“How do you feel about the economy?” Asking that question got me the same response. A series of “I don’t know” and “uhhhhh…”. So I narrowed it down. “Do you think money from government funding is being allocated properly and why?”  A single, immediate answer from five different people, “No.” 

Aside from the astounding “No”s, I found that all of the responses also came with the idea of changing or improving healthcare. One responder told me, “They need to fix the whole healthcare system. It’s just a mess.” As college students, I was surprised to find that only one student of the five had said that more money should be spent on college students to help with student loans. With that thinking, something else was also brought to my attention. As college students, many worry about student debt, students loans, how to fit homework into their schedule and what not, but how bad is the healthcare in the United States that under all of the worries about college, healthcare still remains the one thing that they can think of when asked about proper allocation of money. 

Another response that all five had seemed to agree on was the idea that there was too much military spending. One student said “I feel like a lot of money is going towards the military and yeah we need it but we don’t need it that much as it is.” While another said “I think the majority of our funds goes to the military and that’s very toxic because… it could help end homelessness, hunger, better healthcare for all.” It made me question, if we spend so much money fighting abroad, why don’t we spend that much money fighting the immediate battles at home. Why not conquer hunger. Why not fight homelessness. Why not support the health of the citizens. 

After all of the interviews, one quote in particular stuck in my mind as I was recording. “We could use that (military spending) to pay off college loans. Get healthcare so people aren’t dying, which I feel like is more important than killing people.”