preview

United States Federal Debt And Economic Effects

Good Essays

United States Federal Debt and Economic Effects
Matt Langenbahn
December 16th, 2014

University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Fundamentals of Economics 5590 History of United States Federal Debt
The United States of America has carried some amount of federal debt every year since the country was founded. From this empirical evidence, it can be said that debt itself is not damaging to an economy. After all, the country has had periods of rapid growth and economic booms while carrying different amounts of debt. It is also plain to see that a very large amount a debt, an amount that could not ever be eliminated without unreasonably inflating the dollar, could have devastating effects. The US dollar is a fiat currency, which holds value only when holders of the currency have confidence in the issuing institution, in this case the US government. In the event the government could not repay its debts, the value of the currency would drop as people lose confidence. The effects on the US economy, households, businesses, trading partners and foreign governments would be disastrous and widespread.
For most of the United State’s history, the debt has been managed well enough to avoid disaster, after all we’re still using the dollar.
The capacity of the government to carry debt was considered by the founders of the country as the quote below illustrates:
"The United States debt, foreign and domestic, was the price of liberty. The faith of America has been repeatedly

Get Access