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Debt Crisis In America

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According to the Collins dictionary debt crisis means a situation in which the large debts owed by a number of individuals, organizations or countries threaten to overwhelm them, so that they become unable to service their debts which, in turn, may threaten the stability of larger structures. Many Americans have debt due to school loans, investments, businesses, and credit cards. As reported by the national debt clock the United States’ Federal Government owes over $18 trillion dollars. This shows that America has a significant amount of debt to be paid back. Because America has not addressed the debt issue, it has created a major debt crisis. Due to the state of America’s debt crisis, U.S. citizens are affected by paying higher taxes, and …show more content…

“As you can see, the U.S. has seen a rise in income inequality, as measured by the Gini Coefficient, and ranks as one of the most unequal developed economies. What separates the U.S., with its high levels of inequality, from countries like Germany and Japan, which are more egalitarian? Well, one thing is a national sales tax, otherwise known as a value added tax. This is a bit counterintuitive since sales taxes are thought to hit the less affluent harder than income taxes. That’s because sales tax rates are the same regardless of your income, and low-income earners spend more of their total income than the wealthy on sales taxable purchases.” Help shorten …show more content…

If we use a sales tax to bolster the social safety net — programs like Medicare, Social Security, food stamps, and Medicaid — then even a regressive tax could work to reduce income inequality. Stronger social security will help the baby boomer generation, which has lived through an era in which private companies have abandoned guaranteed pension schemes yet members of this generation have not saved for retirement by other means. Other programs will help those on the lower end of the income spectrum, who have been left behind amid a rapid transformation of the U.S. economy and the disappearance of medium-skill, middle-class jobs. In fact, such measures may be necessary to maintain social cohesion and an open economy, Avi-Yonah

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