The Pros And Cons Of National Debt
“Debt is the fatal disease of republics, the first thing and the mightiest to undermine governments and corrupt the people” Wendell Phillips, civil rights activist and lawyer (Phillips).
There was only one time in U.S. history that the nation was debt free, one year beginning on January 8, 1834 under President Jackson. When President Jackson took office, the national debt was approximately 58 million USD (Smith). After six years in office, the nation’s debt was eliminated. On February 1, 2016, less than two hundred years later, the national debt reached a record high: 19 trillion USD. If this debt were to be shared evenly amongst every U.S. citizen, including children, each person would assume a virtual debt of $58,000 (Boccia). So, how did Pres. Jackson eliminate the national debt? He increased import tariffs and, as published on Quartz, “Uncle Sam balanced his budget on the back of an unsustainable, wildly-speculative land-buying frenzy” (Phillips). Federal receipts from …show more content…
The term national debt can be defined as the financial obligations of a national government deriving from deficit, or government spending, in the excess of revenues collected or any funds acquired by borrowing from separate entities. The expenses included within this deficit are considered to be either on budget or off budget meaning, intentional or impulsive spending. On budget spending is recorded as the total amount of spent USD reported in the Federal unified budget. Off budget spending is excluded from the regular budget process. The three main off budget entities are the Social Security Trust Fund, the U.S. Postal Service, FNMA, and the FHLMC. The total debt can be thought of as accumulated deficits plus accumulated off-budget excesses. By the end of President Obama’s term, the national debt is expected to reach around the 20 trillion USD mark
There was only one time in U.S. history that the nation was debt free, one year beginning on January 8, 1834 under President Jackson. When President Jackson took office, the national debt was approximately 58 million USD (Smith). After six years in office, the nation’s debt was eliminated. On February 1, 2016, less than two hundred years later, the national debt reached a record high: 19 trillion USD. If this debt were to be shared evenly amongst every U.S. citizen, including children, each person would assume a virtual debt of $58,000 (Boccia). So, how did Pres. Jackson eliminate the national debt? He increased import tariffs and, as published on Quartz, “Uncle Sam balanced his budget on the back of an unsustainable, wildly-speculative land-buying frenzy” (Phillips). Federal receipts from …show more content…
The term national debt can be defined as the financial obligations of a national government deriving from deficit, or government spending, in the excess of revenues collected or any funds acquired by borrowing from separate entities. The expenses included within this deficit are considered to be either on budget or off budget meaning, intentional or impulsive spending. On budget spending is recorded as the total amount of spent USD reported in the Federal unified budget. Off budget spending is excluded from the regular budget process. The three main off budget entities are the Social Security Trust Fund, the U.S. Postal Service, FNMA, and the FHLMC. The total debt can be thought of as accumulated deficits plus accumulated off-budget excesses. By the end of President Obama’s term, the national debt is expected to reach around the 20 trillion USD mark