This indispensable resource provides readers with a clear and unbiased understanding of the national debt and its relationship to the U.S. economic system. The book addresses the foundations and major elements of America’s budgetary process, details how government taxing and spending priorities impact the nation’s debt, explains the difference between deficits and debt, and summarizes dominant conservative and liberal economic perspectives on the national debt and related fiscal issues.

Utilizing authoritative resources and accessible, lay-friendly terminology, this book punctures popular myths and misconceptions about the national debt. But it also shines a light on the numerous economic, social, and political drivers of our national conversation about the debt—and the ways in which the national debt is likely to influence the lives of future generations of Americans. At a time when American political discourse often descends into fact-free zones of wishful thinking and deceptive claims, this book provides information for readers to truly understand the national debt.

Features

• Addresses beliefs and claims regarding the national debt in an easy-to-navigate question-and-answer format
• Draws from empirical research in a variety of scholarly fields and presents those findings in a single, lay-friendly location to aid understanding of complex issues related to fiscal policy and federal budgets.
• Provides readers with leads to conduct further research in extensive Further Reading sections for each entry
• Examines claims made by individuals and groups of all political backgrounds and ideologies