This chart, based on historical figures from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, shows the total deficit or surplus for each fiscal year from 1990 through 2006.

The U.S. Treasury Department recently tweeted a chart that breaks down the major drivers that turned a small surplus in 2001 into a massive deficit by 2011.

But the story of why they haven't been quite as good is more complicated than "Clinton isn't around now." Here are three of the best analyses of what's happened to the federal budget since 2001.

At the Democratic National Convention, Bill Clinton famously opined that arithmetic was the magic trick that enabled him to be the last President to provide a budget surplus. In 2001, the CBO ...

These tax cuts, combined with the end of the tech boom and a recession than began in late 2001, drove the budget from a projected $200 billion a year surplus to a $400 billion a year deficit in a ...

Clinton draws a chart of public debt as he presents his 2001 full-year budget on Feb. 7, 2000. ... U.S. Office of Management and Budget. 'Federal Surplus or Deficit [-]'.

How Markets Have Responded to Deficits, in Charts. Share. Resize. ... CLINTON. G.W. BUSH. OBAMA. TRUMP. BIDEN. 4 ... This year’s projected budget deficit of $1.9 trillion is already likely to ...

During the Clinton years, deficits shrank, the budget was nearly balanced, but interest rates remained high. I think there are two major reasons for today’s high deficits and debt.

The Clinton presidency saw a budget deficit of 3.8 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) ... (see Chart 1). Tax revenues declined by 1.5 percent of GDP between 2001 and 2008.