Boosting the Minimum

SUMMARY





Recently, the minimum wage any worker can recieve has been raised to $7.25 an hour from the previous $5.15 and hour which Congress passed in 2007. The minimum wage increase was included in a large Iraq spending bill which also included $4.8 billion dollars in tax cuts for small businesses. Those who support the increase in minimum wage argue that any person living on minimum wage should not be below the poverty line so the increase will help all who struggle with poverty who live on minimum wage salaries. Supporters also argue that since people have more money to spend, it will cause an economic boost which will outweigh the negative effects of the wage increase which include higher material costs to cover the higher salary those companies will be paying their workers. Finally, they make the point that although they support the wage increase, they don't necissarily support the tax cuts for businesses because they claim that these same businesses have already recieve an abundance of tax breaks. Opponents of the minimum wage increase also have many strong points in their argument. They say that minimum wage only affects a small percentage of the workforce because they majority of people working at minimum wage are teenagers who aren't fully supporting themselves. Opponents, contradictory to supporters, believe that instead of an economic boost, a slump will occur from the loss of jobs and raised prices from businesses who don't have enough money to pay their workers the increased wage. They also think that the laws of supply and demand should govern the minimum wage and suggest that a better way to reduce the number of people in poverty is to increase the EITC program which rewards people with jobs who recieve low income but also doesn't interfere with America's market-based economy which jobs keep rolling strong.





OPINION





Personally, I am a full supporter of minimum wage, and the tax cuts for small businesses. Last Spring, Summer, and Fall, I worked at Dairy Queen North. This is considered a small business and this one store was all the owners had. If they hadn't recieved tax breaks, I don't think they would have been able to keep all of the employees that they have right now while paying us on the increased minimum wage. I think that this is a similar situation for all small business owners. The reason why i support the minimum wage increase is because, even though we are teenagers, working long hours and recieving low pay doesn't even meet our demands of gas and other things (assuming that we don't work full time.) Onlookers also have to realize that although we are still technically "supported" by our parents, that doesn't mean that they provide more than a shelter for us. Many teenagers in America have to pay for much more, especially if they are living in a povertized home. As frustrating as it is to see people drop out of school, have kids when they aren't married, and fall below the poverty line, it happens every day in our society. People's choices affect all of us which is now apparent in this sliding economy. Someone chose not to go to college, they find a minimum wage job because they have few learned skills, fall below the poverty line, apply for medicare, welfare and food stamps, and drag our economy into a lower slump. Likewise, it works the opposite way as well. I think that a minimum wage increase will benefit these people working full time at minimum wage, and will therefore benefit the rest of the economy as well. Another person who supports the minimum wage increase is: George W. Bush.

Joe Wymore did his blog on "All Things Being Unequal" and Issue # 3:

Fox says 'Avatar' is costliest film it's ever made

Avatar, expected to release next month, is Fox's most expensisve film yet. Directed by James Cameron, the same director who directed Titanic, this movie is suspected to be worth the price. The final cost may add up to more than 300 million dollars to maket this film. James Gianopulos, co-chairman and CEO of Fox Filmed Entertainment, stated that the film is well worth the money so he wasn't too shook up about the cost. Cameron has quite a reputation for high budget films that result in high grossing films at the box office. He even won an Oscar for Titanic back in 1997. It is said that Cameron has had the idea for this movie in his mind for over 10 years and has just been waiting around for the technology to catch up to his storyline so that he could make the movie exactly the way he pictured it. Cameron even invented part of the technology a computer-generated image with live action. Gianopulos reasures by stating that films of this magnitude that attract such a large global audience, are typically more expensive because of the new technological advances they include. Avatar is also in 3D. Gianopulos says that the majority of the movies Fox will produce in the future will also be 3D and he predicts that movie theaters everywhere will begin to put more and more 3D screens into their theaters because eventually it will be the norm.

I think that this movie is going to just about meet Fox's expectations. I'm not quite sure if it will make tons of money just because the budget was so big. A lot of theaters still don't have 3D screens either so I don't think the movie will be as good on regular screens or appear as it's supposed to so not as many people will think it is as epic as the producers are expecting it to be. Video games are really popular these days though and this movie will definately attract those who are into the new technology, special effects and graphics of the movie. I think that I will go see it just to see if it measures up to the 300 million they spent making it.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Movies/12/07/avatar.gianopulos/index.html?iref=allsearch

Comprehensive vs. Incremental Health Care Reform

There have been numerous proposals across the political spectrum for different plans of health care reform. All of these proposals, which differ mainly when considering the details, are usually split in to two categories. One group wants the see health care reform by incremental adjustments and the other would like to see universal coverage, ( in other words health care for all citizens of the U.S.) Supporters of the latter think that in order to ensure equal access for all citizens to medical care, the government needs to take control of the money side of the nation's health care system. These supporters suggest the Medicare and Medicaid are the top fire flamers to the increase in medical costs. These programs, they argue, have failed to support the unisured. Since the baby boom is starting to age, these programs will not be able to run much longer with their heads above the water. If health care was univeral, the federal government would become a single purchaser which would be able to force medical care providers to keep costs low. Another proposal concerning universal care would offer tax credits or money to the poor that would allow them to purchase the insurance that they need. Lastly, a hybrid systyem proposal would include government funded vouchers for insurance to all citizens but would also offer choices of upgrade which would allow competition to still play a role in the decision process of choosing the type of health insurance that a particular person might want. In this case, basic health insurance would be universal but everyone would be able to choose from a variety of plans and also purchase additonal coverage. Those opposing the idea of universal health care and promoting its change by incriments, don't oppose the idea of health care for all but they don't agree with the way the univeral health care plans achieve that goal. Their main argument concerns the decrease of competition between health care providers that would ultimately result in poor service. For example: long waiting periods for surgeries. They also argue that health care is a large and important part of the economy here in America and that government sponsored health care would cause thousands of medical industry workers and insurance workes without jobs. Although all these critics have done a lot more than oppose universal health care, they have made proposals for change as well. They propose that small changes such as enhancing Health Savings Accounts, offering tax deductions, and making consumers pay more of their health care insurance out of their pocket, will in turn reduce our debt and help reform health care. Basically, they would like to better inform consumers with the information on medical quality and costs. With these changes in place these policymakers believe that health care will naturally reform itself.

I definatley think that universal health care is the only way that this health care problem will completely be solved. Incremental adjustments may solve problems that present themselves in the near future, but in the long run, they won't be sufficient enough so save the country a large sum of money. Also, little changes will keep having to be made to keep up with the times, which will only elongate the reform of health care. Also, the proposal that consumers should pay greater shares of health care and medical expenses out of their pocket, supported by those whom oppose universal health, just doesn't make sense to me. Isn't that the problem in the first place? One of the main reasons that people aren't purchasing health insurance is because they don't want or have the money to pay for the inflated prices of these items, not to mention those whom are denied converage by companies because of preexisting health conditions. By requiring universal health care, insurance companies would have to keep their prices low because of restrictions set by the government. The only thing that I have to say to people that are concerned with the competition of the insurance companies suffering is that they should stop and think for a moment, about whether or not money or the saftey and concern for all human beings is more important. If the answer isn't the latter, theyhave some serious greed and selfishness issues. Although I think that universal heath care is the answer to this long drawn out battle against health care reform, I do realize that the health care industry is a large part of our economy and by having the government be a single purchaser could cause some problems. That's why I believe that the plan involving the hybrid system. This way, everyone would at least have basic coverage, but people who want or need more can purchase it from competing companies similar to how they purchase health insurance now. Another reason I think that universal health care is the answer is because Medicare and Medicaid have been driving America into debt. With the baby boom aging, these companies, especially Medicare, are not going to survive. There will be too many people who use Medicare with not enough people to pay taxes for it. I do think that another plan in addition to universal care has to be activated before these companies fall under or else doctors will not recieve the supplies they need and elderly people won't recieve the proper care they need. In conclusion, health care is a definate and serious problem. Our country is falling farther into debt with every second. I think that Obama is doing a good job trying to comprimise a universal health care plan with incremenatl changes. Of course not everyone is going to get what they want, but just like the Federalists and Anti-Federalits, if both sides of this argument give a little, then I think that a solid health care reform plan can be reached.

For further reading Kate's blog dicusses issue number three concerning food bourne illness and Erin Takle discusses issue number two: Ensuring Quality Care for Medicare Patients.

Missing baby was locked in chest for 12 hours

A mother reported a baby missing early Sunday morning. The baby was just found in a chest under her aunt's bed and she was reported to be in there for at least 12 hours. Both the aunt and the mother are being initially charged for this act. There isn't much information yet, futher details will be released once some things are cleared up. The incident happened near Chipley in Florida's panhandle near Alabama. The baby was recovered alive and is doing fine.

This baby was completely helpless. I'm not sure if the mother and aunt were trying to pull a publicity stunt or what, but things like this just aren't acceptable. Sometimes I think that people should have to have a license to have childrent. Children such as this little girl don't have a say in what happens to them and it isn't right for things like this to happen. Luckily the baby is alive and well.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/05/florida.baby.found/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

U.S. serviceman dies in shooting at Mexican strip club

Early this morning, there was a shooting in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico in a strip club. Over 2000 murders have already been reported there this year. Six men were fatally wounded in this morning's shooting and another was injured. Two of the victims were identified as employees of the strip club and another was identified as U.S. citizen David Booher. Booher was stationed at Holloman Air Force base near Alamogordo, New Mexico. He was 26 years old. Booher was at the strip club even though these particular drug and violence related "border cities" are supposed to be off limits to U.S. military. Apparently all evidence leads to the gunman targeting his victims. These deaths were planned.



First of all, what was Booher doing at this strip club? That city is supposed to be off limits for U.S. military. Second of all, it makes me wonder what a member of the U.S. Airforce could have gotten caughten up in with the wrong people from Chihuhana. I think he slightly disgraced America. When news stories like this surface it only further proves that the military, along with our government has its flaws, which aren't very appealing to the public. Border patrol is a huge issue not only amoung politicians but citizens, and a U.S. Airforce member who is breaking the rules by entering a forbidden city, let alone going to a strip club, doesn't set a very good example of the improvements of border patrol for the citizens of America.



http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/11/04/mexico.us.airman.killed/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

7th person arrested in gang rape

This article confirms that the seventh person has been arrested in the gang rape that took place in an alley outside of a highschool campus is northern California. There has been approximately ten people that are up for charge for the rape. It appararently took place for 2+ hours and there were around ten bystanders that watched parts of the rape and didn't contact the police or a higher authority. The victim was brought to the hospital that night in critical condition and was released later the next day. The victim's parents urge viewers to channel their anger positively by finding ways to prevent further attacks similar to this one.


I honestly think there has to be something seriously wrong, not only with the kids that raped the girl, for whatever reason there is no justification, but also with the bystanders who just watched withough telling anyone! If there is a serious crime being committing, especially one that is happening for two hours, it should be reported at first sight no matter how much you dislike someone being victimized or how much you like someone committing the crime. I don't know how anyone could live with themselves knowing that they could have stopped something like this from happening.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/11/03/california.gang.rape/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Coroner says 6 women whose bodies were found at home died violently

On Saturday October 31st in Cleveland, Ohio, six women were found dead in Anthony Sowell's home. The police had issued a search warrant and arrest of Sowell's house after a victim had charged him of rape. Sowell was already a convicted sex offender who was in jail from 1990 to 2005. Five of the women's bodies were found inside in make shift graves, while another was found in a shallow grave outside the house. Sowell made his living by "scrapping." He would find peices of scrap metal and sell it to junkyards. The six women are still unidetified but have apparently been in the house for weeks, months or maybe even years. It appears that Sowell strangled the majority of his victims.


It shocks me that these women have been missing for this long and nothing was done about it before. These women might have been missing for years and the police didn't search for them? This seems a little bit odd to me. Another thing that upsets me about this article is how this guy has already been in jail before and was released. The majority of people that are convicted of rape have a problem. Honestly, I don't think that this problem just goes away. Obviously Sowell had some major mental issues and by releasing him from jail he killed six innocent women. Stories like this are tragic and what makes them even sadder is the fact that it could have been prevented.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/31/ohio.cleveland.bodies/index.html?eref=rss_topstories

Police: UConn football player stabbed to death

The UConn cornerback Jasper Howard was stabbed in the abdomen last Saturday Ocotber 17th. A fire alarm was pulled at about 12:26 PM during a student sponsored dance. Apparently a fight broke out between two groups of people around 12:33 and Howard and an unidentified body were both stabbed. Howard was air lifted to St. Francis Hospital in Hartford. He was pronounced dead early Sunday morning. The football coach, Esdall, had to identify the body because all of his family lives in Florida. Howard was a father to be, a brother to all on his football team and a beloved son to his mom.

This is one of those stories that I hate even hearing about. I really don't understand what can drive someone to hate another so much that they would kill them. From the sounds of it Jasper didn't have a whole lot of enemies. A teammate of his Desi Cullen was actually in tears when describing his, and the whole football teams, relationship with Howard. His mom was also in tears while she tried to choke out what a good kid her son was. He was also a father to be. That is the saddest part I think. The fact that this little baby is going to be born into the world without a father is heart breaking. I really hope that the murderer is found and put away for his awful crime.




http://www.cnn.com/2009/CRIME/10/18/connecticut.football.stabbing/index.html?eref=rss_topstories#cnnSTCVideo

Commentary: When Nobel Prize rewarded failure

Julian E. Zelizer, the author of this piece, discusses the comparison of Obama to Woodrow Wilson and when each of the presidents recieved the Nobel Peace Prize and what that indicated to the world. Wilson, who was the 28th president, recieved the Nobel Prize toward the end of his second term of presidency. Wilson recieved the award for his "campaign to gain ratification for the League of Nations" in 1919. Wilson, by this point was at the end of his ropes. The second term of his presidency was said the have been full of failures. The president had failed to convince the Senate to ratify the Treaty of Versailles, which was the agreement signed at the end of WWI, and he drug the U.S. into a bloody war when he in fact promised to keep them out of war during his second term campaign. In fact, Wilson wasn't even present to accept the award because he had just suffered from a stroke. Wilson didn't only take the Nobel Prize as an honor but said that he would use it to humble him into seeing all the work that still needed to be done. Obama, on the other hand, has recieved the Nobel Peace Prize at the beginning of his presidency. So instead of using it to look back on all his failures, he can use is as a motive to succeed and acheive the goals which he is pursuing.

I really like this article. Many people criticized Obama's win of the Nobel Prize, but this article didn't judge whether or not the President deserved the award, it just looked at it analytically. It showed how the Nobel Prize could be use for motivation instead of just being another trophy on the shelf of President Obama. That although he may or may not have deserved the award, he can definately show others how he will use the award to better the citizens of America. I not only hope that Obama will uphold the U.S. and turn this country around but I also hope that American's will realize that Obama won this award for a reason. That other people all around the world think that he is an amazing peace promoter and human being and I hope that all citizens, of any political parties, will work together to help him accomplish our countries goals.

For further reading on this topic Marit Aaseng's blog is an extension of my opinion.


http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/10/12/zelizer.nobel.wilson.failure/index.html

Spending What We Can Afford

In 2007 Congress passed a "pay as you go budgeting" systerm. It requires that any tax cuts or increases in entitlement spending be offset with reduced spending elswhere. People that support the "paygo" system say that it is necessary to show that Congress undedrstands that being in debt is not acceptable and needs to be contained. They argue that many citizens are concerned about the rising national debt and paygo rightly responds to their worries. They also advocate that this system will teach congress how to budget their money and only spend the money they have, as most businesses' and families already know how to do. Supporters also think that if Congress took the time to collect unpaid taxes, and eliminate wasteful spending, they could most likely raise most of the money needed to pay for new initiatives without increasing their debt. Finally, they argue that paygo can be stopped if necessary, such as in an extreme situation like a recession or crisis. On the other hand, opponents to the paygo system criticize that paygo is the wrong way to approach a budget deficit. They think that paygo will result in higher taxes to pay for the new programs instead of cutting back on the money. They say that budget deficits should be eliminated by economic growht rather than budget cuts and tax increases. Some of them also say that paygo would restrict Congress from responding to national emergencies. Finally, those who don't support the paygo plan argue that program cuts or tax increases will anger voters.

I agree with the paygo plan. It is logical and reasonable. I think it is rediculous that our country can spend money it doesn't have and increase our national debt. If we focused on making money instead of spending it for even a single year i think it would make a huge difference. Personally, I don't really understand how it is possible for us to spend all of this money that we don't have. Where is it coming from? If we had a paygo system, it would help stop the uncontrolled spending that Congress seems to do. Of course the downfall is if Congress decides to raise our taxes for funding for their programs instead of cutting back on spending. Honestly I'm not really sure this would happen considering that that's what would anger voters and the congressman most likely wouldn't be voted in for a next term. Representative Steny Hoyer, who is the majority leader for the House of Representatives, also supports the paygo system. He says, "agreeing to pay for what we buy is a decision to stop digging our hole any deeper, and that is a necessary start."

Randee O'Brien's blog discusses issue number 3: social insecurity and Steven Carlson discusses the cost of war in his blog.

Can Obama fit any more on his plate?

http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/09/29/obama.full.plate/index.html?eref=rss_politics

In this article Crowley goes over Obama's fall agenda. His to-do list includes: a trip to Copenhagen to try and get the 2016 Olympics to take place in Chicago, Illinois, health care reform, financial reform, Iran's nuclear ambitions, wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and closing down Guantanamo Bay prison. Crowley also noted that during Obama's campaign he said that he was up for the job and that he could handle dealing with multiple issues at one time. The ending statement implies that he isn't staying true to his word.

This article slightly annoys me. It's not just that it is criticizing Obama like the rest of the media but the fact that we stand from a far and judge the President saying that he isn't getting anything done. What is he doing then? He is obviously not just lounging around on the couch watching TV all day. Health care reform is his number one priority right now. He is working diligently to change the way that system works in our country and no one can deny that. It's the fact that "we" (the people) are disagreeing, arguing and creating different bills and versions of bills that's taking so long. I don't think that we should look at the President and accuse him of not getting his agenda done. I think that we should look around, unite ourselves as a nation, and solve the problems that need to be fixed so that the President can stay true to his deadlines and move our nation forward into a better economy and society for ALL people.

Gov't made 70 percent of clunker payments

Basically, this article reinsured people that the car dealerships that participated in the "cash for clunkers" program are being reibursed. The government has already compensated for 70 percent of the dealerships and hopes to compensate for the rest by the end of September. They also said that there was no doubt that this program was a success because many auto dealerships were saved from bankruptcy. Including a GM dealership in a small town in MO saving hundreds of jobs. All in all the government and the auto dealerships were very pleased about the success of the "cash for clunkers" program.


I think that the cash for clunkers program was a really good idea to save jobs and get the economy moving again. The thing that i don't understand is where all this money is coming from. This country is in extreme debt and paying car dealerships money so people can get a discount on a new car isn't exactly helping the cause. It worries me a little that we are spending so much money and making so little. I am not really sure what the solution is. I think that as Americans we are a little spoiled. We import so many things and export a significantly lower amount than what we import. In other countries, such as Norway, they barely import anything. This also means that they have fewer choices of food, clothing etc. There is not 5 different types of sports drinks or hundreds of brands of clothes. They manufacture their own clothing and that is where their selection comes from. Back to cash for clunkers, weighing the pros and the cons, was it worth putting the govornment in more debt? Or did the economy pick up enough to cancel it out?


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32877454/ns/business-autos/

Obama projects $900 billion to fix health care

During Obama's health care reform speech, he clarifyed his plan for America. He confronted various myths about his health care plan such as death jpanels, public option and coverage for illegal immigrants. He also promoted bipartisanship, saying that all parties have to come together as a whole in order to accomplish the reform of health care. He also stated that previous presidents have tried and failed to reform the health care program and that he would be the last one to fail because he would succeed. He also said that he is completely open to all ideas from both parties as long as they accomplished the ultimate goal of ensuring coverage for uninsured Americans and promising security and stability for those who already have coverage. All of this information is based off of the following link:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/32752036/ns/politics-health_care_reform/


Honestly, before this blog assignment, i have never gotten in depth with politics. Of course i slightly pay attention to the presidential election when it comes around ever four years, but nothing really beyond that. The first time i read through this article i was confused. First of all i wasn't sure if i knew exactly what health care was. I am only 17 years old so i have never been involved in the insurance process because my parents took care of it all. Even though at first i didnt really understand the article, I was intrigued by it. All this controversy was exciting so i decided to look into it a little deeper. So, i watched some news clips and I started talking to people. I could absolutely not believe how irrational some people are. It boggled my mind that a representative would yell out during a presidential speech to the President himself! Accusing him of lying!!! There are many things i agree with Obama on concerning health care but also a few i don't. I think it is important that an insurance exchange will be created, and also that insurance companies will no longer be able to deny families coverage because of pre-exsisting conditions. I also think that it is smart to require employers to provide health ensurance for their employees. I think that this will lower the number of people taking advantage of the government by mooching off of the fact that they are unemployed, therefore recieving free insurance, among other things. That is one of the downfalls of requiring everyone to be ensured is in fact people taking advantage of the system. Unfortunately, hard working Americans will have to pay for it. On the other hand, having everyone ensured will save millions of people from financial disaster if someone in their family becomes extremely ill. It will also save peoples lives because they will be able to get medical help when they need it. Personally, my little brother was diagnosed with leukemia 3 years ago, and even with the great health insurance my father recieves from 3M, we are still paying for some of his treatment, but i can't even imagine how much debt we would be in if we didn't have that insurance so i do think that this plan is overall a good way to start off. Obama also said he was completely open to more reform from anyone who had ideas so honestly i don't know why anyone doesn't support more, and better health care for millions of Americans.

If you would like to hear a different opinion on this topic. Aaron Rentschler's blog discusses the topic from another point of view.