What Are Some Facts on the National Debt?
Some Facts on the National Debt.
While the national debt grows, few Americans truly know any facts on the national debt, how much it has been growing, why it has been growing so much, and how present day economics differ from those in the era of Roosevelt and even Kennedy.
The national debt risings coincides completely with President Richard Nixon getting rid of the gold standard which had been around forever as it mandated that the Federal Reserve printed as much money as they had gold.
Under the gold standard, there was seldom an increase in the national debt as it rose from just a few billion to about $250 billion from 1940 to 1970 when Richard Nixon was in office.
Since then, the national debt has risen from around half a trillion dollars in the seventies to a whopping eleven trillion-plus trillion dollars in the beginning of 2009 and is predicted to hit as much as 200% of the national GDP by 2040 and around 600% of the national GDP by 2080.
China and Our Debt
Facts on the National Debt: The Gold Standard
The gold standard was a monetary system that used to involve backing up paper money with fixed quantities of gold.
This system is not used anymore because it has been replaced by flat currency.
On August 15, 1971, President Richard M. Nixon announced that the United States would no longer redeem currency for gold.
Eventually, the gold standard was replaced by flat currency, which means that all paper money is considered to be legal tender.
The reason paper money, or flat currency, has a value is because the government accepts it in payment of taxes and says it can be used within the country as a ‘tender’ to pay all debts.
Facts on the National Debt: 1940s to 1970s
In 1940, the United States had almost no national debt at all, it was around 0.2 trillion.
The 1950’s was when America first saw a rise in National Debt. At that time it was up to 0.5 trillion dollars, which is considerably bigger than it was just ten years ago.
The national debt did not rise too much in the 1960’s, it stayed at around 0.5 or 0.6 trillion dollars.
In the 1970’s, the National Debt started to increase just a little. At that point, it was up to 0.7 trillion dollars.
Facts on the National Debt: Modern Day
In the 1980’s the National Debt really started to increase by huge amounts that America did not even know it was capable of.
In 1980 the National Debt was almost one trillion dollars. Over the last 50 years, the national debt has increased to a point where America does not know what to do about it.
There is a counter online that just will not stop moving due to the increasing debt. In 2000, the debt was at 5.6 trillion dollars. In 2021 it’s close to $28 trillion.
It’s time you get out of debt by joining a DTSS Debt Discharge Membership Program today.