War Of The Economy

By: Austin Grimm

The debate between how involved our governments should be within our daily lives is something that many people disagree upon. Some people feel that the government should help us with almost every part of our lives, such as healthcare and schooling. Others believe that the government should stay out of our lives and only provide defense and security of the nation. As I asked around the University of Delaware, there are some disagreements on how the economy should be run.

Two participants stated that they felt the government should reduce taxes and “let good ole capitalism do its job”. They felt that the government should not have a progressive tax rate because “the people who own these companies and made it work put a lot of effort into building their company, so they deserve the reward from its success”. When asked about how they felt about Denmark’s college stipend program, where they give $900 per month to college students, one participant notably said: “that just sounds like social security for college students”. These participants prefer governments to reduce taxation and let society decide the wealthy.

The other three participants I asked felt that the government needs to do more to redistribute some of the wealth. They felt that “people who make these big dollars need to give more money to the poor so that everyone can have a chance at success”. One participant said, “some people are working three jobs just to stay afloat, but then you have these billionaires with so much money, they don’t know what to do with it”. Government taxation on the wealthy was a pivotal point in their arguments. They want the top one percent to give up some of their wealth and put it into helping those who have nothing and struggle to find food every day.

The debate over how the economy is run is a very split and challenging decision to make. On one side, you have the people who feel those with wealth earned it and so they deserve the wealth. On the other side, you have people who feel they have so much money it should just be put back into helping people with nothing get somewhere. These issues have been and will be at the forefront of our issues debated in our government. Hopefully, we can find a solution to create the best of both worlds, where people are rewarded for their efforts and the poor can be aided with equal opportunities.