Essay/Term paper: The national debt

Essay, term paper, research paper:  Economics

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.