19.5 Trillion Dollars In Debt: Case Study

U.S. National Debt The U.S. national debt has reached an alarming proportion. As it steadily increases, it's effect may not be felt now, but it will be in the future. Paul Gregory and Roy ruffin, in their book entitled Economics, linked deficits with inflation in the long run (251). Demand-side inflation of this type fails to increase the GDP, but instead just increases prices.

1. If the U.S. debt is growing, why doesn 't the government cut back on spending and can you make any recommendations on what to cut? (Hint: You should consider the list of "Largest Budget Items" listed on the Debt Clock before making recommendations.)

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.

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).

Throughout the 21st century, there are multiple situations that arise. However, two of those current problems are, government debt, and education. Statistics show that regardless if it is United States, Federal, State of Local government, the total amount of debt America is in is $18,150,614,147,00. Some of the reasons behind the debt would relate to healthcare programs, social security programs, and defense budget expenses. "A total of 940 billion USA was allocated to healthcare benefit programs, which includes the much talked about Medicare and Medicaid benefits program," (Investopedia). As for the social security program, it is "aimed at providing financial security to the retired pensioners of 65 plus by keeping them above the poverty

Of all of the hardships facing college students in this day and age, debt one of the greatest. There is a trillion-dollar debt that United States' students are drowning in, and it has become not only a burden on the shoulders of those who have the debt, but in fact, every taxpayer in this country suffers because of this debt. We, as a county, have created the concept of "free money," specifically when talking about loans, credit cards, etc. Without immediate consequences, it is not an immediate threat to those who obtain it. This "free money" can be directly attributed to inflation and a rise in the price of a collegiate education. My parents, who graduated from college in 2001, are still agonized with paying off their collegiate debt. I do

Many investors believe that this means the United States will have problems repaying these loans in the future and will cause many economic problems in the future. The debt accumulated this much because of deficits in the national budget. These can be caused by new programs to help citizens or help the US economy. Tax cuts, military spending, and the economic stimulus package caused this national debt to skyrocket. On the USdebtclock.org website it shows our largest budget items are Medicare/Medicaid at $1 Trillion, Social Security at $886 Billion, defense/war at $583 Billion, income security at $303 Billion, net interest on debt at $224 Billion, and Federal pensions at $255 Billion.(usdebtclock1) These debts are large and spending on some of these programs must be cut.

With the United States only now beginning to recover from the throes of the Great Recession, the good American worker (armed with nightmarish memories of mass unemployment and bankruptcy) generally views large amounts of debt in a negative light, with television pundits regularly criticizing the federal government for the $18 trillion of national debt. Entire generations of Americans have been conditioned to view debtors as moochers and failures, unwilling to work hard in order to earn their own money. This negative opinion of debt is further compounded with the historic negative effects of debt: complete loss of assets, homelessness, and bankruptcy. However, contrary to public opinion, the national debt—and, in fact, all debts—will act

If you’re like most citizens, you are probably unaware of how severe the debt crisis is for the United States of America. An eye-opening article titled “America’s Debt Time Bomb” by John F. Ince, points out the two components of the financial crisis in the United States: the national debt and the current account trade deficit. Current estimates of the rising national debt in America are upwards of $19 trillion, and growing by over a billion a day; severely increasing the chances of a major economic crisis. For instance,” to finance domestic deficits, American policy makers have started to engage in dangerous borrowing patterns from overseas lenders” discloses Ince. When America borrows, we give foreigners a claim to the financial assets

National Debt in the U.S. has expanded rapidly throughout the years. In 2012-2015 it has increased by 70 percent. Most spendings are obviously spent by government in unnecessary facilities. Many people ask why is it affecting us and why has the government not issued a reform to solve it. This worries us because it doesn’t only involve an internal debt but a national debt as well.

I believe the debt facing America is one of America's largest problems to this day. America is over 18 trillion dollars in debt. Politicians always speak of reducing the debt, however it has not been done. The debt of America has not even been paused for an extremely long time. According to, taxpolicycenter.org only 55% of Americas spending is mandatory. This means that America may be able to reduce spending by 45%. The main priorities America spends it’s money on is social security, unemployment, food and agriculture, transportation, medical and health care, and veterans benefit. These things are very important, but it makes one wonder, where is the other 45% going? Citizens of America has always said that America, indeed the best country

Alexander Hamilton was the first individual who introduced the national debt to the U.S. believing that having a debt would be a national blessing. As decades and centuries past by the federal debt continued to grow which led economist’s believing that deficit spending is an important factor. Another contributor to this national debit is also the federal budget the President and congress go over every year, which includes an accelerated rate of discretionary and non-discretionary spending. An interesting fact to know about the national debt is that every person living in the U.S. will have to contribute roughly around $57,000 to end the tyranny of the national debt. One fact that the national debt continues to grow to this day it totals to around 18 trillion dollars which makes me think what our future holds, the time to act is now. What would our founding founders think about our debt, they left our system for us to follow not to make it worse. What do we need to do as a nation to make sure we aren’t slammed with the mistake taken by your government officials and President’s.

The U.S. Deficit, Surplus, and Debt Effects Anytime there is a deficit, surplus, or debt there is someone or something it affects. There can either be too much, too little, or money owed to someone. When something like that happens, examples of people affected are taxpayers, future Social Security and Medicare users.

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

Before this video, I did not quite understand how in debt the United States was in. Trillion and trillions of dollars in a hole. Budget, saving, trade, and leadership deficit is the four major types. In 1789, was the start of our debt and it was 17 million dollars; In 1835, our Founding Fathers succeeded in getting our debt back to zero and that was the only time in America history. To me, this is hideous and embarrassing for our country. The Civil War is what rose our country in debt past one billion dollars, and after the Civil War was then the Great Depression. World War II was next leading America to a 200-billion-dollar debt. I understand if American has people to owe for things and we have things to pay to help us, but I believe we should