America is called US which is spelt 'us'. So it is time they stopped seeing their economy as their own. Indeed, the US Economy is global economy. This blog contains my personal ideas on rescuing the American economy from collapse in order to save the whole world. You don't seem to see enough when you are up close, so I observe from afar.
Have you heard, Former President Jimmy Carter has accused the Obama Administration of 'widespread abuse of human rights' according to Yahoo News? Carter's major point in this accusation is that the present Government is authorizing drones to kill suspected terrorists. He argued that this and similar actions by government violates '10 of the 30 articles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights such as '...the right to be presumed innocent until proved guilty''.
When I read the news article, I posted the following comments:
Obama killed Osama. Please ask Carter if he supported or was against this killing - and the al-Qaeda man was not given any fair hearing. Listen Americans, the truth is, pure democracy is impossible. In fighting terrorism, if you want to be purely democratic, you will lose the war to the world's peril. Certain things just have to be done on pragmatic grounds. I don't support killing innocent people, but if the figures from New American Foundation is right, I think the drone strikes have killed less innocent people than terrorism would have done if no such drone strikes took place. Watch out how pro-terrorist forces will use Carter's comments to their own advantage. I think statesmen should be more tactful in speech than this. (http://news.yahoo.com/jimmy-carter-accuses-u-widespread-abuse-human-rights-154057442--abc-news-politics.html)
I see a global battlefield where the East is pitched against the West. I like to think poetically of this as an Obama-Osama feud where Obama represents the West or democratic forces while Osama represent the East or non-democratic forces. But with a situation where the non-democratic forces have no regards for law whereas the democratic forces must needs contend with them, one wonders how this might play out.
Is it really possible to practice pure democracy in dealing with people who have no regards for rule of law? How can the US balance its two roles as the champion of human rights and the protector of World peace? Is it really possible to always give dare-devil terrorists a fair hearing. If you know how this knot could be tied, post your comments below. Thank you.
This essay was originally to be published with the title, 'Fix America From Yourself'
INTRODUCTION
The classical Greek philosopher, Plato, once defined a state as 'man writ large'. By this, he meant that a whole country such as the US, is just like a big individual. That implies that a state is capable of everything an individual is capable of, and whatever could happen to an individual could also happen to a state. Thus a country could be in relationship with another; could be in conflict; could earn; could spend; could be in debt; could go broke; could have a problem; could solve the problem and more. That definition also meant that the situation in a whole country is only a reflection of the individual situations of the generality of its population. Thus, if the generality of the people are very productive, the country's productivity would be high. If most people in a country are going through economic difficulties, it becomes a case of meltdown.
I am here to recommend how this ancient philosophy could hold all the remedy that Americans needed in fixing their current ailing economy. I want to reveal very simple steps every American could take in mere days and see the whole economy bounce back with renewed vigor. Although this might sound rather simplistic, you will surely get to realize you might have more here than in most of those stilted economic theories that are getting churned out from the academia. The simple truth is, taking a cue from Plato's 'man writ large', you could at least see some sense from the fact that if there was a way to get 'personal economies' improved, the Nation's economy would have been also improved by that.
The question now is 'how could the individual American (YOU, that is) fix their personal economies in such a way as to immediately reflect in the macro economy?' To answer this question, here are the steps I recommend:
Take A Stock
I once had a mentor that gave me a simple idea that has most often helped me in solving personal problems. He said, 'whenever you are bothered by a problem, don't go about fretting over it or it will get worse. You should rather get calm and trace the problem to its origin. Once you know where the problem took off, you'd be in the best position to get an inkling on how to solve it'. Applying this to 'man writ large', I can say if this works for me, it could work for America too. There should be no fretting over rising debt or unemployment or whatever declining economic index there may be. Instead, the question should be 'how have we come here?'. There were jobs and now many of them are lost; so where have all those jobs grown wings and flown to? What and what got us into debt, and how can we take care of those things? This is exactly what the economic think tank is doing or may be doing. Now however, I ask each 'little America' (you) to do that at a small scale and the cumulative result will worth more than a million economic theories.
Now a way to trace your personal economic history is to obtain your credit report from any of the credit reporting agencies or from a credit monitoring service. Then, your credit score is simplified and made easily usable by lenders, banks, utility companies, credit card companies and more in a three-digit number called a credit score. The knowledge of your credit score could be all you ever needed to succeed beyond your imagination in virtually every aspect of your participation in the economy.
Your Credit Score - A Most Important Title Number
How truly important is your credit score to you? To begin with, here is an excerpt from Bankrate Dot Com:
Ever wonder why you can go online and be
approved for credit within 60 seconds? Or get pre-qualified for a car without
anyone even asking you how much money you make? Or why you get one interest
rate on loans, while your neighbor gets another?
The answer is credit scoring.
When you got a loan, or were granted a credit, landed a job or had the credit line increased, chances are that your credit score was pulled to decide whether you qualified for those things or not. According to Wikipedia, 'usage of credit histories in employment screenings
has increased from 19% in 1996 to 42% in 2006'.
The reason your credit score is considered so important is that it reveals you the way nothing else could and so helps a lender know if you are likely to repay a loan; helps an employer be able to predict what sort of an employee you'll be especially where you are to handle money and stuffs like this. Your credit report shows the way you've paid your bills over the period, how much open credit you've got and other factors that may determine your creditworthiness, and your credit score reduces all of this to a three-digit number. Thus, because of how it reveals the real YOU, employers, insurance companies, lenders, etc want to know you by knowing your credit score.
The score ranges from 300 to 850. Because of how important a credit score is, it worth money and that is why you can obtain it at a fee from any of the three credit bureaus - Equifax, Experian and TransUnion. You can also obtain your score for free from all three bureaus - online and instantly - by using Free Score USA. Figures from the three bureaus might vary slightly since they employ different algorithms in their calculations, but they all give a fair idea of your situation. You will be in the best position to monitor your credit history with the three reports.
Your Credit Score Has Even a Deeper Meaning
Your credit score determines the level of benefit available to you when it comes to insurance, mortgage, job, loans and all that. This is because the risk level in granting you the benefit is directly tied to your score, yet your credit score has even deeper implication both for you and the entire economy of the country. It reveals how economically responsible you have been. Normally, if your score is below 760, you may not be getting the best rates. If it is below 580, you may be denied credit altogether or may be approved based only on the very highest rates. That means that only those who are above 760 that are considered economically responsible enough.
Easily Fix Your Credit Score Like This
'A problem identified is half solved' so a saying goes. If your score is below 760, just admit it that you have been economically irresponsible at least to a degree and take it upon yourself to fix your credit as soon as possible. You will be better encouraged if you realize that you are doing this not just for yourself alone but also for the entire economy, which includes the American posterity as well.
There are many tips out there on how best to repair your personal credit. I recommend these two links.
All the tips recommended to you will need some conscious act of the will to carry them out. So here are a few philosophies to help make them lighter to you:
1. Imagine that you are in a college called 'life' and your credit score is your report card. See all the measures suggested to you as what you need to to acquire a better grade.
2. Imagine the low rates you will enjoy once your credit is repaired and all the opportunities that will be available to you.
3. Think of yourself as doing this for America. ex-President J F Kennedy is today credited to have said, 'think of what you can do for America, and not what America will do for you'. How great when whatever you are doing for America is also done for yourself!
Share Your Secrets
In the cause of trying to get your credit score fixed, you would have encountered and surmounted certain difficulties not predicted in all the tips so far given both here and elsewhere. You'd be doing America a great service by sharing your tips using social networks and all the media available to you. Don't also forget to share your secrets on this blog. Just post it as a comment to help others.
Conclusion
Many people don't seem to realize how important they are as a unit of US. This essay had set out to start an economic revolution based on what each unit can do. Knowing that we are doing this for ourselves will provide that powerful fuel of motivation called selfishness; and knowing that we are doing it for all will liberate whatever effort we might be making, giving it wings to soar. This is the best approach I think could be used to effectively bring back the economy on its tracks.
