The United States Economy: What Needs to Change

It’s pretty obvious that the United States is in a bad spot as far as its economy.  Unemployment is high, national debt is at outrageous levels, and at the same time, the taxpayer’s money is being thrown at unnecessary funding programs.  Some would say that foreign aid is an unnecessary and worthless burden on our economy, but while they complain about expenditures on foreign aid, they ignore the unreasonable percentage that is being spent on health care, and the money that is being used to fund abortions.  Some think that we should fund abortions if the mother’s life is in danger or if the pregnancy is due to rape, but in the heat of this debate, most people ignore the facts.    The U.S. needs to cut abortion and health care funding and focus on paying off its debts, as the most direct way to restore our economy.

Why?  Simple: the United States government has been wasting valuable money on health care and abortions, and blaming foreign aid for their financial troubles.  First, let me explain exactly how bad our economy is right now.  Our current outstanding public debt is $15,295,052,578,718.01 (Treasury Direct).  Here’s another shocking number: in the fiscal year 2011, the U.S. spent $3.6 trillion and only brought in $2.3 trillion (Schwabish and Griffith).  That is like someone buying a one hundred thousand dollar house on salary of ten thousand dollars a year.  No wonder our debt is so high!  In fact, in August of 2011, President Obama signed a deal into law to lift our debt ceiling, and our national debt exceeded 100% of our GDP (Fox News).  This means that, even if all of the U.S.’ GDP went towards paying off the national debt, we would not be able to pay it all.  I think we can agree that something needs to change.

Next, let me show you why foreign aid is a good thing, and not where we need to focus our blame.  In a foreign policy debate covered by CNN, presidential candidate Ron Paul said that “I think the aid is all worthless.”(Pappas)  In an article in the daily caller, Alex Pappas states: “Paul says the United States can no longer afford to spend billions in humanitarian aid to fight AIDS and malaria in Africa and in other regions across the globe.”  The U.S. definitely needs to refocus its blame and its economy-restoration efforts.  To start with, foreign aid is not a burden on our economy.  In fact foreign aid takes up less than half a percent of the U.S.’s total GDP (U.S.AID).  It is beneficial as it allows U.S. to make a difference around the world and build important relationships.  According to Curt Tarnoff, a specialist in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs and National Defense, the United States is the largest foreign aid donor in terms of dollar amount, but the smallest of the major donors in terms of percentage of GDP.  Military spending is not to blame either, as it makes up only 4.06% percent of our GDP (CIA World Factbook).  Foreign aid and military spending are obvioU.S.ly not the problem, so what is?

Now I will tell you where our real problem lies.  Health care takes up a ridiculous amount of the United States GDP.  Almost 18 percent of our money is spent on giving people health care (NHE tables).  That is more than the U.S. spends on its military, another expense that is commonly nominated for cuts (CIA World Factbook).  This expense doesn’t make sense as we do not need to provide health care for the whole nation. To reduce this percentage, we need to increase restrictions on who can qualify for government health care so that only those who absolutely cannot afford private health care, or do not have a job that provides health care can apply to receive it.  To help our economy, we need to cut unnecessary expenses such as this.  If the U.S. can maintain its vast and technologically advanced military on only 4.06% of its GDP, then it can provide health care for its citizens at a more reasonable percentage than now (CIA World Factbook).

Another useless expenditure that our fiscally irresponsible government allows is funding for abortions under the Hyde amendment.  This amendment dictates that Medicaid covers abortions “in cases of rape, incest, and life endangerment.”(NAF)  What I would like to know is why our government is spending this money when most insurance companies cover elective abortions (NAF).  Those who support this irresponsible spending might say that this government-provided coverage is necessary for women who can’t afford insurance, and whose life is in danger from a pregnancy.  They would try to convince you that in that case, the woman’s life is more important than the child’s, and so such assistance is necessary to allow that woman to get an abortion.  Let me ask you this: how is this situation any different than that of a woman diagnosed with cancer, who also has no medical insurance?  The government does not offer her any free treatments, so why should it offer the pregnant woman a free abortion?  What makes the pregnant woman’s situation different?  Pro-choice people do not value pre-natal life, so in the previous analogy there is no difference between the situations except the government involvement.

As you can see, our government has been fiscally irresponsible with our taxpayer money and other sources of income.  With our economy in a hole and our debt reaching outrageous levels, it is time to make a change.  While some are blaming our foreign aid contributions, I am sticking to the facts, and laying blame where blame is due.  With drastic cuts to health insurance spending, and the elimination of abortion funding, we would be able to free up over 12% of our GDP to help pay off debt.  By reminding politicians of the facts, and with the help of a few spending cuts in the right places, we will be able to slowly, but surely, reduce our debt.  If we can correct our government’s perception of what needs to be cut and what doesn’t, and make fiscal responsibility our motto, we might recover our economy yet.

Works Cited

Pappas, Alex.  Ron Paul: ‘Worthless’ to send foreign aid to fight AIDS in Africa.  The Daily Caller.  Published 11/22/2011.  Updated 11/23/2011.

< http://dailycaller.com/2011/11/22/ron-paul-worthless-to-send-foreign-aid-to-fight-aids-in-africa/#ixzz1lMUP0Exx>

                NAF (National Abortion Federation). Common Questions and Myths.  Financial. 
<http://www.prochoice.org/pregnant/common/>

                NAF (National Abortion Federation).  Abortion Facts.  Public Funding for Abortion: Medicaid and the Hyde Amendment
<http://www.prochoice.org/about_abortion/facts/public_funding.html>

                Schwabish, Jonathan and Griffith, Courtney.  Congressional Budget Office. The U.S. Federal budget, a CBO publication
<http://www.cbo.gov/ftpdocs/125xx/doc12577/budgetinfographic.htm>

                Fox News.  U.S. Debt Reaches 100 Percent of Country's GDP
Published August 04, 2011 | FoxNews.com
< http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/08/04/U.S.-debt-reaches-100-percent-countrys-gdp/#ixzz1l949JKza>

                Treasury Direct. The Debt to the Penny and Who Holds It. Total Public Debt Outstanding.
<http://www.treasurydirect.gov/NP/BPDLogin?application=np>

                CIA World Fact book. United States. Military. military expenditures. Last Updated: January 19, 2012.
<https://www.cia.gov/library/publications/the-world-factbook/geos/U.S..html>

                USAID FAQ’s
<http://www.U.S.aid.gov/faqs.html#q7>

                Tarnoff, Curt. Specialist in Foreign Affairs, Foreign Affairs and National Defense. Foreign Aid: An Introductory Overview of U.S. Programs and Policy.  A CRS report for Congress.  Updated: April 14, 2004.
<http://www.au.af.mil/au/awc/awcgate/crs/98-916.pdf>