It was not too long ago that in American politics the subject surrounding the United States debt was at the forefront of the national discussion. In fact, during the 2012 Presidential election, reducing the national debt was one of the top Republican Party platform proposals (presidency.ucsb.edu), The Democratic Part, while in support of paying down the debt, were less focused on it. At the time, the debt was around 19 trillion dollars, which was double the amount of debt the country had only four years prior. When President Donald Trump was elected, while conservative in many respects, did not lower the debt, but in fact increased it. Today, the Republican party platform makes no mention of the national debt. So therefore the question must be asked: will the United States ever pay off its debt? In my opinion, it is possible but only if economic growth outpaces the debt. In 2000, the United States had a budget surplus, and was on track to pay down the debt but 9/11 curtailed that. If there is no surplus, paying down the debt would entail making unpopular decisions by raising taxes, or by cutting public spending--neither of which would bode well with voters. In order to successfully pay of the debt, there must be an economic boom large enough to finance it. According to Forbes, the United states is on pace to enter a recession (duggan,1,2022). If current economic trends become the norm, the United States has a long way to go.
References:
Stoll, J. (2022, July 27). Svod Service user shares in the U.S. 2021. Statista. Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/318778/subscription-based-video-streaming-services-usage-usa/#:~:text=According%20to%20the%20most%20recent,most%20U.S.%20subscribers)%20is%20Netflix.
2012 Republican Party Platform. 2012 Republican Party Platform | The American Presidency Project. (2012, August 27). Retrieved September 14, 2022, from https://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/documents/2012-republican-party-platform
This was fantastic post that covered a very topical and important topic that is getting overlooked. As you mentioned, the debt for the country is only rising and is not something that the government has properly prioritized. I was unaware before your post that the United States had a budget surplus in the year 2000, which unfortunately was affected by 9/11. A large economic boom would indeed be what is necessary to adequately meet the funds required to pay off the debt. Making sure that we use our voice and our vote to put people in power who aim to fix this is something that should be priority number one. Although we ourselves cannot change the state of the country’s economy, coming together and putting leaders in power who care about the future of our economy is something we can do.