Today we are still feeling the effects of the Great Recession, as many economists call it. Our GDP has increased from almost 15 trillion dollars in 2007 to over 16 trillion dollars as of March 2015. However our national debt is over 18.3 trillion dollars and analysts project that by the year 2021 our national debt will be anywhere from 25 to 30 trillion dollars as long as analysts aren’t wrong and stay within a 40 percent margin of error. If they are wrong however, we could see the debt near 40 trillion dollars by that time. From this we already have a combined debt of 61.2 trillion dollars. This includes individual state debt, banking debt, local government debt, federal government debt, and household debt. Our largest budgeted sectors are
U.S. National Debt The U.S. national debt has reached an alarming proportion. As it steadily increases, it's effect may not be felt now, but it will be in the future. Paul Gregory and Roy ruffin, in their book entitled Economics, linked deficits with inflation in the long run (251). Demand-side inflation of this type fails to increase the GDP, but instead just increases prices.
“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
Max: Hi I’m Max Lessins. This is Crash Course for economics and today we’ll be discussing the Great Recession, focusing on the fiscal and monetary policies used to recover from the 2008 economic meltdown.
In the grandiose words of George Washington, we should “cherish public credit… [avoid] accumulation of debt”. Washington loathed debts, and did anything that he could to avoid debts. As you can observe in the current day, our debt can risen a huge amount over the last few centuries. On December 22nd, at 10:50 A.M, the United States was in debt by $19,944,078,298,000 and rising every second. For the US to be out of debt, each of the 325,166,983 citizens would need to pay $61,338 as of 10:52 A.M (12/22/16). This is insanity. Just 16 years ago, we only had $5.629 trillion in
In what year did debt as a percentage of GDP achieve record highs? How high was it? Based on current projections when will debt reach that share of GDP again?
When was the last time you were exposed to propaganda? If you think it was more than a day ago, you are probably unaware of what propaganda really is. According to Donna Woolfolk Cross in “Propaganda: How not to be Bamboozled,” propaganda is “simply a means of persuasion” (149). She further notes that we are subjected daily to propaganda in one form or another as advertisers, politicians, and even our friends attempt to persuade us to use their product, vote for them, or adopt their point of view. Propaganda is usually considered in a negative sense. However, when viewing propaganda as mere persuasion, one can readily appreicate that it is
Currently, the United States owes approximately $19 trillion in National Debt. It is owed to Mutual funds, pension funds, foreign governments, foreign investors, American investors and many others. From the year 1959 to 2015, the United States debt has gone up by around 7554% from the debt in 1959 starting at $285 billion. The debt itself has increased by around 9 trillion since Barack Obama has taken the Presidential office in 2009. Everything has been done to increase national debt, but nothing has been made to reduce the national debt.
You pointed out how the Great Recession also affected the inmate with mental health or substance abuse issues. This is a very important factor because many people including myself, focus on the major hits caused by the Great Recession such as, unemployment and the housing market crisis. The inmate mental health population had many hardships with getting needs addressed prior to the Great Recession. The Recession however, could only have intensified the problem. Inmates are not looked upon as tax paying citizens and their needs are often overlooked or not addressed entirely.
Today has been a rather exciting day! I was summoned by my colleagues to a dig site in Florida in which my colleagues had unearthed a time capsule from the 1960’s. After clearing off the capsule and carefully opening we found an assortment of things that gave us insight into the era of the 1960’s. With it being the year 2325 and the 1960’s being over 365 years ago it was astonishing to see the items we found within the capsule. Some of the items we came across were a picture from a rocket launch dated May 5, 1961; a newspaper clipping from the day President Kennedy was assassinated, a book “The Feminine Mystique” by Betty Friedan’s,
Many Americans today are aware that the United States is in debt, however, some may not realize by how much. Currently, the United States National Debt is up to 18 trillion dollars and is steadily increasing. This is a serious problem for the U.S., especially for millennials, who are going to be the ones living and dealing with the debt left behind for them. Increased spending, borrowing from China, and interest on the money borrowed are setting up our economy for an eventual crash, one that the upcoming generation may not be prepared for. Every dollar that accumulates into the debt will have to be repaid with interest at some point, making it harder to pay back. To gain a better understanding of how the U.S. dug itself into such a deep hole, one should start at the beginning of where the debt started.
Since the nation’s very beginning, it has carried a debt from the American Revolution. Only once in the entire U.S. history has been the debt zero, during President Andrew Jackson’s administration in the 1830’s. President Jackson set a budget like the other future and past presidents, but actually stayed within its parameters. However, the debt kept growing after his presidency and reached $18 trillion dollars today. The world has changed a lot since the 1830’s, the methods used during that period can no longer be the solution in 2015 because there are just too many factors that must be considered. The size and the population of the country have changed dramatically, foreign relationships are far more complicated and broader, and people’s expectations of the government are different.
Federal debt has been increasing for at least the past ten years. Currently, federal debt is $19,929,184,161,352.13 (Chantrill). The national debt has nearly doubled throughout Obama’s presidency and President elect Trump’s ideas do not look promising for change. It is estimated that Trump’s tax cuts will raise federal debt by $7.2 trillion within the next decade (Mauro). Many debt crises have occurred because of declines in growth. When
Maria comes home one day earlier than usual. Her family, two daughters of age five and eight and a stay-at-home husband, is surprised to see her so early and unexpectedly. The tired look on her face reveals the experience she had at work. She brings out a sluggish smile as her daughters rush up to greet her with their warm embraces, reminding her of the happiness they constantly provide but also saddened by their questionable future. Quietly, she sits down in front of her anxious spouse as he patiently awaits the news, sensing the tension in the air.
In 2009 the debt was amounted to about $12 trillion , or 83.4 percent of the country’s GDP (“Budget of the United States Government: Historical Tables Fiscal Year 2011” table 7.1). Since 2003, the debt has been increasing by more than $500 billion annually. The increase in 2009 was $1.9 trillion. According to the Congressional Budgeting Office, this debt will keep increasing at least for the next decade (“The Budget and Economic Outlook : Fiscal Years 2010 to 2020” 21).
Thomas Jefferson once stated, "I place economy among the first and most important virtues, and public debt as the greatest of dangers. To preserve our independence, we must not let our rulers load us with perpetual debt" (Bussing-Burks, 7). A lot has changed since Jefferson was President two hundred years ago, but the need to be financially solvent is something that will always be necessary for the United States to maintain its leadership position in the world. The United States of America currently owes $16.7 trillion in debt primarily as a result of the government’s spending practices during the last ten years. Two wars, several fiscal collapses, the bursting of the bubble in the housing market, looming medical care costs from an