[ 479 ] Economics GED ® TEST SOCIAL STUDIES FLASH REVIEW _____________ • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • In 1932, while campaigning for president, Franklin D. Roosevelt said the following: “If the Nation is living within its income, its credit is good. If, in some crises, it lives beyond its income for a year or two, it can usually borrow temporarily at reasonable rates. But if, like a spendthrift, it throws discretion to the winds, and is willing to make no sacrifice at all in spending; if it extends its taxing to the limit of the people’s power to pay and continues to pile up deficits, then it is on the road to bankruptcy.” In 1981, Ronald Reagan made the following statement during his Inaugural Address: “For decades, we have piled deficit upon deficit, mortgaging our future and our children’s future for the temporary convenience of the present. To continue this long trend is to guarantee tremendous social, cultural, political, and economic upheavals.” Roosevelt was president from 1932 to 1945. Reagan was president from 1981 to 1988. Which of the following conclusions is supported by the quotations? a. All presidential candidates make promises they do not intend to keep. b. If a president cares enough about federal deficits, he or she can force the government to operate on a surplus. c. Ronald Reagan and Franklin Roosevelt pursued virtually identical agendas during their presidencies. d. Despite their best intentions, it is often difficult for presidents to control federal deficits.