National Debt:

During the Great Recession of 2008, there was an intentional increase in the federal government budget deficit (that concurrently led to an increase in debt). Now that we have pulled out of the Recession, many individuals feel it is time to bring the federal government's budget back into some sort of balance. Advocates of bringing the budget back into balance believe deficits impose a burden on future generations and critics of balancing the budget feel that the deficit is only one piece of fiscal policy.

From one article: The federal government should continue to run annual deficits to finance long-term investments such as infrastructure while collecting sufficient tax revenue to pay for the government's annual operations each year.

The other one say: How borrowing can be an expensive way to raise money and that the United States must constantly repay its debts.

• What do you think about that? do you feel fiscal policymakers should make balancing the government's budget a high priority? Why or why not?
• How will reducing the government budget deficit make future generations better off? How could reducing the government budget deficit harm future generations?