Week 9: UNITED STATES!

First of all, scratch what I said about not being here this Friday.. change of plans! I won't miss class this time.

I went to northern CA! Besides Fresno, it's much cooler there. Destinations: Sequoia National Park, Lake Tahoe, San Francisco, Stanford, Winchester Mystery House (although the last two could be counted with San Fran). To summarize my trip: lots of driving, tiring but fulfilling trudging, and plenty of interest for new places!

Now for the actual homework.. I know this is a little late to talk about, but I'd like to comment and discuss the debt ceiling, the crisis and the solution. Well, that is, if you can really call it a solution. I think we all know that political decisions will never be fullproof, always a loophole here and a flaw there. The debt ceiling's "solution" doesn't fall short of this.

With a $2.1 trillion increase, our debt ceiling has been raised from $14.3 trillion to $16.4, as expected

by most. Additionally, the government claims that it will cut the government budget deficit by $2.5 trillion over the next decade, with no raise in tax whatsoever.

It is a necessary action to raise the debt ceiling to avoid defaulting. However, obviously, we cannot continue to just raise it. We must cut government spending or find some way to pay off the debt. My question is whether or not we can do these things. What if another president waltzes in, one like Bush, one that starts another war and smashes the ceiling into pieces? What if, in the end, they choose to raise the taxes because they have to (something that will definitely receive some repercussions from the crowd of U.S. citizens)? The government says they will fix this, yet I doubt a simple decade will be able to put the States' downfall into an abrupt stop.