Federal government spending

I am writing in response to Mr. Adams’ claim that “Every Democratic president since then (Clinton, Obama, Biden to date) has reduced the annual debt during their term in office.” This statement is somewhat accurate, however, one must look at the context and amount of federal spending to see what has happened so as to make a true assessment. The below table is from the government site. I have cited it before when writing about excessive federal spending under Mr. Trump, so this is not a partisan assessment. In the below table, I have noted which president was in office for the particular year. Since the government literally does not stop on a dime (or a trillion dimes), I have held each one accountable for their time beginning with the calendar year after their election.
The fact is Mr. Obama blew up the annual deficits by unprecedented amounts in his first three years in office.It took Mr. Trump 3 years and a global pandemic to do so. The last time there was a budget surplus was under Mr. G.W. Bush in 2001. Then 9/11 happened, but even at that, the maximum deficit under Mr. Bush was $458 billion in 2008. Then in 2009, Mr. Obama more than tripled that amount in one year, spending over $1.4 trillion more than incoming revenue. Only in 2013 after his first term, did this amount fall below $1 trillion. Note however it did in fact increase from 2015-2016. But hey, we got 98% coverage for rural broadband and "affordable" health insurance!!! Or so we thought, but that's another subject.
This is akin to going into a store and finding an item on “sale”. Let’s say a year ago it was $458. Then the store owner marked it up to $1,412, but then in recent months it fell to “only” $584 on sale. That’s some sale!!!
So long as most people look at so-called “federal money” (it’s our money filtered through many layers of costly bureaucracy) as “free” money, this process will continue. I’ll say it again- dependence upon the federal government for things you used to do or can do yourself is akin to drug dependency. Those in D.C. with a money printing press are all to happy to supply this “drug” to the masses. Take away the demand for the drug, and you solve the drug problem.

Paul Henry