America’s Top Issues

As a society, we face many problems. Of course there’s overlap but for simplicity’s sake we can classify America’s biggest issues as issues dealing with the government, business, environment, or at the societal level. However you classify them what’s important is that there are issues that we’re trying to deal with as a country.

Here, we will take a look at some of the biggest issues facing the country today and try to identify some of the causes of these problems.

There are many problems in society that need to be fixed. Some American citizens might say that it’s impossible to fix them, but that’s not true. There are solutions for each of these most important problems, you just have to find them. And of course a dedication and collaboration we have yet to see at a societal level.

Here’s a look at some of the biggest issues facing America.

The Federal Budget

The federal budget is a jumbled disaster. The government is spending our tax dollars irresponsibly. Tax income makes it rise, and expenditures make it fall. Federal spending is like a bloated elephant with an insatiable appetite that always seems to find more food.

There are only so many resources to go around, and eventually, you have to start cutting back on other things to fund the elephant’s never-ending appetite. This is why the deficit is always increasing. Congress and the president spend most of their time arguing about the many, many parameters that affect taxes at the edges, but despite their best efforts, it makes little difference.

These all point to perhaps the most important problem we’re facing, the one that blocks progress across the board.

There are myriad reasons that the federal budget is as bloated as it is, but non-discretionary spending (which means the money has to be paid no matter the state of the budget) represents the bulk of it.

Entitlement Spending

The United States has a serious entitlement spending problem. Entitlement spending, also known as “non-discretionary spending,”  includes Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid. These programs are important, but they are also very expensive. In 2018, entitlement spending accounted for nearly 60 percent of all federal spending.

This is unsustainable. If nothing is done to rein in entitlement spending, it is estimated that the national debt will reach unsustainable levels and lead to widespread chaos.

Social Security

Social Security is one of the most important programs in the United States. It provides income for retirees, people with disabilities, and their families. The program is solvent, but its long-term outlook is bleak. The number of Americans retiring and claiming benefits is increasing, while the number of workers paying into the system is decreasing. Some studies have concluded that these demographic shifts, coupled with rising costs, mean that the fund will be insolvent by 2034.

According to the 2021 annual report on the Social Security trust funds, the social security (officially The Old-Age, Survivors, and Disability Insurance – OASDI) Trust Fund reserves will be depleted in 2033.

“Federal spending for Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid for people age 65 or older would account for about half of all federal noninterest spending by 2051, rising from about one-third in 2021.”

Congressional Budget Office

Unless changes to social security are made, benefits will have to be drastically cut. According to B. Rose Huber, Princeton School of Public and International Affairs, the only way to fix the social security solvency problem is to “raise taxes or cut benefits.”

The Health Care System

Because the Federal Government is obligated to pay its Medicare and Medicaid bills, they are ripe for looting by anyone looking to line their pockets at our expense. And because there is so little accountability in government, and politicians don’t have any incentive to reduce profits for their biggest donors, the cost of health care, and by extension Medicare and Medicaid, just keep increasing.

Not only is it a major source of increasing taxes, but people across the country are suffering.  The health care system is a mess. Costs are rising, and millions are uninsured. The Affordable Care Act (AKA Obamacare) was designed to address these problems. However, costs continue to rise, the law has been controversial, and its future is uncertain.

Health Care Affordability

Our health care system is the most expensive in the world but one with worse results than other developed countries. The high cost of health care means that many people cannot get the care they need. This results in poorer health for everyone, and it makes it more difficult for people to get the care they need when they need it.

We need to promote overall healthy living so that people can stay healthy and avoid the need for expensive health care. We need to find ways to make health care more affordable so that everyone can get the care they need and deserve.

The High Cost of Drugs

Prescription drugs are a necessity for many Americans, but the cost of these drugs is rising. This is due in part to the monopoly power that drug companies have over the market. The high cost of drugs means that many people cannot get the medications they need. This results in poorer health for everyone. Even though much of the research that goes into drug development comes from public sources, drug companies get tokeep the pantents, and the profits!

Even though Trump and Biden ran on letting Medicare negotiate the price of drugs, surprise surprise nothing has happened. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, proponents of Medicare negotianion “believe that giving the HHS Secretary the authority to negotiate drug prices would provide the leverage needed to lower drug costs, particularly for high-priced drugs for which there are no competitors, where private plans may be less able to negotiate lower prices.”

It seems like on the campaign trail most politicians are all for this, but when it comes time to pass the law, they are nowhere to be found(because our leaders are worthless). The continued inaction is a surefire sign that it will negatively affect the bottom line of the biggest companies in health care.

Opaque Costs

The cost of health care is difficult to understand. This is due in part to the way that providers charge for services. Often, providers will use a “fee-for-service” model, which means that they are paid for each service that they provide. This often results in higher costs for patients. It can also lead to waste and abuse, as providers have an incentive to provide more services than necessary. The cost of health care needs to be transparent so that patients can make informed decisions about their care.

For example, according to a Wall Street Journal investigation

A Sutter hospital in Modesto, Calif., revealed rates for one billing code representing complex cardiac procedures in fragile patients that varied from $89,752 to $515,697, depending on the insurance plan.

Without a push for more transparency, the likelihood of the cost of health care coming down is slim.

The insurance industry

The cost of health insurance is rising. Many lack access to it, and for those who have it, costs are too high. This is due in part to the Affordable Care Act, which requires insurers to cover more people. It is also due in part to the fact that the insurance industry is consolidating. This consolidation means that fewer insurers are competing for customers, and this can lead to higher prices.

There is also the question of incentives. Health care providers aren’t rewarded for keeping us healthy, they are rewarded based on the number of procedures they make us take and the number of drugs they have us take.

As ProPublica explains in Why Your Health Insurer Doesn’t Care About Your Big Bills:

insurers don’t have to decrease spending to make money. They just have to accurately predict how much the people they insure will cost. That way they can set premiums to cover those costs — adding about 20 percent for their administration and profit. If they’re right, they make money. If they’re wrong, they lose money. But, they aren’t too worried if they guess wrong. They can usually cover losses by raising rates the following year.

Aligning incentives to eliminate the perverse incentives permeating the health care sector and insurance particularly would go a long way toward lowering the price of health care and in turn decreasing the cost of living for everyone and decreasing government spending.

Problems with the American political system

The majority of citizens agree that the American political system is a mess. It’s defined by gridlock, polarization, the influence of money, and a general lack of trust in government. We’ve lost trust in our leadership. These problems make it difficult for the government to get anything done, and they make it difficult for the American people to trust their government. We focus on distractions instead of technology, research, and data that can make progress.

The problems with the American political system are many, but they can be summarized as follows:

Gridlock

Gridlock in Washington has been a problem for years. It’s gotten worse in recent years, and it shows no signs of getting better. Partisan politics have made it difficult for the government to get anything done. This gridlock has led to a general feeling of frustration among the American people.

The left and right spend all their time telling us how evil the other side is, never stopping for introspection. Neither party’s priorities are anywhere near those of the average American, instead, they both play to their extremes, leaving anyone reasonably screaming into the void.

Elected officials and their lackeys in the media love the gridlock because it means they get to keep things the way they are. The wealthy love things the way they are, and the politicians in their pockets are all too eager to please.

By driving polarization, the elites ensure that gridlock and government inaction rules the day. Unfortunately, unless something major changes we can expect absolutely zero from Washington that will benefit the majority.

The only bipartisan issue in Washington is giving the elites more and more power.

Money in Government

The influence of money on government is a major problem. Businesses, special interests, and lobbyists have too much influence over our elected officials. Nothing happens without a bag of cash attached to it.

Extorting money from the private sector is the one bipartisan issues both Democrats and Republicans rally around.

The only saws that get passed are those that make rich people richer.

In theory, elections are supposed to provide citizens a tool to hold those in power accountable. But the fact that the media has abdicated its duty to inform the electorate, combined with the election system being broken, citizens’ ability to hold those in power accountable is all but non-existent. A functioning government remains a far-off dream.

The Media

Although the media is exacerbating problems throughout the culture, it’s in politics where their impact is most corrosive. The media is more interested in ratings than in informing the public. This has led to a rise in fake news, and extreme division, and it has made it difficult for the American people to trust the media.

The media has divided along political lines, with the “news” unfailingly presented in terms of how the other side is bad.

Journalists and the anchors that play one on TV could care less about the truth or informing viewers. Their primary goal is to tell us what we want to hear (i.e. how evil the other side is) to further divide us. And the secondary goal is to get us riled up and angry so that we stay tuned (and watch more commercials).

The American people are angry, and they have a right to be.

Polarization

In large part because of the media, polarization has become a major problem in America. You can blame the Biden administration and the Democratic Party or Donald Trump and the Republican Party, but the blame lies with both.

This extreme hatred on the ends of the political spectrum makes compromise, at its core the most important aspect of Democracy, all but impossible. And again the elites like the status quo. They want us divided and distracted so that we as a whole can’t demand accountability.

The age-old tactic to divide and concher is alive and well in the digital age.

The government isn’t working. People are more likely to vote for a candidate based on their party and not what they do, and the impact they have. Of course, they don’t do anything because…

Elections and Accountability

The primary process, gerrymandering, and the influence of money results in re-election rates at odds with our collective discontent. 98% of incumbent congressmen who ran for re-election in 2016 won. That’s not a democracy.

The broken election system is one of the primary reasons there’s zero accountability in Washington. Once a politician is elected to federal office, they are pretty much guaranteed to stay there.

There is zero pressure on elected officials to improve the lives of their constituents. I actually believe the bulk of our elected officials are good, decent people who want to do well. But they are blocked by those at the top who have a different agenda.

Those that play ball and follow the party line are rewarded with all-but-guaranteed re-election. Those who cause problems and ruffle feathers are hung out to dry and primaried by deep-pocketed opposition.

There is zero accountability in government and it’s a huge problem for the country.

Climate Change

Climate change is happening all around us, and it is happening faster than we thought it would. The Earth is getting warmer, we’re burning too many fossil fuels, the ice caps are melting, and the sea levels are rising. It affects our weather, our food supply, and our way of life. We have to do something about it, and we have to do it soon.

See Climate Change

Because we don’t trust the media, many, particularly on the right, see the climate change issue as something that is made up to control us. I understand that point of view but to me it’s pretty simple.

If you run a car in a closed garage you die.

Is it really inconceivable that pumping however many tons of CO2, methane, and other poisonous gasses into the atmosphere could have a detrimental impact on the planet? Even if you think it’s unlikely, is it worth the risk? Are you that sure of yourself?

Man-made or not (again I think we had a lot to do with it) global temperatures are rising, extreme weather is becoming more common, and it looks like it’s only getting worse.

The changing climate is a big problem for the environment.

Foreign Policy

Following the withdrawal from Afghanistan, American prestige suffered a devasting blow. The world is becoming more and more destabilized, and that will only worsen as the aging world population puts more and more pressure on the demand for limited resources.

Geopolitical and demographics strategist Peter Zeihan is sounding the alarm:

“Most parts of the world now have far more people aged over 65 than they have children… Population growth has inverted. Birth rates have collapsed and now consumption levels are dropping. … We’ve passed peak consumption and we’re passing peak production all right now. If we fast forward just a couple of years, when we’re on the backside of all this…consumption is done. Investment is done. Capital accruing is done. … And we are at that point in less than a year.”

Peter Zeihan

Some of the foreign policy challenges we’re facing include:

• China and Russia are a constant concern. The war in Ukraine has destabilized the entire world, particularly because of its impact on hydrocarbons and food prices.
• The United Nations has not been able to keep its member states in order.
• International terrorism, not a problem of the past, is still a threat. Al Qaida, ISIS, and other terrorist organizations are still lurking.
• Since Obama, America has withdrawn from its position as the police of the world. Many American citizens applaud that effort, but in an interconnected world, diplomacy is one of our most important concerns.

If we want stability, productive economies, to avoid starvation, and to move toward world peace, diplomacy is the best way to get there.

Race Relations

Although race relations have improved since the civil rights era, they are still a major problem in America. The rise of the Black Lives Matter movement has brought attention to social justice, police brutality, and the unequal treatment of minorities.

You can choose to see it as an economic issue, with unequal access to upward mobility due to financial issues rather than racism, but either way Black and Brown people have a harder time attaining financial security.

Putting aside the causes, the fact is that black and brown Americans are disproportionately at the lower end of the economic spectrum, which makes the pursuit of happiness a much harder endeavor.

Police Brutality

The vast majority of police are decent, hard-working people who care about their community. But there is a problem with police brutality, and it’s important to address it. Police need to be held accountable when they break the law. Both cameras and social media have drawn attention to a problem that minorities have been protesting about for decades.

Many point to a more comprehensive approach to mental health as part of the solution. Better training undoubtedly plays a part.

Gun Violence

Mass shootings are a problem in America, but they are not the only problem. Every day, people are killed by gun violence.

As Everytown writes:

“In the twelve years between 2009 and 2020, 1,363 people were shot and killed in the United States in a mass shooting, and 947 more were shot and wounded. The reach of each mass shooting stretches far beyond those killed and wounded, harming the well-being of survivors, their families, and entire communities.”

And as the botched police response in the Uvalde shooting shows, more guns cannot be the only solution.

Gun violence specifically, and crime and violence generally, are right up there with the biggest problems facing America.

Immigration

America is a nation of immigrants, but the current immigration system is broken. Republicans focus on the border with Mexico, but corporations are more concerned with bringing talented employees (many who studied in the country) from foreign countries to work and contribute taxes here.

We have an aging population as well as tight labor markets, and by encouraging more immigration we can help ensure the productivity of our labor force.

Like most issues that have a big impact, rather than finding common ground, politicians and the media use immigration to divide us. Republicans generally, and Trump in particular, used the specter of an invasion of migrants from South America and terrorist Muslims to whip up partisan rancor rather than concentrate on using immigration to better the country.

And with Democrats doing things like spending up to $2.7 billion in tax dollars to provide health care for illegal aliens, you can’t blame Republicans for objecting.

Legal immigration plays a role in productivity across the economy. From unskilled laborers who do jobs Americans don’t want to do to highly educated engineers, doctors and researchers, we should be doing everything we can to improve the state of immigration policy in the US.

Education

The education system is failing. Students are not being prepared for the real world. College is becoming increasingly unaffordable, and many students are leaving school with a mountain of debt.

It comes down to the fact that we are not preparing our youth for the future. We need to overhaul the education system.

One of the biggest problems with the public education system is that it is funded at the town and city level. That means that students in poorer towns by definition get fewer resources than their contemporaries in more affluent towns. There is also the question of the incentives for good teachers, testing, and much more. There are several issues with the American public education system.

And of course higher education is a mess as well. Insane prices for a degree that doesn’t guarantee much, billions spent on sports and luxury housing while the education is an afterthought. And on the right, there is the perennial worry that universities are a factory for unquestioning, brainless Democrats who want to destroy America.

Economic Problems

The economy is a major issue in the United States. The cost of living is rising, and too many Americans live in poverty.

Inflation threatens to further deteriorate a shrinking middle class, while extractive sectors like finance, insurance, lobbying, the legal profession, and more reward individuals to make life worse for us all.

The economy has been in a recession for several years, and millions of Americans are out of work. The government has been trying to stimulate the economy with tax cuts and other measures, but so far these efforts have not been successful. Rising inflation threatens to devastate communities across the country.

Money

The way money is distributed in society is a major issue. The rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer. Incentives reward harmful behavior. The financial system is a joke. This trend is not sustainable.

The way today’s economy functions results in the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. Long term, enough people will be suffering to the point that a revolution, peaceful or otherwise, becomes inevitable.

The middle class is shrinking, poverty is increasing, all the while more and more of the wealth accumulations at the top.

Inequality

Rising income inequality is a problem. The rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. This gap between the haves and the have-nots is growing. Income inequality and low income lead to social unrest.

While Capitalism has resulted in so many innovations that have improved the lives of so many, without contains it inevitably leads to drastic economic imbalance. We don’t need government intervention to reduce inequality. All we need is for corporations (and their shareholders) to take a little less at the top and improve wages for all their employees. We as consumers can make that happen through Impact Consumerism.

Reward Helpful Corporations

Impact Consumerism >>

Poverty

More than 46 million Americans live in poverty, and the number is rising. Poverty leads to poor health, crime, and a host of other problems.

In a country with so much wealth, those numbers are unacceptable. Homelessness is devastating not just to the quality of life, but to the budgets in many of our largest cities.

Children that grow up in poverty face an uphill climb when trying to improve their financial situation.

We have the power to drastically reduce poverty in America, we just choose not to make it a priority.

Jobs and Unemployment

Coming out of the Covid-19 Pandemic, unemployment has become less of a headline problem. But there are still too many Americans struggling to find meaningful work. And businesses bemoan the difficulty of finding qualified workers. This has a ripple effect throughout the economy and society.

We need to do everything we can to help businesses find or produce the skills they need. And we should also be encouraging individuals to use their skills to their maximum instead of working at dead-end jobs they hate.

Law

The legal system is a tangled mess. There are far too many laws, and they’re frequently in conflict. This makes it tough for organizations to function.

Complying with burdensome regulations costs the private sector millions each year, in many cases with seriously questionable public benefits. The bureaucracy at the Federal and State level by its nature continues its inexorable march toward more and more complexity.

And the people who write the walls have a vested interest in making the laws as complicated as possible. When the laws are complex it means more lawyers are needed to ensure compliance, which results in more billable hours for lawyers.

The American legal system is an unnecessary complex jumble that in many cases drastically impedes progress.

Infrastructure

Our infrastructure is outdated and falling apart. From the electrical grid to bridges and roads, American infrastructure is in dire need of an upgrade. This is a costly undertaking, but it is necessary. Traffic is a problem in all major cities, the electrical grid is subject to disruptions, and bridges collapse during the morning commute.

It’s still too early to know if Biden’s infrastructure bill will end up having a meaningful positive impact on the national infrastructure. In June of 2022, Politico pointed out that inflation has already drastically reduced its potential impact. It might end up having marked improvement. But what is much more likely is that a lot of that government spending is going to end up in the pockets of already wealthy individuals and institutions.

There is no shortage of problems in America

These are just a few of the biggest problems facing the country. But while these problems are significant, there is still much to be grateful for.

The United States has the resources to ensure the future is better than the present. The question is whether or not we’ll be able to improve society, to make it better.

But enough about the problems facing the country today, let’s talk about how we can make progress toward improving these problems, making them Less Bad.

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