Free Essay

How the National Debt Affect Us as a Country

In:

Submitted By brookelyork
Words 709
Pages 3
How does the national debt affect us as a country?

The US national debt is the total outstanding debt amount that our country has borrowed to fund its obligations. The Outstanding Public Debt as of May 24, 2011 is $14,358,571,459,323.88. The estimated population of the United States is 310,623,016 so each citizen's share of this debt is $46,225.07.The National Debt has continued to increase an average of $4.01 billion per day since September 28, 2007! The US national debt is calculated as follows: Add up all of the budget deficits that our country has experienced over the years. Then subtract any budget surpluses that we had. Finally, subtract any additional money that was used specifically to pay down the debt. You end up with a monetary figure that equals our national debt.

The US national debt is composed of both “Public” and “Inter-governmental” debt. It is this fact that allowed President Clinton to claim a “budget surplus” for three straight years back in FY1998, FY1999, and FY2000. One must remember what was happening in our economy back then. Those fiscal years were the peak of the “dot com” boom. As such, citizens of our country were making very high salaries in the computer fields, and therefore paying in a lot of money to the Social Security and Unemployment trust funds of the Federal government. The government trust funds are required by federal law to use any funds, not needed for outlay in the current fiscal year, to purchase U.S. Treasury securities (a.k.a. Inter-governmental Lending).

It was because of the vast increase in Federal debt sold to the trust funds that the “Public debt” was not needed – and actually ran a surplus. This is what President Clinton and his supporters were referring to as a “budget surplus”. However, budget surpluses and deficits are not calculated on public debt alone. They also include inter-governmental lending, which was very large during the “dot com” era. Since inter-governmental lending debt was always more than the public debt surpluses we saw our national debt continue to increase.
Some people have accused President Clinton of “stealing” from the trust funds in order to claim a budget surplus so that he could look more favorable. This is not an accurate representation. He just happened to be president during the “dot com” bubble and reaped the benefit of federal law requiring trust funds to purchase U.S. Treasury securities. This does not take away from the fact that our government does indeed steal money from the trust funds (thus the American people) to pay its obligations each and every year. Many government pundits would want us to believe that the national debt doesn’t really mean anything. Nothing is further from the truth.
Federal budgets and how interest on the national debt was a mandatory spending obligation. This amount will continue to grow and put more pressure on the taxpayers as our national debt increases. Also, Treasury securities that reach maturity must be paid back to the bearer at full face value. Federal trust funds are stocked with a pile of IOU’s instead of money. Our country is quickly reaching the point where annual Social Security contributions (“confiscations”) from American workers will not be enough to offset the annual outlay that the government sends to retired citizens. It is at this point that the Social Security trust fund will need to begin cashing in

its Treasury securities (IOU’s). There’s one little problem. The money to pay those IOU’s does not exist within the Federal government budget. There is only one place to get it – you.

The United States is a nation that has turned into a greedy “must have now” society – at the expense of our future generations. The money to pay off our national debt does not exist. The ENTIRE $10.6 trillion+ amount is simply money GUARANTEED not by the government bureaucrats, not by the United States of America, but by the sweat and labor of the future productivity of American citizens. Our government is stealing from us, and our greedy nature loves it. We are truly sons and daughters of Adam.

Similar Documents

Premium Essay

How Global Debt Crisis Could Affect You

...HOW THE GLOBAL DEBT CRISIS COULD AFECT YOU Reasons for selecting the article The reasons for choosing the article are that firstly, it stated that aggregates for economic consequences, GDP, recession and unemployment have greatly affected Singapore economy. The article also focused on the nation behaviour of the declining economy for US and Greece due to finance crisis which in turn affect other nations, in this case, Singapore. In fact, the article briefly explained how aggregates like national income and output have affected US and Greece economy, which in turn affected Singapore. It will be further discussed whether this mentioned global crisis will affect Singapore inflation, causing a rise in unemployment rate and the slowing of GDP growth for emerging markets. Summary of the article The article comments on how two of Singapore’s trading partners, mainly US and Greece, are hurting themselves with their debt problems and the impact of their problems on Singapore economy. It briefly describes what US debt ceiling is and the heavy borrowing of Greek government which has greatly contributed to the global debt crisis. It also explains on US debt problem and other aftershocks if the debt ceiling is not rise. Moreover, it explains the debts that Greece had incurred and what will happen if Greece defaults on its debts. Lastly, it further highlighted that the Singapore economy is affected by the two countries’ debt problems. Identify and discuss on the economics...

Words: 1253 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Balanced Budget

...might be that if our government keeps spending money that does not exist obviously the more debt will accumulate. The government cannot keep this up without creating more debt. It the same as budgeting you personal accounts. If you get a new credit card or loan to consolidate old debt and then re-use your old cards, it rather defeats the purpose of getting out of debt. Another reason might be that due to the enormous loss of jobs there are less taxes being paid to pay our nations bills or to re-invest back into the economy. There is no point to list these reason in number order there are so many. If the deficit is growing it affects the nation savings, in turn, reduces national income. This may become possible if interest rates go up or domestic investments fall. Economists agree these a few things on when it comes to a high deficit. Deficits over a short period do not really have much affect, because the United States can borrow to cover these gaps due to the dollar’s value as the leading currency. If the deficit is sustained over a long period then is does have more an affect on the national debt. This will drive the interest rate payments up and takes away from the resources. When collective deficits reach 90% of our GDP the countries growth rate starts to be affected. If the U.S. stays of this path of borrowing and not investing into the economy, we will see this affect within the next decade. This means that our kids will...

Words: 1940 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Fiscal Policy Paper

...learned that deficits, debts, and surpluses are accounting measures. There are many things to consider as important whether a budget is in surplus or deficit. The true importance is the health of the economy. The state of the economy needs to consider when to make a decision about whether deficits or surpluses are beneficial for the United States. Taxpayers have implemented how their money is in use when paying off deficits and how surpluses are in use to give back to the country. Debates of how taxpayers should use their money extremely important on how it affects deficits, debts, and surpluses. One debate is about how concerned an individual should be about deficits involves the future of the Social Security System and Medicare users. Unemployed individuals depend on these types of benefits and the number of users affects the accounting measures. To discuss the United States deficit, here are some examples of opinion from a University of Phoenix student. In addition, part of our discussion will illustrate the United States financial reputation on an international level. This will include an example of importer and exporter. Our team will give an example of an (importer) an Italian clothing company and for an (exporter) a domestic automotive manufacturing. Understanding accounting measures involves the health of the economy, which can be determined by the measure of the gross domestic product (GDP). When the United States is facing a deficit or debt the taxpayers can...

Words: 1978 - Pages: 8

Free Essay

Me Discussion

...DQ 1. How does a government budget deficit and surplus affect the economy? During what periods in recent history has the U.S. run budget deficits and budget surpluses? What were the reasons for the deficits/surpluses during those time periods? When the government runs a budget deficit, it is essentially spending more money than it is taking in. The caveat to this is the accounting method used to measure expenditures. For example, the Social Security fund creates an expense for the future expense. A deficit is not a bad thing though. A deficit means the government is pending money and that spending can be as investment in the future (assets) or to help the economy grow out of a recession. The internet is an amazing source to locate data. I found a site with tons of spreadsheets you can download to see the history of the US budgets, spending, and debt. The government has almost always run deficits so it was quite easy to locate two of them. The first one I chose was the largest the deficit had been since the recording had started. From 1982 to 1986 when Reagan was President the deficit hit $1 and $2 billion dollars for the first time in history. This was also a time of recession in the economy. This was still only between 4% and 6% of GDP. The next period of deficits started in 2002 and have continually increased since that time. The percentage to GDP from 2002 to 2008 was between 1.5% and 3.2% though. In 2010, the percentage of the deficit to GDP spiked at 10.7%, the highest...

Words: 663 - Pages: 3

Premium Essay

Week 5 Fiscal Policy Eco/372

...and high debt, which can also drain an economy. The state of our government can affect people from taxpayers, to the elderly who are collecting social security, to children needing medical and governmental benefits for their well-being. The government debt situation can be either an advantage to the population by lowering taxes, or a disadvantage by making taxes higher. * To know how taxpayers, future Social Security and Medicare users, and unemployed individuals are affected by the U S.’s deficit, surplus, and debt. It is important to understand the definitions of deficit, surplus and debt. Surplus occurs when there is more supply than demand, as in extra resources. Deficits occur when a government's expenditures exceed the revenue that it generates. Debt is an amount owed to another person or government in economics. * Taxpayers can benefit from a budget surplus.  A surplus can create a reduction in the tax rate which leads to a higher consumer’s savings rate.  The less taxes that consumers have to pay allows spending or savings in other areas.  An increase in national savings (reduction in tax rate) also creates additional money that can be available for banks to lend.  The more money banks have to lend competitively, consumers purchase items at lower interest rates and support stimulation in the economy.   * Deficits can cause a cloud over the taxpayers. The bills need to be paid, and it will fall on the taxpayer to assist in lowering the debts. Armed with...

Words: 1805 - Pages: 8

Premium Essay

Federal Spending

...As some of us already know, US is has the biggest debt in the world right now. US have a total debt of 16 trillion dollars. Coming in second place of world’s largest debt is the United Kingdom with a debt of 9 only 9 trillion. I said only 9 trillion in debt because comparing the two countries we can clearly see that US almost doubles the debt of the United Kingdom, that is simply outrageous. In an article by Paul Toscano, he notes, “This borrowing adds to the national debt, which has recently surpassed $15.7 trillion and is rising every second. The amount of debt is quickly approaching the federal debt ceiling, a legal limit to borrowing that currently stands at $16.4 trillion.”(Toscano). As stated by Toscano, the legal borrow limit for debt caps at 16.4 trillion dollars and the US is awfully close to that amount which horrible to hear. Eventually the US the debt will have accumulated so much that all producers, consumers, and investors will be affected one way or another which will cause unnecessary concern. This may all sounds quite bad, but all money the money borrowed is used on the American people and their needs. The federal spending is a rather huge issue in the US today, especially since we are 16.8 trillion in debt to other countries as of 2013. Some people may question about what all this money is being used for or where is it mostly going to. Well, I can say that the money is being put to good use to major programs such as military, social security, unemployment, medical...

Words: 1242 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Fiscal Policy Paper

...Fiscal Policy Paper Deficit can affect multitudes while a surplus creates positive results for those on the receiving end. A debt requires the liability to be paid or the liability may be repossessed or rendered bad credit to the individual. While Americans face issues with debt, surplus, and even deficit it is important to know that the United States deals with it first hand as well. Several areas the three topics affect include tax payers, unemployed, Social Security, Medicare, imports, exports, and the GDP. A synopsis of Team B’s discussion of the topics follows. Tax Payers Taxes are imposed on the United States by three categories; federal, state, and local government. Tax payers are taxed on their income, payroll, property, sales, imports, estates and gifts, as well as various fees. Tax payers are required to file tax returns whether it be for a business, corporation, or individual. Tax payers are affected by the U.S. deficit when there is a shortfall in revenue which is the result from the National Debt increasing. Additionally when there is a surplus tax payers are affected as well. Future Social Security and Medicare Users Social Security Administration figures that by the year 2040 the SS trust fund will be used up causing utilizing one of three options: borrowing, increasing revenue, or lowering benefits. The Medicare program is estimated to be much closer to crisis than the SS trust fund. In contrast to current Medicare and Social Security benefits budget...

Words: 1134 - Pages: 5

Premium Essay

Make or Break for China

...In the article the Fareed begins by addressing 2014 is the year of the horse in China and list down the country’ problem before it becomes the world’s largest economy . A big part of Fareed’s focus in this article is about China’s challenges likes debt, pollution and corruption. In this article showed how China’s financial crisis and the global economy slowdown based on it’s economic imbalances . The basic economy’s problem is that for almost a decade, China's economic growth has been fueled by cheap credit and government spending--a classic developing-nation problem .The country’s total debt level was estimated at 215% of GDP in 2013.Besides financial problem, China also have serious challenges in environment. Air and water pollution has become a major public health issue in the country.The last challenges in 2014 is the corruption’s problem ,it seriously increasing among the Communist Party. According to this article, China’s president has launched an anticorruption campaign for this unethical problem . In closing, Fareed Zakaria says that ,he not ready to bet against China if China’s leader did not manage this transition well.If China’s leaders manage this transition well.the country will emerge stronger and more stable and become the largest economy in the world. INTRODUCTION International business is much more complicated than domestic business because countries differ in many ways. (Charles W.L.Hill, 2013) .China has become the world's second largest economy, with...

Words: 2945 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Shutdown

...Recently, finance headlines have all been about the US government shutdown and debt ceiling. Last Oct. 1, the US experienced its 1st government shutdown in 17 years. Since the shutdown of Oct. 1, the US stock market had been down almost every day while global stock markets experienced a roller coaster ride. This changed last Thursday when a glimmer of hope started to surface. Over the weekend, American politicians engaged in marathon discussions to solve the US government shutdown and the US debt ceiling problem. Despite the gravity of the situation in the US, some of our readers and investors are still not familiar with it. They have been asking us how this will affect our economy and stock market. Philequity Corner was conceived with a mission of educating the investing public. As part of our educational mandate, we shall discuss in this article the problems that the US is experiencing. Moreover, we shall explain how these might affect the global economy, global stocks and in particular, the local stock market. What is the US government shutdown? A government shutdown takes place when the US Congress fails to allot funds for the incoming fiscal year. This last happened in October 1995 and this current shutdown started in Oct. 1. To date, the US government has been shut down for almost two weeks already. The shutdown closed certain parts of the US government that are deemed non-essential. Some examples of these are national parks and monuments, certain services for veterans...

Words: 1433 - Pages: 6

Free Essay

Euro Crisis

...How did Europe Economic Crisis begin? After went through our research and discussion, we knew that many of the Western world borrowed too much due to low interest rates and cheap credit in the 2000s. According to the US, this issue caused a property bubble which burst in between 2007 and 2008, causing a financial crash as banks worldwide including Europe had to write off lots of assets so had much less money than they thought. This had two effects, it caused interest rates to rise a lot, so that banker couldn’t lend out money and governments took on lots of debt bailing out banks. Some countries in Eurozone such as Ireland, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece all had very high national debts, either from overspending pre-crash, or bailing out their collapsing banks. High debts plus recession which is decreasing government tax revenue plus high interest rates equals threat of bankruptcy. So, all the above issues are specific to Europe, and we are discussing about the Eurozone economic crisis. Basically, all countries adjust their economies with monetary policy. With a unified currency, less productive countries e.g. southern Europe couldn't do this, so became less competitive and borrowed. They also able to borrow at cheap interest rates because of the currency union. This was part of why debts got so high in the southern of Europe. At the same time, Eurozone not only facing all those problem but also another problem. Normally a country almost no default because it can just print...

Words: 623 - Pages: 3

Free Essay

Is the Us Going Bankrupt???

...taxes and spending and monetary policies, through which it manages the supply of money. In this paper, I will discuss the why high deficits of today will reduce growth rate of the economy in the future, look at the history of our nation’s debt and deficits, different elements that causes of deficit and why the cause actually matters, what role the fiscal and monetary policies have to lead to higher or lower budget deficits and how deficits affect the overall long-term economic growth and debt of the U.S. Let us first begin by learning the difference between the terms debt and deficit. In economics, the term deficit means a shortfall in revenue of a fiscal year. It is when the government’s revenue called receipts, which are collected taxes (payroll, corporate, excise, income and social insurance), fee revenues and tariffs that are called receipts are lower that what is spent called outlays. In other words, the federal budget deficit is the yearly amount by which spending exceeds revenue. The term debt is described as an accumulation of deficits so the national debt is the total amount of money owed by the government. It is calculated by adding all of the deficits minus the surpluses since the nation’s inception and you get the current national debt. According to Econintersect, “the estimated 2011 budget deficit is at almost $1.5 trillion, following deficits of $1.4 trillion in 2009 and $1.3 trillion in 2010.” ¶ 1. This is disturbing when measured as a percentage...

Words: 2451 - Pages: 10

Premium Essay

Can the Eurozone Survive?

...this currency. The onset of the Euro crisis came about when the Greek government admitted to a budget deficit much larger than they had previously divulged. Interest rates skyrocketed and, despite efforts to reduce spending, Greece ultimately fell bankrupt. Concerns over the decline of a state that represents only 2.5% of the EU’s GDP could have been redressed, had it not been for inflexible provisions of the Treaty on European Union. The “no-bailout clause” did not permit the EU or any national governments to undertake the debts of another state, a rational but perhaps detrimental provision in 2010. Moreover, one may argue that the Eurozone was in jeopardy from the start when more than half of its members did not meet the debt limits. The Stability and Growth Pact, an instrument created to monitor these debt limits, was quickly ignored. Even Germany and France, the EU’s most influential members, regularly exceeded deficit allowances and thus smaller states like Greece were able to build debt unchecked (see Appendix A). If the EU had taken more decisive actions in early 2010 to remit significant loans to impose austerity measures on Greece, the world’s confidence may have quickly revived. Instead, Greek bonds were downgraded and investors began to fear the subsequent decline of other southern states. Danger loomed for Spain and Italy as they experienced stagnant productivity growth with wages increasing by 42% and 28%, respectively, within eight years. Still maintaining relatively...

Words: 1706 - Pages: 7

Free Essay

Us Debt

...The US Debt and Deficit The US Debt and Deficit are one of the most widely discussed and often misunderstood items of national interest of the United States. As we know almost every action and decision we make has a tax consequence. Someone who isn't aware of the tax laws or concepts doesn't really consider tax when making a decision. Also they aren't aware of how their decisions they may affect their income. There are different types of income that receive different types of taxes. Some incomes are not taxed at all while others are taxed at a very high or low rate. The definition of Tax is money that is paid by citizens and residents to federal, state, and local governments. The money that is collected from those taxes help fund services provided by the government. Taxes are the main sources of the government’s revenue. Types of taxes include income tax, payroll tax, corporate tax, excessive duty tax, sales tax, and property tax. The amount collected for each type are; 5.65 percent in payroll tax, 27.2 billion in sales tax, 9.8 billion in corporate tax, 50.4 billion in income tax and 8.9 billion in property tax. These are paid on a federal level and state or local governments as well. All money is considered Taxable income which is money obtained through wages, self-employment, and from other things like the sale of property. The majority of people pay their income taxes by having money withheld from their paychecks. The amount of income tax a person has to pay varies according...

Words: 966 - Pages: 4

Premium Essay

Daniel

...Daniel Bibonge Amsini Econ 412 December 18th, 2014 The US and its Current Account Deficit America's current account deficit has been fluctuating over the past 20 years. From 1991 it rose to a record high of about 6% of GDP in 2006 and it began to fall a year later to finally reach a level of 3% of GDP in 20091. Capital inflows finance the current account deficit. Economists are wondering if such large inflows are sustainable. According to economic theory, a current account deficit is not necessarily harmful as it stimulates a period of inward investment that can actually boost a country’s employment and investments. The current account deficit is still considered too large even at 3% and there is fear that it is caused by the recession. However economists believe that the US current account deficit may actually contribute to its development and attract foreign investors. The current account deficit is actually a good arsenal for the development of a country. For example, Japan invested a lot in the UK and this caused the emergence of new jobs in addition to the increased investment. The following paragraphs will enlighten more about how the current account of the US can affect its economy. 1 Feenstra, Robert C., and Alan M. Taylor. "National and International Account." International Macroeconomics. New York: Worth, 2012. 172-77. Print. A current account deficit (CAD) occurs when a country has an excess of one or more of the four factors (goods, services...

Words: 2903 - Pages: 12

Premium Essay

Finance

...in value over a period of time between a nation's imports and exports of goods and services. The balance of trade is part of a larger economic unit, the balance of payments, which includes all economic transactions between residents of one country and those of other countries. If a nation's exports exceed its imports, the nation has a favourable balance of trade, or a trade surplus. If imports exceed exports, an unfavourable balance of trade, or a trade deficit, exists. Current United States Balance of Trade The United States reported a balance of trade deficit equivalent to 44 Billion USD in September of 2010. The United States is the most significant nation in the world when it comes to international trade. For decades, it has led the world in imports while simultaneously remaining as one of the top three exporters of the world. Main exports are: machinery and equipment, industrial supplies, non-auto consumer goods, motor vehicles and parts, aircraft and parts, food, feed and beverages. U.S. imports non-auto consumer goods, fuels, production machinery and equipment, non-fuel industrial supplies, motor vehicles and parts, food, feed and beverages. Main trading partners are: Canada, European Union, Mexico, China and Japan. |Country |Interest Rate |Growth Rate |Inflation Rate |Jobless Rate |Current Account |Exchange Rate | [pic][pic][pic] |[pic][pic]  to   |[pic][pic] [pic] [pic][pic] ...

Words: 10127 - Pages: 41