8 d) Two party System – Summary of budget results for the Parties
Republicans increase in the national Debt 2001 – 2008 with Presidency = $2,004 billion ($2 trillion)
Democrats increase in the National Debt 1993 – 2000 with Presidency = $ 321 billion
Republicans increase in national debt when in control of both houses of congress = $ 1,221 billion ($1.2 trillion)
Democrats increase in national debt when in control of both houses of congress = $ 1, 075 billion ($ 1.08 trillion)
How do the above results compare to the promoted party agendas? The short answer is that they do not with respect to balancing the budget. From a presidential point of view it appears that the democrats have had more fiscal responsibility and from a control of congress perspective it appears that there really is no difference! It appears that, at least in the fiscal responsibility area, the parties have been co-conspirators.
The bad news is that we are now (April 2015) standing at over $18.2 trillion in National Debt. The good news is that the rate at which the debt is growing is actually slowing. Currently it is increasing at the rate of only a million dollars every three minutes. The not so good news is that the rate of decrease appears to be stalled so the deficit will continue to increase. It is also important to note that spending continues to increase and it is only the projection of improved revenues (higher taxes) that has slowed the rate of the deficit.
Unfortunately the National Debt is only a very small party of the National Liability. Future blogs will discuss this much larger issue!