Next week President Obama will give the annual State of the Union Address to Congress and the American people. Surely a large topic of conversation will be not only the current state of the economy, but the largely talked about, national debt. In an article posted in The Economist, "Deficit-reduction Disorder", the long-term domestic economy is discussed. This highlights the fact that the economy has greatly improved since the start of the recession, predicting that this fiscal year the national deficit will be 5.3% of GDP. Comparing this figure to 2008, 10.1% of GDP, illustrates that government spending has greatly decreased. This is overshadowed by the national debt, a huge political talking point. Both parties, Democrats and Republicans, would like to begin to chip away at this debt. Democrats are demanding an increase in taxes and republicans, cuts in entitlement programs (medicaid, medicare, etc.). With a republican majority in the House of Representatives, and a democratic majority in the Senate, a bipartisan effort is essential to accomplishing this feat.
http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21571456-austerity-and-economic-recovery-are-bringing-down-deficit-long-term-problem
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