The U.S. National Debt

The United States public debt is a measure of the obligations of the United States federal government and is presented by the United States Treasury in two components and one total:

--Debt Held by the Public, representing all federal[1] securities held by institutions or individuals outside the United States Government;
--Intragovernmental Holdings, representing U.S. Treasury securities held in accounts which are administered by the United States Government, such as the OASI Trust fund administered by the Social Security Administration; and
--Total Public Debt Outstanding, which is the sum of the above components.[2]
[Wikipedia]

Below are some basic links to information on the United States National Debt:

An Overview of the United States National Debt
http://www.csub.edu/kej/documents/weekly_updates/2011-06-13.pdf
(2011 document by Abbas P. Grammy, CSU-Bakersfield)

Frequently Asked Questions About the National Debt
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm
(From the U.S. Dept of the Treasury)

Federal Debt: Answers to Frequently Asked Questions
http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d04485sp.pdf
http://www.gao.gov/special.pubs/longterm/debt/
(U.S. Government Accountability Office. Both a website and a pdf document)

Budget of the United States Government: 2012
http://www.gpoaccess.gov/usbudget/

Citizen's Guide to the 2010 Financial Report of the United States Government
http://www.fms.treas.gov/fr/10frusg/10guide.pdf
(U.S. Dept of the Treasury)

Debt and Deficits, by David Rosen
http://ecedweb.unomaha.edu/ve/library/debt.pdf
(A dated work, 1994, but a good resource for basic information on the National Debt. Examines the national debt and deficits, looks at their size and impact, and discusses various policy measures for bringing them under control)

Ten Trillion and Counting
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/tentrillion/
(Public Broadcasting System)

U.S. Bureau of the Public Debt
http://www.publicdebt.ustreas.gov/
(Borrows the money needed to operate the federal government and to account for the resulting debt. See the National Debt to the penny. The Bureau also provides a Twitter page for the Debt.)
The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np

Budget Deficit and National Debt Reduction
http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/DeficitandN
(C-Span Video Library. A panel of former Congressional Budget Office directors talked about federal budget deficits and the national debt)

The Debt Limit: History and Recent Increases
http://fpc.state.gov/documents/organization/105193.pdf
(by D. Andrew Austin, 2008, Congressional Research Service)

U.S. Dept of the Treasury Page For Kids
http://www.treasurydirect.gov/kids/kids.htm
(Includes information on the National Debt at a level understandable for children, teens and those of us adults who have problems balancing our own checking accounts!)

Article contact: Bill Sowers
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