How The War on Terror and Obama’s Bailout is Still Costing America

And a quick scene setter here.

Bill Clinton has just left office in January of 2001, and America has experienced a moment of peace and prosperity.

They've had a post-Cold War decade of booming prosperity and peace around the world, and Bill Clinton has managed to bring down the deficit, and he has created a $236 billion federal budget surplus.

And during the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the debate had been over what to do with that surplus.

Al Gore wanted to use it to fund more welfare programs.

George W. Bush wanted to use it to cut taxes, arguing that that is what would create growth.

It's the same old debate, right, that you've heard for decades between the two parties.

It feels like it's a little stale, nothing new, but it's where the duopoly, as you call it, is stuck.

You know, Katty, this is, this is something that needs to be understood.

There was a, there was actually a period of good executive leadership in the country.

Whatever you thought of George Herbert Walker Bush, George W. Bush's dad, or Bill Clinton, they agreed on a certain principle that got started in the Bush I administration, and it's very important to bring this up.

There was legislation passed by George Herbert Walker Bush in 1990 which effectively be- became called the PAYGO legislation, or pay as you go.

He actually reached out to Dick Gephardt, he's a personal friend of mine, and he convinced Dick Gephardt to get many Democrats to vote for constraints on the Congress.

And so put simply, if you wanted a tax cut, you had to cut social services in the budget and bring down spending.

If you wanted to increase social services, well, that's no problem, then you had to have a tax increase.

Bush signed this into law, Katty.

We then had the accidental Gulf War I where the Iraqis invaded Kuwait.

It, it put it- the Americans in a recession.

Uh, Bush wanted more social services spending, and so he broke his pledge.

If you remember, "Read my lips, no new taxes," but he just signed this PAYGO legislation, and so he raised taxes.

In comes Ross Perot to disrupt that election.

But this is very important for people to understand.

Bill Clinton adhered to this Republican policy, and there was a very famous, uh, debate.

Bob Woodward wrote about this in the book called The Agenda.

In March of 1993, they called it the Battle of the Two Bobs.

And a quick scene setter here.

Bill Clinton has just left office in January of 2001, and America has experienced a moment of peace and prosperity.

They've had a post-Cold War decade of booming prosperity and peace around the world, and Bill Clinton has managed to bring down the deficit, and he has created a $236 billion federal budget surplus.

And during the election between George W. Bush and Al Gore, the debate had been over what to do with that surplus.

Al Gore wanted to use it to fund more welfare programs.

George W. Bush wanted to use it to cut taxes, arguing that that is what would create growth.

It's the same old debate, right, that you've heard for decades between the two parties.

It feels like it's a little stale, nothing new, but it's where the duopoly, as you call it, is stuck.

You know, Katty, this is, this is something that needs to be understood.

There was a, there was actually a period of good executive leadership in the country.

Whatever you thought of George Herbert Walker Bush, George W. Bush's dad, or Bill Clinton, they agreed on a certain principle that got started in the Bush I administration, and it's very important to bring this up.

There was legislation passed by George Herbert Walker Bush in 1990 which effectively be- became called the PAYGO legislation, or pay as you go.

He actually reached out to Dick Gephardt, he's a personal friend of mine, and he convinced Dick Gephardt to get many Democrats to vote for constraints on the Congress.

And so put simply, if you wanted a tax cut, you had to cut social services in the budget and bring down spending.

If you wanted to increase social services, well, that's no problem, then you had to have a tax increase.

Bush signed this into law, Katty.

We then had the accidental Gulf War I where the Iraqis invaded Kuwait.

It, it put it- the Americans in a recession.

Uh, Bush wanted more social services spending, and so he broke his pledge.

If you remember, "Read my lips, no new taxes," but he just signed this PAYGO legislation, and so he raised taxes.

In comes Ross Perot to disrupt that election.

But this is very important for people to understand.

Bill Clinton adhered to this Republican policy, and there was a very famous, uh, debate.

Bob Woodward wrote about this in the book called The Agenda.

In March of 1993, they called it the Battle of the Two Bobs.