That's a fantasy which could never have come to pass in any universe. The only reason the budget was in surplus (technically) is the economy was so white hot revenue was coming in faster than Congress had anticipated. As soon as this was apparent, our legislators were falling all over themselves to spend money on their pet pork projects.
We would have ended up in the hole anyway, since the revenue burst was bubble induced and destined to go down. But even if that wasn't true they would never have allowed the surplus to continue.
Even then it was imaginary, because the growth in Social Security and Medicare spending was always going to outstrip revenue under the rosiest of scenarios.
We would have ended up in the hole anyway, since the revenue burst was bubble induced and destined to go down. But even if that wasn't true they would never have allowed the surplus to continue.
Even then it was imaginary, because the growth in Social Security and Medicare spending was always going to outstrip revenue under the rosiest of scenarios.