The American Crisis in 2012
The January-February 2011 issue of Harvard Magazine, speaking of America’s stagnant economy and rising debt said the following:
“Most Americans have not experienced austerity in a long time, so the decade ahead may come as a shock. Expect continued high unemployment, slow wage growth, the possibility of social and political unrest, higher taxes and cuts in government services.”
One would think that when faced with the reality that the car is heading toward a cliff, the logical thing to do would be to hit the brakes. Yet it is clear that gridlock in Washington means America’s debt problem will only get worse in the year 2012.
With polls showing that only 30% of voters believe our country is headed in the right direction, the idea that our leaders are unable and unwilling to reduce the size of the national debt is alarming. The United States is caught in a liquidity trap.
Washington is paralyzed by unfixable, partisan gridlock and the American people know that absolutely nothing will be done to alter the current path of America’s future.
THE NATIONAL COMMISSION ON FISCAL RESPONSIBILITY AND REFORM, appointed by President Obama was supposed to be the commission that fixed America’s national debt problem. Yet, two years after the commission gave its recommendation to President Obama, virtually no one believes that Washington is capable of solving our national debt crisis.
In another article titled “An Aftermath to Avoid”, Harvard Magazine also makes the point that the United States “might face a fate similar to Japans: a long period of economic stagnation.
Japans unemployment is more than double what it was during the boom years, and real wages have fallen steadily, hitting a 20 year low in 2009. Repeated, drawn out attempts at monetary and fiscal stimulus, including increasingly questionable spending on roads and bridges in a country that already had a history of massive infrastructure investment, have potentially lead to a crippling debt load for Japan.
Economic collapse is a sinister, scary thing that no one wants to talk about, especially when poverty rates are climbing and there are so many people in need right now. But, with the rising costs of gasoline and food prices climbing higher and higher, one has to wonder how much more pain the poor and middle class can handle.
Today three in ten young adults live with their parents, the highest since the 1950′s—-yet another sign that the future of our children is being sacrificed by politicians hell-bent upon mortgaging America’s future.
Our national debt crisis does far more than increase the price of oil and cause inflation in our food prices, it also threatens The American Dream.
Plunging home values and sustained high unemployment will make it nearly impossible for the poor and middle class families to recover from the setbacks, let alone acheive some sort of upward social movement.
And, considering that more Americans are on dependent upon government entitlements today than at any time in the history of this nation, it is no puzzle why many Americans have lost confidence in Washington.
The failure of Washington to deal with our national debt crisis is a betrayal of America’s children. Some people argue that the national debt is just a number. That’s true. But when the number becomes so large that investors refuse to buy our debt, then it becomes a crisis. All unpaid debt eventually becomes a crisis. 
What we all want is the confidence that our political leaders will restore America’s greatness. We want our children to live better lives than the parents.
The American crisis of 2012 is that Americans have lost confidence in our political system. They don’t believe it works anymore. Even worse, Americans are disgusted and they are afraid–but they are not surprised.
