// 845.371.2222 Gershon won the lottery. Earthshattering news! The town was in an uproar. Walking home from Shul that night, he was greeted warmly by all who met him. He stroked his beard, bewildered. The sudden warmth confused him. What had changed? “Gershona!” one of his friends came up behind him, with a hearty slap to his back, “What are you planning to do with all that money?” Gershon didn’t skip a beat. “I will use the money to pay back some of my loans.” “And the rest?” “The rest will have to wait.” Uncle Sam is in the red. The money he owes raises eyebrows. His debts are through the ceiling, accumulated over many years of borrowing to cover a budget too small for his spending habits. Say you earn six thousand dollars a month. Your expenses are eight thousand dollars a month, leaving you with a deficit of $2,000. If you borrow $2,000 every month, with no way of paying it back, your deficit will be, $24,000 at the end of the fiscal year. The government collects money (from taxes etc.) throughout the year. However, the government also spends money. It runs different programs and provides many services to its population. To pay for all that, (since its earnings are not enough to cover it) the government will borrow money. Each year, there is a deficit, an empty hole, representing the borrowed money that was not repaid. This deficit, the debt, grows and accumulates from year to year, until the sum plus the interest owed by the U.S., surpasses $38 trillion dollars! It is a record high that has grown significantly in recent years. That is called “National Debt.” 133
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