Blog Stage 8: Comment on a colleague's work
4 years ago
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Government makes a u-turn on state pension
This article from the Daily Mail is defiantly worth reading because it could be your grandmother who is dealing with this situation now. Its concerns are if we should trust in the words that has been and is being said by our government today after millions of women were denied a full state pension, money given by the government to the retired folks,. Stay-at-home mothers were told that they were able get a full pension, now two thirds of women today are not eligible because they are unable to meet the standards of the (National Insurance) NI contributions due to putting their careers aside for a period of time to care for their children. Its not only women who are upset about this situation pensions spokesman Chris Grayling said, "Last summer, Gordon Brown promised us a fresh approach to politics and spoke about the need for transparency and honesty. What this issues has shown us is a Government that is willing to raise expectations and then dash them behind the scenes without admitting its changed its approach. The Government told these women it would do something then changed its mind without telling anyone." Overall its worth reading.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Reasons for National Debt
The United States spends a lot of money on maintaining its position as a world power. However, since we do not make more money than we spend, we end up borrowing most of the money we use from other national powers(France, England, etc) and other rich countries(the Middle East). As a result, our nation debt is extremely high(over 9.5 trillion).
There are many factors contributing to our need to borrow money from other rich and influential countries. A major factor is that we import more goods(ranging from unimportant items, that we don't even need!, like toys to important commodities, that we can't bear to live without, like oil) than we export. The problem is that most of these imports are in high demand so we import them regardless of the cost.
Another of the major factors is that we spend an excessive amount of money during wars, whether they are necessary and official or not. Pointless wars waste time, money, and man power when they could be used elsewhere effectively. The problem is that we NEED to participate in these, wars in order to save face, prove supiriority, and help countries that DO NOT want our help to hopfully recieve their help when we need it, or to allign themselves with us so they don't oppose us in the future.
Another, and possibly the most important, factor and major reason why the national debt is so high are the pork barrel projects that senators bring home in order to ensure their re-election. These pork barrel projects are extremely costly and they only help the state in which the senator works lives in as an individual, rather than the nation as a whole. The problem with this is that, even knowing that pork barrel projects are costly(and sometimes seemingly useless), no senator will willingly cut, trim, shelve, or stop their project for fear of losing their position in government.
There are many factors contributing to our need to borrow money from other rich and influential countries. A major factor is that we import more goods(ranging from unimportant items, that we don't even need!, like toys to important commodities, that we can't bear to live without, like oil) than we export. The problem is that most of these imports are in high demand so we import them regardless of the cost.
Another of the major factors is that we spend an excessive amount of money during wars, whether they are necessary and official or not. Pointless wars waste time, money, and man power when they could be used elsewhere effectively. The problem is that we NEED to participate in these, wars in order to save face, prove supiriority, and help countries that DO NOT want our help to hopfully recieve their help when we need it, or to allign themselves with us so they don't oppose us in the future.
Another, and possibly the most important, factor and major reason why the national debt is so high are the pork barrel projects that senators bring home in order to ensure their re-election. These pork barrel projects are extremely costly and they only help the state in which the senator works lives in as an individual, rather than the nation as a whole. The problem with this is that, even knowing that pork barrel projects are costly(and sometimes seemingly useless), no senator will willingly cut, trim, shelve, or stop their project for fear of losing their position in government.
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