This is an OpEd written by Martin Armstrong for the Wall Street Journal. April 19, 1995. In sum, the manner in which President Clinton (1993-2001) was able to balance the budge was (1) the economy recovered in 1994 with capital pouring into the United States as it fled South East Asia resulting in the Asian Currency Crisis in 1997, (2) US Interest rates rose sharply in 1994 attracting huge capital inflows including those from Japan, and (3) he shortened the maturity of the debt funding it short-term to cut interest expenditure. The National Debt rose from $4,064.6 billion in 1992 to $5,807.5 billion by 2001. The rate of growth was slowed by the shift in funding. Interest rates at the Fed dropped by 6.5% in 2000 to 1.75% in 2001. When Clinton took office the Fed Discount Rate stood at 3.5%. The rise began in 1994 that helped to attract foreign capital, especially from Japan, and it peaked in 2000 with the Dot Com Bubble on the heels of the 1998 Long Term Capital Management debacle that followed the collapse of Russian debt.
