Americas Public Debt

Author : Simon Johnson
Publisher : Vintage
ISBN 13 : 0307947645
Total Pages : 386 pages
Book Rating : 4.42/5 ( download)

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Download or read book White House Burning written by Simon Johnson and published by Vintage. This book was released on 2013-02-12 with total page 386 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: From the authors of the national bestseller 13 Bankers, a chilling account of America’s unprecedented debt crisis: how it came to pass, why it threatens to topple the nation as a superpower, and what needs to be done about it. With bracing clarity, White House Burning explains why the national debt matters to your everyday life. Simon Johnson and James Kwak describe how the government has been able to pay off its debt in the past, even after the massive deficits incurred as a result of World War II, and analyze why this is near-impossible today. They closely examine, among other factors, macroeconomic shifts of the 1970s, Reaganism and the rise of conservatism, and demographic changes that led to the growth of major—and extremely popular—social insurance programs. What is unquestionably clear is how recent financial turmoil exacerbated the debt crisis while creating a political climate in which it is even more difficult to solve.

Author : Carlo Cottarelli
Publisher : Brookings Institution Press
ISBN 13 : 0815730691
Total Pages : 204 pages
Book Rating : 4.99/5 ( download)

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Download or read book What We Owe written by Carlo Cottarelli and published by Brookings Institution Press. This book was released on 2017-09-05 with total page 204 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The euro crisis, Japan's sluggish economy, and partisan disagreements in the United States about the role of government all have at least one thing in common: worries about high levels of public debt. Nearly everyone agrees that public debt in many advanced economies is too high to be sustainable and must be addressed. There is little agreement, however, about when and how that addressing should be done—or even, in many cases, just how serious the debt problem is. As the former director of the International Monetary Fund's Fiscal Affairs Department, Carlo Cottarelli has helped countries across the globe confront their public finance woes. He also had direct experience in advising his own country, Italy, about its chronic fiscal ailments. In this straightforward, plain-language book, Cottarelli explains how and why excessive public debt can harm economic growth and can lead to crises such as those experienced recently in Italy and several other European countries. But Cottarelli also has some good news: reducing public debt often can be done without trauma and through moderate changes in spending habits that contribute to economic growth. His book focuses on positive remedies that countries can adopt to deal with their public debt, analyzing both the benefits and potential downsides to each approach, as well as suggesting which remedies might be preferable in particular situations. Too often, public debate about public debt is burdened by lies and myths. This book not only explains the basic facts about public debt but also aims to bring truth and reasoned nonpartisan analysis to the debate.

Author : Carl Lane
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781594162664
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.62/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding the National Debt written by Carl Lane and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The staggering United States debt has a direct impact on every American, yet few are aware of where the debt came from and how it affects their lives The United States has a debt problem--we owe more than $18 trillion while our gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in America, is only $17.5 trillion. To pay down the debt, some recommend austerity, cutting federal expenditures. Others suggest increasing taxes, especially on the wealthiest Americans. In Understanding the National Debt: What Every American Needs to Know, economic historian Carl Lane urges that the national debt must be addressed in ways beyond program cuts or tax increase alternatives, but change can only occur when more Americans understand what constitutes our debt and the problems it causes. The gross national debt is composed of two elements: the public debt and "intragovernment holdings." The public debt consists of bonds, bills, and notes purchased by individuals, banks, insurance companies, hedge and retirement funds, foreign governments, and university endowments. Intragovernment holdings refers to money that the U.S. Treasury borrows from other parts of the government, principally Social Security and Medicare. This accounts for approximately a quarter of the gross national debt, but that is money that we owe to ourselves, not another entity. The more the government borrows, the less is available for private sector investment, creating a "squeeze" effect that inhibits economic growth. The most burdensome problem is the interest due each year on the debt. Every dollar spent on interest is a dollar less for other purposes. Those elements of the federal budget which are termed "discretionary" suffer. The mandatory elements of the budget--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the interest on the debt--must be provided for, but defense and national security, education, energy, infrastructure repair and development, and other needs wind up with less. By understanding the national debt we have an opportunity to address our real debt challenge--its principal and interest.

Author : Frank N. Newman
Publisher : Hillcrest Publishing Group
ISBN 13 : 1626520380
Total Pages : 105 pages
Book Rating : 4.87/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Freedom from National Debt written by Frank N. Newman and published by Hillcrest Publishing Group. This book was released on 2013-05-02 with total page 105 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: America is unjustly worried about "national debt," believing it can no longer do the many things that mark it as a great nation. Discussions of national undertakings including infrastructure repair, jobs programs, military modernization, and disease prevention - have all been stifled through fear of insolvency. America has convinced itself that it can no longer afford, as a nation, to do many of the productive things that it has done so well over its history. That's a great shame, because America remains a nation of tremendous resources in every sense, and the underlying assumptions about U.S. government financial instruments are not correct. America can never face the debt problems of nations like Greece, thanks to its fundamentally different financial system. This short book explains why such fears should not hold back America, and why even the expression "national debt" is neither meaningful nor appropriate for the United States.

Author : Sandy Brian Hager
Publisher : Univ of California Press
ISBN 13 : 0520284666
Total Pages : 173 pages
Book Rating : 4.61/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Public Debt, Inequality, and Power written by Sandy Brian Hager and published by Univ of California Press. This book was released on 2016-06-24 with total page 173 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Introduction : public debt, inequality and power -- The spectacle of a highly centralized public debt -- The bondholding class resurgent -- Fiscal conflict : past and present -- Bonding domestic and foreign owners -- Who rules the debt state? -- Conclusion : informing democratic debate -- Appendix : accounting for the public debt

Author : Sebastian Edwards
Publisher : Princeton University Press
ISBN 13 : 0691196044
Total Pages : 288 pages
Book Rating : 4.46/5 ( download)

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Download or read book American Default written by Sebastian Edwards and published by Princeton University Press. This book was released on 2019-09-10 with total page 288 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The untold story of how FDR did the unthinkable to save the American economy.

Author : Robert E. Wright
Publisher : McGraw Hill Professional
ISBN 13 : 0071543945
Total Pages : 433 pages
Book Rating : 4.41/5 ( download)

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Download or read book One Nation Under Debt: Hamilton, Jefferson, and the History of What We Owe written by Robert E. Wright and published by McGraw Hill Professional. This book was released on 2008-05-01 with total page 433 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Like its current citizens, the United States was born in debt-a debt so deep that it threatened to destroy the young nation. Thomas Jefferson considered the national debt a monstrous fraud on posterity, while Alexander Hamilton believed debt would help America prosper. Both, as it turns out, were right. One Nation Under Debt explores the untold history of America's first national debt, which arose from the immense sums needed to conduct the American Revolution. Noted economic historian Robert Wright, Ph.D. tells in riveting narrative how a subjugated but enlightened people cast off a great tyrant-“but their liberty, won with promises as well as with the blood of patriots, came at a high price.” He brings to life the key events that shaped the U.S. financial system and explains how the actions of our forefathers laid the groundwork for the debt we still carry today. As an economically tenuous nation by Revolution's end, America's people struggled to get on their feet. Wright outlines how the formation of a new government originally reduced the nation's debt-but, as debt was critical to this government's survival, it resurfaced, to be beaten back once more. Wright then reveals how political leaders began accumulating massive new debts to ensure their popularity, setting the financial stage for decades to come. Wright traces critical evolutionary developments-from Alexander Hamilton's creation of the nation's first modern capital market, to the use of national bonds to further financial goals, to the drafting of state constitutions that created non-predatory governments. He shows how, by the end of Andrew Jackson's administration, America's financial system was contributing to national growth while at the same time new national and state debts were amassing, sealing the fate for future generations.

Author : Carl Lane
Publisher : Westholme Publishing
ISBN 13 : 9781594162091
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.93/5 ( download)

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Download or read book A Nation Wholly Free written by Carl Lane and published by Westholme Publishing. This book was released on 2014 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: "When President James Monroe announced in his 1824 message to Congress that the [nation's] large public debt, [accumulated since the Revolution], would be extinguished on January 1, 1835, Congress crafted legislation to transform that prediction into reality. Yet John Quincy Adams, Monroe's successor, seemed not to share the commitment to debt freedom, resulting in the rise of opposition to his administration and his defeat for reelection in the bitter presidential campaign of 1828. The new president, Andrew Jackson, was thoroughly committed to debt freedom, and when it was achieved, it became the only time in American history when the country carried no national debt. Lane shows that the great and disparate issues that confronted Jackson, such as internal improvements, the 'war' against the Second Bank of the United States, and the crisis surrounding South Carolina's refusal to pay federal tariffs, become unified when debt freedom is understood as a core element of Jacksonian Democracy."--

Author : Carl Lane
Publisher :
ISBN 13 : 9781594162657
Total Pages : 0 pages
Book Rating : 4.54/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Understanding the National Debt written by Carl Lane and published by . This book was released on 2016 with total page 0 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: The staggering United States debt has a direct impact on every American, yet few are aware of where the debt came from and how it affects their lives The United States has a debt problem--we owe more than $18 trillion while our gross domestic product, the value of all goods and services produced in America, is only $17.5 trillion. To pay down the debt, some recommend austerity, cutting federal expenditures. Others suggest increasing taxes, especially on the wealthiest Americans. In Understanding the National Debt: What Every American Needs to Know, economic historian Carl Lane urges that the national debt must be addressed in ways beyond program cuts or tax increase alternatives, but change can only occur when more Americans understand what constitutes our debt and the problems it causes. The gross national debt is composed of two elements: the public debt and "intragovernment holdings." The public debt consists of bonds, bills, and notes purchased by individuals, banks, insurance companies, hedge and retirement funds, foreign governments, and university endowments. Intragovernment holdings refers to money that the U.S. Treasury borrows from other parts of the government, principally Social Security and Medicare. This accounts for approximately a quarter of the gross national debt, but that is money that we owe to ourselves, not another entity. The more the government borrows, the less is available for private sector investment, creating a "squeeze" effect that inhibits economic growth. The most burdensome problem is the interest due each year on the debt. Every dollar spent on interest is a dollar less for other purposes. Those elements of the federal budget which are termed "discretionary" suffer. The mandatory elements of the budget--Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, and the interest on the debt--must be provided for, but defense and national security, education, energy, infrastructure repair and development, and other needs wind up with less. By understanding the national debt we have an opportunity to address our real debt challenge--its principal and interest.

Author : William G. Gale
Publisher : Oxford University Press
ISBN 13 : 0190645431
Total Pages : 256 pages
Book Rating : 4.34/5 ( download)

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Download or read book Fiscal Therapy written by William G. Gale and published by Oxford University Press. This book was released on 2019-03-01 with total page 256 pages. Available in PDF, EPUB and Kindle. Book excerpt: Keeping the economy strong will require addressing two distinct but related problems. Steadily rising federal debt makes it harder to grow our economy, boost our living standards, respond to wars or recessions, address social needs, and maintain our role as a global leader. At the same time, we have let critical investments lag and left many people behind even as overall prosperity has grown. In Fiscal Therapy, William Gale, a leading authority on how federal tax and budget policy affects the economy, provides a trenchant discussion of the challenges posed by the imbalances between spending and revenue. America is facing a gradual decline as debt accumulates and delay raises the costs of action. But there is hope: fiscal responsibility aligns with both conservative and liberal goals and citizens of all stripes can support the notion of making life better for our children and grandchildren. Gale provides a plan to make the economy and nation stronger, one that controls entitlement spending but preserves and enhances their anti-poverty and social insurance roles, increases public investments on human and physical capital, and raises and reforms taxes to pay for government services in a fair and efficient way. What is needed, he argues, is to balance today's needs against tomorrow's obligations. We face significant fiscal challenges but, if we are wise enough to seize our opportunities, we can strengthen our economy, increase opportunity, reduce inequality, and build better lives for our children and grandchildren. We do not have to kill popular programs or starve government. Indeed, one main goal of fiscal reform is to maintain the vital functions that government provides. We need to act responsibly, pay for the government we want, and shape that government in ways that serve us best.