1. Financing Government
Chapter 16

2. Borrowing And the Public Debt
Section 2
Borrowing And the Public Debt

3. Borrowing
Power granted by the Constitution that has been used over the last 200+ years.
To meet the costs of crisis situations, such as wars.
To pay for large-scale projects.
Since the Great Depression the government has used it to finance budget deficits
Economic stimulus
Supply v. Demand side economics
Most recently recession

4. The Deficit Congress authorizes all federal borrowing
The Treasury Department issues securities to investors.
Individuals, banks, financial institutions, foreign governments.
Since 1789 government has only recorded a surplus 19 times.
Since 1981 deficit has ballooned
Today it amounts to over 13,000,000,000,000.00