Today, the U.S. National Debt stands at nearly $20 trillion dollars. That equals $165,000 of debt per taxpayer (Chantrill). Ever since the National Debt started to get tracked in 1790 it has fluctuated. However, it has steadily grown since The Great Recession of 2008 (Phillips). This paper will provide background information in terms of the debt. It will also provide an overview of the National Debt, who/what has caused the Debt to be as high as it is, effects of the Debt, and possible solutions that could decrease the Debt. Background Information The U.S. National Debt started to get tracked in the year 1790 (Phillips). As a percentage of GDP the U.S. stood at 29.6%. After 1790 the debt began to steadily decline until The Civil War occurred. …show more content…
To start off one of those reasons is the accumulation of federal budget deficits (Amadeo). There are two things that contribute to these deficits. They are new programs created by the government and tax cuts. For example, Barack Obama passed a stimulus package called The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (or ARRA) which cost $787 billion and was made in an effort to end The Great Recession. Although it was helpful at the time it contributed a sizeable amount of money to the U.S. National Debt. Also, Obama passed a tax cut deal in 2010 worth $858 billion. This was yet another addition to the growing U.S. National Debt. By that time the debt had grown to $13 trillion (Historical Debt). The Social Security Trust Fund is another cause for the grand amount of debt owed by the U.S. The funds that were supposed to go to the Social Security Trust Fund were borrowed by the government so that they could increase the amount of money that they could spend. Treasury Bond interest rates can be stay low. Speaking of, that is another reason for our debt: Foreign countries buying our Treasurys. Finally, Congress is constantly raising the debt ceiling, which is a limit on how high the U.S. debt can be. This has been raised time and time again. If nothing is done about the debt there could be serious repercussions suffered by the …show more content…
One of those solutions is raising taxes. The additional revenue that is generated due to this can be contributed towards the National Debt. Although this is a possibility, “Congress is more likely to curtail benefits than raise taxes” (Amadeo). Also, the amount of money that Congress is allowed to spend can be decreased. This would lead to less money being added to the evergrowing debt. Finally, tax cuts/stimulus packages can be reduced/eliminated. They are beneficial in the short-term. Nevertheless, if the United States wants to solve its debt problem it will have to address the causes associated with
The growing national deficit is a looming problem in the United States now more than ever. The national debt is constantly increasing and government spending is out of control. If these issues are not solved then they could spell disaster for the nation’s economy when the infamous debt ceiling is finally reached. Currently the national policy on the debt is to continue raising the debt limit until a solution is found that is agreeable between both parties in Congress. The two main issues of over spending and the constant raising of the debts ceiling by Congress can both be resolved by government spending reform, balancing the federal budget and initiating pro-growth policies in order to increase the government’s tax revenue.
According to the article Congressional Budget Office in The Budget and Economic Outlook: Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020, the reason for this overwhelming increase in debt is because of three factors : the obvious difference between federal revenues and spending done even before the impact of recession caused this
When World War II ended in 1949, the debt grew at a slow and steady pace for the next 20 years. When the Vietnam War began in the 1960's the debt accelerated sharply. Thanks to the growth of television and news media, growth of the deficit was widely publicized. For the first time, the American people were given access to what was going on with the nation's debt. When the Gulf War began the early 1990's, the national debt reached a trillion dollars for the first time. By the end of the Gulf War, the government decided to make amendments to fix the continuing problem with the deficit. Despite those promises to reduce spending, the debt is currently at it highest point ever.
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.
Since the nation’s very beginning, it has carried a debt from the American Revolution. Only once in the entire U.S. history has been the debt zero, during President Andrew Jackson’s administration in the 1830’s. President Jackson set a budget like the other future and past presidents, but actually stayed within its parameters. However, the debt kept growing after his presidency and reached $18 trillion dollars today. The world has changed a lot since the 1830’s, the methods used during that period can no longer be the solution in 2015 because there are just too many factors that must be considered. The size and the population of the country have changed dramatically, foreign relationships are far more complicated and broader, and people’s expectations of the government are different.
The United States has adopted a persona of uncontrollable spending policies, and short term solutions. As the spending trajectory continues in a downward spiral, fueled by unsustainable policies, and current tax revenues, the national debt continues to grow. For many years, the United States has implemented policies that failed to address mandatory spending costs, which, unfortunately continue to outpace the national economy. Furthermore, Congress has created a habit of introducing short term solutions in order to confront a long term issue of national debt. Although, there are many driving forces behind the U.S. fiscal problem, mandatory spending
Debt is unavoidable. It is something that every country has had to deal with at one point or another. Though, no country has more debt than a country who has just been to war. Most of our current debt is undoubtedly from the war in Iraq. The war there has cost the United States of America roughly $1.8 trillion in debt.
In 2009 the debt was amounted to about $12 trillion , or 83.4 percent of the country’s GDP (“Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2011” table 7.1). Since 2003, the debt has been increasing by more than $500 billion annually. The increase in 2009 was $1.9 trillion. According to the Congressional Budgeting Office, this debt will keep increasing at least for the next decade (“The Budget and Economic Outlook : Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020” 21).
With all this debt, it begs to question. To who and what does the United States owe all this money? According to the “National Priorities Project”, 34 percent of the debt is owned by foreign countries, like China and Japan, 28 percent by federal accounts, and the remaining 38 percent is owned by other investors or local governments. Ever since the United States was founded, it owed money to the foreign investors and it has only continued to pile up.
The total United States national debt is now over 19 trillion dollars and our Congressional leadership shows no signs of accomplishing any significant changes to make the situation better. That 19 trillion equates to almost $59,000 for every citizen of the United Sates. Sound financial practice is to not spend more money than you earn and borrow only for emergencies. It appears our Congress is incapable of adhering to sound financial practices as in the last fifty years there have only been five years when the U.S. recorded a budget surplus. Between 2009 and 2012 the U.S. added 5.5 trillion dollars to its national debt.
The United States debt has been growing exponentially since 1980. Ever since America became its own country it has been in debt. America is currently about $17.2 trillion in debt to other countries around the world. The United States actually owes more of its debt to itself than all the other countries combined. America currently owes about 1.3 trillion to China and about 1.23 trillion to Japan.
Edgar Allen Poe’s The Fall of The House of Usher tells a story of fear and madness through the events that unfold. The story follows an unnamed narrator that receives a letter from a childhood friend Roderick Usher. Roderick has asked the narrator for help in his illness described as a “sensory disorder” (Poe 665), that gives him heightened senses to sound, light, smell, and taste. The Usher family is referred to as a very ancient family and has only furthered its lineage through incest.
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 CDC uses their ADHD web pages to provide information on signs and causes, diagnosis and treatment to help with those who suffer from ADHD and those that are looking for more on the disorder. The CDC is based off of a government institution whose information is credible and can be trusted. A lot of people don’t know or may get confused about what ADHD is and where can they receive help and finding this web page can be very informative and eye opening. When it comes to disorders and a lot of diseases people are left clueless about what to do next or where to turn but this website tells about the who and where to turn for those needing more assistance. “It is normal for children to have trouble focusing and behaving at one time or another. However, children with ADHD do not just grow out of these behaviors the symptoms continue and can cause difficulty at school, at home, or with
Health problem is a pathological state, in which a physical condition caused by the disease. To make the person free from the diseases is the main goal of the Health promotion program. Now I am interested to discuss about on epidemiological case i.e. HIV/AIDS, which is more common in world wide. And more dangerous which spoils the person’s life knowingly or unknowingly and I want to create awareness regarding this disease mainly in rural areas and use important health promotion programs to create awareness and make people free from this disease. This creates the hazarders condition in global population worry and make person to away from family, community, or society because of some beliefs in community.