Wednesday, December 04, 2019

Federal Spending and who is responsible for the national debt


So lets talk about the national debt.  I'm gonna make a bold statement, here!  WE are responsible for the national debt!  Not the lawmakers but the voters.  We are the ones that keep sending them back saying give us something that we can't afford!  OK, got that of my mind.  Now to the question at hand.  Who actually spends the most, Democrats or Republicans.

Lets start by saying that all spending MUST originate in the House of Representatives.  So whoever controls the House also has a LOT to do with how much and where it will go.  These numbers are from FY1970 through FY2018 and are compiled from https://www.thebalance.com/us-deficit-by-year-3306306

Deficits   (in billions)
White House
House of Representatives
Democrat
GOP
Grand Total
Democrat
6051
3247
9298
GOP
1778
2672
4450
Grand Total
7829
5919
13748
Average of Deficit/GDP
House Of Representatives
White House
Democrat
GOP
Grand Total
Democrat
4.37%
1.01%
3.03%
GOP
3.17%
2.08%
2.83%
Grand Total
3.62%
1.58%
2.91%
Avg Deficits (in billions)
White House
House of Representatives
Democrat
GOP
Grand Total
Democrat
504.25
162.35
290.56
GOP
222.25
296.89
261.76
Grand Total
391.45
204.10
280.57

So we can see that when the House of Representatives and the President is Democrat, the average deficit is nearly 70% higher than when the House and President are Republican (table 3).  Unfortunately, Republicans are not holding up their end of the bargain, either.  They are spending 33% more when they hold both the House and President than when they only control the House and there is a Democrat President.  When the House is in Democrat control and the President is Republican, the difference is startling.  When the House is Democrat, the average deficit is more than 210% higher with a Democrat President than a Republican President.