smoothoperator wrote:Two of the biggest problems plaguing this country are excessive government spending and the associated debt. So, let me ask two questions to the people who think Republicans are the answer.
Who was the last Republican to leave DC with lower federal spending than when they took office?
Who was the last Republican to leave DC with a lower federal debt than when they took office?
Republicans aren't the answer but neither are Democrats. Elected officials who adhere to the Constitution are the answer.
Implied in your questions is that at least one Democrat has done this. That's not true.
To answer your questions:
For spending, see
US Government Spending
In general spending has trended upward over time but has decreased at times.
Government spending in the United States has steadily increased from seven percent of GDP in 1902 to 40 percent today.
Government Spending started out at the beginning of the 20th century at 6.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP). As you can see from Chart 2.21, the federal share of that spending was modest. Spending got a big kick in World War I and ended up at about 12 percent of GDP in the 1920s.
Then came the Great Depression, in which President Roosevelt and the New Deal cranked up federal spending, and total government spending rose up to 20 percent of GDP. World War II really showed how the United States could commandeer its national resources for all out war. Government spending peaked at just under 53 percent of GDP in 1945.
President Clinton said, in 1995, that the era of big government was over. But he was wrong. The post World War II era has been a golden age of government spending, and it shows no sign of ending. Although spending dropped back to 21 percent of GDP immediately after WWII, it steadily climbed thereafter until it hit a peak of 36 percent of GDP in the bottom of the recession of 1980-82. Thereafter government spending chugged along in the mid 30s until the mortgage meltdown of 2008. In the aftermath of bank and auto bailouts, government spending surged to wartime levels at 45 percent of GDP. The mortgage emergency seems to have ratcheted out-year spending up a notch. Near term government spending in the future is pegging at 40 percent of GDP.
For debt, see the
Bureau of Public Debt
The US has never been debt free in its entire history. The least amount of debt the country has ever had occurred in 1835, when Andrew Jackson was President. ($33,733.05)
The only modern President (1950 to present) who left office with less debt than when they entered office was none-of-the-above. Every President, both Democrat and Republican has left office with a higher debt load than when they entered office. (I'll bet you thought Bill Clinton did - the media lied to you. Shocking, I know.)
These are the Presidents that left office with less debt than when they entered: Thomas Jefferson, James Monroe, John Quincy Adams, Andrew Jackson, Millard Fillmore, Franklin Pierce, Andrew Johnson, Ulysses S Grant, Rutherford B Hayes, Chester A. Arthur, Grover Cleveland, Benjamin Harrison and Calvin Coolidge (the only President in the 20th century).
However, your question is misplaced. The real question is, who controlled Congress, because Congress passes the appropriation bills, and the President doesn't have a line item veto. So the President doesn't have a lot of say over how much is spent. Sure, he can propose a budget, but Congress can reject it. They've rejected every budget Obama has submitted with a unanimous vote. Congress never accepts a President's budget without filling it full of pork and favors first.
The truth is, neither a Democrat-controlled nor Republican-controlled Congress has lowered the debt in quite some time. The last time the debt decreased year to year was 1957. Eisenhower was President, and Democrats controlled Congress. Since 1945, Republicans have controlled both houses of Congress for
a total of six years. So you can blame Republicans for six years out of the last 67 years.
