Digging Out of the Economic Rut

When we think of the United States, we think of a land of opportunity and progress. However, recently our economy has been going through a downward spiral and is on its way to a national crisis. Most Americans were not concerned with this downward spiral until recently when inflation began taking over. As citizens started paying more for the same goods they had been buying all along, more and more Americans came to the realization that our economy is in need of a makeover. With the national debt rising exponentially, we as Americans need to understand the issue and come up with a plan of action to fix our mistakes.

The United States is one of the world’s leaders in Gross Domestic Product, yet it also has one of the highest national debt rates that is steadily increasing each and every day. Several people believe that just cutting back on spending will do the trick, but they are mistaken. In order to fix this epidemic we must take several steps forward. The first of these steps should be to obviously cut back on government spending. Each year our government spends needless amounts of money that could easily be saved back and put towards helping us get out of debt. If our nation would begin to live within our means, there would be a huge difference in the amount of money we had. However, this does not mean we cannot spend or borrow money in emergencies. We all know that there are cases in which it is imperative to borrow. If we keep our deficit to a minimum, it will dramatically help our economy reboot.

Another way for our country to save money would be to steadily end the war in Iraq. By sending a majority of our troops home, we would not only bring happiness to their family and loved ones, but we would be saving a small fortune. Every year a big chunk of our nation’s finances go towards national defense, and by putting ourselves into situations like those of the Middle East, we are just asking to spend more money. Yes, our nation needs to defend itself, but not at the expense of destroying our entire economy in the process.

In addition to cutting back on government spending, a slight increase in taxes would also be beneficial. I understand that no one likes paying taxes, but in order to bail ourselves out before it is too late, sacrifices must be made now. If each individual person had only a slight increase, there would be an enormous amount of extra money that could be put towards the economy in its time of need.

Not only would slightly raising taxes make a difference, but applying incentive programs to ensure that consumers are buying products would be a tremendous help. For example, this year when the holiday shopping season rolled around, several companies held giant sales and lowered interest rates in order to attract business. Incentive programs like this would convince consumers in our nation to spend their money instead of save it. Several people out there would jump at an opportunity to buy something at an incredibly low price now instead of waiting the economic slump out and buying when prices go back to normal. The money that would stay in circulation this way would only help our situation.

Furthermore, if we cut back on the compensation that the unemployed receive, we would be able to tuck a few more extra dollars back. I understand that there are people in our country that are unable to work, but I am sure that a majority of those citizens that are receiving unemployment checks in the mail could in all actuality get a job and work. We must face it, there are a lot of freeloaders in our nation, and in order to slowly get rid of them we must cut back on the funds that all unemployed citizens receive. This may not be fair to those who legitimately can not work, but in the end it will be better for our society.

Finally, the most controversial idea I have mentioned would be to save the social security fund for those who sincerely need it. Several elderly people are still willing and able to work and do not necessarily need their social security check until later on in their retirement. If we would use our social security funds for those elderly people who physically can not work any longer, there would be more money to go around for them. Some people might see this idea as unfair because there should be a set age to receive social security, but with the economy suffering like it is, we must take action. Also, by raising the retirement age slightly we could postpone the baby boomer retirement age until we have a few more things figured out within our economy.

Overall, there are several different methods that could be applied in order to better our economy and pull us out of the slump that we have gotten into. By applying just a few ideas to an overall plan, our economy could slowly grow until it is able to prosper again. We as Americans have a duty to our country to live up to our potential, and if we can pull ourselves out of this economic rut, we will once again be the land of opportunity and progress.