Bernardo "I believe we should have a balanced federal budget."That is just what it is, a "belief." Very few economists endorse the idea for a variety of both theoretical and empirical reasons (business cycles flexibility, etc.).The US can borrow at ridiculously low rates.  If it invests in even modestly productive projects the economy benefits (yes, they should be actually productive).  Raising taxes to fund outlays can often be much less economically sensible than borrowing.No major corporation has a "balanced budgets" philosophy because they use a similar rate of return analysis when borrowing.The current US debt is less than 10% of the value of US assets. By way of example, that ratio is about 65% in the case of Walmart.

Bernardo "I believe we should have a balanced federal budget."That is just what it is, a "belief." Very few economists endorse the idea for a variety of both theoretical and empirical reasons (business cycles flexibility, etc.).The US can borrow at ridiculously low rates.  If it invests in even modestly productive projects the economy benefits (yes, they should be actually productive).  Raising taxes to fund outlays can often be much less economically sensible than borrowing.No major corporation has a "balanced budgets" philosophy because they use a similar rate of return analysis when borrowing.The current US debt is less than 10% of the value of US assets. By way of example, that ratio is about 65% in the case of Walmart.

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