The U.S. has been experiencing a slew of layoffs, stagnating wages, and inflation, with many Americans saying that their overall quality of life has drastically declined over recent years. 60 percent of Americans say that the U.S. is currently in a recession. While the 2008 recession, nicknamed the ‘Great Recession,’ eventually passed and the American economy bounced back, there are no signs that the current recession will ever slow down and the economy will recover.
What’s happening in the U.S. right now is similar to the economic crisis that struck Venezuela in many ways. Venezuela, an oil-rich country, went from being one of the wealthiest, most promising countries in the world to one of the poorest. After nine years of economic crisis, Venezuela’s economy still shows few signs of recovery. Three in four Venezuelans live in extreme poverty, and although the government says that the yearly inflation rate decreased from 686% in 2021 to 234% in 2022, which is wild in and of itself, it is still one of the highest in the world. The Venezuelan economy didn’t suddenly recover after the major recession that began in 2014, which has been marked by a sharp decline in GDP, hyperinflation, shortages of basic goods, and a collapse in living standards, as there’s no guarantee that a country will ever recover after an economic crisis begins. The same situation could easily befall America, and we already see its beginnings.
It is a mistaken belief that the economy will inevitably return from a recession. Unless there is a coordinated effort to revive the economy, such as by lowering taxes or cutting back business regulations, there will be no magical moment during which the economy will spontaneously recover. The current recession is not one in which we’re witnessing temporary economic woes; we’re experiencing the permanent decline of the American economy. For years to come, jobs and opportunities will continue to be lost, and the cost of living will continue to rise. There is no end in sight to this. Nothing is being done to stop the economic troubles Americans are experiencing. This situation is not something we can simply “bounce back” from.
I was shopping at Safeway the other day and bought my favorite Salmon poke bowl, which cost 10 dollars just a short while ago. To my dismay, when I checked the price this time, I found it had gone up by an entire two dollars, so now the bowl cost 12 dollars. This price jump had happened over the span of a very short time – maybe two weeks. So, I don’t buy the claim that inflation is slowing down. Consumer inflation went up once more in February 2024, and 1 in 6 U.S. adults cannot pay all their monthly bills. Mind you, this is years after the pandemic, during which the U.S. printed trillions of dollars, which started circulating in the economy, making prices drastically increase.
An effort to stabilize and bolster the U.S. economy is necessary for it not to follow Venezuela’s path. Otherwise, living standards will continue to decline, and the economy may become unrecoverable.
