Summary: Balanced Budget

Government spending in the United States needs to change and it needs to change soon. As mentioned earlier, in 2012 nearly a third of governments budget

The federal government and states each have budgets that outline the amount of money that will be collected from taxes, how much will be spent in revenues, and what programs will receive money allocated to them from these expenditures. Every fiscal year, the federal budget and state budgets are reset so that they start from October 1st until the end of September of the following year. The federal government’s budget contains allocations for health care, pensions, education, defense, and welfare. The State of Colorado’s budget contains expenditures allocated to education, health care, pensions, protection, transport, and welfare (Chantrill, 2015). The

As taxpayers, people are required to pay imposed taxes and derived taxes. Since payments are not voluntary as opposed to nonprofits, people want to know where the government currently stands, whether it has sufficient revenues for efficiently running current public services, and how much it has improved compared to last year. Examining government-wide financial statements will give readers a basic understanding of the government’s condition. The government-wide financial statements consist two parts: the statement of net position and the statement of activities. Based on the statement of net position, in 2015, the State of California has a deficit of about $41.0 billion. Compared to the past 10 fiscal years, the fiscal year of 2015 has the least amount of total governmental activity net position and total primary government net position. In addition, the unrestricted deficit as a percentage of total assets is -75.64%, which is close to -100%. This number

Hello, Caitlyn. I personally believe a balanced budget amendment would be in order considering politicians refuse to stop the spending. The reason I would call for a balanced budget amendment is because of Greece. After seeing the mess Greece is in, along with a myriad of many other European countries, I believe national debt is not manageable because the government will continue to spend more than they take in taxes. The Grecian government refused to reform their entitlement programs, so they went into default. The U.S. needs to reform our spending before we head down the same path of self-destruction.

The lower levels of government are becoming reliant on this federal money, and some even refuse to sponsor a program if it must be paid for with their tax dollars. Washington does not add any value to the taxes they receive. Instead, they lessen the value of the money before sending it back to the local governments for their funded programs. This causes local governments to pay higher taxes while gaining little funding in return. Local governments need to begin finding their own ways to fund programs instead of relying on Santa Claus so dish out small amounts of money to

The projected Unites States budget deficit for fiscal year 2017 is a staggering $559 billion dollars. A budget deficit occurs when the government spends more than it receives in revenue over a specific period of time (Schiller, Hill, & Wall, 2013, p. 251). Currently the US government runs on a fiscal year (FY) which begins October 1st each year. The projected rate of 2017’s deficit is 17.6 % of expected revenues of $3.4 trillion which is only slightly lower than FY 2016. The 2016 deficit represented 3.2 % of gross domestic product (GDP) rising from 2.4% in FY 2015 (Congressional Budget Office, 2017). If the average American household

The element that causes a program funding to go down is the fact that a two thirds majority is required for any increase in taxes to occur. This is with every member, not just those that are present and voting. While in the past, this has not posed as great of a problem, currenty the majority of the Republican Party are against any tax increases, creating a deadlock where no tax can be increased due to no way to get a two thirds majority in a vote. The problem with the lack of tax increase, though, is that the burden of the state budgeting crisis ends up effecting lower income residents that rely on public services. In 2012, a Democratic supermajority of seats were won, meaning they could finally raise taxes wihtout any Republican support.

The mandatory balanced budget is another topic that is thrown around in Congress. According to Wikipedia, every state with the exception of Vermont contains some sort of a balanced budget. Our Federal Government does not. Our Federal Government is not required to have a balanced budget. With that being said, that means that as long as the bill is passed, they are allowed to spend as they please. No wonder why our debt is almost at twenty trillion..

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.

I believe our budget must be reviewed. Massive amounts of non-discretionary funding fails to allocate funds in the most efficient way possible. As members of a state government, delegates must seek to construct a balanced, yet effective budget that assists all its citizens equally. However, I believe cutting

The state of California along with many other states has gone through periods of recessions. The major difference between California and other states is the difference how California manages the state budget. The California governor creates a budget and is sent to the Department of Finance. The Department then modifies the budget according to the likings of the governor. The governor can have a deficit but must fit the deficit into next years budget. A deficit refers to a shortage of funds and can create problems when creating the state budget. If there is a surplus (abundant amount of revenue) in the budget then the governor has the power to create programs that are politically advantageous. During times of financial crisis the process of

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

Wisconsin has a regular budget. That means Wisconsin state budget regularly contains data about how they will spend the money for a two-year period, from July of an odd numbered year through June of the next odd-numbered year. The current budget period runs from July 2015 through June 2017, and is sometimes referred to as the 2015-17 budget. In Wisconsin, the legislature creates most of the choices about what should be contained in the budget, with considerable input from the governor. The legislature and governor, not to mention the two political parties in the legislature, often have different priorities in terms of how to raise and spend money. That can made contentious negotiations before the budget is finally enacted. The state budget

According to Illinois Budget Clock, the last time Illinois had a budget was on June 30th, 2016, when a stop gate budget was passed to keep the government, schools, and nonprofit agencies operating. The last time a full year budget was passed was on May 27, 2014. According to Illinois Comptroller's office, 2001 was the last time Illinois had an actual balanced budget. This was the beginning of the Illinois Budget Crisis. Although, now the issue is not just balancing the budget but, passing a financial plan. While there may not necessarily be pros or cons of Illinois not having a state budget, it has been significantly debated how Illinois should obtain a balanced budget.

rom a biblical perspective, a budget is important to keep the economy flowing in an efficient manner. Proverbs 21:5 KJV says “The thoughts of the diligent tend only to plenteousness; but of every one that is hasty only to want.” Diligently planning and constructing a balanced budget is a biblical principle. The issue with the federal budget in regards to a biblical perspective is that the budget is not always balanced, and at times money is spent on activities that are not biblical. A balanced budget is crucial because having large amounts of debt is not a biblical principle. “We can see that debt is figured in scripture in various places as a potential means of God’s judgment against rebellious nations” (Anderson, 2013, p. 5). God does not condone large amounts of debt, such as what the federal budget contains.