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Who is the LEAST FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE PRESIDENT? Why?
It's estimated that in Obama's first term of office, the National Debt will increase 28%. If he extends the Bush tax cuts, it will total much more. Yet economists advocate deficit spending, whether tax cuts or increased budgets to ease the effects of recessions and this is a big one. His detractors, however, accuse him of irresponsibly driving up the National Debt to unmanageable levels. So, is it he, or is another president in our recent past the most fiscally irresponsible?
For comparison, here are the debt increases of other presidents by term: Carter -7.6%, Reagan1 57%, Reagan2 41%, Bush 38%, Cilnton1 16%, Clinton2 -2.3%, W1 22%, 2 41%
Sorry, I should have told you that I meant since WW2. FDR & WW administrations would be very difficult to compare with more recent presidential terms. Also, the percentages listed have been adjusted for inflation.
9 Answers
- Ray SLv 71 decade agoFavorite Answer
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Without going into the history books, I'll go with what I am familiar with. That would be Kennedy to Obama. Within that range, I have to say that GW Bush coupled with the Republican Congress he had, is by far the worst.
Why? ... Their mantra for 6 long years was 'deficits don't matter', 'deregulate ... because the markets will regulate themselves', and 'there's no need to tax in order to pay for anything, we can borrow the money ... borrow and spend ... tax cuts ... borrow and spend ... tax cuts ... borrow and spend ... tax cuts ... raise the debt ceiling. In the end, we had NOTHING to show for all that had been spent ... just a huge pile of debt.
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- Anonymous1 decade ago
George W. Bush. At least the money FDR's administration benefitted people in the US, with all of the programs the New Deal offered. The money spent under GWB's administration was just wasted on the Middle East (Iraq, Afghanistan, Israel) and those bailouts they sent were unregulated and the CEOs and owners pocketed all of that money from the tax payers.
- Brandon SLv 61 decade ago
People out of work is the SINGLE BIGGEST FACTOR TO THE DEFICIT. Clinton had a surplus because he had the longest expansion in history.
Bush is the worst in history because he got us into the Iraq War, and had record deficits well into an expension. Bush still has the record for highest annual deficit ever: http://cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=11936
Also, look at this: http://www.google.com/search?q=who+is+better+for+e...
- tigeressLv 71 decade ago
Well, when Bush jr left office he left the country in financial disaster and the de-regulated banks had to be bailed out. We were in debt to China for trillions of dollars and had three was going on. That is as bad as it gets. Little Bush nearly brought down the entire financial structure of the USA in the fall of 2008. I bet he was planning to sneak out before that happened so he could blame the Dem's.
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- Anonymous1 decade ago
worst- FDR increased debt by 1050% (13 years)
2nd worst- Woodrow Wilson increased debt by 750% (8 years)
Both had a depression with extremely high taxes and unemployment.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
I would say W bush because he increased it a few trillion and we weren't in a recession.
- 1 decade ago
Barack Hussein 0bama. Because he has added 3 trillion dollars to the national debt in only 22 months.
- Anonymous1 decade ago
FDR
