The Federal Deficit
Guest blogger: actg242
Below is a chart on the most current U.S. national debt. The calculations are based on information from Ed Hall’s U.S. National Debt Clock. It was last calibrated using information obtained from the U.S. Department of the Treasury, dated March 28, 2012. Population figures are derived from the U.S. Bureau of the Census’s Population Clock.
|
TOTAL U.S. NATIONAL DEBT |
DEBT PER CITIZEN |
DEBT PER TAXPAYER
|
|
$15,587,132,067,439.13 |
$49,879.76 |
$137,065.38
|
2011 revenues are estimated by the Office of Management and Budget:
|
U.S. FEDERAL REVENUE |
FEDERAL SPENDING |
INDIVIDUAL |
CORPORATE |
|
$2,173,700,000,000[1] |
$3,818,819,000,000 |
$956,033,000,000 |
$198,431,000,000 |
Based on the chart, each taxpayer is indebted for $137,065.38.
How does the government pay off its debt? Using tax revenues that it collects from the general public.
The bigger question is, how many years will it take for taxpayers to help the government pay off the debt? In my following posts, I will write about government’s actions to reduce the deficit.
Andreas Broscheid
Kathleen Ferraiolo
martycohen17
Tim LaPira
I believe the way the government pays off its debt’s is by raising the importing tax. We are losing more and more jobs every year which is bridging the gap between citizens and taxpayers. With less employed americans it is harder to raise revenue with income tax. Higher import tax’s will add to the revenue generated as well as increase American jobs. I believe this will have two positive effects to allow the government to help pay off the debt.
Steven said this on April 20, 2012 at 1:34 am |
To decrease the national deficit, it’s clear that such a change will take a very long time at this point. The government needs to do everything in its power to cut national spending. It is not taxes that are the issue. Revenue from taxes is certainly a part of the problem with the national debt. However, think about what Governor McDonnell from Virginia has done with the state economy. Although the deficit in Virginia was significantly lower than the national debt back in 2009, Gov. McDonnell’s strategy can be used as a model. McDonnell has never increased taxes since he became governor in 2009, but Virginia now has a budget surplus. Increasing taxes is not the answer. Decreasing unnecessary spending is what we need to do. The Governor actually began decreasing the amount of money going into state employee retirement funds, but he promised this to only be temporary and small scale. If we want to decrease the federal deficit, government leaders should confer will successful states’ economic strategies.
COB said this on April 23, 2012 at 12:14 am |