Republican's Folly

On Monday, October 21, 2013, The Huffington Post, published an article titled "Republicans Shoot America in the Foot" written by Leo W. Gerard, one of The Huffington Post's signature contributors. Gerard writes his opinion about how the Republicans have done something rather self-deprecating to America. Throughout his blog, Gerard mentions how the Republicans kept referring to the whole government shutdown like it was some sort of battle that they just lost. Gerard believes that the Republicans had not only hurt themselves, but also aided in hurting the entire nation as a whole by holding "hostage" the government, which in turn "depressed growth and killed jobs."

Gerard begins backing up his argument with some evidence from a Washington Post-ABC poll that found that nearly three-quarters of Americans disapproved of Republicans and that the poll also found that 47% of Republicans disapprove of Congressional Republicans. Gerard gives an example of Senator John McCain stating that the government shutdown was a "hard blow to the Republican Party," which further proves his argument that even a well-known Republican acknowledges that the GOP had really screwed up in this situation. He continues in his post by giving us facts about the government shutdown like for example, how the 16-day shutdown "took $24 billion out of the economy and suppressed growth."

Gerard then explains all the ripple effect consequences that came out of the government shutdown and it was all because of the GOP's war on the government that is to blame. He gives his predictions on how the after-effects of the government shutdown may affect the market and raise borrowing costs for not only the government but for also homebuyers and businesses. Gerard ends his post with how the Republicans will possibly close the government again come Jan. 15, when financing expires under the deal that was approved upon last week.

Leo W. Gerard's intended audience can be seen to be aimed at the general public and the Democratic Party because he tries to convince his readers of the wrongdoings of the GOP and that these mistakes may cost the Republicans dearly, in coming elections. I do believe in Gerard's credibility because of his experience in various policy committees and groups. His title of International President of the United Steelworkers Union (USW) also gives him credit since it is the largest manufacturing union in North America, representing 1.2 million active and retired industrial and service sector workers in the U.S., Canada, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. I would have to agree with Mr. Gerard's argument of the GOP not only shooting themselves in the foot but also shooting America in the foot. His examples of the Republicans threat of default showed that it was a waste of money and did nothing for the economy but made it even more difficult for it to recover from the recent "Great Recession." I find it sad that the GOP took the measures that they took just to prove a point. Why risk a complete meltdown of the nation? It seems rather a folly move on their part. I guess issues like these will never have a truly perfect solution, but rather it is up to the people of this nation to learn from these events and to build upon those experiences to create the near perfect solution. I do wonder what will become of us come January 15, 2014...only time will tell.

The Nation's Debt Ceiling

On Monday, October 7, 2013, The New York Times published an article titled "Why the Debt Ceiling Matters" written by Joe Nocera, one of The New York Times' Op-Ed Columnist. Nocera writes why the U.S. Government's debt ceiling should matter to everyone (or at least to Americans) and explains how it will affect the World's financial stage if the U.S. falls into default. He brings up the word "catastrophic" and how, in years past, this particular word had scared Congressmen to spur into action to keep the nation from defaulting. The Tea Party Republicans, according to Nocera, wants the U.S. Government to go into default in order to bring about "the smaller government they so yearn for."

From there he builds his argument stating the 14th amendment of the U.S. Constitution will come in as a possible solution that President Obama may use to ignore the debt ceiling. Nocera argues a second point of how the U.S. Government Debt is important to the world financial market as being a model that is used to measure the world's financial system. If the U.S. were to go into default, Nocera believes that it would cause several consequences to our economy and the world's economy. He continues in the article about how Social Security recipients would possibly not be paid because the U.S. would prioritize paying other creditors like bondholders in China if the U.S. defaults. Joe Nocera then asks the question of why the nation would risk one of its greatest asset, "the backing of its debt" when it gives the United States so many advantages.

Joe Nocera's intended audience seems to be aimed towards the general public and possibly to the Tea Party Republicans. I do believe that he has credibility in his writing because he also works with NPR as a business commentator and has over 10 years in experience with several business related magazines and papers. From what I'm getting from Joe Nocera's article is that he believes we should raise the debt ceiling in order to create stability for the our economy and the world's economy. Nocera's argument of how the U.S. would have less credibility with its investors, if we defaulted, made a strong point. I agree with the argument that if raising the debt ceiling is what it takes to divert a world scale financial problem, then so be it. I think its better to stay afloat in misery than to sink into despair. I will say though, that a small part of me does disagree with raising the debt ceiling because it makes me wonder if the U.S. will ever have a reasonable amount debt that we can handle. If we continue to allow ourselves  to raise the debt ceiling, it means that America's future generations will continue to be drag into this never ending process. It seems that every year or so the U.S. Government goes through this crazy process and can never really find a true end all solution. Some drastic measures would probably be needed to fix this problem. What those measures could be is hard to say, but it's truly something the nation as a whole really needs to think about.