Donald Trump and Elon Musk claim that the US Government was overwhelmed by “fat and waste and fraud and abuse” and that they are only cutting the people “that aren’t working or … not doing a good job” and are “keeping the best people”. Can you believe that, with all the evidence that their goal is to take a hatchet to the US Government so they can give more tax breaks to the rich (including themselves)?
What they don’t mention is that the size of the US government is currently lower than in the past, even though the population of the US has increased significantly. Federal employment peaked at 3.4 million in 1990 and the most recent low was 2014, with 2.7 million. Since the year 2000, it has remained relatively flat, although it actually increased an average of 0.9% a year during the first Trump administration.
And as Doonesbury points out, it was the Democrats who reduced federal employment, during the administration of Bill Clinton and Al Gore. When the measure came up for a vote in Congress, every Republican voted against it. The only modern presidents who were able to generate a budget surplus were Clinton and LBJ. In addition, only two other presidents were able to reduce the deficit, and they were Barack Obama and more recently, Joe Biden. The GOP always increased deficits, usually by slashing taxes for the rich.
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