United States' Deficit, Corporate Welfare Criticism, Revenue, Spending, and Borrowings

Journal Reflection
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Journal Reflection
1. What is the core message, relating to government revenue and government spending, of the video?
The core message presented in the video is how the American debt has surpassed the trillion-dollar mark. The video outlines how America got onto such a huge debt and outlines what Obama’s administration plans on doing to reduce the debt. The country is capable of closing the debt gap from year to year using its national budget. Such would be achieved by selling T-bills and bonds. The foreign countries that have been purchasing the bonds and T-bills have been increasing at a high rate. The video points out that the Obama administration would borrow with plans to cut the budget as years pass by.
2. Why did the US deficient increase so dramatically during the Presidency of George Walker Bush, 2000-2008?
The main reason the US deficient increased dramatically is the huge amount of borrowing done by George Bush’s presidency. The economy was already spiraling down, and therefore, the administration chose to borrow money to cushion the spiraling economy. Such borrowing led to an increase in deficit instead of solving the problem at hand. President Bush addressed the crisis through the concept of the bank bailout. During this period, the president had plenty of loans to bail out the banks and prevent the economy from collapsing more. Bailing out the banks would allow them to offer loans to the citizens, thus increasing the amount of money in circulation. This would, in turn, increase the level of investments, thus reducing the economic recess. However, the strategy did not work out well and only increased the nation’s debt.
The deficit increased because of the increase in military spending. The 9/11 attacks triggered an increase in the nation’s surveillance and fight against terror. The heightening of security required George Bush’s administration to provide the military with the necessary resources to fight terrorism (Irwin, 2019). This increase in spending was reflected in the budget of the nation. Therefore, the US had to allocate more money to the national budget, which played a major role in determining the high deficit level. The tax cuts made to address the 2001 recession also contributed to the drastic increase in the US deficit. These tax cuts did not end when the recession was over, contributing to revenue depletion in the 2008 recession.
3. Explain the connections between the US deficit and the criticisms of the corporate welfare as state discussed in the class material
Corporate welfare as a state refers to the tax money given to corporations by the government. It can also refer to the forms of tax cuts given to cor...