Lets break the Boredom. (Warning - Political Thread) Updated with original clipping

[thebestMAX]

Ok, lets have at it, lets get it on.

Cant vouch for the validity of these facts but read in the Sunday Sun Sentinel (sorry, should have kept article or maybe even Letter to the Editor) that:

The Reagan Administration took about 85 Billion from the SS Trust Fund.

The Bush Admin took about 214 Billion.

The clinton gang took almost 700 billion.

Any wonder why we say Clinton rode the crest of the wave from the Reagan/Bush years? (Yeah,tax cuts and trickle down work)

 

[wyvrn]

One request. If you are going to post stats, please post refs.

Anyone could post anything and we really don't know if it is valid, do we? Besides, stats can be taken out of context and manipulated in many thousands of ways. Posting a single stat and making a generalization out of it is really very silly.

 

[thebestMAX]

Sorry, really try to and usually do. Read my post again.

 

[jaydee]

Instead of just ripping on the Dems, I'd like to see some positive things that the Republicans do, and vise versa. It seems rather repetitive and old to critisize the other party, considering that both parties have an open-ended source of dirt to dig up about each other.

 

[cipher00]

On/Off balance-sheet tricks. Again. The SS Trust Fund invests in special purpose Treasury bonds. Backed by the power of the US to tax. It's a classic one-pocket-to-the-other move. In a very real sense, there is no trust fund, just a bunch of IOUs to ourselves. (If a private company tried to run a db plan like this, someone'd be in jail. )

 

[wyvrn]

I don't have access to he Sunday Sun Sentinal(at least I do not know the webpage if they have one). Did they come up with the stats or do they just report them. Who is the source? If I do not know who is behind stats, I simply ignore them and the silly generalizations that come out of them.

Cant vouch for the validity of these facts but read in the Sunday Sun Sentinel

Then why post it?

 

[thebestMAX]

Heres the original article:

AL RICKEY, Fort Lauderdale
Web-posted: 10:23 p.m. Jan. 26, 2001

Add to the Clinton legacy the things he didn't mention. President Clinton takes credit for the recent budget surpluses and dynamic economy. He has not mentioned the fact that the gross federal debt (all federal debt) increased during his eight years in office from $4.3 trillion to $5.6 trillion, an increase of $1.3 trillion. He has not mentioned that approximately 53 percent of this increase came from borrowing more money from the Social Security Trust Fund than any other president. The Social Security Trust Fund is now owed $1.005 trillion. When Clinton took office, the Social Security Trust Fund debt was $319.6 billion. Clinton thus borrowed $685.4 billion from the Fund. In contrast, Reagan borrowed $85 billion (8 years) and Bush borrowed $214.8 billion (4 years) from the Social Security Trust Fund.
Last, President Clinton has not mentioned that the most important reasons for the dynamic economy has been through the genius of the private sector, the information revolution (as important as or more so than the Industrial Revolution), the dedication and efficiency of the American work force and credit is due to a Republican Congress (1994) that slowed and limited Clinton spending

 

[wyvrn]

Thank you

So why is he borrowing when we supposedly have budget surpluses every year? Does this have to go through Congress?

 

[saxman]

hmmmm....The Republicans controlled congress! Why isn't it THEIR FAULT!?

 

[jjm]

Seems like the perfect argument for those fiscally responsible Rs to use to endorse paying off that nasty Willy-era debt before they start doling out large tax cuts.

 

[jaydee]

You guys don't seem to understand politics very well. You see, its NOT the democrats fault (if your a democrat) because it was during a republican dominated congress, and its NOT the republicans fault (if your a republican) obviously, because a democrat was the president at the time; therefore, its the opposite party which are registered to.