1. CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 1
Current Economic Problems: National Debt, Unemployment, and Healthcare
April D. Metcalf
Bryant & Stratton College
ECON220: Macroeconomics
Mopelola Fatile
December 13, 2013

2. CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 2
Current Economic Problems: National Debt, Unemployment, and Healthcare
Our country is currently facing some major problems. The United States national debt is
at an all-time high of $17 trillion, unemployment rates keep going up, and the cost of healthcare
is astronomical but, what can be done about any of it? Is it even possible to for a country to pay
off such a debt, and if so, how will the money be earned when there aren’t enough jobs available
for Americans? Do we receive the quality of healthcare that we are required to pay so much for?
This paper summarizes these three economic problems, along with possible solutions to them.
National Debt
In 1980, America was the largest creditor nation in all of recorded history. Just over three
short decades later, America now stands as the greatest debtor nation in all of world history
(Robinson, 2013, ¶ 1). The current national debt for the United States has reached an all-time
high of $17 trillion. How did our country get so deep in debt?
Jerry Robinson is the author of a book entitled “Bankruptcy of Our Nation”, in which he
explains about our national debt and how it has grown to be $17 trillion. The following is an
excerpt from Robinson’s book that explains how the debt has occurred, “meteoric rise in
America’s national debt has been largely due to something economists call deficit spending. Put
simply, deficit spending is an economic term for spending more than you earn. A government
that relies upon deficit spending to grow its economy is like a man who pays for his groceries
and his rent with a credit card. While this “buy now-pay later” attitude may work for a while,
eventually the bill comes due. And when it does, it is often painful”, (¶ 2).
Apparently the national debt began accruing quickly in 1980 when Ronald Reagan was
president. Another excerpt from Robinson’s book states that, “from 1980-1986, the national debt

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did in just six short years under President Ronald Reagan what it had taken nearly 200 years to
do: it doubled to $2 trillion. When Reagan’s eight years of massive deficit spending were finally
over, the national debt had soared a whopping 184%. Reagan would later describe the massive
debt increase as the “greatest disappointment” of his presidency. But unfortunately for America,
the deficit spending under Reagan was just a warm-up for the coming debt marathon that lay
ahead. Today, some 30+ years since the beginning of the “Reagan Revolution”, the U.S. national
debt has risen by over 1600%”, (¶ 5).
The national debt didn’t appear to increase greatly throughout President Bill Clinton’s
term but, Robinson, and several other sources state that, “throughout the two terms that George
W. Bush’s was President, the total national debt increased by an astounding 86%, which equaled
an average of $662 billion each year that he was in office. Then, in 2009, a new promise of
“change” was in the air. Barack Obama rode this sweeping public demand for “change” right
into the White House. Little did the public realize that regardless of which political party is in the
White House, the results will remain to be the same”, (¶ 10).
When President Barack Obama’s term began, our debt was at $10.9 trillion and he also
proclaimed the very same thing that President Bush did, which was that he refused to leave our
children with a debt they cannot repay and claimed that responsibility had to be taken
immediately in order to get our spending under control…. since then, our national debt has
apparently spun way out of control by reaching a total of $17 trillion.
The most logical way that this debt can be paid will be to reduce spending and
unfortunately raise taxes. Another great source is by making donations to pay down the national

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debt at the site Treasury.gov. Here's the link
https://www.pay.gov/paygov/forms/formInstance.html?agencyFormId=23779454
“Anyone who still believes the U.S. economy is going to recover on its own is kidding
themselves, this problem is not going to fix itself,” as stated by John Olen in an article he wrote
entitled “The U.S. Economy Will Not Recover by Itself,” (Olen, 2013, ¶ 1).
Unemployment
Regardless of how the government decides to obtain the money from the U.S. citizens to
pay down the national debt, no money can be collected, nor can any donations be made when the
citizens have no money due to unemployment. The government has done away with nearly all of
the businesses that employed the majority of the middle class families. Olen’s article also says
that, “it is now approaching five years since the collapse of U.S. financial markets and millions
of Americans are still looking for work. Millions more go to work every day at jobs that don’t
pay the bills. Corporate profits have skyrocketed and the stock market has rebounded, but these
successes have not translated into widespread prosperity. The benefits are only accruing to those
at the top — the 1% — while leaving everyone else to fight over the few opportunities that are
available”, (Olen, 2013, ¶ 1).
The unemployment rate has been one of the most talked about problems that the U.S. has
been experiencing for quite a while now and is mentioned everyday on the news and internet
how it is affecting the economy of this nation. Rich Miller and Steve Matthews have an
interesting article on the internet, that they wrote together, entitled, “The U.S. Economic
Recovery: Long, Slow, but Still Going”, that touches on several different topics that have been
affected by unemployment. For example, “there is a lot to complain about when it comes to the

5. CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 5
U.S. recovery. Unemployment isn’t falling fast enough or far enough. Manufacturing is weak.
Inflation is slowing, not quickening. Household debt is shrinking, not expanding. The labor
market is slack, not tight. Pent-up demand bodes well for the longevity of the recovery.
Confronted with high unemployment and a depressed housing market, Americans have put off
forming families, buying homes, and acquiring cars”, (Miller & Matthews, 2013, ¶ 1 & 3).
John Olen also wrote that, ‘It is now approaching five years since the collapse of U.S.
financial markets and millions of Americans are still looking for work. Millions more go to work
every day at jobs that don’t pay the bills. Corporate profits have skyrocketed and the stock
market has rebounded, but these successes have not translated into widespread prosperity. The
benefits are only accruing to those at the top — the 1% — while leaving everyone else to fight
over the few opportunities that are available (Olen, 2013, ¶ 1).
What can be done to lower the unemployment rate? American workers must rely on their
own strength; no one else will save them. We must form new organizations which, unlike the
present labor bureaucracies which plead the case of the employers, will base themselves squarely
on working-class interests. We must build a labor movement that cuts across the divisions of
crafts and contracts, and joins all workers in industrywide units. Labor's unity must be based on
the common problems of all workers- employed or unemployed, skilled or unskilled. Its goal
must be nothing short of a total challenge to the rule of capital and the construction of a new
society (What can be done about unemployment, n.d. ¶ 19).
Healthcare
The, online, International Wellness Directory holds some extremely interesting
information in connection with the etiology of healthcare and everything that is going on with

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healthcare today, within the Healthcare for Dummies article. Please read the following excerpt
from the article, “When this country was founded, medical freedom was assumed. Early
Americans ran away from intolerance hoping to find religious and political freedom. Medical
freedom was simply assumed. It was assumed that the people had the right to choose whatever
form of health care they preferred. Dr. Benjamin Rush proposed that these rights should be
specifically laid out in our constitution: The Constitution of this Republic should make special
provision for medical freedom. To restrict the art of healing to one class will constitute the
Bastille of medical science. All such laws are un-American and despotic. These freedoms did not
make it into the Constitution or our Bill of Rights. How could our forefathers have known that
Dr. Rush’s words ringing through the convention halls would prophesize the exact state of affairs
over two hundred years later? Unless we put medical freedom into the constitution the time will
come when medicine will organize into an undercover dictatorship and force people who wish
doctors and treatment of their own choice to submit to only what the dictating outfit offers
(Healthcare for Dummies, n.d. ¶ 10).
The government will require most Americans to have health insurance by 2014. The
government has enacted this provision as a way to get healthy people who don't feel the need to
pay for coverage to buy insurance. That way, the healthy people can help fund the cost of people
who require more medical care (¶ .
The percentage of Americans mentioning healthcare as the country's most important
problem increased to 19% in November from 12% in October, as technical issues with the
federal health insurance website continue and the White House faces criticism over people being
dropped from their health plans. Healthcare now ranks second behind dissatisfaction with
government as the top problem, but ahead of the economy in general, unemployment, and the

7. CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 7
Federal debt (Brown, 2013, ¶ 1). Dysfunctional government has replaced the economy and
unemployment as Americans' top concerns, and mentions of healthcare have increased in
November to a three-year high. While fewer mentions of the economy and unemployment may
suggest that Americans have grown more satisfied with each, it is more likely that the recent
spate of problems in Washington has focused Americans' concerns on government leadership
and healthcare, eclipsing their concern about routine economic issues. It is possible that the spike
in Americans' worries about these two issues will prove temporary, and that mentions of the
economy and unemployment will increase in coming months (¶ 5).
Ninety-five percent of our health care dollars go to urgent care with five percent going to
prevention. Were this turned around, the overall price of health care would drop at least fifty
percent, period (Healthcare for Dummies, n.d. ¶ 6).
In 2010, the President and Congress signed Obamacare into law. Why? They wanted to
make sure all Americans were able to get health insurance. This is important because going to
the doctor or the hospital has now become very expensive. Just one visit to the emergency room
costs $1,265 on average. If someone got cancer, it would cost $7,000, or even as high as
$30,000. In fact, health care costs are the #1 cause of bankruptcy in this country (Amadeo, 2013,
¶ 3).
There's anywhere from 32 - 50 million people who don't have health insurance. If
something happens, and they have to go to the hospital, they often just don't pay the bill, and the
hospital has to cover it. To cover the costs, hospitals raise the prices of health care for everyone.
(Source: EBRI, Health Facts). The official name for Obamacare is the Patient Protection and
Affordable Care Act of 2010. It's so complicated that it is being phased in over five years (¶ 7).

8. CURRENT ECONOMIC PROBLEMS 8
References
Amadeo, K. (2013, November 6). Obamacare Explained. Retrieved from
http://useconomy.about.com/od/healthcarereform/a/Obamacare-Explained.htm
Brown, A. (2013, November 14). More Americans Mention Healthcare as Top Problem in U.S.
Retrieved from http://www.gallup.com/poll/165848/americans-mention-healthcare-top-
problem.aspx
Healthcare for Dummies. (n.d.). International Wellness Directory. Retrieved from
http://www.mnwelldir.org/docs/history/health_care.htm
Miller, R. & Matthews, S. (2013, June 13). The U.S. Economic Recovery: Long, Slow, but Still
Going. Retrieved from http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-06-13/the-u-dot-s-
dot-economic-recovery-long-slow-but-still-going
Obama Health Care Summary – Costs, Coverage, And More. (n.d.). ObamaCare Summary: A
Summary of Obama's Health Care Reform. Retrieved from
http://obamacarefacts.com/obamahealthcare-summary.php
Olen, J. (2013, July 5). The U.S. Economy Will Not Recover By Itself. Retrieved from
http://economyincrisis.org/content/the-u-s-economy-will-not-recover-by-itself
Robinson, J. (2013, October 18). U.S. National Debt Hits $17 Trillion: How Did We Get Here.
Retrieved from http://ftmdaily.com/daily-briefing/how-did-we-get-here/
What can be done about unemployment. (Placeholder1) (n.d.) A socialist labor party Statement.
Retrieved from http://www.deleonism.org/text/wcbd.htm