Stage 8 on Evolving Government

One of the many ways that the election of Barack obama as president has echoed that of John F. Kennedy is his use of a new medium that will forever change politics. Obama’s campaign forever changed the way politicians organize supporters, advise to voters, defend against attacks & communicate with constituents which in the past required an army of volunteers & paid organizers.

Obama took advantage of the internet. One of the many ways he used was YouTube for free advertising. It was watched for 14.5 million hours which on broadcast TV costs $47 million. He not only used YouTube but also Facebook, MySpace, …for running his campaign which I call it is the living space of the youth and of course used by most of our generation today.

Obama also just started a new site, Change.Gov, last month to keep in touch with people during the transition. I think we’re about to see the first wired, connected, networked presidency.

commentary on Obama's economy plans

It is awesome to see that Obama is seeking to make sure he keeps the promises he made while campaigning. The president elect held a press conference to reassure nervous holiday shoppers about the economy. "Help is on the way," he said at his third news briefing on the economy this thanksgiving week. He declared he would have an economic plan starting day one. His role was to keep investors spirit rolling high. He wanted to make sure that these investors have confidence in his leadership and also wanted to know his economic team. Hence, to help with ideas from outside the White House, Obama announced he was forming a new team of advisors with former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker as the head. Obama said, "I think it is important for the American people, though, to have confidence that we've gone through recessions before, we've gone through difficult times before, that my administration intends to get this economy back on track." The day after thanksgiving is the most vital holiday shopping season, with high discounts already in place as stores try to lure buyers who are worried about their jobs and homes. The government reported Wednesday that jobless claims had remained at recessionary levels, consumers had cut back on their spending by the largest amount since the 2001 terrorist attacks, orders to U.S. factories had plunged anew and home sales had fallen to the lowest level in nearly two decades. As a result, the president-elect had to react and raise hope and fulfill the high expectations of the people on fixing the economy which he is already doing it. Obama spoke as businesses were preparing for what many fear could be a disastrous month. Volcker, 81, will head the President's Economic Recovery Advisory Board. Volcker is a legendary central banker who raised interest rates and restricted the money supply to tame raging inflation in the 1980s. It was a painful prescription that helped send the economy into one of the nation's worst recessions. However, he is largely credited with ushering in nearly three decades of relatively low inflation, an unthinkable feat in the 1970s, when the country was grappling with high unemployment, high interest rates and ever-rising prices. "He pulls no punches," Obama said of Volcker. People should understand that help is on the way. And i think about this Thanksgiving shopping weekend, and as i think about the Christmas season that is coming up, I’m constantly reminded that we are going to be able to get through these difficult times.
Even though criticizing the new president-elect seems to be a little early, it made him to be care full with every move he made on picking and assigning his new cabinet. President elect Obama is working hard to make sure he brings change to Washington after decades of failed leadership and lost the great American image by the rest of the world. Because of his little experience in leadership, people might develop doubts in overcoming the current economic crisis. The new president kept on working hard to make sure he picks people with experience in order to keep people from losing their jobs and possibly their houses. No matter how the current economic crisis brought tremendous pressure to the president- elect, his constant effort of combining experiences with fresh thoughts is very uplifting and hope-giving.

Stage six: Commentary on DREAM ACT

I found my colleague's blog on DREAM Act pretty interesting and an issue that the government should be concerned about. Every year about 65,000 US raised students who would qualify for the DREAM Act’s benefits graduate from high school. These include honor roll students, star athletes, talented artists, homecoming queens, and aspiring teachers, doctors, and U.S. soldiers. They are young people who have lived in the U.S. for most of their lives and desire only to call this country their home. Even though they were brought to the U.S. years ago as children, they face unique barriers to higher education, are unable to work legally in the U.S., and often live in constant fear of detection by immigration authorities.
Our immigration law currently has no mechanism to consider the special equities and circumstances of such students. The DREAM Act would eliminate this flaw. It is un-American to
indefinitely and irremediably punish them for decisions made by adults many years ago. By enacting DREAM Act, Congress would legally recognize what is de facto true: these young people belong here.
I strongly agree with the idea that DREAM Act, which provides a path to U.S. citizenship for hardworking and talented immigrant students who have been raised in the U.S., is critical to improving the pipeline from high school to college and providing meaningful employment.

Policies Of Our Presidential Candidates

Over the past few months, we have been observing heated debates and campaign rhetoric by the two presidential contenders, democratic Barak Obama and republican John McCain, in their attempt to win the presidential election and lead the nation for the next four years.
During the election debates and campaigns, the American people are made aware of the major problems that affect our daily life and those that impact the future of our country as a mighty global power. The two presidential candidates have explained, on several occasions, their respective approaches as regards major domestic and foreign policy issues, each attempting to win as many supporters as possible to put them in the White House.
Focusing on the middle class and the majority of the working population, Barak Obama advocates for the provision of affordable health insurance and education, tax support for medium and small businesses; and creation of massive job opportunities for the people. Moreover, he believes in controlling or regulating the greed of the corporate world which he thinks are the main causes for the problems we and our country are currently facing. On the foreign front, Obama envisions that the United States’ national interests would be best protected if diplomatic pursuit and meaningful negotiations are given precedence over military option and confrontation with those who are against US interests
The republican candidate, John McCain sees the democratic alternatives as socialist in nature and rejects them altogether. He says Obama’s policies would discourage the initiatives of the corporate elite who have the potential to create wealth for the society. He believes that the free enterprise system in its classical form is the only way to ensure continued prosperity for the nation and the people at large. He also claims to defend the county’s national interests from the point of strength, military or otherwise.
The issues raised by both candidates are basically the major concerns of the majority of Americans. Stable economic growth, availability of social security, protection of individual and property rights, equal treatment of citizens with the opportunity for all as well as global harmony and cooperation are very important issues that need to be perused vigorously in order for us to continue as super power.
These fundamental issues have been touched upon by both candidates though their approaches on how to tackle them were different reflecting their liberal and conservative ideologies of their parties. Whatever their approaches might be, the relevant question should be, ‘what would the implications of their policies be on the future of our society and the role of America in the world?’ Policies that help in shaping a healthy society with common vision and endeavor for better life are most welcome. Polices the help in minimizing the gap that exist in our society between the few extremely wealthy and the large majority are likely to be accepted by most Americans. Foreign policies aimed at maintaining our global leadership role and attracting respect of others for our democratic system are equally vital.
Personally, I would love to see that every American is able to lead a meaningful life having financial security, spiritual healing and social protection; and that peace would prevail among nations and peoples of the world at large. I believe these are the aspirations of peoples of different nationalities, creeds, and races. I also believe that all human beings, irrespective of their differences, deserve to live in harmony, cooperation and with the spirit of sharing

Abortion Rights: Back in the spotlight

I choose to criticize the argument written on Abortion Rights by Marianne Mollmann.
She is the Advocacy Director for Women’s right at human rights watch. Ms. Mollmann specializes in the reproductive rights, the Americas, the International Criminal Court, and general issues. Ms. Mollmann is the former co-coordinator of the Women'sWorking Group of the International Network for Economic Social andCultural Rights and the former executive director of the Network inSolidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). Ms. Mollmann holds anLL.M. in International Human Rights Law from Essex University and speaksfluent Spanish, French, and Danish.
Her intended audience is for women with limited economic resources who face legal and financial obstacles on accessing contraception and abortion and also concerned about current presidential candidate with better focus on this issue. She emphasizes on how the united states lack affordable health care, support with child care and paternity benefits coupled with limited access to abortion and even contraception which contributes to rise in low-income families and uninsured children over the years. She compared it with Denmark where the Government guarantees child health care, public health care and paid paternity leave but has quite low birth rate, 1.74 per woman in her life time where as 2.1 in the US. She argues that fertility should be a matter of choice, financially and professionally for everyone even with available support services.
I agree with Ms. Mollmann that physically giving birth should not be the only thing taken into consideration and that a real opportunity for choice which requires science- based sex education, contraception, maternity & paternity benefits and access to both public and child care should be available for all women.

stock losses take heavy toll on retirement savings

Author of the article regarding pension melting on USATODAY http://www.usatoday.com/money/economy/2008-10-04-stocks-retirement_N.htm has great implication on losing money in retirement plan. People across the country are not comfortable with what is going on the economy and they are afraid of losing their 401K. Most people in the United States retire when they are of age 60; however, it is impossible to dream for that at this economy crisis. Author uses survey from AARP to show how people are losing their money and trust for government.
Americans have to delay their retirement and they have to work more hour which was suggested in the article. People has also reduced the amount of money which contribute to their retirement. I completely agree with the author's point of view that congress has to make immediate reaction to save retirement money. People have worked long and hard to get their money. The solution for this pension melt down is to reduce contribution which is also suggested in the article. The second solution would be to keep their money in saving or IRA for peace of mind of American working force.
Congress has to act very quickly and very carefully on this matter to save the American people rather than the Wall Street brokers. Most retirements are handled by third party investment companies which oversee employee and employer contribution. The Associate Press survey suggests that people are worried if they have to work longer to save more money. In my opinion, it is congress duty to step in at this point in order to save the melt down that will benefit the middle class.
The author of this article has shown explicitly how pension melt down is going to contribute to weaken the economy. Since people in Washington are most worried about the housing and stock market on Wall Street but the pension melt down has to be considered in the bell out. Otherwise, those on verge of retirement may not come close to retirement in near future if pension melt disaster continues.

How would Barack Obama or John McCain really respond the nation's financial turmoil? After reading through several articles to give an answer to this issue, I came across an article http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-09-18-econteams_N.htm about the efforts of both candidates on overcoming this crisis and creating economic policy.

According to this article, Republican John McCain said the federal reserve should stop bailing out the nation's failing financial institutions, while Democrat Barack Obama gave his support to the bush administration's multi-pronged effort to stem the crisis. It provides a deep insight about ideas of each candidate's financial advisors on economy which some of them have deep ties to wall street and to the wildly lucrative, lightly regulated environment that contributed to the financial crisis rooted in risky mortgage lending.

As we all know, the running for presidency between the democrats and the republicans is a hot issue coupled with the current deep economic crisis due to turmoil of financial sector. This crisis has far reaching implication for the u.s. economy as well as global economy (the stock market crisis in Russia) which created fear and uncertainity about the future on investors and consumers. Due to this factors, divising this economicpolicy is highly important. To know the views of both candidates and their advisors on this issue is equally important because it affects the stability and growth of u.s. and global economy. It also restores the confidence of both investors and consumers like us. So i think the article is worth a few minutes of our time.