With all the promises from presidential candidates flying around, I need to ask the question, “Where is the money going to come from?” Across the board, from republicans to democrats, the issue of monetary policy is not showing up enough. On the Democratic side, both candidates are proposing some form of universal healthcare for our nation. That is fine and good, and I would love to see it happen, but who will bear the burden? The money needs to come from somewhere. We do not live in a storybook world where doctors and nurses work for free. If this were the case, then there would be no healthcare problem at all. The reality is that for universal healthcare to work, we either need to borrow millions of dollars from other nations, or increase federal taxes dramatically. The same young yuppies all gung-ho for universal healthcare might start singing a different tune when they realize that they are the ones who are going to have to pay for it. It will not be the lower income families bearing the burden of universal healthcare; it will be those with the money.
Now, I am a compassionate person who loves to help those in need – but just how much will it take? Right now I do not have more than a couple hundred dollars to my name – is that enough? Surely, it is not. If you eliminate the need to pursue your own healthcare, then what is left? Television? Cell phones? What will drive us all to become the people we need to be to dictate our own lives? I suppose it is all the same really – we either provide for our families or the government takes from us to provide for us. But I would rather do it myself.
Though higher taxes should be the only answer to our universal healthcare problem, it will not be. The attempt will be made to “borrow” money from countries such as China and Saudi Arabia to get the program off the ground. We cannot do this. We are so in debt to other countries that it is borderline insanity. I would like to know where all of OUR money is. We have to make something. Anything? Hardly. That is the problem.
Countries like communist China are rolling in the dough. We owe them so much money that a war could easily be started on the principle. In the words of Ron Paul, “They could bring us to our knees.” With the dollar falling hard in the international market, it is hard to justify anymore overspending – which brings us to the so-called Republicans.
Republicans, hah! John McCain and Mike Huckabee are laughable when it comes to the economy. Not only are they completely in the dark about the subject, they plan on continuing strong efforts in the Middle East. The money is gone. We do not have a cent. When you hear of the deficit, that is the truth. We all run around in our merry lives believing the United States is still on track to become “the best country in the world,” but we are broke. The “war” in Iraq is costing a few million dollars a day, and we simply do not have it. Our nation is borrowing that money from other countries.
The Republicans of old believed in a sound currency, fiscal responsibility, and so on. Not anymore. Our “neo-con” conservatives are grasping for straws on what to stand for. You cannot be a conservative and agree with spending massive amounts of money on a war with no way to fund it. That is not conservatism because you are not conserving anything. I suppose they would make the case that freedom is being conserved, but I disagree. Anyway, our dollar is falling through the floor. The Euro tops it, and the Canadian dollar now tops it. That is not good.
The Federal Reserve is a big part of our problem. This private institution of banking companies constantly regulates our money to make it seem as though the money has value. They print money without it being backed by anything, and they set the interest rates. These are quick fixes that only lessen the dollar’s strength. A truly strong currency would be backed by something tangible and would be controlled by the people, not the government. If Republicans want the war in Iraq to continue, then they better have an answer to our economic problems. If we were to take all those billions of dollars from the war in Iraq and push them into our economy and infrastructure, that would come close to solving the problem. As it stands now, we are just digging a deeper hole in every direction we look. It makes me sick to think about the state of our nation. Our government is legally bankrupt; they should go ahead and file themselves.
Kevin Conner is a third-year student majoring in communications studies with a minor in creative writing. He can be reached at KC651660@wcupa.edu.