Farewell Argumentative Essay
The U.S. national debt is currently $18 trillion dollars and it is rising fast. The national debt today is the highest compared to the past U.S. national debt. In George Washington’s Farewell Address, it declared to avoid going into debt and if the nation end up in a debt that it should pay off the debt so it doesn’t burden the future generation. Like all the other things in his Farewell Address, the nation didn’t listen to him. The ideal goal right now is to stop the debt from increasing anymore because it is impossible to stop the debt from increasing and paying off all the debt in this generation. Since the very beginning, the nation has started out with a debt from the American Revolution. Only once in the entire U.S. history the debt was at zero and it was during President Andrew Jackson’s administration in the 1830s. President Jackson was able to achieve this because he was a supporter
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of reducing federal government, so he set a budget like the other, but a minimal budget and stayed within the budget. In this process, he received the nickname King Andrew the First. However, it didn’t last long and the debt kept growing and reached $18 trillion dollars today. The world has changed a lot since the 1830s, the methods that were used during that period can no longer be the solution in 2015, and there are just too many factors that should be considered. The size and the population of the country have changed dramatically, foreign relationships are far more complicated and broader, and people’s expectation of the government is different.
The three largest budget items include Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and defense (1). It is hard to reduce any of them without protests by the people, but it is very difficult to stop the debt from increasing without cutting some of the spending on these three items. However, the only realistic choice is to cut only the defense spending among the three because the other two are directly related to life. Some might make the argument that defense is also directly related to life, but it is less than compared to the others. Also, setting a reasonable budget will help a lot in stopping the national debt from growing. Another way to help the national debt is to cut or reduce foreign aid. Currently, the U.S.
military spending is accountable for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending, which is $598.5 billion dollars. The second largest federal discretionary spending is the government, which is only 6% of the spending with $72.9 billion dollars (2). To add on, discretionary spending represents less than one-third of the total federal budget (5). Obviously, with all this spending, the U.S. is at the top of Global Firepower (GFP) list with Russia on the second place (3). There is a total of 4,999 military bases around the world, including U.S. and the number of people working in each military base, that is a lot of money spent on military only (4). So to reduce some spending on defense, the government should reduce the number of military bases, which will result in less personal and less money spend. However, this is difficult to do because many people believe and has been the guarding country for other countries for decades now. Also, many people are employed under the defense department, so if the spending is cut the unemployment rate will
increase. To stop the debt from increase anymore than it is, it is most important to set a reasonable budget and sticking to it. After 2001, the U.S. has been running on deficit, which is added on to the national debt (6). The 2015 U.S. federal budget $3.9 trillion dollars and it can be guaranteed that the government is going to go into deficit this year by look at the previous years of records (2). The government’s role is not to make revenue, but it is not to go into deficit either. When the president and his advisors are creating the federal budget, they should prioritize instead of spending money on everything, however everyone knows that this will never happen. This solution is unrealistic because the increasing national debt is not an immediate threat to the current government and they have other important matter to consider like being reelected. Many believe significant amount of U.S. federal budget, but actually it is less than one percent. For this year, 35.4 billion dollars of the U.S. federal budget is going to be spent on foreign aid, pretty large for less than one percent (7). In comparison, the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget request for 38.2 billion dollars for the Department of Homeland Security (8). People might think less than one percent of the federal budget for foreign aid is no big deal, but to know that only 2.8 billion dollars more are spend on Homeland Security is little bit disturbing. There are other entities that are out there to help other countries in need like the United Nations, the American Red Cross, and more. Also, many Americans and others around the world give donations to foreign aid. There is a very little chance that the funding for foreign aid is going to decrease because it is already less than one percent of the U.S. federal budget and the government can’t just eliminate it because there are people who think that it is this nation’s job to help other countries in need.
of reducing federal government, so he set a budget like the other, but a minimal budget and stayed within the budget. In this process, he received the nickname King Andrew the First. However, it didn’t last long and the debt kept growing and reached $18 trillion dollars today. The world has changed a lot since the 1830s, the methods that were used during that period can no longer be the solution in 2015, and there are just too many factors that should be considered. The size and the population of the country have changed dramatically, foreign relationships are far more complicated and broader, and people’s expectation of the government is different.
The three largest budget items include Medicare/Medicaid, Social Security, and defense (1). It is hard to reduce any of them without protests by the people, but it is very difficult to stop the debt from increasing without cutting some of the spending on these three items. However, the only realistic choice is to cut only the defense spending among the three because the other two are directly related to life. Some might make the argument that defense is also directly related to life, but it is less than compared to the others. Also, setting a reasonable budget will help a lot in stopping the national debt from growing. Another way to help the national debt is to cut or reduce foreign aid. Currently, the U.S.
military spending is accountable for 54 percent of all federal discretionary spending, which is $598.5 billion dollars. The second largest federal discretionary spending is the government, which is only 6% of the spending with $72.9 billion dollars (2). To add on, discretionary spending represents less than one-third of the total federal budget (5). Obviously, with all this spending, the U.S. is at the top of Global Firepower (GFP) list with Russia on the second place (3). There is a total of 4,999 military bases around the world, including U.S. and the number of people working in each military base, that is a lot of money spent on military only (4). So to reduce some spending on defense, the government should reduce the number of military bases, which will result in less personal and less money spend. However, this is difficult to do because many people believe and has been the guarding country for other countries for decades now. Also, many people are employed under the defense department, so if the spending is cut the unemployment rate will
increase. To stop the debt from increase anymore than it is, it is most important to set a reasonable budget and sticking to it. After 2001, the U.S. has been running on deficit, which is added on to the national debt (6). The 2015 U.S. federal budget $3.9 trillion dollars and it can be guaranteed that the government is going to go into deficit this year by look at the previous years of records (2). The government’s role is not to make revenue, but it is not to go into deficit either. When the president and his advisors are creating the federal budget, they should prioritize instead of spending money on everything, however everyone knows that this will never happen. This solution is unrealistic because the increasing national debt is not an immediate threat to the current government and they have other important matter to consider like being reelected. Many believe significant amount of U.S. federal budget, but actually it is less than one percent. For this year, 35.4 billion dollars of the U.S. federal budget is going to be spent on foreign aid, pretty large for less than one percent (7). In comparison, the President’s Fiscal Year 2015 Budget request for 38.2 billion dollars for the Department of Homeland Security (8). People might think less than one percent of the federal budget for foreign aid is no big deal, but to know that only 2.8 billion dollars more are spend on Homeland Security is little bit disturbing. There are other entities that are out there to help other countries in need like the United Nations, the American Red Cross, and more. Also, many Americans and others around the world give donations to foreign aid. There is a very little chance that the funding for foreign aid is going to decrease because it is already less than one percent of the U.S. federal budget and the government can’t just eliminate it because there are people who think that it is this nation’s job to help other countries in need.