Econ 201 Debt and Deficits

Link to slides

For interest:

• Great balance budgeting game: Fiscal Ship

• Federal Budget Basics- Brookings Institution, June 1, 2016

• Graphs of the history of US government debt levels

• Tax revenues move with the strength of the economy (Slate, July 13, 2010)

• A 100% debt/GDP ratio means nothing! (Robert Shiller, Slate, July 21, 2011)

• Is the current budget deficit crowding out investment demand? (Matthew Yglesias, May 11, 2011)

• Interactive game: Do you think you can balance the Federal Budget? (New York Times, November 13, 2010)

• The New Deal's Works Progress Administration (WPA) - Newsreel, New York Times

• Bugs Bunny selling US Treasury bonds during WWII

• The proposed Obama 2012 budget graphic (New York Times, February 2011)

• Higher marginal tax rates don't seem to have an observable effect on RGDP growth. (Elliot Spitzer, Slate, Feb. 23, 2010)

• Who is buying all of these US government bonds? (James Hamilton, July 11, 2010)

• We can buy insurance against the US defaulting on its debt (Slate, March 17, 2010) Of course, we can probably buy insurance against the sun going nova...and both are worth about the same.

For amusement:

• Steve Colbert on the Reinhart-Rogoff 90% Debt/GDP theshold (April 23, 2013)