Search results
Results from the WOW.Com Content Network
Government debt is typically measured as the gross debt of the general government sector that is in the form of liabilities that are debt instruments. [2]: 207 A debt instrument is a financial claim that requires payment of interest and/or principal by the debtor to the creditor in the future.
Because the government spends more money than it collects in tax revenue, lawmakers need to periodically tackle the issue -- a politically difficult task, as many are reluctant to vote for more debt.
Common types of debt owed by individuals and households include mortgage loans, car loans, credit card debt, and income taxes. For individuals, debt is a means of using anticipated income and future purchasing power in the present before it has actually been earned. Commonly, people in industrialized nations use consumer debt to purchase houses ...
“Debt” and “deficit” are not interchangeable terms. A budget deficit is the difference between revenue, which comes mostly from taxes, and expenses, which includes everything from missiles ...
Pre-existing is the important term here, as it indicates that the government needs new financing, i.e. more loans, in order to pay long-standing debt. Government debt is used to pay for things ...
Government debt (also known as public debt or national debt) is money (or credit) owed by any level of government; either central or federal government, municipal government, or local government. Some local governments issue bonds based on their taxing authority, such as tax increment bonds or revenue bonds .
The government needs to borrow money to continue paying out what Congress has already approved, but the debt ceiling puts a limit on how much money the U.S. government can borrow to pay its bills.
Debt monetization or monetary financing is the practice of a government borrowing money from the central bank to finance public spending instead of selling bonds to private investors or raising taxes. The central banks who buy government debt, are essentially creating new money in the process to do so.