fiscal cliff – 21st Century Citizenship

Presidential Cliff Diving

Throughout the two trimesters we have talked about like what president can and can’t do as well as what his roles as a president are. The president follows a certain set of laws just like everyone else does and sets an example for the rest of america to follow. Everyone has a different opinion on what the president should do and what he shouldn’t but what should he really be doing by moral standards. It is the duty as the president of the United States of America to protect and to serve his country as well as its citizens, but what is he supposed to do when there is no solution but only two options.
The president of the United States of America will be criticised regardless of how good his decisions are. This is so because who better to blame than the man running the country, and

it will probably always be that way. When making a decision as the president there are no grey areas and no “what if’s” that haven’t been explored. What should a president do, besides resign, when no one majority will be happy with a decision he is going to have to make. The “Fiscal Cliff” (NBC News) for example is something that the president will undoubtedly be criticized for the next two or three decades. The president has the choice of passing the problem to the next president, or attempting to fix the problem once and for all with the risk of failure and recession and possibly depression. This kind of decision seems unfair to a president because there is no easy or obvious solution to the problem. The cliff was the new year (2013) when the bush tax cuts expire and the “White House” had to make a decision on whether to raise taxes again or to make spending cuts. So far nothing significant has been done to solve this solution, other than a small dent in the deficit that still yields 6 trillion to the debt over the course of 10 years. The biggest question I and other people have is when is something going to be done so that my generation and those to come don’t end up paying for such a great debt. Unfortunately the first problem is that no one knows WHAT to do about 16.7 trillion dollars and a huge deficit. The biggest problem i see is that this sort of thing hasn’t occurred in the nation’s history. With virtually no experience with this kind of problem and no way to really solve it, people in the “white house” are left with nothing to do but stall for time and to try and figure something out.

With such a large problem on the table for President Obama and no solutions yet, he will be heavily criticised on the amount of time it will take to act and solve this problem. The president needs to act quickly if he is going to be able to keep this problem under control for much longer. Considering the fiscal cliff situation is out of control, President Obama needs to be very careful on his progression with his gun control proposals. With so many problems at a high severity criticism only rises with each passing day as more and more people grow tired of the economic situation and social tragedies. Finding a temporary solution to the fiscal cliff needs to be found soon in order to at least maintain the debt without increasing it, unlike the solution now which raises the debt limit. Gun control proposals as well as other suggestions by President Obama will eventually be drowned out by the noise of impending economic crisis.

In order to maintain his title as “President” of the United States of America President Obama must act quickly and with wit to fix, or at least somewhat fix, the problem with the fiscal cliff. His criticism is hindering him especially with his new gun control proposals that are only causing controversy with the NRA. While the solution choices seem dim President Obama should be able to work something out in the peoples favor that won’t tap out the middle class but will still be fair to the higher earning people. This situation is the toughest i have seen and most worrisome i have heard about because it is effecting everyone and a solution needs to found quickly to ensure the safety of this nation’s economy.

Gun laws, Debt ceiling, whats next?

Over a week ago President Obama gave a major speech, The State of the Union address. Within this speech President Obama spoke about major things he is going to concentrate on during his next 4 years. The speech varied all the way from things like The creation of a China task force to monitor trade violations, to problems about the current debt. A few things that really stuck out during the speech were when he mentioned gun laws, the debt ceiling, and taxes. As everyone in the world knows at the end of 2012 the United States was supposed to go threw something called the fiscal cliff. Both parties worked together to try to avoid these massive cuts, and eventually something was worked out, well what was worked out is just going to push this back until March. Obama went in to detail about something called the Buffett rule which states a minimum 30% tax rate for individuals whose income exceeds $1 million. No tax increases for anyone earning less than $250,000. Personally I think that is a fine idea and would work out great but it’s still not enough money to bring down the debt ceiling we are talking upwards of 16 trillion dollars, raising taxes isn’t nearly enough. Budget cuts are going to be critical if the US is going to get out of debt, the one major problem, the political parties. If the US cannot get both political parties to work together the debt will just keep increasing. Making it nearly impossible for us to bring down our debt, this must be something both parties are going to have to loose something on.

The next big thing everyone is worried about are the gun laws, Obama has said he will use his executive power to set laws if the parties can’t come to an agreement. As the President doesn’t have the direct power to do this he has many ways of convincing the right people. I agree with the majority of the Americans that something must be done with guns, no gun is worth a child dying. In 2012 the NRA did a study relating firearm deaths to motor vehicle deaths in 10 different states, the results were horrible. In every single state studied the death by firearms exceeded the death my motor vehicle, this information is appalling to hear and see.

These few things I took out of the Presidents speech were the things that stuck out to me and felt had a large influence in class. The Taxes and fiscal cliff problem were things I would of never considered researching or worrying about but being in Government it has really opened my eyes about what happens in the news, and really helps to explain things. For all of the things being said about gun laws nothing is really happening yet, and after the SOTUS Obama really showed that he will use his power as President to make things happen in Washington. Without Government class this year I think many of the major things that have happened throughout the world and the states regarding politics would still be in the dark for me. This class has also help me form opinions about many things that are happening in the news and in D.C. as it hasn’t forced me into a position to pick a political side I think that it has really helped broaden my perspective on politics and really give me an overview that I would have never been able to receive if the class was bias towards on political side.

Problems with Solutions

The Fiscal Cliff was a problem that Americans faced at the end of 2012. We expected to see solutions, but when the time came to discuss solutions, there was a lot of pushed back dates and putting off discussions for other days instead of actual solutions. March is the month that most of the deadlines were pushed to and March is almost here, creating speculation about events to come regarding the economy. The article I read is titled Calendar of Fiscal Crazy: Congress and the Budget, from CNNMoney by Jeanne Sahadi on February 8^th. The Article discusses the different things that were set for March and the possible solutions to the Fiscal Cliff that were never made final such as budget cuts and the economic plans from the President, House, and Senate.

The automatic spending cuts, or “sequester”, will cut how much the federal agencies are allowed to spend by $85 million over seven months. This could cause the economic growth to slow and could also cause over 1 million workers to lose their jobs. The spending cuts would most likely come from defense programs with entitlement programs being protected, which was all in Obama’s original plan as President.

The article discusses the different proposals from the President, House, and the Senate. Sahadi says in her article, “If history is any guide, lawmakers won’t take up most of his ideas. But his proposal is supposed to tee-up the budget debate.” From what I have learned about the government in class and the process in which bills are passed, it is not shocking that most of the President’s ideas will not be passed. The process for creating solutions and passing new laws is long and has many different steps. This article shows how difficult it is for the President to play a large role and perform the presidential duty as Chief of State and also Chief Legislator. The amount of work that goes into making something a policy or law makes it hard for the President and members of Congress and the Senate to have a real impact on Americans. There are high expectations for the President and the things he needs to do. He is expected to have a large impact on the rest of government and be able to fix problems, but he can’t do that effectively and with the ferocity that most people expect because all he can really do is suggest ideas with his plan, not actually make them valid until a majority of Congress and Senate also approves.

These regulations make it hard for Congress to act immediately. The article states that Congress has a deadline of March 27^th to do something before federal funding “shuts down”. It is so difficult for Congress to make final decisions with a majority that they are giving them a deadline to make something happen. This forces people to choose a solution even if they think there could be a better one, such as the “sequester”. It is the best of a bad situation.

People of America expect the President to be the leader of the country and create different ways to pull America out of our economic problems. The problem is that we cannot expect the President to be able to pull us out of the Fiscal Cliff if we also expect to keep our American system of checks and balances. The article seems exasperated about the lack of progress that has been made by different politicians, but the author needs to remember all of the difficult steps that are necessary to make a suggestion or plan a reality.

An Urgent Deadline, an Apathetic Response

After the New Year’s Fiscal Cliff situation many Americans were in a panic. What was going to happen to my lives? What will change? How will I live if we fall off the Cliff? While many other people were dreading the day, my government class and myself where anxious to see what Congress would do about the problem. Our class was doing a project that allowed us to make our own solution and I (along with many others) were wondering if our solutions were close to what Congress and the President would come up with. After many hours of watching the TV, waiting for updates the solution was released to the public. There were higher taxes, as expected, but not the spending cuts that needed to happen. Instead Congress delayed the decision until March 1^st. Now it is close to the deadline, again, and Congress is not working, as they should to solve they problem they left to do later. Though Congress leaders know that there is no definite deadline when bills need to be passed. Instead leaders say that the “cuts can be phased in over time” says Alan Silverleib and Ted Barnett from CNN. But with how opposed to each other’s ideas the two parties are, Washington will need as much time as they can get to finally reach a decision.

Spending cuts in national budget — Photo Source: Conservative News Central

Though Congress might not be as urgent as they should be, neither are the people of America. Is the $85 billion necessary spending cuts not important? There are not stories on every news channel about the March 1^st deadline. Instead the new is filled with stories about other events that everyone would rather listen to. There are more significant things in the eyes of the public, such as gun control, Oscar Pistorius’ homicide trial, and other more recent news. If the public is not interested, the news channels and papers will not publish much on some topics even if it needs to be talked about. “Congress isn’t even in session this week” revealed CNN, why would they not be in session when time is running out?

Though Congress is not meeting, there is no doubt that there is talk of solutions. There are Committee meetings, and President Obama probably has the topic on his list of things that need to be talked about. But the two parties have probably not come together to talk of a solution that will satisfy both sides. President Obama expresses his want for collaboration between the two parties at a White House event when he addressed the Republicans asking them if, “they [were] willing to compromise.” Obama and his administration want to There need to be meetings now, so another repeat of the December Obama and Boehner discussions that didn’t end well for either side.

As a student, reading an article about Congress not worried about a deadline makes me confused. Now, in my high school career, deadlines and due dates direct my life. When I hear of this attitude about an important subject it confuses me. But I then it makes me think of all the things I have not learned yet about the “real world” that is thrust upon a young adult after he or she graduates high school or college. Even when I learn these things there will still be things I don’t know about the world of politics, which keep changes through the years as new events occur every day. Though there may be things I have not learned yet, there are many things that I have learned in just the passed year that have changed the way I view the world around me. Now that I have an understanding of government I have my own views, instead of just agreeing with everything my parents say about current events. I now can develop my own opinions and tell them to the world. As updates come out about the March 1^st deadline, there is no doubt that I will be there to insert my own ideas and see how the people in Washington solve the problems of today.

Still Falling Off the Fiscal Cliff

Even though the Fiscal Cliff deadline has passed, questions are still being raised about the spending cuts. Previous arguments of both parties are still in the forefront of political debate. The parties are blaming each other and nothing is getting done even though there is an impending deadline of March 1^st. America may be on the brink of a fiscal catastrophe and it appears that John Boehner and President Obama cannot shake hands and come to an agreement.

Looking back at our great nation, one must cite the Concord Coalition, where “brave Americans kept at it against overwhelming odds because they had a vision of the grand nation they wanted for their future and for generations to come”. The citizens of our nation feel that the government today is losing sight of what is fiscally right for the people.

America faces deep fiscal challenges threatening the sacrifices made by our forefathers to make our nation great. The idea that the government borrows hundreds of billions of dollars annually to pay for huge consumption is outrageous. This consumption forces our citizens to bear the burden of carrying the massive debt that continous to only get worse for the generations to come. Our elected officials are afraid to cut back on spending and don’t dare to raise taxes to pay the debt. They continue to cut taxes while increasing spending to support special interests in Washington.

According to CNN, “Congress, which isn’t even in session this week, doesn’t appear close to taking action on the $85 billion in forced cuts, which take March 1”. Massive military spending cuts which were meant to be drastic and help the budget have yet to be put into effect. This is just one example of Boehner and Obama’s disagreement. Boehner blames Obama for the stalemate and calls Obama a failed leader. Obama urges the Republicans to compromise. There is a concern to protect investments in education, healthcare and national security. Securing these investments impact jobs. It is possible that hundreds of thousands of jobs will be affected by the Congress dragging their heels. Even Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid asked Republicans to listen to the American people and work in a bipartisan way to reduce the deficit.

Even though President Obama proposed an idea for spending cuts that was approved by congress, they were still allowed to borrow from the treasury to pay the nation’s bills. What is amazing is that citizens are expected to pay their debts monthly, while our government fails to do the same. It appears that our congress believes that they have the right to borrow and spend at will, where average citizens are told to live within their budget. Americans want a balanced budget, but it doesn’t seem like our leaders do. These adults, who are supposedly our nation’s leaders, need to learn to compromise as they teach their children to do. The Republicans and the Democrats must budge on their opposition to closing tax loopholes and make the fiscal challenge right for all Americans.

Congress’ Blunt Knife

While everyone may be exhausted from hearing debates on the “fiscal cliff,” America still has a lot more grief ahead with the budget sequester. Congress may have found a temporary solution to the “fiscal cliff” by trying to solve the debate on tax increases, but it has put off spending cuts in order to have more time to avoid the budget sequester. A part of the Budget Act Control, the sequester was put in place during the negotiations of the debt ceiling in 2011 as a “last resort” that promised spending cuts both Democrats and Republicans would suffer from. This was considered a compromise for the debt ceiling (The Washington Post). This agreement was enacted in order to avoid a situation that Congress is currently in because if they don’t make a deal then the sequester will go into effect and 10% cuts across the board will hurt America greatly. The cuts in defense will devastate the Republicans whereas the cuts in other departments such as research and education will shock the Democrats (Forbes).

Currents events and articles on these topics have helped me to have a better understanding of what exactly is going on. In our “fiscal cliff” project, my group focused on both the tax increases and the spending cuts, but we did not understand that if a deal was not made on the spending cuts then the sequester would be put into action. We were unaware of what exactly the sequester was and what it meant for our nation. Now that solutions to tax increases have been reached at the end of 2012, Congress has until March 1^st to come up with the solution to what seems to be the bigger problem of the fiscal cliff (Forbes). If they do not reach an agreement then severe budget cuts in departments such as defense and other domestic spending will devastate our nation and we will fall off the cliff even though it was temporarily prevented by the agreement on tax increases (Forbes). It is not smart to have across the board spending cuts of 10% in every department. The cuts need to be carefully negotiated. There is no doubt that there have to be cuts to lower our debt ceiling but it must be done surgically and cut where it will be least painful to our country. Making cuts evenly across the board will be like using a blunt instrument on our country to open it up and watch it bleed out in a recession.

Focusing on how current events are connecting to our government class, this story has helped me narrow my understanding of what the budget sequester is. While we were discovering the details behind the fiscal cliff, I had a lot of trouble understanding exactly what was going on. I leaned on my teammates to help further my understanding, but learning together as a class helped me push my mind to understand. This article about the budget sequester relates to our government class because while we have been discussing current events, the second part of the fiscal cliff, the budget sequester, has been brought up many times. It is a topic of hot debate and it is interesting to see everyone’s point of views on the possible decisions to be made. We see that it is time for our government to step up and lead our country out of the possible turmoil that is in our future if nothing is done, and in this government class, we are taught how to stand up and lead. We are taught how to be responsible upstanding citizens of this country and I believe that is something that directly applies to the situation that our country is currently facing with the budget sequester. It is time to stand up and be responsible leaders.

Obama Approval Ratings Soar

President Barack Obama’s approval rating has just reached a record-setting high when compared with the past three years of his presidency. A Bloomberg poll, conducted nationally, released Wednesday shows that nearly 55% of responders approved Obama’s performance in office (Bloomberg). Since Osama Bin Laden’s death, his approval statistics have been continually rising (Huffington Post). Looking at these facts alone, it would seem that the President is doing an exceptional job as Manager of Prosperity and even Voice of the People. However, these numbers don’t tell the whole story regarding the general sentiment of the American people.

First, the Bloomberg poll also reveals that the same percentage, 55%, disapprove of how Obama has handled the federal budget deficit. Without significant changes, this could quickly disintegrate Obama’s perceived success. In order for the President to reverse this majority opinion, federal spending needs to be cut. It is not enough to only raise taxes – the government has a spending problem. If government programs across the board were to cut their budgets by even a small fraction, the multi-trillion dollar deficit we are currently entrenched in would certainly not continue to get to an absurdly out of control amount. If anything, this small reduction in spending will only help our country’s current situation. The fiscal cliff still looms threateningly in the future, and cutting government spending is the only way to ensure that our country’s economy is back on the right track toward a healthy state.

Next, the poll states that a mere 49% of Americans approve of how Obama has handled the economy since he was first elected into office. Although ‘handling the economy’ involves many different areas and aspects to consider, focusing on a few major points will portray the overall picture. First, it would be beneficial for Obama to express clearly how he plans to handle a looming recession that could potentially happen due to a fiscal cliff. Deadlines have repeatedly been ignored when it comes to making a final clear-cut compromise regarding this issue. Postponing the formulation of a concrete plan is only making Americans grow more and more weary. Yes, some tax reformations have been addressed, but another large part of the problem – government spending, has not even been remotely touched on. If Obama wants better ratings and satisfaction from the American people, he must give a direct answer to this problem. Second, Obama may want to spend some additional time considering his recent proposition to increase minimum wage. This sounds good in theory, but more money per person means less total jobs. Unemployment rates have been steadily improving recently, and reversing this trend would not be of great advantage to the president. He could theoretically still raise minimum wage incrementally, but a drastic increase will not be supported by today’s economy. With these and a few other improvements, Obama’s approval within American society will continue to raise even more than it already has.

In conclusion, Obama has the potential to rally the spirits of the American people to improve the economic state of our economy if he makes careful, rational decisions. Obama needs to take responsibility of giving the American people the clear answers that they deserve. If he does this, the people of our nation will all be on the same page when it comes to working together as one united whole to enhance the situation that the United States is in.