Dolla Dolla Bill Y'all

Let me come clean on this question: In general, I am not comfortable speaking about economics, much less the current financial crisis … it is an area that I am interested and involved in, but have yet to conquer a sufficient understanding of and, therefore, I can only try my best at providing a probable response to this question.

 

This question brings back memories of a previous blog question inquiring about the very meaning of security. Professor Jackson did not specify if this question is referring to border security, social security, or so on, thus, I feel that it is safe to assume that we can apply the question to all security. From what I have gathered from class discussions and from the news, the current economic problem is threatening security in a very broad sense, touching upon food security all the way to the abstract, such as the mere conception of security, which is what I will be focusing this post upon. While many may be worrying about the damages this crisis will cause to the funding of our security defenses, I feel that, in taking on a constructivist approach, it is just as important to focus on the shift in identity that this economic whirlwind has triggered for The United States. We, as a state, incessantly try to project an ideal of the US being stable, powerful, and innovative – all aspects that depend greatly upon money and our state's affluency. This projected perception has remained an actual US reality for a good chunk of time, that is, up until now. This economic crisis has drastically shifted the national and international notion of The Unites States' status and, if money keeps wasting away, may even alter the very idea of what the US stands for in the eyes of other nations. Stability is the backbone of any type of security, and the stability of institutions, families, real estate, and government is wavering across a very fine line. It doesn’t matter in the least that this economic crisis has yet to be labeled as a recession, for either way, the mindsets of US citizens believe that we are in one… no formal declaration is needed. Even if there is some actual progress being made at the higher level, the people who make up the US and, therefore, constitute the nations identity, are not seeing this progress presented in plain view in front of them. They are not seeing progress in their jobs, their paychecks, or banking. Fear has infested the people of our nation and, for the time being, shaken and altered the idea of financial security that the US so proudly and frequently projects.