191 years ago today — January 8, 1835 — the United States federal debt reaches $0 for the first (and only) time in history.
President Andrew Jackson — determined to eliminate the national debt — used booming land sales and tariff revenue to pay off every dollar.
The Treasury reported a brief surplus, and Jackson celebrated with a White House dinner party.
A moment Americans once marked with pride: debt-free nation.
Dare to dream…
Balancing the budget is the bigger part.
THAT PART is hard.
Once we get there, paying off the debt in 10-30 years is a much more modest step.
Looks pretty close just before Civil War also.
Interesting!!
It definitely did occur in the run-up to the Civil War.
And since it usually makes sense to look at economic events that precede wars, it may have been a factor in the timing.
What followed the Second Bank of the United States was a ham-handed attempt at unregulated free-banking. (Free banking is probably a good idea but this was not handled well.)
Wow…wow…wow… 
Maybe Trump will get his picture on a legal tender too
I am not very happy with Trump’s economic policies right now.
When it comes to Trump and economic policy, the best I can do
is either cheer him on immigration
or
Give an honest and heartfelt “Phew! At least Kamala didn’t win.”
I think…in time you may change your mind.
I doubt it.
The man spends money like he hates it.
He makes Joe Biden and Barack Obama look like fiscal conservatives.
The difference is that Trump is bringing moneys IN too.
They, ( Obama/Biden ) didn’t. They just spent.
He almost did that.
His on-again off-again tariffs were in place long enough to raise some money.
He promptly decided that the gov’t does not spend enough money and came up with brand new ways to spend it.
I think we need to wait and give him time to finish what he started.
Can’t judge him prematurely.
I’m really torn on all this. There is merit in saying, “Can’t judge him prematurely.” But if he’s wrong, this economy (and the world with it) is doomed.
I understand that some of the things he’s doing are to bring manufacturing back on shore. That doesn’t happen overnight. Nor in a year. But at least yesterday’s trade deficit report showed a huge shrinking in the trade gap.
Do I want to see a tariff bonus check from the US govt? Absolutely not. Put it toward the huge budget deficit. Do I want to see the defense budget increase from 900 billion to 1.5 trillion? Not without 600 billion in other cuts (or 700 billion in other revenue.) Yes, I understand (and even value) peace through strength. If our economy collapses under its own weight, there will be no peace.
I am happy to see him show a not-kidding side when he tells other nations he’s going to do x-y-z if they keep doing a-b-c. It has rattled the world in some respects that we finally have a president who is more than just talk.
I voted to end the massive illegal immigration influx. That still outshines all the other things I’m not happy to see him doing. Far outshines.
He inherited a disaster and there is no way to fix it clean way without any drastic measures.
Economy is far from colapsing.
Nice smooth ride is possible when you try to fix a small problem.
When you’re doing a complete turn arround there are going to be bumps in the road.
I don’t understand why you’re so anxious.
It’s been only barely a year.
He is there for another 3.
Like it or not he’ll be plowing on ahead and all we can do is hope he succeeds.
I don’t see how fretting and expecting ‘economic colapse’ can help anything.
We had a do-nothing-but-destroy-everything Biden for 4 years and Economy didn’t colapse.
America is a rich country. She can take a lot of beating.
That’s very true.
For me, it’s not the immediate economy. It’s the national debt. It cannot be sustained at this level or trajectory. (And that’s what the OP is really all about.) One day it will happen. The global markets will no longer have “full faith and credit” in our dollar. All hell will break loose. And it will happen quickly.
Absolutely.
It’s not a paralyzing worry, to be sure. Just an overall concern.
We’ve reahed the point where interest on Debt is unsustainable.
It took years to get to where we are now.
What other option we have TODAY to fix the problem?
None. It’s too late to experiment.
Debt needs fixing now…actualy YESTERDAY.
Debt can’t wait for another election and new strategy.
We’re at the finish line and Trump is the only one there.
I believe that with revitalized Economy, new money coming in in Trillions Trump can ofset the doom the enormous Debt we have would bring. Maybe he CAN pay half of it off.
Stop adding to it.
Quietly, the deficit is dropping. There were some articles making note of that. But it’s still huge. Yes, things Trump is doing have had an effect, and others still need time to take effect.
I get that.
The deficit is still huge, even if it’s dropping.
I’d be satisfied to see just the DEFICIT eliminated within Trump’s 4 years. Given what’s written into this nation’s budget (and mindset), that would be an amazing feat in itself.
I remmember hearing Trump say that DEBT may be paid off.
He pulled some really amazing stuff so far.
Can you imagine if he pulled that one off too.
Thanks for giving my thought any weight. Appreciate it.
I have to go now.
Have a great nite, dear. 
There are other cuts Trump has made.
He is pulling us out of a whole bunch of international organizations. And I think it’s a first step to complete withdrawal from the UN. We are the largest funder of the UN, yet so many of the UN actions are against our interests. I have been an advocate of us pulling out entirely for quite a while because of this.
The money we send to UN funding is a drop in the overall budget bucket, of course, but every drop counts. Ditto USAID garbage that was cut. But every cut is a cut. They wouldn’t have happened under any other president. And now the UN says we’re “legally obligated” to pay those funds. Oh yeah? This goes back to my “not-kidding” statement earlier. Good luck to them.
US government has to get out of hundreds (thousands) of things it shouldn’t be funding and stick to what it is Constitutionally chartered to do. You’re right. It will take a LONG time to achieve that. It has to start somewhere, and Trump is starting it.
Trump is starting it, and lots of people are upset about that. (Shades of MT 2:3 … “… and all of Jerusalem with him…”) The old order has to change.
