Debt In America

We believe that if Washington could see us now he would be very upset that we are $19.5 trillion dollars in debt. We think that he would be confused on how we went from what $77 million to $19.5 trillion in debt. He would also be confused on who was willing to give us that money. We also believe that he would be concerned that we have such a big debt and that 67.5% of the debt is to our own people and only 32.5% is to other countries. He also would have been a little bit worried about how much we borrow from others. He probably would have wanted us to stop borrowing as often as we do and only borrow when extremely necessary.

Many United States' citizens are unaware of the country's current financial state. Many assume that one of the world's wealthiest countries could never be in debt. This is untrue however, and, in fact, the country with the greatest income per capita is in major debt. This study will examine possible solutions to reducing the United States' national budget deficit.

There is a widespread concern about rising levels of debt. Debt can become disastrous for those who live alone or those families who are already having problems with supporting their family. The people who might be struck by debt, they might have trouble recovering. Debt can cause Americans to lose their homes and stability they need to feed, and shelter their families. Although debt comes upon us Americans quickly, people can see debt as terrible thing to be stuck with. It has many disadvantages that can devastate to people.

Many Americans today are aware that the United States is in debt, however, some may not realize by how much. Currently, the United States National Debt is up to 18 trillion dollars and is steadily increasing. This is a serious problem for the U.S., especially for millennials, who are going to be the ones living and dealing with the debt left behind for them. Increased spending, borrowing from China, and interest on the money borrowed are setting up our economy for an eventual crash, one that the upcoming generation may not be prepared for. Every dollar that accumulates into the debt will have to be repaid with interest at some point, making it harder to pay back. To gain a better understanding of how the U.S. dug itself into such a deep hole, one should start at the beginning of where the debt started.

The U.S. national debt is currently $18 trillion dollars and it is rising fast. The national debt today is the highest the U.S. has ever seen. In George Washington’s Farewell Address, he declared the U.S. should avoid going into debt. If the nation end up in a deficit, that the debtors were responsible for paying off the debt so that it doesn’t burden the future generations. Like the rest of this advice in his Farewell Address, the nation ignored it. The ideal goal right now should be to stop the debt from increasing anymore because it is impossible to stop the debt from increasing and expect to pay it off in this generation.

As of January 2012, Congress raised our debt limit to $16.4 trillion. That is an extreme amount of money and almost shocking to hear that we owe are behind that far. It makes you think, what have we done so wrong to be in this current situation? What could we have done differently in the past to not be here? These questions need to be raised everyone involved in this mess and it needs to be figured out. Congress has the ability to raise the cap limit, which they have often done in the past, but say that this time, if they don’t see serious plans, the limit won’t be raised. The US Treasury has enough “tools” to keep the government afloat into early 2013 but after that, it’s up to the strategies we have put into play to execute. The government is spending $3 for every $2 it takes in according to the Urban Institute. That is a stat that needs to be the opposite way if America plans on seeing changes in the near future.

On the Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, there is a national debt clock that shows the amount of United States national debt. The clock was first installed in 1989, and can show up to ten trillion dollars. It ran out of digits in October 2008 when the sum of debt exceeded the amount. A new clock with two extra digits is going to be installed (Izzo 2 ).

Neither Republicans nor Democrats appear to have any sense of urgency in rectifying this problem. Fortunately the U.S. Government has a good reputation of paying its debts and thus has a good credit rating which allows it to continue borrowing, although that good standing was put to the test recently in 2011 when Standard& Poor’s reduced the U.S. rating from AAA to AA+.

During presidential bids for the White House and Congressional deadlines for increasing the debt ceiling, huge debates break out as to the enormous amount of debt incurred by the federal government. Throughout our nation’s history, national debt at this magnitude is a new things. The accumulation of this amount of debt has its consequences, especially when the debt hits the nations GDP (Gross Domestic Product), or the revenue the nation takes in per year.

The National debt of the United States is currently sitting at over $19 trillion dollars. There are many public opinions on whether or not this is a risk to the US economy and if this will lead to our next economic collapse. The National debt is the amount owed by the federal government to all of those who hold the notes. The outstanding Treasury securities at a point in time that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal government agencies is the measure of public debt. When we talk about national deficit and surplus we refer to the government budget balance from year to year, not a cumulative total of all debt. I want to review the background of the US debt, how it has reached its all-time highs along with the components, our obligations, measurements, risks, and foreign holdings and also discuss if there are causes for concern.

The federal government’s debt is the total value of all outstanding government bonds and the accumulation of past deficits. Before the federal government had assumed the liabilities of CMHC which was $236,708 million dollars as of September 30, 2015 and the liabilities of commercial banks, growth in Canada’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP) had been forecasted to be low due to continual fall in oil prices in the last six months which has lead to a significant depreciation in the value of the Canadian dollar and considerable declines in the federal government revenue.

The National Debt consists of the total debt accrued by local, state and federal. Public debt is essentially the federal debt, thus compiling the staggering number that already exists. The debt deficit to me is astonishing. Currently, the total public debt in the United States, as of December 16, 2015, is $18,788,138,221,346.49. This includes $13,600,726,418,253.26 debt held by the public and $5,187,411,803,093.23 by intergovernmental holdings (usgovermentdebt, 2015). High GPD is not anything new to the United States. The all-time high was 121.70 percent ($18827323.00) in 1946 and a record low of 31.70 ($253400.00) percent in 1974 (United States Government Debt to GDP, 2015). The way we are spending, and the debt we are accruing, it would

The true origin of debt is unknown but research has been able to see many old civilizations that dealt with money. Many argue that money does not buy you happiness however then explain how money dictates the lives we live. Money has a large effect in our lives but we do not realize this until we grow up and become aware of this ourselves. Nevertheless, how was debt created that we would owe an amount of money due to us borrowing it and using it for our personal pleasure? Without going in the topic of debt and money too much, we were taught at a young age how money has created a mass effect. Such as wars have been declared due to finances and using money to buy labor from other humans (slavery) have been the most notorious events that correlates to money.

The supply of general gross debt for advanced economies increased significantly over the past years compared to that of emerging economies, especially after the onset of the financial crisis as illustrated in the graph below:

Is it to be, or not to be? Frankly, if our nation does not strive towards a solution for the National debt then it will not “be”. Some economist determined that the Country’s national debt is not an issue to panic over because the Nation will supposedly continue as it does currently. However, the National Debt that the country has reached is a problem that cannot be ignored or solve its self and vanish, it is a problem that has to be addressed. Eventually the time will run out for the United States to keep pushing the limit on the debt ceiling and then will be left without options.