Sunday, April 24, 2011

The American Economy Still Hurting

Why is the U.S. economy still bleeding?

by Peter Stern

There is no real reason other than elitist corporate greed that prevents all Americans from benefitting via overall economic progress and profits.


Ever hear of the "trickle-down effect"? It's not happening.

Today, our government and the corporate sector are extremists. The 2 main political parties have extremist platforms.

Instead of looking at improving the American way of life (as did our ancestors), they are looking for increased profiteering at ANY cost, benefitting the few and alienating and destroying the many.

American citizens are secondary citizens. They are caught in a Catch-22 of existence: Fewer American jobs, outsourcing of service jobs and hiring of illegals have hurt Americans.

Educational systems are in jeopardy. Higher costs with lower learning outcomes are hurting American students.

There is a void in the job sector and a glut in the housing market. The economy is suffering globally, yet the corporate sector is achieving high profits.

The Social Security System, including Medicare, Medicaid and Disability punishes those who try to work and get ahead, instead of providing incentives to those collecting government income who want to improve themselves and their economic status.

In addition, there are fewer jobs for Americans to apply for. Many unemployed have been so for more than 2 years and are lost in the national numbers of those really unemployed.

Still, very few of us pay income taxes due to so many loopholes in the system.

The wealthy pay 40 percent fewer taxes than they did 2 years ago. Furthermore, the remaining middle class pays much less and the poor still pay relatively nothing in taxes.

That said, our government's total expenditures continue to rise dramatically.

So, as a nation, how do we leave the economic "red" and get into the "black" when we spend more than we have income? How do we move towards improvement when we owe China and India more than we earn?

While the solutions may be intricate, isn't it time to begin to make positive changes in our economic status? Shouldn't we create more jobs for American citizens? Why aren't we ensuring a better learning environment with more positive outcomes? Why aren't Americans (individuals and the corporate sector) paying their fair share of taxes so that we may increase income, cut our costs and reduce our debt?


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