Guest Author - Carla Cano
The government has put aside its differences and came up with a working budget to keep the United States from defaulting on our loans. Right? Ideally, yes, that seems to be the case. However, realistically it looks like the best we can hope for is a band aid where we needed stitches. The Senate and House agreed on the Budge Control Act of 2011 and President Obama signed it in on August 2, 2011. This was the deadline that was set by the Department of Treasury earlier this year. This has been a long hard battle. Many are asking who won.
Neither side can claim victory. The reduction of spending by $2.1 to $2.4 trillion is not close to the $4 trillion needed. They didn’t raise taxes as they needed to do. In fact, this seems little more than a plan to construct yet another committee to look at it later in the year. A committee made up of six republicans and six democrats are to discuss the possibility of tax increases and reductions in entitlement programs such as Medicare and social security.
Any head of household knows that it is impossible to save money without bringing money in, as well as not spending it. Republicans still refuse to increase any taxes or closing of known tax loopholes for the extremely wealthy and many corporations. Democrats do not want to cut from many of the entitlement programs, especially in a time of recession when there are so many Americans in need. There obviously needs to be some compromising yet it seems like there isn’t any on the horizon.
The country for the first time in our history has been downgraded from an AAA credit rating to an AAplus rating by Standard & Poor. There are even indications of falling even lower in the next 12 to 18 months. This is a hard hit to not only our already teetering economic situation but to the American image and reputation as well.
A lot of finger pointing toward President Obama and the democrats being responsible for this downgraded credit rating. The blames lies with every faucet of the government. Obama inherited a mess and for many reasons it has just gotten messier. The republicans and their tea party just added fuel to the fire with grandstanding and finger pointing instead of coming up with a true working plan.
Tea Party members were elected on the platform that they would not do business as usual; they would get things done for the American people. The political game has become even more political since those elections. The American people need leaders that know how to take responsibility, good and bad, for their actions. Americans need leaders that care about Americans more than what they can fill their pockets with.
Our government officials have proven they are unable to put the needs of the American people first. The only thing that seems to have come out of this is that they plan to debate further and cause more strife for the economic growth of the country and the moral of the already downtrodden masses that are struggling to put food on the table and a roof over their family’s heads. The voters of the United States need to go back to the drawing board. Voters need to expect results; voters need to communicate with their elected officials.
Time will tell just how well this Budget Plan will work. However, remember if you’re not happy contact your senators and representatives, email, call and write them to express your feelings on every topic that is important to your family. So far, we know that their arguing a point to death does nothing for the health and growth of our country. It is time for the name calling and finger pointing to stop and get down to the business of making a healthy, prosperous environment for American families to live the American Dream.
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