OK, so politics are not my forte. I’ve accepted that. I try not to rant and rave in my editorials about how bad I think our government officials are, and try desperately not to become disillusioned with something that has been the norm for almost 240 years.
us-flag.net
With that being said…..
Have you ever been to the US Debt Clock website? It provides information about some of the most interesting things. It shows the National Debt and the unofficial number of the unemployed in the United States; the number of people in the work force and how many people are on food stamps; how many people are retired and how many families there are in the US.
The site lets you go back to the years 2000, 2004, and 2008, and even makes projections for 2015. It’s interesting to see that the debt has only risen approximately $2 trillion in each of those four years, but skyrockets from 2008-2011 by $5 trillion.
After seeing the numbers, the first question I had was, why did it go up so much in three years? What are we spending our money on? Does everything cost that much more today than it did three years ago? Who is in charge of the books?
I was also appalled by the number of the unemployed. The site gives an “official” number of the unemployed, but also has a number for “actual.” The numbers are astounding and it also makes me wonder why so many people are out of work. Is it because they really can’t find a job, or just choose not to work?
It’s ridiculous (and a bit sad) that not one person in our entire country can come up with a workable plan to stabilize our economy. I think some have tried, but trying to get the majority to agree on anything seems next to impossible.
Sorry Obama; You had good intentions but you had too many people against you from the beginning. Instead of helping you, they fought against you, making it that much more difficult to get anything done. It didn’t help matters that the House changed hands while you were in office.
I, for one, applaude you for trying.
America, I beg you; please think about who we are selecting to run our country. Let’s make it a law that our elected officials can’t make a career out of sitting behind their desks in Washington and make choices for the country according to their own agendas. We need to set the term limit for elected officials to only two, instead of the decades that some are trying to get away with.
We need to look past the false promises and fake personas that make up our elections and really take note of who our future leaders are and what they stand for. Let’s not choose someone because of their speech writer’s knack for stirring the emotions inside of us. Really dig deep and make these people accountable.
We have to. Our future depends on it. Our children and grandchildren’s future depends on it.
It worries me to see certain people talking about running for the presidency who don’t really have a clue about what America is about. I get the impression that they are doing it for the glory, the power, and the White House dishes. We need a president who can take America by the B*&#s and whip it back into shape!
The next election isn’t for another year and a half, but it’s already starting. If we choose to go with another president, I hope we choose wisely. I think if Obama had more support, he could have gotten a lot more done. But then, he still has time to turn this around.
The clock is ticking….
Write to the Point 
We had a financial system crash in 2008 that threatened to devolve into another Great Depression, and (under President Bush) passed an expensive and unpopular bank bail out bill, followed under Obama by a stimulus package. They actually worked–no Great Depression–but weren’t magic and didn’t “fix” problems like the debt. Meanwhile, we spend 23 percent of GDP for the federal government and tax and 18 percent. The numbers are too big to fix by simply raising taxes, which is politically impossible anyway, but also too big by simply cutting spending (and running two wars on deficits doesn’t help). Obama is correct–fixing the deficit requires both spending changes and tax changes–but the GOP has been bought out by special interests lock stock and barrel, and gridlock results. Note the grandstanding–Congress passes annual spending plan, plan calls for deficit, deficit requires debt ceiling increase, GOP Congress then plays with economic ruin with debt ceiling vote. As for term limits, it means most experienced (and sometimes pretty good) politicians get tossed out–think Harkin and Grassley–in favor of bombastic amateurs. Not a good fix. Informed electorate that won’t demand spending without taxes? Better idea, but with newspaper readership declining, and with Citizens United ruling throwing funding to the corporations, I’m not sure it’s very likely ….