Today there are literally dozens of major threats to the U.S. economy. Each one of these threats alone could cause a major economic implosion. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the derivatives bubble, the housing crisis, the exploding U.S. national debt and the burgeoning European debt crisis all threaten to push the struggling U.S. economy over the edge. But which one is America's biggest economic problem? Below, 16 of America's greatest economic threats are listed in no particular order. The goal of this article is to hear what all of you readers believe is the worst crisis the U.S. economy is facing. If you would like to vote, please choose one of the 16 economic problems listed below (or nominate one of your own) and leave a comment explaining your choice....
#1) The Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill - The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is already the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history. Is it also about to become the worst economic disaster in U.S. history?
#2) The Derivatives Bubble - The total value of all derivatives worldwide is estimated to be well over a quadrillion dollars. In fact, the danger from derivatives is so great that Warren Buffet has called them "financial weapons of mass destruction". Will the derivatives bubble end up being the major cause of the next depression?
#3) The Housing Crash - Last month, sales of new homes in the United States dropped to the lowest level ever recorded. Also, the number of U.S. home foreclosures set a record for the second consecutive month in May. Very few Americans are buying houses right now. The subprime mortgage crisis brought the U.S. financial system to the brink of ruin in 2007 and 2008. Is it about to happen again?
#4) The Federal Reserve - Instead of printing and issuing their own currency, the U.S. government actually has to go into more debt before any new currency is created. But the problem is that the money to pay the interest on that debt is not created at that time, so in order to pay that interest the U.S. government will need to create even more currency in the future. That means going into even more debt. Thus the U.S. government is caught in an endless debt spiral that has now become impossible to escape. By basing our economy on mountains of debt and paper money that is backed by nothing, have we essentially guaranteed that our economic system will totally fail someday?
#5) The European Sovereign Debt Crisis - Greece, Spain, Italy, Portugal and a number of other European nations are in real danger of actually defaulting on their debts. If a wave of national defaults starts sweeping the globe, will it end up wiping out the U.S. economy as well?
#6) The Growing Welfare State - For the first time in U.S. history, more than 40 million Americans are on food stamps, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture projects that number will go up to 43 million Americans in 2011. More than 1 in 5 American children now live below the poverty line. Nearly 51 million Americans received $672 billion in Social Security benefits in 2009. How many people can the U.S. government possibly support financially before it finally collapses under the weight?
#7) Illegal Immigration- There are an estimated 30 million illegal immigrants now living in the United States. Not only is this a very serious economic burden, but it is a huge national security issue as well. Federal agents and local law enforcement officials along the border are now openly telling the media that they are outgunned, outmanned and are increasingly being shot at by the Mexican drug cartels that are openly conducting military operations inside the United States. There is now significant Latin American gang activity in almost every large and mid-size city in the United States. Meanwhile, Barack Obama continues to leave the border wide open.
#8) Corruption On Wall Street- The corrupton in the financial system that has been revealed in 2010 has been absolutely mind blowing. Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Lehman Brothers and Wachovia are all being investigated by the government at this point. The rampant manipulation of the gold and silver markets was completely blown open by an industry insider, and the U.S. government has finally been convinced to take a look at it. It seems like the more the layers are peeled back, the more corruption we find in the financial community. So how long can the U.S. financial system survive when corruption is seemingly everywhere?
#9) War In The Middle East - The U.S. government has spent hundreds of billions of dollars fighting the war in Iraq. The U.S. government has spent over 247 billion dollars on the war in Afghanistan, and yet June 2010 has now become the deadliest month of the Afghan war for coalition troops. Now there is a very real possibility that war could erupt with Iran. How long can the U.S. government continue to afford to pour hundreds of billions of dollars into wars in the Middle East? Not only that, but if a war with Iran cuts off the flow of oil from the Persian Gulf, what would that do to our economic system that is so highly dependent on oil?
#10) Barack Obama's Health Care "Reform" - Barack Obama's pet project is actually the biggest tax increase in U.S. history, it is going to cause the premature retirement of thousands upon thousands of American doctors, and it is going to drive health insurance premiums through the roof. Health insurance companies are going to do very well (they actually helped write the bill), but the rest of us are going to be absolutely crushed by this brutal legislation. So what will happen when the U.S. healthcare system implodes?
#11) Barack Obama's "Cap And Trade" Carbon Tax Scheme- Rather than focusing all of his attention on fixing the massive oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico, Barack Obama has been busy playing golf and figuring out how he can use this crisis as an opportunity to get his "cap and trade" carbon tax scheme pushed through the U.S. Congress. But will Barack Obama's obsession with "global warming" end up totally wrecking the U.S. economy?
#12) Globalism - Most American workers had no idea that free trade would mean that they would suddenly be competing for jobs against workers in the Philippines and Malaysia. Today, corporations often find themselves having to choose whether to build a factory in the United States or in the third world. But in the third world workers often earn less than 10% of what American workers earn, corporations are often not required to provide any benefits to workers, and there are usually hardly any oppressive government regulations. How can American workers compete against that?
#13) The Moral Decline Of America - An economy stops working efficiently when people stop feeling safe and when they stop trusting one another. As greed, selfishness, lust, pride, theft and violence continue to explode, how much longer will the U.S. economy be able to function normally?
#14) Genetic Modification - Scientists around the globe have now produced "monster salmon" which grow three times as fast as normal salmon, corn that has been genetically modified to have a pesticide grow inside the corn kernel, cats that glow in the dark and goats that produce spider silk. Is it possible that all of this genetic modification could unleash an environmental hell that could destroy not only the economy but also our entire society?
#15) Unemployment - Tens of millions of Americans are out of work and nearly a million people have lost their unemployment benefits because the U.S. Senate has once again failed to pass a bill that would extend those benefits. In some areas of the United States unemployment has been pushing up towards depression-era levels. For example, a while back the mayor of Detroit said that the real unemployment rate in his city is somewhere around 50 percent. So is the biggest problem that the U.S. economy is facing the fact that so many millions of willing American workers simply cannot find work?
#16) The U.S. National Debt - As of June 1st, the U.S. National Debt was $13,050,826,460,886. According to a U.S. Treasury Department report to Congress, the U.S. national debt will top $13.6 trillion this year and climb to an estimated $19.6 trillion by 2015. The total of all government, corporate and consumer debt in the United States is now about 360 percent of GDP. The United States has piled up the biggest mountain of debt in the history of the world. So how long will it be before this mountain of debt collapses?
So of the 16 economic problems listed above, which one do you believe is the biggest threat to the U.S. economy?
Please feel free to leave a comment with your vote....
If you really think about it the true biggest problem for the US (and the rest of the world) is one that is not mentioned here. It is financial system that is based on FIAT CURRENCY. If you really think about it, it is the true DIRECT source of at least half of the problems mentioned there. There would be no way to create huge debt, OTC derivatives would be most probably non existent and government would be SMALL and under control of the people not big corporations. At the same time long costly wars would be impossible to wage and military definitely would be cut to size. But above all people would regain TRUE FREEDOM as the means to corrupt and control political system would be for all practical purposes non-existent.
Concerned Reader: He’s right. I’d like to make a smart comment about his blog but I feel nobody would listen to my worthless twisted brain.
Absolutely Biggest Economic Problem will be:
New Free Energy Technology from STEORN ORBO
This will collapse whole industries/branches at Stock Markets, certain commodities, cost tens thousands jobs, hundreds big bankruptcies.
After that, it will coming positive aspects of this new technology.
Limit population growth.
The most drastic economic downfall of America is a corporate sponsored government. This is happening because our leaders are ever ready to take a suitcase of money from a corporate lobbyist and let greed dictate their actions instead of intelligent reasoning! We need to stop giving our jobs to Asia and our money to the Middle East! We need to regain our respect and ingenuity and start respecting and serving our fellow Americans instead of paying homage to the corporations and their CEO’s! I say Americans unite, we built this country and constructed the constitution, not the CEO’s.
Clearly the biggest economic problem for the US is the fading status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency. Once those dollars come home to repatriate, they won’t be worth the paper they’re printed on. The people will beg for a solution. A predetermined solution will be brought into the light. Possibly along the lines of the amero or SDRs.
Greed
Big government and overspending.
GMO and national debts are the poison that will cause down fall of humanity and USA.
In 5 years or so, our national debt servicing cost will equal military budgets, its the end of world greatest power!
Blame on the world leaders. It´s all over the same, Europe, USA, Asia. Collapse of economy problems to the small people and money for the big ones. I am sure that is the stuff for a big and (hope not) bloody revolution. How long can people live without any serious plan for their life? This is not a world of real capitalism, it is deptism! That is the point that is to change. Start NOW!!!
I think the overuse of credit has become the largest problem. Over the last several decades, much of our perceived wealth has been created from the usage of credit. Purchases of all kinds have been fueled by credit. Now that credit still remains on the books as owed, many assets have dwindled in value. The American consumer is in too deep and it will take several years to balance the “books” and allow more credit to be introduced into the economy to fuel growth.
Of course, the curent socialist government is doing all it can to destroy our free economy. And the fed is useless and should be abolished along with the health care plan and the current tax system. One can only pray!
No. 13 is the root cause of all our problems.
I believe it the sum total of all of the above 16 economic threats because America wants to play Global Super Power and Global Police. If America gets out of War, Super Power Status and the Space Race, America’s Economic woes will self correct very fast. However, America is not ruled by the People. There is a shadow Government whose hidden agenda is to use US to control the wealth of the world. How else could a debt balloon to 360% of GDP or more ?
I think the most important reason will be
Saturation of the economy and Globalism.
During 1970’s countries like USA Germany and Japan opened their economy to give birth to globalization because they beleived that they had the unmatched technological and intellectual advancement(which they were right).
However with the communication growth specially in the past 2 decades, has bought so much knowledge and expertise in the third world,that they no more need US.
What do I think is America’s biggest problem? Where to start? Critical thinking is dead in America, just watch for what passes for news, look at the rise of 9/11 truth, and conspiracy theories. Most people have no idea what their mortgage rate is, what their credit card rates are, how much their homes are REALLY worth. We have a media and political class who are insolated, arrogant, and are no smarter than the people who watch them.
Democrats believe in punishing success, rewarding failure, and are positive they know better what’s good for you then you do. They are smarter then Jefferson, Madison, Washington and are just better people then those “Dead White men”.
Republicans say their for freedom, pass laws that help large corporations, kill small business, and ship jobs overseas “NAFTA”. They believe Illegal Mexican nationals are just “Gods Children” (John you know who) and should be allowed to depress wages, milk the welfare state, destroy schools, and turn the US into Mexico.
Can it be fixed? Not with out a lot of pain.
Add # 1 though 16”
I think the biggest problem right now is the USA is moving away from its core. It does not bode well for future if we are to maintain being the leader in innovation and maintain the high standard of living.
I think you forgot about the monster looming in the background which are the predictions of a coming global food crisis. Crops failures, bad policies and overpopulation are gaining momentum on this front as we speak. This is one bogey man that’s going to make things really complicated, recovery or not.
Keep your eyeballs glued to those store shelves and see what starts disappearing first. Smaller selection and higher prices isn’t always about consumer demand. Sometimes it’s about supply, or lack of it.
#1 Problem is SHORTSIGHTEDNESS. Americans, and most people in general, are driven to fear. Combine that with the lack of insight, confusion, poor understanding of the problems at hand and in that state they become shortsighted. I might even take the bold step and say that shortsightedness is the result of ignorance. There are solutions and a good leader will take a society to where they need to be…even if they are kicking and screaming the whole way.