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A Simple Comparison: Republican vs. Democrat
- 1. SIMPLE COMPARISON: REPUBLICAN VS.DEMOCRAT By: Diego Rivera April 5th 2016
- 2. A brief economicand legislative comparison during a Republican Presidency vs. a Democratic Presidency. I decided to research and develop a comparative analysis of how our economy performed under an 8 year Republican President vs. an 8 year Democratic President. I compared congressional legislation, federal unemployment rate, and the federal budget. The presidents I chose were Bill Clinton and George W. Bush. Both had 8 years in office. Bush had the benefit of a Republican controlled House and Senate during 6 of his 8 years in office, where Clinton only had a Democratically controlled House and Senate for 2 of his 8 years in office. Needless to say, Bush held the advantage with a Republican house and senate for 75% of his Presidency vs. Clinton only having a Democratically controlled house and senate for 25% of his Presidency. Clinton ultimately had to perform wizardry to work across the aisle and get his Republican counterparts to agree to anything. Bush just had to ask and his Republican majority had to say yes.
- 3. Unemployment Rate DuringBill Clinton Era During Clintons two terms (1992-2000) the federal unemployment rate was: Source: http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet Year Rate 1992 7.3 1993 7.3 1994 6.6 1995 5.6 1996 5.6 1997 5.3 1998 4.6 1999 4.3 2000 4.0 As you can see the federal unemployment rate dropped from 7.3% when Clinton started office to just under 4% when Clinton left office in 2000. During his presidency, Clinton had the lowest unemployment rate in history.
- 4. Unemployment Rate DuringGeorge W. Bush Era During Bush two terms (2000-2008) the federal unemployment rate was: Source: http://data.bls.gov/pdq/SurveyOutputServlet Year Rate 2000 3.9 2001 5.7 2002 6.0 2003 5.7 2004 5.4 2005 4.9 2006 4.4 2007 5.0 2008 7.3 Bush inherited a 4% unemployment rate and within 2 years it went above 6%. When he left office it settled above 7%. Perhaps it had something to do with his complicit cabinet misleading the American people, Congress and the world about 9/11. This led to a costly war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Also the deregulation of the financial industry led to the housing crash of 2008, which sent the unemployment rate above 7%. If you care about the economy and employment, this is what your Republican President and Republican controlled congress created.
- 5. Federal Budget DuringBill Clinton Era In Millions of Dollars Year Receipts Outlays Surplus or Deficit (–) 1992 1,091,208 1,381,529 -290,321 1993 1,154,334 1,409,386 -255,051 1994 1,258,566 1,461,752 -203,186 1995 1,351,790 1,515,742 -163,952 1996 1,453,053 1,560,484 -107,431 1997 1,579,232 1,601,116 -21,884 1998 1,721,728 1,652,458 69,270 1999 1,827,452 1,701,842 125,610 2000 2,025,191 1,788,950 236,241 Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2017/assets/hist01z1.xls SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS (–): 1992-2000 Clinton Years From 1997 to 2000 Bill Clinton established the beginning of a balanced budget. When he left office in 2000 we had a budget surplus. Yes, we had a budget surplus, that’s money in the bank people! He did this by reaching across the aisle and working with a Republican controlled House and Senate to propose a balanced budget every year! Back then, Republicans didn’t have the audacity to hold the federal budget hostage every year because they were upset with proposed legislation.
- 6. Federal Budget DuringGeorge W. Bush Era In Millions of Dollars Year Receipts Outlays Surplus or Deficit (–) 1992 1,091,208 1,381,529 -290,321 1993 1,154,334 1,409,386 -255,051 1994 1,258,566 1,461,752 -203,186 1995 1,351,790 1,515,742 -163,952 1996 1,453,053 1,560,484 -107,431 1997 1,579,232 1,601,116 -21,884 1998 1,721,728 1,652,458 69,270 1999 1,827,452 1,701,842 125,610 2000 2,025,191 1,788,950 236,241 Source: https://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2017/assets/hist01z1.xls SUMMARY OF RECEIPTS, OUTLAYS, AND SURPLUSES OR DEFICITS (–): 1992-2000 Clinton Years In Bush’s first year of office he took the surplus he inherited from Clinton and turned it into a deficit. Now we have a trillion dollar deficit. That 458 billion dollar deficit is now a trillion dollar deficit and growing.
- 7. Federal Legislation PassedDuring Bill Clinton Era Federal Legislation Passed During George W. Bush Era
- 8. Republican vs. DemocratLegislation Comparison Bush Legislation • During 2001-2003 congress enacted 383 laws and 681 resolutions • During 2003-2005 congress enacted 504 laws and 865 resolutions • During 2005-2007 congress enacted 483 laws and 1027 resolutions • During 2007-2009 congress enacted 460 laws and 1435 resolutions Clinton Legislation • During 1993-1995 congress enacted 473 laws and 509 resolutions • During 1995-1997 congress enacted 337 laws and 598 resolutions • During 1997-1999 congress enacted 404 laws and 621 resolutions • During 1999-2001congress enacted 604 laws and 769 resolutions
- 9. Republican vs. DemocratLegislation Summary Overall the congressional report card for both Presidents and their congresses are nearly congruent. Having party control during a presidency is key. Bush passed double the legislation during his last 4 years in office when the Republicans controlled the House and Senate.
- 10. Bush vs. ClintonSummary Why did I spend a few hours researching this stuff? I am absolutely sick of our government. I am sick of campaign finance laws only benefiting big business. Keep in mind a conservative led organization called Citizens United started the Citizens United suit, which enabled the practice of Super PAC’s. Super PAC’s provide unlimited resources for campaigns and all but prevent you and I from influencing an election. As long as Super PACs are possible, our vote does not matter. Unless you’re a billionaire like George Soros or Larry Ellison, our legislative concerns go unnoticed. You should be tired of having a Republican controlled congress publicly vow to hold off Supreme Court justice hearings, even though it’s their job! See: Republicans vow no hearings and no votes for Obama’s Supreme Court pick http://wpo.st/9nKS1 Every year of Obama’s presidency your Republican controlled congress held up our budget, threatening government shutdown because they did not agree with Obama’s legislation. For me Obama care helped. It got rid of the infamous pre existing condition clause all insurance companies used to get out of providing coverage. God forbid you had a chronic condition or a lapse in insurance coverage. That’s all the insurance company needed to refuse your coverage. Sure forcing people to buy insurance stinks, but I look at the big picture. Obama had the stones to take on the insurance industry and force them to close the preexisting condition loophole that made them billions. Republicans are still wasting our money trying to repeal Obama care.
- 11. Bush vs. ClintonSummary (Cont’d) We should be tired of the immigration debate. We are a nation of immigrants. Republicans constantly complain about immigrants taking our jobs. News flash, they take the jobs that most US born citizens don’t want, hard labor jobs, low paying jobs, and farm jobs. If you don’t believe me, take a look at Alabama. Their legislature enacted (HB 56) See: How America's harshest immigration law failed: http://on.msnbc.com/19OevJE requiring farmers to stop hiring South Americans. Farmers were forced to hire US citizens i.e. Alabama blue collar workers and nearly all went bankrupt. Ultimately they did not work as hard as South Americans. This forced farmers to try and use prisoners, i.e. chain gangs. This too backfired, as prisoners could care less about working hard labor. In the end, this Republican legislation failed and caused harm to Alabama farmers. Republicans need to take a page out of the Democratic playbook and focus on free or cheap education. As a nation we must educate ourselves to make ourselves relevant. Factory and so-called working class jobs are perfect for countries that have working class citizens and cheap currency. In this global economy we can’t compete, therefore we must adapt and educate ourselves so that we can stay relevant. Go back to school and get a relevant high paying service job. They are out there and going unfilled.
- 12. Bush vs. ClintonSummary (Cont’d) It seems most Americans are concerned about our economy, jobs and security. They think electing a new president will solve this problem. They are wrong. We must elect a party consistent president and congress to get anything done. At the very least we must elect a president who can reach across the aisle and work with a bipartisan congress. Its clear to me that Donald Trump is a divider not a unifier. The Clintons have proven their ability to work with a bipartisan congress. Remember Bill Clinton had a Republican controlled congress for 6 of his 8 years. Remember these simple facts in the next legislative election. Unseat those incumbent Republican congressmen who have held our government hostage for the past 8 years. Unseat Republicans who fail to do their jobs and confirm our acting Presidents Supreme Court Justice nomination. Unseat the Republicans who divide us with threats of terror and racist ideology. Unseat those Republican congressmen and women who have failed at their jobs for the past 8 years. Lets clean house and elect a Democratic majority.
- 13. Bush vs. ClintonSummary (Cont’d) We need a democratic president and a democratically controlled congress to implement the changes country so desperately needs. We need campaign finance reform to get rid of Super PAC’s. We need to fix our education system, provide an affordable if not free quality education so that every American is smart, learns from the past and stops living in it! Every American should be disgraced with what our Republican controlled congress has done by holding our budget hostage every year, holding up our presidents US Supreme courts nomination, and wasting time and money trying to repeal Obama care every year. I used to be a registered Republican and share many moderate Republican views. No more!