26 Magazine » U.S. Economy

Tens of thousands outraged over “Obamacare”

Brittany — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:48:32 +0000

Not just thousands, but tens of thousands of Americans marched up to the Capitol yesterday to voice their upset over Obama’s “outrageous” health care plan.

Some of the more colorful demonstration pieces showed the president as the Joker, just like the famous — or infamous depending on your political perspective — posters to hit telephone poles and random walls in California last month. Of course, they feature Obama with eyes blacked-out, face chalk white and a bludgeoned, bloody red smile spread across his cheeks. Below the Photoshop likeness came “SOCIALISM” and “FASCISM” on some signs.

Other signs read “One nation under plunder,” “Obamacare makes me sick,” “Go Green Recycle Congress” and “I’m Not Your ATM” — and let’s not forget voices that chanted things like, “Enough, enough” and “We the People,” “You lie, you lie!” and my personal favorite, “Pelosi has to go.”

Thousands protested Obamacare.

According to AOL News, many of the protesters got the push for this movement from the recent tea parties held to discuss similar dissatisfaction, just a more generalized one in how the entire country is being run… Into the ground in my opinion.

Complaints heard were nothing out of the ordinary.

How can we afford this when our country’s more than $11 trillion in debt?

What about the elderly? I heard coverage for them isn’t going to stretch past a certain age. Who’s right is it to put worth on a human life based on age?

Why would I want to put the most important aspect of my life — my health — in the hand’s of someone else? Especially the government’s?

Aren’t there more important items to spend our money on right now? Granted, our current health care system isn’t the greatest, but no one’s dying in the streets because they can’t get health care.

And what about future generations? How will they afford to pay the debt this plan will incur?

All legitimate questions, I believe.

Something positive this protest has accomplished, no matter what side of the political fence you sit, is demonstrate the fact that some Americans do care about what goes on in this country and what policies are being implemented or trying to be implemented.

For a while there I was beginning to believe no one would stand up to this sickeningly sweet idea of butterflies and unicorns, this dream world idea, and a country that can live happily with the government paying for everything for its people. Does that mean we don’t have to work anymore too?

It’s about time people started to stand up for freedom.

Though I could pull some positives out of this event, as it’s always refreshing for me to see the American people exercise their right to free speech, however, I also found some serious flaws.

Being one day after this most serious event, taking into consideration just how many people were there, and allow me to reiterate — tens of thousands — I found it interesting just what type of coverage this massive protest rally received from the liberal news media.

The St. Petersburg Times, one of the largest newspapers in the U.S., gave this event a single string of biased words on the front page, “Angry foes of Obama policies rally in D.C. See page 4.”

Flipping to page four, a long piece details not the rally itself, but stories from real people with health care horror stories, most of which on why they can’t afford health care and all the misery they’ve suffered as a result.

Any tidbit of information about one of the largest rallies on the nation’s Capitol discussed the “anger” demonstrated on Obama’s wonderful health care initiative.

Oh the disgusting bias.

I’ve been in college studying journalism for the past four years of my life. I don’t know if my school’s different than others, but I was taught that the main function of the press was to alert the public in an unbiased manner, the news, the truth, essentially, just as it happened. I don’t even know what to call this. It’s certainly not journalism though and it makes me sad.

Unemployment figures: Half truths wrapped in bacon

Awesome Rob — Tue, 21 Jul 2009 14:00:19 +0000

Since the recession started, unemployment has been a closely watched figure, and every time it increases, the stock market seems to take a tumble. As people lose their spending cushion and lock down their finances for future hardships, the recoil sent back into various industries forces further contraction. Where spending makes up the entirety of our economic success, when we fail to spend, we also will fail to grow.

When companies start to follow the same path as individual consumers, unemployment figures begin to change. This has generally increased over the last year, with a few brief spurts of life, but generally the numbers inspire uncertainty and fear into those with jobs and those looking for work who have been laid off.

Eight to 9 percent, or even 10 percent of our total population (350,000,000) is 35,000,000. That isn’t necessarily a bad figure when you take into consideration all those who file for benefits with no intention of ever getting employment again and are content with living off of the government’s paycheck and free handouts for their miserable existences brought on by massive amounts of underachieving and lack of motivation.

The real problem is far greater than a small number like 8 to 9 percent.

Functional unemployment is more like 16 to 20 percent of the population. This number, unlike the unemployment figure released, doesn’t focus on people who are filing for benefits. Given that a functional unemployment assessment has no way to be 100 percent exact, the margin of error is much larger, but the number itself is a culmination of statistics and facts to find out how much of this population simply cannot pay the bills.

Functional unemployment essentially groups those filing for benefits as well as those who work part time, students, and those who have given up finding work until the economy rights itself on the troubled seas.

When you begin to think about 1 in 5 people being unemployed, the impact that has is tremendous compared to a small 1 in 12.

Up to 20 percent of the population can’t afford rent or utilities. More people are living at home with their parents, unable to find work or even secure these “readily available” student loans that don’t exist, making ambitions of attending school further out of grasp for those who don’t come from a wealthy background.

The American workforce has seen monthly hour cuts for part-time employees in various companies, with some losing 25 to 50 percent of part-time clerical hours available in certain stores, bringing people from 30 hours a week to 15 or fewer, depending on staff.

Even though some of these companies have made profits throughout the recessed economy, the maneuvers to scale back on spending have caused many who have just gotten by desperate for another job or resorting to racking up massive amounts of debt in hopes to repay the sum off when work becomes available again.

Unemployment released by the government is nothing more than a positive light to shed on a very dark situation that far too many people overlook. In a lot of ways, those who try to make ends meet by working two jobs are worse off than those living on welfare.

That is an entirely different problem.

Living on a shrinking budget: 10 tips

andrea — Sun, 12 Jul 2009 14:00:03 +0000

If you’re like most other people in America, you’re living budget is decreasing as the days go by. Here are a few tips for making your money last without having to completely sacrifice the things you enjoy.

1. Learn how to cook/bake at home- That $50 meal could have bought your groceries for a few days. I’m sure your cooking isn’t that bad.
2. Get off your high horse- This is for all of you who enjoy “the finer things in life.” There off-brands for a reason. Maybe you could afford the expensive, “superior” brands at one time, but if you can’t anymore, stop kidding yourself.
3. Plan ahead- Grab some paper and a pen. Now, before you go out on your day of errands, write out exactly what you need and where you need to go. Once that’s done, think about the locations of everything. Plan where you’ll go in accordance to that.
4. Find the scissors- This goes along with the high horse. If you need to use coupons, use them. That’s why they’re there. There’s nothing wrong with it and if done right, it can save you lots of money.

5. Buy used- I’ll agree, there are some things that you don’t want to buy used. Still, that leaves lots of other things that you can buy used, like furniture, clothing, purses and electronics. Check out thrift stores, Goodwill and Craigslist.
6. Invest in necessities- We all have our vices. For many Americans, coffee is something we cannot live without on a daily basis. You can find affordable coffee makers and everything you need to make your morning coffee, at home, for much cheaper than what you’re paying now. You’ll be surprised at how much you’ll save.
7. Share with friends- It’s nice to have good friends, it’s even nicer to have friends who like to share. Everyone has something to share, whether it be a talent, money or some product. If your friend knows how to cook and you don’t, ask her to teach you. In exchange, you can let her borrow a few of your books or tools or something. It can be just like the good ole days with bartering.
8. Find other hobbies- You might think that your hobby is going to Home Depot and spending $200 on tools, or you might think that your hobby is getting a manicure for $75. I’m sure you enjoy those things immensely, but there are better, more cost efficient ways to spend your time.
9. Have a garage sale- Everyone has extra stuff around the house that is never used. There’s really no reason to keep it. (Unless it has some sentimental value, if so then it’s excused.) It’s not as difficult as you think to just gather it up, put a sign in your yard and let people buy it from you. It won’t be as painful as you think either… especially after you begin to reap the reward ($$$).
10. Teach your children- It can be hard to tell your precious little child “No,” but sometimes you have to. It’s even more difficult when they’re used to getting what they want most of the time. Now’s the time to start some new habits of teaching your children to work for their money and teaching you to tell them “No.”