At a current rate of 9.6% nationally, unemployment is very high (natural unemployment is around 5%), and the economy continues to sputter. What role does government have in this situation? Is the government doing to much already with the bailouts of private industries (banks, GM, etc.) or is the government not doing enough? Read the following two articles and discuss in 200-250 words your thoughts on the topic. CNBC - People do not trust the government with the economy.
The Street - We need another tax credit.
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Because the government is in charge of protecting us as citizins, and our interest, it is the governments responsibitity to take care the economy and keep our country running. Also, I believe that the government is doin everything in its power, what it thinks is right, to fix the current economic situation. As of right now there is no way to tell if what has been done will have a positive impact on the situation. To use a historical precedent, in the 1930's America was in a similar, however more severe, situation. If it wasnt for the commerce and economic boom that World War II brought to America, we could have been in the Great Deppresion for another 10/15 years. Because there is no way of seeing into the future, and because this situation as never happened before in our countries history, it is not fair to judge what the government has already done to remedy the situation. However, if I had to speculate on the effects of the economic bailouts, I would suggest that the government needs to do a little bit more intervening in the situation. This idea is based the fact that a laizze-fair approach got our country into this situation in the first. Minimal reguation is bad for the economy.
ReplyDeleteI think that what they are doing are not particularly the best things that they can be doing to help. They should be bailing out banks, yes, but they should also be helping the rest of the citizens as well. The problem right now is that so many people are without jobs and they don't want to spend the little money that they have left. With the economy the way it is, it is hard to find a job. They should force companies to lower the prices of food, gas, and other necesities. They should also lower the taxes a bit more. That way, people will have more money to spend to stimulate the economy. Companies will be getting less money, but the cost of everything will be lower, so they will still be able to keep thier head above water. Also, I agree with the people that do not trust the government in helping the economy. Our economy has been going downhill for years, and yet our government has not helped stop it. It has continued to get worse. They should focus on the lives of the citizens and their struggles instead of the war. Also, I think that things like the oil spill in the gulf is making the economy worse. It’s making the prices of oil and fish rise, or at least it will in the future. They should do more to help there to help better the economy for the future.
ReplyDeleteThe government has the right to distribute money where it is needed. They stand above everyone else and have full control over where the money from our taxes goes. There are certain things that the government should and shouldn’t be spending our tax money on. In today’s society, houses are a necessity. People cannot successfully live off of the streets. It is seen as the government’s responsibility to provide for those who cannot provide for themselves. The government can give tax credits to help house builders in today’s struggling economy. I believe that the government is doing well but could be doing more to help out our country. It is quite obvious that our economy is struggling and only going to get worse in the upcoming months. The government can step in a little more and make more accommodations to ensure that people have houses to live in. Not only providing tax credits to those in need, but the government can provide more jobs to those in need. With more jobs out there, people will have a better shot at supporting their families and having the opportunity to own a house. The government has done a lot already; however, there is still room for improvement.
ReplyDeletePeople have a huge problem with accepting and believing Government. I think that people can't accept government because they dont like the way it is ran. They don't like who is running it or the laws they have to follow. Also, people losing faith in government makes there feelings towards it stronger. They all want the economy to be good again, and since the government hasn't gotten back on track, they are upset. People have higher standards for the Government then the government thinks. The housing market becoming bad, has made people irritable. But, without government i think that the world would be more lost then they are now. We need laws and rules to follow along with the help that the government gives us. I think asking people's opinions makes the people more happy that they get a part in what the government decides.
ReplyDeleteUnempolyment being high, and lots of people without jobs has caused a lot of stress and chaus for the people. Everyone blames the government for the job loss, but since they economy is so bad they can't help it. They need to find a way to get people jobs and they would be happy. I don't think people fully understand that the government is doing everything they can to try to fix these problems, therefore the world is definately better off with government.
I think that in the first article they were trying to send a message that although the economy is bad it still does not look like anything is going to change. I do not think the government is doing enough other that the bailouts of private banks. I agree in the first article that banks need to pump money into the system. Also if the unemployment rate can be brought down from 9.5% that would boost the economy. If people are making money they will spend more money. I personally believe that a tax credit would help people buy more houses because in the past it seemed to work very well and once that tax credit expired people stopped buying houses.
ReplyDeletei believe that as the state of the economy seems to worsen, the role of the govenment will become more and more important. More jobs are going to need to be created so that more money will be spent and even more jobs can be created. But because of the distrust people have in their government, many people arent spending money in fear of the economies collapse. The first article talks abuout how we may have not seen the worst part of our economic depression. But their are also signs that we are at the beginning of a huge economic growth and that things will be getting better soon. The second article is talking about the houseing industry and how we need another tax credit in order to spike growth in the houseing industry. Many people however, are taking advangtage of the declining prices in homes, particularly first time home buyers, who can receive over $8000 after purchasing their home.
ReplyDeleteGoing off what the first article talked about, how people now a days have a distrust in the goverment i believe the goverment sould be trying to do more then just the bailouts of the private industries. The goverment needs to get the trust back of the people and show that not everything in our goverment is corrupte or broken. Im not sure if a tax credit on the realistate industry is a good idea because of the fact that property and land will always have value, inflation and deflation are a part of the bussiness cycle, and right now id say itd be better to have the money in the hands of the consumers, as opposed to the goverment.
ReplyDeleteI believe that peole just need to have faith in the economy if we want it to come back. Many people complain that they want the government to bail everyone out of this, but in reality I believe that the government cannot actually do much about this. The people need to have faith in the economy and just invest. There is no way that the economy is going to come back if people don’t invest in it. People need to go out and be consumers. As for the housing market, it’s the same thing. People need to start buying houses before they can expect the prices to come down to a reasonable amount. Also people need to stop wanting taxes to be lowered and complaining about high taxes. I say that the government SHOULD be raising taxes. Otherwise how can the government expect to come out of debt and turn the economy around if we don’t? Ultimately, people need to take a more personal approach to the recent economic downfall because it is the consumers that control how the economy grows and falls. Yet this is a hard thing to convince people to do, people who are low on money need to spend more money if they expect thigns to turn around. Essentially we’re deadlocked.
ReplyDeleteWith our unemployment rate at an all time high, the question facing most Americans is what the government is doing to rectify the situation. With the United States Government providing bailouts to many private industries such as major banks, Fannie May, GM, and other major companies affected by the economy, one would wonder why or employment rates aren’t accelerating currently. The reason for this is simple; while the government is providing the money they are not enforcing how the money is spent. Companies like GM are taking advantage of this. The main issue with how GM was using their bailout poorly came mainly when they gave their CEOs bonus checks instead of keeping their employees above water. Many would say that not only is GM responsible for the misuse of funds but also, and maybe even more so, the United States Government for not specifying the use of these funds. A solution would be for the Government to identify the purpose of the bailouts, which would be to provide the companies with more funds in hopes to avoid layoffs, and to enforce this more strictly within the companies’ management. If the United States Government took the initiative to follow through with the bailouts and reprimand those who misused them, the unemployment rate should decrease over time.
ReplyDeleteWith our unemployment rate at an all time high, the question facing most Americans is what the government is doing to rectify the situation. With the United States Government providing bailouts to many private industries such as major banks, Fannie May, GM, and other major companies affected by the economy, one would wonder why or employment rates aren’t accelerating currently. The reason for this is simple; while the government is providing the money they are not enforcing how the money is spent. Companies like GM are taking advantage of this. The main issue with how GM was using their bailout poorly came mainly when they gave their CEOs bonus checks instead of keeping their employees above water. Many would say that not only is GM responsible for the misuse of funds but also, and maybe even more so, the United States Government for not specifying the use of these funds. A solution would be for the Government to identify the purpose of the bailouts, which would be to provide the companies with more funds in hopes to avoid layoffs, and to enforce this more strictly within the companies’ management. If the United States Government took the initiative to follow through with the bailouts and reprimand those who misused them, the unemployment rate should decrease over time.
ReplyDeleteWith the unemployment rate as high as it is, the problem facing the United States is not whether or not the government is doing too much, the issue is how they dictate what is being done. Recently, the government has provided bailouts for multiple banks and major companies, but has not enforced a strict enough agenda for the money provided. Without a set outline for what is to be done with the money, companies are abusing their newfound financial freedom. One example of this abuse is the controversy over how General Motors spent their bailout money. Instead of using their financial aid to secure jobs for a vast majority of their employees, General Motors spent the money raising their CEO’s salaries. While the Government did not respond kindly to this error of judgment, the issue was not entirely General Motor’s fault. Had the Government provided a strict guideline of what was to be done with the money, General Motor would not have had the option of misusing their bailout money. The same applies for other companies and banks. Other companies are abusing their money as well. In order to remedy this issue, the government should provide a strict regiment for how companies and banks use their bailouts.
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ReplyDeleteThe current situation with our economy is very discouraging to the American people and I feel that what the government is currently doing is not enough. It has also caused for the people to not trust in the government. The house market is bad, the unemployment rate is high, and the bailout didn't really work. It is honestly hard not to put the blame on the government. Every person is responsible for themselves and their family but the government was created for us to rely on them to make important decisions to help the country. I don’t feel like they are doing that for the people. When talking about the bailout plan it really failed to benefit the common, average Americans. The businesses did not use the money they received for what the government intended therefore the government cannot be entirely to blame. But the government needs to find another solution to directly benefit common Americans to help relieve the economic stress most Americans are under. I don’t feel like there has been enough done in this situation. I think that the government should go back to some of the means to respark the economy as they used during the Great Depression. For example they created many organizations in order to create new job openings for the unemployed. I don’t feel like this has really been done so far in present day.
ReplyDeleteIt's an arguement between how much freedom to give the citizens and how much responsibility lies with the government. In my personal opinion, I believe the government should back off of trying to bail out the economy. I believe in the idea of laissez faire, or free trade with a hands off policy. The economy is a living organism. It thrives and dies, is reborn, etc. Trying to revive it when it's obviously not going to respond seems wasteful. It's unfortunate that the economy works this way because it affects people in tremendous ways, such as loss of job and income, but it will gradually fix itself. People are less likely to take risks in this economy, but as was proved in The Street article with a little incentive people with accept those risks. In that sense, I believe the government has done a good job. However, to continue to bail out large companies like GM is a waste of tax payers money. It could be used in ways similar to the homebuyer credit. Rather than bailing out CEOs who still have enough money to travel around the world and buy new corvettes, the money should be used to help the middle class.
ReplyDeleteWith unemployment becoming more common in every household, it is easy for us to point all the blame on the government. I believe that the government is doing as much as they can to relieve the economical stress. This is shown through the numerous tax cuts and bailouts in industries and schools. The people should have faith in the government because they do have a higher intelligence on how to do move forward. We dont want to make the same mistakes and fall back into a great depression. It will be a gradual, slow process in order to be fully stable again.
ReplyDeleteThis does not mean however, that the government has no role in reviving the employment world. The government should be doing all that it can to provide more jobs and prevent inflations from happening. The economy affects more than just jobs, but education, housing, and even driving. I think so far, the companies that have been out of business are ones that deserve to be. There hasnt been too much change with GM closing, especially with the controversy on how they spent their money.
In conclusion, I do believe that the government is doing what they can to keep the economy stable. We voted for these leaders to take care of things for us, so we should be able to trust them. They are educated in these fields and it is their duty to take care of the economy for us.
The government will definitely play a major role in the stimulus of the economy whether it is doing too much or too little. Right now, I believe the government is trying to do too much at once. An example of this was the statewide tax reduction on school supplies and clothes. I can see the government’s idea behind initializing this, but we have not seen any effects yet. People are so freaked out about the recession and everything that they are still afraid to buy things. Another example of the government trying too hard was the CARS plan. It only made a short term increase in the automobile industry and didn’t do much else to stimulate the economy. Obama's stimulus package was intended to create more jobs and put more money into the economy. It was successful in putting in money, but jobs are still very scarce. When the stimulus was first passed the unemployment rate was 9.8% and rose as high as 10.2% until it dropped to the current 9.6%. The government intervention is not working as successfully as they had hoped. Obama first claimed the unemployment rate would drop to 7.8% by April of 2009 with the stimulus. I think the government needs to take some time to let everything settle and go from there.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion, I believe that everyone is taking the government for granted. In the first article it talked about how many people have lost their trust for the government and they basically feel like they have abandoned everyone. Little do they know, the government is doing all they can to keep the unemployment rates are down. It may not seem like it but people just don't know that because they are basically working behind the curtains. If you get laid off of course I would understand why you would feel abandoned, but you can't just go off and blame the government. What would make more sense is if you blame the economy and it's poor condition. Another main cause for our unemployment rate being very high is because companies are abusing the money given to them by the government. Companies and Federal Banks are misusing these bailouts given to them by the government, completely furthuring the damage already made. Being in debt, recieving money to help out for it, then using that money for unneccessary purposes just doesn't seem logical at all to me. You are basically a hypocrite if you don't appreciate the government because the government is a big part of your life.
ReplyDeleteAmerica sucks at economy. nothing that we've done to help stimulate the economy has worked. the bailouts were a complete failure, the stimulus blew up in Obamas face, health care idea is probably not going to work and the housing market sucks. We need to give up and stop caring. maybe it will work out for itself. but it seems like all the crap were doing to help is just putting us deeper and deeper into debt. lets just stop caring and stop stressing and everything will work out for the best. because when we are all adults were screwed anyway so why should we care about the economy and future generations. that is also my opinion on the enviorment. lets just not care and let what happens happen.
ReplyDeleteI think that the people have no faith in the governent. I think that they did have faith at some point but after seeing all of these policies fail. I think that the government has set a lot of policies like the low interest rate, but at the same time these low interest creates a problem because it crates liquidations which hurts the economy even more. But at the same time some of the policies like the federal tax credit for homebuyers. It did help but right after it ended in April 2010 the market crashed badly in June and May, that i feel it makes the governement look like they are trying to do something, but at the same time it gives the feeling of that the goverment tries but at the end we fail or the economy goes more down.
ReplyDeleteBecause of the growing rate of unemployment and the worsening of the economy, the American people turn to the government to fix all their problems. Unfortunately, the US government can not fix every little dispute occurring throughout the nation. Industries, such as GM, talk about needing help with their liquidity as banks do. However, when the government provides bailouts to GM, they waste the money provided to them to not offer more jobs to the unemployment, but to raise salaries of their CEOs. The government should have taken leadership and control to prevent this issue from happening. Wasted time and money was put into bailouts to industries that don't even care. The government may seem that they're not doing as much as they could possibly do, they are. However, no matter how little or greatly the government seems to help, they are the only ones to blame. We elect individuals to give them power to restore our nation's economy, but it only seems to worsen our situation. Whether we hate or support the government, there's nothing drastic we can do about it. We should go with the flow and see what happens.
ReplyDeleteAlthough many people may consider the government’s role in the economy to be large and an essential priority for them to help regulate the economy, this is rather a mere misconception and a target of blame for the unfortunate. For several reasons, the government does not belong in altering (or giving effort for altering) the monetary system. For one, the government already has a very large range of sight of responsibilities: war, public defense, law enforcement, safety regulations, and the list could go on and on. The economy is not even in the peripherals of this sight range, it is rather a light on the other side of their eyes, that is causing them to redirect their priorities, making the government blind of their true duties. Not to mention that the attempts of the government have been unsuccessful. Furthermore, the economy is not a piece that is meant to be played with. Similarly to Adam Smith’s Laissez Faire concept, encouraging hands off economy and rather a system filled with individuals making their own investment decisions produces a more productive system. Personally, I consider the economy a natural cycle that should not be tainted and will restore itself over time.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading both articles i find that the government is trying to resolve the econmys issues.Yes the government is making there mistakes but they are going through a trial and error process, the masses has to realize that the econmoy can not be fix over night. Yes the unemployment rate is cresending but the government is doing what they can to make the economy better. The government has alot of problems such as the war, economy ect. The bailouts was a terrible move on the governments side, and health care is terible. But the goverment gave small businesses that dont pertain healthcare a opportunity to have some health care and now all amaericans that have a job now has healthcare. Thats great but the tax payers are paying more for the small businesses when that money can go and make the econmoy better.In my opinion the government has to think long term to fix this society instead of thinking now. i think goverment is doing the right amount of changes but they need to get us out of inflation/resection by cuting rates on big ticket items and lowing values on money.
ReplyDeleteI always took the government's role to basically make sure that everything is running according to plan, be it law enforcement, finances,oversea things, whatever. That's a lot of stuff to be watching over, so perhaps it just doesn't have the capacity to simply change things up for the better. Let's also keep in mind, that every time we entered a depression, we never single-handedly made our way out of it; both World Wars and propaganda were what would pump up our economy, despite the efforts of our presidents beforehand. What could be done is that we as a nation could try and find solutions to this deflating economy, instead of just reading the statistics and waiting for the government to figure it out. That doesn't mean we should distrust the government; if anything, it's on our side. So we should continue to involve ourselves with the government, through voting and deciding on things, basically filling our role as citizens to continue making the US a better place. WE should do more, in order to share the weight of the US's economic future. Besides, no one wants another World War, right?
ReplyDeleteThe question is what role does government have in this situation? And I think that government plays a great role in our economy & how each and every one of its citizens struggle through with their everyday lives. The fact being that our economy is at a downfall because of business failures, unemployment, stock market crashes, &etc. In the first article it states that people have a huge disbelief in government, and I totally agree with their reasoning. The government has always been the main variable in our economy’s growth. Whether it be foreign interests or not, the government should always make their choices based upon them being beneficial to the citizens and their economic state or not. On a recent search I have found that the federal government wastes over $440 million dollars a year on unnecessary printing. Whenever the government chooses to spend billions of dollars on unnecessary projects (like the one I have stated) is about the time I would say people question themselves on if they should or should not believe in the government. Amounts of money like that are essential and devastating in our economy, but it is the government who controls it. So, that being said I think that the government should better review the economic interests and how the money being spent is beneficial to the citizens, & not themselves.
ReplyDeleteFrom reading these articles and hearing the news eachday, I came to the conclusion that since the economy is worsening, people are blaiming the government more and more eachday. Eventhough I am not happy with the government's decisions of all of these bailouts, I do believe that it's doing what it can for right now. Yes people are blaiming the government for unemployment and other situations that are viewed not right, we all just need to understand and have some faith that things will roll back how it was/should be. This of course won't heal itself overnight, but in the meantime, we should invest ourselves and take more action. I do believe, however, that the government should try to bring its people's trust back by helping with tax credits and such, so people can get jobs and maybe would want to buy things again. Unemployment needs to be fixed most definetly, because when people are hired, there will be more sales, which will then help shape our economy to where it should be.
ReplyDeleteAs the economis situation is still around, people are blaming the government for not doing enough. or people are blaming the government for wasting they're money. some of the people are right, but some are wrong. i believe that the bailouts that the government has done was waste of tax payers money. they shouildnt have done that, the bailouts didnt do anything but waste tax payers money. i believe that the government isnt looking at long term relief for the economy, but rather the short term and what will make it a little better for a short period of time. it is becasue of these short term relief efforts the people are losing faith in the government.Yes the government is doing stuff to help the economy. i believe that they do not play a big role however. if the government wants to do anything bout the economy, they will look at long term and not short term. in my opinion, the government needs to stop looking for answers as fast as they can and need to start thinking, what is best for the economic situation, what can they do to help people during this rediculously hi unemployment rate. they need to stop wasting tax payers money. then again, maybe the government cant do anything about the situation, maybe the economy does a cycle and will eventually get its self out of this mess over time.
ReplyDeleteI think the government plays a partial role in the unemployment rate in the United States. I don’t think it is fair to say that they are the full blame for this issue though. Some of the things that are happening in the economy, government is to blame. But there are some companies and/or people who have absolutely no trust in the government. Those companies are trying to fix their profit problems by themselves with no help of the government, mainly because they know they won’t get much help. I think the government is doing everything they possible can at this point to help our economy. I mean, the government is ran by everyday American’s just like us, we can’t expect miracles to happen when they step in the picture. A problem with the economy is something that takes time and cannot be fixed with the snap of one’s fingers. The government also holds a huge responsibility when it comes the economy and people look up to the government for answers. They could be making a little bit more of an effort to have company’s lower prices on their goods and create more jobs within their industry. I feel like in the future this would make a lot more sense than what is going on now with the unemployment rates.
ReplyDeleteWell it is good that the Govt is bailling out big economic "super powers", such as national banks and GM. However it is not the Govt that has made the unemployment rate rise, it is the smaller businsses that have to make big cuts to stay alive. The Govt does not see state wide or regional businesses as vitail to boost economic recover. In doing so, these componies ether do a mass lay-off or go under completle, witch in turn stock brokers who invested in stock of these componies ether to sell for way lower than they paid or lose everthing thus futher depleating the economy. To put into simplier terms, it is like if u kept getting small cuts on your hand, pretty soon you have lost a few fingers then a your hand. Then you have the international effect, like when GM cut out Pontiac. Pontaic had most of there cars made in plants across Canada, now several thounsand workers have no jobs.
ReplyDeleteThe already high and still rising unemployment rates should be a major concern to our government. The government plays a huge role in everything, especially jobs. They should focus more on helping the common people get jobs, rather than keep bailing out huge companies. The American people are losing faith in our government system because they don't answer to issues like unemployment as much as they should. Our government has no problem spending millions of dollars on wars, but when a tenth of our country has no income, they can't seem to invest as much. Our government's priorities are mixed up a lot of the time. I think they should be investing more time and money into things, like unemployment. I'm not saying that the government isn't trying to help this situation. But, we appoint these people to help and lead our country in the best way possible. If they don't start focusing on more of what the citizens want and need, people will start turning their backs to our government. The unemployment rates are also not entirely the government's fault. Some people are just lazy and need to go out and look for jobs. Either way, it will take much longer than any of us want to have this problem fixed.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion the government does play a major role in our economic situation. They are trying to do way too much at one time and I think it’s really just making things worse. The whole bailout situation for GM was really just a big waste of money because it wasn’t used properly. Although this is true, I don’t think it is solely the governments fault for thing such as unemployment, bailouts and taxes. I think the people play a big role in it as well. If no one has faith that the economy will get better, then ultimately, it wont. People just expect the government to fix everything and it’ll all be better but really, I don’t think the government can do a lot about that. If people want the economy to get better, all they need to do is invest the money that they have and just hope everything will get better. You can’t just expect the government to take full responsibility of our nations problems. We the people need to be doing our part to help and revive our economy. I believe that faith is really the only answer in solving our nations situation. The government is going their best to pick us up again, but we can’t just rely on them to do it all.
ReplyDeleteWith the economic crisis on our hands it seems that the government decided they were just going to stick their hands in and stir everything up, doing whatever they could to help like bailouts of big corporations and stimulus plans like home buyer tax credits. But the unemployment rate continues to decline and there is no real progress. So why is the government continuing with these ineffective plans? In my opinion, they should stop focusing on bailing out the big companies and look for plans that will benefit the normal working man. Plans to stimulate the housing market and job markets would be a more prudent option.
ReplyDeleteThere’s a general lack in support for the government from the US citizens at the moment and I think that restoring confidence would come naturally with more stimulus plans to help the common man. In the past, the United States citizens have relied heavily on the government for support, so now they are looking to these people for help once again. They are seeing no real change though, and even a decline in the situation, which in turn causes this general lack of support. It goes without saying that the government needs to reform their approach to handling these difficult economic times.
In my opinion I think that the Government is doing the right thing, just the priorities are not in the right order. People should not be putting full blame on everything that goes wrong in the Governments hands. The Government really should be working on the unemployment rates first, verses the war. If people are not getting an income in the households, its then another issue to supply them with a house & food. If they focus more on the job unemployment and more people get an income they can focus on other things such as the war that they put lots of money into. If they split the money multiple ways the problems will soon be solved. The Government is at the top of everyone, everyone and every business looks up to them for answers to their questions and solutions to their problems. I think the Government is doing a good job, they just need to thing more of long term and future things that can go wrong with what they are doing rather than focusing on what is happening right now current day. Things in the government change all the time & so do things in peoples lives and the Government can't change something within a days notice, it takes a little while so they need to focus on future issues as well. Along with the unemployment, people that have no jobs should be going out everyday looking and searching online for open jobs, or possible openings for jobs. The Government can't tell some lazy poor person to get up & go look for a job, it is that persons responsibility to go do that for themselves and whomever else they are taking care of. People need some sort of motivation and responsibility the Government can not be holding all of that for everyone people need to step in at some point and try to help & make a change, or else nothing will get accomplished. If we have hope and faith in the Government something good will happen and things can turn out like they used to be when the economy was good that just won't happen in a days worth of time. The Government is trying hard and without people's help on trying to find jobs or other sorts of things, the Government will never be as good as it used to be.
ReplyDeleteThe government is not totally at fault for the state of the economy. The government needs the trust of the American citizens in order for its efforts to improve the economy to be fully effective. American people are the most important part of the economy and when citizens believe the government’s plans will fail, they avoid spending money and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy. If people trusting the government and believed the economy was going to improve, the unemployment rate would decrease. However, the burden of fixing the economy does not only fall on citizens. But it is best for the government to avoid directly intervening in the American economy and allowing it to function naturally. Bailouts conflict with economic beliefs that, in part, put the U.S.A. among the most powerful nations in the world. The government still must make good decisions and win the support of the American people. They must consider the consequences of any decision they make and always do what is best for the country, the economy and the American people.
ReplyDeleteThe steps the government has taken to boost the economy and the unemployment rate have only put a dent in the United States overall problem. The bailout of the private companies, such as banks and GM, has only done a little to fix the economy. It does not do as much as for the majority of the people; it helps only a small percentage. The government should be doing more to lower the unemployment rate. They need to find a way to create more jobs for the unemployed. Right now the people have little faith in the government because the government seems to just put Band-Aids on America’s problems instead of fixing them. People are fed up with having to pay high taxes that are supposed to help rebuild the economy and then not seeing any results. People want to see their government doing more for them and less for themselves. The United States government is completely corrupt and it is very upset to the nation’s people. The economy seriously need some work, but for any work to get done the government needs to step up; they need to do things for the economy that will actually help and they need to make the people believe in them again. The government can do a lot more then what they are doing now.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I feel that the government isn’t doing too much with the bailouts of banks and companies like General Motors, but I feel that in some aspects they are going a little bit overboard. A good example of this form of “overboard” would be the homebuyer tax credit issue. In the “The Street – We Need Another Tax Credit” article, they talk about how the government will potentially add another homebuyer tax credit. Granted, people may be low on money, but by the government giving away free “coupons” so-to-speak, it’s only lessening the amount of money coming into the economy that could help to bring the rest of the US out of troubles. Also, honestly, I feel that if you’re low on money and you need tax credits, you should not be out buying a home anyway. As far as the bailouts go, I feel that the government should provide more of these. By bailing companies out of debt and making sure that they survive the economic struggles so that we don’t go into a depression, the companies can hire more employees. As a result, they can ultimately help people to not have financial issues and therefore, these homebuyer tax credits wouldn’t need to even be in the picture at all.
ReplyDeleteWith the unemployment rate as low as it is the public probably feels that the government should be doing more to dig us out of this economic hole. Although the government has really tried to get the unemployed jobs and they have bailed out several industries which saves more people from losing jobs. Based on historic records there really isn't much that the government has to work off of in terms of recovery from economic depressions besides the fact that a world war created a ton of jobs for the public and eventually got the U.S. back on track. But in all honesty it has been a while since there has been a major country wide depression so should anyone really be surprised? But is there anything different that the U.S. can do to get us out of this hole? I believe the should continue trying different methods to get the economy back on track but the economy will stay this way until something drastic occurs.
ReplyDeleteI do beleve that the government is mostly at fault here, because they are worrying to much on bailing out large companies instead of helping the US citizens find jobs. Of course the poeople would think the goernment is at fault because they are not seeing any improvment within the ecomomy, they are just seeing short term plans that will not help in the economy long run. The people are tired of waiting on the govenment to fix the economic problems, when it obviously isnt working, as Marianna said above, people are beginning to lose faith. The government need to start looking ahead and seeing what the people want, the US citizens voted the government into power hoping they would have the peoples best intrest in mind, but they clearly dont and that needs to change, quicker rather than later. So yes, people are loosing faith in the government, understandably, they should be and could be doing a lot more than what is being done now.
ReplyDeleteIt definitely is the government’s responsibility to intervene in the economic crisis and find ways to stimulate the economy. I however disagree with the people that expect the government to fix everything without cooperation from businesses and the citizens. Although it is easy to point the finger at the government for the economic crisis, people need to stop complaining about the problem and take action themselves. Those people who have lost faith in the government/economy are partly to blame for the way this crisis has snowballed to the point that it has reached. How can Americans expect a better economy when they aren’t investing any money? We need to have more faith in our country, and be consumers. I think that the government brought this mistrust/loss of faith upon themselves in many ways, one of the major ways being the bail out of major industries. They sounded like a good idea at first, but they were not handled in the right way. The government should have set guidelines for how that money was spent. The nation hoped to see positive results from these bail outs like an increase in jobs, but all that we saw were negative results. These negative results I’m referring to are the countless stories of big companies using the bail out money for bonus checks for their executives. I think that we might recover faster if the government focuses more on helping the common working man, and if people have more faith in the government.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government should be trying to do more than then just the bailouts of private industries and home buyer tax credits. Homebuyer tax credits for people who are low on money only lessens the amount of cash flow in the economy and, although the bail outs did save some people from losing jobs, they should focus on the more important facts. But people are to be blame for this crash in the economy, people are afraid of spending money now and are saving their salaries in belief that the economy will crash. If everyone would put their trust back into the government and spend their money then the cash flow will begin to circulate again and bring us out of this state of depression we are in. Also if the government would create more jobs for the unemployed then that would lower the unemployment rate from where it stands now at 9.5% and that would bring the economy up. With more jobs people have more money, which they can buy more things. And including the fact that the last depression we had, we got out of it from a major war that created a lot of jobs for the unemployed, and got the U.S. back on track, but there isn’t anything drastic enough to pull us out of this depression fast enough, so it will stay like this for awhile.
ReplyDeleteI think that the American people expect a lot of things from the government. They especially expect the government to control and regulate the economy, whether it is taxes or issues like unemployment. Personally, I think the government is taking too much on its plate and also spending too much time on certain problems. For example, why is the government spending millions and millions of dollars on huge company bailouts instead of focusing on the average American citizen, their needs and almost doubled unemployment rate? I understand they are trying to fix as many problems as possible, in the shortest amount of time, but to the average person, it seems like our progress is extremely minimal. Because Americans aren’t seeing a huge amount of progress, they are losing trust and faith in the government, and may even feel like their tax money is going to waste. By saying this, I feel like while the government is mostly to blame, it is not fair to Americans to think they can just sit back and be lazy and still get a job in such hard economic times. The relationship between the American people and government needs to be healthy enough to the point where it can be a give and take relationship until the economy can get stable. Only time will tell if we can maintain a healthy balance in the government as well as the economy.
ReplyDeleteI give a great deal of respect and support to the government. I think that people look anywhere they can to place blame for everything that goes wrong in their lives and in our country, and the government is the easiest target. I may not know all the ins and outs of government or government officials, but I do know how much they have to take on. With the economy in the terrible state that it is in today, the government has numerous things they are trying to change and improve. The only problem with this, however, is that the American people expect everything they want to be done, done and in a timely fashion. No matter what the government does, there are always people who are going to be dissatisfied. People want more jobs, so the government tries to bailout large companies to try to re-create the lost jobs from these companies, however people accuse the government on wasting money on the bailout plans. They expect the government to just snap their fingers and put everything that is broken back into place. It is just unrealistic. I truly think the government is doing its best for Americans. The fact is, that they are not perfect. If the average American person could be more successful in government matters, then we would not need a set government to lead our country. I wish people would get off Obama’s back and just let him continue to do his best. Comparing him to other presidents isn’t even logical considering most other presidents didn’t take office in such an economic mess.
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ReplyDeleteI believe that government is not doing nearly enough to help the economy and I think now is the perfect time for government to step in because of the climate crisis and the need for a more energy efficient and independent. So if I were Barrack Obama I would issue an executive order demanding that all government buildings be powered by renewable resources like wind turbines and solar power. This creates demand. Demand for wind turbine and solar energy. To build and maintain these new facilities power companies need to hire more people specifically skilled workers like electricians and engineers. Also trucks need to carry supplies, steel factories need to press out more frames glass and plastic needs to be manufactured somewhere for the solar panels. Also this will greatly reduce our fossil fuel emissions making coal and other “dirty” fossil fuels obsolete. So not only will this order help the environment it will create jobs and put money in people’s pockets that they will probably spend and spending stimulates the economy. I believe that the bail out was good. Actually I think it wasn’t good enough. I believe we should have gave them more money and added new rules and regulations with it. For example we could have said no more sub-prime loans and ban credit default swaps. Those two things did most of the damage that made our economy crash.
ReplyDeleteThe US government is focusing too much on the bigger, more established businesses, when the government could be spending a little more time on the average, littler businesses. If they do this then the US economy can begin to start moving forward, just like we always have done. The government is not the only one to blame for this crisis; the banks are also the ones who are just as much part of the cause of this economical drought. The banks need to keep the value of the dolor up, not decreasing it by just taking everyone’s money to benefit themselves. The people do not know what a true depression is like, by most of them not living through the Great Depression, only reading about it. Some might think that the economy is not that bad, but they are comparing this economy to the Great Depression, when they should not be living in the past, and opening their eyes to what is right there in front of them. When this happens people tend to look towards the housing market, because people are losing their homes due to foreclosures. This leaves one family homeless, and another in a nice home, with around halve the price it is worth. The people should help out each other so everyone can have a place to live, and also have money to help support their family’s in a time of need. With this said I believe the government is doing too much, with just lending out money and people are losing money instead of gaining it.
ReplyDeleteIn my opinion I think that the economy is becoming worse. People are going to be relying on government even more now. The government should be creating even more jobs to help stimulate the economy and lower the national unemployment rate. Many people have distrust in their government. They have distrust because they aren’t getting help or receiving very little help. The government isn’t doing much besides bailing out banks and major corporations like GMC. The government is spending too much time and money on bailouts. The government should be more focused on the average person and not spending millions were it is less necessary. The government is trying to fix the economy quick but people aren’t noticing or experiencing any change. If they have it’s been the least amount of progress. Because of this people are losing faith in the government. They should be helping the common worker instead of big business companies. Most people don’t have the money to go out buying houses so they aren’t going to be getting tax credits. The credits are a good idea for people who aren’t in debt that can afford a new home but most people simply can’t afford to be spending that kind of money.
ReplyDeleteAfter looking into it, I actually think that government is doing the best they can to help the economy. Not only do they provide food stamps to help the hungry, but your able to go to the unemployment agency to receive unemployment payments which typically last for 26 weeks. As for trying to save the automobile companies I think that cash for clunkers was a great way to help save them from bankruptcy and now owning majority of GM. Another success in my eyes is the tax credits. Sales for the housing market finally went up and it benefited both the buyers and sellers because people were willing to buy, giving the home builders a chance to make money. I think the main reason were in debt is because people aren’t willing to spend money, which isn’t the governments fault. Unfortunately, in order for the economy to pick back up you need both buyers and sellers because without one the other doesn’t function. I don’t think it’s the governments fault and I do believe they’re under a lot of stress to try and save the unemployment rate. They’re doing what they can right now but the government alone won’t be able to save the economy and unemployment rate.
ReplyDeleteThe government is designed to protect the people. Now, I'm a capitalist and I believe that the government should leave the citizens of America alone to their own economic dealings but only to a certain extent. Like I said the government is designed to PROTECT, so it should intervene in a situation such as our economic decline today. During the great depression President Hoover had a "hands off" approach towards the economy and it only lead america into a deeper depression. Roosevelt was elected in 1932, however, and his first course of action was to help fix the economic crisis. He implemented many packages to help america such as jobs to stimulate the economy. He also implemented long term solutions such as the the Social Security Act which gave americans social security and an option for if they lost their job or became disabled. Without FDR america would have slipped into an even worse depression than it was already in. Without his permanent solutions america would be in an even worse recession today. So, based on the idea that we do not want to repeat the mistakes of Hoover our government should use all tools in its power to help stabilize our economy.
ReplyDeleteIt has become well announced that the state of our economy during this recession is the worst it has been in 70 years since the Great Depression. While the unemployment rates continue to rise well above normal, many citizens begin to wonder when their suffrage will finally come to a halt. The Government works to better the lives of everyone around them, but repaving roads and expanding highways that did not need to be fixed in the first place is just wasting Americans tax dollars. Citizens want answers, but are only getting budget cuts, reduced funding, and the downsizing of businesses, which only increases the unemployment rate for the country. I don’t think that the government is doing enough to help improve the economy. It seems as if they are taking every step around the actual solution, hoping to stall everyone’s thoughts and actions while they figure out what to do. As the government continues to run out of money, homebuyer’s taxes rise and become the final solution toward gaining more money. However, raising taxes just means that each individual needs to provide more money to the government, leaving less money for food and necessities. At a 9.5% unemployment rate, the government should be providing more jobs for the unemployed, which will essentially lead to a rise in purchases, as well as the economy.
ReplyDeleteI believe that the government can't be fully blamed for such high unemployment rates. While it is easy to point a finger at the government when the economy is doing poorly, we must also look at individual businesses and their choices. What we can blame on the government is where they put their money. When watching the new recently, we hear about the government bailing out big businesses, such as the banks and the auto industry. The government is putting so much money into these corporations and yet the unemployment rate is still rising. The government put billions of dollars into the Big Three auto companies, and within months Chrysler and GM filed for bankruptcy. I believe that there is only so much we can expect the government to do, and not everything they do will cause immediate satisfaction. Overall, I think the governemt is doing as much as it can and at some point we will need to wait and see if it has a long term effect.
ReplyDeleteI think that we as Americans expect the government to be able to fix things such as the ever-increasing unemployment rate and the economic decline. I think that government focuses too much on the big businesses and bailing them out that they forget they are supposed to be helping the average American citizen as well. If government stopped spending all their money on bails outs for companies like GM and tried to use that towards helping the whole nation rather than just the big businesses, I think that there would be some improvement to the economy. While I do not think the government is focusing enough on the average citizen, I also think that the American people are expecting too much from the government as well. They want immediate change and improvement and with the way the economy is at this point, that is impossible. We have to have some patience. We are expecting radical change and a way to bring the American people together like FDR did during the Great Depression, but times are different; now as are the circumstances. Sometimes you have to just wait it out and hope things will fix themselves, and sometimes that takes way longer than many would like. I think that the government should be reevaluating the way it spends money to assist the American people, but I also believe that Americans need to be patient because something like this cannot be fixed overnight.
ReplyDeleteI think that the government is doing what they need to do, but they just need to find a better way to do it. For example, they are trying to create jobs by planning to build more houses. With all of the laid off construction workers, this would be an ideal solution if the housing was okay. Unfortunately, the housing market has been horrible lately. Over the past years house values are actually decreasing. So when the government creates these jobs, all they're doing is creating an economic loophole because the workers can't be paid. It's obvious that the government is trying to come up with a solution to unemployment, but they need to come up with a better plan. Othwerwise, nothing is going to be solved and 9.6% of people will continue to be jobless.
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