Introduction

Every election cycle it seems that every politician talks about the size of government, the budget deficits and the national debt. The average citizen is either unaware of the issues or fails to understand the complexity of the problem or what it will take to lower the deficits and the debt. This lesson is all about learning the language of the US budget and the recent trend of borrowing large amounts of money to fund current government operations. The basic idea is that borrowing money in order to spend more now requires future generations to pay the loans back. The more informed you are on how the deficits and debts affect us all, the better voter you will be in the future.

 

 

 

 

Lesson Objectives

Following successful completion of this lesson, students will be able to:

  • explain the difference between the debt and deficit.
  • discuss the current size of the debt and deficit.
  • discuss the implications of the debt and deficit.
  • explain how the government deficit spends.
  • explain how the Treasury Department sells treasury securities to make up for budget shortfalls.

The above objectives correspond with the Alabama Course of Study: Economics objectives: 11.2

 

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