U.S. Debt: An Overview
Few issues are more contentious in contemporary American politics than the federal government’s budget. Those who argue in favor of a balanced budget claim that the growing federal debt will have harmful effects on taxpayers in the future. Others counter that a government budget isn’t like a household budget and shouldn’t be viewed as such. They say that deficits must be run to ward off economic or foreign threats and that a nation’s debt isn’t an urgent problem.
Proponents of balanced budgets also support restricting the power and scope of the government. Their opponents want the government to have the power and the funds to affect wide-reaching change, if necessary.
The history of U.S. debt goes back to the American Revolution. Almost all the deficits in the early days of our country were the result of war. The federal government managed to pay off its entire debt in 1835. This was the first time…
