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National Debt Vs. Federal Deficit

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National Debt vs. Federal Deficit

What word begin with “d” ends with “t”, and has to deal with the nation 's budgets? Well if you guessed debt, then you are absolutely correct. Or deficit, because both fit the criteria just fine. Though these words look alike, they are not interchangeable. The difference between the two is that while the national debt is getting bigger the federal deficit (as of 2014) is increasingly becoming less. As of last year it was said that the Obama administration was going to "reduce the overall debt of the United States by $3 trillion over the next 10 years." This, according to my source, is preposterously wrong. Going in the complete opposite direction, the national debt is expected to rise by over 8.6 trillion dollars in the coming ten years.

This chart from the Congressional Budget Office shows federal debt levels projected to rise through 2038.

This chart from the Congressional Budget Office shows federal debt levels projected to rise through 2038.

While the national debt continues to rise at a staggering amount, the federal deficit slowly rising. The deficit, to my understanding, is the difference between the amount of money the government is bringing in versus what it spends annually. The incline in the deficit can be credited to higher government spending and the end of the recession. Because the deficits are growing, they are causing the national debt to increase. Meaning that even though they are becoming smaller, they are

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