After the Deficit was paid off in the late 1990's when did we start having a deficit again?

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I think you mean "When we had no defecit in the late 1990's but had a surplus, when did we start having a defecit again?"

And that would be when we started wars against Afghanistan and Iraq.

Then the Democrats took Congress and Obama took office and it took off like a rocket....Show more

The deficit doesn't get paid off. The debt can be paid off. We reduced deficit spending which reduced the debt. It was never fully paid off. The surplus we had was a trick of math. Yes, the debt was greatly reduced but it was never gone. Bush did far more deficit spending than any other president in history. He added more to the debt than any other president before (or even after, contrary to what people want to say about Obama)....Show more

1. The deficit wasn't paid. It was paid EXCEPT for the interest on the national debt. The debt continued to rise every year in the 90s, meaning we had a deficit.

2. The "surplus" evaporated in the face of the .com bust....Show more

Well, the national debt increased each year in the 90's, so we also had to have a deficit each year.

09/30/2000 5,674,178,209,886.86
09/30/1999 5,656,270,901,615.43
09/30/1998 5,526,193,008,897.62
09/30/1997 5,413,146,011,397.34
09/30/1996 5,224,810,939,135.73
09/29/1995 4,973,982,900,709.39
09/30/1994 4,692,749,910,013.32
09/30/1993 4,411,488,883,139.38
09/30/1992 4,064,620,655,521.66
09/30/1991 3,665,303,351,697.03
09/28/1990 3,233,313,451,777.25
09/29/1989 2,857,430,960,187.32...Show more

A deficit is a yearly issue extending from that years budget. It doesn't accumulate. It sounds like you are thinking of the national debt that does accumulate (from prior deficits). Be that as it may, there was no deficit during the last year of the Clinton Administration. In fact, it was a surplus....Show more