Limitations on Government Debt and Deficits in the United States

Federal debt and deficit issues are of grave concern in the United States. Equally serious are State and local debt and deficit issues. The debate is ongoing over what reforms will effectively address these pressing concerns. On the federal level, the proposed solutions include a balanced budget amendment and elimination of the debt limit altogether on the one hand, and focusing on growth rather than debt and deficit on the other. On the State and municipal level, proposals range from relying on market mechanisms, imposing constitutional limits on debt, tying the debt threshold to annual revenue, and submitting issuance of bonds or other indebtedness to the electorate for approval. The debate continues. As the United States is a federal government, this paper examines in Part I the federal budget process and limits on federal debt and deficits, and in Part II the budget process and limits on debt and deficits for States and local governments

Balanced budget · Business · Debt · Deficit spending · Economic policy · Economics · Federal budget · Government (linguistics) · Government Debt · Internal debt · Political science · Politics · Revenue · State (computer science) · Tying · Finance · Fiscal Policies and Political Economy · Fiscal Policy and Economic Growth · Law · Local Government Finance and Decentralization