America is a grand nation with fruitful lands and kindhearted people. Each year, thousands flood in from the far corners of the earth to partake in our cup of freedom. With every sun, there is a cloud. One of America’s largest clouds is her national debt. The paragraphs that follow will provide more detail about this debt, possible solutions, and ways to accomplish these solutions. Debt, from poor budgeting and over spending, is but one of many flaws that our government carries. The debt began in 1790 after the Revolutionary War. At the time, we were in for 75 million. By the begining of the Civil War, the debt decreased to around 65 million. Sadly, by the end of this war, we were 2.76 billion dollars in debt. Today, the national debt is 19 …show more content…
I feel the solutions are not few, easy or quick. It will take the cooperation of all branches of government. The budget should be revamped and tightened, more focus should be put on fair trade, and cuts should be made on foreign expenses. Programs should be initiated to teach and reward youth for being financially responsible savvy consumers and to promote individuals to lower personal debt and decreasing the use of state funded services such as welfare. Programs should include plans for financial stability, timelines for reduction of personal debt, and pathways for retirement. Rewards should be given for progress and reeducation for the unchanged. Instead of letting people sit in jail getting three meals, clothing, and other items, more programs should be created to reform the prisoner into being productive by having them carry out jobs that are economically beneficial. Jobs in sanitation, beautification, manufacturing of products that were previously outsourced to countries not providing fair trade, and agriculture. This would in a way make them earn what that are being provided. Society will do what it is allowed to get away with. That being said, no one citizen should be allowed to be a billionaire when there are not enough jobs to promote economic growth. They should be required to be involved multiple save the environment and indigent due to disability care programs. This can only be
This deficit has to do with having responsible leader who are willing to increase awareness and make beneficial changes in the nation. In my opinion, the federal debt is a serious threat to the US that must be politically address whenever possible. I believe that the candidates of the 2016 presidential election should make this issue one of the top priorities to discuss and to dictate a considerable amount of work to fix it. That is because the worse the federal debt is, the worse the future would be to the nation. Also, voters must be well educated about this issue in order to shape their decision in voting for the candidate that seems most powerful and confident about this problem. Solving this problem may be difficult and would take time and so much effort. Therefore, the changes and solution must be on both a national and individual levels as
One thing that I have learned about college is that you have to sometimes talk about things that make you uncomfortable or scared in order to learn. I do not think I am alone in saying that the United States’ current debt situation is terrifying. Ten trillion dollars alone is an expansive and unimaginable amount of money, and since PBS produced Ten Trillion and Counting in 2009, the national debt has grown to twenty-one trillion. As stated, the documentary was produced during the first months of former President Barack Obama’s first term and focused on former President George W. Bush’s relationship with national debt during his eight year tenure. Ten Trillion and Counting explains some of the questionable decisions that former President Bush made, especially regarding fiscal policy.
Instead of prisoners just sitting in a cell doing nothing, why not put them to work, "Every inmate that works saves taxpayers $5,000 a year"(Smith). There are prisoners that work in greenhouses, that generated $57 million in revenue. As budget cuts rise working prisoners become more and more valuable. Inmates are finding ways to save money by recycling there old mattress, that would of end up in landfills. Some prisons even have their inmates help clean up dirty parks around them. While the prisoners are doing this they are learning skills , that will help them with different jobs. Prisoners that do a good job get rewarded with money bonuses. Prisoners learning how to be more responsible and understand how to become a better person will help them in the up coming future. With the prisoners getting paid for bonuses for good work this will make it feel as if it’s a real job. The experience that the inmates are receiving will help them with jobs once they are released from prison. Prisoners will strive to do better with the bonuses they are receiving, and will understand again what its like work. Now with this happening this will ensure the prisoners will have a better and healthier
As of today America’s national debt is 18 trillion dollars and approximately 5 trillion of that is held by foreign countries including China and Japan. In the last few years we seem to hear more about balancing the country’s budget and politicians raising the debt ceiling so we can pay on this debt. How have we gotten into such an overwhelming and complicated problem with our nation’s money? Ironically the same can be said for our individual household debt as well as making the same mistakes and trying to find creative ways to be accountable to our financial responsibilities. Teaching the basics of personal finance n our schools can culturally change our financial practices, leading to a more financially literate public and a stronger, more stable, America. If the younger generations can become more financially savvy, then there is an opportunity for our nation as a whole to become less dependent on debt to survive.
The US has been in and out of debt countless times throughout history, going as far back as the Civil War. However, debt did not become a truly relevant problem until much later, in the 1980s (Budget Deficits). Up to that point, large budget deficits were generally only allowed during wartime, but this pattern ended after the Great Depression. Roosevelt’s New Deal meant that the government spent much more than it previously did, even after the economy improved (Budget De...
The national debt is usually a frightening topic citizens of any country, however, in the United States, twenty trillion dollars of national debt is one of the major fears of the economy. Along with this fear comes every politician claiming to be the person to lower this astronomical debt to ease concerns in the modern American economy. In Hamilton’s Blessing, John Steele Gordon tries to alleviate these concerns by showing a plethora of benefits and good the debt has been able to do throughout the history of the United States. The central premise of the book and the main guideline for John Steele Gordon’s thinking is that the debt was used to save the Union in the 1860’s, the American economy in the 1930’s, and the wellbeing of mankind during
The national debt surfaced after the revolution when the United States government had to borrow funds from the French government and from the Dutch bankers. By 1790, the U.S. government accumulated millions in debt, but no one knew precisely how much. The Constitution mandated that the new government take over the debts of the old government under the Articles of Confederation.
“Make America Great Again,” the campaign slogan know all around the world that is determined to change the face of 2016 election when sixty nine year old Donald John Trump is elected. In 2004, the federal debt was $7.3 trillion. This rose to $10 trillion when the housing bubble burst four years later. Today it exceeds $18 trillion and is projected to approach $21 trillion by 2019. Debt is not the only the thing the United States has been dealing within the past years, such as immigration, abortion, guns, foreign policy, taxes, along with numerous other topics, yet Trump has a way to solve the unsolved and yes, “Make America Great Again.”
Children of the twenty first century spend nearly 13 years in school, preparing for what is college, one of the only ways to achieve the so-called “American Dream”. College is the best way to start an advanced career and go further than one possibly could if college degrees were not available, allowing people to achieve their view of the American Dream; whether it be large houses, shiny cars, multiple kids, or financial comfort, college is the stepping stone to achieve the American Dream. But all great things come with a price, college dragging along debt. Students who attend college struggle to find ways to pay for it, leading to applying for student loans. These loans a great short term, paying for the schooling at the moment but eventually the money adds up
We hear about the debt almost every day: news talks about it, politicians argue about it, even President Obama gives speeches on it. So what is the significance behind it? In this article I am going to explain briefly what the national debt is, how big it is, and what it has to do with us.
Prison is an expensive was to punish someone. Today the annual cost to run the U.S. prison system is over 50 billion dollars. This takes a huge cut out of the annual budget in the U.S. if this amount of money was cut in half just imagine what else could be created with that money. New schools for our children, rehabilitation clinics for drug users, or maybe an upgraded space program all these would be possible with just part of the money being spent on keeping people in jail. Shaming could be a cheap alternative to locking people up for a prolong period of time. This may allow convicts to contribute to society in a more responsible way. Some argue that we can have these criminals do volunteer work to let them contribute to society and let them see the outcomes of their crimes. This is an incomplete thought as Dan M. Kaha...
There are many people who are critical of the US‘s prison sysetm; the idea of locking up those who commit crimes against a society simply to keep them from doing harm. Many say that more rehabilatation is necessary to improve these individuals and, therefore, society as a whole. What are some ways of doing this? Do you agree/disagree with this view and why? Is the prison system currently in place the best option for society? 2 pages, double spaced, 12pt. font.
Part of the punishment is the elements prisoners must endure while imprisonment. The conditions in prisons can be characterized as harsh and unbearable at times. Cold daunting cells and prison overcrowding evoke mediocracy living conditions (Herzing 2015). Yes, payment for crimes should match the crimes committed. Murders, rapes, and all other odious crimes should evoke a place of lack luster conditions to those of such criminal background (Washington 2016). The amenities once enjoyed by an individual in society should be taken away, if convicted of a crime. The freewill to go to the store, or a movie, to live in certain neighborhoods, should be entities lost due to criminal behavior. Besides the loss of freedoms, how should the prison system effect prisoners?
Over the years, congress has been spending money that we don’t have and it is added on to our debt because they are not aware, or just don’t care, how much they are adding to our debt. “How much do you think it costs U.S. taxpayers annually to support each member of the U.S. House of Representatives? Each senator? Well, according to the new U.S. budget, you, Mr. and Mrs. Taxpayer, spend $3.1 million to support each House member and $9 million to support each senator.”
It is not fair that prisoners sit and watch television all day while the tax payer is out working hard to earn a living and pay for prisoners to watch TV. A punishment for prisoners is the prison taking away privileges - e.g. removing a TV from a cell. Prisoners should take responsibility and try and achieve something while they are in prison. For example they could learn a new skill or complete a college course so they are ready to look for a job when they are released from prison as more than 50% of male offenders and 71% of female offenders have no qualifications according to civitas.org. Civitas.org also tells us that “Nearly half have literacy skills at or below level 1 and 65% have numeracy skills at or below level 1.”