Editing Balanced Budget (section)

== Speech Relevance ==
In '[[A Time For Choosing]]', Reagan says,
<BLOCKQUOTE>''We haven't balanced our budget 28 out of the last 34 years.''</BLOCKQUOTE>
The last "34 years" would mean, depending on when Reagan was starting his counting, going back to 1930 or 1931.  Since his speech was broadcast in October of 1964, it is possible that he included the estimated budget of 1964 in his calculation.  The evidence bears this out.  In the 34 years of 1931 to 1964, the budget was in deficit 28 of those years.

According to a document from the St. Louis Federal Reserve (link below), this is the breakdown of year-by-year deficits/surpluses:

{| class="wikitable" border="1" style="padding: 4px;"
| 1964 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$10 billion</FONT> || 1963 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$6.2 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1962 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$6.3 billion</FONT> || 1961 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.8 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1960 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$1.2 billion</FONT> || 1959 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$12.4 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1958 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$2.8 billion</FONT> || 1957 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$1.6 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1956 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$1.6 billion</FONT> || 1955 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$4.2 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1954 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.1 billion</FONT> || 1953 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$9.5 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1952 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$4 billion</FONT> || 1951 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$3.5 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1950 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.1 billion</FONT> || 1949 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$1.8 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1948 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$8.4 billion</FONT> || 1947 || <FONT COLOR="Green">+$0.7 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1946 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$20.7 billion</FONT> || 1945 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$53.9 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1944 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$51.4 billion</FONT> || 1943 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$57.4 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1942 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$21.5 billion</FONT> || 1941 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$6.2 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1940 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.9 billion</FONT> || 1939 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.9 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1938 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$1.2 billion</FONT> || 1937 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$2.8 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1936 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$4.4 billion</FONT> || 1935 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$2.8 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1934 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$3.6 billion</FONT> || 1933 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$2.6 billion</FONT>
|-
| 1932 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$2.7 billion</FONT> || 1931 || <FONT COLOR="Red">-$0.5 billion</FONT>
|}