America has become a country defined by its debt. In its early days of establishment, an era where the pursuit of democracy was widely regarded as a fruitless endeavor, Henry Clay praised the fledgling nation as a land of “self-made men who have acquired whatever wealth they possess by patient and diligent labor.” This idea of work as means of self-fulfillment retained its relevance through the years of American development and ultimately became the enduring principle of the American Dream. The U.S. prided itself as a nation where a man could rise from destitute origins to a position of relevance and prosperity by the sweat of his own brow. However, in this postindustrial age, America is less represented by the musings of our Founders and more by the slander of our critics. Comedian George Carlin said it best when he called modern day Americans “people who buy things they don’t need with money they don’t have” in reference to the average 2001 American household owing nearly $7,000 in credit-card debt. In the 1970s, when the U.S. set its hungry eyes and insatiable mouths toward foreign markets, we have abandoned our virtues of productivity and adopted a less than admirable identity. We are a nation of consumers. How did America amass such a monstrous 17 trillion dollar debt? How could a nation with a self-sustaining economy of blue collar employees plummet so rapidly to a state of excess borrowing when the celebrated Progressive Era was still a recent memory? With China in possession of trillions worth of United States Treasury notes, it is easy to blame the Asian markets that entice the American lust for inexpensive goods, but is that ravenous appetite not the more root cause? Our government borrowed from China in order to satisfy the people’s desire for a seemingly endless supply of cheap commercial goods, but then we made a subtler and even more deadly mistake. Once we had turned away our own manufacturing, we perilously allowed these habits of borrowing and spending to ferment and integrate themselves into American life. Toyota burst onto the scene in the mid-seventies selling cars for less than half the American price. Before long, China was selling goods for the U.S. in astronomic quantities: coal, pork, shoes, metal parts for construction, air conditioners and finally, computers and mobile phones. America continued taking out loans to buy those goods until our debt grew to an insurmountable size. We have grown accustomed to the low prices that Asian markets provided and with a failing service based economy, the task of revitalizing our industries is a daunting challenge.
Americans stopped supporting its own domestic enterprise, well aware that their dollars were promoting the Communist government and child labor policies they so adamantly opposed. We are the people that cry out against the mistreatment of others all while swiping our Visa cards to cement their suffering. We are the people that support our country’s unemployment by continuously investing in our opposition, further ensuring that the American economy will remain stagnant and crippled. The first step to solving our country’s money crisis is to take responsibility for it.