Designed for the Business, Non-Business, Economics, Non-Economics Major(s) to Explore and Understand a Variety of Real-World Issues.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
More on Debt
Another interesting piece on our National Debt. This time it does not come from an Op-Ed piece. A slightly different angle, interesting non the less. This issue is not going way.
The debt in the United States is a serious problem. this country is spending more money then they currently taking in. There is a possible solution to this will be a decrease in spending. This decrease will lower the budget. The debt can also be reduce by using more energy efficient products.
The problem I had with this article is the author "attempting" to simplify the numbers and make it easier for the average reader to understand. I would have liked to seen Dickerson use the actual numbers to put into perspective the significance of the budget deficits and cuts that Obama proposed.
But with that said, I was surprised to see some of the things Obama would like to hopefully collect money on. For instance, "Over 10 years, the White House takes $2,000 from Pell grants and other education initiatives". This worries me because as a college student, I need as much aid as I can possibly get. And if the government decides to cut that, who knows what I might have to do.
"All of this does help reduce the annual deficit—but in no year over the next decade does the government run a surplus." This is very discouraging. Although things take time to work themselves out, how long should we as a nation expect to be in the red.
Whatever happens, something needs to change because if we continue to spend at the rate we are things are not looking good. For instance, some argue that the American dollar could become worthless in the near future.
This is something that's actually been on my mind for the past few months as I have been preparing for my certification to be a volunteer income tax preparer (yes, we volunteer to do people's taxes...) First, before I attempt to tackle the national debt issue, I wanted to point out something that I think is so very key to this puzzle: taxes. (I can almost hear your groan from here) For some reason, taxes have developed this extremely negative connotation...and I don't think its entirely because people don't want to pay. In fact, I was reading an article a few weeks ago that said over half of Americans will actually receive a refund from filing their taxes...and most of those people who receive a refund are people who need it most (low income, independent students, single parents, etc)...so why the sighs and groans when it comes to taxes?
I think it has something to do with the fact that Americans generally don't trust the government making their decisions for them...and you can't blame them! Why should we trust the government with our money when they can't seem to figure out their own debt problems?! I think that if there was a way that a non-government entity could handle the nation's taxes, then this money would be able to be allocated efficiently to all the programs it needs to support. Now I suppose that the government tried to do this with the separation of power and having the Fed house all the econ-brained officials, but I think the whole system is too closely connected to politicians for the separation to truly be separated - and I think this scares many Americans. Now granted, this sort of removes the whole "civil responsibility" and "government persuasion" to actually file, but I honestly think it might alleviate some of the trust issues people have with taxes. And I think the higher the trust, the more honest people will be and the more returns the nation will see. In the short run, it may not help the economy much, but in the long run, I think we'd all be a little more better off.
I feel that the government could do a better job of allocating its spending to better accommodate the average American rather than overseas ventures. The government spends way too much money on national security and is cutting spending on education. Education is the only way in which we can advance as a society, national security should be paramount, but education will fix many of our social problems.
Americans are taxed heavily as it is, it would be nice to see our money go towards constructive projects such as fixing up the slums of Baltimore rather than those of Afghanistan. I think that if we focus more on domestic issues rather than our issues abroad the economy will fall into place and our debt will work itself out.I wouldnt mind being in debt if our debt can make a noticeable positive diffrence in our lives.
I like the way this article was written. It is more personal and actually helps the reader to understand debt through real numbers. I feel as though we are never actually really told how much we are spending verses how much we are really going over budget. When numbers are so large, it is sometimes hard to look at them in a quick glimpse and actually understand government spending. The spending that is going on doesn't seem like it is what is best for Americans. How can cutting education seem like the reasonable thing to do, especially in the long run? If things are looked at through a greater perspective we are going to have an even bigger problem to deal with in the future. I think that we need to actually see where our money is going and work on bettering this country before we even think about moving overseas. Like Bruce said in his comment, I agree that we could focus on more domestic issues in our country rather than our issues abroad. If we are quick abandon one issue, one will continue to get worse. I think priorities need to be set straight and our taxes need to go to the right places.
I agree with Jessie and Bruce that our spending should focus more on domestic issues. According to this article's budget comparison, we are spending over half of our income on foreign wars. It is always astonishing to me that cutting public housing, education, and college grants are the first solutions when we are spending a small amount of the budget on them in the first place. Even if we cut back a small amount of military spending, it would allow spending on education and social services to be protected. Cutting funds on education jeopardizes our country's future prosperity and increases the likeliness of people having to depend on social services to make ends meet.
The article did an excellent job in trying to put the national deficit into lamens terms for those like me that are economically impaired. Although it did not come as any sort of shock, the nation has incurred enormous debt and the budget deficit is completely out of control. Some things that I can think of to try and curb these events is to first of all cut tax breaks and even increase them for the top economic tax bracket. I know that this would make those included less likely to vote for Obama if he did this but I guess someone needs to take a stand. I also am not sure about the actual facts and figures of the cost of the war(s) in the middle east, but I feel like if we say, cut spending there in half, it would have a pretty significant effect on the budget, even if that effect only allowed for the sustainably of public welfare and education programs, I think that they are more important and thus more deserving. Although I do not really know anything about the intricacies of running a country, I feel like it should be done better than it is currently.
I found this article very interesting. Although I agree with Ryan about the simplifying of numbers, I do feel that the author made the debt much more understandable that way. But, at the same time I would have really liked to see accurate and actual numbers and information. I think debt and the budget is such a complex issue, and you're never going to get all the information you need in one article. I feel like the nation will always be in debt when we spend money helping other people. I am not saying that we should not help, but it costs a lot of money and I feel the two things go together. I think Pell Grants, Welfare programs, and Medical Care are very important nonetheless. I feel like spending money on things like "space research" is rather confusing. When people are living in poverty and losing their homes we really need to put things in perspective.
WOOWWW!!!! is my first comment! I did not know the fiscall policy in the national government was this tedious and demanding. Now I know it must be hard for the president to decode the state budget to citizens., I think it is wroong to cut programs such as the Block grants and funding to poor Americans and some school programs. Based on this article there doesn't seem to be a solution because either way, the United States will be in debt or owe someone money. It is also sad that we do not even have surplus.
If the average Middle-Class household decided to conduct its fiscal policy in the same way the United States Government does, everyone would be bankrupt and living on the streets. The average family doesn't have the ability to borrow a limitless amount of money in order to keep funding it's spending desires. The United States Government is riddled with "Pork" programs that are producing no real results and wasting money. At the same time, if people continue to expect a National Debt to be the norm, no one will seek reform for it. If the Great Recession didn't provide the motivation we needed to seek reform, then maybe another Great Depression will help teach both the Government and our Society how to live with less.
We all know that when government starts speaking in terms of "billions" and "trillions" that's not a good thing. To say that spending in America has gotten out of hand is a major understatement. Eventually, someone needs to be held accountable for putting future generations in massive debt already. How does the federal government justify spending money that it doesn't have? This is plain wrong and needs to be contained. As for now, it appears that things will only get worse before they start to improve. In just two years in office, President Obama has added on about $3.5 TRILLION to the national debt.
One of the biggest problems that most republicans and many Democrats overlook in this whole argument is the tax income aspect. With recent Libertarian movements to get government out of peoples wallets is really detrimental to our country. If the tax cuts were to expire and new tax codes were to be fixed then the deficit. When our country is falling faster and faster in debt it is true we do need to cut back on some spending such as military and other spending which is not beneficial to our economy and well being; however this alone will not solve all the problems with debt because of discretionary spending and if taxes are not fixed to make sure we do not fall further into debt. The more in debt we go it will directly result in a extremely fast rate of tax increasing in the future, so it comes down to raising the taxes now as apposed to having to raise them much more in the future.
I am not a fan to politician speeches. I saw in the news a while ago, debating about whether Obama's budget cuts would actually have an affect on the U.S. economy, and the end result is that he would spend as much as he saves for the plan he has - which means U.S. is not really getting out of the deficits and debts.
Another point is that the largest U.S. spending goes to the bailout to large corporations. Low-income families were not the largest government money targets. The politicians just say that they are supporting these families for more votes. So why doesn't Obama go to former Lehman Brother executives, AIG executives and Enron executives to get their money back? Stop complaining about spending money on people who you support every year. Without spending money on the poor, there will not be a stable political and economic society.
Kyree Lewis
ReplyDeleteMWF 9:00-9:50
The debt in the United States is a serious problem. this country is spending more money then they currently taking in. There is a possible solution to this will be a decrease in spending. This decrease will lower the budget. The debt can also be reduce by using more energy efficient products.
Ryan McDonald
ReplyDeleteMWF 9:00-9:50
The problem I had with this article is the author "attempting" to simplify the numbers and make it easier for the average reader to understand. I would have liked to seen Dickerson use the actual numbers to put into perspective the significance of the budget deficits and cuts that Obama proposed.
But with that said, I was surprised to see some of the things Obama would like to hopefully collect money on. For instance, "Over 10 years, the White House takes $2,000 from Pell grants and other education initiatives". This worries me because as a college student, I need as much aid as I can possibly get. And if the government decides to cut that, who knows what I might have to do.
"All of this does help reduce the annual deficit—but in no year over the next decade does the government run a surplus." This is very discouraging. Although things take time to work themselves out, how long should we as a nation expect to be in the red.
Whatever happens, something needs to change because if we continue to spend at the rate we are things are not looking good. For instance, some argue that the American dollar could become worthless in the near future.
Katelyn Frueh, MWF 10-10:50am
ReplyDeleteThis is something that's actually been on my mind for the past few months as I have been preparing for my certification to be a volunteer income tax preparer (yes, we volunteer to do people's taxes...) First, before I attempt to tackle the national debt issue, I wanted to point out something that I think is so very key to this puzzle: taxes. (I can almost hear your groan from here) For some reason, taxes have developed this extremely negative connotation...and I don't think its entirely because people don't want to pay. In fact, I was reading an article a few weeks ago that said over half of Americans will actually receive a refund from filing their taxes...and most of those people who receive a refund are people who need it most (low income, independent students, single parents, etc)...so why the sighs and groans when it comes to taxes?
I think it has something to do with the fact that Americans generally don't trust the government making their decisions for them...and you can't blame them! Why should we trust the government with our money when they can't seem to figure out their own debt problems?! I think that if there was a way that a non-government entity could handle the nation's taxes, then this money would be able to be allocated efficiently to all the programs it needs to support. Now I suppose that the government tried to do this with the separation of power and having the Fed house all the econ-brained officials, but I think the whole system is too closely connected to politicians for the separation to truly be separated - and I think this scares many Americans. Now granted, this sort of removes the whole "civil responsibility" and "government persuasion" to actually file, but I honestly think it might alleviate some of the trust issues people have with taxes. And I think the higher the trust, the more honest people will be and the more returns the nation will see. In the short run, it may not help the economy much, but in the long run, I think we'd all be a little more better off.
Bruce Chubb
ReplyDeleteMWF 10:00-10:50
I feel that the government could do a better job of allocating its spending to better accommodate the average American rather than overseas ventures. The government spends way too much money on national security and is cutting spending on education. Education is the only way in which we can advance as a society, national security should be paramount, but education will fix many of our social problems.
Americans are taxed heavily as it is, it would be nice to see our money go towards constructive projects such as fixing up the slums of Baltimore rather than those of Afghanistan. I think that if we focus more on domestic issues rather than our issues abroad the economy will fall into place and our debt will work itself out.I wouldnt mind being in debt if our debt can make a noticeable positive diffrence in our lives.
Jessie Fox
ReplyDeleteMWF 9-9:50
I like the way this article was written. It is more personal and actually helps the reader to understand debt through real numbers. I feel as though we are never actually really told how much we are spending verses how much we are really going over budget. When numbers are so large, it is sometimes hard to look at them in a quick glimpse and actually understand government spending. The spending that is going on doesn't seem like it is what is best for Americans. How can cutting education seem like the reasonable thing to do, especially in the long run? If things are looked at through a greater perspective we are going to have an even bigger problem to deal with in the future. I think that we need to actually see where our money is going and work on bettering this country before we even think about moving overseas. Like Bruce said in his comment, I agree that we could focus on more domestic issues in our country rather than our issues abroad. If we are quick abandon one issue, one will continue to get worse. I think priorities need to be set straight and our taxes need to go to the right places.
Michelle Zei
ReplyDeleteMWF 10-10:50 am
I agree with Jessie and Bruce that our spending should focus more on domestic issues. According to this article's budget comparison, we are spending over half of our income on foreign wars. It is always astonishing to me that cutting public housing, education, and college grants are the first solutions when we are spending a small amount of the budget on them in the first place. Even if we cut back a small amount of military spending, it would allow spending on education and social services to be protected. Cutting funds on education jeopardizes our country's future prosperity and increases the likeliness of people having to depend on social services to make ends meet.
Nicholas Poiron
ReplyDeleteMWF 10-10:50
The article did an excellent job in trying to put the national deficit into lamens terms for those like me that are economically impaired. Although it did not come as any sort of shock, the nation has incurred enormous debt and the budget deficit is completely out of control. Some things that I can think of to try and curb these events is to first of all cut tax breaks and even increase them for the top economic tax bracket. I know that this would make those included less likely to vote for Obama if he did this but I guess someone needs to take a stand. I also am not sure about the actual facts and figures of the cost of the war(s) in the middle east, but I feel like if we say, cut spending there in half, it would have a pretty significant effect on the budget, even if that effect only allowed for the sustainably of public welfare and education programs, I think that they are more important and thus more deserving. Although I do not really know anything about the intricacies of running a country, I feel like it should be done better than it is currently.
Samantha Anderson
ReplyDeleteMWF 9-9:50
I found this article very interesting. Although I agree with Ryan about the simplifying of numbers, I do feel that the author made the debt much more understandable that way. But, at the same time I would have really liked to see accurate and actual numbers and information. I think debt and the budget is such a complex issue, and you're never going to get all the information you need in one article.
I feel like the nation will always be in debt when we spend money helping other people. I am not saying that we should not help, but it costs a lot of money and I feel the two things go together. I think Pell Grants, Welfare programs, and Medical Care are very important nonetheless. I feel like spending money on things like "space research" is rather confusing. When people are living in poverty and losing their homes we really need to put things in perspective.
WOOWWW!!!! is my first comment! I did not know the fiscall policy in the national government was this tedious and demanding. Now I know it must be hard for the president to decode the state budget to citizens., I think it is wroong to cut programs such as the Block grants and funding to poor Americans and some school programs. Based on this article there doesn't seem to be a solution because either way, the United States will be in debt or owe someone money. It is also sad that we do not even have surplus.
ReplyDeleteNicholas Camaioni
ReplyDeleteMWF 9 - 10 AM
If the average Middle-Class household decided to conduct its fiscal policy in the same way the United States Government does, everyone would be bankrupt and living on the streets. The average family doesn't have the ability to borrow a limitless amount of money in order to keep funding it's spending desires. The United States Government is riddled with "Pork" programs that are producing no real results and wasting money. At the same time, if people continue to expect a National Debt to be the norm, no one will seek reform for it. If the Great Recession didn't provide the motivation we needed to seek reform, then maybe another Great Depression will help teach both the Government and our Society how to live with less.
Andrew Kearney MWF 10-1050
ReplyDeleteWe all know that when government starts speaking in terms of "billions" and "trillions" that's not a good thing. To say that spending in America has gotten out of hand is a major understatement. Eventually, someone needs to be held accountable for putting future generations in massive debt already. How does the federal government justify spending money that it doesn't have? This is plain wrong and needs to be contained. As for now, it appears that things will only get worse before they start to improve. In just two years in office, President Obama has added on about $3.5 TRILLION to the national debt.
One of the biggest problems that most republicans and many Democrats overlook in this whole argument is the tax income aspect. With recent Libertarian movements to get government out of peoples wallets is really detrimental to our country. If the tax cuts were to expire and new tax codes were to be fixed then the deficit. When our country is falling faster and faster in debt it is true we do need to cut back on some spending such as military and other spending which is not beneficial to our economy and well being; however this alone will not solve all the problems with debt because of discretionary spending and if taxes are not fixed to make sure we do not fall further into debt. The more in debt we go it will directly result in a extremely fast rate of tax increasing in the future, so it comes down to raising the taxes now as apposed to having to raise them much more in the future.
ReplyDeleteZhao Liu
ReplyDeleteMWF 9 - 10 AM
I am not a fan to politician speeches. I saw in the news a while ago, debating about whether Obama's budget cuts would actually have an affect on the U.S. economy, and the end result is that he would spend as much as he saves for the plan he has - which means U.S. is not really getting out of the deficits and debts.
Another point is that the largest U.S. spending goes to the bailout to large corporations. Low-income families were not the largest government money targets. The politicians just say that they are supporting these families for more votes. So why doesn't Obama go to former Lehman Brother executives, AIG executives and Enron executives to get their money back? Stop complaining about spending money on people who you support every year. Without spending money on the poor, there will not be a stable political and economic society.