The economy is shifting. Our country recently avoided the brink of debt destruction with a hard-fought compromise between tax negotiations and the budgets allotted to social services.
The deal has not solved our problems – it has only offered a brief respite from intense public scrutiny. That public issue was just a portion of a greater storm brewing nationwide.
There are men and women with advanced degrees and thousands of dollars to pay in debt because of them, but are overqualified for the job positions available. Hundreds of jobs sit unfilled in cities like Chicago, where duties call for technologically savvy employees. Thousands of Americans live one paycheck away from disaster. Homeowners are trapped beneath upside-down mortgages, growing health care costs and rising prices for basic necessities.
Where is the money? And once we have it, why isn't it doing as much to assist us in surviving as it once did?
It seems that a desperate fear has taken hold of U.S. citizens. We know that the way to boost our economy is to invest in it, but can we overcome the reflexive grip Americans have taken on their wallets? What we once spent freely to stimulate our commerce, we now put aside, trading paper bills for warm meals in the evenings or precious fuel for our vehicles, instead of investing in our nation's future.
Money has only gained traction in the underlying tones of my family conversations. My parents listen sympathetically to the desires of my heart: my dreams of adventures in Australia, Dallas and Naples, Italy. They softly remind me of what practicality means. They hope my innermost goals will not dissipate completely, and I wish to keep those embers alive as well. But it may not be my choice now.
The stark realities of my financial struggles may cause my fortress to crumble long before I've finished building it.
As I read the headlines and observe the furrows in my father's brow, I pray for generations to come. What could be possible if the disadvantages of low-income students ceased, allowing them to break free of systematic poverty? What of supporting local produce instead of monopolized fast food chains—in what ways could our improved health pay dividends to us as individuals, and as communities? Question yourselves further: is our current demographic lacking this critical thinking? Doesn't this affect us all?
So where is the money? Well here at Elon, the money is embedded in the very fiber of our academic textbooks, laced within the ink that saturates those pages. The money sits in the rubble stirring up dust in what used to be our residence halls, our recreational fields.
These costly endeavors are investments into a future I hope will be brighter than the one than I see now. Hopefully, the horizon of tomorrow will have a slightly greener hue.