Federal annual deficit and national debt accounting is a bit tricky. The annual deficit may decrease, while the total debt of the nation (national debt) increases for the same fiscal year. A president may borrow from funds such as the Social Security Trust Fund to decrease the deficit (short term debt), which increases the long term national debt. Slick Willy did this three years in a row -- 1998 to 2000.
Note that as there is a budget surplus for the three years, the national debt still increased. Got that -- no real surplus -- it was borrowed.
Now exactly where did Slick Willy borrow from to show a surplus?
For example, in 2000, Clinton claimed a $230B surplus, but Clinton borrowed $152.3B from Social Security
$30.9B from Civil Service Retirement Fund
$18.5B from Federal Supplementary Medical insurance Trust Fund
$15.0B from Federal Hospital Insurance Trust Fund
$9.0B from the Federal Unemployment Trust Fund
$8.2B from Military Retirement Fund $3.8B from Transportation Trust Funds $1.8B from Employee Life Insurance & Retirement fund
$7.0B from others Total borrowed from off budget funds
$246.5B, meaning that his $230B surplus is actually a $16.5B deficit. ($246.5B borrowed - $230B claimed surplus
http://www.answers.com/Q/How_m..._Clinton_left_office
Reportedly Bernie Madoff swooned at this.