It leaves disabled veterans to house and treat or widows to support. The sheer economic cost of the Second World War cannot begin to be measured in government budgets. The strong, confident military that he left us kept the peace well, prevented the economic calamity of war. Yes, ignore or place the most nominal financial value you wish on the freedom of hundreds of millions, the blood of hundreds of thousands, or the savaging of factories, cities, and farmlands by war. Still Reagan was right and you were wrong.
Deficits are a tax on our children and a drain on capital.
Except in times of war, deficits are bad. But Mr. Clinton did not help in balancing the budget. Ronald Reagan made the best investment in American History, with the possible exception of the Louisiana Purchase. His peaceful disintegration of the Soviet menace meant that for eight years Bill Clinton could strut like Mussolini without having paid for his swagger stick. The Clinton surpluses are the Reagan surpluses.