The National Debt Crisis

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 »

Health Care Reform is a worthy goal, and most Americans agree that some type of health care reform is needed.   But can our nation afford President Obama’s version of health care reform?  What will it do to our budget deficit and national debt?

Official projections are that it will reduce the budget deficit and the national debt because of cost savings and efficiencies.  In this article, I want to put forth an opposing point of view.  I believe that this health care reform will ultimately prove to cause dramatic increases in the budget deficit and the national debt.  There are two reasons I believe this. Read the rest of this entry »

There seems to be a lot of debate around the water cooler and the dinner table as to which President is most responsible for the increase in the National Debt.  In this article, I’d like to take a look at the growth in the National Debt by President using an unbiased approach.  This analysis uses National Debt figures from the U.S. Treasury Department and the White House Office of Management and Budget.

To be sure, there is plenty of blame to go around for the uncontrolled growth in the National Debt.  For this analysis Read the rest of this entry »

Today our U.S. Government Debt is growing faster than at any time in our nation’s history.  But why is our government debt growing so fast?

The answer lies in how our federal budgeting and spending process works.  Each year, Congress and the President approve a budget that consists of government tax receipts and government expenditures.  If the tax receipts exceed the expenditures (this never happens anymore), then we have a budget surplus.  If the expenditures exceed the receipts Read the rest of this entry »

Debt Free…..what a concept!  With our Federal Government Debt now in excess of $12 trillion, is it realistic to think that the United States can ever be debt free again?

The short answer is “probably not”.  The United States has had a national debt since the days of the Revolutionary War, with the exception of one brief period.   In 1835, under President Andrew Jackson, the national debt was totally paid off, and for a brief period, the United States was debt free.  But our federal government Read the rest of this entry »

So what is the deficit anyway?

Each year, Congress and the President approve a budget outlining projected tax revenues for the year and projected expenditures for the year.  The Budget of the United States Federal Government is a massive document detailing taxation and spending in the trillions of dollars. 

If budgeted tax revenues exceed budgeted expenditures for a given year, then the federal government is said to have a budget surplus for that year (this is rare).  If budgeted expenditures exceed budgeted tax revenues, then the federal government is said to have a budget deficit for that year (this is normally the case). 

When there is a budget deficit, the federal government has to Read the rest of this entry »