Debt is something that not many worry until they are in the one with the debt, just like unemployment, and many other issues that are currently affecting many Americans. United States is currently in a 14 trillion dollar debt deficit which is still growing. According to Damian Palettain his article from Wall Street Journal states, “U.S. debt has reached $14.213 trillion on April 8, 2011, just $81 billion under a limit set by Congress.” (Paletta, pars. 5-6) United States debt deficit began like any other debt, one spend more money than what they had. Though why is our own government that deep in debt and what can the government do to fix this? Well the simple solution to one’s debt is to increase their income, cut down on expenses, and pay off the debt with the extra money, but then for the government’s debt it not as straightforward as it might sound. That would mean increase taxes, cut down on health care, education, and on many other vague areas that a lot of Americans don’t want to do. At time were unemployment and economy distress is still a very stern subject, Americans and our nation’s future does not seem too bright. The United States are not the only one in crisis according Would our children’s generation suffer from our mistakes, or can there be a change, hope for Americans? America’s debt was caused by many different factors from war to programs like social security. The main problem is that the government keeps borrowing money to pay their interest, and just gets into deeper debt. The biggest worries Americans have is that the government doesn’t just borrow money from other countries, but from our own social security savings, and other programs that is suppose to stimulate our economy not hurt it. As Americans are living longer, many citizens our worried, when they are seniors there won’t be any money to help them out. McGraw Hill from The Spectrum wrote an article about the future of social security. He states, “When Social Security was created, the average life span was less than 65 years. But today, many people are living longer, healthier lives. And because the nation's 76 million baby boomers are approaching retirement, there will be nearly twice as many older Americans in 30 years as there are today.” (Hill, pars. 4-5) This could mean an increase in poverty and even deaths for our future seniors. Cutting down on Social security seems like an irrational decision to make. The scarce of social security funding is an issue one worries for the future, but Americans are facing a much bigger problem. The nation’s debt is difficult to fix when Americans have to worry about their own debts. As more Americans lose and are troubled to find jobs, unemployment keeps rising. Though what is exactly the cause of an increase of unemployment? Christine Romer from The New York Times states in her article, “About 11 million families are underwater on their mortgages, which means they owe more than their homes are currently worth. This could make it harder for them to sell their homes and move to jobs in other regions.” (Unemployment normal) Again debt could be the factor for unemployment, but what caused millions of families to be in debt? Most of American’s debt could be the cause of the American dream they persuaded. The dream to be wealthy, to have the luxuries one wants. Americans seemed too impatient to work hard for their dream and tried to find and easy way to it. Now in day one hears advertisements everywhere about getting loans, credit cards, and easy ways to borrow money. Companies make it sound that they are helping one out, in our “toughest times” by letting us borrow money. Though as many Americans found out, the money that once help them pay what they owed, just got Americans into deeper debt, especially when interest rates kept on mounting. So how did the government helped out? Well by giving American tax cuts, and other programs benefiting lowering our debt.
