national debts
What governments owe
National debts are the total amounts governments owe to creditors—bondholders, foreign governments, and domestic institutions.
A country accumulates national debt by spending more than it collects in revenue, borrowing to cover the difference.
The national debt differs from annual deficits: the deficit is what's added each year; the debt is the running total.
The national debt has tripled over the past two decades.
- bondholdersOwners of debt securities
- creditorsThose owed payment
- obligationsRequired responsibilities
- liabilitiesAmounts owed to others
- borrowingsMoney taken on credit
bills · maturity date · government bonds · credit rating · credit downgrade · reparations · treasury bonds · dues · war bonds · fiscal policy · hyperinflation · monetary policy · austerity measures · balanced budget · economic impact · central bank · printing money · deficit spending
national debtsbalanced budgets
Expenditures matching revenue
fiscal responsibility · austerity · fiscal conservatism · pay-as-you-go · fiscal discipline
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