Government's Involvement in the American Economy
Government's Involvement in the American Economy
In the article “The Economy Needs More Big Government – Now” it is in the opinion of the author that the US Government step up and be more aggressive in their stance in stabilizing the economy and beefing up our health system. I agree with the article in the sense that before when the economy was stronger, the country basically ran itself. Now that the country has been crippled, I feel that the government should step up and act like a parent coming to rescue her injured child. The government has the means to revitalize the economy and to be the strong force that pushes along the recovery effort. By slashing interest rates and encouraging investors and restoring consumer confidence the economy can turn around. However, this is a bandaid that can only be applied by the US government. If ever before, now is the time that the economy does in fact need “more big government.”
In “Economic Trends” the first article discussed the weakening value of the US dollar across the globe. The downtrend on the value of the dollar will in turn weaken the overall global economy by dragging down consumption and investment overseas and potentially damage financial systems in other countries which rely on the US dollar as “safe” currency. Big exporters such as Japan and Germany will potentially find it hard to sell to American businesses and consumers since the falling dollar inevitably means higher prices for imports. Also, with the economy being so strong in the 1990s, many foreign companies issued debt in dollars. If the dollar falls, those bonds would all become much less valuable to the investors holding them and in turn much more of a problem for the global financial system.
A second article featured in “Economic Trends” concerned increased domestic natural gas production. The argument is that the US needs to rely less on overseas suppliers of natural gas and rely more heavily on domestic produced gas. Reports show that tax credits in the 1990s increased natural gas production and it is in the opinion of many that tax credit needs to be issued again today in 2001. It is necessary to do such considering the position that the country is in economically and in regards to our crippled relationship with foreign nations which function...