In article ,
Gunner Asch wrote:

On Sat, 22 Oct 2011 08:51:38 -0400, Allen Drake
wrote:


GDP, the budget bottom line went from a

deficit of 4.7 percent in 1992 to a surplus


Clinton

There was NO surplus under Clinton.

Sadly true.
There was, but it was largely accounting. The extra money brought in by
the Social Security "Surplus" was counted as revenue. This was despite
the fact that the only place, by law, it could go was into Treasury
Securities. So, the current accounts surplus was largely related to
taking a long-term liability (those SS-surplus Treasuries) and counting
it as a short-term asset. When you back those out, you are again in
deficit.
In fairness to Mr. C, this wasn't anything he cooked up, that
bookkeeping system had been the same since the 80s. Also, the surplus
topped out and was back into deficit even with the creative bookkeeping
by before GW's first budget.

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