The Change We Need
While the country is basking in anticipation of change, which for many means something completely different than for others, I’m still wondering when we are going to address the real issue: the trade deficit. It is arguably the single greatest problem we have to solve as a nation.
There are a lot of questions these days about government spending, capital gains and taxes in general. What really constitutes an Economic Stimulus package? If we as a taxpaying community are ultimately paying for the TARP (the bailout package), then who is providing us with economic stimulus?
Our trade deficit is more than $2 billion per day. Combined with our federal deficit this cost raises to a combined amount in excess of $3 billion a day. Quick math shows that this costs us over $1 trillion dollars every year. What this truly means is our country is losing $1 trillion of wealth every single year.
GOP pundits are quick to point out that the national debt has augmented from $5 trillion to $10 trillion under the Bush Administration over the last eight years. If this issue is not addressed, it will continue to be a problem for President Elect Obama’s Administration and the situation will become worse.
How much worse? If for instance the national debt doubles again over the next administration to say $20 trillion and we have to pay a nominal rate of 5% on that debt, the interest alone will be costing $1trillion every single year.
Obama’s message, “Change: Yes We Can” resonates with a lot of people – clearly, he won the election. One of the biggest changes we need to make is our dependence on foreign oil. It’s a change that affects both the health of our environment and our trade deficit. We need to take the alternative sources that we already have, including wind, solar and hybrid technologies, and continue to use those technologies so that that they become the standards, not the alternatives. These changes call for better education of our current and future workforce and we need to implement these solutions swiftly and without hesitation.
Economically, the unfortunate fact remains that this great country which use to be the manufacturing super power of the world just 90 years ago, now imports more that it exports. Over time we have become a more educated and sophisticated country, and yet we have morphed into a service-based society. Though I question how much service we are all really receiving and worse yet, who is providing those services? You already know the answer to this question as well.
Many believe that America’s last great resource is our knowledge and ingenuity. Agreed. But take a look at who’s occupying our universities. According to the Institute of International Education, the number of international students attending U.S. universities has increased by over 7% to 582,984 students in just seven years. Our weak economy and the exchange rates have made U.S. schools a bargain for students from abroad. So I ask where we are headed. I hope for the long term sake of this country that so many want to be a part of, the message that prevails over the next administration is not “Change: Yes We Can”, but “Change: Yes We Will”.
We need to get back to our roots of innovation, creation and exportation. Doing this will create more jobs for Americans on U.S. soil and help to solve our trade and federal deficit. As I once learned in a business economics course, great economies do not thrive by everyone doing each others laundry.
