What's the Magician's Other Hand Doing While we're All Watching the War?

[azion]

Originally posted by sycamore


And who controlled Congress for 6 of those 8 years, including those in which the budget was balanced?

Presidents get way too much credit and/or blame for the economy.

True enough, the GOP was in controll of Congress for 6/8 years... just as they have been for the entire Bush II administration. If your implied argument- that the GOP Congress was largely responsible for the balanced budgets- is to hold water, then surely you would expect at least a single balanced budget to come from a combination of GOP controll of both Houses of Congress and the Executive Branch.

But, FWIW, I agree that Presidents- and Congress- get too much credit for the vagaries of the business cycle. However, policies can tweak the cycle so as to enhance it in one direction or the other.

Your ball,
Z