Should We Be Worried?

In an article (2-4-12) entitled, Major Economic Problems Facing the United States, Thomas Heffner, wrote “Most people are unaware of the easily observable signs of this crisis, where it came from and how to stop it. While we persist in our superpower mentality, we have quietly become a second-class country in many respects.”  

Heffner points out 2 critical issues:

• We no longer produce what we need to sustain ourselves
• We are failing even to acknowledge predatory foreign trade practices

And, offers 3 possible solutions:

• we should take direct action to reverse our out-of-control trade deficits.
• we must carefully manage access to our markets.
• We must take a new direction.

Thomas Heffner

Thomas Heffner, publisher and founder of the website Economy in Crisis, also believes “that the wealth achieved in the United States in the 20th century has been increasingly eroded within the last 30 years due to sustained trade deficits that have eroded competitive domestic industry.” 

Robert Reich

Robert Reich of the University of California at Berkeley agrees with Heffner and argues, “The economy won’t really bounce back until America’s surge toward inequality is reversed . . .  without a nascent middle class able to spend without going into debt, the economy will not be able to stabilize.”

We must take a new direction à 
is a very interesting observation and comment to make because it obviously closes the door on the past while offering no solutions for the future.  So, if we are simply stating the obvious then one might easily suspect that no one is really sure what this new direction should be.  Actually, all Heffner’s suggestions lacks specific details; and, it is a very complicated problem.

MC Escher print

For instance:

America’s core values have eroded

America’s middle class is shrinking

America’s youth are falling behind the rest of the world in education

Unemployment has been at a sustained all time high for years

Gas prices continue to fluctuate at ever-increasingly higher amounts

The Euro Zone is unstable financially and impact US imports

Trade deficits continue to increase

The National Debt continues to increase

Cyber crime is cost US companies billions of dollars annually

India/China has growing middle class demanding increased goods and services

Foreign wars continue to drain US resources

Retired Americans will substantially drain financial and healthcare resources

These points are just for starters and bear in mind that they come from a non-economic expert and more of a wanabee economic expert who attempts to extrapolate ideas from the ideas of the experts.

One issue is for sure and that is the economy of America is in trouble and no one seems to know what to do and all the ideas that the experts are currently suggesting do not seem to work. 

So, Heffner is right, a new direction is needed and one that is creative and out-of-the-box.

Do you have any ideas?

If you do, let us know.