He said, She said?

I agree with your statement that “candidates should be focusing on more pressing issues outlining their stance on issues.” I also believe that our President’s view of the American people is very important.  The President has a whole team of advisors and speech writers.  The words in his speeches are chosen very carefully and probably have to be approved by many staff members and the President himself.  This fact leads me to believe that the President’s feelings are much stronger than the speech leads us to believe.  “Soft” and “lazy” must have been approved by everyone.  It also appears that he repeats the phrase “over the last couple of decades” to point the finger at others and is not accepting any responsibility for the problems Americans are currently facing and the downfall of our economy since this President has taken office.   I also feel that these statements were not “taken out of context”.  Obama was quoted as saying “we've been a little bit lazy” and “this is a great, great country that had gotten a little soft”.  I believe it is very important to have leaders who see our country through the eyes of the people they represent - the people that voted them into their positions – and not try to influence the people to see issues through their eyes.  And… let’s face it, the President will always have to watch what he says. - - that is a huge part of his position is communication.

Obama was recently criticized about his speech over climate change.  I read the article which stated that Obama can only cope with one tricky subject at a time, and that the preference is for him to deal with the healthcare issue - as if climate change can wait... Obama said in his UN speech that “the threat of climate change was serious, urgent and wrong”. It seems a strange series of adjectives in that speech.  Serious and urgent seem appropriate for this issue.  Adding the word wrong sounds like he doesn’t agree that there is a threat and is confusing and misleading.

 I do agree with your statement that “America does have many problems and kinks it needs to work out, having a leader that sees issues and wants to help.” As I said earlier, we need a leader who sees life through the eyes of the people. I am just not confident that in a leader who can only cope with one issue at a time when there are so many issues that need attention. Our society has come to the point where drama is what gets people’s attention and fired up.  As long as Obama continues to speak to the American public in any way that can be construed as negative, the press will use it and so will every comedian and talk show host around the country.  They’re going to continue to criticize the President each and every time he provides them with the material to criticize.  In all campaigns, it is just as important to criticize your opponent and poke holes in his platform as it is to voice your own platform.  It is what gets our society interested. Perry is going to use what Obama keeps feeding him.  We don’t all have to agree with these tactics, but, I don’t see them changing in the near future. 

Small Business Impact on Economic Recovery

There is talk everywhere I go about our struggling and failing economy.  It has created widespread concern and uncertainty about our future.  I don’t truly understand how we got here and why.  I do feel it is quite serious and even scary as I watch families around me struggle.  I know of friends parents who are out of work, people are losing their homes and it doesn’t look like this holiday season is going to be very merry for many American families.

I believe that the government needs to help us in order to begin economic recovery.  One of the ways they can help is in the area of job creation and stability for small businesses.  The government needs to assist in creating an environment where small businesses can succeed and grow.  Small businesses are considered to be those with less than 500 employees.  An Analysis of Small Business and Jobs developed by the Small Business Administration in March of 2010 sated:  “While small and large firms provide roughly equivalent shares of jobs, the major part of job generation and destruction takes place in the small firm sector, and small firms provide the greater share of net new jobs.” It also states that, compared with large firms, small firms also employ higher shares of individuals with low educational attainment – a high school degree or less (63.2%); high school-aged workers (63.8%); individuals 65 or older (65.6%); disabled workers (59.4%); and rural workers (64.3%). The unemployment rate for college graduates is 4% compared to 11% for those with only a high school diploma.  According to the SUSB (Statistics of U.S. Businesses), 95 percent of employers began with fewer than 20 employees and it is estimated that 90 percent of employers had fewer than 20 employees in 2006. It is said that small business provides jobs for over half of the nation’s private workforce.  A press release by Dr. Chad Moutray, Chief Economist for the Office of Advocacy stated: “Small business drives the American economy.  Main Street provides the jobs and spurs our economic growth. American entrepreneurs are creative and productive”.

For small businesses to grow, they need a reduced tax burden so that they can plan and make investments.  The unemployment numbers and the statistics for small business speaks volumes.  Listed below are a couple of proposals that can aid in small business growth and stability, presented by Linda McMahon.  Linda is running for the Connecticut seat in the senate in 2012.

Create a Business Friendly Tax Policy

·         Restore and make permanent the Research and Development tax credit to promote innovation.

·         Allow businesses to deduct 100% of the cost of any capital expenses for equipment, technology, software, or buildings from their taxable income in the year they buy the asset.

o    This stimulates investment in American businesses and increases the productivity of American workers.

·         Eliminate the employer portion of the payroll tax for one year

o    Expand recent proposals in Congress to all current employees and new hires legally authorized to work in the United States. Allow the reduced rate for one year from the date of enactment for small businesses as defined by the Small Business Administration.

The government needs to help the small business to not only survive this recession; they need to utilize the rapid impact that small business can have in job creation,  allow some tax relief to these businesses, and the economy will all share in their success.

Sources:  http://archive.sba.gov/advo/research/rs359tot.pdf

http://usgovinfo.about.com/od/smallbusiness/a/sbadrives.htm

http://www.linda2010.com/issues/economy/

Domestic Migration

As I was reading a classmate’s blog titled, “How Americans Are Moving”, I found it very comforting to find someone else that shares my own opinions on this subject.  I completely agree with the author on how economic depression in the past and the present has lead to a migratory depression. The government began tracking domestic migration in the 1940’s.  A recent census shows that domestic migration plummeted drastically since the recession began.   This recent census has also revealed that domestic migration has reached its lowest level since the tracking began. 

My mom is a single parent and raises both my sister and I on her own.  We ourselves migrated south to Texas from Chicago in 2005.   Since I will be going to college next year and my sister will follow a year later, my mother would like to put our home up for sale and move into a smaller house and possibly back to a big city.  She has told us that our house is worth a lot less and continues to depreciate in this failing economy.  My mom is also concerned about how many houses are currently for sale that are not selling and the fact that the sellers keep reducing their asking price.  It has been really stressful for her and she feels that she will be stuck here with no way out. I’m sure there are tons of people that are going through similar stuff.  The outrageous growing number of the unemployed is also a reason people cannot pick up and move.  There are a lot of kids at my school who talk about their family members who can’t find jobs.    Some reasons people wish to move is because they have tried to change their life where they are and adapt to the current economy. The overall moral of our current society is pessimistic and there is a lot of fear about where the economy will lead us.  How much worse will it get before we start to dig ourselves out.  What kind of help will people have?   Your closing statement that “we brought (this) upon ourselves: the depression” is difficult for me to understand at my age.  I know that my mom has always worked very hard and paid our bills and we have had times of struggle. I also believe that she has not done anything to personally cause the issues of our failing economy and off the charts unemployment rates.  I don’t believe that the people are responsible for our current state.  We the people have chosen to be a governed society.  From where I stand, I think the failures in our government have brought us to our current economic state: depression.