Ziyan Ishani
Section B2
February 10 2023
Project Summary: Throughout recent years, the issue of the United States’ increasing debt has come to the forefront of public opinion. As this problem continues to worsen, it raises the question of how exactly this growing debt will affect middle class families. However, answering this hasn’t been simple as people are slowly learning that the average person does not know much about how the federal debt affects them. In fact, a recent survey found that only 6 in 10 voters believe that management of the debt is on the wrong track. Through the divided responses of the poll, it is evident that many people remain confused about the role the federal deficit plays in their daily lives. In order to answer this increasingly pressing question and provide greater insight into the implications of debt growth, I will create a research paper that examines the debt crisis by synthesizing evidence from a variety of different sources. Through this project, I hope to provide insight into both where the federal debt is headed as well as what this means for the average person. I plan on presenting my findings through visual, aural, and written mediums.
Project Background: Before starting to answer how the debt is affecting middle class families, it is important to understand the history of the issue. Unfortunately, the history of the federal deficit is as old as the US itself. During the revolutionary war, the United States borrowed large sums of money from foreign powers in order to help defeat the English. This marked the beginning of a long history of outstanding loans from other nations. Since then, the debt has steadily increased. However, after the stock market crashed in 1929, the United States saw a massive increase in the federal deficit as FDR’s new deal required a large sum of investment into several different sectors of the economy. Although he was able to propel the United States out of the Great Depression, his policies caused the debt to reach over $33 billion (measured in present day USD).
Since then, the issue of the federal deficit has only become more severe. In 2004, the debt hit $7 trillion for the first time. Two years later, this figure doubled, leading many to speculate that the debt was growing at an unmanageable rate. Unfortunately, as time has continued to pass, this sentiment only gained credence. As of now, the United States has been forced to raise its debt ceiling a total of 78 times. Additionally, in 2021 the United States’ debt to GDP ratio hit a record 127.5%, signaling that our nation was spending more than it could make. Overall, these figures have left many middle class families scared and uncertain of what their future will hold. In a recent poll, Pew found that nearly 90% of Americans believe that reducing the debt is necessary to improving the US’ quality of life and should be considered a top priority. This illustrates how the average middle class family is slowly becoming more worried about the US’s debt as well as the impact it may have on their lives.
Statement of Positionality: While all good research articles approach the subject from an unbiased point of view, it is important to recognize inherent preconceptions the author may have about an issue. Growing up, I was raised in a progressive middle class family. Since both my parents immigrated to the US, they have always stressed the importance of reducing the federal deficit as both of the nations they migrated from have strict debt control policies. Since then, I have adopted this view and generally make my political decisions based on what would do the most to help the middle class. When looking at economics specifically, I would consider myself to be a utilitarian. I believe that the government has a moral obligation to adopt policies that lead to the greatest net benefit for the most people. As of now, I am still forming my views on different economic issues. Since I am freshman in college and have yet to become fully fiscally independent, I tend to view economic issues more progressively than most people would. This view is further exacerbated due to the fact that I am currently pursuing a minor in economics at a relatively liberal school.
Target Audience Description: When looking at the topic at its most basic level, the target audience for my paper will be middle class families as I am exploring the effects the federal debt will have on their lives. However, when looking at the ideal candidate to read my study, it is imperative that they fulfill a set of qualities that span beyond just their tax bracket. Specifically, in order to gain a full understanding of the topics explored in this paper, the target audience should be educated and should at least hold a high school diploma. I decided to target my research towards those who have completed high school for a few reasons. Since this paper aims to teach the average person how the federal debt affects them, I want my work to be accessible to the majority of people. However, since I am still exploring a high level question, it is important that my audience can understand basic economics and has had some past exposure to research articles. This means that the ideal audience member should consume academic papers somewhat frequently and have an understanding about their structure. Overall, the biggest expectation that my audience can have for my work is that I will create a project that is accessible to the average reader but not gloss over the nuances of the topic.
Primary Research Experience: In order to explore this topic as precisely as possible, I will conduct primary research into the issue. Due to the nuances of the subject, the best primary research will involve interviewing those most closely related to the topic. In my final project, I would like to include at least one interview from an expert in the field, most likely an economics professor at Georgia tech, as well as two interviews from middle class families (ideally one who identifies as liberal and one who identifies as conservative). Additionally, I am considering creating a survey that gauges the public’s general knowledge about the federal debt but have yet to decide on if I would like to include it in my project.
Deliverables: In order to convey my findings most effectively, I will present my research through several different forms. The main project I will deliver will be an academic research paper that spans 8 – 12 pages and includes elements such as an abstract, results from my primary research, as well as direct evidence that I find. Additionally, I would like to include visuals that help demonstrate my point, including one self made figure. Finally, I will also perform a 4-5 min speech that summarizes my findings and highlights the most important details.
Resources: In order to complete this project, I will only need access to a few resources. The first and most important is a stable internet connection as that is how I will be performing the majority of my research. Additionally, I will need the contact of an economics professor at Georgia Tech in order to perform an interview. Finally, depending on how I want to create a statistical figure, I may need to learn some skills in Excel.
Detailed Timeline: In order to finish my project on time, I will aim to create 3-8 research note entries in my journal per week. In general, this figure will be 5 – 8 times per week on the weeks that I am not working on my article. I plan to dedicate the first 4 weeks of the project to researching and gathering enough evidence to work with. By the end of February, I hope to complete at least 1 interview. Additionally, I would like to start working on my article on March 8th. During this time I will continue researching the topic. By the third week of March I hope to be done with all interviews as well as half of my paper. From then until the projects end, I will work on finishing my paper, creating my speech, and putting together a figure. During this time I will most likely stop adding journal entries as frequently as I will already have an idea of the project’s direction. Overall, by following this timeline, I believe I will be able to achieve my goals by the official due date.
List of Proposed Resources: In order to help me create my project, I plan to gather evidence from sources such as the New York Times, CNN, Statistica, 538, The Hill, Forbes, Investopedia, NBC, ABC, and the CFR. When citing any of these sources, I will use APA formatting as it is best suited for this nature of project.
Work Cited
“Do Voters Care about the National Debt? the Polls Say They Do.” Peter G. Peterson Foundation, https://www.pgpf.org/blog/2019/12/do-voters-care-about-the-national-debt-the-polls-say-they-do.
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