Megan Tharp's Paper
Megan Tharp
January 20, 2013
ENG-106
Dr. Hall
America’s Spiral into Financial Doom
Given today’s society and the seemingly endless uphill battle we are fighting, the American economy is tail-spinning out of control. The United States government debt is an issue that will not disappear or diminish without extreme transformations. Because the American government cannot agree on a viable solution, the American people will continue to suffer and it only promises to get worse. It will take both parties, conservative and liberal alike, to join forces for the country that we hold so dear. We are slowly and steadily sinking into a tunnel of financial doom. Our catastrophic amount of debt equals over 16 trillion dollars (USNDC ND). What an astounding number to be facing in the hole! That amount does not even include the almost 5 trillion dollars in interest rates that we owe other countries. Our bundle of interest rates alone is enough to support the Chinese military. Just take a minute and really ponder what that means; the colossal amount we are discussing here. China maintains the world’s largest military force and interest rate to our debt could financially support them (Black 2012). The question that we must ask is, “Is our debt insurmountable?”. Many conservatives, myself included at times, are tempted to scream “YES!”. Although, the debt is enormous and requires extremes measures, it can be overcome. Finding the ‘how to’, ah, there is the million dollar (or should I say trillion dollar) question. To break down the severity of the amount we owe, picture this; just to level out on our debt; break free, each American family’s share would approximately equal 50,000 dollars. If we keep escalating at the rate that we currently are, our children will pay for our foolishness and selfishness. We are consuming our children’s future lives with a debt they didn’t ask for. As if that is not damaging enough, the budgets we are cutting in order to climb out of the
January 20, 2013
ENG-106
Dr. Hall
America’s Spiral into Financial Doom
Given today’s society and the seemingly endless uphill battle we are fighting, the American economy is tail-spinning out of control. The United States government debt is an issue that will not disappear or diminish without extreme transformations. Because the American government cannot agree on a viable solution, the American people will continue to suffer and it only promises to get worse. It will take both parties, conservative and liberal alike, to join forces for the country that we hold so dear. We are slowly and steadily sinking into a tunnel of financial doom. Our catastrophic amount of debt equals over 16 trillion dollars (USNDC ND). What an astounding number to be facing in the hole! That amount does not even include the almost 5 trillion dollars in interest rates that we owe other countries. Our bundle of interest rates alone is enough to support the Chinese military. Just take a minute and really ponder what that means; the colossal amount we are discussing here. China maintains the world’s largest military force and interest rate to our debt could financially support them (Black 2012). The question that we must ask is, “Is our debt insurmountable?”. Many conservatives, myself included at times, are tempted to scream “YES!”. Although, the debt is enormous and requires extremes measures, it can be overcome. Finding the ‘how to’, ah, there is the million dollar (or should I say trillion dollar) question. To break down the severity of the amount we owe, picture this; just to level out on our debt; break free, each American family’s share would approximately equal 50,000 dollars. If we keep escalating at the rate that we currently are, our children will pay for our foolishness and selfishness. We are consuming our children’s future lives with a debt they didn’t ask for. As if that is not damaging enough, the budgets we are cutting in order to climb out of the
References: Warnock, F. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.cfr.org/financial-crises/dangerous-us-government-debt/p22408 on January 5, 2013. Office of the Historian, Bureau of Public Affairs (ND). Retrieved from http://history.state.gov/milestones/1784-1800/Loans on January 04, 2013. Elliot, J. (2012). Retrieved from http://www.propublica.org/article/how-politicians-and-the-press-overstated-military-budget-cuts-by-100-billio on January 1, 2013. Tyrrell, P. and Beach, W. (2013). Retrieved from http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2013/01/us-government-increases-national-debtand-keeps-128-million-people-on-government-programs on January 19, 2013. US National Debt Counter (ND). Retrieved from http://www.nabber.org/projects/debtcounter/ on January 19, 2013.