Review current US newspaper article relating to economics/$$ - Essay Example

U.S Fiscal Plans Fiscal policy influences the manner in which any given government conducts itsactivities. Taxation and government expenditure are not only critical issues in the United States, but also across the globe. The implementation of fiscal plans affects the economy in one way or another, depending on the number of economic variables involved. In his article, From All Sides, Fiscal Plans Fall Far Short of What’s Needed, Steven Rattner (2012) evaluates the current fiscal plans in the United States.

In the article, Steven Rattner maintains that the expectations in regard fiscal plans in the country are far from being met.An outstanding argument relating to the U.S fiscal plans touches on the accumulated government debt. Rattner (2012) notes the current U.S government obligations to the public is in excess of $11 trillion. To counter this debt problem, the government would have to embark on critical fiscal plans are tailored towards significantly reducing or meeting all the outstanding government obligations.

While this is not an easy task for the U.S government, the plans at hand do not also seem to ease the pressure.In order to reduce the effects of the debt issues in the U.S tax revenue would have to increase as government spending reduces. This implies that the government should collect more revenues than it spends. This is a critical challenge to the government, given the level of spending required to keep the U.S economy growing and developing. When fiscal plans fail to work as desired, the people’s social and economic welfare may be jeopardized.

This is one aspect that the government should work to avoid at all costs.President Obama’s administration plans to impose more taxes on the rich and the wealthy, while denting entitlement programs costs at the same time (Rattner, 2012). While the projected deficits will be lowered by the move, the results will still not meet the economic expectations in the United States. The formulation and implementation of fiscal plans by the republicans will require critical analysis, evaluation and assessment of the growth and development of the U.S economy. Failure to do this will result in the implementation of plans and policies that do not necessarily address the critical issues for which they are developed.

Another aspect of the U.S fiscal plans relates to Medicare and living costs. As currently formulated, the U.S fiscal plan seeks to raise the retirement age for Medicare and slow the increase of social security living costs (Rattner, 2012). This is part of a long process of economic reforms that the U.S economy is in dire need of. There are myriad numbers of factors and variables to account for in the U.S fiscal plans. All of them combined will influence the performance of the U.S economy, as well as how successful the U.

S fiscal policy will be.United States is undoubtedly in need of economic reforms and policy changes in her fiscal plans. The objective is neither to ease economic pressure on the government nor to avoid worsening of the current situation, but to critically address all the underlying fiscal issues and concerns. The process should not be politicized, lest the problems will only be postponed. In order to achieve the desired level of reforms and policy changes, all stakeholders in the U.S economy arena have to cooperate, collaborate, and work together towards a common goal.

Works CitedRattner, Steven. “From All Sides, Fiscal Plans Fall Far Short of What’s Needed”. The New York Times, December 3, 2012. Retrieved from: http://opinionator.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/12/03/from-all-sides-fiscal-plans-fall-far- short-of-whats-needed/?hp