What will America look like in 2025?

 

What will America look like in 2025?

This is a question that few Americans consider.  But the old adage is always in play: “Failure to plan is planning to fail.” 

America is not planning anything beyond the election cycle.  Most people live day to day, week to week and let the world take care of itself.  Most politicians are focused on the next election and plan only to get reelected.

Business on the other hand does long term planning and so do some countries.

America is into instant gratification and almost never plans for the future.  The proof is the saving level in America is the lowest in the western world.

If we look at the past and do forecasts based on what we know and the studies by universities that follow trends the picture becomes clear of what America will look like in 2025, just 14 years from now.

What the trends show:

·        Every year for the past 20 years America has lost middle class jobs at the rate of 3 million per year.  US based companies, both large and small are now designing products in America and making them in China with support in India.  This is now a reality.  Manufacturing was 25% of the US GDP just 30 years ago it is now just 10% and falling.  Soon America will make nothing it uses.  Your PC, VCR, TV, cell phone, Nikes, clothes, appliances, furniture, etc; are all made in Communist China.

·        US income tax rates have fallen each year since 1960, with the exception on one tax increase under Bush One.  The income taxes will never again be able to cover the costs of government.  The marginal income tax rate for the top 1% is now just 22%, it was 50% to 70% when the American economy was creating middle-class jobs.  The average tax rate paid by all Americans in 2009 was just 12.6%, the lowest in recent history.

·        The US education system is broken and is now number 17 in performance in the world in math and science.  The governments programs that helped millions climb out of poverty are gone or being cut back as wasteful while great talent that could help America can’t afford to go to college.  Studies show that for each $1 spent on government grants to the poor to go to college the return in taxes and productivity is $12 over the life of the student.  These students get better jobs, pay more in taxes and make America more productive.    

·        Healthcare costs are now over 16% of the GDP.  This number continues to go up at twice the rate of inflation each year.  The US is the only western democracy without universal healthcare and the drag on the economy is hurting everyone.  The “for profit” system of fees is broken as America spends twice as much per person as France and the other European countries and we still have 8 million American children without health insurance.   This will get worse and more Americans will use the system and not pay by going to public emergency rooms.  Over 750,000 American go bankrupt each year because they can’t pay their medical bills charge to credit cards and all Americans pay for this financial disaster.  This number is projected to increase each year – so get ready to pay more for everything you buy, because we have no universal healthcare.

·        11million mortgages are at risk of going into foreclosure over the next five years and another 10 million could follow if the economy doesn’t improve.  This is a continuing drag on the real estate, construction and financial sectors of the economy.  These sectors will see more jobs lost increasing the strain on mortgage payments and so on and so forth. 

·        The official unemployment rate is now at just under 10%, with real unemployment at 17%.  This will continue and even edge up with long term permanent unemployment at between 17% and 20%.

·        US military spending is now 50% of all income taxes collected and increasing.  Soon it will be 70% of all our income tax revenue.  Our foreign policy is now driven by continuous war and occupation and expansion of foreign military bases.  In 1960 America had just 372 foreign military bases we now have over 1,000 and this is planned to grow to 1,500 as we open new military bases in Africa, Asia and South America.  The presence of US troops leads to violence in third world countries.  This has proved true over and over again.  Yet we continue to go to third world countries to prop up corrupt government’s opening up our troops to attack.  This leads to an escalation and we send more troops.       

·        The income and wealth gap in America is now at an all time high.  Just 30 years ago the top 1% took 10% of all US income and they now take 24% and this is going up.  This takes valuable financial resources out of the US economy and puts them into private personal wealth.  Each $1 billion lost to the economy equals 25,000 - $40,000 per year jobs.  This is a result of extremely low taxes on the wealthy and the expansion of the financial markets over manufacturing.  20 years ago the financial sector was 7% of the GDP it is now over 21%.  The financial market creates few jobs and no real economic benefit to the American economy.  The riches 400 Americans now worth $1.5 trillion in personal net wealth have more wealth than the 100,000,000 Americans at the bottom of our economic system.  This gap is projected to increase over the next 20 years.

·        The US poverty rate is now over 15%.  In Europe their poverty rate is around 6%.  This poverty hurts everyone because those living in poverty produce nothing and are a drag on the economy.

The above trends are not easily changed.  The rich and powerful have done well in this economy.  Their wealth has increased and they like things the way they are.  In fact the rich and US corporations are asking for even more of the same, lower taxes, no rules on moving American jobs to China and India, and less government regulation. 

So what will America look like in 2025?

·        The top 10% will control over 80% of all assets and resources in America, leaving far less to the 20% of Americans struggling to make a living and feed their children.

·        The poverty rate will be at 25%, with one in four Americans living in abject poverty with no way to send their children to college.  They will be day labors, part time Wal-Mart workers, part time paid contractors cleaning homes and office buildings and work at the Mall.  There will be a huge under class of poverty stricken people barely surviving in all areas of America.

·        Middle-class jobs will be about 10% of the US economy with everyone else working for minimum wage.  All jobs that can be outsourced will be outsourced to China and India.  US mortgages are already being handled in India.  This is part of all corporate long term planning.  They both like and profit from this because they are now focused on a worldwide economy and the US economy is far less important to them.

·        China will be the largest economy in the world, making everything America uses.  There GDP is growing at about 10% while ours is 2.5%.  They will begin buying up many American companies and resources, oil fields, natural gas reserves and power plants.  They will have spread their economic power to the third world where they will control many countries through their investments in mining and minerals, oil and gas and shipping centers.  The US will owe Communist China $5 trillion they lent us to fight our wars.

·        America will continue to fall in education as only the rich will send the children to college and most of these will become a part of the 75% who got their wealth the old fashioned way through inheritance.  Yes 75% of all the wealthy got their money through inheritance – NOT work. 

·        Many public schools will close and class sizes will continue to get larger.  Tuition at public colleges will go up keeping lower middle class and the poor from attending college.  This is a result in the lack of funding as all government support for education will slowly go away.

·        The US economy will be based solely on the military industrial complex, healthcare for the rich and big box stores selling cheap products made in China to minimum wages workers.

·        America will have created new wars in the Middle-East (Iran and Pakistan), South America (Venezuela, Columbia, Peru) and in Africa.  Continuous war will be our foreign policy as we hunt for terrorists everywhere and the war profiteers get richer and more powerful. 

There are three key factors involved that will make the difference in what direction America takes.  The political trend currently is to go back to the 8 years of Bush and accelerate the above scenario. 

1.   The Tea Party and the Republicans win elections across the country and continue to win more seats in the US Congress.  They want to stop all government investment in America and lower taxes even farther and eliminate all government regulations.  They support our foreign wars and increased military spending.  They are against universal healthcare.  They love Wal-Mart and buying Communist Chinese products and borrowing from China is fine with them as long as it goes to war and the military.

2.   There is a Democrat victory and they keep control of the US Congress.  While this is very uncertain, they Democrats may get the guts to begin to change our policy of constant war and occupation and begin to fight for American jobs.

3.   There is a stalemate and no one wins causing a complete shut-down of any government action. 

Two of the three above are bad for America in 2025.  Unless we change our ways and progressives and liberals can convince most Americans we need REAL change America has a very high probability of becoming a war like third world country.

What say you?  What do you think?

To read more click here http://hubpages.com/profile/thejcrevelator2