I'm no economist but one of the greatest falsehoods that the Republican Party gets away with is this idea that it is fiscally conservative and is for small government (By the way the DoD is part of the government). Jimmy Carter handed over a national debt of $1.8 trillion dollars to Ronald Reagan who more than doubled that figure to $3.8 trillion. Poppy Bush received the baton from Reagan and increased that debt to $5 trillion (all figures adjusted for inflation). Clinton grew that number to only $5.6 trillion (including a 0.2% decrease in his second term); not mention, he handed over a budget surplus. Over to our man George W. who took the debt to $7.4 trillion by 2007. It is now $10.5 trillion (unadjusted). For more detailed figures, click here. With all this, I don't understand how Republicans get away with this B.S. about being for small government and fiscal conservatism. The image above is from here, and the doesn't even reflect the increases from Bush's second term. Check out the link for more detailed analysis including National Debt as percentage of GDP. Perhaps someone who is more economically sophisticated can help me understand this but common sense tells me Republicans have no credibility on this issue.
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