Statements like this show a complete lack of understanding about economics and how easily such lines spun by politicians can entrap the average voter. National and world economies simply do not function like your personal check book, nor should they.

It is commonc economic policy to "prime the pump" in difficult economic times to avoid recession or to pull an economy out of one. It's been done by both political parties helping the US avoid prolonged bad economic times. Causing deficits or more accurately increasing deficits has been commonplace throughout most of our country's history. Democrats typicaly do it through increased government spending, Republicans through tax cuts. In order to get us out of the great depression for example the country not only created government programs such as the WPA and the CCC, but also printed whatever money was needed to pay for them.

If you look at the economic history of our country the times when there was no deficit are relatively short.

Personally I prefer the tax cut method of priming the pump as government can always raise taxes when necessary and in a free-market economy I believe it is better to have consumers impacting the economy with true buying decisions. Government programs once created however seem to be nearly impossible to eliminate and usually expand costing more and more to maintain.

That having been said I am not voting for Bush because of his economic policies, but because I believe him to be more straightforward in addressing our nation's challenges. I am sick of politicians telling me what they think I want to hear in an attempt to win an election and then doing whatever they want once they do. Kerry fits that typical politician mode for me. Bush does not.

Walt