In recent days, I have noted that all of my life, no matter how racist, sexist, or unjust this nation (the United States of America) is or has been, I would much rather live here than in any other country in the world. All of my life, everyone around me (and I mean everyone-save one or two) has echoed the same sentiment. Indeed, this nation has been looked at as the land of opportunity for everyone the world over since its formation.
This reality was underscored by the movie "An American Tale" in the eighties, where a cartoon mouse named Fievel sought prosperity in far away America. Fast forward 18 years, and I really wonder if Fievel would still want to travel from Russia to the USA. I wonder if he'd still be under the illusion that there are no "cats" in America. I wonder if he'd realize that oppression and poverty are increasingly becoming a reality in America much as they already are in Russia. I wonder if he'd foresee the doom that, I now propose, is about to befall this "great nation."
In 1997, President Bill Clinton was able to do what no President had done for decades before him; he balanced the budget. There was a budget surplus, and it allowed the government great latitude in funding federal programs in order to benefit the American economy. Much of this money, for example, was allocated to High School Students who were seeking higher education. Beginning in the year 2000, students who scored a certain score on standardized tests in certain states were given a sum of money to further their education in college. In my home state, the value of this gift was $2,500.
When Clinton left office and George W. Bush was appointed President after a serious Electoral dispute, he was handed a significant budget surplus. He was also handed a nation that was in a recession. I'd attribute the cause of the recession to the big "Y2K" scare of '98 and '99, and also the lack of consumer confidence following the disastrous 2000 Presidential Election.
No big problem. The nation easily survived a recession under Clinton and numerous President's before Bush (including a 500+ stock market plummet under Reagan in 1987). With the right moves and decisions, the nation was bound for recovery. In fact, the stock market was reaching towards an all-time high above the 12,000 mark (with the actual all-time high being reached in January of 2000 at 11,750).
During the early days of Bush's administration, twelve European countries were preparing to switch their currency over to the "Euro." At that time, the only currency in the world that was better than the US Dollar was the British Pound.
On January 1, 2002 the Euro became the official currency of those twelve countries in Europe, with other European countries continuing to sign on gradually. The value of the Euro had already begun to pick up steam months before it was in circulation. It quickly matched the US dollar in value soon after its release and has maintained a value greater than that of the dollar for most of its existence.
The events of September 11th, 2001 obviously caused much economic turmoil in this country. The stock market plummeted, and it took months before any significant recovery surmounted. Despite the severity of the effects of this tragedy, there was room for a complete recovery within a few years.
But then it happened!
The President of the United States of America, George W. Bush, made the mistake that will eventually take this nation down. He pre-empted a war with a nation that had nothing to do with 9/11, and he did it without the backing of the world community.
Now this was a huge mistake not because it seriously alienated this country from most of the world, nor because it polarized and divided this nation like never before, but rather because it is financially costing this nation every dollar that we have, and even Billions of dollars that we don't have.
Since we approached this war virtually unilaterally, we are incurring the lion's share of the financial expenses. And that isn't a good thing considering the already struggling economic situation this nation is currently in.
As the 'baby boomers" continue to retire, Social Security is causing serious financial problems for the current working generation and generations to come. The ever increasing price of Health Care is leaving more and more of the nations lower income citizens powerless to protect themselves against disease and illness. Prescription Drug costs are sky high, causing people to cross the border into Canada just to get medicine at affordable prices.
Our nations public schools (including institutions of higher learning) are poorer than ever from state to state. The rate at which government funded loans and grants has increased is far behind the rate at which tuition costs are rising. Furthermore, out-of-country college students who once brought their tuition money with them (which is often a very sizable sum) to pursue an education in "the States" are now preferring to go to other countries (like France and England) for college due to our foreign policies and international image.
The train and airplane industries are both so far in debt (and have been for years now-even prior to 9/11) that each has cut significant jobs, and are trying desperately to avoid bankruptcy- but to no avail.
To stay afloat, hundreds of US businesses are outsourcing jobs overseas because they can pay cheaper wages and, strangely enough, get a financial break from the government to do so.
We still have to pay the $200 Billion it's costing us to wage the War on Terror as well as the War in Iraq. A debt that we will be paying back for years and years to come.
And most ominous of all financial stats to note: The value of the US dollar ($) has been plunging against world currency.
The USA, less than 7 years after we had a budget surplus, is now in more debt than we have ever experienced, and the situation is not getting better. The spending hasn't stopped, and though we thought we felt a financial crunch in the last 3 years, I'm afraid that we haven't seen anything yet.
The scary thing is that considering our critical debt as a nation (something like 7 TRILLION dollars), our homemade money problems aren't the only ones that severely threaten us. Can YOU guess from whence further economic distress might come?
Stay tuned...
-Maelstrom
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment