My participation in the United States government and economy will be primarily focused on changing the system so that it can provide a healthier equity for its citizens. I believe the problems in our government and its policies are mainly because of selfishness. I am not saying in any way that I believe spreading the wealth is a good thing, but our country should be a little more selfless in every aspect of life in order to positively change our nation.
I am not very politically motivated at this point in my life for a few reasons: (1) Because I am still young and (2) because it does not affect me so much where I care to a certain degree. If the government made changes to where my family was treated unfairly, I would then take action in an attempt to amend the problems taking place.
Money is a very complicated thing in a United States citizen’s life. Whether one has money or does not have money it will affect their life tremendously. I support minimum wage because research shows that one earning minimum wage as of 2010, can live comfortably in an apartment by their self. Now, if that person has kids, it is a problem that must be closely watched by the government. For example, if a single parent making minimum wage cannot afford to feed their children, the government should step in and help them out a little. That also says that we need to make our citizens aware that it might not be the best thing for someone making minimum wage to have kids.Although people of this economic status realize that having kids may not be the best idea, they still end up having them. I do not know if we can make a law that states how much sheltering a child will cost and that a women should not be able to walk out of the hospital with a child she can not afford. Maybe if it worked somewhat like a loan?
Poverty is another problem that most people have a tough time dealing with. I have mixed opinions on the quote “all Americans are born equal.” It is safe to say that anyone, no matter what color or from what economic background, can accomplish anything. Although, it may be easier for certain people, such as one born into money. People are “stuck” in poverty for either being very unlucky or very lazy. Anyone has a chance to do well if they put the effort forth, and if they are not working hard in school, chances are they will not make it to college and they will end up staying in poverty.
The government should intervene more in the day to day lives of the people but only for certain reasons. Cracking down on drugs and minor laws is a waste of time because people will always break those types of laws. The government should be focusing more on motivating people to be educated and telling them that they have to work hard or their life will be harder in the long-term. No, education is not necessary, but it truly makes one's life a lot less stressful. Our problems seem to be coming from things that we did years ago, such as our banks being lazy and not caring about who they give loans to. Inevitably it puts a toll on the citizens that are around today which is why we must fix these economic issues now so that the citizens of tomorrow are better off.
As long as the government listens to its citizens and continues to make changes to help out its own country it is headed in the right direction. We as a country need to understand that everything will never be perfect in regards to politics and economics, but as long as we continuously make positive changes, everyone will be better off.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
The Government and Me
My participation in the United States government and economy will be primarily focused on changing the system so that it can provide a healthier equity for its citizens. I believe the problems in our government and its policies are mainly because of selfishness. I am not saying in any way that I believe spreading the wealth is a good thing, but our country should be a little more selfless in every aspect of life in order to positively change our nation.
I am not very politically motivated at this point in my life for a few reasons: (1) Because I am still young and (2) because it does not affect me so much where I care to a certain degree. If the government made changes to where my family was treated unfairly, I would then take action in an attempt to amend the problems taking place.
Money is a very complicated thing in a United States citizen’s life. Whether one has money or does not have money it will affect their life tremendously. I support minimum wage because research shows that one earning minimum wage as of 2010, can live comfortably in an apartment by their self. Now, if that person has kids, it is a problem that must be closely watched by the government. For example, if a single parent making minimum wage cannot afford to feed their children, the government should step in and help them out a little. That also says that we need to make our citizens aware that it might not be the best thing for someone making minimum wage to have kids.
Poverty is another problem that most people have a tough time dealing with. I have mixed opinions on the quote “all Americans are born equal.” It is safe to say that anyone, no matter what color or from what economic background, can accomplish anything. Although, it may be easier for certain people, such as one born into money. People are “stuck” in poverty for either being very unlucky or very lazy. Anyone has a chance to do well if they put the effort forth, and if they are not working hard in school, chances are they will not make it to college and they will end up staying in poverty.
The government should intervene more in the day to day lives of the people but only for certain reasons. Cracking down on drugs and minor laws is a waste of time because people will always break those types of laws. The government should be focusing more on motivating people to be educated and telling them that they have to work hard or their life will be harder in the long-term.
As long as the government listens to its citizens and continues to make changes to help out its own country it is headed in the right direction. We as a country need to understand that everything will never be perfect in regards to politics and economics, but as long as we continuously make positive changes, everyone will be better off.
I am not very politically motivated at this point in my life for a few reasons: (1) Because I am still young and (2) because it does not affect me so much where I care to a certain degree. If the government made changes to where my family was treated unfairly, I would then take action in an attempt to amend the problems taking place.
Money is a very complicated thing in a United States citizen’s life. Whether one has money or does not have money it will affect their life tremendously. I support minimum wage because research shows that one earning minimum wage as of 2010, can live comfortably in an apartment by their self. Now, if that person has kids, it is a problem that must be closely watched by the government. For example, if a single parent making minimum wage cannot afford to feed their children, the government should step in and help them out a little. That also says that we need to make our citizens aware that it might not be the best thing for someone making minimum wage to have kids.
Poverty is another problem that most people have a tough time dealing with. I have mixed opinions on the quote “all Americans are born equal.” It is safe to say that anyone, no matter what color or from what economic background, can accomplish anything. Although, it may be easier for certain people, such as one born into money. People are “stuck” in poverty for either being very unlucky or very lazy. Anyone has a chance to do well if they put the effort forth, and if they are not working hard in school, chances are they will not make it to college and they will end up staying in poverty.
The government should intervene more in the day to day lives of the people but only for certain reasons. Cracking down on drugs and minor laws is a waste of time because people will always break those types of laws. The government should be focusing more on motivating people to be educated and telling them that they have to work hard or their life will be harder in the long-term.
As long as the government listens to its citizens and continues to make changes to help out its own country it is headed in the right direction. We as a country need to understand that everything will never be perfect in regards to politics and economics, but as long as we continuously make positive changes, everyone will be better off.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Healthy for Health Insurance
My high school class recently was given the opportunity to speak with a local Accountant. She spoke about taxes, investments, and money in general. As she spoke about these topics, I began to think of health insurance. How can we reduce the health insurance premium for everyone?
A health insurance policy is a form of collectivism where people as a group pool their risk. In this case, it is the risk of medical expenses. In most cases, health insurance is purchased by a group (such as a firm of employees), but it can also be purchased by individual consumers. The healthcare expenses of a person or group of people is estimated, and then is usually paid monthly. Different types and different amounts of healthcare expenses are specified in advance for each consumer's benefit.
Since the amount of health insurance expenses go hand-in-hand with the amount of people who become sick or hurt, we must reduce the amount of people who are sick or hurt.
Our country wastes $312 billion per year when patients are misdiagnosed or given the wrong treatment. This is a tremendous amount of money that is wasted for health insurers all around the country. One way to stop this big waste is "Best Doctors," which is a health benefit offered through hundreds of insurers and health plans. This plan of "best doctors" could possibly help our country save millions.
Another waste of health insurance that exceeds $29 billion per year are medical mistakes. These mistakes kill up to 100,000 people per year and well over half of them are preventable. The best way to fix the problem of "mistakes," is to have a federal health care safety reporting agency come and investigate the mistakes. When doctors know that people are constantly watching over their backs, they might care for their patients a lot more. Another way to improve a problem such as this is to make doctors across the country have more strict rules on their "mistakes."
Lastly, 70 percent of healthcare costs are in some way linked back to unhealthy habits. Since some workplaces provide health insurance, the employers should provide incentives for employees with healthy habits. Incentives such as employees receiving checks for joining a gym, quitting smoking or even losing weight. Exercising daily and eating healthy plays a big role in staying away from type-2 diabetes. Staying free of type-2 diabetes can also save tremendous amounts of money for everyone.
In conclusion, health insurance is something everyone must have no matter what the cost is. By simply setting higher standards for doctors and eating healthy, billions of dollars could be saved for our entire country.
Sources:
1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance
2)http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/18-ideas-to-reform-health-care-now/article101364.html
A health insurance policy is a form of collectivism where people as a group pool their risk. In this case, it is the risk of medical expenses. In most cases, health insurance is purchased by a group (such as a firm of employees), but it can also be purchased by individual consumers. The healthcare expenses of a person or group of people is estimated, and then is usually paid monthly. Different types and different amounts of healthcare expenses are specified in advance for each consumer's benefit.
Since the amount of health insurance expenses go hand-in-hand with the amount of people who become sick or hurt, we must reduce the amount of people who are sick or hurt.
Our country wastes $312 billion per year when patients are misdiagnosed or given the wrong treatment. This is a tremendous amount of money that is wasted for health insurers all around the country. One way to stop this big waste is "Best Doctors," which is a health benefit offered through hundreds of insurers and health plans. This plan of "best doctors" could possibly help our country save millions.
Another waste of health insurance that exceeds $29 billion per year are medical mistakes. These mistakes kill up to 100,000 people per year and well over half of them are preventable. The best way to fix the problem of "mistakes," is to have a federal health care safety reporting agency come and investigate the mistakes. When doctors know that people are constantly watching over their backs, they might care for their patients a lot more. Another way to improve a problem such as this is to make doctors across the country have more strict rules on their "mistakes."
Lastly, 70 percent of healthcare costs are in some way linked back to unhealthy habits. Since some workplaces provide health insurance, the employers should provide incentives for employees with healthy habits. Incentives such as employees receiving checks for joining a gym, quitting smoking or even losing weight. Exercising daily and eating healthy plays a big role in staying away from type-2 diabetes. Staying free of type-2 diabetes can also save tremendous amounts of money for everyone.
In conclusion, health insurance is something everyone must have no matter what the cost is. By simply setting higher standards for doctors and eating healthy, billions of dollars could be saved for our entire country.
Sources:
1)http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_insurance
2)http://www.rd.com/living-healthy/18-ideas-to-reform-health-care-now/article101364.html
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Spending or Saving?
My high school class recently was given the opportunity to meet with our current county executive. She spoke to us about our local, state and national governments. A big problem that came up in all three was debt. Debt plays a large role on the national level because this is what the state and local governments feed off. This problem of national debt is increasing in size by the day. American officials cannot seem to keep their hands out of debt. Our country is currently in over $12 trillion in debt from borrowing large sums of money and we are unable to pay them back because of the very high interest rates.
The Great Depression could be described as the starting point for our nation’s debt. Throughout that time period, Roosevelt tried to diminish the government's spending. This plan worked for a short while, but he eventually stopped around 1937. This is when the economy nose-dived for the second time and all of our money went out the door. When all of our money was gone, we did not stop borrowing, we kept borrowing. Our country's economy is still running on debt to this day, and has to be paid back over decades. Many presidents after Roosevelt had numerous attempts to reform the debt, but only small dents were made. President Obama recently issued the economic stimulus package that was designed to create jobs, and decrease our debt. For instance, one part of the package is that businesses will get "bonus" depreciation for investing in new plants and new equipment. This plan itself is $125 billion bigger than the controversial bailout for the financial-services industry and has some positive and negative effects.
Yes, Obama’s plans may work in the future, but in order to restore our economy we have to stop spending first. A plan that we could use is that every other year, the government could implement around a 40% reduction in our total budget and use it for priorities only. During this time period, it will give our economy time to tackle interest rates, and begin to decrease our debt.
I do agree with parts of Obama's plan for the most part, because in order to crack the national debt, we need an unemployment rate at its lowest ever. If unemployment is at a low, consumer spending will increase, which will also stabilize local businesses. Stable businesses will be followed by more stable banks. This will relieve stress off the economy because families and businesses will have higher incomes; making them much more self-sufficient.
In conclusion, everyone knows about our country and its debt, but no one seems to want to do anything about it. Because most of the time we have to pay back borrowed money all at once, interest rates drag our economy down. By lowering unemployment rates, and if every other year for a set amount of years we reduce our spending, a lot can be done. Once we are almost “out of the red,” then it should be a good time for Obama’s plans that involve spending.
The Great Depression could be described as the starting point for our nation’s debt. Throughout that time period, Roosevelt tried to diminish the government's spending. This plan worked for a short while, but he eventually stopped around 1937. This is when the economy nose-dived for the second time and all of our money went out the door. When all of our money was gone, we did not stop borrowing, we kept borrowing. Our country's economy is still running on debt to this day, and has to be paid back over decades. Many presidents after Roosevelt had numerous attempts to reform the debt, but only small dents were made. President Obama recently issued the economic stimulus package that was designed to create jobs, and decrease our debt. For instance, one part of the package is that businesses will get "bonus" depreciation for investing in new plants and new equipment. This plan itself is $125 billion bigger than the controversial bailout for the financial-services industry and has some positive and negative effects.
Yes, Obama’s plans may work in the future, but in order to restore our economy we have to stop spending first. A plan that we could use is that every other year, the government could implement around a 40% reduction in our total budget and use it for priorities only. During this time period, it will give our economy time to tackle interest rates, and begin to decrease our debt.
I do agree with parts of Obama's plan for the most part, because in order to crack the national debt, we need an unemployment rate at its lowest ever. If unemployment is at a low, consumer spending will increase, which will also stabilize local businesses. Stable businesses will be followed by more stable banks. This will relieve stress off the economy because families and businesses will have higher incomes; making them much more self-sufficient.
In conclusion, everyone knows about our country and its debt, but no one seems to want to do anything about it. Because most of the time we have to pay back borrowed money all at once, interest rates drag our economy down. By lowering unemployment rates, and if every other year for a set amount of years we reduce our spending, a lot can be done. Once we are almost “out of the red,” then it should be a good time for Obama’s plans that involve spending.
Sunday, January 3, 2010
Decrease the Debt
My high school class recently was given the opportunity to meet our current County Executive. She spoke to us about our local, state and national governments. A big problem that came up in all three was debt. Debt plays a large role on the national level because this is what the state and local governments feed off of. This problem of national debt is increasing in size by the day. Both, American citizens and American officials cannot seem to keep their hands out of debt. Our country is currently in over $12 trillion in debt from failing to pay back other countries, and personal debt from our citizens. We need to educate our citizens and help them understand that conserving personal and corporate spending can go a long way.
The Great Depression could be described as the starting point from national debt. Throughout that time period, Roosevelt tried to deficit the government's spending. This plan worked for a short while, but he eventually stopped around 1937. This is when the economy nose-dived and all of our money went down the drain. When all of our money was gone, we did not stop spending, we kept spending. Our country's economy is running on debt to this day, and has to be paid back over decades. Many presidents after Roosevelt had numerous attempts to reform the debt, but only small dents were made. President Obama recently issued the economic stimulus package that was designed to create jobs, and decrease our debt. For instance, one part of the package is that businesses will get "bonus" depreciation for investing in new plants and new equipment. This plan itself is $125 billion bigger than the controversial bailout for the financial-services industry. It will eventually restore our economy to some extent and in the end reduce our national debt tremendously.
I agree with Obama's plan for the most part, because in order to crack the national debt, we need an unemployment rate at its lowest ever. We also need to get the citizens to stop spending frivolously. We have to educate our citizens and let them know that our debt has to be decreased now because we eventually will become too far into debt, and it would be impossible to get out. In order to get the American citizens to believe in saving money instead of spending, we need to offer incentives. Incentives such as a couple that clears 30 percent or more of their credit card debt should be eligible for a tax reduction from the government. By simply conserving money that is spent on unnecessary items, huge amounts of money can be saved.
In conclusion, everyone knows about our country and its debt, but no one seems to want to do anything about it. The government needs to step up and offer more incentives for “smart savers,” that are trying to do well not only for themselves, but for their country. President Obama is doing all that he can, but he needs some moral support from his citizens.
Sources:
1)http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123202946622485595.html
2)http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
3)http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
The Great Depression could be described as the starting point from national debt. Throughout that time period, Roosevelt tried to deficit the government's spending. This plan worked for a short while, but he eventually stopped around 1937. This is when the economy nose-dived and all of our money went down the drain. When all of our money was gone, we did not stop spending, we kept spending. Our country's economy is running on debt to this day, and has to be paid back over decades. Many presidents after Roosevelt had numerous attempts to reform the debt, but only small dents were made. President Obama recently issued the economic stimulus package that was designed to create jobs, and decrease our debt. For instance, one part of the package is that businesses will get "bonus" depreciation for investing in new plants and new equipment. This plan itself is $125 billion bigger than the controversial bailout for the financial-services industry. It will eventually restore our economy to some extent and in the end reduce our national debt tremendously.
I agree with Obama's plan for the most part, because in order to crack the national debt, we need an unemployment rate at its lowest ever. We also need to get the citizens to stop spending frivolously. We have to educate our citizens and let them know that our debt has to be decreased now because we eventually will become too far into debt, and it would be impossible to get out. In order to get the American citizens to believe in saving money instead of spending, we need to offer incentives. Incentives such as a couple that clears 30 percent or more of their credit card debt should be eligible for a tax reduction from the government. By simply conserving money that is spent on unnecessary items, huge amounts of money can be saved.
In conclusion, everyone knows about our country and its debt, but no one seems to want to do anything about it. The government needs to step up and offer more incentives for “smart savers,” that are trying to do well not only for themselves, but for their country. President Obama is doing all that he can, but he needs some moral support from his citizens.
Sources:
1)http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123202946622485595.html
2)http://zfacts.com/p/318.html
3)http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/
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