Recently, a Sun Journal columnist suggested that John Kerry should expand all sorts of federal programs and correct the budget deficit at the same time (The Front Porch, April 4). Fat chance.

Between 1992 and 2000, the federal budget position moved from a deficit of 4.7 percent to a surplus of 2.7 percent as a percent of GDP. Because real GDP grew at a 3.7 percent annual rate, tax revenues rose substantially.

But the budget position also improved because Bill Clinton reined in expenditures. Between 1992 and 2000, expressed in real terms, federal government expenditures on goods and services fell at an annual rate of 1.1 percent. As a result, such expenditures dropped from 8.6 percent to 5.9 percent of GDP.

Even if one includes off-budget expenditures such as Social Security, Medicare and so on, (items that depend primarily on demographics) real government outlays only advanced at an annual rate of 1.3 percent. The upshot was that government outlays fell from 22.2 percent to 18.4 percent of GDP over the period.

Lately, John Kerry has talked of putting caps on government expenditures. If Kerry follows a Clintonian path, perhaps Republicans, who favor a more limited government, should vote for Kerry. In addition, many Democrats who prowl around the Statehouse might learn that one can stride forward on the thoroughfare of fiscal prudence and still be a Democrat.
Ted Walther, Lewiston

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