The last year the United States had a budget surplus was 2001. The $128.2 billion surplus came during President George W. Bush’s administration with a split Congress, with Republicans controlling the House and Democrats narrowly controlling the Senate. That year, Congress passed one of two major tax cuts during the Bush administration, the Economic Growth and Tax Reconciliation Relief Act of 2001. The sweeping package lowered income tax brackets, enacted new limits on the estate tax, allowed for higher IRA contributions and created new employer-sponsored retirement plans.
That same year saw the most-deadly attack on U.S. soil in our history, with troops sent to Afghanistan to find Osama bin Laden.
Since then, the deficit has fluctuated – but mostly grown –while the national debt has risen steadily, quintupling from $5.8 trillion 20 years ago to almost $29 trillion now.
It has risen during Republican and Democratic presidential administrations, during Republican-controlled sessions of Congress and during Democrat-controlled sessions of Congress.
The national debt is so high that it's more than the annual economic output of the entire country, the gross domestic product. The GDP grew in the third quarter of 2021 to $23.2 trillion.
The national debt is the big spending creation of both parties.
The #WasteOfTheDay is presented by the forensic auditors at OpenTheBooks.com.