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George Bush Sr. on Budget & Economy
President of the U.S., 1989-1993; Former Republican Rep. (TX)
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OpEd: Bush budget was terrible but Dems budget was worse
I was overwhelmed because both 1989 budgets were deeply flawed proposals. Bush the First, his budget was terrible. And the Democratic budget was even worse. So I went back to my office and announced to my staff that we would write our own budget.In
1989 there was offered on the House floor the President's budget, and the Democrats' rebuttal budget, and the Kasich budget. A budget needs 218 votes out of a possible 435 to win passage, and the party in power always tends to prevail in these things.
We voted first on the Democratic budget. They were in the majority at that time, and they received 230 votes. Then we voted on the Bush budget, which received 213 votes, falling just short. The Kasich budget received
30 votes of approval.
Every year I offered my own budget for consideration, and my 3rd or 4th year my budget received more votes than the President got for his budget.
Source: Stand For Something, by John Kasich, p. 84-86
, May 10, 2006
Increased national debt from $3T in 1988 to $4T in 1992
The problem with applying the traditional analysis to current conditions was that under Reagan and Bush, we had built a large structural deficit that persisted in good times and bad. When President Reagan took office, the national debt was $1 trillion.
It tripled during his eight years, thanks to the big tax cuts in 1981 and increases in spending. Under President Bush, the debt continued to increase again, by one-third, in just four years. Now it totaled $4 trillion. Annual interest payments on the deb
were the third-largest item in the federal budget after defense and Social Security.The deficit was the inevitable result of so-called supply-side economics, the theory that the more you cut taxes, the more the economy will grow, with the growth
producing more tax revenue at lower tax rates than previously had been collected at higher ones. Of course it didn't work, and the deficits exploded throughout the recovery of the 1980s.
Source: My Life, by Bill Clinton, p.458-459
, Jun 21, 2004
1992 debate: Disconnected on recession's personal effect
On Oct. 15, 1992, toward the end of a presidential debate, an African-American woman asked a confusing question: "How has the national debt personally affected each of your lives? And if it hasn't, how can you honestly find a cure for the economic
problems of the common people if you have no experience in what's ailing them?"Bush: "I'm sure it has. I love my grandchildren. I'm not sure I get... help me with the question."
Q: "Well, I've had friends who've been laid off from their jobs."
Moderator: "I think she means the recession, rather than the deficit."
Bush: "Well, listen, you ought to be in the White House for a day and hear what I hear. I was in an AME Church and I read the bulletin about teenage pregnancies,
about the difficulties people are having making ends meet."
After more struggle, it was Clinton's turn--and he asked her, "Tell me how it affected you again?"
The woman was speechless.
Source: The Natural, by Joe Klein, p. 42-43
, Feb 11, 2003
1992 growth plan: deregulate & cut taxes
Bush’s 1992 State of the Union address offered a plan for economic growth that called for a moratorium on new government regulations on business, a cut in the capital gains tax, and the elimination of numerous domestic programs he deemed undeserving of
federal funding. He also endorsed a health-insurance tax credit for poor families and a tax credit for first-time home buyers. Congress adopted some of his proposals, but Bush vetoed the final bill because it raised taxes on the wealthy.
Source: Grolier Encyclopedia on-line, “The Presidency”
, Dec 25, 2000
Trickle down government doesn't create jobs
Q: [to Clinton]: You are promising to create jobs, reduce the deficit, reform health care, rebuild infrastructure, guarantee college education, all with financial pain only for the rich. Is it possible?CLINTON: I believe we can increase investment
and reduce the deficit, if we not only ask the wealthiest Americans to pay their share; we also provide $100 billion in tax relief and $140 billion of spending cuts. Take money from defense cuts and reinvest it in transportation, communications and
environmental clean-up systems.
BUSH: I don't like trickle down government. Clinton says grow government. Government doesn't create jobs. If they do, they're make-work jobs. It's the private sector that creates jobs.
PEROT: We still have a
significant deficit under each of their plans. There's only one way out of this, and that is to have a growing job base. My plan balances the budget within 6 years. We didn't do it faster than that because we didn't want to disrupt the economy.
Source: The Third Clinton-Bush-Perot Presidential Debate
, Oct 19, 1992
Page last updated: Apr 28, 2013
