Question from class.

                John Locke’s philosophy is all about equality, equality all the way around.  John Locke believes that there shouldn’t be one appointed above another, but as he goes on in his document he contradicts himself.  He says that one can punish another if they have sinned, but wouldn’t the person doing the punishing be sinning as well? John Locke’s principle starts to become the eye for an eye principle. 

                The Declaration of Independence is what our nation lives by; we follow its exact principles.  John Locke’s ideas are similar in some aspects to our nation, but a lot of things are different.  Our nation is unequal, that’s nothing new, but our nation also fights for equality.  The Declaration of Independence doesn’t contradict itself; it continues with the same thought and doesn’t stray away from it.  I think this consistency is needed for a nation to survive, and that’s why I don’t think John Locke’s principles could be turned into a working nation.  

Rebound time!

“How Obama Can Bounce Back in 2014”

Albert R. Hunt

January 5, 2014

The New York Times

                2013 just ended and President Obama is starting his 5^th year in office.   His 4^th year in office wasn’t his greatest, but there wasn’t any “real scandal”, only a policy blunder.  Bet you can’t guess what it was? The health care rollout.  The health care rollout is the main thing people are talking about related to government and politics.  The heath care rollout has been paused and even gone through some technical difficulties, so what does this do to President Obama?

                President Obama’s public standing has plummeted, due to the health care rollout, and history suggests that President Obama’s rebound from a second-term will be difficult.  The article states 5 ways that President Obama can defy those odds. 

                One way he can rebound from this setback is to “open up the wagons”, meaning that he needs to make some changes, not to completely transform, but to just make some changes.  Transforming his entire image in ways is something that even the president cannot do.  In one of my other blogs, I talked about President Obama changing and replacing a lot of his personnel.  Over the past month, there have been three important additions to the White House ranks: Serving as counselor is John D. Podesta, a former chief of staff to President Bill Clinton, who, other than Jim Baker in Ronald Reagan’s administration, was the most effective occupant of that position. Two others with considerable credibility are Phil Schiliro, as health care adviser, and Katie Beirne Fallon, who starts as congressional liaison.  The concern that is still high is that whether he will listen to them in a time of great need.

                Another way he can rebound is to mend health care.  This is the problem that has brought him down.  The goal of seven million enrollees by April 1 is beyond reach. There must, however, be a substantial number, of about five million, with a quarter of those young people to keep the support of the insurance industry and prevent an explosion in premiums.  The third way he can help his public standing is to “go on the offensive”.  This means that the best the House can do is neutralize the issue, and that’s exactly what needs to happen. 

                The 4^th way is called “beyond the water’s edge”.  A nuclear deal with the Iranians would be one such success.  Foreign policy achievements rarely elevate a second-term president’s popularity. Failure with Iran or a conflict in the South China Sea could undermine him further.  The last thing that could help President Obama is pure luck, and you already know what that is. 

                The economy will always be crucial and a tough thing.  “With the House controlled by Republicans, the president is devoid of realistic policy options to accelerate growth. But the psychology and perceptions may matter a lot.”  All in all, the odds still remain against President Obama for recovery, but there is always hope……..or luck.  

Modernizing

Slowly They Modernize: A Federal Agency That Still Uses Floppy Disks

Jada F. Smith

December 6, 2013

The New York Times

                Technology is one thing in our society that is always growing, always changing.  It’s best for society to change with the growing new technology.  Some people are happy with these changes; others are hesitant to change, such as the government.  The government is the one thing that we rely on for literally everything.  We rely on the government to protect us, serve us, and to keep everything in order.  Are there any consequences to the government not growing with society? Are there consequences to the government not updating their technology? 

                The article stated that the government’s technology problems with the HealthCare.gov website rollout may not been surprising to certain areas of the government, especially those who still use floppy disks, the cutting-edge technology of the 1980s.  Every day, the Federal Registrar uploads and updates the website with over 100 changes pertaining to executive orders, proclamations, proposed rule changes and other government notices that federal agencies are mandated to submit for public inspection.  However, the Federal Register employees who take in the information for publication from across the government still receive some of it on the 3.5-inch plastic storage squares that have become all but obsolete in the United States.  Why hasn’t the government changed over to flash drives or CD’s?

                “You’ve got this antiquated system that still works but is not nearly as efficient as it could be,” said Stan Soloway, chief executive of the Professional Services Council, which represents more than 370 government contractors. “Companies that work with the government, whether longstanding or newcomers, are all hamstrung by the same limitations.”  Floppy disks started out in the 1990’s and have become “ancient” in today’s time.  I don’t understand why the government doesn’t comply with updating their ways of formatting and mailing information to different agencies. 

                The secure email system, which uses software called Public Key Infrastructure technology, is expensive, and some government agencies have not yet upgraded to it. As a result, some agencies still scan documents on to a computer and save them on floppy disks.  The Federal Register’s director of legal affairs and policy, Amy P. Bunk, stated “that although many agencies did use the secure email system, The Federal Register could not require it until Congress made it compulsory by law.” 

                Other people are stating that some agencies have adapted to the new technology but that other agencies aren’t ready to adapt.  The truth is that they need to.  Floppy disks are “ancient” and some computers don’t accommodate them, to be honest.  Adapt and survive is what we do and what we should do.  

Shuffling the deck...... I mean the staff.

“Shuffling Staff, Obama Strives for a Recharge After a Tough Fifth Year”

Peter Baker

December 13, 2013

The New York Times

                Changes are a common occurrence.  Ways of living won’t always be the same as they were the day before or even the month before.  President Obama has been in office for 5 years, the 5^th year proving far more vexing than his 4^th.  Talks of changes were wondering around the White House for some time, and they have finally been revealed.  These changes have been regarding the personnel of the White House and to President Obama.

                The president has been seeking to recalibrate a White House operation that failed to win passage of most of his top legislative priorities for the year, struggled to preserve his public standing and bungled the rollout of his signature health care program.  The article states that a new  people and changes can sometimes “recharge” a program that was “stocked” with exhausted people, but the problem is is that nobody knows whether it’ll be a success or just and effort.   President Obama had opted against a dramatic announcement of the changes to new advisors.  

                “The latest came Friday, when he replaced his legislative director, Miguel Rodriguez, with Katie Beirne Fallon, an aide with ties to Senate Democratic leaders. That followed the recruitment of John D. Podesta, President Bill Clinton’s last chief of staff, and the return of Mr. Obama’s former adviser Phil Schiliro.”  Someone stated a metaphor to describe this situation as “needing fresh horses”.  “We’re in Year 5 of an administration,” said Jay Carney, the White House press secretary. “People come and people go after working harder in these jobs probably than they’ll ever work in their lives.”  “But,” he added, “I think those are specific on-off, if you will, assignments and personnel moves that I think reflect the normal kind of churn you see in White Houses over the years.”

                What do you think? Do you think that it was the right decision for Obama to replace some of his personnel? This decision could go good or could go bad.  It was go good in a sense that you would have “a fresh pair of eyes” on the situation, but it could go in a bad way in the sense that the people that have been working on the situation for years are being replaced by people who aren’t familiar with the situation.  I guess time will tell how this will work out, hopefully it will.  What do you think?

Is being sick more than just an illness?

Natalie Waits

 Written by: Gregory Wallace

CNN Money

December 6, 2013

Sick days: A luxury many hourly workers don’t have

                Sickness is the state of being ill.  Some illnesses you can push through with no problem, others you have to stay home due to risk of spreading or maybe because you can’t even leave the bathroom, but what happens to these workers who stay home due to illness?  Up until now workers who work many hours a day do not get paid when they are home sick, but several cities are trying to change that.

                New York City’s mayor-elect, Bill de Blasio, says that is top priority will be to trying to expand the new sick leave law when he takes office in January.  Beginning in April, New York City will require companies with 20 or more employees to provide up to five days of paid sick leave.  The existing law will eventually require companies with 15 or more employees to provide paid sick leave, but Blasio wishes to make it apply to companies with 5 or more employees.   As of right now, the new law will only allow 1 million workers to be granted paid sick leave, but Blasio’s addition will allow 384,000 more workers to be eligible for the paid sick leave plan. 

As always there will be people who aren’t happy about this new plan, employers of the low-wage workers are the main ones that are fighting against this.  They don’t want to shell out the extra money that they should already be giving them.  They don’t want to see this law go any further.  Andrew Rigie, executive director of the New York City Hospitality Alliance, said the version set to take effect next year "offers appropriate employee protections." His group represents restaurants, bars, hotels and similar venues. 

Councilman James Gennaro is also another fighting against the law, stating that “it is costly and unnecessary.”  "Typically, businesses in these sectors handle illness with an informal barter system, where employees can exchange shifts when they or a family member are ill. This is not something that the government can effectively regulate," Gennaro wrote in a 2012 op-ed published in The New York Post. The bill's "one size fits all" method won't work, Gennaro said. 

Supporters are finding every single bright side to this plan to help make it pass.  For instance, it would be less expensive, according to A Better Balance, than increasing employee wages by 25 cents an hour. 

This sounds like an effective and important law to pass.  Workers should get paid even when they are sick, because they can’t control when they are sick, it just happens.  

“What shutdown? Job growth strong in October”

Natalie Waits

P.5 Economics

“What shutdown? Job growth strong in October”

Annalyn Kurtz

November 8, 2013

“What shutdown? Job growth strong in October”

                We all know that the government had about a two week shutdown, jobs were lost and the economy was “stabilized”, but even though the government had closed its doors for 16 days, the job growth in October surged.  The U.S. economy added 204,000 jobs, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was well above economists' expectations.  Economists assumed weak job growth due to uncertainties created by the budget battles in Washington. 

                The federal government shut down on Oct. 1, after Congress failed to agree on a budget for fiscal 2014.  This left about 800,000 people jobless.  Wall Street began to talk again about when the Federal Reserve should start slowing its stimulus program after they had realized how strong the numbers were.  The Fed has been buying $85 billion in bonds each month since September 2012, in an effort to strengthen the job market. The Fed will next meet at the end of December, and the strong jobs report could mean officials will consider reducing their monthly bond purchases sooner rather than later.

                Overall, the economy has still not recovered all of the jobs lost in the Great Recession.  About 448,000 out of work federal workers were counted as being on temporary absence, and the next jobs report, due on December 6, will probably show that these people were back in work during the month of November.  Meanwhile, only 62.8% of Americans over age 16 either had a job or looked for one, the lowest it has been since March of 1978.  Heidi Shierholz, an economist with the Economic Policy Institute, estimates roughly six million workers are missing from the labor force, and if these workers started looking for work again, the unemployment rate would be closer to 11%, instead of 7.35 as it is right now. 

                But now I bet you are asking yourself, “Where did all those jobs come from?” Retailers added 44,000 jobs, professional and business services also added 44,000 jobs, restaurants and bars hired 29,000 workers and manufacturers added 12,000 jobs.  Looking at these numbers, do you think the government shut down did any good for our nation? If things didn’t change and in some cases the job numbers surged, what does this show? It shows that our nation can function through the bad, good and governmentless. 

Government Spending

Natalie Waits

Econ P.5

“U.S. Spending Cuts Seen as Key in Slowing Growth”

Nelson D. Schwartz

Posted on May 2, 2013

                On May 2, 2013, a shaking article was posted on “the New York times” website entitled, “U.S Spending Cuts Seen as Key in Slowing Growth.”  Government spending has been that topic in my economics classes this past week, how government spending affects us and our surroundings.  The way the government spends its money is crucial to our environment and the way we live out our daily lives.  Government spending can be both effective and ineffective.  Depends on the government I suppose.

                In a small military contractor business in Michigan, the workforce has already been reduced by 1/3 due to government spending cuts, but it’s not enough.  If the government continues the way it is more jobs with go in the coming months.  The pressure Mr. Kelly (the chief executive of the small business) felt is one reason markets were and are iffy about what the Labor Department’s latest report on unemployment and job creation revealed about the economy on May 3rd.  After a strong start to the year, government spending has had negative effects and it’s starting to show in the growth.

                The government spending is directly effecting our growth as a nation.  Without the impact of federal cuts and higher taxes, it is estimated that the annual economic growth would be close to 4 percent, above the 2.5 percent pace she is expecting in 2013.  But it is estimated that the economy would not fall back far enough to go into recession or experience a pronounced rise in unemployment.  “We’re not in a free fall, but it highlights the difficult nature of this recovery.”

                Government spending directly affects the way we live and the way we work as a society.  The government can affect us directly or indirectly, this article was an example of a way government spending directly affects our economy.  Mr. Kelly’s company is getting hit directly from government spending, ““We’re trying to sell the company. It’s sad because our technology is the next generation for the military.” Why should government spending affect so much of our economy?  New ways need to be brought up about how to change this for the better.