By Sophia P. Nasher

But enough about the media. Let’s talk about some really important numbers; the numbers behind who really owes America or, according to Fareed Zakaria, “owns” America is actually Americans. According to an article by Zakaria in CNN, while we owe China and India billions of dollars, the number one group or population that owes America is America. Zakaria states that while we owe China 4.5 trillion dollars, Americans owe the country twice that amount, at a rate of 9.8 trillion dollars. We Americans will save our economy from itself. We are the yin and we are the yang of our economy, while we hurt our economy by borrowing too much money, we borrow from our own government to an equal or even greater degree. While our books, backpacks, and rulers are made in China, our professors, intellectuals, and degrees are made in America.

And if you happen to have a student loan or somehow invested in the federal government, you can give yourself a pat on the back for saving your own country by investing. Austerity measures don’t work, and you can ask Nobel peace prize winner and economic guru, Paul Krugman. Krugman adamantly argues that in order for the American economy to heal, Americans must invest in our economy. Critics of the United States refer to our country as a plastic nation, where we heavily rely on our credit cards. What they don’t know is plastic is resilient and has the ability to bounce back. 

Do you think Fareed Zakaria and Paul Krugman are right to say American consumers should spend to get our economy back on track or should we follow European nations and take greater austerity measures?