This week I want to focus on the National Debt and the federal government's budget. For Wednesday discussion of balancing the budget, please read the excerpt from "Citizen's Guide to the Federal Budget" Don't forget to keep sending me articles.
We'll start by focusing on National Debt.
Four years ago, there was euphoria in Washington that for the first time since 1960, the federal government had actually run a surplus on the non-social security portion of its budget. There was talk about paying down the national debt. That was then. The Congressional Budget Office projects deficits for at least the next ten years. While the Bush Administration suggests this is no big deal, many analysts are scared silly by this.
This is an approximation. But, I can tell you the national debt as of end of the day Friday to the penny by going to a Web site maintained by the U.S. Treasury.
Frightened yet?
Ok, what is the debt?
The national debt is the accumulation of all past federal budget surplus/deficits
A useful collection of datas on the national debt and other macroeconomic topics appears in the annual Economic Report of the President. A useful gateway to the Report and its statistical tables will allow us to look at major aspects of the national debt.
Table B-78 provides several key aspects of the national debt
Table B-79 allows us to look at the debt as a percent of GDP
Table B-89 looks at who holds the debt
For the remainder of class, confirm these numbers.
Had the social security surplus been excluded from budget reports, the 2002 budget deficit would have been $317.5 billion.
Between fiscal 1999 and 2000 the social security (off-budget) surplus grew by 21 percent.
While the national debt has never been higher, as a percentage of GDP the national debt at the end of World War II was 122% of GDP.
As of June 2002, foreign governments and private investors held 39% of the nongovernmental national debt up from 21% in June 1991.