Economic Effects of a Budget Deficit

During the Great Depression, many people tried to save money and were spending less. Businesses produce less, unemployment rises and household incomes decline. There are few options available to reverse the effects of a recession on the economy. One specific option is deficit spending. Deficit spending is a government tool used to address serious economic issues.

The money supply will increase as the components of AD (C+I) rise. Figure 2 illustrates the increase in money supply through showing the rightward shift of the MS curve, from MS1 to MS2. The money demand will remain the same (MD). Therefore, increasing the money supply will lower the interest rate from i1 to i2. This is partly due to the increased availability of money. More money around means it is easier to acquire and thus command lower interest rates. However, such an increase in money supply may also increase the inflation rate and possibly cause a hyperinflation if uncontrolled.

However, there are also some drawbacks associated with raising taxes. Tax is a form of leakage from the circular flow of income leading to negative multiplier effect. If the government increases income tax rates, it might create disincentives to work. It is because when income tax increases, the opportunity cost for leisure time decreases; and people will have to work longer

The governments mainly reduce spending cuts and increases tax on both the nation and firms, and back to applying economics belief, the action will only cause a contraction of the aggregate demand of the whole economy, hence, reducing GDP. It is reported that the fiscal measure includes a 60 percent revenue and 40 percent spending cuts. These actions, has decreased the willingness of firms and companies to invest since the after-tax return has been reduced. Next, the of cutting government spending can also mean less jobs for the peoples in the public sector. Unemployment rate increasing from 9.4% to 11.3% (Ferreira.Joana,2017). Using the multiplier effect will be the best to explain, when there is less jobs for the people, it will mean no income for the unemployed and a drop in purchasing power, more importantly it will be very hard for the people to pay the high taxes. It is also reported that the bailout money has all been used to repay the banks instead of using it to correct the

This growth in national debt has blunt consequences on inflation, interest rates and growing economy. Foreign control of large amounts of government debt means that the taxes will have to be raised to repay debt and percentage owned to overseas governments which is not acceptable. Assuming that trade deficiency also exists it will lead to depreciation of dollar which effect its position as a reserve currency, and if during this process any new currency emerge as a replacement of reserve currency, higher interest rates will be required to sell the debt to foreign countries (Inflation). Raised interest rates have a negative impact on the economy and high accumulation of debts leads to high interest rates (Spending). Hence the economy suffers. This means that the funds for government programs like Social Security and Medicare are not enough (Economic Progress Under Obama). Another consequence of high national debt is the reduced flexibility in fiscal policy (Spending).

An economic downturn automatically paves way to a decline in taxation and an increase in government spending. This causes deficit. Nevertheless, if the government tries to reverse the situation by increasing tax rates, it would further result in a deflated economy leading to more unemployment and lower economic growth. A negative multiplier effect may give rise to an increase in deficit. Thus, deficit increases AD in a recession (Carbaugh, 2011).

Many contend that deficit reduction is imperative to our prosperity and economic recovery. The deficit is blamed for a variety of economic ills including high interest rates, unemployment, the trade deficit, the low rate of national saving and low productivity growth (Shaviro, 1997).

Any person struggling through difficult times will seek out other means of financial support including borrowing money that may be harder to pay back in the future. The United States will often follow a similar path and spend more money than it earns. Deficit spending in the United States comes with some advantages, disadvantages, and strong criticism. Some feel deficit spending is good for getting the economy back in motion while others contend it does nothing for the economy. The effects of deficit spending are carefully examined to determine if the United States is improving or degrading the future of the economy.

In our textbook, “Principles of Macroeconomics,” the relationship between debt and deficit is described. A deficit is a shortfall in revenue for a particular year’s budget. Whereas, a debt is the total of all accumulated and unpaid deficits. An outlay is an amount of money spent on something. The federal government outlays are divided into government outlays and mandatory outlays. Government outlays are the part of the government budget that includes both spending and transfer payments. Mandatory outlays constitute government spending that is determined by ongoing long term obligations. Of the two, mandatory outlays is the largest portion of the federal budget. Lastly, Discretionary outlays compromise government spending that can be altered when the government is setting its annual budget. A budget surplus occurs when revenue exceeds outlays. A budget deficit occurs when government outlays exceed revenue.

There are a number of both long and short term effects that a large budget deficit/debt can have on an economy. First, there will be increased borrowing, meaning the government will need to borrow from the private sector (Pettinger, 2014). Second, there will be higher debt interests payments, meaning selling bonds will increase the national debt, leaving future generations to have to pay higher taxes (Pettinger, 2014). Third, an increase in aggregate demand will occur, which could potentially cause a higher Real GDP and inflation to

When a surplus exists, the government has extra funds to spare and infuse into the economy. This surplus will increase government programs. When the

The Federal budget deficit is the amount of spending by the Federal government that is in excess of how much money the government brings in annually. While the Federal budget deficit has steadily decreased overall during the past fifteen years, our Federal debt continues to grow at a drastic rate. A review of how the Federal deficit has evolved over the past fifteen years, the rate of growth of the Federal debt during that same period, and how the two are connected will better explain this phenomenon.

As long as the deficit is in proportion to GDP or Gross Domestic Product, the sum of a country’s goods and services, there is no significant fiscal risk to the economy. However there is a counter-argument that government deficits do matter. The argument is that if interest rates were to go up even a quarter point then that would lead to the need to take out even more debt to pay off previous interest payments. This would lead to the need to decide whether to decrease current spending on other programs such as healthcare or infrastructure to compensate for the new interest payments, or to maintain current spending and simply borrow more debt without attempting to curtail spending.Following the first would hurt economic growth and increase inequality, but following the latter would lead to the debt climbing higher at an increasingly fast rate that would risk causing massive inflation. Both sides make valid points.

Throughout most of the country’s history, the United States’ federal government maintained a reasonable level of national debt. For example, the total national debt in 1981 was $998 billion. Since then, however, the government has generated significant budget deficits, and the level of debt has risen to $16.7 trillion in 2013 (Calleo, 39). Budget deficits are caused

Interest rates are normally associated with inflation. Consumer spending and economic growth is encouraged as a result of low interest rates. However, inflation can occur if supply is lower than demand due to consumption increases but this is indeed not a bad outcome though foreign trade and investment will be lacklustre as opposed to the cash rate being higher which more likely attracts foreign investment and trade.