My Fellow (North) Americans

Good Morning DINKS. This post is about the point of view from an outsider regarding the current Democratic administration and its struggles with congress to make changes.  This post is not about President Obama, and it’s not about Democrats, or the Republican Party; this post is about America.

We have been hearing so much bad news about the current state of America that I think it’s time for some good news. According to the New York Times, US exports skyrocketed in 2010 and the United States of America became the 2^nd largest exporter in the world, after China.  Last year US exports rose 21% and totalled $1.28 trillion.  I think we can all agree that this is good news.

Now for the not so good news. We know that America has been devastated by some terrible natural disasters.  We know that rich Americans get tax breaks while lower and middle class Americans are being taxed more, even though they cannot afford it.  We also know that the current unemployment rate is high, and we know that people have lost their homes.  As a country we have to move forward and find a solution so that we can rebuild America and fix our internal problems.

The American Upper, Middle, and Lower Classes

What does this mean? It means that the gap between the upper class and the lower class is getting bigger.  Depending on where you sit on the tax scale hopefully we can all agree that the current Administration came into office with the task of trying to pick up the pieces of an economic mess that was left behind from a previous Administration.  Our current Administration is trying their best to rebuild a strong American economy, but they definitely have their share of obstacles. In his speech at the end of June the President called out the upper class citizens saying that Hedge Fund Managers and CEOs don’t need tax breaks, they need to pay more taxes because they can afford it.

If I was President everyone would be taxed at a standard (enter your own number) tax rate. People who make $500,000 a year would pay a higher dollar amount (but not percentage rate) of tax because 25% (as an example) of $500,000 is a higher dollar amount than 25% of $75,000. We are all Americans and we should all be treated equally, therefore we should all contribute equally (proportionate to our income) to the American economy.

What is the Problem in America?

If the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, what is happening to the middle class? Our current Administration was voted in by the middle and lower classes and they are trying to help their people; but they are being blocked by an Opposition majority in Congress.

(I hope) that we can all agree that when the current Administration was elected in 2008 they entered into an office with its share of problems; No one is denying that.  The problem is that the Administration is working hard to try and fix the current economic problems in America, but they do not have full cooperation. As the President said in his speech at the end of June, don’t blame the Administration for lack of change and progress, blame Congress.  All I have to say is that our current Administration was voted in by the people and they will be here until at least 2012; so please, let the President do his job!

The current issue at hand is the Debt Discussion that must reach a mutual agreement by the August 2^nd deadline.  I personally don’t believe that Congress will allow America to default on its debts because the implications of defaulting on American debts are far worse than those implications of Republicans in Congress cooperating with the Democratic administration.

The Next Step for America

In order to rebuild and reinforce the American economy America needs consumer confidence.  America needs confidence from the American consumers!  This doesn’t necessarily mean having full confidence in the current Administration. We don’t have to be confident in Obama, and we don’t have to have confidence in the Democratic Party, but we have to have confidence in America as a country.

Photo by Evil Tom Thai

Kristina Tahnyak

Tahnya is a Certified Financial Planner and former Investment Advisor turned marketing and communications professional She holds a degree from Concordia University, is debt free and currently works in the field of digital marketing.