Where is the US economy going?

BeeAmma · Feb 24, 2010

Wanted to start a thread to discuss views on the direction of the US economy.

With 10% unemployment and trillions of dollars of budget deficit and 2 wars that do not show any signs of winding down after almost a decade, how is the US going to sustain itself?

Manufacturing jobs are all but gone out of the US.
There is illegal immigration from south of the border.

Also there are the unsustainable medicare and social security commitments to upcoming generations of baby boomers.

advitha · Feb 26, 2010

Inflation :rant

-Uma

tashidelek2002 · Feb 26, 2010

Yes, the roads of USA are paved with gold......

Tara09 · Mar 1, 2010

I think the education system especially school education needs to be improved and more challenged. This "all are winners, in the end" attitude is only encouraging laid back attitude in youngsters.
School education should be more global.....meaning, more emphasis on raising the knowledge about the world rather than limiting it to US.
Students in US have far less knowledge about the world as compared to their Indian counterparts.

The whole medical system is a big scam. I watched Dr.Sanjay Gupta's report on AC360 last week and he showed so clearly how patients end up paying huge bills even for a simple surgery. All because of the huge racket created by big corporations in medical field manufacturing instruments backed by politicians. The doctors/surgeons end up with very less infact when compared to the fat cats. This needs to be addressed by the present government.

Also, there needs to be public transportation which will reduce dependency on middle east oil and hence ease current tensions. Why do we need these huge cars and each one in the family having their own car???
The whole lifestyle sucks!!

BeeAmma · Mar 1, 2010

Tara,

I am not sure how the US schools (K-12) match up to schools elsewhere.

US has the worlds best educational institutions for higher eduction, however undergrad fees are prohibitive to study any course. I know of people that graduate with huge student loans. I know a girl that is going to spend $60,000 to get an undergrad degree in childhood eduction. Given the education budget cuts I am not sure how easy it will be to get a job. How many will want to go for higher studies when they have so much of their undergrad loans to pay off? Medical school, law school and business schools are very expensive.
They do have need based scholarships but most Indians are middle class so they will not qualify for those.

There are a lot of intelligent, hard working and decent everyday Americans that have been cheated out of employment and into debt thanks to their corporations and lobbyists.

Thanks to madison avenue they are cheated into exorbitant lifestyles that are unsustainable. If Sarah jessica parker ohs and ahs about her manolos, all the sheep will make that their next acquisition goal.