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Introduction to us national debt
Introduction to us national debt
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National Debt: Macroeconomic Perspective
For years, the issue of the Government's national debt (and its payment) has been a major political issue. As of July 1st, 2004 the Federal Debt has reached an all time high of 7.252 trillion dollars (that means that each person in the United States is be over 24,000 dollars in debt). According to economists, the debt will increase by 1.6 billion dollars per day!
In economical terms, a debt occurs when an individual or group borrows money and is charged interest on that loan. The Federal Government through deficits (spending more than what is collected in taxes) in budget spending created this debt of over seven trillion dollars. In the Revised Circular Flow Model in the appendix, we can see that there is a leakage of government spending into interest paid on its debt. The dollar amount in interest that the borrower (the government in this case) must pay to simply maintain the debt is called the debt service. Currently the debt service of the federal treasury is 576 billion dollars annually; approximately 32% of the Government's total receipts (similar to and individual's income).
With every borrower there must be a loaner, and this is true with the Federal Government's loan. Currently, the debt is distributed in several areas: (See Revised Circular Flow Model in Appendix)
Debt from all governmental trust funds totals over 3.05 trillion dollars.
Included is the 1.59 trillion dollars that has been taken from the Social Security Trust (this amount is equal to approximately 90% of the total Federal Budget).
Over 4.2 trillion is owed to the General Public in the form of U.S. Securities.
In the first part of the debt, the government has taken money from various
trust funds (account...
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...skills to invent more efficient and productive technology to lower production costs. Therefore there must be an increase in the level of education to ensure productivity increases.
With these changes made to the federal government I feel that the growing threat of National Debt can be neutralized. All we must do is the following:
Congressionally force the passing of only balanced budgets to prevent further debt.
Congressionally force that the budget pay all debt service prior to increases in any other area of the budget
Raise taxes to restore the trust funds that are exponentially creating debt
Use Monetary Policy to counteract unemployment through lowering of the discount rate.
Congressionally prevent the FED from issuing more U.S. Securities until debt is under control
Maintain a favorable balance of trade in the long term by increasing funds for education
This deficit has to do with having responsible leader who are willing to increase awareness and make beneficial changes in the nation. In my opinion, the federal debt is a serious threat to the US that must be politically address whenever possible. I believe that the candidates of the 2016 presidential election should make this issue one of the top priorities to discuss and to dictate a considerable amount of work to fix it. That is because the worse the federal debt is, the worse the future would be to the nation. Also, voters must be well educated about this issue in order to shape their decision in voting for the candidate that seems most powerful and confident about this problem. Solving this problem may be difficult and would take time and so much effort. Therefore, the changes and solution must be on both a national and individual levels as
Trade is essential to overcome the dollar gap that prevented foreign marketing of United States goods (Melanson and Mayers, 159). There are many economic issues which face the nation at this time. A recovery from World War II and the Korean War, a recession, a change in the political party of the president, and several other issues. Thus, this must be a time of strong economic leadership. The policies made and legislature passed must steer the United States through this apparent storm and give the nation a chance to rest from the hecticness of the first half of the century.
When you get to the point where debt becomes too much you begin to search for a way out. There are many different options to get rid of their debt; one option is the debt snowball. This debt relief option sounds more unusual than it really is.
Moreover, individual borrowers are not the only ones who face the consequences of the loan default. The federal government recovers around 80% of the total defaulted amount of student loans, losing billions of dollars each year. The latest data from the U.S. Department of Education indicates that student loan default rates have been rising. Official 2011 default rate is 10%. ("Comparison of FY 2011 2-Year Official Cohort Default Rates to Prior Two Official Calculations"). The New York Federal Reserve reported that as of March 31, 2013 outstanding student debt surpassed credit card debt and was approaching the $1 trillion mark (Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit). If student loan default rates stay unchanged, the federal government will lose $200,000,000,000 of taxpayers’ money over the next few decades because of student loan defaults. Below is the chart representing the outstanding credit card and student loan debt over the last ten years (Quarterly Report on Household Debt and Credit).
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.
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
As of today America’s national debt is 18 trillion dollars and approximately 5 trillion of that is held by foreign countries including China and Japan. In the last few years we seem to hear more about balancing the country’s budget and politicians raising the debt ceiling so we can pay on this debt. How have we gotten into such an overwhelming and complicated problem with our nation’s money? Ironically the same can be said for our individual household debt as well as making the same mistakes and trying to find creative ways to be accountable to our financial responsibilities. Teaching the basics of personal finance n our schools can culturally change our financial practices, leading to a more financially literate public and a stronger, more stable, America. If the younger generations can become more financially savvy, then there is an opportunity for our nation as a whole to become less dependent on debt to survive.
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.
The national debt is usually a frightening topic citizens of any country, however, in the United States, twenty trillion dollars of national debt is one of the major fears of the economy. Along with this fear comes every politician claiming to be the person to lower this astronomical debt to ease concerns in the modern American economy. In Hamilton’s Blessing, John Steele Gordon tries to alleviate these concerns by showing a plethora of benefits and good the debt has been able to do throughout the history of the United States. The central premise of the book and the main guideline for John Steele Gordon’s thinking is that the debt was used to save the Union in the 1860’s, the American economy in the 1930’s, and the wellbeing of mankind during
“Make America Great Again,” the campaign slogan know all around the world that is determined to change the face of 2016 election when sixty nine year old Donald John Trump is elected. In 2004, the federal debt was $7.3 trillion. This rose to $10 trillion when the housing bubble burst four years later. Today it exceeds $18 trillion and is projected to approach $21 trillion by 2019. Debt is not the only the thing the United States has been dealing within the past years, such as immigration, abortion, guns, foreign policy, taxes, along with numerous other topics, yet Trump has a way to solve the unsolved and yes, “Make America Great Again.”
U.S Federal Deficit and Debts:Understanding the history and context. (2011, November 1). Utah Foundation. Retrieved January 25, 2014, from http://www.utahfoundation.org/img/pdfs/rr7
...e in the coming years. It is only by this kind of concerted and thoughtful effort that the nation can avoid serious disruptions in the economy, as well as in society as a whole.
The United States economy is racing ahead at dangerous speeds, and it may be too late to prevent the return of widespread inflation. Ideally the economy should move ahead gradually and grow at a steady manageable rate. Mae West once stated “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” and it seems the U.S. Treasury Secretary agrees. The Secretary announced that due to our increasing surplus and booming economy, instead of having an outsized tax cut, we should use the surplus to further pay down the national debt. A tax cut, though most Americans would favor it initially, would prove counter productive. Cutting taxes would over stimulate an already raging economy, and enhance the possibilities of an increase in the rate of inflation. Paying off the national debt would actually help lower interest rates and boost investments, and therefore further increase the wealth of the population, while keeping inflation at bay.
...nd again resulting in creation of bigger markets and pulling large competitors and creating new job opportunities, but the problem is with undefined factors like outsourcing, lack of skill development in respect with technology advancement. Technology advancement may be causing huge impact on employment but it is also making human living better. Technology as became part and parcel of our life so we can’t think of life without technology, but to make sure that the same does not harm our livelihood we should keep in track and sharpen and hone our skills with advancement of technology. (Brynjolfsson & McAfee, 2011)
Veldhuis, Neil. “Beyond our means: Government debt tops $1.2-trillion and spending is still rising.” Financial Post. National Post, 16 May 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.