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Current state of the u.s. economy
US fiscal and monetary policy since 2008
Deficit spending effect on USA
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Alexander Hamilton once said, “a national debt, if not excessive, will be to us a national blessing.” The debt of the United States of America is by far excessive. As of April 27th 2014, at 7:45PM GMT, the estimated apparent debt is $17, 444, 8555, 980, 176.09; which makes each of the 318, 108, 108 citizens owe a portion of $54, 839.39 and demonstrates the daily increase in debt of $2.40 billion. Evidently, such a crisis did not arise over night. Numbers have steadily soared with the occasional dip and fluctuation. As for the deficit, the U.S. continues to spend more than it receives in revenue, adding to the cumulative debt. If the government continues expenditures in such increased amounts, the country will never eliminate its trillions upon trillions of debt.
When the Founding Fathers mapped out the United States Constitution, astronomical debt was hardly an issue for a nation barely on its feet. Honored as a brilliant document of brevity, clarity, and flexibility, the United States Constitution set the foundation for the future. In the Preamble, the document proclaims a desire to “insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves”. How can a nation promote domestic tranquility or secure hard-earned blessings when the U.S. is catapulting towards yet another financial disaster? As delineated in Article V of the Constitution, the Amendment Process ensures that formal change to the document is indeed possible. The 28th Amendment should address the growing debt issue of the United States and outlaw deficit spending, except during crucial instances, like war.
In the throes of a recession or depression, individuals spend less mone...
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...s proven continually that it is spends inordinate sums of money it does not have, borrowing excessively and racking up further debt. The government overspends because it can. Yes, overspending stimulates the economy; but, with knowledge that countries are willing to lend the money, the government focuses on the now rather than the later. Overstimulation fails to be a successful in the long term. “If government can launch the Manhattan Project to win a war, put men in space, and seek to rebuild Iraq and Afghanistan, why is it ideologically suspect to talk about using the federal government’s resources, in a consistent and focused way, to build an American Economy that can endure for the next fifty or one hundred years” (Holstein 164). An American Economy enduring for centuries is possible if and only if the government puts a complete end to deficit spending now.
This deficit has to do with having responsible leader who are willing to increase awareness and make beneficial changes in the nation. In my opinion, the federal debt is a serious threat to the US that must be politically address whenever possible. I believe that the candidates of the 2016 presidential election should make this issue one of the top priorities to discuss and to dictate a considerable amount of work to fix it. That is because the worse the federal debt is, the worse the future would be to the nation. Also, voters must be well educated about this issue in order to shape their decision in voting for the candidate that seems most powerful and confident about this problem. Solving this problem may be difficult and would take time and so much effort. Therefore, the changes and solution must be on both a national and individual levels as
Many argue that Reagan “enacted irresponsible tax giveaways for the rich…[starving] the federal government of revenue [which] led to unprecedented deficits.” There is no doubt that “today’s budget deficits [can] impoverish our descendants.”1
Washington next urged Americans to be overly mindful of the spending and borrowing of national monies. He relates this by declaring “As a very important source of strength and security, cherish public credit” (Washington, 1796). He cautions that credit should be used sparingly and not to accumulate debt that will be a burden to posterity. He also sympathizes that taxes, though necessary to build revenue, should not be
Allowing market participants to begin putting their resources back to work in areas they’d be most beneficial. President Obama’s fiscal responsibility summit last February indicated that he understood the urgent need for fiscal discipline. Congress’s enactment of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act and President’s proposed budget makes the goals of a sustainable budget and addressing nations longer term fiscal priorities, such as entitlement liabilities, even more elusive. The administrations recently released midsession reviews from the office of management and budget that over the next 10 years the accumulated deficits will total $9 trillion which means that the debt held by public will be a staggering 77% of GDP in 2019. If the debt level continues to grow faster than our economy, the US will owe more than it makes.
However the interest we pay on our nation 's debt is very small compared to the overall budget. According to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities only 7% of the total budget is spent on interest which is relatively low compared to things like social security which took up 24% of the budget in 2014 (Policy Basics). As long as the United States can continue to keep the interest rates low the debt will continue to be a begin threat. If the creditors of the U.S. were to spike their interest rates, America would be in trouble, however America has fairly good credit, and it should remain that way unless there is another scare like the government shutdown in 2011 (Riley). Overall the threat of the nation debt is a very minute problem in the grand scheme of things. According to The Richest, only five nations in the entire world are completely debt free, which is astounding when you consider that there are about 195 countries in the entire world (Mathers; How Many). These figures show how extremely difficult it is for a country to run without having a certain amount of debt, and America having debt should not be a concern. America is not even in the top ten countries whose debt make up the majority of their GDP (Country List). Which means that at the moment American’s should not be overly
As of today America’s national debt is 18 trillion dollars and approximately 5 trillion of that is held by foreign countries including China and Japan. In the last few years we seem to hear more about balancing the country’s budget and politicians raising the debt ceiling so we can pay on this debt. How have we gotten into such an overwhelming and complicated problem with our nation’s money? Ironically the same can be said for our individual household debt as well as making the same mistakes and trying to find creative ways to be accountable to our financial responsibilities. Teaching the basics of personal finance n our schools can culturally change our financial practices, leading to a more financially literate public and a stronger, more stable, America. If the younger generations can become more financially savvy, then there is an opportunity for our nation as a whole to become less dependent on debt to survive.
Employers consider a degree necessary for getting a job at their company. However, not many people can afford college. The solution is to take out loans, then college becomes affordable. These loans create a whole different issue, student loan debt. This can affect people their whole lifetime and has been happening for years upon years. But, in the more recent years America is starting to shed more light onto the issue and are becoming curious on why colleges charge twenty five thousand dollars, or more, for a year of education. Many different countries offer free college, but in America student loan debt keeps getting worse.
“We the People” have begun to lose all personal financial endeavors, and furthermore being restrained to fiscal policies that are potentially devastating to America's future. Chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke, quoted regarding his bold disapproval of monetizing debt, “The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt, either cuts in spending or increases in taxes will be necessary to stabilize the fiscal situation” (Hill 1). Monetizing debt is defined by the selling of national debt to primary buyers in the form of a Treasury bill or bond. In laymen's terms, primary buyers, both foreign and domestic, are purchasing bonds from our government to liquidate our national deficit. In a new age of federal policies, official's statements can likely be discredited or influentially changed due to the varying opinions on the Federal Reserve's performance. People must be more skeptical on key federal policies in the United States due to the current recessive state of our economy plundering potentially into disastrous levels. Monetizing debt is technically legal; however it becomes an issue of morality by the specifics to which it is being conducted. The constantly growing power of federal influence on markets, specifically the selling of national securities with the purpose of debt liquidation, not only defies the ideals of a free market economy, but it also has the tendency to suppress the tax payer's financial interests.
Government spending is a controversial topic. Even though the government has a set budget each year that Congress and the President of the United States collaborate on, the United States continues to fall deeper in debt. According to U.S. National Debt, the U.S debt has been larger than our total annual gross domestic product since 2012. In other words, our debt is larger than the value of all the goods and services produced in the country within a twelve month period. “It is said that the U.S is currently $19.2 trillion dollars in debt (U.S. National Debt).” As long as Congress and the President continue to run yearly budget deficits, the U.S debt will continue to rise.
Children of the twenty first century spend nearly 13 years in school, preparing for what is college, one of the only ways to achieve the so-called “American Dream”. College is the best way to start an advanced career and go further than one possibly could if college degrees were not available, allowing people to achieve their view of the American Dream; whether it be large houses, shiny cars, multiple kids, or financial comfort, college is the stepping stone to achieve the American Dream. But all great things come with a price, college dragging along debt. Students who attend college struggle to find ways to pay for it, leading to applying for student loans. These loans a great short term, paying for the schooling at the moment but eventually the money adds up
One thing that I have learned about college is that you have to sometimes talk about things that make you uncomfortable or scared in order to learn. I do not think I am alone in saying that the United States’ current debt situation is terrifying. Ten trillion dollars alone is an expansive and unimaginable amount of money, and since PBS produced Ten Trillion and Counting in 2009, the national debt has grown to twenty-one trillion. As stated, the documentary was produced during the first months of former President Barack Obama’s first term and focused on former President George W. Bush’s relationship with national debt during his eight year tenure. Ten Trillion and Counting explains some of the questionable decisions that former President Bush made, especially regarding fiscal policy.
What is the federal budget? The federal budget is the yearly plan for how the US government will spend its money. After analyzing the federal budget, it was evident that the money was dispersed into three different clusters; the Big Five, the Middle Five, and the Little Guys. Although at first glance, the money may seem to be being evenly dispersed throughout the three, when taking a deeper look, there is clearly a fine line between what the government needs and what the government wants. The real question is; is the United States distributing its money correctly? In my opinion, after much research, the government could do a better job with the way it allocates its money. In each of the three budget clusters, the U.S. government should make
There is also a side of credit card debt that is positive; this is what helps you build your credit, so you are able to buy item of a high value. That takes the majority of citizen a long period of time to pay off, such as a car or home. Today’s debt rate is at a staggering high, our nation is recovering from our current financial situation. Ed hall reported the (“U.S. NATIONAL DEBT CLOCK”) it is estimated to be $13,255,286,814,716.47 and the amount is increasing daily according to the (“U.S. Department of the Treasury”). The U.S population is estimated at 308,775,484 by the (“Bureau of the Census”). If you were to distribute the nation’s debt equally throughout every American, each citizen would be $42,928.56 estimated in debt.
Global debt crisis is essentially widespread globally. There are different issues that can cause debt crises. Currently, different countries around the world are facing debt crises, and definitely that is because of an error in the banking system. We’ll see below what are the main causes briefly and what are really the objectives that lead to a collapse in the banking system or so financial crisis.
Veldhuis, Neil. “Beyond our means: Government debt tops $1.2-trillion and spending is still rising.” Financial Post. National Post, 16 May 2013. Web. 23 Feb. 2014.