The Great Depression is without a doubt the worst economic downturn the United States has ever seen. When an American thinks of the Great Depression, we fear it because we know the detrimental effects it had on our motherland. Here's the issue: there's evidence that the United States may be entering a second economic depression.
Stock prices fell 2,000 points last summer, and housing prices fell by 31.8 percent. That's worse than the housing prices during the Great Depression, which fell 24 percent. 14 million people in the U.S. are struggling to find jobs, and another 8.4 million are working part-time because they can't find a full-time job. 2.8 million people have given up altogether. In total, there are over 25 million people in America that need a full-time job but can't find one. On top of all that, the federal government is looking to cut stimulus spending as a result of the debt-ceiling crisis. Additionally, business credit is getting harder and harder to obtain, and banks are hardly willing to lend. And last, but certainly not least, the national debt is still on the rise and it doesn't look like it's coming down.
Whether or not these things guarantee another Depression, there's still cause for concern. People everywhere are worried about inflation, and they have the right to be. How can we claim things are getting better when there's hard evidence that it's getting worse? Wake up, America. You may be reading this thinking, "Why should I care? I'm a college student still relying on my parents; how does this affect me?" Well, I'll tell you how it affects you and why you should care.
We may be in college now, but in a matter of just a few years, we'll have just graduated and be in the process of looking for a job. As an English major, I'm concerned about the possibility of not finding a secure job that pays well right off the bat, and I know I'm not the only one. In today's economy, unemployment rates refuse to budge. A lot of businesses don't make enough money to hire more employees, and there are more people looking for jobs than there are jobs available.
We all have less than four years until we're thrown into the real world and planning to buy a house, investing our money and living completely independently. All of this is reason enough to educate yourself about what's going on with the government and the current state of the economy. With the presidential election approaching, it's more important than ever to be informed about our country. The national debt rising will have a huge impact on our futures if we don't take action now. After all, our generation is the future (and their future is soon) and we're about to take over the middle-aged population. Our parents will retire, and suddenly it'll be up to us to make our own decisions in real world. Without a basic knowledge of what's going on in the world, we'll all be lost. So please, please, please for the sake of our country and our futures, let's all learn about the issues and vote for the candidate we feel will lead our country in the best direction.
