|
|
|
In the economic boom of the Roaring '20s,
the Federal Budget ran surpluses for ten consecutive years.
This also has never happened since.
|
In 1835,
under President Andrew Jackson, the US Federal Budget was balanced and
the National Debt was paid in full.
This has never happened since.
In the 1930s
and 1940s,
depression and war initiated a half-century of chronic budget deficits.
Money borrowed to pay these deficits steadily increased the National Debt.
|
|
Budget surpluses became increasingly rare.
During the 1970s
and 1980s,
the US Federal Budget ran deficits for twenty straight years.
|
|
Finally in the 1990s,
another economic boom enabled four years of budget surpluses.
These surpluses temporarily slowed the growth of the National Debt.
|
|
|
|
In recent years, the US Federal Budget has dropped dramatically back into deficit.
Once again, the National Debt is growing. It is now over $15 trillion.
If you are a US citizen, your share of the National Debt is over $50,000.
You pay interest on this debt, through your taxes, every year.
The generation that is now too young to vote will pay interest
on this debt -- even though they never borrowed the money.
How would you balance the Federal Budget and reduce the National Debt?
Explore the complete US Federal Budget
to find your own solutions to these problems.
|
|
Next: Spending
|
|