Budget Deficit

The National Debt History of the United States is a long and storied history.  In fact, the United States has had a national debt virtually every year of its existence as a nation, beginning with the money borrowed to finance the Revolutionary War.   Shortly after the ratification of the U.S. Constitution, the national government debt was reported as $75 million. 

There has really been only one brief period in the National Debt History when the government debt was totally eliminated.  Read the rest of this entry »

The Treasury Department announced today that the National Debt of the United States has topped $12 trillion for the first time in history.  America’s National Debt has been growing at an uncontrollable pace in recent years, and that growth has only increased during the Obama administration.

When President Obama took office on January 20, 2009, Read the rest of this entry »

It’s official now.  The federal budget deficit for the fiscal year ended September 30, 2009 is by far the worst in U.S. history.  The final tally for the 2009 budget deficit is $1.42 trillion…more than three times the most red ink ever amassed in a single year.  As a percentage of U.S. economic output, it’s the largest deficit since World War II. Read the rest of this entry »

Last week the Obama administration quietly released updated projections on the budget deficit and the national debt for the next 10 years.  These White House calculations show that the federal government will run budget deficits totaling $9 trillion over the next 10 years, and that’s in addition to the $1.6 trillion budget deficit for 2009.  The news media actually did a pretty good job of covering this story, but they failed to adequately portray how these budget deficits will affect the national debt.  Read the rest of this entry »

Cash for Clunkers is officially coming to an end at 7pm on Monday, August 24, 2009.  By some accounts, this has been a wildly popular and successful government program which has helped to put our economy on the road to recovery.  Others argue that Cash for Clunkers is just another example of wasteful government spending, and that it will provide little toward the goal of long-term economic recovery.  Regardless of how you feel about the Cash for Clunkers program, here are some observations to be made and lessons to be learned. Read the rest of this entry »

With a soaring budget deficit and national debt, top Obama administration officials are now openly talking about the possible need for higher taxes.  When specifically asked about higher taxes, both Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and National Economic Council Director Larry Summers refused to rule them out.

When Geithner was asked about the need for higher taxes, he replied, “If we want an economy that’s going to Read the rest of this entry »