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FrontPage : Why do people say that “money is power?”. The Last Word: Finish 6.1 for Wednesday. Today, I will scare you…. Congressional Powers: Powers of the Purse. What are the Power$ of the Purse? The Power$ of the Pur$e are the MOST IMPORTANT of all Congressional powers…. Why…?.
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FrontPage: Why do people say that “money is power?” The Last Word: Finish 6.1 for Wednesday
What are the Power$ of the Purse?The Power$ of the Pur$e are the MOST IMPORTANT of all Congressional powers… Why…?
Let’s discuss the first “Power of the Pur$e”… • But first, let’s learn a bit of wisdom from a founding father…
Ben Franklin said that in life, only 2 things are certain… • What are these 2 things…?
The other is… Taxes…
The Power of Taxation… • Congress has the sole power to levy (“set” or “apply”) many different national taxes… • Why does Congress tax the American people • Revenue Originally, there was only one source of revenue for the national government…tariffs. What are Tariffs?
So, what did the government do to fix this? Passed the 16th amendment: Created the income tax… • This has become a major source of income for the government…
Sources of revenue - 2010 Total Revenue = $2.1 Trillion
$pending Power • When Congress allocates (spends, or gives) money to a program, agency or other part of the government, this funding is called… • Appropriations All bills for taxing or spending must start in which house of Congress?
Federal Spending - 2010 Total Spending – $3.4 Trillion
Where is all of this spending recorded so we can keep track of it? The Federal Budget • This is an outline of how much the government will spend in a given year
The Federal Budget:Terms to Know • Budget Surplus • Occurs when government spends less in a single year than it brings in • Budget Deficit • Occurs when the government spends more in a single year than it brings in **For example: In 2010, the US government took in about $2.1 trillion and spent about $3.4 trillion.
Why would the government need to spend more than it brings in? When this happens, Congress must use another “Power of the Pur$e”… **Which power of Congress enables it to spend more than it has?
The Power to Borrow Money But when Congress does this, it contributes to the… National Debt • The total accumulated amount that government owes; • Occurs because more deficit years occur than surplus years.
The US National Debt onOct 14th 2011 was: The estimated population of the United States is 311,485,011so each citizen's share of this debt is $47,755.61. The National Debt has continued to increase an average of$3.97 billion per day since September 28, 2007! Source: http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
$cary, isn’t it? • What is the consequence of all this “deficit spending”? • How might we start to reduce our yearly deficit, and our national debt?