For my second experiment, I plan to compose one chapter of a fictional dystopian novel set in a futuristic United States that has been plunged into crisis after the federal government has defaulted on its debt. The national debt is a topic I first covered in my artifact of origin (a column for The Michigan Daily on the dangers of our growing debt), and I think writing about it through the genre of dystopian fiction really has the potential to put a unique spin on it. While I feel strongly about the issue, I nonetheless think that traditional ways of explaining this growing problem through economic models is uninteresting. I think that bringing attention to our enlarging debt through creative fiction can educate the public in an engaging way.

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There are many reasons I find it critical to bring more attention to our national debt. Whether or not my audience members are majoring in economics, these are issues that pose major risks to our economy, which threatens us all. As the debt, which currently stands at over $28,000,000,000,000 (28 trillion dollars), continues to grow at a concerning pace, the United States is digging itself into an increasingly deeper hole that endangers the financial future of both our nation and the world as a whole.

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In the year 2000, our national debt totaled less than $6 trillion, but that number has exploded by nearly 400% to the figure today. One of the greatest forces driving the debt upward in recent history is the COVID-19 pandemic. This unprecedented public health crisis has necessitated the passage of stimulus bills in order to help struggling Americans. Most recently, President Biden signed a large $1.9 trillion stimulus package into law. These bills are valuable and necessary as we continue to confront the virus, but they have also put tremendous financial pressure on our nation. In total, counting the latest rescue package, the federal government has spent almost $6 trillion in stimulus money. Now, our staggering national debt, which amounts to almost 140% of total gross domestic product, is more glaring and alarming than ever before. Only several months before the pandemic began, when I wrote my artifact of origin in Fall 2019, the total debt was merely $22 trillion. In my view, it is critical that decisive action is taken as soon as possible to reverse our current course.

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In sum, I think that more people than ever before should be talking about the national debt crisis, and I feel our society should be actively discussing ways to address this issue together (particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic, when we have more of an ability to implement certain measures to mitigate the problem). Some of the best ways Congress can solve this issue include cutting spending and raising taxes. Both of these measures are often politically unattractive since they take money out of the economy and slow down growth. I hope my experiment can demonstrate why actions like these to address the debt are necessary.