Historically, Republicans were considered fiscal conservatives and Democrats the opposite. Republicans have historically been associated with balanced budgets or low deficits. In modern times, this is no longer true. Democrats argue much more against deficits than do Republicans. Indeed, under Republican administrations, deficits have been larger than under Democratic administrations.

Some Republicans have been using the argument that real economic growth was higher during years in which the net public debt exceeded one-third of GDP than in years when it was less than that. In other words, real economic growth was 1 percent higher (almost 3.5 percent) in high-deficit and debt years than it was in low-deficit years (almost 2.5 percent).

It is often good to point out to your students that the real tax rate is the percentage of GDP controlled by government. If GDP is $12 trillion and combined federal, state, and local total spending is $4 trillion, then the real average tax rate is $4/$12 or 33 1/3 percent. Does how the government finances its spending affect this real tax rate?