America — The ProblemIs Bigger than the Debt
Published in Aleqtisadia
(Saudi Arabia) on 31 July 2011
by Abdul Wahhab Al-Fayez (link to original)
(Saudi Arabia) on 31 July 2011
by Abdul Wahhab Al-Fayez (link to original)
Translated from
by Jodi Rider.
Edited by Andrew Schmidt
.
The world waits for what will happen in Washington tomorrow. Will an agreement be reached along the lines of the Administration's position or that of the Republicans? The Administration wants to raise taxes to deal with the deficit and Republicans want to decrease spending. Overall, the American economy is in a predicament; wealthy people and companies don't want taxes raised and they recently transferred more than a trillion and three hundred million ($1,000,300,000,000) dollars abroad. And Democrats believe the solution lies in reviving the middle class in order to preserve American power!
Those who look deeply at the state of the American economy and American society find a real structural crisis whose repair requires ethical solutions. And this will not be achieved under the leadership of the current politicians who are more like the employees of companies, since there aren't any statesmen among them who can rise to the level of the challenge. The problem in America is one of governance and administration. America has knowledge of its problems and how to solve them, the actual strength to start over, the international standing, and the scientific ability. Its problem is that it doesn't have statesmen who put the interest of their country above their political and ideological interests. And the most dangerous of these is the Zionist lobby which pushed America to adopt the ideology of war — they transformed America into a country that wages wars!
And this state of war is what made it impossible for the ruling elite to recognize the structural problems that amassed within the economy and society, so that the public debt, which exceeded 105 percent of the GDP, came as a shock. Of course, after WWII, America faced an even greater deficit, but the will of the government was strong, so the U.S. was able to overcome the problem. As for politicians nowadays, all that they want is to be part of the problem and not the solution!
The shock over the public debt revealed other major problems which threaten society and the economy. The manufacturing sector largely came to a halt after more than 45,000 factories closed and this led to the disappearance of 70 percent of the manufacturing jobs. And the industrial sector's absence is what contributed to the rise in unemployment, because it had been a good refuge for those looking for work, particularly for those who weren't able to finish high school. Nowadays, high school dropout rates have reached 30 percent and we can picture these people ending up in prison (90 percent of prison inmates didn't finish high school). And the cost of one inmate is, on average, $50,000, which is roughly more than the expenses of a college student!
The absence of industry and the economy's inability to produce jobs creates another problem for college graduates. Presently, approximately 24 percent of college graduates don't have a job. This last statistic has raised a lot of concern in the U.S., since these people will be a burden on society and the nation. Likewise, the majority of students graduating from college usually have loans of about $25,000 and 70 percent of college graduates lack basic skills for the job market.
Of course, these indications of the decline of the middle class are connected to basic social problems. There are 50 million elderly people unable to bear the burden of the cost of living. 20 percent of children live beneath the poverty line and this is the highest rate of poverty among the industrialized countries. There are 25 million children living on food stamps and according to U.S. poverty rates, 40 million Americans live below the poverty line.
Added to that is the problem with the basic construction of roads, schools and dams. The length of highways only increased 3 percent, despite the fact that the number of cars doubled. And schools face problems in that there are fewer of them while most of those already existing are in need of maintenance. The cost of this maintenance is estimated at more than $230 million. Likewise dams: There are 85,000 dams that are on average 51 years old. As the population grew, they began to create a source of economic and humanitarian concern. In addition, 1/4 of bridges in the U.S. need to be replaced. In all, the U.S. needs $2.2 trillion for the maintenance of roads and bridges.
Trains have also changed. Their speed has diminished — the distance between cities requires double the time that it took 40 years ago. The train industry is vital to the economy and job market, and the U.S. needs hundreds of billions of dollars to improve that industry.
These are, of course, only some of the major problems faced by America. And despite this difficult situation, politicians still fight with one another as if they are waiting for solutions to come to them from heaven or as if they want to export their problems to the world. He who has debts or investments must wait to contribute his share of solving the debt problem in America!
Those who look deeply at the state of the American economy and American society find a real structural crisis whose repair requires ethical solutions. And this will not be achieved under the leadership of the current politicians who are more like the employees of companies, since there aren't any statesmen among them who can rise to the level of the challenge. The problem in America is one of governance and administration. America has knowledge of its problems and how to solve them, the actual strength to start over, the international standing, and the scientific ability. Its problem is that it doesn't have statesmen who put the interest of their country above their political and ideological interests. And the most dangerous of these is the Zionist lobby which pushed America to adopt the ideology of war — they transformed America into a country that wages wars!
And this state of war is what made it impossible for the ruling elite to recognize the structural problems that amassed within the economy and society, so that the public debt, which exceeded 105 percent of the GDP, came as a shock. Of course, after WWII, America faced an even greater deficit, but the will of the government was strong, so the U.S. was able to overcome the problem. As for politicians nowadays, all that they want is to be part of the problem and not the solution!
The shock over the public debt revealed other major problems which threaten society and the economy. The manufacturing sector largely came to a halt after more than 45,000 factories closed and this led to the disappearance of 70 percent of the manufacturing jobs. And the industrial sector's absence is what contributed to the rise in unemployment, because it had been a good refuge for those looking for work, particularly for those who weren't able to finish high school. Nowadays, high school dropout rates have reached 30 percent and we can picture these people ending up in prison (90 percent of prison inmates didn't finish high school). And the cost of one inmate is, on average, $50,000, which is roughly more than the expenses of a college student!
The absence of industry and the economy's inability to produce jobs creates another problem for college graduates. Presently, approximately 24 percent of college graduates don't have a job. This last statistic has raised a lot of concern in the U.S., since these people will be a burden on society and the nation. Likewise, the majority of students graduating from college usually have loans of about $25,000 and 70 percent of college graduates lack basic skills for the job market.
Of course, these indications of the decline of the middle class are connected to basic social problems. There are 50 million elderly people unable to bear the burden of the cost of living. 20 percent of children live beneath the poverty line and this is the highest rate of poverty among the industrialized countries. There are 25 million children living on food stamps and according to U.S. poverty rates, 40 million Americans live below the poverty line.
Added to that is the problem with the basic construction of roads, schools and dams. The length of highways only increased 3 percent, despite the fact that the number of cars doubled. And schools face problems in that there are fewer of them while most of those already existing are in need of maintenance. The cost of this maintenance is estimated at more than $230 million. Likewise dams: There are 85,000 dams that are on average 51 years old. As the population grew, they began to create a source of economic and humanitarian concern. In addition, 1/4 of bridges in the U.S. need to be replaced. In all, the U.S. needs $2.2 trillion for the maintenance of roads and bridges.
Trains have also changed. Their speed has diminished — the distance between cities requires double the time that it took 40 years ago. The train industry is vital to the economy and job market, and the U.S. needs hundreds of billions of dollars to improve that industry.
These are, of course, only some of the major problems faced by America. And despite this difficult situation, politicians still fight with one another as if they are waiting for solutions to come to them from heaven or as if they want to export their problems to the world. He who has debts or investments must wait to contribute his share of solving the debt problem in America!