It’s been a while since my last post. Mostly because of a sheer lack of time, but I wanted to write one larger post which will encompass a few different topics and be my State of the Wing address.
Debt and Debt and More Debt
As we now sit, the federal government’s deficit is currently at 13.2 trillion and is constantly and consistently rising. It is projected that is will reach 19.6 trillion by 2015. The government wants to spend X amount this year and only has X amount, which is much less. This is known as a budget deficit.
So, what do you do when you need or plan to spend X amount, but do not have that amount available to you? The answer is to put it on a credit card or take out a loan. At least that is what you or I would do. The government essentially does the same thing except they borrow from foreign countries and independent lenders. The problem is that after so many years of borrowing more and more and paying down nothing, lenders and creditors lose faith that the borrower can repay the loans. This is essentially where the United States is currently sitting.
Mired in its own self-inflicted spiraling debt the current administration has done nothing. Instead of creating a solid, feasible plan for paying down the federal debt, the current administration seems to be spending with no regards to how we are going to balance things out. In case you’ve been sleeping under a rock for the last two years, you have probably noticed that instead of figuring out ways to lower spending, the government has increased spending and through the use of “fuzzy math” created countless programs and new laws which will further bury the country in debt we cannot pay back.
The Obama Debacle
Starting to fade from the national news is the ongoing disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. The blame can be mostly cast upon British petroleum (BP) and their lack of planning, but it must be said that the government is at least partly responsible for the spill and the lack of urgency in the plugging and clean-up.
The government, in order to appease its own environmental laws, forced BP to move their drilling platform to a distance off the coast that would cause them to drill quite a ways down in order to reach a pocket of oil. This is why the leak has been so difficult to quell. The sheer distance it takes to get to the leak from the water’s surface makes it impossible for divers to go down and contain the leak, so BP must use robots and other insane methods. Needless to say, nothing has worked and BP has been less-than-honest about their numbers. Meanwhile, the government denies help and useful equipment from other countries and our President seems content to appear indignant on national television in a spot that hurt him more than it helped anybody.
The Conservative Rally
While the President is busy doing nothing in the Gulf and doing even less to suppress illegals from entering through our borders, the Conservative party, namely the Republicans with the help of the Tea Party, have been busy at work pointing out the shortcomings of the current administration.
With no help from the RNC chairman, Michael Steele and his constant debacles and gaffes, the Republicans seem to be growing slowly in both supporters and poll numbers.
This November will tell the major tale of where America is at politically. Do we decide to continue the path of outrageous spending and no communication with the American citizens wants or needs or do we decide to take matters in our own hands and take the country in a different direction.
Maybe the “change” the Obama campaign was talking about in 2008 is the change we are seeing right now. Maybe the change is that we no longer see allies, like Israel, as friends. Maybe the change is really just a chance to build a legacy, albeit a negative one. Whatever the change was that they were talking about in 2008, it’s certainly not the change the people still believe in…at least we’ll see if that’s true come November.
