Balanced National Budget Essay

The sole purpose of needing a balanced national budget is to establish a budget for the country so that all government funding is equally distributed. Because the government gets money from taxes and fees, and spends it on things like national defense, infrastructure, grants for research, education, and the arts, and social programs such as social security and Medicare.
Since the beginning, our federal budget started out low but as the years passed and our government growing bigger thus creating more needs for spending along the way. The establishing of the 16th Amendment authorized a national income tax in 1913, which allowed the federal government to tap a new revenue source and expand the services needed to provide to all the citizens.

This effect impacted national citizens to pay taxes and over time accrue higher percentage taxes over the years to support the infrastructure of the country and create better health and social services. Because before the Great Depression era there were no real programs that could help the people both economically and medically through services. It wasn’t until after the “New Deal” took place for government expenditure with the social safety net of social security. Even though there was a rise in spending during World War II, it wasn’t until the later part of the 20th century when the real expansion of government spending commenced. The primary reasons of the tremendous spending were on national defense and social insurance programs, such as Social Security and Medicare.
Again, why must we need a balanced national budget?

So, that the government has a structural plan to provide their people with appropriate assistance with funding provided by the people. Because I know for a fact that if I am paying taxes “I would want things to get done”, meaning if I can’t afford housing or healthcare, I would expect the government to help me in this process. But if I don’t need it then I would like to see the government to use the tax money on those who really do need the government assistance instead those who don’t necessarily need assistance. I would also expect to see clean cities and nicely paved roads and expansion of more schools and buildings that benefit the communities that surround them. To support me economically if I want to continue with my education in terms of funding. All these listed items I have mentioned cost money and it’s up to the government to evenly distribute funding to all these areas throughout time and still have enough for future programs and services. A balanced national budget also helps the country from reaching “rock bottom” thus meaning if funds never dry out then no services or programs can be taken away. Maintaining a balance on any spending could prevent any catastrophe from occurring well that’s what us the people

hope.
Debt ceiling is a limit imposed by congress on the amount of national debt that can be issued by the US Treasury, thus limiting how much money the federal government can borrow. The debt ceiling is an aggregate figure which applies to the gross debt, which includes debt in the hands of the public and in intra-government accounts. Since expenditures are authorized by separate legislation, the debt ceiling does not directly limit government deficits. This effect can only restrain the Treasury from paying for expenditures and other financial obligations after the limit has been reached, but which have already been approved (in the budget) and appropriated. When the debt ceiling has been reached without an increase in the limit having been enacted, Treasury will need to resort to "extraordinary measures" to temporarily finance government expenditures and obligations until a resolution can be reached. The previous debt ceiling was $18.113 trillion which the nation reached that ceiling on March 2015.
The debt ceiling is in place to ensure the U.S. doesn’t default on its national debt since we are constantly raising the ceiling as the debt starts to reach its max. It almost feels as though the debt ceiling has become a joke, more like a speed limit sign that is never enforced. Short-term, there are positive consequences to raising the debt ceiling -- the U.S. continues to pay its bills, and we avoid a total bet crisis. The debt ceiling is good in that it creates a crisis that focuses national attention on the debt. Raising it is a necessary consequence of management by crisis. The debt ceiling is a constraint on the executive's ability to manage the U.S. economy. There is debate, however, on how the U.S. economy should be managed, and whether a debt ceiling is an appropriate mechanism for restraining government spending.
It’s effective in a sense that we need awareness of our spending as a country and from there on take corrective action to either start paying back that debt or leave it as is. The decision is ultimately left in the hands of the federal government which controls our tax money. Anyone who creates a budget must set a limit on expenditures at some point, but it appears the U.S. is setting a new cap limit every so often. In that sense, the debt ceiling isn’t so effective because we aren’t really getting anywhere if we keep setting the bar higher once we are close to reaching our max national debt. It would be more effective and comprisable if we set a cap limit and stick to it, thus we would have to be forced to start paying off our debt. If this situation were to occur, it is unclear whether Treasury would be able to prioritize payments on debt to avoid a default on its bond obligations, but it would at least have to default on some of its non-bond payment obligations. A protracted default could trigger a variety of economic problems including a financial crisis, and a decline in output that would put the country into an economic recession.
To elaborate more what exactly is national debt -- the amount owed by the federal government of the United States. The measure of the public debt is the value of the outstanding Treasury securities at a point of time that have been issued by the Treasury and other federal government agencies. In general, government debt increases because of government spending, and decreases from tax or other receipts, both of which fluctuate during a fiscal year. In practice, Treasury securities are not issued or redeemed on a day-by-day basis, and may also be issued or redeemed as part of the federal government's macroeconomic monetary management operations. The aggregate, gross amount that Treasury can borrow is limited by the United States debt ceiling. The US public debt as a share of gross domestic product (GDP) has increased during wars and recessions, and subsequently declined. The ratio of debt to GDP may decrease because of a government surplus or due to growth of GDP and inflation.