Althouse: When Bill Clinton was King.

February 15, 2025

When Bill Clinton was King.

Sounds familiar https://t.co/umL0MKczTa
— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) February 15, 2025

ADDED: There was a budget surplus when Bill Clinton left office, and we now have a deficit counted in trillions, and the national debt is in the tens of trillions. Those who don't like the service Elon Musk is giving to his country — what is their alternative?

32 comments:

Earnest Prole said...: Somehow the Republic survived.; 2/15/25, 6:33 AM
wendybar said...: "I do not remember lawsuits by Democrats or Republicans to block Clinton from doing this. I also do not remember the media being outraged and seeking to destroy Clinton. They supported him."

https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2025/02/trump_is_just_following_bill_clinton_s_bureaucracy_cutting_example.html; 2/15/25, 6:38 AM
Oh Yea said...: I remember Al Gore's Hammer Award; 2/15/25, 6:46 AM
n.n said...: Clinton to Bush to Obama to Trump to Biden and back. The hypocritic polygon.

I also remember journolists (sic) reporting "fleecing" of America. Bitter clingers.; 2/15/25, 6:49 AM
rehajm said...: That makes for a compelling argument. The Clintons are shit but I appreciated how easily this was accomplished by his administration. They also had a tech boom pushing them but it could have easily been squandered…; 2/15/25, 6:49 AM
rehajm said...: I also remember journolists (sic) reporting "fleecing" of America.

That series ran on NBC News for years. Obama’s people had it killed…; 2/15/25, 6:50 AM
Breezy said...: Funny, we’re not hearing any positive remarks from Clinton and Gore wrt DOGE…; 2/15/25, 6:59 AM
Iman said...: “Roll of Quarters”, take one…; 2/15/25, 7:12 AM
Hassayamper said...: We didn’t actually have a real surplus under Clinton. It only looked that way on paper because borrowing against the Social Security trust fund is kept off the books.

You can have quite a fine feast if you eat the seed corn.; 2/15/25, 7:13 AM
tommyesq said...: Oddly enough, the Bill Clinton era is back when Trump was still a democrat.; 2/15/25, 7:18 AM
Larry J said...: “Those who don't like the service Elon Musk is giving to his country — what is their alternative?”

Easy, keep raising taxes, especially on “millionaires and billionaires”! Raise the tax rates on everyone else, too. Pay no attention to bad old Margaret Thatcher, who stated “The problem with socialism is sooner or later, you run out of other people’s money.”

No, we can’t have that! More taxes, more spending, more debt, more graft, more fraud, more waste! And be sure to label anyone who wants to keep more of their own money as greedy. Those selfish Kulaks will get what’s coming to them.

/s from me, but you know that’s what they really believe.; 2/15/25, 7:44 AM
Big Mike said...: Easy, keep raising taxes, especially on “millionaires and billionaires” who do not contribute heavily to our Party!

@Larry J, fixed it.; 2/15/25, 8:20 AM
Wilbur said...: Hassayamper said...
We didn’t actually have a real surplus under Clinton. It only looked that way on paper because borrowing against the Social Security trust fund is kept off the books.

You can have quite a fine feast if you eat the seed corn.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This.

Remember when Al Gore - when he wasn't sighing at Bush - used to yammer on about the Social Security "lock box"?; 2/15/25, 8:21 AM
Sally327 said...: Bill Clinton was a "New Democrat", part of a group called the Democrat Leadership Council that tried to create more of a centrist approach and away from the tax and spend model the Democrats were known for then. He'd never be the Democrat nominee for President today.; 2/15/25, 8:27 AM
Larry J said...: Thanks for the correction, Big Mike. However, when push comes to shove, the Democrat crocodile will eat them, too.; 2/15/25, 8:32 AM
Peachy said...: Bill Clinton and the Republican congress worked., something Nancy Pelosi doesn't understand.; 2/15/25, 8:44 AM
Enigma said...: This is the reality of MAGA and Musk: Republicans after 2016 are very similar to Clinton's "Triangulation" centrist Democrats. The left became insane and racists during the GW Bush era, and the right filled the 1990s "moderate" Clinton space (but they kept their anti-abortion and pro-gun views).

Musk would have jumped on Clinton's train back then. He surely wouldn't have been accepted by the statist Republicans GHW Bush, Bob Dole, or Dick Cheney.; 2/15/25, 9:00 AM
Dogma and Pony Show said...: "Those who don't like the service Elon Musk is giving to his country — what is their alternative? "

Similarly, those who don't want to see an end to the Ukraine war that leaves Russia in control of any conquered provinces -- what is their alternative?; 2/15/25, 9:15 AM
Peachy said...: After 4 years of the worst administration ever - the tabloid left are losing it.; 2/15/25, 9:21 AM
hombre said...: Their alternative is, “NOT TRUMP.” Nothing else.; 2/15/25, 9:37 AM
Wince said...: Althouse asks...
Those who don't like the service Elon Musk is giving to his country — what is their alternative?

They want failure, not success.; 2/15/25, 10:00 AM
Moondawggie said...: Hassayamper is correct. Clinton only reported a "surplus" because he included social security tax revenues in his budget, but excluded social security expenditures from his budget. Those social security expenditures more than offset the "surplus," so in the end the federal spending still ran a deficit. Gotta love Bill's "creative accounting."; 2/15/25, 10:12 AM
Leland said...: Whether the surplus was real or not, the argument for smaller government was well accepted and appreciated by the majority then, as is now. I could ask why Democrats are having problems with it now, but I think the answer is clear. The Democratic Party has been taken over by socialist progressives that think the solution is a Marxist economy by whatever means.; 2/15/25, 10:16 AM
Yancey Ward said...: Clinton only reported a "surplus" because he included social security tax revenues in his budget, but excluded social security expenditures from his budget.

This isn't quite right either. Those budgets included the year's worth of SS expenditures, but at the time SS was running a large surplus. What Clinton was doing was not counting those borrowed surpluses as part of the national debt.; 2/15/25, 10:37 AM
Yancey Ward said...: It worked under Clinton because Clinton was a moderate Democrat who faced a large majority in both houses of Congress his last 6 years in office and those Republicans were serious about reining in government spending. That changed after George W. Bush became President- suddenly the GOP House had no interest in controlling spending.; 2/15/25, 10:41 AM
Sebastian said...: "what is their alternative?" Exploiting granny-off-the-cliff and baby-starving scenarios to vilify GOP, buy votes, and keep borrowing--until . . .; 2/15/25, 10:50 AM
Hassayamper said...: Clinton only reported a "surplus" because he included social security tax revenues in his budget, but excluded social security expenditures from his budget. Those social security expenditures more than offset the "surplus," so in the end the federal spending still ran a deficit.

Strictly speaking, I believe that social security PAYOUTS to beneficiaries were accounted for, but accrued DEBT to the SS trust fund was not.

The budget was balanced with regard to cash flow, in the same sense that a failing hot dog stand can show a positive cash flow for a period of time if the owner takes an advance on his credit card and disregards the need to pay it back.

But this country is not a mom-and-pop hot dog stand using cash-basis accounting. No corporation of any size uses cash accounting, nor should a nation.; 2/15/25, 10:53 AM
Political Junkie said...: Agree Hostess. As I say here often, I wish DOGE could cut and streamline government and taxes on well off would go up a little, until we have the budget balanced. Then we can focus on running surpluses to pay down the debt.; 2/15/25, 11:00 AM
mccullough said...: There was never a budget surplus. The National Debt grew every year Clinton was president. DC accounting is fiction; 2/15/25, 12:38 PM
William50 said...: This comment has been removed by the author.; 2/15/25, 12:40 PM
William50 said...: https://thepoliticalinsider.com/clinton-surplus-myth/; 2/15/25, 12:41 PM
John said...: Mccullough: According to FRED, the Q4 1999 federal debt was $5,776,091, while the Q4 2000 federal debt was $5,662,216.; 2/15/25, 6:33 PM