The Issue Of Mounting Debt

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.

On the Sixth Avenue in Manhattan, there is a national debt clock that shows the amount of United States national debt. The clock was first installed in 1989, and can show up to ten trillion dollars. It ran out of digits in October 2008 when the sum of debt exceeded the amount. A new clock with two extra digits is going to be installed (Izzo 2 ).

Is getting a college education worth going into debt? That is a good question and one that I say yes to. There are many reasons to go to college, such as getting that high quality education to go further in the job you currently have, or to get an new job all together. Another reason could be to become a good role model for your kids, or just so you can proudly say you were the first in your family to go and graduate to college. Another reason could be that you simply go because everyone else in your family has been. Whatever the reason, there are definitely benefits to going into debt in order to go to college, because it has almost become necessary to have a college degree to have a good job.

During presidential bids for the White House and Congressional deadlines for increasing the debt ceiling, huge debates break out as to the enormous amount of debt incurred by the federal government. Throughout our nation’s history, national debt at this magnitude is a new things. The accumulation of this amount of debt has its consequences, especially when the debt hits the nations GDP (Gross Domestic Product), or the revenue the nation takes in per year.

If there is one thing that is known about the national debt, it is that it goes hand in hand with Millennials. It is a shame to think that our country's debt will be forced onto the younger generation, and we will ultimately be the ones who have to fix the situation or deal with the consequences. To be clear, the term millennial usually refers to someone who is in the 18 to 34 age bracket. Millennials are also the first generation after the baby boomers. We are now facing a time when the national debt is growing faster than the American population, and this affects everyone.

Americans are known for our high standard of living, but many Americans are not aware that the United States money is borrowed. Annually Americans are making the nation’s debt bigger and bigger. Due to the ignorance of many American’s, the United States is in decline. In Andrew Romano’s NEWSWEEK article How ignorant are Americans, states that “gave 1,000 Americans the U.S. Citizenship test—38 percent failed. The country’s future is imperiled by our ignorance.” Just under half the test takers are unable to answer basic questions of how the United Sates became as what it has.

The National debt of the United States has increased at a rate of over one trillion dollar per year for the last 10 years. The main culprit behind the rising federal deficits and debt is the growing federal spending on programs like Medicare, Medicaid, Social Security, and the Patient Protections and Affordable Act (Obamacare). Currently, the national debt exceeds $18 trillion dollars. That amounts to more than $58,000 for each person who lives in the U.S. today (including children). Some say government spending is out of control, but other argues that the US economy has never been so large or strong either. The gross federal debt, which represents the federal government 's total outstanding debt, consists of debt held by the public and debt held in government accounts. The US has never defaulted on its debt and bills so aside from political suicide for most lawmakers that approve legislation to increase credit limits, the economy has justifiably supported continue raises in the debt ceiling. But how much “borrowing” is too much? Can we continue to raise the amount of debt the nation can take on?

According to brilling.com the U.S. national debt is increasing at an alarming rate of 2.35 billion dollars a day, witch comes out to be about 56,694 dollars per U.S. citizen. One of the major controversies over the national debt is who started the escalation and when did it begin?

The national debt is the total amount of money the United States Treasury Department has borrowed and currently owes to the federal government's creditors (Sylla). These creditors are mostly comprised of the public, including individuals, corporations, as well as state, local and foreign governments. They also consist of various government trust funds, such as Social Security and Medicare. Additionally, they include the Federal Reserve, mostly in the form of treasury bonds, bills and notes. Currently, the U.S. national debt is estimated to be $8.5 trillion (ZFacts). This ever-growing figure brings with it several social and economic implications. Therefore, the national debt is a frequently debated topic

The United States of America is currently being stared down by twenty trillion dollars in debt. This debt is not to be blamed one political party, but rather the entire American population since the beginning of our country’s existence. We have been spending our money as if we are a large country, but taxing our people like we are a small country. The debt of our country is battling a “physical cancer that is growing inside of us that could bring about catastrophic consequences.” There are four deficits: budget, savings, trade, and leadership, aiding our country’s debt crisis. Each of these deficits has their own influence on debt, and each of them has a possible solution.

America was once known for being one of the richest nations, now facing a modern day depression. America starting noticing the economy going down during the collapse of the Lehman Brothers, and the global banking failure in 2008. This debt has become a burden amongst college students and the middle class Americans. This long lasting debt seems to be a drag and has no chance of getting better anytime soon.

discouraged, which makes people feel disgraceful. The topic of debt and financial difficulties is avoided in society because it does not like to acknowledge the fact that there are some people in this country who are struggling to get by. It does not like to believe that there are people who are superior due to their income and some who are inferior due to their debt. It is also not talked about because it causes individuals with debt to stress out and get overwhelmed. As stated in the same article, “Many students say they prefer ‘just not to think about it’ because adding money stress to their academic stress is overwhelming” (Novotney 1). The suppressed feelings of envy and self-criticism lead to anxiety and agony.

We have a long story of debt, but it seems no one has been able to make it better. If the debt is increasing over time, the government has a budget deficit. Charles C. Turner, et al, define deficit as spending that exceed revenue (482). In history, basic deficit or debt was usually from over spending from a war and economic issues like a recession or depression. Then the government had a budget deficit almost every year “between 1970 and 1997,” but tax cut and more spending on defense by President Reagan in 1981 added more growth to the deficit. Also, another cause is from reducing of productivity seem in the GDP and lower tax rate (tax cut) (483). Even when the government had some budget surplus, still, it could not cover the debt. In 2012, the debt grew “over $ 16 trillion,” (482-483) and has increased more in recent year plus 2.9 percent of budget deficit in 2016 (The 2016 Long Term Budget Outlook, 2). To manage the economic depression, sometime policymakers cut the taxes and increase spending again by putting more money into private sectors (Turner, 483); therefore, government goes further with the budget unbalancing. There are several reasons that lower tax rate will not reduce the budget deficit closer to a balance.

The national debt of the United Stated has long been a large source of controversy, especially given the last four years having had $1 trillion deficits consecutively. The United States national government has overspent and run a deficit for the last 45 of 50 years. The US national debt is quickly approaching $20 trillion, and the budget deficit is still very high.

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