Our current national debt is 12.45 trillion dollars and rising at a rate of 11,500 dollars a second. That means it grows on average 993,600,000 dollars a day. (All of this information was found from the national debt clock website.) Because of this I am going to tell you about the reasons I think it got so high and information on it. My four main points that I will talk about are deficits, national debt and where it comes from, future and facts and finally what I think this all means.
First the definition of a deficit. A deficit is the difference in how much the government spends to how much it collects in taxes. And before I say any thing else I want you to know that the president is not the one that spends money. It is congress that spends the money. All the president does is approves the bill or signs it. Still the president is a very important person in the process. Even if the president can proposes a bill it but doesn't mean it has to be accepted. Now the opposite of a deficit is a surplus a surplus is when the legislature collects more taxes then it spends. Although our government hasn't had one of these since 2001. I think that this means that our government has pretty much given up on trying to have more surpluses. And have just started to spend their their way around or through anything that stands in their way. But I hope we can find a way to change this. (All of this information was found on Great reality website.) So now that you know more about how the deficit is created I will talk about the actual national debt.
My definition of national debt is the accumulation of all of the past deficits. I'm sure your wondering where our national debt goes? Much of our debt goes to foreign countries and entities. The two biggest holders of our debts are China and Japan. China currently owns around 1 trillion dollars of our debt and Japan owns ¾ trillion dollars of our debt. I think that owing this much money to any country will put you in a bad situation. The total of our national debt is growing by the second and will just get higher and higher unless we do something dramatic to change it. (All of the following information was found on the US treasury website “Major Foreign Holders of Treasury Securities.) Which leads to my next topic.
Here is what I think is going to happen in the future and some facts. I think that if we keep spending at the rate we are our money will become worthless and we will be behind the rest of the world. Currently programs like social security and medicare require 51 trillion dollars which means that we need to come up with this money when we are already 12 trillion dollars in debt. So if we don't do something dramatic we could end up in even worse shape. (All of the following information was found on the just facts web site) Now all of this leads to what I think about this.
I think the government has spent to much money and is currently spending to much money. And if we as a country don't do something dramatic or our government has to act as one body and not favor parties or vote for the party. Because from what I have seen all the republicans and democrats just follow their party and it doesn't get anything accomplished. I think there should be a vote for the good of the country party.
My four main points were deficits, national debt and were it comes from, future and facts, and what I think about all of this. I hope that this essay has maybe taught you some things and let you see what I think about our debt. I hope that our government can come up with our solution because I certainly do not have it.