Budget ‘facts’? Let’s take another look

To the editor:

Michael Maze's Thursday letter claiming to present "Budget facts" is a ridiculous attempt to rewrite history based on a personally biased perspective.

According to him, Bill Clinton's surplus is credited to a Republican-controlled Congress, while George Bush's deficit is attributed to a Democrat-controlled Congress at the end of his term. For those of us who lived through the nightmare of the growing deficit throughout the Bush years, starting in year one with the tax rebate, this is complete nonsense.

Mr. Clinton and Al Gore reduced the size of government as a separate endeavor, and the surplus came as an offshoot. Remember the GOP outcry about Mr. Clinton's reduction of defense spending?

Under both presidents, Congress responded to the executive branch leadership. Recall that it was Mr. Bush who ushered in the bailouts the conservatives rail against, after his strategy of giving tax breaks to the rich failed big time.

It is true that Mr. Bush didn't create his deficit by writing checks. In an "off-budget" exercise he grandiosely used a credit card, payable to the Chinese, to fund wars in Iraq and Afghanistan -- and now the charges plus interest have come due.

All this while saddling the nation with the costly Patriot Act and reducing tax revenue from the wealthy.

Combine this with a deregulating climate that favored the oil companies, and you have a great recipe for the current financial and natural disasters.

Mr. Obama's budget includes all costs, and the deficit is glaring. It shows the true impact of the previous administration, as the perpetrators chant "less government" and "no more spending."

Mr. Maze's letter is apparently an attempt to start another public deception by repeatedly stating fabricated "facts" until even he believes it. Everyone is not so gullible. There are folks who truly understand how federal spending works, and who spent us into this mess.

JAMES CLARK

Henderson