Adding to national debt is an inevitable fact of being President of the United States. The extent to which debt rises under any sitting president depends not only on the policy and spending choices they have made, but also the choices made by presidents and congresses that have come before them.

Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush President Ronald Reagan increased the U.S. debt by around 1.86 trillion U.S. dollars, or 186.36 percent. This is often attributed to "Reaganomics," in which Reagan implemented significant supply-side economic policies in which he reduced government regulation, cut taxes, and tightened the money supply. Spending increased under President George W. Bush in light of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. To finance the wars, President Bush chose to borrow the money, rather than use war bonds or increase taxes, unlike previous war-time presidents. Additionally, Bush introduced a number of tax cuts, and oversaw the beginning of the 2008 financial crisis. Barack Obama President Obama inherited both wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and the financial crisis. The Obama administration also did not increase taxes to pay for the wars, and additionally passed expensive legislation to kickstart the economy following the economic crash, as well as the Affordable Care Act in 2010. The ACA expanded healthcare coverage to cover more than 30 million more Americans through programs like Medicare and Medicaid. Though controversial at the time, more than half of Americans have a favorable view of the ACA in 2023. Additionally, he signed legislation making the W. Bush-era tax cuts permanent.

Graph and download economic data for Monetary Base: Total (BOGMBASE) from Jan 1959 to Feb 2025 about monetary base and USA.

Money Supply M2 in the United States increased to 21447.60 USD Billion in November from 21311.20 USD Billion in October of 2024. This dataset provides - United States Money Supply M2 - actual values, historical data, forecast, chart, statistics, economic calendar and news.

The value of M2 money supply in the U.S. amounted to 20.86 trillion U.S. dollars in 2023, which was a slight decrease compared to the previous year. While between 2000 and 2019, the M2 money supply increased at a relatively slow pace, there was an exceptionally sharp increase in 2020, which was the result of the Federal Reserve's quantitative easing in response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The Federal Reserve's balance sheet has undergone significant changes since 2007, reflecting its response to major economic crises. From a modest 0.9 trillion U.S. dollars at the end of 2007, it ballooned to approximately 6.76 trillion U.S. dollars by March 2025. This dramatic expansion, particularly during the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic - both of which resulted in negative annual GDP growth in the U.S. - showcases the Fed's crucial role in stabilizing the economy through expansionary monetary policies. Impact on inflation and interest rates The Fed's expansionary measures, while aimed at stimulating economic growth, have had notable effects on inflation and interest rates. Following the quantitative easing in 2020, inflation in the United States reached eight percent in 2022, the highest since 1991. However, by November 2024, inflation had declined to 2.7 percent. Concurrently, the Federal Reserve implemented a series of interest rate hikes, with the rate peaking at 5.33 percent in August 2023, before the first rate cut since September 2021 occurred in September 2024. Financial implications for the Federal Reserve The expansion of the Fed's balance sheet and subsequent interest rate hikes have had significant financial implications. In 2023, the Fed reported a negative net income of 114.3 billion U.S. dollars, a stark contrast to the 58.84 billion U.S. dollars profit in 2022. This unprecedented shift was primarily due to rapidly rising interest rates, which caused the Fed's interest expenses to soar to over 281 billion U.S. dollars in 2023. Despite this, the Fed's net interest income on securities acquired through open market operations reached a record high of 174.53 billion U.S. dollars in the same year.

Due to the recent hyperinflation crisis in Venezuela, the average inflation rate in Venezuela is estimated to be around 150 percent in 2025. However, this is well below the peak of 63,000 percent observed in 2018.What is hyperinflation?In short, hyperinflation is a very high inflation rate that accelerates quickly. It can be caused by a government printing huge amounts of new money to pay for its expenses. The subsequent rapid increase of prices causes the country’s currency to lose value and shortages in goods to occur. People then typically start hoarding goods, which become even more scarce and expensive, money becomes worthless, financial institutions go bankrupt, and eventually, the country’s economy collapses. The Venezuelan descent into hyperinflationIn Venezuela, the economic catastrophe began with government price controls and plummeting oil prices, which caused state-run oil companies to go bankrupt. The government then starting printing new money to cope, thus prices rose rapidly, unemployment increased, and GDP collapsed, all of which was exacerbated by international sanctions. Today, many Venezuelans are emigrating to find work and supplies elsewhere, and population growth is at a decade-low. Current president Nicolás Maduro does not seem inclined to steer away from his course of price controls and economic mismanagement, so the standard of living in the country is not expected to improve significantly anytime soon.

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the US Government, founded in 1958, taking over from the dissolved National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA). It oversees the US space program, as well as research into aeronautics and aerospace, while the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) oversees military matters regarding space. NASA was founded at the beginning of what has become known as the 'space race,' a period of Cold War history where the Soviet Union and the US competed for dominance and superiority of space technology. In 1957 the Soviet Union launched the first artificial satellite (Sputnik) into the earth's orbit, marking the first significant development in the space race. While the relationship between the US and Russia is much friendlier today, with both countries cooperating on space endeavors such as the International Space Station (ISS), it is important to remember that tensions between both nations were very high during this time, and the launch of the satellite displayed the potential ability to launch nuclear warheads from space.

America responds The US responded in 1958 with the launch of Explorer I, and this was also the year that NASA was founded. From the graph we can see that US investment in NASA in its infancy grew exponentially, jumping from 330 million US dollars in 1959 to 5.25 billion in 1965, which translates to approximately $34 billion in 2020 dollars, which is more than NASA has ever been allocated by the US government since its founding. During this time NASA also worked with the CIA and US Air Force to monitor Soviet military activity. The reason that the United States began investing more money during the early 60s was because of advancements made by the Soviets in this time, such as the launch of Luna 2, and Yuri Gagarin's first manned orbit of the earth. Three weeks after Yuri Gagarin's orbit, Alan Shepard became the first American man to go into space, and in February 1962 John Glenn became the first American to orbit the earth.

The Apollo Program In May 1961, President John F. Kennedy made the claim that the US would put a man on the moon before the end of the decade, and the Apollo project was born. The Apollo Program, which lasted between 1961 and 1972, cost almost 30 billion US dollars at the time. Kennedy's dream of landing man on the moon was achieved on July 20, 1969, when Neil Armstrong and Buzz Aldrin were the first men to stand on the moon, and NASA sent a further five manned missions to the moon, culminating with Apollo 17 in December 1972.

...and beyond By landing on the moon first, and with four failed attempts by the Soviets to land on the moon, the US claimed to have 'won' the space race. After this point government investment in NASA decreased to just 3 billion US dollars in 1974. From 1972 onwards NASA's main focuses have included the Space Shuttle Program, the ISS, and space exploration, among many others. While investment has gradually grown until today, the government has never invested money in space exploration in the same way it did during the space race. In 2019, fifty years after Apollo 11 landed on the moon, NASA's budget is 21.5 billion US dollars.