Because you're looking at it as a % of GDP. And you're ignoring/forgetting the fact that we were in a recession coming into Clinton's term. You can see that in 1995 as the strong growth in the 90's began debt as a % of GDP decreased.
The first chart is not comparing it to GDP. And you also forget that a recession started at the beginning of Bush's term, we had the Enron type scandals and a major terrorist attack on the US.
First, compared to what? After WWII when all the war bonds came due? Or compared to the 80s and early 90s after the "miracle" of Reaganonomics?
Second, looking at debt purely as a function of GDP is a mistake, as GDP is always increasing. If we were to fix debt as a % of GDP, we'd still be increasing debt by 2-5% yearly.
GDP will not always increase...we are lucky that it always has.
Our goal should be to reduce/eliminate our national debt, not merely to let it bloat at an "acceptable" rate.
Agreed...my argument was not to accept the debt but merely to point out to Andy that his argument was wrong.
Clinton was more of a fiscal conservative than any Republican since the 70s.
Fiscal conservative he was due largely to a Republican lead Congress that was very tight on spending. Congress is the ones that actually spend the money, not the President.
As for Clinton being a conservative (Andy's original point) that is the equivalent to me saying Trent Lott is liberal. That is an argument you cannot make and will lose every day of the week you try.