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ok i was in my world history class and somehow the class was talking about the country's economy but anyway my teacher said that we were in dept from the bad economy years ago or something can someone please explain this and is it true. if it is i think its messed up that i will be paying a dept that i had nothing to do with
Debt is also an investment. When allocated properly it essentially buys civilization. The US still has not payed off its debts from WW1 and WW2 and maybe even the Spanish American War. Debts incurred well before I was born.
The key is to be cautious regarding spending. Building and rebuilding infrastructure, public education, social safety nets, a strong national defense are necessary for civilization.
The key is to avoid waste. Unnecessary wars and military programs, dubious, duplicitous and abused welfare/ entitlement programs. This is a very simplistic view of the situation. The list can go on forever and both sides of the political aisle are just as guilty.
Debt is also an investment. When allocated properly it essentially buys civilization. The US still has not payed off its debts from WW1 and WW2 and maybe even the Spanish American War. Debts incurred well before I was born.
The key is to be cautious regarding spending. Building and rebuilding infrastructure, public education, social safety nets, a strong national defense are necessary for civilization.
The key is to avoid waste. Unnecessary wars and military programs, dubious, duplicitous and abused welfare/ entitlement programs. This is a very simplistic view of the situation. The list can go on forever and both sides of the political aisle are just as guilty.
Who exactly does the US owe money to due to World War 2 ?
To the OP: another thing that people often confuse is "Deficits" with "Debt." The difference is quite simple though. Deficits are the difference between revenues and payouts. Our government often spends more than it receives on an annual basis. I believe President Clinton in the late 1990s was the last President to not only balance the budget but also manage to have a surplus a couple years.
Meanwhile, debt is the total of every year's deficits since pretty much 1788 when the U.S. Constitution was ratified. In the early days we incurred a lot of debt (mostly from France) and have never really departed from the trend.
The reason why this is an area of concern is that our budget is broken into two main portions: Discretionary Spending (defense, parks, departments, etc.) and Mandatory or "entitlement" spending (Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid). People pay into these programs throughout their lives. I'm 31 today, and I am funding the current generation of retirees, as is everyone else who is punching a time card these days. The system was designed when people retired at age 65 and few lived past 75. Thankfully we have increased life expectancy (don't think for a minute I'm complaining about that!) but what that has done has cause our mandatory spending to continue to grow.
Changing the system is almost impossible for a number of reasons. For one, once people have reached the eligible years, you cannot expect them to pass on their entitlements after a lifetime of paying into them. To change the system you will eventually screw a generation out of their entitlements. Another reason is because those in the 55+ age bracket tend to be the biggest voting demographic, so politicos will not tinker with a program that would drastically change benefits to this group.
So you can see we are heading for a fiscal collision. Some models indicate that mandatory spending alone will exceed revenues by 2030. We have less than 20 years to find a solution. Unfortunately it's 20 years that our elected officials will probably spend lining their own pockets and ignoring the demands of the people.
Anyways, I know that this seems like a lengthy answer, but it really does not even scratch the surface. It is a very complicated issue, the national debt. So much so that Marine General James Cartwright, while addressing a group of military officers, stated that the national debt is the #1 security threat to this country. Cartwright was the #2 uniformed officer in the DoD when he made this statement.
ok i was in my world history class and somehow the class was talking about the country's economy but anyway my teacher said that we were in dept from the bad economy years ago or something can someone please explain this and is it true. if it is i think its messed up that i will be paying a dept that i had nothing to do with
Which department do you think you might owe a debt to?
To the Americans who dipped into their personal savings to buy $186,000,000,000 in war bonds.
The USA also sharply raised income taxes to fund the war.
Adjusted for inflation the USA borrowed the equivilent of $10,500,000,000,000 to fund WWII. $10.5 trillion.
I would assume other countries still owe the US money for the munitions we gave them during WW2 - Great Britain, France, Australia, Canada, etc...
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