When Clinton left office, things were arranged so that we would have had a surplus, right now. Instead, Bush gave the money back, then started a couple of wars. I could be that someone saw this eventuality, but no one wants to admit it.
I think that the inevitable problem was clearly seen by the thousands of folks who have to make ends meet day by day and have to reconcile spreading out their wages to cover the bills. We have learned to prioritize our spending so when we see the government driving us towards the reef we have no recourse but to shake our heads and say "what next?"
