This issue of unemployment is without a doubt a heated debate between both parties of the U.S. Government. Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats seem to agree on a single arrangement to repair the United States
First, I have concluded that spending cuts could be a possible way to raise money for other programs, such as unemployment benefits. Although the topic of spending cuts seems to rely more on the Republican perspective, I do believe that it is something to think about. It has been said that, when pressed, Republicans have a hard time deciding what exact programs they would want to cut spending in. Well I have some ideas. How about grants for “turtle studies” or transportation and infrastructure projects. Emphasis on “healthy living” could change how much we put into our healthcare system. Even allowing the private sector an attempt at doing projects less expensively than the government may do. Do to the national deficit and too much government spending, extending the unemployment benefits to American workers was money that was actually spent appropriately. By cutting our government spending we have more money to provide unemployment extensions. These benefits not only help unemployed workers support themselves and their families, it also allows them to look for a job. Instead of worrying about how to support their families and quickly taking a job which they are over-qualified for, these idle workers can focus on getting a job more suitable for them. I have also concluded that extending the Bush Tax Cuts would be an enormous help to repairing the collapsed job market. Giving tax breaks to businesses of all sizes would allow more funds to be spent towards expansion and hiring more workers. Not only businesses, but providing tax relief to all Americans would also be of tremendous help as it would allow citizens to save more, which would ultimately lead to spending more and pumping money back into the economy. Increasing the cash flow throughout the U.S.
Many of the ideas that I find would be helpful to our economy may not be agreed upon by members of certain political parties, however, it is the development of ideas and the ability to be open-minded that will eventually result in a full-proof plan to stop the growth of unemployment. All of these proposed ideas are designed by either party to fight unemployment and they all feed off of each other. Therefore, if nobody is coming up with a solid plan, why not take a chance on these?
Though I agree that unemployment is an extremely impertinent issue, I do not agree with the means that you feel would go towards solving the issue.
ReplyDeleteIf you feel that the government should cut spending in certain areas, then how about our over-bloated military budget that adds up to cost over $663.8 billion. This is not to say that our military is unimportant--far from it, since any powerful nation requires a method of insuring the continuation of it's power. However, a good portion of that great amount of money could be redirected to the market. If we underwent substantial health reform to model our healthcare system after Western Europe, Japan, or the Republic of Korea, then perhaps less money would be required to fill the flaws of our current private system.
Also, the Bush tax cuts are lower than any other period in contemporary American history. Lowering taxes any further would create a shortage of money for the government. If we continue to lower taxes while expecting to bring ourselves out of a recession by cutting government spending and job creation (infrastructure, mass transportation, etc. has substantially helped many international economy's, such as Italy, France, and Korea, the latter of which is no longer suffering through economic downturn), then America will dig itself in a deeper hole that will be increasingly hard to escape from.
As you have mentioned, the unemployment rate is a severe problem that must be remedied. You have given some interesting view points on what could be done to repair the economy and lack of job. Your thoughts on extending government programs to create jobs is quite logical. This FDR approach worked to end the Great Depression so maybe this would stimulate jobs for today. Though this would have implications on the already huge amount of national deficit. The Bush Tax Cuts were as you said instated to stimulate the economy. However, during times of recession it has been shown that many save money rather than spend it. Therefore this would simply increase deficit, not provide enough tax money for the government, and not increase the number of jobs. On that same note, I agree that since nothing seems to be working, why not try something. The solution is unclear and is one that will continued to be argued, probably until the economy naturally rises out of the recession. Unemployment in the meantime, will probably continue to rise as the government debates its plan of action.
ReplyDeleteIn response to Sparky McDolspienker,
ReplyDeleteI have a feeling that you may have been confused on what I mean't by spending cuts. The military budget that you are giving an example of would go along with spending cuts. You are asking that they take some of the money used on military supply and aid to be spent elsewhere in the economy. That is exactly what I mean by spending cuts. Furthermore, I never said anything about cutting taxes any lower. I am simply saying that an extension to to cuts that are already enforced would be a good idea because it would allow corporations to conserve money and hire people, while also allowing money to stay in the pockets of Americans who can spend it and circulate it through our economy. I hope that cleared things up for you!