US Budget Deficits By Year

There is an ongoing debate as to the responsible party for our financial situation.  Republicans blame Democrats...Democrats blame Republicans...and the Tea Party blames BOTH.  But I never see anyone actually show the numbers.  So I decided to do that my self.  Tip of the hat to http://www.usgovernmentspending.com/!

Lets look at the federal deficits starting with the Carter administration.  Since a President really isn't responsible for the first budget in his admin ( and IS responsible for the first budget of his successor), I've started with FY 1978 through 2010.

Dem President Total Deficits	$1,484,015,810,000
GOP President Total Deficits	$5,996,483,370,000

YIKES! GOP Presidents are the problem!!!!! Or ARE they? Of course, the President doesn't spend the money. All spending MUST originate in the House of Representatives. So maybe we should look at who is in charge there!

Dem HR Control Total Deficits	$5,882,431,220,000
GOP HR Control Total Deficits	$1,598,067,960,000

Hmmm, very interesting. Democrats always cite the fact that the last budget surpluses were on the Clinton watch. That's right...but those surpluses (1998--2001) followed the HR takeover by the GOP in the 1996 elections and were all with the GOP actually in charge of spending! Don't let them throw you off the trail!