Wednesday, September 30, 2009

The National Debt: 1812

The American finances, however, seem little able to sustain the expenses of these warlike preparations. It appears from Mr. Gallatin's budget, that the national expenditure exceeds the receipts by 2,600,000 dollars; to cover this deficit it is proposed to make an addition of 50 per cent, to the present amount of duties, or to resort to the the funding system, and raise an loan of three millions of dollars.
--From The Gentleman's magazine--

A country with shaky finances isn't hard to defeat in a war. I wonder if many foreign leaders aren't secretly happy with our spending habits.

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