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what is the origin of debt? The United States established its debt in order to help pay for the Revolutionary War. Since then the national debt is at a marvelous $11.5 trillion--equal to over $37,000 for each American. And it is raising by over $1 trillion a year.Economists all over warn that the ever expanding debt may become the next full-fledged economic crisis, without firm action from Washington. "Unless we demonstrate a strong commitment to fiscal sustainability in the longer term, we will have neither financial stability nor healthy economic growth," Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke recently stated to Congress. The most likely consequences will be higher taxes, or reduced federal benefits and services or a combination of both. The efforts from President Barack Obama and Congress are being complicated due to the current debt issue. The worst recession in decades as stimulus and bailout spending combine with lower tax revenues to widen the gap. The interest payments on the current debt alone is $452 billion last year; the largest federal spending category after Medicare-Medicaid, Social Security and defense. The United States first went into debt "the red" in 1790 when it accrued $75 million in the war debts of the Continental Congress. Alexander Hamilton, the first treasury secretary, said,"A national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing." Wow, some blessing. The United States has been debt free once 1834-1835. The national debt has expanded during times of war and usually contracted in times of peace, while staying on a generally upward trajectory. Over the past several decades, it has climbed sharply- except for a respite from 1998 to 2000, when there were annual budget surpluses, reflecting in large part what turned out to be an overheated economy.

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