The National Debt Essay, Research Paper

The National Debt

For the past centuries, the american people dug themselves into a big hole which is the National Debt. In this paper I will discuss the history of the national debt, effects on the debt/deficit, wais to reduce it and control the deficit. the national debt has increased every year from 1945 to 1995. The biggest increase of the debt was from the years 1985 to 1995 whwn it went up about three trillion dollars. Right after the Civil War the debt held at three billion dollars. In 1900, this debt of three million dollars had decreased to one million dollars. In 1919, at the end of the World War 1, the debt skyrocketed to 25.5 billion. When the Wall Street fell apart in 1929, the United States fell into something that was called the Great Depression. It started in 1930 and lasted until 1940. During this depression, President Franklin Roosevelt came in. He brought in projects known as Entitlements. Some of them were known as; WPA. TVA. and CCC. Then social welfare was born and social security began. This is what put our country into debt. Then came war, the end of the depression, and the Eisenhower times.

The debt kept on growing so new president Lyndon Johnson developed new social welfare programs- Medicare, and Medicaid. The U.S. Government came up with the gold standard and stopped minting silver coins. The coins were then made from scrap pieces of metal and the cash became paper. Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford passed the debt and added to it. The first sign of bankruptcy occured during the Jimmy Carter Presidency. Inflation skyrocketed and interest rates fluttered near 20%. President Ronald Reagan made the economy act better, temporarily. To make the economy better, Reagan invented something called a credit spree. A credit spree in my opinion is when we go out and buy everything, but we put in on a charge (spending money we dont have.) The government cut taxes and increased spending. The deficit exploded, but the american people were happy using a credit card and charging everything. Republicans began using accounts about ?supply side? and ?trickle down? economics. ?Corporate welfare prospered again, financed by more debt. ?Between the years 1980 and 1990, the national debt quadrupled. In 1980, it was at approximately eight hundred billion dollars. Now it?s five trillion dollars and increasing rapidly.? To worsen matters republican presidential nominee, Bob Dole says that he wants to finish what Reagan began.

Entitlemens and Handouts: Before 1930, all government spending in america totalled at about 11% of all spending. Now in 1996 it?s 44% and still growing. Most of the money the federal government spends goes to entitlements. Entitlements are directed government checks to individuals. Social security is the biggest entitlement and the biggest item in our national budget. Politicians say that social security is where the money is at.

The national government predicts that by the year 2002 the national debt will be at 6.507 trillion dollars. I think that the national debt will be a continuing battle throughout our lives.