Why such a large deficit ?

. Bush cut taxes on the rich. When Clinton left office and Bush entered office, the U.S. government was running a surplus and cutting the debt. After the Bush tax cuts, the government was running a deficit.

2. During a recession, taxes go down and government expenses (such as unemployment benefits) go up.

3. In order to prevent a second Great Depression, the Obama administration passed a stimulus package.

But in the short term, none of this is a problem! The debt just isn't that high. An economy should be running a deficit during a recession.

In the long term:

- If the economy recovers, tax revenues will increase even without raising the tax rate.

- If the economy recovers, there will be no need for an additional stimulus. (Until then, there is)

- And we should undo the Bush tax cuts.

An economy should be running a surplus during a booming economy. (Bush cut taxes during the boom and so had the country running a deficit even during the boom)

What happened to the American Dream was the Republicans . Just look at the data: when Democrats are in the White House, the economy grows faster and income inequality declines; when Republicans are in the White House, the economy grows more slowly and income inequality increases
It is all about government policies:
Furthermore, the reason we had the recession was that Congress let the financial sector get away without regulation
One reason for this was that Wall Street bribed Congress
Just to add insult to injury, Congress also passed subsidies and tax breaks for corporations moving production to other countries.
It doesn't have to be this way. Other countries have much lower income inequality and higher standards of living.