Both official Washington and the chattering political classes have spent most of the past 12 months debating how to cut the government budget, reduce deficits, and limit debt. Key groups, and perhaps the most vocal and strident groups in the debate, have been the self-described "constitutional conservatives" and Tea Party types. They have staked out … Continue reading Founding Fathers Would Have Opposed A Balanced Budget Amendment – The Purpose of National Government Was to Borrow
national debt
How Did U.S. Get $14 Trillion in Debt and Who Is Owed the Money?
A great graphic from The New York Times:
The Misunderstood National Debt
A colleague asked for my thoughts on this article/column by Michael Manning in the State News, the Michigan State student newspaper, so I thought I'd post it for all. Basically Mr. Manning reaches the right conclusions with a correct, but weak case. In looking at the issue of the size of the U.S. national debt … Continue reading The Misunderstood National Debt
More re: National Debt
Just after I finished my Background Info on National Debt post, I ran across this from James Galbraith at New Deal 2.0. He does a nice job of pointing out some of the errors of the "oh-my-god-the-deficit-is-going-to-destroy-us-if-we-don't-cut-grandma's-social-security" crowd. For those not aware, Pete Peterson is a billionaire that has spent millions trying to frighten people … Continue reading More re: National Debt
Background Info on U.S. National Debt
This is another post in response to a student request. Here are some links that provide background information about the U.S. national debt. First, the definitive sources: for the exact amount of debt by year: U.S Treasury Direct - Reports: http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/reports/pd/histdebt/histdebt.htm this site also has links, graphs, charts on the makeup of the debt by … Continue reading Background Info on U.S. National Debt