Report Outline
Debate Over Deficit
Effects of Deficit
Reduction Options
Special Focus
Debate Over Deficit
Current Projections of Record Deficits
As election year 1984 opens, the long-awaited recovery from the worst recession in 40 years continues to pull much of the U.S. economy out of the doldrums. Recent government statistics bring good news of falling unemployment, increasing industrial production and rising retail sales—without the burst of inflation that has stunted recent recoveries.
President Reagan, apparently poised to seek a second term in office, points to these statistics as evidence that his controversial supply-side economic policy has succeeded in bringing about sustained, non-inflationary growth. But many economists, some within the administration itself, predict that the recovery will be stopped in its tracks unless drastic measures are taken to reduce the federal budget deficit. That deficit totaled $195 billion in fiscal 1983 and if left unattended was expected to approach the $300 billion mark by the end of the decade.
Administration critics blame Reaganomics for the dilemma. They say the president's decision to cut domestic spending and taxes while increasing defense spending brought about the unprecedented imbalance between government revenues and outlays. Reagan claims to have inherited the deficit problem from previous administrations that enacted and enlarged domestic spending programs. Those programs, he says, transferred an increasing portion of the nation's wealth to the federal government at the expense of the private sector. |
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Federal Budget and National Debt |
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Sep. 01, 2017 |
National Debt |
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Jul. 12, 2013 |
Government Spending |
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May 15, 2012 |
State Capitalism |
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Mar. 18, 2011 |
National Debt |
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Nov. 14, 2008 |
The National Debt |
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Dec. 09, 2005 |
Budget Deficit |
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Apr. 13, 2001 |
Budget Surplus |
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Feb. 01, 1991 |
Recession's Regional Impact |
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Jan. 20, 1984 |
Federal Budget Deficit |
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Sep. 09, 1977 |
Federal Reorganization and Budget Reform |
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Nov. 24, 1972 |
Limits on Federal Spending |
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Jan. 08, 1969 |
Federal Budget Making |
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Dec. 06, 1967 |
National Debt Management |
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Aug. 01, 1962 |
Fiscal and Budget Policy |
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Nov. 27, 1957 |
National Debt Limit |
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Mar. 20, 1957 |
Spending Controls |
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Dec. 24, 1953 |
Public Debt Limit |
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Feb. 13, 1952 |
Tax and Debt Limitation |
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Nov. 30, 1949 |
Government Spending |
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Jan. 06, 1948 |
Legislative Budget-Making |
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May 23, 1944 |
The National Debt |
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Feb. 01, 1943 |
The Executive Budget and Appropriations by Congress |
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Dec. 27, 1939 |
Revision of the Federal Budget System |
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Oct. 10, 1938 |
The Outstanding Government Debt |
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Nov. 20, 1937 |
Budget Balancing vs. Pump Priming |
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May 02, 1936 |
The Deficit and the Public Debt |
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Oct. 19, 1934 |
The Federal Budget and the Public Debt |
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Feb. 10, 1933 |
Extraordinary Budgeting of Federal Finances |
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Dec. 01, 1932 |
Reduction of Federal Expenditures |
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Dec. 01, 1930 |
The National Budget System |
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Oct. 02, 1930 |
Federal Revenues and Expenditures |
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Nov. 02, 1927 |
The Public Debt and Foreign Loans |
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Nov. 15, 1926 |
Rising Cost of Government in the United States |
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Feb. 05, 1925 |
Four Years Under the Budget System |
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