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Comment by maxxxxx | Hacker News Reader

Don't forget that Clinton balanced the budget during a good economy while the current administration even raised the deficit in a good economy without any plan for ever reducing it besides a miracle.

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This is a common talking point, but it was balanced while Republicans had control of the House and Senate.

The Republicans also had control of the House and Senate for the last two years. That's not the thing that's different this time.

That is also a misleading talking point. Neither Bill Clinton nor the Republicans (who only held both for two years before the balance) can take full credit. As you can see by this graph:

http://stats.areppim.com/ressources/usxbudget_1789x2019_572x...

There was a sharp rise in income around 1994, and at the same time spending flattened (due to lower unemployment/lower safety net costs). The two met in 97, then fell off sharply in 2000.

This exactly mirrors the "Dot-com bubble" period start, middle, and end:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dot-com_bubble

So neither Bill Clinton or the Republicans can really claim credit. This just happened to be a strong period of economic activity that happened to also drive down costs.

I think one thing is clear: In the 90s Congress + President didn't fuck it up whereas current Congress + President decided to increase deficits in good times which will make it very hard to respond to any downturn.

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