How Do Government Deficits And Debt Affect U.s. Economic Welfare?

A fiscal deficit is when a government's total expenditures exceed the tax revenues that it generates. A budget deficit can be cut by either reducing public expenditure or raising taxes. In this essay, I am going to analyse the benefits and costs of increasing tax rates to reduce fiscal deficits instead of cutting government expenditure.

In the book Hamilton’s Blessing, Gordon uses economic history and theory to explore the start, rise and decline of the United States debt. Gordon opens his book by stating that this country was born in debt, and this debt has become so high that concerned individuals no longer think of it. Throughout the book, he traces the history of the national debt dating back from 1791, when the central bank of the United States was created, up to modern days. The intellectual architect of this creation was Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary as well as a central figure who had a deep impact on the economic development of the United States. The title of the book clearly recalls Hamilton's statement that a national debt, "if not excessive,

The recent clash between the president and congress about raising the debt ceiling made the front page on every newspaper throughout the country and generated controversy of unimaginable proportion among the citizens of the United States of America (College for Financial Planning). No macroeconomics issue is more controversial today than the impact of large public debt on the economy and on future generations, but, however, there appears to be a huge disconnect between professional, political leaders, and the ordinary public about the national debt and its impact on the current and future

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).

Many United States' citizens are unaware of the country's current financial state. Many assume that one of the world's wealthiest countries could never be in debt. This is untrue however, and, in fact, the country with the greatest income per capita is in major debt. This study will examine possible solutions to reducing the United States' national budget deficit.

“Ten Trillion and Counting,” presented by Frontline provides quite a picture of America’s national debt as it surpasses the trillion dollar mark. They ponder the financial well being of current and future retirees while also exposing on how America got into this mess, and what the Obama administration plans to do during his term. America is able to close the gap year to year in its national budget by selling bonds and T-bills. Foreigner countries who continually purchase these obligations are beginning to grow. Much like the Bush administration, the Obama administration has started borrowing big with plans to cut the budget years down the road. It is clear for anyone to see that this borrowing and the future promises of cutting cannot go

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.

The United States national debt can be divided into two major parts: public debt and intra-governmental

This paper sought to answer the question whether Federal Debt is Harmful to the United States Economy. The paper examines and assesses the possible effect of high levels of debt on the United States in the context of the recent financial crisis. The analyses provides significant insights on understanding the adverse impact of national debt dynamics on medium and long term economic growth, with a special focus on the United States. This paper adopted a general theoretical model enhanced with a debt variable to address the possible issues of bias. A fixed effect panel regression was used to control factors of time and country-specific elements. Concerns of possible effect of low economic growth on increased levels of debt were addressed using

Imaging yourself accepting you’re first credit card and immediately you begin to frivolously spend all the money your bank offers you. However, come to find out, you didn’t realize there was a consequence to your spending and now you are eagerly trying to pay back the money you owe with interest. Now take that scenario and apply it to our government spending in the United States. The author of “Going for Broke,” Michael Tanner, explains in his book the current financial crisis America is subjecting themselves to in the long run. Governmental officials of various political parties are turning blind eyes to the ever-increasing concern of stability in the United States. More of our taxing paying dollars are being used to chip away at an increasing debt that our government has no intent on fixing. The goal of this paper is to address Tanner’s issues with the growing economic deficit of the American people and its complacent government. Some questions Tanner emphasis on are: what can of debt does America have, where is the taxpayers' dollar being spent on, and what will happen to our economy if nothing is fixed?

This paper will attempt to answer the question: Is the federal deficit and government deficits in general a good or a bad thing? While it may be easy to lose sight of how the government chooses to handle its money, it is also important for citizens to be conscious of how their money is being spent, and whether or not the current course that the government is plotted on is either sustainable or the best allocation of resources.

The United States has seen a growth in the deficit beginning in 1991. The deficit equated to 3.6% of the GDP in 1999 and rose to 4.4% during 2000. “For instance,

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