Let's Not Follow in Greece's Footsteps

With the Christmas holidays looming nearer and nearer, record breaking shopping on Black Friday and predictions for Cyber Monday; the economy seems to be doing well. However the Bush-era tax cuts cease to exist in the upcoming year and as usual both parties are arguing how to deal with the “fiscal cliff”. Now that the elections are over it is time to get down to business.

President Obama’s plan to avoid another economic recession is to keep the Bush-era tax cuts for all American families that bring in less than $250,000 annually but raise taxes on those that bring in any more than that. Republicans on the other hand want tax cuts for all Americans across the board and are suggesting looking at entitlement reform instead of tax increases. With Medicare and Medicaid counting for almost 50% of spending, I think we need to take a deeper look at things.

If tax increases are put in place, the middle class that supports much of the economy, would start spending less as a result of the increased taxes and we would spiral back into an economic hole. With many people abusing Medicare and Medicaid because they are lazy, the whole idea has almost become pointless. As a result of cutting Medicare and Medicaid, many Americans might actually have to get up and go get a job. What a concept! Don’t get me wrong, we shouldn’t completely cut Medicare and Medicaid because they are beneficial to those who actually cannot take care of themselves for many different reasons. But there defiantly needs to be large cuts and revamping to the qualifications to apply.

President Obama said that “failure to accept his offer for a limited extension of tax breaks will essentially ruin Christmas for consumers and retailers”, but his plan doesn’t say anything about entitlement reform. That is the key to this whole problem. Not tax increases. That will just make it worse. If the Republicans and Democrats in Washington don’t start agreeing on something soon the “fiscal cliff” that everyone is worried about is going to happen right before their eyes. You would think that after watching Greece’s economic disaster, we would do anything and everything in our power not to go down that road. But it looks like that is a possibility for the near future. We will see in the coming weeks if anything gets done in Washington, and which path America is going to turn down. We don’t want to be known as the country that followed in Greece’s footsteps. 

Yes Please Get Over Big Bird Already

In my classmate, Antonio Barletta’s post Get Over Big Bird Already, he points out a couple of key misconceptions about Conservatives. Most Democrats paint republicans as “evil, white [and] not in touch with poor black Americans.” When in reality most Conservatives don’t care about someone’s sex, race, or gender. They care if someone is working and providing for themselves or if they are just living off taxpayer dollars that Conservatives worked hard for and earned. Liberals are the ones centered on racism. They are constantly focused on those markers but they try and pin conservatives as the racist ones.

            He also brings up the fact that Blow’s true intent behind his column was to try and smear Mitt Romney’s campaign as much as possible and win votes for Barack Obama. This just goes to show how many left-winged people there are in media. Most of the media channels and news outlets are pushing a liberal agenda. Trying to get a straight answer or real facts from the media these days is hard to do. Mitt Romney’s statement about cutting funding to PBS was taken extremely far out of context. People claim to want to reduce the debt and cut spending but when the idea of cutting programs is brought up claws come out.

            By painting this picture of Romney as a Big Bird hater, liberals were hoping to persuade voters against voting for him in the elections. By pushing their agenda in media, they know people will see that and not do the research for themselves to find out the real facts and just believe whatever they see. I wish America could see through all the smoke the liberals are blowing.