1. The Federal Budget Why does something so important have to be so complicated?

2. What is a budget deficit? When the government spends more than it takes in.

3. Why are deficits potentially bad? Might raise interest rates. Nation is consuming more than it produces which might lead to unemployment.

4. Why did deficits first soar in the 1930s and 1940s? Great Depression, New Deal & World War II

6. Why did deficits soar in the 1980s? The Reagan tax cuts combined with the Reagan military build-up

8. When was the budget finally balanced? 1990s under President Clinton

10. Why didn’t the budget stay balanced in the 2000s? Bush tax cuts and spending increases.