The Budget Deficit "Putting It Into Perspective Page.
Treasury's Fisher on Budget Deficit Page.
gov/boarddocs/speeches/2002/20021122/default.htm.
Merstein, Hannah. Frequently Asked Questions About Debt Page. 12 Sept. 2003.
http://www.publicdebt.treas.gov.
Simmons, Gene. Federal Budget Spending & The National Debt Page. 15 Sept. 2003.
http://www.federalbudget.com.
.
Emperato 1.
Antonia Emperato.
Mr. Holcombe.
ECO 2000.
11 Sept. 2003.
The Current Budget Deficit.
The gross federal debt that was facing our nation at the end of 2001 was almost 6.2 trillion dollars! It seems that every time I pick up a newspaper, I find at least one article written about the negative net balance "or the deficit that is now facing our nation. After almost five years of having a surplus when dealing with the federal budget, many people are wondering why we are now experiencing a deficit. According to Hannah Merstein "A deficit is the fiscal year difference between what the government takes in from taxes and other revenues, called receipts, and the amount of money that the government spends, called outlays- (2).
The United States keeps track of many of their monetary affairs with something called the Federal Budget. This budget contains all of the income and expenditures for a fixed period of time "one year when referring to the U.S. The net balance is all of the expenditures subtracted from all of the revenue. A positive net balance will result in a surplus for that fiscal year, and a negative net balance will result in a deficit, which is what the United States has faced for almost three years now. There is also something called the Unified Budget which includes receipts, outlays, and everything dealing with the Social Security program (Edgmand, Moomaw, & Olson 402).
As mentioned at the beginning of the paper, the gross federal debt is almost 6.2 trillion dollars. However, that amount can be broken up into two categories: debt help by the public, and debt not held by the public.
