re: Will the Real John McCain Stand Up?

Quoting HippieMommieArmyWife:“ I think if we vote in four more years "90%" Bush we'll be in a recession. We may not be in a full blown ... [snip!] ... downturn. http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2008/06/01/pov01.ART_ART_06-01-08_A4_PSACA84.html?sid=101”

The economy fluctuates regardless of who is in office.

Quoting SpaceCowgirl:“ The economy fluctuates regardless of who is in office.”

Right, it's just coincidence that there was a surplus under the Clinton administration, and a major deficit now.

Quoting HippieMommieArmyWife:“ Right, it's just coincidence that there was a surplus under the Clinton administration, and a major deficit now.”

The Clinton administration reported a surplus of $559 billion in its final four budget years. The audited numbers showed a deficit of $484 billion.

http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-08-02-deficit-usat_x.htm

Quoting SpaceCowgirl:“ The Clinton administration reported a surplus of $559 billion in its final four budget years. The audited ... [snip!] ... years. The audited numbers showed a deficit of $484 billion. http://www.usatoday.com/money/2006-08-02-deficit-usat_x.htm”

http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=127&subsecid=177&contentid=252964

...it pretty much explains the long and short of it.

although, I'll admit, I didn't know that about Congress. They should really change that.

..."change"... there's a concept worth fighting for  

Quoting HippieMommieArmyWife:“ http://www.ppionline.org/ppi_ci.cfm?knlgAreaID=127&subsecid=177&contentid=252964 ...it pretty ... [snip!] ... I didn't know that about Congress. They should really change that. ..."change"... there's a concept worth fighting for  ”

And any thoughts on your assertion that we had a surplus under Clinton, even though we didn't?

Quoting SpaceCowgirl:“ And any thoughts on your assertion that we had a surplus under Clinton, even though we didn't?”

I'll say I was misinformed, but it's obvious from the last article I posted that there was much less economic hardship under Clinton than Bush, which was the point I was getting at anyway.

Quoting SpaceCowgirl:“ And any thoughts on your assertion that we had a surplus under Clinton, even though we didn't?”

I have a question... how can they repeatedly say on the news (I've just seen it on both Fox, as well as CNN) that there was a surplus under Bill Clinton if there was really no surplus under Bill Clinton? How are they getting away with such gross misinformation?

Quoting HippieMommieArmyWife:“ I have a question... how can they repeatedly say on the news (I've just seen it on both Fox, as well ... [snip!] ... under Bill Clinton if there was really no surplus under Bill Clinton? How are they getting away with such gross misinformation?”

Because Clinton changed some of the accounting rules while he was in office to make it look like he had a surplus.

The government basically gets to use its own accounting rules to report its financial condition. These numbers are the “cash” based accounting numbers, which look merely at cash that came in versus what went out.

This is fine for personal checking, or a very small businesses. Federal law requires businesses with revenues over $1 million per year to use “accrual” based accounting, which measures income and expenses when they accrue. For example, if I borrow $25,000, cash accounting says I have $25,000 on my books, and doesn’t take into account the fact that I owe that to someone. Accrual accounting says I have $25,000 + -$25,000 in debt = $0.

So during the final four years of Clinton’s budget, they reported at $559B surplus. When the government audited the numbers (with accrual accounting), they actual had a $484B deficit.

I think it's funny that the government requires businesses to use accrual accounting but then they let Bill Clinton decide that he doesn't have to use it. So I guess to answer your question, the reason that so many people are misinformed on Clinton's numbers is that Clinton put out the surplus numbers. He just didn't point out that he changed the way they did accounting to make his numbers look good.