Merry Christmas

I couldn't imagine how frustrating it was to set this up.

Japan's Stimulus Package

Japan has just announced an 80.6 billion dollar stimulus package to help maintain the economy's slow recovery. Deflation and an increased value of the yen has been working against the recovery of the Japanese economy, making it hard on many businesses.

After enduring its worst recession since World War II, Japan’s economy grew for the second straight quarter in the July-September period, expanding at an annualized pace of 4.8 percent. It was the strongest growth in more than two years thanks to previous stimulus measures and improvement in global demand...

The package includes measures to bolster employment, extend consumer incentives to buy eco-friendly products and provide support for small and medium-size firms hurt by the strong yen.

We aren't the only ones pumping billions of dollars into our economy. This serves as a little reminder that the economic downturn has been felt all around the world. However, this also shows that hopefully the global economy is recovering.

Healthcare Alternative

Democratic lawmakers are looking into a way to allow the government to contract a commercial insurer to give benefits to Americans who do not receive benefits through their work. The plan would also include and expansion of medicare that would allow more people access to the program. An article about the alternative plan from the Baltimore Sun reads;

The idea is that with federal oversight on behalf of consumers, the new plan would be more responsive to the needs of beneficiaries than are the private plans that would be offered by competing insurance companies.

At the same time, lawmakers are looking into how to allow Americans between 55 and 64 to buy into the Medicare program, which now primarily serves people 65 or older.

The Medicare expansion has long been a top priority of groups such as the AARP, and it has the backing of many liberal lawmakers, who see it as an extension of the federal government's most powerful existing public plan.

It is obvious that our healthcare system needs reform so that more Americans can afford healthcare. That is why it is important for the government to create more options for Americans and to make it easier for Americans to get healthcare benefits. Hopefully Washington will be able to find a solution that works for everyone with this alternative.

America's Debt Problem

In an article written at the end of last month by Republican John Boehner, he talks about how Washington is handling America's rapidly growing debt. He says that the trillion dollar stimulus that was supposed to create jobs just produced examples of wasteful spending by the government. He expresses his opinion;

The federal government is currently operating on a budget that doubles the national debt in the next five years and triples it in the next 10.

By the time the next decade is out, interest payments to sustain the national debt will exceed $700 billion. That is more than what our nation will spend this year on education, energy, homeland security and the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan – combined.

Out-of-control spending has been a problem for years in Washington, but instead of hitting the brakes on spending as they promised they would, President Obama and Washington Democrats have stepped on the accelerator. Now, instead of working with Republicans to impose real fiscal discipline, Washington Democrats believe the answer is more of the same unsustainable spending and borrowing. Our kids and grandkids should not have to foot the bill because out-of-touch Washington Democrats will not make the same tough choices required of every family struggling to make ends meet.

I believe that his analysis of the situation is a little biased, but he is right in a couple ways. The government will not be able to continue pumping as much money as they are currently into the economy, although it can be argued that it is completely necessary. The fact that he brought up about the future interest payments is alarming and shows that the government is going to have to find a way to cut down the debt or keep it from continuing to grow in the next few years.

Skepticism on Global Warming

A CNN survey released on Monday found that two thirds of all Americans believe in global warming, which is down eight percent since June of last year. The survey also found that the decline in support for global warming is a result from decreasing belief among republicans. In the article, Keating Holland, the CNN polling director suggested that,

The growing skepticism among Republicans, with no matching shift among Democrats, suggests that the changes measured in this poll may be a reaction to having a Democrat in the White House rather than a shift in underlying attitudes toward global warming.

He believes that the growing skepticism among republicans over global warming is not a result of growing disbelief in the theory, but attributed it to there being a Democatric president, indicated by the shift only observed in the republican party.