Ryan McFarland

I was kind of curious about just how wars impact our national budget. I also wondered what our deficit/surplus history looked like compared to presidential party affiliation. I found it pretty strange that democrats tend to have a flat or favorable slope during their overall term especially with the social programs usually associated with liberal political parties. The nearly overwhelming unfavorable trend during republican presidential tenures might be attributed to greater military spending - but that’s just speculation and oversimplification on my part i’m sure. Somehow LBJ managed to lead the country into a surplus during the Vietnam conflict despite a plummet in his popularity at the time.