America's Economic Future

The United States economy is racing ahead at dangerous speeds, and it may be too late to prevent the return of widespread inflation. Ideally the economy should move ahead gradually and grow at a steady manageable rate. Mae West once stated “Too much of a good thing can be wonderful” and it seems the U.S. Treasury Secretary agrees. The Secretary announced that due to our increasing surplus and booming economy, instead of having an outsized tax cut, we should use the surplus to further pay down the national debt. A tax cut, though most Americans would favor it initially, would prove counter productive. Cutting taxes would over stimulate an already raging economy, and enhance the possibilities of an

A nation’s economy plays a vital role in how a nation operates. The United States economy faces a large variety of problems in this paper; we will focus on 4 major economic problems, unemployment, inequality, federal debt, and the financial/credit market. All four issues are interconnected in some way with deep social and economic implications. These issues were emphasized during the Great Recession that hit the U.S. economy in 2007.In the following paper, we will look at each of the four topics individually as well as look at how each plays a significant role in one another’s overall impact on the U.S. economy as well as individuals in the United States. The United States plays a crucial role in the world economy, meaning that every issue and difficulty faced the United States economy has implications far outside the U.S., understanding how these issues relate to one another sheds insight into just how connected every area of the economy actually is.

Implementing a UBI would be a smart choice, not only for the government but for the american people. Cutting all other assistance from the government to lay down a secure base for all would reduce government bureaucracy, improve standard of living, reduce the wealth gap, contribute to better working conditions and create social capital, creating an efficient, effective society benefiting everyone

The following memorandum is a direct response to Robert Reich’s book Aftershock: The Next Economy and America’s Future (2013). It includes an overview of Reich’s diagnosis of the economic issues facing America, as well as relevant analysis for consideration by the President and Congress. The following text considers a potential prescription for the issue of income equality and a prediction regarding the potential action or inaction of the United States government on these issues.

So, in my vision of the UBI, any American citizen over the age of 21 and living below the poverty line would receive $13,000 tax-free deposited annually in his or her bank account. $3,000 of it could only be used for healthcare, and the other $10,000 is at their discretion. People who are employed will be able to benefit from this until their income collectively reaches $35,000. After that, the UBI would be taken away, as they have reached a sustainable salary. People who are unemployed would also receive $13,000; however, they would only benefit from this for 6 months so that they don't become solely dependent on the UBI, and lose motivation to seek employment. There would be exceptions for people who are unable to work. Essentially, a UBI will benefit those people in dire need of help, and will, in fact, motivate more people to join the workforce, further lowering the unemployment rate. It is time to take these invisible Americans out of the

An income is designed to, at the very least, be enough for one person to support their basic needs. With the way society is today, the only well-paying jobs are those that are often undesirable, or require a higher education that isn’t affordable for some people. Gray Whisnant, an opinion columnist for The Cavalier Daily, states in his article “Make It Rain” that inducing a UBI (Universal Basic Income) will solve not only poverty dilemmas, but solve other jobs related problems. Whisnant explains his ideas clearly and it makes me want to agree with him, but I’m afraid it wasn’t quite enough to sell me his idea. He failed to mention any sort of downsides in his article, making me think he is completely overestimating the idea of a UBI. I support

Today, the state of our nation’s economic security is at stake; the gap between the the lower/middle class and the upper class grows wider every year, and the effects are devastating. There is, however, a proposed solution. The Basic Income Guarantee (BIG) bill offers a pragmatic fix to the poverty that plagues America’s lower class, but the current proposition has some flaws. First, lets discuss the contentions that make up the original bill.

A writer for The Huffington Post, Zac Thompson, in his editorial opinion “What Is Universal Basic Income? And Give It To Me Now”, suggests that the world is ready for a new universal basic income. He supports his claim by first stating that “It’s no secret that Millennials are horribly in debt and clearly have it worse than previous generations”, then he states “A basic income could help equalize the playing field for many who struggle to make ends meet”, and finally once again “A basic income could help equalize the playing field for many who struggle to make ends meet”. Thompson’s purpose is to inform about an effective solution to many of our economic issues, regardless of the persons social group in order to overcome this drawback by creating

Among economists, we all speculate what will happen to an economy in the future. Who will be the next United States? Right now, the United States has the largest economy in the world and one the highest gross domestic products per person. People are speculating that countries like China and India will one day have an economy that makes America’s look small. By looking at China’s growth in gross domestic product, that very well could be a reality someday. Could Russia one day have an economy that rivals that of the United States? Russia, like the rest of the world, is in a time where their economy is stagnating. After several years of growth that looked promising, the Russians saw their economy drop almost 25% during the Great Recession. Even though the Russians rebounded quickly, with a GDP increase of 65% from 2009 to 2013, they’re back down roughly 7%1. So while I believe the Russian can have a good, growing economy, it doesn’t look like they’ll ever have an economy that rivals in size or in gross domestic product per person.

What do you think is the future of America? Tough question, I believe this cannot be answered with something that is down to a specific small one detail. My answer: Those who dare to defy. The current generation and a few years are challengers, and inventors we challenge the normal and dare to defy. Two example of this include: fashion and technology. We continue to find new ways to do new things.

The current system of welfare gives benefits to some people but not to others. That means we spend a lot of resources inquiring through the details of people’s private lives to see if they really qualify or not. The difficulty of this patchwork is overwhelming to individuals experiencing it directly. Monitoring people, Coordinating hundreds of arbitrary and ever-changing rules, ensuring people are destitute first before qualifying for welfare or social housing increases unnecessary complexity to government (Perieira, 2015). And that also means that there’s a big incentive for special interest groups to gain the system to their own advantage, or even to oppress or disenfranchised groups they don’t like. But what if what you really need is something completely different. What if you want to forego present consumption, and save your benefits for the future? Under the current system, when the government gives you housing vouchers, or food stamps, you have to use those benefits on what the government thinks you need. This is only one of many examples of an individual facing multiple welfare bureaucracies. Clearly, you cannot save food stamps in the bank, but you can save cash and you can spend it on whatever you think you need. In this way, a basic income gives people the freedom to make their own decisions about how to improve their own lives. In this way, a simple rule namely basic income is not only fair, it is also more stable. In the case of the

In providing economic security, the United States is failing compared to the democracies of European countries. The United States “has the most inefficient welfare system in the Western world” (Patterson, 2013). In the United States, it is hard for people to qualify for assistance in a public assistance program, as the eligibility criteria can be perplexing. Many programs are complicated and have no sliding eligibility scale. For instance, a person who makes $495 in monthly income could be eligible to receive a specific benefit, where another person making $500 in income a month could be ineligible (Patterson, 2013). There are many instances where people who are considered “poor” to society try to qualify for a particular program but make too

In my opinion, the future of the United States of America will end up being a technology filled, horrifying place. Most of the time, people of America will think that this country is getting better and better each day, but this is very incorrect. To explain, studies show that ever since the 1960’s, the United States has become worse every year in categories such as the use of cell phones, obesity, and conflicts between different groups. These categories are only some of the problems/issues that this country is dealing with at the moment and the more we grow in years, the worse these issues will get. Also, many people will agree and disagree with my statement, but most of the people who disagree secretly know that this world is becoming a horrible place. Also, to clarify, I never meant to say that this country is becoming corrupt in every category. This country is doing great in some categories such as American education and the United States defense system.

The United States is currently experiencing a slow recovery from the recession of 2008-09. The current unemployment rate is 7.7%, which is the lowest level since December of 2008 (BLS, 2012). However, this rate is believed to higher than the rate that would occur if the economy was operating at peak efficiency, and it is also believed that there are structural issues still underpinning this performance. For example, the number of Americans who have exited the work force as the result of prolonged unemployment is believed to be higher than usual. In addition, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO, 2012) notes that long-term unemployment of greater than 26 weeks is at a much higher rate than normal, which will have adverse long-run effects on the economy, since workers with long-term unemployment often find their career paths derailed.

The weather in the United States does not help either, I came to the United state the beginning of winter. I am used to calling 60 degree weather freezing, I was cold the whole time and couldn’t get out of the house because it was either raining or snowing. In Egypt, I never stayed inside the house for more than two days, but here I am stuck in the house for a really long time. At the beginning I was not used to it, everyone was busy either at work or in school. I couldn’t go out and walk because it was cold, I didn’t know what to do. I remember one day, I called my sister in law at work and had a mental breakdown!