If only I had a penny for every time I heard about Clinton and Gingrich’s budget surpluses… Seriously, that this myth continues is astounding.

The fact is that the national debt increased every year during the 1990s, and even that does not account for unfunded liabilities which dwarf the official debt.

Year Official National Debt ($billion)
1990
$3,233
1991
$3,665
1992
$4,065
1993
$4,411
1994
$4,693
1995
$4,974
1996
$5,225
1997
$5,413
1998
$5,526
1999
$5,656

As the Institute for Truth in Accounting describes it, the “surpluses” relied upon political math, or outright deceit—however you prefer to characterize it. During the 1990s, and through to today, federal officials have borrowed money from themselves (from federal trust funds, primarily Social Security) to pay for operating expenditures. However, they have simply reported these debts as revenues. From Bruce Major:

For example, in 2000, Clinton claimed a $230B surplus, but Clinton borrowed

  • $152.3B from Social Security
  • $30.9B from Civil Service Retirement Fund
  • $18.5B from Federal Supplementary Medical insurance Trust Fund
  • $15.0B from Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
  • $9.0B from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
  • $8.2B from Military Retirement Fund
  • $3.8B from Transportation Trust Funds
  • $1.8B from Employee Life Insurance & Retirement fund
  • $7.0B from others

For a more detailed account, I recommend Craig Steiner’s piece on this. Even if written back in 2007, the lesson doesn’t seem to have been absorbed.