What is the national debt?

Answer:
The national debt is a debt or loan owed by

a government. The annual deficit is the difference between government income from taxes and other methods and their expendatures.

Government debt is very serious because often social capital is depleted, making it harder for consumers to spend money on material goods. The current recession is an example of that. Consumer finances are dwindling at alarming rates, unemployment is rising, and consumer confidence is low. All of those things spell trouble for any government in debt because the lack of consumer confidence reduces the amount of income for the government.