Four decades of GOP deficits

January 26, 2008
Four decades of GOP deficits

Since Nixon-Ford, the big spenders haven't been Democrats

Fiscal conservatives are right when they say that a leaner government is good for the economy -- if by "lean" they mean a government that operates within its means: The more government borrows, the less money there is for the private sector to invest.

That's not to say that government borrowing is bad in and of itself. Sometimes deficit spending is necessary, even wise, if used to pull an economy out of recession or to power it forward. In that sense, deficit spending is like a business borrowing to expand, or an individual borrowing to earn a degree that'll bring its own rewards. The problem is when deficit spending becomes a deliberate substitute for wise economic policy -- when it's used to bankroll an ideology rather than improve the national economy.