The Government and the Economy

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In what ways does the government oversee and regulate the U.S. economy
Some strategies and laws have been put in place by the government, like tax laws which control the country’s economy. This strategy re putting in place to see the growth of a healthy economy that can raise adequate revenue to facilitate the government’s responsibility to serve its citizens. The first strategy used is through fiscal policy, comprising of tax and spending policy, the other is the monetary policy which aims at keeping the inflation and unemployment rate low. Also, regulatory policy is used to prevent market failure through business regulations that affect the market competition and social regulation used to protect workers, consumers, and the environment. Lastly, trade policy is implemented to protect local producers and increase business to business competition.
The What environmental protections have been implemented by the U.S. since the 1960s?
Implementation of Clean Air Act of 1970 which necessitates the Environmental Protection Agency to set air quality standards and the state governments are given the authority to enforce these laws. Failure to this, the EPA takes over in controlling according to the national standards set. Additionally, citizens are given the rights to sue the EPA if they do not enforce the act. The second implementation is the Clean Water Act of 1972 which aims at making waterways clean enough to swim in and fish from.

In this act, the EPA has the authority to set water standards and grant permits to anyone discharging contaminants. With discharge pollutants not being the only source of pollutions, the Department of Agriculture joins in to help curb pollutions from animal waste and pesticides. The local government plays the monitoring role, as well as enforcing the national standards. On that note, Safe Drinking Water Act of 1976 gives EPA the authority to establish water purity quality for drinking water. These plants are also funded by local governments to ensure that they remain and treated
The unused land is a policy under Resource Conservation and Recovery Act, 1976. The USA produces a lot of solid wastes and other toxic pollutants that affect the quality of land. This policy was put in place to regulate disposing of waste-solid and hazardous-from households, and encourage recycling. In line with that, Comprehensive Environmental Response Act-superfund law-was implemented in 1980 to reward cleaners of toxic waste disposals.
Impact of environmental policy on economic growth
Any country involved in production also has outputs, non-consumable, that effects the environment. Pollution and waste are also part of this in the form of air, water or solid waste which necessitates implementation of waste management systems that have come about as an economic activity. Money generated from these activities has come about as an income producing activity like waste collection; municipal water treatment services (Panayotou 142).
On another note, environmental policies often help to subsidize general costs spend on healthcare and inputs. Pollution often leads to decrease in quality of the data as well as the public health of the population. This increases the amount spent to procure health services for treatment and a reduced supply of labor. Restrictions on pollution and waste ensure that all these effects are mitigated, consequently leading to growth in the economy.
Fiscal and monetary policies
Monetary policy involves the conversion of the interest rates, by the central bank, to influence the supply of money while fiscal policy involves government activities used to change the rate of taxation and government spending to affect the increasing demand in the economy. Fiscal policy is achieved through the use of tax and spending policies. Tax policy involves government regulation that authorizes tax laws designed to raise money and is also the most significant source of income for the government. These include corporation income tax, excise tax, customs duties, estate and gifts tax among others. These taxes have different impacts on different people, i.e., the people of different economic classes like proportional and progressive taxes. Another strategy is tax breaks that encourage some beneficial practices like home ownership. Additionally, state and local governments do not pay taxes as well as a majority of universities. Spending policy, on the other hand, includes mandatory spending by the government
Effects of the policies
The fiscal policy, through government spending, stimulates growth in the economy through raising demand for specific products and services which in turn increases production. Sequentially, jobs are created hence people can earn income through the salaries received. In this process, demand for goods is created which encourages more production that leads to the growth of the economy (Fazzari, James and Irina 300). On the other hand, the government can reduce overproduction or extreme growth in the economy through decreased spending. A decrease in government spending will decrease the overall demand. Also, taxation affects the economic growth when it is increased or reduced. The government may lower taxes to increase spending and saving while it may even raise taxes to lower the spending and investment. For monetary policy, the central government may buy or sell securities owned by the government to stabilize the flow of money in the economy. Additionally, lowering or increasing the interest rates, depending on the state of the economy, encourages loaning and spending.
These policies are only useful when the government has enough money to support the economy whenever money is needed. Lack of this leads to a crowding effect which will lead to government borrowing which increases interest rates. This will discourage lending hence the level of investments will decrease.
As the government takes a more active role in the economy, how have approaches to education and social welfare programs changed?
The government, through social welfare, aims at providing social welfare services. Before the Great Depression, the domestic policy aimed at addressing just the basic needs of the citizens. Today, there is dual national government’s domestic policy which is the maintenance of a safety net that helps the citizens meet their essential needs-income security programs, and protecting the citizen’s lives, homes, and natural environments. These are done through the environmental policy that helps to reduce the amount of pollution, the energy policy that imposes limits on the level of greenhouse emissions. Others include energy and health policies aimed at providing safety nets.
Works Cited
Fazzari, Steven M., James Morley, and Irina Panovska. “State-dependent effects of fiscal policy.” Studies in Nonlinear Dynamics & Econometrics 19.3 (2015): 285-315.
Panayotou, Theodore. “Economic growth and the environment.” The environment in anthropology (2016): 140-148.