Week 4 Current Event: OCCUPY movement causing trouble

     We have all heard of the OCCUPY Wallstreet movement going on in New York. After all, it started several months ago. However, as the movement spreads to other large cities around the country, the view towards OCCUPY from most people is turning from heavily neutral to slightly unfavorable. After a war veteral was injured with a tear-gas cannister fired into the OCCUPY crowd in Oakland, many have expressed general frustration towards the movement.
     This past week, New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg explained his reasoning behind his recent actions on a radio show. "These are fire hazards and against the law...our first concern is safety." Bloomberg was talking about his support of New York firefighters who took several genorators and propane heaters away from the OCCUPYers in New York parks last week. As the weather becomes colder, more protesters have brought in the gas powered machines to keep warm, but they are illegal in the parks. The protesters argue that if safely is Bloombergs top priority, then how can they take away their source of warmth. This back-and forth is going to go on for the next few months, but the fact that the OCCUPY movement still hasnt even defined their exact reasons for protesting isnt making them look any better.

Question #4

I believe that one on the biggest issues facing the state of Virginia currently, like the entire country, is debt.  The state of Virginia currently ranks 29th out of the 50th state in lowest per capita state debt. In 2007, the per capita state debt in VA was $2557...now it is $7595 per person. This is a concern. The gross state product of Virginia is actually going up, yet the debt is over 13% of the GSP. The Virginia debt has been on the rise for the past decade, but it seems as if the situation isnt getting any better, even with more attention focused on the issue in the past few years. Without any changes, the debt could quickly get out of hand like in the nation as a whole, and VA could drop down the list even more.

Week 3 - Current Event

Politicians in Washington push to cut pay raises and reduce workforce...

          A group of lawmakers, containing members of both the House and Senate and both the Republican and Democrat Parties, sent a request to the government agencies reponsible for controling government spending. This group of mostly Republican Representatives are asking for several reforms to the current system in order to reduce government spending. "Lawmakers recommended cutting the workforce by 10 percent through attrition, hiring one new worker for every three who leave, extending the two-year civilian pay freeze for an additional three years and eliminating step increases. In addition, committee members are calling for reforms to the civilian pension system..." says Emily Long of Government Executive.
         While this group is pushing for a reduction in the workforce and a reduction in pay raises, the group of predominatly Democratic Representatives on the other side is calling for something different. They say that the plan instituded by Obama last month, which puts a cap of $200,000 on the pay of many government workers, will do enough to reduce the outward flow of money. This is an optimistic look at things, but it doesnt seem to be very accurate. To put a cap on salaries for workers, many of whom already have salaries around the limit, wont reduce spending much at all. But the Republicans seem to be reaching too deep, and in doing so, they may create problems. Either plan isnt very good. But it is important to reduce government spending, and attack the huge amount of debt we have, and this plan will put a miniscule dent it the huge number.

http://www.govexec.com/story_page.cfm?articleid=49073&dcn=todaysnews

So, How has Obama done? Report Card Time...

-"Grade Obama and his success in several major issues"

The Economy C-

Most people right now are concerned with the unemployment rate in the US. If you look at this chart you can see that since 2008 the unemployment rate for the whole US went up from just under 6% to about 9.8% at its highest in 2010. Now, the unemployment rate also went up about two years into Bush's first term. However, it didnt climb at such a sharp rate, or to such a high point. Although we cant say that this was all caused by Obama's doings, or that Bush's actions in the years before didnt cause a negative effect long after they were enacted, we can see that the economy hasnt improved. The debt, as we all know, has skyrocketed, and this was not just an after-effect of Bush's years. The GDP is the only positive sign in the economy today. The 2008 growth rate was 0%, in 2009 it dipped to -2.6%, but has now recovered to +2.8%.

War on Terror B-
       One thing that everyone will remember about Obama's presidency is that Bin Laden was killed under his command. This was a huge move, and it gave the US a big step-up on terror in that region of the world. However, retaliation from this is still possible, and hopefully we will stop anything that may happen. But the role we played in Libya, for example, in using off-shore bases to launch NATO-supported air strikes, was highly debated. In a time where we are already fighting wars in multiple locations in the Middle East, getting involved, even from a distance, wasnt something that exactly strengthened confidence in Obama's decision making.


Although Obama promised a rapid reduction in troop levels in Afghanistan, ever since he has entered office, the numbers have risen. The troop levels have dropped in Iraq, but many were just moved to Afghanistan. Overall, he hasnt come through on this promise, but the safety of the US has remained fairly healthy.

Reelection Bid B
     Obama has the advantage of money. He has much more cash in his pocket that he can use in his campaign than any of the Republican candidates. However, due to the large number of promises that he made during his last campaign that he didnt hold true or succeed on, Obama has lost much of the support that he has before. His peak approval rating of 67% has dropped to 40% as of last week. For comparison, Bush had an approval rating of 59% at this point in his first term. Gallup reported in September that 38% of Americans would vote for Obama if the election was right now, compared to 46% for whichever Republican is nominated. Obama is not looking great for the election next year, but there is still much time for things to change. He has been appearing more and more, but he is still eclipsed by the huge field of Republican candidates. If he used his speaking skills to his advantage as well as he did in 2008, he may just be able to pull it off again.

Week 2 Question - What is one political issue I'm concerned with?

Well, you picked a very good question...ummm, well, let me think.................................................................
Alright, if I must talk only about one issue, I would say it would be the gridlock that keeps holding everything up over there in Washington. Why? What a stupid question for me to ask myself! Because the Republicans and Democrats on the Congress have been voting partisanly, over the past year especially, nothing big has really happened. Even in smaller issue votes, they often vote along party lines...look at these.
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/1/132
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/1/122
http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/1/74

Besides being annoying, it also goes against the point of government. A politician in the house or senate should vote to represent the views of the people they are representing, or they should vote for what they believe is the best thing. Gridlock occurs when polticians vote along with the majority of their party to either: make more senior members of their party happy, make the other party frustrated and prevent them from doing anything on their agenda (whether they agree with it or not) or just because they dont really know what to do. Until politicians start to work together again, nothing is going to get done, or at least not fast enough.

Week 2 Current Event

         For several weeks now, Herman Cain was been climbing in popularity and recognition within the Republican Candidate group. Just a few months ago, a hardly heard-of businessman names Herman Cain burst on to the scene as a possible Presidential contender with a healthy amount of momentum. Cain first appeared in the long list of possible candidates in March of 2011. At this point, only 21% of Americans reported recognizing Cain, not as a potential candidate, but at all.  He quickly made himself know through broad-casted Republican debates and mass media. After announcing his run for the presidency in late May, his recognition jumped up to 41%, and this number continued to rise. By the first week of October, 2011, this number had risen to 61%, a rise matched only by Bachmann earlier in the year.
        Cain is different from all the other people currently in the Republican field. His most outstanding, and often most appealing feature, is that he isn't a politician. This most likely contributed to his rapid rise, but this makes sense. Recently, Americans have shown disappointment in the government, confirmed by the 13% approval rating for the Senate (October, 2011). Cain's experience as a businessman, from running the Godfather's Pizza Company, gives people the idea that he might be a good person to have in office during a time of economic struggle.
       One thing is evident through all of this. People like Cain. As of the end of September, Herman Cain's favorability rating among those who reported knowing him was more than twice as high as the runner-up Mitt Romney, with 34/1 (highly favorable to highly unfavorable). It is apparent through the Republican debates which have been held recently, that Cain has strong knowledge of how government works and what the problems are. He has shown that he can compete with actual politicians, and has used his knowledge of economics to bring in support. However, I dont see Herman Cain becomming the Republican Nominee for President next year. He just doesnt have the confidence of the people who would be voting. I believe that by the end of this November, Cain will have dropped back behind Romney and most likely Perry as well. This will be because, by this point, people will begin to see that he just doesnt have the political experience which is so greatly needed to be a good president. However, I do feel as if Romney, who I believe will ultimatly be chosen as the Republican nominee, would be smart to choose Cain as a VP. This would give strength to the Republican ticket, stemming from Cain's economic knowledge, and it would also make Romney's "plain" character stand out more.

http://www.gallup.com/home.aspx?ref=logo

Current Event Assignment #1 - October 1

September 26th, 2011       Congress Comes to an Agreement on Extending the Federal Budget
       
           Earlier this year on April 8th, the Federal Budget approched its limits, and the government faced a shutdown that would last for an unknown amount of time. If this occured, then thousands of government workers would be temporarily unemployed and those in the military would not be payed until the end of the shutdown. Less than 60 minutes before the 12:01 AM shutdown time, the House Dems and Reps came to an agreement to cut about $40 billion from the budget. Although they averted the shutdown, the time extension wasnt very long at all.
           This problem loomed over the Senate again earlier this week, as they met to vote on a bill which would create a seven-week extension of the Federal Budget. The Senate voted, and the bill was passed 72 yes to 12 no, 9 Senators didnt vote. Out of the 72 yes votes, 51 were Democrats, and all of those who voted No and those who didnt vote at all were Republican.
           All this bill does is gives the Senate more time to come up with a more long term solution. That solution, in the past, has been to just extend the debt ceiling. In August of this year, the Senate passed a bill by 74-26 which extended the debt ceiling by $400 billion, and made two new steps for future ceiling extensions to more than $2.1 trillion. Although they plan on almost $1 trillion in government debt reduction measures between 2012 and 2021, this doesnt seem to be working well enough, or fast enough. Who really knows what is going to be done next time the limit is reached, but based on recent events, one might be able to hazard a good guess.

http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/112/senate/1/153
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20052351-503544.html
http://www.housingwire.com/2011/08/02/senate-passes-debt-limit-extension