Problems Facing the Nation Essay -- US Government

The nation is facing one of its most distressed times. This country has fallen from its once great position, undermined by corporate greed, and military threats. Several factors have helped to contribute to this decline from the growing deficit, to our dependency on oil and the war on terrorism. Our economy took a tumble in December 2007 our gross domestic product also continued to decrease. However, congress did not recognize the signs of the recession until December 2008 (Isidore). During this time mass layoffs and numerous business closures occurred. The economy has been a large issue even before Obama came into office. In addition, the housing market has taken a hit. Several families have been forced out of their homes when they became unable to make their mortgage payments. Seven and a half million mortgages were past due or being foreclosed on (Felton 35). When you are without a home it is much more difficult to escape poverty you are unable to apply for a job since you do not have a permanent address thus only pushing the nation farther into despair. The nation’s deficit has reached 13 trillion dollars more than it has ever reached before and is still anticipated to increase. The Obama administration has put a spending freeze on to help counter act the expected increase of spending (Stein). The freeze makes congress allocate their money for new project by cutting other services. The effect of the freeze is expected to save the nation $250 billion dollars. The economy has been recently scared by various bad reports of uprisings in Greece instability in Europe and increased declines in retail sales. The Obama administration has to find a way to stabilize the economy in order for economic growth to begin. Although it’s n... ...ear in Breifing." Time 4 January 2010: 35. Gillis, Justin and Henry Fountain. "New Estimates Double Rate of Oil Flowing Into Gulf." 10 June 2010. New York times. 12 June 2010 . Gross, Daniel. "Going To Extremes." Newsweek 14 June 2010: 19. Isidore, Chris. "It's official: Recession since Dec. '07." 1 December 2008. CNN Money. 12 June 2010 . Stein, Sam. "Obama To Propose Major Spending Freeze Saving $250 Billion." Huffington Post 25 January 2010. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, comp. "Labor Force Statistics from the Current Population Survey." Chart. Databases, Tables & Calculators by Subject. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, n.d. Web. 11 June 2010. .