Subject: The Federal Reserve, Fiscal Deficits and Government Debt Description:

1. John Meynard Keynes is quoted with saying "in the long run, we're all dead." In context, what he was saying was that we shouldn't worry about running up debt at the federal level when faced with an immediate crisis, which in his case was the Great Depression. The responsibility of the government is to mitigate economic suffering in the short run. If that means incurring debt because of an economic downturn affecting tax revenues, so be it. We can pay it off in the future.

• How do you feel about this concept?Is a looming federal debt just transferring our liabilities to future generations?
• What type of situation, aside from a monumental crisis like the Great Depression, should justify generating huge federal debt?
• What do you think is the reality of this practice considering the huge deficits in the years of Republican presidents, beginning with Ronald Reagan?

2- Describe the complexities of the federal debt and annual deficits.

3- Describe the basics of what the Federal Reserve Bank does and its role in managing the economy.