budget deficit shrinking

Here is a story still under-told. The US federal budget deficit is plunging. It's been in a steady decline for over four years; but the pace at which it's improving has really picked up in the past year, particularly last month. About two-thirds of the improvement has come from the spending side, with the remainder on the revenue (tax receipts) side.

 I suppose that's good relatively speaking, but only in comparison.  It's not that 700 billion in the hole (per year) is good.  It just that it was so horrendously bad at 1.5 trillion in 2010. I guess that's what fighting two wars will do.

I see we were running a surplace in the late 1990's/early 2000's.  I wonder who was president then, in sayy 1998 through 2002.

Let's see.  According to wikipedia, Bill Clinton served from 1993-2001.  That's when the deficit went from negative to positve.  Then George W. Bush from 2001-2009.  And the bottom fell out.  (Bush gets blamed for everything.)  Coincidence of course.