Sequestration is in effect. Unless an agreement can be reached, on January 1, 2013 the U.S. Government will face steep, across the board, automatic budget cuts. The only way to avert this is to broker a deal that can be agreed upon and passed in both the House of Representatives and Senate, and signed by the President. Continue reading “The Fiscal Cliff Needs a Bridge”
Category: Government and Politics
Getting More Than You Paid in with Social Security and Medicare
Is Social Security an entitlement program or simply a government-run style of 401(k)? Do you get more out of Medicare than you put in? Who is benefiting at the expense of whom? Continue reading “Getting More Than You Paid in with Social Security and Medicare”
Why the USA Doesn’t Have Direct Presidential Elections
The main purpose of the Electoral College as the framers of our Constitution envisioned was twofold:
- It insulated the election from a potentially ill-informed general population, who did not have adequate information about the person they were choosing.
- It prevented populous large states from ignoring and overriding the interests of smaller states
Continue reading “Why the USA Doesn’t Have Direct Presidential Elections”
Two Plans for Defense Spending
When it comes to defense spending, the two candidates are not that far off. The President’s budget proposal provides $525.4 billion to the Department of Defense (DOD) for FY 2013, while the Ryan House budget provides $554 billion. Overseas Contingency Operation (OCO) funding, which primarily is used for operations in Afghanistan and Iraq, is separate from DOD funding. The President allots $97.7 billion for FY 2013, and caps spending through 2021 at $450 billion. Over the next decade Ryan provides $6.2 trillion for general defense spending, averaging $620 billion per year, which would include both DOD and OCO funding. Continue reading “Two Plans for Defense Spending”
Higher Standards for Vehicle Fuel Efficiency
President Obama recently announced a new rule to raise the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards to require vehicles to reach 54.5 mpg by 2025. Currently, new vehicles model year 2011 get an average of 28.6 mpg. This amounts to a 90.6% increase in fuel efficiency in 14 years. Continue reading “Higher Standards for Vehicle Fuel Efficiency”
Big Brother Is Watching
“It was terribly dangerous to let your thoughts wander when you were in any public place or within range of a telescreen. The smallest thing could give you away. A nervous tic, an unconscious look of anxiety, a habit of muttering to yourself–anything that carried with it the suggestion of abnormality, of having something to hide. In any case, to wear an improper expression on your face…; was itself a punishable offense. There was even a word for it in Newspeak: facecrime…”
– George Orwell, 1984 Continue reading “Big Brother Is Watching”
Are We Safer 11 years After September 11?
The short answer is yes, but not in the way most people would think. It isn’t because tightened airline security and body scanners are foiling terrorists at the gate. The fundamental change is in the way airline passengers view a hostage situation. Continue reading “Are We Safer 11 years After September 11?”
Ronin Pen 