During the Great Recession, like any other economic downturn, unemployment rises, aggregate income declines, and there is a major decline in tax collections. At the same time, increased unemployment causes spending on safety-net programs to rise. In response to these situations, government appears to have only two options (neither good) to stabilize the national economy: either put in place severe austerity measures (cut spending), or increase borrowing. Of course, it is very difficult to defend cuts in the federal government programs and especially programs geared to sustain a minimum standard of living for the poor, but increased borrowing has major adverse impacts on the national economy.

Different theoretical views on national debt, Long-run costs of high national debt, Costs of eliminating the budget deficit solely through (1) personal tax increases, and/or (2) through spending cut by decreasing in transfer payments (i.e., Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid) and in discretionary spending (such as defense and education budgets).