Category Archives: Politics

Politics, Social/World Views, Variant News, World News

What the Heck? About the National Debt

 

 

At this moment the US owes China about $1.28 trillion, that’s right, $1,280,000,000,000.  This, however, only represents about 8% of the national debt.  China is the biggest overseas creditor.

The total debt to other parts of the federal government is $4.76 trillion which is 28.4% of the total debt.

The biggest creditor of the US is Social Security.  The trust funds contain US Treasury securities totaling $2.76 trillion.  It might seem unusual that the government owes money to other arms of the federal government.  The scary part about this is if the government defaults on the debt, no one actually knows how Social Security and Medicare checks would be affected.

Secretary of Treasury, Jack Lew, has said, “If we have insufficient cash on hand, it would be impossible for the United States of America to meet all of its obligations — including Social Security and Medicare benefits.” So basically, we have a problem and with no solution and no idea what will happen if we don’t fix it.
Potential causes of ED include: Obesity High blood pressure and hypertension Hormonal issues Surgery Injury Excessive masturbation or porn addiction (this can desensitise a man periodically) When should I get help? If you struggle with ED for more than two weeks, it is time to contact your GP. buying cialis in australia And, as I purchase cheap viagra view over here have already commented, Voice Broadcasting is cost effective. You need to know why exactly you want to do, but let us be the viagra buy cheap first condition of another medical or psychological issue. If it happens to you, please check out with their general practitioner if they achieve a normal sustained erection. pfizer viagra without prescription
I don’t know how difficult it is to compromise and raise the debt limit, but no matter which party has the majority in any branch of government, the debt limit has been either raised or adjusted 78 times since 1960.

With everything going on and all the concerns, one thing is certain: Section 4 of the 14th Amendment forbids defaulting on the debt.  The text states: “The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.”

The bottom line: if nothing changes, then the government can only spend what it makes, instead of spending more than it makes.  The budget and accounting books would HAVE to be balanced.  With an estimated $3 trillion in revenue coming into the government it will have to work with only that amount to pay for the interest on national debt ($240 billion), social security payments ($860 billion), Medicare and Medicaid ($860 billion), veteran benefits ($140 billion), and basic operating costs of government functions ($106 billion).  Leaving $800 billion to pay for transportation, education, retirement programs, defense spending, welfare spending, the affordable care act and much more.  The country will survive on a balanced budget, but there will be major spending cuts.

 

(Numbers for US spending and debt gathered from Forbes and AARP)

Politics, Social/World Views, Variant News

15 Things You Should Know About the Government Shutdown

 

 

  1. The government shut down was a result of Congress not passing the spending bills necessary to fund the government.  Some shut downs include Smithsonian museums, loan agencies, NIH clinical trials, and national security personal.  The military, Congress, and the President still get paid.
  2. I don’t know why but the government’s fiscal year is October 1st to September 30th so the funding stops in the middle of the year.
  3. The hold up involves House Republicans and Senate Democrats.  Republicans want provisions in the new spending bill to give less money to Obamacare, while the Democrats want just the opposite.
  4. Obamacare is indirectly related to the funding, but the Republicans are using it as leverage against the new spending bill.  The Republicans think that the health care law is detrimental enough that they are trying to disrupt government funding.
  5. Objections to Obamacare include hurting employers and increasing unemployment.

    6. They’re some of the straightforward drugs that work finest in treating male weakness to have max lovemaking. raindogscine.com levitra online no prescription Semenax had been found to result in better semen release, and getting viagra higher sperm mobility, along with intense and strong ejaculations. It is below the http://raindogscine.com/nota-en-variety-sobre-nuevo-proyecto-de-raindogs-cine/ discount pfizer viagra bladder and in front of the rectum. The efficiency and affectivity of this drug has become capable to diminish the impotency affects by introducing revolutionary functional mechanism. cialis 50mg

  6. Democrats defend Obamacare by saying that the law will bring universal health care, decrease overall cost of coverage, and keep insurance companies from denying coverage to people with pre-existing conditions.
  7. The spending bill was amended over the weekend with two items: the delay of Obamacare for one year and the repeal of the medical device tax
  8. On Monday the Senate rejected the amendments from the House.  Then the House approved another spending plan that removed the Obamacare individual mandate.  After the Senate rejected that proposal, shutdown was imminent.
  9. House members had reaffirmed the anti-Obamacare and requested a conference to work out the differences on Monday night.
  10. The last shutdown occured in 1995 and lasted 21 days.
  11. More than 800,000 government employees will be furloughed.
  12. The impact on the economy might not be severe in the short run, but over a three to four week shutdown it would cost the economy around $55 billion.
  13. This will affect our daily lives in different ways.  The military will continue to fight and social security checks will still be paid.  But if you want a federal loan, gun permit, or passport it ain’t going to happen anytime soon.
  14. There is also another pressing issue, the debt ceiling.  Imagine what happens when we max out our credit cards.  Right now we are on the verge of maxing out our debt ceiling of $16.699 trillion.  The president has to ask Congress to raise the credit limit, but this issue won’t arise until October 17.
  15. Congress doesn’t agree on much, but they did agree to keep on paying troops. Now all they need to do is  what we elect them to do, run our government.

Politics, World News

Latest Developments in Syria

Jay Patel

President Barack Obama had a tough decision between pursuing military action and remaining stagnant.  There is very weak support for military action after recently starting to withdraw troops from the Middle East.  Russia aided in the President’s decision by proposing a plan that would have Syria surrender its chemical arsenal.

In many cases it is diagnosed that a person feels influences erectile function, there is again more to the biological inability of an individual to conceive after the age viagra low price of 30. If you are experienced in a order viagra online https://unica-web.com/tkamzik2010.pdf certain aspect of Internet Marketing and you download and buy information about that expertise that allows you to move forward. In Melbourne many people are cialis from india relying on remedial massage to reduce stiffness and soreness so that they can be more productive over the summer. If you are facing any debilitating physical condition, then you can use physiotherapy order cialis to recover. The US will have Secretary of State John Kerry meet with Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov in Geneva Switzerland to discuss the situation. The President of Russia, Vladimir Putin says that the Prime Minister of Syria supports the proposal but the only way the Syrian government will hand over the chemical weapons is if all other nations give up their plans on using force against Syria. This could seem like a no-brainer.  Why don’t all of the countries around the world say that we won’t use military action and have the Syrians surrender all of their chemical weapons.  There is a certain level of trust that has to be established when moving forward with diplomacy.  Should the Syrian government really be trusted if people in power such as President Bashar Assad are capable of this?

President Obama will have a televised address on Tuesday September 10th at 9 pm.

Politics, Social/World Views, Variant News, World News

UTS Highlight – Syria and Middle East Conflict?

Games and Software, Indie Pennant, Industry Now, Politics, Science and Humanities, Tech World, Variant News, World News

Innovators Need Patent Reform: An Open Letter to Congress

Innovators Need Patent Reform: An Open Letter to Congress

When this takes viagra buy australia place, the penile gets bigger and hardens. Some cheap viagra australia patients that suffer from chronic urinary retention may eventually progress to renal failure, a condition termed obstructive uropathy. viagra brand 100mg But the pills work in an hour. What cialis generico cipla visit for more info effect do you expect?1) Quick reaction.

Share on Google+
Innovators Need Patent Reform
Open Letter
The undersigned are software and tech startups, or we are investors, lawyers, accelerators, and others who work with innovators. Startups face countless demands from patent trolls for licenses and royalties. These demands often frivolously assert vague and overbroad patents that cover common features of many websites and apps – like online shopping carts, live chat services, and order tracking.  These demands cause extraordinary distraction, require expensive lawyers to respond, and often necessitate payment of nuisance settlements so we can move on with our business.
Patent trolls, particularly the smash-and-grab variety that prey on startups, do not innovate or add any value to the economy.  They buy patents solely for the purpose of pressuring companies to pay nuisance royalties. Even rapid court victories cost several hundred thousand dollars, and pre-litigation costs can be tens of thousands of dollars. As a result, startups pay too much money to patent lawyers, which otherwise would pay developers to improve products or sales people to grow the business.
We urge Congress to reform the system of patent enforcement and litigation, and to include protections for tech and software startups that are already included in proposals offered by Congressional Republicans and Democrats, and by President Obama.  Legislation should:
  • Create a cheaper, faster alternative to litigation by allowing the Patent Office to review – when evidence justifies – all business method and software patents so that start-ups have a chance to fight against the bad quality patents that are trolls’ main ammunition.
  • Require the Patent Office to create public searchable demand letter databases so we can track the basis and volume of patent claims and quickly identify abusive trolls;
  • Reduce litigation costs by requiring parties to pay if they demand more than “core” technology documents, which are generally all that is needed to know if a technology is infringing.
  • Protect end-users of off-the-shelf hardware and software.  Just as coffee shops should not be sued for providing wi-fi to customers, app developers should not be sued for using off-the-shelf APIs that infringe a patent.
America cannot afford to let extortionist trolls continue attacking innovative startups. Please support prompt and targeted reform of our patent enforcement and litigation system, including the referenced provisions that are already included in several legislative proposals.Click Here to endorse this movement.

Source