preview

National Debt Analysis

Better Essays

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

Get Access