The nonexistent recovery

The United States economy is in dire trouble. With an ever-devaluing currency, an enormous trade deficit and virtually no growth in production, we are teetering on the brink of the greatest depression ever.

We are well on our way - according to Bloomberg News, jobless claims rose by 12,000 to an all-time high of 472,000 June 12. Steven Ricchiuto, chief economist at Mizuho Securities said, "If you really are going to have a sustainable recovery, you need the labor market to improve."        

When evaluating the housing industry, we see that the number of home foreclosures has set a new record, breaking that of just one month ago.

The housing industry will not rebound until the number of home foreclosures drops dramatically and we all begin to escape the web of debt which has been strewn upon us through credit cards, predatory lending and lack of savings. Not only can many Americans not afford houses, but millions cannot afford food.

Perhaps the most telling sign of a stagnant, depressed economy is the number of citizens who must rely on food stamps; currently 40 million Americans do. Food stamps go hand in hand with poverty and the latest study from the Foundation for Child Development shows 21 percent of U.S. children living below the poverty line, the highest level in 20 years.     

With the onset of the financial crisis which began in 2008, our nation witnessed how weak the banking system had become. In fact, the head of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime reported that money laundered through the drug trade was "the only liquid investment capital" available to some banks who were on the brink of collapse. In other words, the money which was made from the illegal, illicit worldwide drug trade was all the money some banks had left on their ledgers in order to keep from becoming insolvent.

Most big banks, however, were not so fortunate, and would have become insolvent had the U.S. government, working in tandem with the Federal Reserve, had not bailed them out. That was the prime reason the Federal Reserve was created: to protect the large banks from insolvency by persuading the public that not doing so would result in an economic collapse. As a result of the bailouts, the banks will either continue to receive their interest payments or their troubled assets will be secured, and the common man will suffer through increased taxes and inflation.

If we truly had a free market, there would be absolutely no need for government sponsored bailouts. Bailouts are a tool of Keynesian econ

omists who have a very twisted view of how an economy should sustain itself. In a free market, institutions which engaged in risky lending and security speculation would fail, and more robust, honest and firm banks would succeed. Keynesians believe that spending is what drives an economy.

In reality, savings, innovation and production are the true drivers of a productive and successful economy.

Despite the ramblings of mainstream reports of a phantom recovery, take a look at this: Bloomberg News reported June 4 that 95 percent of all job increases in the month of May were government jobs.

Instead of re-establishing our production capacity as a nation by bringing back jobs that actually produce wealth (factory jobs and family-run businesses), we increase our federal bureaucracy.

More tax dollars go to feed the growing beast that is our government, while each day more and more good people lose their jobs and have to worry about putting food on the table.

Something is terribly wrong in this country. The blame can equally be placed on treaties such as the North American Free Trade Agreement, institutions such as the Federal Reserve, and reckless politicians who launch illegal wars and routinely violate the United States Constitution.

I do not consider myself a Republican. Nor do I consider myself a Democrat, a left-winger, a right-winger or a centrist.

I consider myself a concerned American, as I watch the plutocrats consolidate more and more power and resources.

As simply as I can put it, all of this is done through the mechanism of debt: home loans, college loans, credit cards and auto loans.

Until we Americans can realize that by borrowing, we are digging an even deeper hole, we may never escape the shackles of the monetary scientists who have so meticulously crafted this depression.

For a more thorough understanding, I recommend you watch "The Obama Deception" on youtube, as well as "Fall of the Republic," also on youtube.

Together, by educating ourselves and others, we can fight this corporate takeover of America.

Kloeppel is a 12th-grade student at Perry Central High School.