The National Debt Crisis

President Obama has released revised budget projections, and they show another record deficit for the federal budget.  The budget deficit for the 2009 fiscal year was a record of $1.4 trillion, but the projected deficit for fiscal year 2010 is projected to set a new record at almost $1.6 trillion.  In 2011, the Administration expects the deficit to decline to “just” $1.3 trillion.

Looking down the road past 2011, the Obama Administration projects that the deficit will Read the rest of this entry »

President Obama’s first year is in the books, so it seems like an appropriate time to see how he is handling the National Debt.  When President Obama took office on January 20, 2009, the National Debt stood at just under $10.627 trillion.  On his one-year anniversary of January 20, 2010, the National Debt totaled just over $12.327 trillion.

That means the National Debt has increased by a whopping $1.7 trillion during his first year in office.  That is the largest single year increase of any President in the history of the United States.

It will be interesting to see what the second year holds.

Where are interest rates headed?  Interest rates are one the most influential factors in American economic activity.  In fact, the only thing that affects the economy more than interest rates would be the unemployment rate.  Since this blog explores the consequences of America’s runaway National Debt, we thought it would be appropriate to explore the relationship between interest rates and the national debt. Read the rest of this entry »

Eliminate my debt!  It’s a plea coming from more and more Americans these days who feel overcome by the burdens of too much debt in a bad economy.  Although this blog normally focuses on the effects of government debt, we feel it is equally important to share tips on the proper management of personal debt.

There are several viable approaches for dealing with too much personal debt, including debt consolidation loans, home equity loans, and others.  But in this article, we want to share a strategy for systematically eliminating your debt and becoming debt free.  It requires discipline, but it’s not as hard as you might think. Read the rest of this entry »

The U.S. Treasury Department reported yesterday that the federal budget deficit hit an all-time high for the month of December 2009.  The deficit for December totalled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit ever recorded.  Additionally, the budget deficit for the first three months of the current budget year (which began on October 1, 2009) was larger than last year’s record deficit. Read the rest of this entry »