process during the Nixon years (so they could maintain control of the
purse strings).

Factually totally untrue. Under Nixon the growth of the national debt
averaged only 5% - true, this was an increase over Johnson's average of 3%,
but it was very small compared to later Republican administrations.
Reagan's average of 14% per year over eight years was the greatest
contribution. And while Reagan kept publicly supporting a balanced budget
amendment, the budgets he submitted to Congress contained huge and
increasing deficits.
Yes, Congress passes appropriations bills, but the reality during recent
history has been that the budget submitted by the president shapes the
debate and the final totals are seldom far from those sent over from the
executive branch although there are frequently considerable changes in
individual projects and departments. During Reagan's terms (when the debt
growth rate was highest), Congress passed appropriations bills that were
very slightly smaller overall (by about $29B over 8 years) than had been
requested in the president's budget proposals although the actual spending
was higher due to economic conditions not being as good as forecast by the
administration.

Both major parties love to increase spending, albeit in slightly different
directions. But the impact on the deficit has been greatest under
Republican administrations.