Final answer:
The nation has a current year budget surplus of $0.4 trillion. For question 51, the total debt at the end of year three is $4.7 billion. Question 52's government debt after 25 years would be $95 billion.
Step-by-step explanation:
In the current scenario provided, the nation's government spending equals $1.5 trillion and its revenues are $1.9 trillion. Comparing spending against revenue, we can see that the government has more revenue than its expenditure. This means the correct option is B: This nation has a current year budget surplus of $0.4 trillion. A budget surplus occurs when a government's revenue exceeds its expenses in a fiscal year, allowing the savings to be used to pay off public debt or be saved for future expenditures. Option A is incorrect because the national debt is not determined solely by one year's financial operations.
As for the word problems presented, for question 51: the total debt at the end of year three for the government would be derived by adding the deficits of year one and two and subtracting the surplus from year three from the initial total debt. The calculation is as follows: $3.5 billion + $0.4 billion + $1 billion - $0.2 billion = $4.7 billion. Therefore, the government's total debt at the end of year three is $4.7 billion.
For question 52: To determine the government debt, we sum the deficits and subtract the surpluses from the initial debt. If there were no initial debt mentioned, we would have: $10 billion deficit x 10 years = $100 billion deficit. Then, $1 billion surplus x 5 years = $5 billion surplus. The government debt after these periods is $100 billion - $5 billion = $95 billion. A balanced budget for another ten years does not change the debt since revenues equal expenditures.