The national debt is money owed by the federal government. It is
indirectly considered a debt of the citizens, since citizens
must ultimately pay it off. It consists of government bonds,
bank loans, and according to some measures, unfunded liabilities
such as pension plan payments and goods and services the
government has contracted for but not Historically, for the
first 130 years of our nation we possessed little to virtually
no debt. The debt began to rise in 1918 as a result of US
involvement in World War I, though the debt decreased in the
years that followed. Following the depression, the debt began an
upward slope, due in part to Roosevelt's "New Deal." Beginning
in 1942, the debt tripled in just three years as a result of
World War II, and at the end of the war, it dropped. The
national debt increased somewhat during Vietnam, but only really
took off during the Reagan-Bush years. Reagan's rapidly
spiraling debt was continued through Bush Sr.'s Administration,
rising to over 5 trillion dollars. Preside