Why the US has such a large debt

The US currently has a debt of more than 15.5 trillion which is more than the country's current GDP (Growth Domestic Product). However, the US has not always had such an overwhelming debt. The US had a pretty stable of debt of less than 2 trillion until the 1980s (corrected for inflation). In fact, in actual dollar terms our debt was decreasing pretty steadily.

However, starting with Carter, our debts have started to increase incredibly. Mostly, its Ronald Reagan's fault. On average, he increased the debt by about 23.6% each year he was president, more than doubling the US debt during his two terms of office. Reagan implemented a plan know as Reaganomics during his office. In response to rising inflation and unemployment, he decided the best way to help the economy would be to cut taxes, mainly for higher earners and corporations. The general effect was to lower taxes on companies and the rich. The idea was that lowering taxes on the rich make the benefits trickle down to everyone else. Also, they believed that the tax cuts would pay for themselves because lower taxes would stimulate the economy and in turn cause higher tax revenues. To pay for the cuts, he also lowered social service spending and increased defense spending.

While the economic effects of these policies are questionable - the economy recovered, but some think its more  of a result from normal economic forces than any of Reagan's policies. It established the idea that you can cut taxes and still increase revenues. It started a trend among following presidents, especially both George Bush's of passing tax cuts while increasing defense spending or engaging in wars. While the governments increased spending through social programs and defense spending, they passed tax cuts instead of increasing taxes to cover these additional expenses; thereby racking up debt.

We started down this road of debt because of the contradicting things people want. Everyone wants the government to build roads, increase social programs, and have a military to protect people. However, they also don't want to pay for these benefits. Thus, to deliver on their political promises, politicians have to resort to creating huge government debts.