The Economic Crisis In Hamilton's Blessing

Gordon 's premise in Hamilton 's Blessing is that the national debt can be used positively in order to monetize an economy. In the book, Gordon uses economic history and theory to explore the start, rise and decline of the United States debt. Gordon opens his book by stating that this country was born in debt, and this debt has become so high that concerned individuals no longer think of it. Throughout the book he traces the history of the national debt dating back from 1791, when the central bank of the United States was created, up to modern days. The intellectual architect of this creation was Alexander Hamilton, the first Treasury Secretary as well as a central figure who had a deep impact on the economic development of the United States. The title of the book clearly recalls Hamilton 's affirmation that a national debt, "if not

Hamilton 's Blessing. Bloomsbury Publishing USA, 2010

Likewise, Gordon hopes that thanks to the national debt the nation might achieve a similar aim in the coming years. Gordon sums up the American economic history in six chapters of his book. He explains that the United States had taken on huge debts following to the American Revolution. In order to pay such debts back, Hamilton created the federal bank and convinced the Congress to issue federal bonds. This way the federal government could make interest payments on time, build credit while keeping the inflation from rising. Hamilton thought that the national debt could be a useful tool in order to create capital while letting the American industry to be highly competitive in foreign trade. In his book, Gordon also recalls that soon after the 1812 War the seventh President of the United States paid off the government debts thanks to surpluses deriving from high tariffs. Then, he explains that the introduction of the first Federal income tax in America during the Civil War proved to be decisive in order to investigate how to distribute the tax