Comments on: [politics] A big thank you to Limbaugh, O’Reilly and their peers http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/13/politics-a-big-thank-you-to-limbaugh-oreilly-and-their-peers/ Jay Lake's Official Web Site Fri, 10 Feb 2012 02:44:39 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 By: When will Obama react? :slashingtongue http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/13/politics-a-big-thank-you-to-limbaugh-oreilly-and-their-peers/comment-page-1/#comment-6228 When will Obama react? :slashingtongue Wed, 16 Sep 2009 00:16:15 +0000 http://www.jlake.com/?p=9520#comment-6228 [...] [politics] A big thank you to Limbaugh, O’Reilly and their peers (jlake.com) [...] [...] [politics] A big thank you to Limbaugh, O’Reilly and their peers (jlake.com) [...]

]]> By: Matt H http://www.jlake.com/2009/09/13/politics-a-big-thank-you-to-limbaugh-oreilly-and-their-peers/comment-page-1/#comment-6189 Matt H Sun, 13 Sep 2009 19:29:12 +0000 http://www.jlake.com/?p=9520#comment-6189 JL - "Ronald Reagan ran up the largest deficits in history (at the time), yet then and now is hailed as a hero by fiscal conservatives." Largest deficit on a dollar-volume scale, but not as a percentage of GDP, which you could argue is the better thumbnail because it compares debt to an economic indicator. In 1945 FDR had our national debt at about 118% of GDP, more than twice where Reagan landed us in 1989 at 53%. Neatly summarized at wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms Or you can crunch the numbers yourself at: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np Overall, though, I agree with your argument, and it's one I've made myself multiple times. Since FDR, every president through Carter constantly reduced debt/GDP, and since then Republican presidents have consistently raised debt/GDP, while Democrats have consistently lowered debt/GDP. In hashing this debate out with conservatives, I find their primary line of reasoning seems to be "supply-side economics = fiscal conservatism, therefore Reagan = fiscal conservative". My guess it's an end result of striving to understand your party's rhetoric rather than striving to understand economics and economic terminology. JL – “Ronald Reagan ran up the largest deficits in history (at the time), yet then and now is hailed as a hero by fiscal conservatives.”

Largest deficit on a dollar-volume scale, but not as a percentage of GDP, which you could argue is the better thumbnail because it compares debt to an economic indicator. In 1945 FDR had our national debt at about 118% of GDP, more than twice where Reagan landed us in 1989 at 53%.

Neatly summarized at wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_by_U.S._presidential_terms

Or you can crunch the numbers yourself at:
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Overall, though, I agree with your argument, and it’s one I’ve made myself multiple times. Since FDR, every president through Carter constantly reduced debt/GDP, and since then Republican presidents have consistently raised debt/GDP, while Democrats have consistently lowered debt/GDP.

In hashing this debate out with conservatives, I find their primary line of reasoning seems to be “supply-side economics = fiscal conservatism, therefore Reagan = fiscal conservative”. My guess it’s an end result of striving to understand your party’s rhetoric rather than striving to understand economics and economic terminology.

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