[quote=markmax33][quote=SK in CV][quote=markmax33] The problem is there hasn’t been a President to have a balanced budget and THEREFORE could not lower taxes. [/quote]
Yes, there was. Clinton, his last 3 years in office. Better than balanced, a nominal surplus in excess of $400 billion his last 3 years, and even ignoring the huge SS surplus in those years, still had a surplus in each of those years. With tax rates higher than they are today. Those pesky facts.[/quote]
No those pesky facts don’t take into account the federal reserve lowering interest rates and creating the surplus. It had nothing to do with Clinton, just the business cycle. It was short lived as the tech bubble bust a year or two later.
Those pesky facts…[/quote]
First, your claim was simply false, regardless of the reason. You said “there hasn’t been a President with a balanced budget”. Just dead wrong.
And beyond that, the Fed didn’t lower interest rates. The average federal funds rate during the surplus years was 5.51%. The average for the 2 years before that was 5.43%. They RAISED rates on average. And before those 5 years? They raised rates by 2.5%. They didn’t begin lowering rates until the last 5 months of his final budget year (the last BETTER than balanced budget year) . When some other guy was already president.
