To the Editor:

My old friend and former neighbor Don Gruneisen recently submitted a letter extolling the fiscal responsibility of Donald Trump and Representative Elise Stefanik. I think he’s mistaken on several points. The last federal budget surpluses were generated during the Democrats’ Clinton administration in its second term.

Republican George Bush Jr. then passed a tax cut that was supposed to pay for itself, but generated a deficit by his 2 nd year in office. His second term ended during the huge financial crisis which drove up the deficit as tax revenue dropped and unemployment benefits skyrocketed. It reached record levels during the first year of the Obama administration, 2009.

The deficit declined annually through the Obama years, in spite of the passage of a major new federal benefit—the Affordable Care Act. (“Obama Care”).

Republican Donald Trump then enacted another tax cut that was supposed to pay for itself, only to set off another period of deficit increases. This happened during a period of a strong economy that didn’t require further stimulus. It would have spurred inflation if the money had been spread evenly through the public, but since most of the tax cut went to the rich, it mostly inflated the price of luxuries and the stock market.

The highest deficits in history were in Mr. Trump’s final year, precipitated by the disastrous Covid-19 pandemic. They have declined during the Biden administration though they are still as high as they were during the 2008 fiscal crisis. I would tend to agree that the Democratic Biden administration has not been fiscally responsible, but to say that recent Republican administrations have been more careful with the public purse verges on ridiculous.

John Dewer
Potsdam