Pirate, you claim that we never had any surpluses when W took office. Not true. They can be found here, at the White House website:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/HistoricalsYou can click on the very first table:
http://www.whitehouse.gov/sites/default/files/omb/budget/fy2012/assets/hist01z1.xlsThat table does require Excel. In case you can't read it, here are the budget numbers from 1990 to present, including projections for this year and next:
Receipts Outlays Surplus or Deficit (−)
1990 1,031,958 1,252,994 -221,036
1991 1,054,988 1,324,226 -269,238
1992 1,091,208 1,381,529 -290,321
1993 1,154,335 1,409,386 -255,051
1994 1,258,566 1,461,753 -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
2001 1,991,082 1,862,846 128,236
2002 1,853,136 2,010,894 -157,758
2003 1,782,314 2,159,899 -377,585
2004 1,880,114 2,292,841 -412,727
2005 2,153,611 2,471,957 -318,346
2006 2,406,869 2,655,050 -248,181
2007 2,567,985 2,728,686 -160,701
2008 2,523,991 2,982,544 -458,553
2009 2,104,989 3,517,677 -1,412,688
2010 2,162,724 3,456,213 -1,293,489
2011 estimate 2,173,700 3,818,819 -1,645,119
2012 estimate 2,627,449 3,728,686 -1,101,237
