Debt: The Rapid Decay Of The U.S. Economy
Glorya Whittington
Eng/147
January 26, 2015
Dr. Barbara Rowland
Debt: The Rapid Decay Of The U.S. Economy What happens when the government spends more money than they have, and who is going to pay for the trillion dollar deficit? The answer is that the U.S. economy starts to lose its credibility and puts itself into a recession. The economy begins to accumulate a debt with whomever it has to borrow money from to make up for the money they did not have. Future generations are at stake to take over the deficit when older generations refuse to take responsibility. Before the debt grows even more, the U.S. economy has to stop borrowing money, to halt the misappropriation of funds, and to decrease what is being spent.
The Number is Astounding
The U.S. economy has to stop borrowing money. The more money the economy uses, the bigger the debt becomes. The debt, as of January 2015, is $18,108,735,302,000.00. For this reason, borrowing from other places also puts the economy more into debt with them. According to Borrowing And The Federal Debt (n.d.),”places such as China ($1.28 trillion), Japan ($1.14 trillion), and Belgium ($310 billion) hold the most of our debts.” (para. 11). Private sectors, the U.S. Funds, and other companies are being used to cover what bills that remain, leaving them in debt as well.
Funds and Aid
The economy needs to stop the misappropriation of funds. For example, one's Social Security Funds original purpose consisted of providing one with income during retirement or disability. According to Amadeo (2015) "The U.S. has been able to borrow from the Social Security Trust Fund… this money should have been invested to be available when Baby Boomers retire… the Fund was "loaned" to the government to finance increased deficit spending." (para. 7). As said before, this was for the retirement of people that worked hard, but by 2033, there might not be money for U.S. citizens. When a country cannot support their army or total cost of things, foreign aid should then distribute. The countries of Iraq, Israel, and Afghanistan hold a decent amount of aid from the U.S. economy. These three countries have over $10 billion in aid every year with Iraq appropriated at $2.34 million, Israel appropriated at $2.94 billion and Afghanistan appropriated at $8.95 billion (“Foreignassistance.gov”, 2015). The U.S. is spending too much on aid. Lake (2014) stated that countries, such as Israel, “have tried to stop the help because the country is becoming more prosperous. It is more than just aid; it is more representing politics than the dollar amount.” (para. 15-16). The aid can be arrested and put towards the debt or interest that has gathered.
Money Studies
The economy needs to decrease what is being spent and doing so might help get the U.S. back on its feet. Money can be stopped to unimportant studies. Studies such as the Promiscuous Quail which states that a university is to test whether or not these birds are more likely to be intimate when using the cocaine drug (Zeiler, 2012). There are more important things, such as cancer research, to use the money the government used this money on. Also, money can be stopped for whimsical studies. Knakal (2013) stated that the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research spent $300,000 on a study about the first bird on Earth which ended with the result of it possibly having black feathers. Another study is for protection from zombies. The National Science Foundation created a game where a player protects themselves against zombies to protect the human race. Developing this game, or “mini-games” cost around $150,000 that was paid to the developer. This money could have went to the national debt or to the interests that is owed. (Giokaris, 2013). Instead of spending billions or trillions of dollars on these things, the money can be sent somewhere helpful.
