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1 1 (October 17, 2000)

handle is hein.crs/crsuntaaacb0001 and id is 1 raw text is: Order Code RS20654 Updated October 17, 2000 Paying off the National Debt: Some Intergenerational Consequences Marc Labonte Economist Government and Finance Division Gail Makinen Specialist in Economic Policy Government and Finance Division Summary The National Debt and the Economy While economists have long recognized that a national debt imposes an inescapable burden on a nation, they have debated whether that burden is borne by the generation who contracts the debt or is shifted forward to future generations.1 The United States now finds itself in the position of being able, for the first time since the end of World War II, to retire the publicly held portion of the national debt. This is because the current and projected budget surpluses (given an unchanged fiscal policy), shown on Table 1, are so large that the debt could be retired within the next decade. This shift in fiscal regime from one of large budget deficits to one of large and growing surpluses has sparked a debate about alternative uses for these surpluses. Should they be kept intact and used exclusively for debt reduction or should they be reduced or eliminated through some combination of 1 For a discussion of the controversy surrounding the nature of the burden of a national debt, see CRS Report RL30520. The National Debt: Who Bears Its Burden? By Gail E. Makinen. April 7, 2000. Congressional Research Service The Library of Congress CRS Report for Congress Received through the CRS Web

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