Political Quotes

“Mr. President, I have been here about 4\1/2\ years and come from that world where you could never do what we do here. When you run a business, you are competing. You are earning your revenues. They are not given to you like in government. Here, we just have to be smart enough not to spend more than we take in. Sadly, when you look--all the data is there historically--we haven't balanced the budget since the late 1990s. Over 50 years, there are some things that are just criteria you need to take into consideration and maybe view as a given. Our system is built on enterprise, sound regulation, not overbearing, taxes that you can pay without being a wet blanket on the economy. Over 50 years, other than 2 or 3 years that happened to coincide in the Clinton years when we balanced the budget, we have never generated more than 18 percent of our GDP in revenue through the Federal Government. It is this simple: When you have high rates, you flush more into the Treasury the first couple years. You go from whatever the economic growth rate was to something a half to a percent and a half lower. When you cut taxes--and it was getting close; it wasn't quite there pre- COVID, the Trump tax cuts--you are going to deplete revenues the first couple years, but then you benefit from an economy that is growing more robustly. We know all of that. The missing link here is that anywhere else, you have the rigor of the marketplace. When you are running something, it is not merciful.…”