Wasteful spending

The director of the White House Military Office submitted his resignation on Friday, less than two weeks after he authorized a flyover by an Air Force One backup of the Statue of Liberty that terrified thousands of people in New York City. Louis Caldera, who served as the secretary of the Army in the Clinton administration, apologized for the “distraction” that approving the flyover caused. On April 27, a plane that usually serves as the president’s plane was flying low over the New York City skyline, trailed closely by two fighter jets. It was a photo opportunity – authorized by several government officials, including Mr. Caldera – that infuriated Mr. Obama. Last week, President Obama ordered a deputy chief of staff, Jim Messina, to review the incident. On Friday afternoon, a seven-page review of the matter was released, along with the photograph. Mr. Messina, in his memorandum to the president, said that “structural and organizational ambiguities” in the White House Military Office led to a series of miscommunications and senior aides to the president were not advised of the flyover that had been in the planning stages since March. “The breakdown was the lack of public notification,” the memorandum states, adding that Mr. Caldera believed others had been notified about the flight. This event cost tax payers about $300,000. This event makes me wonder how much useless spending is going on that is not drawing public attention and given an excuse that was miscommunication to senior aids.

Blog Reveiw - Mass Transit

I recently reviewed one of my classmates posts about president Obama's proposal for trains expansion in the US. I agree with the proposal for mass transit here in America, because we are years behind other countries. It would cut down on traffic, such as rush hour times and congestion inside the cities. Trains would lower emissions and save people time and money not having to pay for gas and daily wear and tear on there vehicle. It would free up time getting to and from work and travel delays through cities for big shipment trucks. I feel that this money is worth spending because of the amount of benefits that come from the expansion of trains in America.

Blog:Government
Video on mass transit

Auto Industry Bailout

The amount of money that Americans have seen government loan the auto industries is the largest amount ever. Where is this money coming from? With this countries finances as bad as they are and job lose as high as it is people are not going to be able to afford higher taxes to pay off the loans if the auto makers are not able to. The question you might ask yourself is where are the auto makers going to get the money to pay the loans back? They have said they will be doing total shut down to help cut costs, and employee pay cuts up to 30%. With the economy the way it has been and banks tightening up on loans the auto makers sales numbers shouldn’t be that high. So what are some other ways they might be cutting costs that they aren’t telling. We can only speculate, like cutting cost on material, for example bolt rating and quality of electronic equipment. If these types of cuts are made I bet you will not see it lower the price of the vehicle. Car buyer’s probly wouldn’t see the effects of it right away but over time with amount of repair they may face because of these types of cuts. So if you are in search of a new car right now these things might cross your mind when you do go looking. The auto makers with the most problems or costs that they need to cut would be the ones to look out for. Only time will tell what will happen to the auto makers and the money that the government is giving them to keep from bankruptcy.

Auto bailout
Auto bailout videos

Recent Town Hall Meeting

I recently read an article titled “Is the Bail Out Breeding a Bigger Crisis?” by Paul Craig Roberts from a blog site named “counter punch.” The article is about the recent press conference president Obama held on March 24th. The author starts out explaining that the US dollar is showing cracks and strains and that our country is an import-dependent country for item as energy, manufactured goods including clothes and shoes, and advanced technology products. He explains if the US dollar fails then we would be unable to pay for these imports. He goes on giving example to save budget money by terminating both pointless wars immediately and close down many foreign bases and cut the total military budget gratuitously, and also lower the number of enlisted members. These parts I do not total agree with the writer. Yes, it will save enormous amounts of money but I don’t believe that cutting back on our military is a safe thing to do right now. The wars should be thought very hard about what is the most cost effective way to keep approaching the situation, but to close bases, cut man power, and lower the pay for those who do sacrifice there all for the country is not right. The remaining of the article he talks about banking ideas, like creating a privately-owned Federal Reserve System and a national bank. Most of the things the author brought up were not stuff that I have heard discussed on the news. I really enjoyed reading this article and get some scenarios of what we could be facing, but the part about the military I did not agree with. Click on the highlighted heading to read this article.

First address to Congress.

I reviewed an article from the USA Today titled Facing hard times, Obama sells case for responsibility. The article is about the first presidential address that aired on Tuesday night (24 Feb. 09). The authors who wrote the opinion was speaking to every American that is worried the direction the nation is heading. The article is focus mostly on spending such as the deficit and the current debt of America, and then leading up to issues us as Americans face with surging cost of Medicare and Medicaid. The author has added links in the article to go along with what they are writing about. The author makes a statement saying “For a quarter-century, neither party has proved up to the task.” When I saw the title of the article I was very interested to read the writers opinions, but I felt the article was a little short only about 550 words for such a topic as big as it has been. The speech was close to one hour long so there was plenty to talk about. The author doesn’t give a lot of opinion to the topic, but mostly just explaining the situation and the issues that we face. The author goes on to compare President Obama to the former President Ronald Regan, I feel that this to early of a comparison because of the short time President Obama has been in office that is something that can be better compared after he has served more time. I did agree with what was said in the story because the lack of their opinion to the article, but very disappointed also.

PA judges accused of jailing kids for cash

Here is a good story that I had seen earlier and found it on the web. The story is about two Pennsylvania Judges that were taking bribes to make juveniles sentence longer than it should have been. This article is a perfect example of how people will do anything to someone else, even a child to better benefit themselves. This is one way that our tax money was going down the drain, this article makes you wonder how much money is wasted in other areas for similar situations. I was shocked to see some of the sentences these children got for crimes that were hardly anything and the number of victims it happened to. Yahoo News