Tonight, on SBS, I watched a report on the US Economy and the history of policy decisions to this point. From the Reagan years through to the hope of the Obama days today. I am totally bewildered at the amount of money involved and astonished at the current rhetoric and culture of poor fiscal discipline and the huge greed of Americans and their parliamentarians. Still a culture of 'spend now, borrow now (but not off the citizens via Tax but in liabilities to other governments, namely China), deal with later' is standard. Starve the Bear, as it is called is still a key budgetary strategy. This is worrying when the debt graphs, spending graphs and unemployment graphs tend upward in the same fashion as Al Gore's climate change graphs bahave.
Not only does the US Economy seem to be in a seriously diar state, it is heading south, uncontrollably. Together with huge spending aimed at propping up spending towards rescuing a faltering GDP, the US is spending huge amounts on health care promises it can't keep.
The reason for huge spending on health care is mainly due to an aging population and existing policy aimed at supporting retirees with their health and supplementing the drugs they require to live longer. The reason retirees seem to be such a political target is that they are the majority age group who vote voluntarily. So the huge hemorrhaging of spending is politically driven, not rational policy, to keep the voters, those in the upper age bracket, happy.
No mention was made about other solutions to fix this slew in political focus away from an aging population toward a more all-encompassing focus. By this I would suggest a complete shift from voluntary voting, to compulsory voting would create a paradigm shift in the US political system. On face value this is a huge shift, but on a deeper level having each person accountable to their decision would be a huge step forward for the American people and its culture.
I notice that the Australian Government announced in its Federal Budget that it plans to increase the age of retirement over the coming years by 6 months each year. If this is included in the US Federal budget, changes to the projections may result in drastic changes to the forecast cost of future health care.
I acknowledge that this is a far more complex issue that outlined however there is no doubt that each US citizen will need to be accountable and more aware of their country's financial issues into the future.