The Role of Government: The National Debt vs. The Deficit

PROCESS

Visit the website www.federalbudget.com and respond to the following questions or statements:

1. Define the national debt.
    
2. Describe debt held by the government.
    
3. Describe debt held by the public.
    
4. Did the United States have a federal deficit or surplus in 1998? Approximately how much?
    
5. When does the fiscal year for the United States Government begin and end?
    
6. When, before 1998, did the United States Government have a surplus?
    
7. Approximately how much does the national debt increase every day?
    
8. Approximately how much does the national debt increase in less than two days?
    
9. Has the interest on the national debt been increasing or decreasing in the past two years?
    
10. What is the difference between the national debt and the federal deficit?
    
    
11. What else did you learn from this lesson?