1. What has caused most of the deficit pre-WWII? Since WWII? Since the 1980s? What is crowding out? Crowding in? Why do we have a twin deficits problem? How did the US run a budget surplus in the 1990s? What changed in the 2000s causing permanent deficits?
2. What are the origins of fractional reserve banking? What is fractional reserve banking? What is the rational for the Federal Reserve Act (1913)? What were the functions of the Fed? What problems developed during the Depression? How were they solved?