Suppose that we succeed in reducing the federal budget deficit three years in a row.During these three years the national debt will

A) rise at an increasing rate.
B) rise at a decreasing rate.
C) remain the same.
D) decline at a decreasing rate.
E) decline at an increasing rate.

Reducing the federal budget deficit means the government is either decreasing its spending or increasing its revenue, leading to a smaller gap between what it spends and what it earns. However, as long as there is a deficit, the national debt will continue to rise because the government is still spending more than it earns, just by a smaller margin each year. Therefore, the rate at which the national debt increases would slow down, or in other words, it would rise at a decreasing rate.