The Debt Leverage and a look to the Past

Timothy Geithner has recently raised the alert that the United States is reaching its debt ceiling of $14.3 trillion and must act quickly in order to avoid any colossal impact leading to a decrease in investor confidence. Despite the Republican party using this danger of hitting the debt ceiling in order to lure the democrats into agreeing with their ambitious budget cuts, they are playing along a fine line of risque and pure insanity.
The effects of such a loss in foreign and domestic investment can be examined by looking back at Argentina's troubled economic history. When Juan Domingo Peron became President in 1946 after being democratically elected, he proceeded to nationalize all of the utilities and services own by foreign companies in order to cater to the superficial wants of his electorate. Much to everyone's dismay, the nationalization of these enterprises only brought pain and chronic suffering for generations to come when the administration was not able to efficiently address the needs of such a complex industry as the railroads for example. with reserves being dried up, Argentina became more and more hostile to business both domestically and abroad.
Argentina's foolhardiness has caught up with them long before the United States had such an astonishing issue with debt but this time, lets learn from history and make sure the needs for further investment are taken care of accordingly instead of passively

Common Sense

"I've made clear that their $33 billion is not enough and many of the cuts that the White House and Senate Democrats are talking about are full of smoke and mirrors. That's unacceptable,"

John Boehner has made it clear to the American public that $33 billion isn't going to cut anywhere near to the amount where we can achieve a balanced budget. What is truly staggering is whether our commander in chief in Washington D.C. understands the gravity of the situation we are currently in with our fiscal crisis. With trillions of dollars in debt and a struggling economy to boot, more red tape is the last thing that should be on any budget being sent to the president's desk.

The unfortunate thing when it comes to these matters is the fact that for the most part, many democrats are going to keep with party lines just so the republicans in the house "don't get their way". The sad thing is they might look back at the mess they could have avoided, through tax cuts and elimination of red tape, but instead they will be the ones to blame in the history books.

2012: And so it Begins

The Grassroots campaign for the reelection of President Barack Obama has begun with the introduction of a new video highlighting the urgent need for more reform in America. What should be highly regarding for by Obama is how he is approaching the election and what the other candidates will need to do in order to beat him.

One thing is certain, you cannot run a succesful election without employing the full potential the media can offer. That means that any Republican hopeful candidate must delve into Twitter, Facebook, and any other types of social media that may give rise. candidates will be also facing a potential $1 billion campaign.

Not only is fundraising going to be an issue for the republican party, but also the fact that Obama has an entire grassroots operation he can call up at a whim, something few candidates today can do for a fraction of its size. One thing is for certain, if the republican party is to win, Sarah Palin must not run!

Leap of Faith

Representative Paul Ryan has made a plan to cut spending over the next 10 years by $4 trillion. This is by far a major increase in spending cuts compared to the plans proposed by the Obama administration. The question the bears in mind most is whether this will pass at all.

Some of the criticisms that have been coming forth from other lawmakers such as Representative Chris Van Hollen include statements such as “It is not courageous to protect tax breaks for millionaires… while slashing our investment in education… and denying health care coverage to tens of millions of Americans”. Van Hollen does have a point that these steps to require a considerable amount of sacrifice and at first glance it may seem unjust that the wealthy may end up getting a tax break while the rest of America suffers.

While it is important to think of the little guy when a lawmaker, it is also important to recognize where all the jobs come from in the first place. Small businesses and large wealthy millionaires are the ones who make risks and all sorts of investments with their money that brings in many opportunities to Americans from all over the economic spectrum. It is a false assertion also to presume that government makes jobs.

John Stossel put it nicely when he described how government subsidies are really acts of robbery against those Americans who have money. In his example, he describes how the government breaks a certain individual’s window. He then goes on saying that by employing someone who can fix the window, the government is able to spur the growth of jobs. The problem with this point of view, as Stossel mentions, is that the person who’s window broke could have used his money instead on what he thought was best instead of what the government would have wanted. In that way, waste disappears.

Crack in Democracy

The recent outbreaks in Madison Wisconsin and other state capitols throughout the country are escalating fast. What Teacher Unions are calling unfair is the scraping of bargaining rights. Republicans who control the legislature and the Governorship are calling for fiscal responsibility. Though the proposed cuts do run deep into the pockets of many of the teachers in our nation, it is important to call into question, with the failure of American Schools to compete with students all over the world, whether the rise in per capita spending per students and gracious health and pension plans for teachers are worth tax payer money.

The democrats who do participate in the legislature have left Wisconsin for Illinois in order to avoid the vote. Republicans, therefore, or stuck in the mud. With their absence, it does call into question whether our democracy is actually working or not. Sure, a large segment of the state, mostly represented by teachers, are calling foul play, however, a large segment of wisconsin citizens did indeed vote for their state representatives to rein in the debt in whatever way possible for strict fiscal responsibility. Let's face the truth, if taxes do increase, the incentives for people in the state to further invest capital into small businesses will EVENTUALLY dry up. And when politicians eventually see less revenue coming into state coffers, they will be done for. You can't force someone to come back and thats a fact.

To get to the point, or may I dare say the question, is whether democracy is in a free fall because of the union machine. I hope to God it is not the case. But as many Americans are gripping with a recession, I believe that the teacher unions are over reacting. If the unions win, then we have submitted our once highly regarded democracy to mob rule. Let's try not to keep that way.

Regulation of the BP MIlk Spill

Milk is known obviously to contain fat, which can immediately be translated in being considered as containing a percentage of oil. Now for most people, this might not be seen as a problem at all, however, for the EPA, its a completely different story. Along being tasked by the President to regulate the use of petroleum in our nation after the disastrous events that unfurled after the BP oil spill in the Gulf, this savior of an agency is prepared to takle, with an onslaught of regulations, "emergency management" of milk spills due to their oil like properties. Now to some people this may not seem like such a big deal. The fact of the matter is, according to economist Thomas Sowell, that the costs to dairy farmers in making and maintaining these "management" procedures, along with the need to hire new regulators on the federal side, will cost consumers and producers both more money. In these difficult times, these events really do call to mind whether there are really good regulations for the most part to justify the existence of most of our nation's bureaucracy. I do believe that they are really important types of regulations that our nation should honor such as the food we eat and the water we drink. As for these regulations concerning milk spills, i think this is stupid. Just ask yourself, when will you ever see people fighting for their livelihoods in the wake of a milk spill? Come on America, its time to stop worrying about spilled milk stupid.

The Protest