National Debt Essay

1380 Words3 Pages

The national debt surfaced after the revolution when the United States government had to borrow funds from the French government and from the Dutch bankers. By 1790, the U.S. government accumulated millions in debt, but no one knew precisely how much. The Constitution mandated that the new government take over the debts of the old government under the Articles of Confederation. The national debt of the United States is calculated using the worth of the Treasury securities that have been distributed by the Treasury and other bureaus of the federal government. Debt held by the public consists of debt held by persons, businesses, the Federal Reserve System, and foreign, state, and local governments. Debt that is held by the government consists of trading securities that are held in accounts managed by the federal government. Examples of debt held by the government are funds owed to program beneficiaries, such as the Social Security Trust Fund. In general, an increase in government spending and decrease in the collection of government taxes and other receipts, increases the debt held by the local government. Government taxes and receipts fluctuate annually, and are frequently less than government spending. In the past, the U.S. public debt has increased for the duration of wars and recessions. When the government consumes more than what it accumulates in taxes, there is a budget deficit and the government then borrows from the private sector or from foreign governments to protect their spending. The compilation of historical borrowing is what materializes the government debt. A large increase in government debt occurred during Ronald Reagan’s presidency in the 1980’s. Ronald Reagan was dedicated to decreasing taxes a... ... middle of paper ... ...ons of people, the plans will never be successful and will forever be a burden on the public. Hamilton was more concerned with the government as a whole, while Madison was concerned with the people that the government will affect. The United States debt, as of the fiscal year ending 2013, was $16,738 (in billions). The chart below depicts how the government debt has changed over the previous 10 years. According to the New York Times, as of June 2014, China is now the Largest Corporate Debt Issuer, surpassing the United States. The Standard and Poor’s ratings show that the Chinese nonfinancial companies had approximately $14.2 trillion in debt compared to the United States which had about $13.1 trillion. S & P also estimates that China will have more than $20 trillion in debt by 2018, and that will make up for one third of the worldwide corporate borrowing.

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