The “Road” to Prosperity

Dear President Obama,

            There is no denying the fact that our economy is at its worst since the Great Depression. Jobs are disappearing, our citizens are losing their houses due to foreclosure , the national debt is increasing by the day, and our infrastructure is crumbling around us.  You, Mr. President, need to begin your agenda of change by finding solutions to the problems that threaten the foundation of our country. The dilemmas of our disintegrating infrastructure and spiraling national debt affects every single person in the United States from gas prices to the inflation of the dollar to the cost of groceries. By addressing our infrastructure and debt issues first, you will create a strong base and adequate threshold on which the United States can rebuild upon.

With utilities such as roads, bridges, sewers, and wastewater facilities supplying millions of Americans with a means of transportation and security, it is vital that a resolution must be produced. “Americans depend on this infrastructure to go about their daily lives in safety” (Favro 2007). These problems “could reach crisis proportions in the next ten years if steps are not taken to attract more private capital to the sector or overhaul the nation’s antiquated regional infrastructure planning process” (Rosendorf 2008). Actions must be taken soon if we want to see America restored to the status of its glory days (De Duve 2008).

Even though many experts  predict a major crisis in our infrastructure in the future, multiple infrastructure problems are rising throughout the country right now; from potholes to roads that are literally falling apart under us. In my home state of California last year, “the Army Corps of Engineers declared 122 levees in the country ‘at risk of failure.’ Of these, 19 were on California's Sacramento River and a failure in these levees could compromise freshwater supplies for two-thirds of the state's population” (Sofge 2008). Also, who could forget the damage and hardship caused by the levees failing in New Orleans during the tragic Hurricane Katrina. Instances and threats such as these are prime examples of why the infrastructure of the United States needs to be restored in order to keep the rest of the country primarily stable. You yourself stated a few weeks ago that in order “to build an economy that can lead this future, we will begin to rebuild America. We’ll put people to work repairing crumbling roads, bridges and schools by eliminating the backlog of well-planned, worthy and needed infrastructure projects” (Obama 2009). Even more alarming than the Army Corps of Engineers findings, “the American Society of Civil Engineers released a Report Card for America's Infrastructure, assigning letter grades for the nation's public infrastructure and environment. The ASCE gave the U.S. an average grade of ‘D’” (Turner 1999). President Obama, this is going to be one of the greatest undertakings of your presidency; to bring back our country as we once knew it, and make the United States of America an “A” once again.

Beneath the issues of our deteriorating infrastructure, foreclosures, and unemployment lies an even more looming crisis to our country. The severe national debt that we have come to posses over recent years threatens our very existence. The reality is that nothing in life is free and in order to be able to afford and fix the current issues within this economic crisis we need to be able to pay for them. “Throwing good money after bad is precisely what the people in Washington D.C. have been doing for years, and it is the next generation that pays the price” (Galakoutis 2009). President Obama, our national debt has been escalating due to pork spending and negligence by the government as you addressed when you said “our problems are rooted in past mistakes” (Obama 2009). It will be the responsibility of you and your team to find a way to solve this quandary and take the weight of Washington’s mistakes off of the shoulders of the American people.

Experts that have studied our existing debt situation proved that “with no improvement in the current account deficit, the external debt of the United States will rise from 24% of total U.S. gross domestic product at the end of 2003 to 64% by 2014” (Bivens 2004). Facts such as these are frightening but should be utilized as a motivational tool to guide us back to where we used to be and steer us away from a path of desperation and destruction. With the present economic crisis already tearing the country apart, letting these dilemmas worsen would only result in our country heading towards even greater turmoil. “The bad economy coupled with the shortage of affordable housing in Los Angeles creates scenes with 240 people getting applications for a lottery for the 58 new housing units and the rest leaving empty-handed, some in tears” (Garrison 2009). Mr. President, with examples such as this one showing how people have to enter a raffle in order to afford somewhere to live only proves how much work needs to be done. It is quite apparent that our previous leaders refused to address our current situation before it had to come to this, but unfortunately it has. Fixing our national debt must be your main concern if you want the United States to regain its strength and respect throughout the world and more importantly throughout the homes of the American people. “Much will depend on how large the shock to the financial system proves to be and, to a lesser extent, on the efficacy of the subsequent policy response” (Reinhart, Rogoff 2008).

President Obama, I dearly hope that you follow through on your campaign promise in which you stated that you “have no doubt that years from now, we will look back on 2009 as one of those years that marked another new and hopeful beginning for the United States of America” (Obama 2009). Both the American people and I have our their trust in your hands to begin repairing our homeland. Regardless of the “broken” state we are currently in, intelligence, hard work, and perseverance can solve any issues that stand in the way of our prosperity. Hopefully you will begin mending the foundation of our country by diminishing our debt and rebuilding our infrastructure and see the importance of my reasoning. President Obama, I have faith that you will be able to guide our beautiful country in its path towards restoration and once again make it shine as brightly as it did before; we’re just going to have to do a lot of polishing.

 

Sincerely,

         Courtney Hobbs

 

Bivens, J. (2004, December). Debt and the dollar: The United States damages future living standards by borrowing itself into a deceptively deep hole. Economic Policy Institute. Retrieved January 15 2009, from http://www.epi.org/ publications/entry/Issuebrief203/.

 

De Duve, C. (2008). What's ahead: “figures don't lie”. In M. Wallace (Ed.),The Way We Will Be 50 Years From Today: 60 of the World’s Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half-Century. Waco, TX: Thomas Nelson.

 

Favro, T. (2007, October). Little action as some 160,000 US bridges are considered to be structurally deficient. City Mayors Development. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.citymayors.com/

development/us-infrastructure.html.

 

Galakoutis, C. (2009, January). U.S. Debt Crisis 2009, What must our creditors be thinking. The Market Oracle. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from  http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article8146.html.

 

Garrison, J. (2009, January). Hundreds wait for limited affordable housing units. Los Angeles Times. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from California/Local Section, Midwest edition. 

 

Obama, B. (2009, January). Obama's remarks on stimulating the U.S. economy. National Public Radio. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=99121721.

 

Reinhart, C., Rogoff, K. (2008, January). Is the 2007 U.S. sub-prime financial crisis so different? an international historian comparison. Social Science Research Network. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from  http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=1088675.

 

Rosendorf, L. (2008, April). Mind the gap: US infrastructure problems edge towards crisis proportions, according to Ernst & Young and Urban Land Institute. Thomson Reuters. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.reuters.com/article/pressRelease/

idUS203168+29-Apr-2008+PRN20080429.

 

Sofge, E. (2008, May). The 10 pieces of U.S. infrastructure we must fix now. Popular Mechanics. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/transportation/

4257814.html?series=53.

 

Turner, D. (1999, May). America's crumbling infrastructure. USA Today. Retrieved January 15, 2009, from http://findarticles.com/p/articles/

mi_m1272/is_2648_127/ai_54680883.