After reading the article Welcome to Joe Biden’s Low Growth Economy written by Michael N. Peterson, I think Biden's choices in office have been a prime example of a man that romanticizes political agendas. For starters, Biden named a bill the Inflation Reduction Act, but the ironic thing about it is that it won't help fix inflation(Peterson, M., 2022). Peterson elaborates that the bill is expected to decrease GDP and job opportunities (Peterson, M., 2022). Biden also has been fighting to cancel school debt. Despite that lifting debt on students may help students, it gives them less of a reason to work. And in other words, this decision will decrease employment rates for younger people because there is less of an incentive to be in the labor force (Peterson, M., 2022).
The two examples I mentioned above show that productivity within the U.S. economy is progressively slowing due to the decisions made during this time of economic distress. The most crippling aspect of these two decisions is their effect on the labor market(Peterson, M., 2022). Human capital is an essential variable of productivity. Meaning Biden's choices are stumping the growth of the economy. If we want prosperity within a country, we must encourage productivity, not decrease it. This could mean making policies that encourage citizens to work. Or maybe it could also mean creating institutions that make working seem like an investment opportunity rather than a chore. Or rather if institutions had more benefits or incentives to work, more people may join the workforce.
Source
Peterson, M. (2022). Welcome to Joe Biden's low growth economy. AIER. Retrieved September 8, 2022, from https://www.aier.org/article/welcome-to-joe-bidens-low-growth-economy/
In the world today, we have so many reasons not to work, we are offered unemployment, and now we are offering students debt forgiveness. While this seems like a good idea, and as a college student myself, I would love to have my college debt go away. Although this doesn't incentivize me to work. Thankfully it looks like employers are planning on hiring more. According to Kevin Grey at NACE, "Employers plan to hire 26.6% more new graduates from the Class of 2022." While this is great, there is still no governmental incentive to work. It will come down to whether college students want to work or not.
Reference:
Grey, K. (n.d.). Employer hiring plans jump for class of 2022 graduates. Retrieved September 27, 2022, from https://www.naceweb.org/job-market/trends-and-predictions/employer-hiring-plans-jump-for-class-of-2022-graduates/
Great information school debt and the loan forgiveness, has been at the forefront of Biden's election. If your entire loan balance won’t be erased – which is likely for some 23 million borrowers – President Biden has extended the payment pause through the end of the year.
But come Jan. 1, 2023, interest will begin accruing again, and regular payments will resume. He has indicated the pause will not be extended again.
https://thehill.com/homenews/nexstar_media_wire/3641851-student-loan-forgiveness-dont-miss-these-four-dates/
Ashley,
Great post! I would specifically like to comment on your point regarding less of an incentive to work. I think that by constantly giving handouts, the government is expecting less and less of its citizens. President John F. Kennedy once said, "Ask not what your country can do for you, but ask what you can do for your country." Today, those wise words would fall on deaf ears. We need to get our country back to a place of expecting more out of citizens, otherwise, we will lose what it means to be Americans. Equal responsibility from all, equal opportunity for all.
Hi Ashley, thank you for the points that you brought up. I like that you said Biden “romanticizes political agendas.” I had not that of it before, but it makes much sense. I agree that there should be more encouragement to work. I find that more and more people are becoming lazy about working and are not putting in as much effort as they are capable of. Honestly, the encouragement to work less is stopping us from the possibility of reaching our full potential. When we are productive in a healthy way, it benefits us personally and society as a whole. Overall, I think your post has some great ideas.
Hi Ashley,
I am glad you shared your thoughts! The two examples you provided--the inflation reduction act and student loan forgiveness-- are fantastic examples of our slowing economy. The Student loan forgiveness plan gives poor incentives to students. Many, who might be able to handle their tuition cost, will be incentivized to take out student loans upon hearing that there will be 10 thousand dollars of forgiveness. Therefore, Biden's forgiveness plan could artificially increase the total amount of student loan debt. Moreover, to your point on the effects of these initiatives on the labor market, forgiving student debt does not give a good message to individuals. When someone takes on a debt, they should fully understand that they will need to work to pay that debt off. This is more of an underlying and unspoken effect of loan forgiveness broadly dispersed. However, it could further the disposition of a generation that feels entitled to more while doing less, which could negatively affect productivity.
Ashley, I appreciate the thoughts that you shared in your blog post for this week. You make a very interesting point regarding the potential effects of paying off portions of college of debt for thousands upon thousands of Americans. As you mention, this could only encourage more people to drop their jobs which is already a major issue. According to unemployment data from U.S. Department of Labor, "In August, the unemployment rate rose by 0.2 percentage point to 3.7 percent, and the number of unemployed persons increased by 344,000 to 6.0 million" (The Employment Situation - August 2022, 2022, para. 3). A portion of this could certainly be attributed to student loan forgiveness. But it also points to a more concerning trend in the overall labor market where people are choosing not to work and many of them are living off of government money. Causing many companies to struggle with finding employees. And is another way that culture is rebelling against God. Who created us to work, and not just work, but work hard and with excellence.
References:
The Employment Situation - August 2022 (2022). Bureau of Labor Statistics. Retrieved from https://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf
It is true that the Inflation Reduction Act will do all but lower inflation. It is the hope of the current administration that by pumping more money into the economy now, in 10 or 20 years the inflation will be reduced. One aspect of the bill that I don't understand is the financial aid to the Internal Revenue Service to increase manning and resources. Another is the financial aid given to the President himself to enact more "clean" energy initiatives. Both of these aspects of the bill, and more, I'm sure, give more power to the central government to determine what it sees fit is best for the American people. It seems to be a slippery slope.