Problems Facing the Nation

I have decided to list the problems facing the United States and all of its citizens as we move ahead. Now, I don't think that these problems are insurmountable, but we must begin to face them now or we will eventually see significant consequences. This list is by no means exhaustive, but it should provide everyone with an idea of what we are facing.

Economic Problems:
In the United States more than 12.6 percent of people are in poverty. That means 37 million of people do not make enough to afford many things we take for granted. Poverty is when a single person makes less than $10,500 a year or a two-person household makes $13,500. The numbers go up slightly as you add more people.

Real Median Income (adjusted to today’s dollars) has only risen 10,000 since 1968, which combined with consumer price index figures and tax figures, means that Americans make less today than they made in 1979.
The share of income in this country controlled by the top 5 percent is 22.7 percent. The share of the top 20 percent is more than 50 percent. Every other quintile has seen losses of total shared income. The median (middle class) share of total income has been consistently shrinking since 1986. All quintiles not on top have seen losses of more than .5 percent of shared income in only one year.

15.9 percent of people in this country do not have health insurance. That is 46.6 million people.
The current national debt is 8,849,161,696,027, or more appropriately, 8.84 trillion dollars. By the time you finish reading this sentence , the United States will be further in debt by $250,000. The national debt incurs $27 billion of interest a month, or enough to pay for the Iraq War in 10 months, universal health care in several days or completely fund the No Child Left Behind Act in a week.

Home values, another indicator of economic health, are falling around the nation – which sounds like a good thing. But for the millions of people that bought homes in the last few years, there will be a substantial drop in home value and an increase in subprime loans. Which means that I am glad to live in an apartment.

The United States is losing manufacturing jobs and service jobs to nations with lower wages, lower standards and less government regulation. But now those jobs have spread to occupations such as tutors, computer chip production, article writing and others.

Economic and Political
The last time the United States had a trade surplus with China was in 1984. Every year since then it has increased. Last year it was $232 million. This year – for the first four months – the deficit is already at $76 million, set to surpass last year’s level. China is also set this year to surpass Japan as the largest foreign governmental holder of U.S. Bonds in the world.

Over the past few years, the dollar has continued to fall. In 2002, the U.S. dollar was worth 1.2 Euro. Today, the same dollar is worth .7 Euro. The Canadian dollar is almost equal to the American dollar.
Political:

Congress has shown an inability to pass bipartisan legislation, and every year fewer and fewer of the 11 national spending bills are passed. An inability to pass significant legislation could lead to a political crisis.
The United States faces political pressure to clamp down on global warming, and intense scrutiny from its traditional allies over emissions reductions.

Iraq is a chaotic hotbed of militia activity. An unstable Iraq will not help the situation in the Middle East, yet military experts say that violence there has only increased.

Hamas has fully taken over the Gaza strip and set up its own government. This has split the Palestinian territories in two. Chances for a two-state solution to the middle east problem seems to be non-existent.

Russian Premier Putin has tightened governmental controls over the free press and discontinued regional elections, as well as having used its natural gas and oil exports to cause instability in the Ukraine, Belarus and Poland.

Social
The education system in the United States is rapidly losing ground. In 1972 the average yearly cost of a college education was 2,500 and has since risen to more than 20,000. According to government publications, the United States has the least affordable colleges in all the Western world and Japan.

The United States consistently ranks low for best public schools system. – consistently behind Cyprus.