Dear Senior,

Only three Presidents in the modern era reduced the deficit: Bill Clinton, Barack Obama, and Joe Biden. You worry about “going broke.” The first step in dealing with the debt involves reducing the deficit to the point that we’re running a surplus. Only three Presidents, all three liberals, have reduced the deficit during their time in office. How is it that you cannot see this?

And I’m going to add some edits to this answer because I’m stunned at how many right-wingers have replied by saying “this is BS” or “Obama and Biden increased the deficit.” Or they don’t know the difference between the debt and the deficit. So let me pre-empt some future posts that I’ve already replied to about 20 times because people don’t know what they’re talking about.

First, the debt is not the same as the deficit. I’m talking about the deficit. To try and raise the debt is off-topic and a red herring. Every President has raised the debt for at least the past 75 years. You can reduce the deficit or spend frugally and the debt can still go up. We’re talking about the deficit here. You have no hope of addressing the national debt until you address the deficit.

Second, only 3 Presidents since Eisenhower have reduced the deficit by the end of their time in office: Clinton (who had a surplus), Obama (who cut it in half) and Biden (who cut it by about $1.7 trillion). Here is USG data on this annual deficit over the past 20 years.

Third, people who claim Clinton only got a surplus because of the GOP are wrong. Gingrich likes to claim he’s responsible for the surplus. That’s BS. The first year of Clinton’s administration is when he passed the legislation that includes budget cuts and tax increases—and he did it with a Democratic House and Senate (which the GOP then used Clinton’s program to win elections that gave them the House).

Gingrich, Armey and the other GOP leaders publicly said that Clinton’s proposal would lead to a decade of recession and destroy the economy. No, they weren’t the ones that created the surplus:

Look, folks on the right, I get you want to claim everyone on the left is a big-spending, deficit-creating big government fan. Except the facts don’t support that bias. Gingrich and the GOP didn’t create the surplus. Obama and Biden reduced the deficit. No GOP President since Eisenhower has lowered the deficit. Only three Democrats have reduced it since then.

Let me throw a little scenario at you.

You and your spouse are sitting at the kitchen table one fine evening going through the bills. You notice that there hasn’t been enough money in the budget to pay the bills and buy all the necessities your family needs. You have two ways to solve the problem.

The first way is to figure out how to get more money coming in. Whether this is asking for a raise, changing employers or getting a second job is up to you.

The second way is to cut your hours back so your paychecks are smaller.

If you’re thinking to yourself, “the second way would just make the problem worse!” then you are exactly right…but that’s what happens when the only thing the GOP wants to do is cut taxes.

ONE HUNDRED PERCENT of our budgetary problem is tax cuts.

Consider: When I was a kid the United States was building interstate freeways and sending people to the Moon. Neither one is even close to being cheap. But we didn’t have massive deficits then – because we had sufficient tax revenue coming in to pay for them.

Reinstate Nixon’s tax rates, don’t go into this huge “we have to spend all this extra money!” shit we did after President Clinton balanced the budget, and this country won’t be going broke.

If it’s true you’re a senior, you’re too old to make this claim without pointing at the cause.

You were around in the mid to late 70’s for the oil embargos. You lived through the double digit inflation and interest rates of the Reagan era. You watched conservatives favor big business & the 1% by rolling back all the legislation that was created post WWII that allowed the middle class to thrive. You saw this being done under the guidance of the same Heritage Foundation that still influences conservative “values” today. You’ve watched Republicans crash the economy again & again and complained when the Democrats didn’t repair the damage fast enough for your taste.

In short, if you’re a senior you’ve seen enough history with your own eyes to be spouting this bullshit, and you KNOW this country is going broke not bc we can’t care for the poor but bc the rich cannot be satisfied.

You think the problem with this country is that hard working people earning minimum wage are too dependent on our tax dollars when, in truth, the problem is that people who have the ability to buy yachts & private planes & take joy rides on 🍆 shaped rockets pay a smaller effective tax rate than you do.

You’ve been brainwashed.