User:Jlyle3507/National Debt Pathfinder

National Debt Pathfinder

By: Jessica Lyle

Could the National Debt Cause the Failure of The Top World Power?

Abstract:

The United States of American has dominated the world stage for decades now. However, the enormous amount of power has come an equally enormous price. The main problem being the mentality of the American people that wants lots of benefits, but not wanting to pay for them. This behavior has forced the American politicians to borrow more and more money to keep the country running. Borrowing this money from foreign countries like China has resulted in the enormous amount of national debt that the United States currently has. Therefore, the more and more debt the politicians billed up the more money that the United States will have to pay in interest, resulting in there being even less money to help the economy and the population. This interest therefore could lead to the collapse of the American economy and even the government system.

Research Process:

My research process was mainly focused on scholarly articles and news equerries. In addition, I also consulted a lot of government documents because my subject centers on governmental decisions and policies. My experience finding all of my sources and having to look at the all analytically and assess them for accuracy, I found to be very difficult. There are, of course, a lot of useful search engines that were very helpful, but a lot of times it was hard to find full texts or they had more unreliable sources then reliable.

Introduction:

I chose to do research on the United States national debt because I feel that the American public needs to realize what a huge problem it is. I wanted to expose the realities of the situations and how they affect everyday Americans because it has been my experience that not many people feel the debt affects them on a personal level so they do not do anything to make a change. I also wanted to inspire young Americans to become more informed and involved in politics. I believe that my research can do thing because I found a lot of information concerning how the national debt will affect future American workers’ wages, which will affect every teenager planning on entering the working force at any time in their life. I also think that my topic will draw a large audience because everyone would be interested in something that could possible cause the largest world power back down to the bottom of the world’s power chain.

II. A list of Information Resources The United States National Debt.

Subject Headings Section:

Public Financing

Fiscal policy

Generational accounting

Government spending

Deficit

Tax

Warrant (of Payment)

Bond (finance)

Brady Bonds

National debt by U.S. presidential terms

Government investment

Sovereign bond

Investment bond

China

Books Section:

Section 1-Reference Books:

--United States. Office of Management and Budget. “FY11 Budget”. Budget of the United States Government. Washington, D.C.: Executive Office of the President, Office of Management and Budget. 2004-2009. 156-169.Ingram Library Catalog


 * Information & Source Summaries*

The United States government created this reference book, and it pretty much lays out what the potential national budget will look like in future years. Some of the main points the book makes is to point out to the audience that the percentages of the budget that are in place today are expected to change substantially over the next few years. It also spend a good amount of time explaining how past government decisions are affect and will be affecting the United States Government for some time to come. Therefore, affecting the everyday American in several ways from the job market, to the cost of an education. I used the key words fiscal policy in the Ingram Library Online Catalog to find this book. In the Future Budget Projections Section

--United States. Office of Management and Budget. Budget of the United States Government. Analytical Perspectives. Washington, D.C. : Executive Office of the President of the U.S., Office of Management and Budget : For sale by the Supt. of Docs., U.S. G.P.O., 2004. Print.


 * Information & Source Summaries*

This book was a great help because it is taken from a critical viewpoint of the entire United States government’s policy-making procedures. They criticize mainly how long it takes Congress to create a bill that the Nation may need immediately. They also blame this process for why the recession has only been allowed to get worse and worse, while the general population is suffering and getting sick of waiting for some kind of change. Chapters 2 & 3. I found this article by using the Ingram Library Online Catalog and using the key word Budget.

Section 2-Ingram Library Books:

--Morreim, E. Haavi. Balancing act: the new medical ethics of medicine’s new economics. Washington, D.C.: Georgetown University Press, 1995. Print. Call Number: Online Resource (netLibrary)


 * Information & Source Summaries*

Haavi Morreim a reporter for the Georgetown University Press wrote this book in a way that allows it to gravitates more to the healthcare side of the national debt. It discusses how it is a balancing act between the new medical ethics of medicine's new economics and persevering that patent doctor relationship. It covers how there has been a line draw between what is best for the patient and what can be affordable. It goes on to explain how many people suffer because of the new strict economic policies of the American Healthcare system. I used the key words Healthcare debt to find this book in the Ingram Library online catalog. The source was on of the first results that came up and it was so very helpful in my research of the healthcare system and how it affects the national debt. Found in Chapter 5

--Yarrow, Andrew L. Forgive us our debts : the intergenerational dangers of fiscal 	irresponsibility. New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008. Print. Call Number: HJ8119 .Y37 2008


 * Information & Source Summaries*

Andrew Yarrow is a well know political writer who is fully supported by Yale University, one of the most upstanding ivy league schools in this county, which is why I feel his book is very accurate and reliable. In this book Yarrow covers more about how politicians affect the national debt. Yarrow explains several past president’s fiscal policies and how they have either help or harmed the national debt. He also discusses where the government gets all the money to keep the country running, and how China has taken a big risk by investing in the future of the American economy. Yarrow explains the dangers the United States has entered into because of their mounting debts, and the lack of concern from the American public. He also gives the reader a look through a politicians eyes by examining how politics could do a lot to shrink the debt, but choose not to because history tells us that if they were to cut funding for projects for the public or raise taxes they would more then likely get voted out of office. He concludes the book by giving his own suggestions on how to aid the issue, which would not be very useful in my research.

I used the key words China Debt in the Ingram Library online catalog to find this book. I took a looking though all 10 pages of results to find a good enough source for my research, but finally this was the one that I found and decide to use.

Information found through out the book.

--Hertz, Noreena. The debt threat : how debt is destroying the developing World. New York : HarperBusiness, 2004. Print. Call Number: HJ8899 .H48 2004


 * Information & Source Summaries*

This book talks a lot about the history of our debt. It explains several concepts from the inside, out, like how Social Security works, so as to help the reader the better understand why the government is having such a hard time keeping the debt from growing. It goes into detail about every war that America has been involved in, and how each one has contributed to the debt. The back of the book holds several charts that map out where money has been spent in the recent years, and how much the debt grows annually. There is also a chart that shows why the money was spent and how much it affects the annual deficit in a specific year, which is the exact reason that this source fits into my research.

I used the Ingram Library online catalog to find this book it was one of the very first books that I found when I used the key words United States fiscal policy.

Found in Chapters 1-4

Encyclopedias & Dictionaries:

--“Economic Affairs.” Encyclopedia Britanica. Encyclopedia Britanica Online Library                                                         	Edition. Encyclopedia Britanica, 2010. Web. 22 Jan. 2010 http://library.eb.com.proxygsu-sar1.galileo.usg.edu/eb/article-235032


 * Information & Source Summaries*

As in 2003, public finances were a cause of domestic and international concern. The federal deficit for the year was $422 billion. Spending increases under President George W. Bush had escalated to an annual average. A great deal more then it was under former president Bill Clinton. Also during 2003 the value of the dollar dropping to below the value of the Euro, and the rising cost of oil were serious causes for concern, but the economy was amazingly resilient to all the changes, something that surprised many observers. The economy was able to absorb the increased oil costs then what several economists expected. Then in 2004 somehow corporate profits and business investment remained strong, while interest-rate growth had removed some of the stimulus to business activity. Even with all this negative energy monetary policy was still supportive. This article goes on to explain how the economy has grown and shrank from the 1970s to the present day, and how each presidents spending has affected it. This article embodies exactly what I need in my research. It covers the numbers and how and why the debt has grown and how it affects businesses and just regular people.

I used this Online Encyclopedia and found this article by typing in the words monetary policy. It was on the third page of results.

No pages to report

--"Great Depression." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010. Web. 25 Jan. 2010 .


 * Information & Source Summaries*

This article, which I could not find an author for covers a lot about where all of our jobs are going and why they are going there. It also discusses how policies like NAFTA have only made problems like unemployment and national debt worse by allowing businesses to move to Mexico or Canada where the labor and taxes are cheaper. It also discusses how the middle class is shrinking for that very reason. A resent class of 2009 college graduate writes the article, and he brings the reader down to earth on the issue by explaining how most of the graduates in his class have had to move back in with their parents or take jobs no where near their major, because of the lack of jobs in every state.

I found this article though an online Encyclopedia and used the key words American College Graduates Struggles. It was one of the very first results that came up on the search engine. No pages to report

Articles section:

--Polivka, L., and C. Estes. "The Economic Meltdown and Old Age 	Politics. " Generations 33.3 (2009): 56-62. ProQuest Education Journals, ProQuest. Web. 5 Feb. 2010.


 * Information & Source Summaries*

Polivka and Estes seem to take a more liberal side to the issue of the national debt. They explain how millions of misinformed senior citizens are voting against a healthcare bill and a social security bill, not knowing that the people that are telling them that these things are bad for them are the ones who want to put in place deep cuts in benefits such as social security and Medicare which many seniors rely on. They go on to talk about how the economy is affecting the benefits pot of money. They also express their belief that the age limits on the social security are simply not doable in the present great recession. I found this article though the Pro-Quest database and narrowing my search down to Scholarly articles. I used the key words Voting Habits. From there the article was very easy to scope out. No pages to report.

--Nicole Casal Moore. "Ominous Outlook. " State Legislatures 1 Jun 2006: Research 	Library, ProQuest. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.


 * Information & Source Summaries:*

Nicole Casal Moore is a Public Affairs Manager for the National Conference of State Legislatures, who wrote this article to reveal her research and belief that the amount of money that is spent on entitlement programs like Social Security will increase substantially over the next few years because of the baby boomer generation retiring, which will then send the nation into an even worse recession then the current one, that is if nothing is done in government to prevent this from occurring. This article goes on to give an economist’s projections on how much spending will have to increase to accommodate for all of the baby boomers retiring. For example she predicted that Social Security spending would increase up to 174 percent by 2030. She also examines how the federal governments budget is suffering, because of that very reason. She attempts to drive home the point that the governments decisions surrounding the amount Social Security payments are going to be other the next few years trigger a type of trickling down effect on all the states budgets, and eventually the families’ of America’s budgets.

I found this article though the Pro-Quest database and narrowing my search down to Scholarly articles. I used the key words National debt Social Security. No pages to report

--Aproberts, L.. "Trends in the Retirement System of the United States. " Geneva Papers 	on Risk & Insurance : Special Issue on The Four Pillars 34.4 (2009): 618-	630. Research Library, ProQuest. Web. 3 Feb. 2010.


 * Information & Source Summaries*

The journal talks about the future of Social Security if the trends that are happening today continue to happen. It covers the drop in pension levels in recent years for new retirees that choose to retire earlier then the age the government set for these benefits, which is 66.Coverage by occupational pension plans is in jeopardy with all the new baby boomers coming into retirement. The article predicts that in the future, these developments could lead to an income shortfall for those older Americans who do not save more or postpone retirement. It also discusses how the United States has experienced an increase in retires going back to work for several different reasons such as for healthcare or simply because the cuts in social security make it so they cant pay their bills. I found this article though the Pro-Quest database and narrowing my search down to Scholarly articles. I used the key words Future Retirement Debt. No pages to report

Internet Sources Section:

--Steinhauer, Jennifer. “California Almost Broke, Nears Brink.” New York Times 16 February 2009: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/17/us/17cali.html?_r=1


 * Information & Source Summaries*

Jenifer Steinhauer a reporter for the New York Times wrote this article surrounding the failing budget of the state of California, and attempts to expose all the difficulties the lawmakers in that state are encountering while try to figure out the best solutions to the huge short fall in their budget. She exposes the enormous amount of money the state of California has went over their budget. She talks about what lawmakers in that state have had to do to keep the state running like firing state employees, and also requiring them to take more nonpaid furlong days. She then discusses Governor Schwarzenegger’s plan to raise taxes to help make up for the budgets short fall. However, he has hit more then just a few roadblocks in his pursuit with this mainly with the republican leaders in the state who strongly oppose any kind of tax raises. She also quotes many experts on the issue that exclaim that this dead lock surrounding the passing of a new budget could end in disaster for California. I found this article by going to the New York Times Website and using the key words in their search engine California Failing Budget. No pages to report

--Beams, Nick. “Government debt: a new stage in the global financial crisis”. www.wsws.org. 9 February 2010. 26 February 2010.


 * Information & Source Summaries*

Nick Beams a news reporter for International Committee of the Forth International wrote this article in order to analyze the finical crisis that the United States’ national debt has created for the entire world. He takes a critical position on the recent bail out of the finical system by the United States government. Beams does a great job in reveling what other countries have had to say about the United States use of money. Beams is also writing for a Socialist website which allows for another view on the issue of national debt. I found this website by going to Google Search engine and using the key words Critical Opinion National Budget. No pages to report --Associations, organizations:--

The Concord Coalition does a lot of work to encourage the public to become more aware of what the government is doing with the money that should be going towards paying down the national debt. Their website is- http://www.concordcoalition.org/. I believe that they are a reliable resource because the website is maintained by Georgetown University. Insert non-formatted text here