Goal+-+Manageable+Government+Debt+and+Deficit

All of the macroeconomic goals of a sucessful economy; improved standards of living, economic growth, full employment, stable prices, viable international trade and equitably disrtibuted wealth rely geavily on one thing, manageable government debs and deficits. According to the National Post "a deficit arises when the government spends more money on programs than it collects in taxes and other revenue in a given year. The national debt represents an accumulation of these annual deficits, or the total amount of money owed by the government to its creditors." (James Cowan, //The National Post,// January 27, 2009//)// These goals are all dependant on government regulations and interventions. Not one of them can be achieved by independant means and some cannot be achieved without conflict to another goal, so in the end, it is the government that decides the level of importance and the fiscal responsibility towards these goals is going to be. This is an ever evolving calculationdependant on many external factors. "One of the major tasks of government, the, is to try to balance these goals in a way that secures the long term well being of its citizens." (John Sayre and Alan Morris//, Principles for Macroeconomics//, McGraw-Hill Ryerson, 2009 p31)
 * Macroeconomic Goal of Manageable Government Debt and Deficit**

There are many reasons a government will need to run a deficit, to help the citizens of a country with things such as transfer payments, to boost a sluggish economy or for humanitarian assistance. Most governments have policies to overspend when needed and there is no problem with a government running a deficit.To run a sustainable govenment there are frequently years that this is unavoidable especially in recessionary times. The trouble lies in the difference between cyclical debt, systematically spending more than revenues due to an economic downturn and structural debt which is general and continual overspending that always exceeds revenues. Cyclical debts can be reduced during expansionary periods when the government is bringing in more revenues from taxes. Structural debt is harder to fix as it is habitual spending that is harder to cut back on as it affects citizens who have become accustomed to the outpouring of funds. This is the type of spending that snowballs and eventually cannot be overcome by anything except government austerity or crushing taxation. In //Canada is running a deficit: What the #!%*? by James Cowan of the National Post// " There have been many years when the federal government has had no deficit, but there has never been a year that Canada was debt free. The country began in 1867 with a debt of roughly $76 million and has remained overdrawn ever since."