In 1982 the federal budget deficit rose above $100 billion for the first time (those were the good old days!), and then-President Ronald Reagan agreed to an infamous budget deal with then-House Speaker Tip O’Neill. Democrats would agree to $3 of spending cuts for every $1 of tax increases. Reagan foolishly agreed to the deal. The taxes went up. The spending cuts never materialized.
Reagan used to fume for the rest of his presidency, “I’m still waiting for those $3 of spending cuts.”
Back then Democrats at least pretended they would cut spending. Democratic presidential candidate Michael Dukakis pledged in 1988 that he would “only raise taxes as a last resort.”
My, how times have changed. Now we have red ink multiple times higher than back then, with the Biden-Kamala baseline forecast calling for $2 trillion in deficits from now until…
