Should We Worry About the
National Debt?
Economics
Chapter 14

What does a Trillion look like?
1,000,000,000,000 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tym9AhMNcP0

What is the National Debt?
• http://www.usdebtclock.org/

What is the National Debt?
• The national debt represents the sum of annual budget deficit minus annual surpluses, incurred since the Revolutionary War.

What Caused the National Debt?
1. Paying for wars
2. Increased government spending during recessions
3. Tax decreases not accompanied by decrease in spending
4. Unforeseen events

Where does the government get the money when it wants to spend more than it takes in?
• The government borrows money by selling securities (bonds)
• The government also has the power to print money – the US rarely does this

What are budget deficits and surpluses?

Activity
• Read your handout
• Answer questions on back
• Note: Handouts 1 and 2 represent DIFFERENT opinion/perspective
• Discuss!

Video
• http://video.pbs.org/video/1099844054/
• “Ten Trillion and Counting”