(Replying to PARENT post)

In fact, inflation was pretty bad under Nixon (5.8%) and Ford (11.05%) with some up and down. Nixon even instituted price controls in 1970. Carter inherited that economy. He didn't fix it (well, arguably his Fed Chair Paul Volcker did) but he inherited it.

Carter and Reagan were polar opposites. Carter was a fiscal conservative and Reagan was a spendthrift. Reagan was when the deficit floodgates opened. We've repeated this fiscally conservative Democrat followed by spendthrift Republican ever since.

  Carter  $70B deficit
  Reagan  $175B
  Bush    $350B
  Clinton $0B
  Bush    $1.4T
  Obama   $600B
👤CalChris🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Those numbers don't really tell the whole truth; federal spending has increased almost monotonically, and the changes in deficit mostly indicate phases of the business cycle when they left. See this chart:https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2017/04/04/what-does-t...

Clinton for example, left at the peak of the DotCom bubble, and was bouyed by capital gains tax revenue, whereas Bush left during the Great Recession.

👤nickff🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Presidents don't have sole control over spending. Congress plays a large part in it.
👤meragrin_🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Yep, the spending on the Viet Nam war and the deficits it created were a big cause of the inflation during the Nixon/Ford years. Carter pushed for a balanced budget which angered enough folks in his party to lead to Ted Kennedy primarying him from the Left in 1980.
👤UncleOxidant🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Simply looking solely at the deficit doesn't prove one was a spendthrift. If you cut or fail to raise taxes enough, a huge deficit can occur without actually spending more than the previous administration. In fact, it is possible to have a huge deficit while spending less than the previous administration.

In Jimmy Carter's four years, the Federal Government's spending increased by almost 48%. In Ronald Reagans eight years, Federal Government spending increased only 53%.

https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/statistics/data/federal-budg...

👤missedthecue🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Clinton's "surplus" is a myth. The national debt increased every year that Clinton was in office and the tax revenue generated by his policies never exceeded government spending, which would be required in order to legitimately claim a surplus.

If you look at the numbers, the Clinton "surplus" was merely some fancy accounting achieved by borrowing money from government trust funds, like social security.

👤innocentoldguy🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Picking one deficit is very different than averaging them: [0].

However I tend to agree that prior to Obama, presidents from the Democratic Party were the more fiscally responsible.

[0] https://www.thebalance.com/deficit-by-president-what-budget-...

👤lend000🕑4y🔼0🗨️0

(Replying to PARENT post)

Congress controls the budget, not the POTUS. Republicans controlled the senate, and Democrats controlled the house his first term, Democrats controlled both chambers his second term.

US Constitution: Article I, Section 8, Clause 1.

👤grimdata🕑4y🔼0🗨️0