[Goose]

C'mon now . . . Clinton's budget surpluses were almost entirely the result of the Internet bubble (remember that it took states a while to try and tap into that then-new economy) and not his tax increases.  [But I do agree that the surpluses chimeric "surpluses" would lead to tax cuts].

I am pretty sure you can throw in a whole lot of "peace dividend" into the Clinton budget surpluses. Military spending started dowb under Bush and fell like a stone under Clinton. It made sense. The Cold War was over, we didn't need to spend as much. The beauty of it from a political point of view was that you could just spend the money on other things. It was already being collected.

 


Some presidents are extremely lucky (Bill Clinton); others are extremely unlucky (Jimmy Carter).  Some presidents appear teflonesque (Reagan); others don't even get anything thrown at them (Obama).  Many benefits that inure to benefit of a particular occupant have little to do with the occupant.

For sure. One could argue that Hoover is also in the unlucky category.

[Goose]

C'mon now . . . Clinton's budget surpluses were almost entirely the result of the Internet bubble (remember that it took states a while to try and tap into that then-new economy) and not his tax increases.  [But I do agree that the surpluses chimeric "surpluses" would lead to tax cuts].

I am pretty sure you can throw in a whole lot of "peace dividend" into the Clinton budget surpluses. Military spending started dowb under Bush and fell like a stone under Clinton. It made sense. The Cold War was over, we didn't need to spend as much. The beauty of it from a political point of view was that you could just spend the money on other things. It was already being collected.

 


Some presidents are extremely lucky (Bill Clinton); others are extremely unlucky (Jimmy Carter).  Some presidents appear teflonesque (Reagan); others don't even get anything thrown at them (Obama).  Many benefits that inure to benefit of a particular occupant have little to do with the occupant.

For sure. One could argue that Hoover is also in the unlucky category.