I’m Chris Anstey, an economics editor in Boston, and today we’re looking at Gregory Korte’s reporting on the fiscal plans of the two US presidential contenders. Send us feedback and tips to ecodaily@bloomberg.net or get in touch on X via @economics. And if you aren’t yet signed up to receive this newsletter, you can do so here.

In the 1992 US presidential election, angst over a gaping federal budget deficit was so widespread that an independent candidate, business mogul Ross Perot, was able to garner almost one-in-five votes on a platform topped by stanching the red ink.