Government spending is a controversial topic. Even though the government has a set budget each year that Congress and the President of the United States collaborate on, the United States continues to fall deeper in debt. According to U.S. National Debt, the U.S debt has been larger than our total annual gross domestic product since 2012. In other words, our debt is larger than the value of all the goods and services produced in the country within a twelve month period. “It is said that the U.S is currently $19.2 trillion dollars in debt (U.S. National Debt).” As long as Congress and the President continue to run yearly budget deficits, the U.S debt will continue to rise. As our deficits continue to rise, our government should focus on ways to increase revenue and reduce the national debt. According to the US Debt Clock, if the U.S economy were to suddenly crash, each citizen would owe $202,835. That is more than the average citizen were to makes in 4.4 years. In 2014, a wage survey concluded that the national average wage per citizen was $46,481.52 (Social Security). If the United States continues to ignore the debt that is lingering, the countries that we owe money to could cut us off from trade. If this were to occur, not only would it hurt our economy, but we may end up in another great depression. China, Japan and Brazil are just a few countries that the government is in debt to. Even though there are other areas of concern such as military, education, and social security that the government needs to allocate spend to, reducing the national debt is what our government officials should be their primary expenditure considering how large our debt has gotten to. If the Government does not find a way to reduce its expenditur... ... middle of paper ... ...security. If the government primarily allocated spend to these areas or primarily on the people, then our economy would suffer. In other words, if the U.S. government ignored its debt and only concentrated on its people, the debt would continue to rise and would take longer to pay off. The government needs to start allocating more money to debt and get it paid off so that officials could then make its main focus the citizens. There are clearly many areas the government needs to balance spending on but more emphasis needs to be made on lowering the trillions of dollars of debt. If focus isn’t made on reducing this debt, it’s believed we will end up in a recession. This would not only cause continued debt and very little spend on the needs of the people but could very well cause a negative impact on trade relations with foreign countries on much needed trade items.
One thing that I have learned about college is that you have to sometimes talk about things that make you uncomfortable or scared in order to learn. I do not think I am alone in saying that the United States’ current debt situation is terrifying. Ten trillion dollars alone is an expansive and unimaginable amount of money, and since PBS produced Ten Trillion and Counting in 2009, the national debt has grown to twenty-one trillion. As stated, the documentary was produced during the first months of former President Barack Obama’s first term and focused on former President George W. Bush’s relationship with national debt during his eight year tenure. Ten Trillion and Counting explains some of the questionable decisions that former President Bush made, especially regarding fiscal policy.
...hey are can cause national debt. This would lead to other countries to lose faith in the dollar resulting in loss or trade and investors. The dollar will be worth less and less if nation is in high debt. People will also be affected, when you have less money you spend and buy less due to increased prices which can causes problems in the economy such as a recession or worse a depression. Budget Deficit calls for the government to let cost exceed national income and use of monetary policy to jump start the economy. The government must be careful when choosing the best way to build the economy up. If the policies fail, they can lead the nation into many problems as stated above. This is why regulating money, trade, and the economy is an important part in government tasks. In the end, citizens want the best policy to promote the U.S. into a stabile and secure economy.
However the interest we pay on our nation 's debt is very small compared to the overall budget. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities only 7% of the total budget is spent on interest which is relatively low compared to things like social security which took up 24% of the budget in 2014 (Policy Basics). As long as the United States can continue to keep the interest rates low the debt will continue to be a begin threat. If the creditors of the U.S. were to spike their interest rates, America would be in trouble, however America has fairly good credit, and it should remain that way unless there is another scare like the government shutdown in 2011 (Riley). Overall the threat of the nation debt is a very minute problem in the grand scheme of things. According to The Richest, only five nations in the entire world are completely debt free, which is astounding when you consider that there are about 195 countries in the entire world (Mathers; How Many). These figures show how extremely difficult it is for a country to run without having a certain amount of debt, and America having debt should not be a concern. America is not even in the top ten countries whose debt make up the majority of their GDP (Country List). Which means that at the moment American’s should not be overly
Every day in New York City, hundreds of people walk past a huge digital billboard with giant numbers across its face. Each person who walks past this billboard sees a slightly different arrangement of numbers, growing larger every second. This board is the National Debt Clock, representing the over 14 trillion dollars currently owed by the United States. While some people claim that the national debt is caused by the falling economy, most maintain that the debt itself causes the poor economy (Budget Deficits 2007). Rising debt leads to higher interest and investment rates, and cuts into our national savings. Ignoring the national debt leaves the major burden of paying it off to later generations, while meanwhile allowing our country’s economy to further drop and our dependency on other nations to rise.
In general, an increase in government spending and decrease in the collection of government taxes and other receipts, increases the debt held by the local government. Government taxes and receipts fluctuate annually, and are frequently less than government spending. In the past, the U.S. public debt has increased for the duration of wars and recessions. When the government consumes more than what it accumulates in taxes, there is a budget deficit and the government then borrows from the private sector or from foreign governments to protect their spending. The compilation of historical borrowing is what materializes the government debt.
The U.S budget deficit over the years has been a problem but lately the deficit has shrunk. However, what made the U.S budget deficit get to where it is today and what will it be like in the years to come. Throughout the past the U.S has operated under a deficit. This means that the U.S Spent more money than it was taking in. The cause of the excess in spending was different depending on which year. Some of the causes were war, increase in spending , and economic downturns. There were different acts passed to try and control the deficit problem. The deficit at the present time is declining. This decline is due to the improving economy, sequester, and a tax increase on high-income households. The big factor that went into the decline in the deficit for 2013 was the payment that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made. The deficit decline in the present time may make some think the U.S could get out of debt but it has been projected that the U.S deficit will start to increase once again.
All but four countries in the world has external debt (“Country Comparison: Debt External”). Having a debt is almost as common as having a mortgage. Since its establishment, The United States has always been in debt (“Historical Debt Outstanding – Annual”). The US national debt has had five sharp increases previously in its history. The reasons include civil car and the two World W...
The concerns I have when talking about economics is the national debt crisis. There was a time when the United States was able to manage to keep a balanced budget. In fact, the only times a budget deficit existed were in times of war or other catastrophic events. The Government, for instance, generated deficits during the recession of 1837, the Civil War, the depression of the 1890s, and World War I. However, as soon as the war ended the deficit would be eliminated. When a government spends more than the revenue collected from taxation, tariff, and other fee revenues, the country must borrow money to cover the deficit it faces which when accumulated over the years becomes the national debt. In addition, there are two types of national debt, internal and external debt. Today the debate over the national debt crisis continues and many U.S. citizens are concerned about their financial future. Although, both the Democratic and Republican parties have their own opinions on how to fix this issue, a decision must be made to solve this issue before major repercussions.
Alexander Hamilton once said, “a national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” The debt of the United States of America is by far excessive. As of April 27th 2014, at 7:45PM GMT, the estimated apparent debt is $17, 444, 8555, 980, 176.09; which makes each of the 318, 108, 108 citizens owe a portion of $54, 839.39 and demonstrates the daily increase in debt of $2.40 billion. Evidently, such a crisis did not arise over night. Numbers have steadily soared with the occasional dip and fluctuation. As for the deficit, the U.S. continues to spend more than it receives in revenue, adding to the cumulative debt. If the government continues expenditures in such increased amounts, the country will never eliminate its trillions upon trillions of debt.
The U.S. economy is very important to many governments around the world, which mostly depend on the U.S. to function properly. Without the strong economy that the U.S has had, the economy of the world economy would not be in a stable manner as it has been in the past years. Foreign economies depend on the U.S. economy for factors such as, importing and exporting goods. However the economy has not been doing well for the U.S. in the past few years, but slowly it is still repairing itself from a recession but the country is still not safe from being a country without economic
About 45% of the debt is from Foreign and National trades, which values to about $6.148 billion. So, if We the People stop buying products from other foreign and International trade, We the People will only need to find a way to pay $13.652 trillion. Since 2008, China has owed us the People of the United States $1.3 trillion and Japan only being the second highest country to owe money, that values to $1.2 trillion. Between them two countries, it leaves the debt to be only $11.152 trillion. If we would count what all the other countries owed us, then We the People will only have to find away to pay A$7.552
Per usgovermentdebt.us the national debt is over nineteen trillion dollars. This extremely high amount could be America’s down fall, and how it should be lowered, is a widely debated issue.
There are 6 largest budgets items in the U.S government, they are Medicare/Medicaid ($96 billions), Social Security ($88 billions), Defense/War ($58 billions), Income Security ($31 billions), Net Interest on debt ($24 billions), Federal Pensions ($25 billions). Each one has its own importance though the U.S government should cut back spending on few of the budget items. They conducted survey and got federal pension and defense/war should be cut back. In my point of view they should cut back in federal pension because the defense is mandatory for U.S citizens the government should protect citizens that is there responsibility, without defense we can’t protect from enemies foreign and domestic.
The U.S. Treasury divides all the federal spending into three different groups: discretionary spending mandatory spending, and interest on debt (Federal Spending). Mandatory and discretionary spending report for over ninety percent of federal spending, and pay for all the government services and programs that citizens rely on (Federal Spending). The Interest on debt, is a smaller amount than the others, the interest the government pays on it is collected debt, minus the interest income brought in by government for goods it owns (Federal Spending).
The economy affects all Americans. Because our government spends money frivolously, our economy is bad. In the last 45 out of 50 years, the government’s expenses have exceeded the revenue (“Federal”). When this happens, the U.S. Treasury borrows more funds and makes the national debt increase. The government does not plan on limiting spending in the future: