American Truth

Now we all know that the United States has a huge deficit and that the Government is having trouble decreasing it. In fact the Government continues to increase the debt.

Successive Governments have blamed China or Europe, this war or that war or this or that, anything except accepting any of the responsibility.

They now tell us that it will get better when Europe picks itself up or China complies with the US’s wishes. What they don’t tell us is that Europe are struggling to pick up because the US is not helping by taking austerity measures of their own, or that for China to comply with the US wishes would be like agreeing to commit economic suicide.

Yet still, with the deficit growing, the politicians will try to convince Americans that they have nothing to worry about and that Americans are still better off than they were in the past and that things will continue to improve in the future.

Figures that the Government uses to convince people that their lives are getting better are Gross Domestic Product or GDP. The GDP is the value of what a country makes, divided by the population. Now GDP may be good for measuring the wealth of a country compared to another country but is no good at measuring a countries progress in one year compared to another. I say this because although each person may seem to get more, it does not take into account inflation as it is measured in US Dollars and makes no allowance for the value or buying power of that dollar.

Here then are some facts that the Government, although they have access to them, choose not to tell the American people.

Auto sales in the United States peaked in 1985 at 11 million, then since 1999 have steadily declined and in 2009 sales were just 5.4 million.

This has resulted in the average age of registered cars in the US now being 10 years. In the late 1960’s the average age was 5.1 years and in 1990 it was 6.5 years.

If the American people are now better off, why is it harder to find good work, a good house or a new car?

Young people have it much different today than their parents had it 40 years ago. Today by the time a college student graduates, on average they will have $24,000 of debt.

Can the older generation help? Unlikely considering that debt levels for households headed by people over 62 have been rising for the last two decades. The average mortgage size for this group, even allowing for inflation, has tripled since 1985 and is now on average $71,000. According to USA, Today the average American over 65 has a credit card debt of $10,000, which is up 26% from 2005.

In the last 40 years the United States has gone from being the biggest lender, to the biggest borrower in the world.

Still though: its politics as usual.

It is not the politicians that need to wake up and smell the coffee, it is the American people. The politicians, on seeking office, all say that they recognize that changes are needed and promise to be the one to bring them. Yet they all, on being elected, revert to political business as usual. After all, they and their wealthy backers still have new cars and houses. Their credit cards are convenient, especially when the bills are sent to a company’s offices to be paid.

It is time that the politicians admitted to the American people that the system is broken. The United States is on the decline and it is the fault of the politicians.

The political parties may take different routes but currently their destinations are the same: more wealth for the wealthy.

They will fly the flag, sing the anthem, and speak of security and wars, building on patriotism to distract from the political mugging that is taking place.

It is time for the politicians to come together, cut the strings of their puppeteers, and work together to stop the decline and steadily bring back the United States to its greatness.

A country’s greatness should be measured by the quality of life of all its citizens, not the size of the wallets of its elite. Otherwise it is just a dictatorship in disguise.