Any time any DC elite complains about 'the deficit' remind them that when Clinton left office we had a huge surplus, so big that at the rate it was being paid down the entire US debt was going to be paid off in 10 years. Bush demanded that we give back the people's money and Greenspan warned of the danger of paying off the debt ... So we went from big surplus to huge, huge deficits. Bush said it was 'incredibly positive news' when we went back into deficit spending. He said it was good news because it continued the plan to use debt to force the government to cut back .