G20 Wrap-up

CSPAN1 - President Obama's visits to London and Pittsburgh last year were bold moves that have paid off; avoiding a another catastrophe and "committing our commissions to a new framework for growth," he said after the G20 meeting on Sunday in Toronto.

At the Summit Press Conference the president announced that the G20 "is now the premier form for international economic cooperation" and represents economies ranging from the most superior to the just surfacing. Global trade that was once faltering is now creeping its way back up the ladder and certain economies are seeing some improvement. This takes us off the edge of the cliff, but it's still not enough as many people remain without jobs and the supply and demand for goods and services are too weak. Within recent months we learned that one nation's economic problems can spread beyond its borders. The only solution to this is strong effort and leadership.

"We came to Toronto with three specific goals. To make sure the global recovery is strong and durable, to continue reform of the financial system, and to address the range of global issues that affect our prosperity and insecurity," said Obama.

Over the next five years exports will be doubled to increase the support of millions of jobs in the United States. Hence, the launching of a national export initiative is why Obama reached out to Russia earlier this week for their economic cooperation "to restart poultry exports and accelerating support for Russia's entry into the WTO (World Trade Organization)." This November the president is planning a trip to Korea to work on a Free Trade Agreement and will benefit both our countries in the 21st century, also... he told China's President Hu that the U.S. "welcomes their decision to allow its currency to appreciate in its response to market forces."

Bottom line... the main plans that Obama has during his term in office is to cut our deficit in half by 2013. The second goal is financial reform, in which the nations have reached a global agreement about banks; "complex trades like derivatives must be brought into the light of day while protecting our consumers," and finally, the progress on prosperity will result in "food security initiative and special fund on farmers' productivity in the poorest countries," along with "clean energy jobs and clean energy security to lessen our impact on the global environment."

All this and keeping an eye out for corruption such as bribes that "stunt our economic growth" while "bridging our differences" at the G20 will help us do a 180 on our lives in general for the best.

Death of a bill, birth of bill, and a trip to Canada

CSPAN1 - As one bill dies, another is born. First off, some disheartening news for democrats on Capitol Hill (NO COPYRIGHT INFRINGEMENT INTENDED!!!!!!!!!) in the Senate chamber; the Extender's Bill was voted out for the third time on Friday morning, June 25, and will be withdrawn by Senator Harry Reid. What's new on the table is the Financial Regulations Bill that was voted yes, 27-16, by the House-Senate Conference Committee earlier that morning. President Obama said that passing this bill will be one of the toughest financial reforms that have ever been made since the Great Depression.

This weekend in Toronto, the president announced on Friday that he will be meeting with the G8 and G20 nations to "coordinate our efforts to promote economic growth, to pursue financial reform, and to strengthen the global economy." On Saturday, he and other world leaders brought the G8 conference to a close.

Chairman Dodd, Chairman Frank, Chairman Peterson, Chairwoman Lincoln, and the conferees and members of both parties worked diligently on the Financial Regulations Bill towards the late hours of Thursday night, said Obama on Friday prior to his departure to Canada. He stated that the success of our economy needs a "strong, robust financial sector" to keep Wall Street in check so that we may never face another crisis like this again. "This will put in place the toughest consumer financial protections in our history, while creating an independent agency to enforce them."

In addition, this will also make certain that big banks don't partake in risky trading deals that gamble away our money. President Obama said, "We'll enact the vocal rule so that banks protected by the safety net of the FDIC can't engage in risky trades for their own profit and will create what's called a resolution authority that will help wind down firms, whose collapse will threaten our entire financial system." Just like the Titanic... there is nothing that is too big to fail.

Also, credit card companies will no longer be confusing their customers with hard-to-understand forms so that families can make the best financial decisions for themselves. Therefore, no more hidden fees, penalties, and any other kinds of sneak attacks.

Since President Obama took office 17 months ago the Economic Recovery Act was passed, Health Insurance reform, Education reform, and we are now ever so close to Wall Street reform. Let's hope for the best and hope that the president's weekend with the G-20 summit will help the global economy for years to come.

Extender's bill fight continues; Obama shutting down internet?

CSPAN2 - On Tuesday night, democrats were once again fighting republicans over the Extender's Bill. Republicans still believe that it would add to the mountain of debt that our country already had, but Senator Debbie Stabenow, D-Michigan, explained why giving leeway to the unemployed is more important than giving bailouts to Wall Street.

"Instead of giving bailouts to Wall Street, we have different priorities," says Stabenow. Democrats said "no" to the taking of money away from jobs and the proposals to change the bill.

Stabenow said that the since the commencement of the Stimulus package, private sector jobs (private profits that are not controlled by the state) have gradually been sprouting throughout the country. With the growth of these private sector jobs the unemployment percentage has decreased a bit. This is good, but Stabenow stated it's not good enough as five people search for one job opening. Bottom line.... not good enough.

Of course this process is slow but it's also affective. For an economy to recooperate after the Bush administration, you're probably going to need twice as much time.

Aside from this, there's also the concern for another bill that was presented by senators Lieberman, Collins, and Carper (not from CSPAN but mostly likely will be). It's called the "Internet Kill Switch" bill in which in case a cyber security threat occurs, White House officials can cut the power to some internet connections to counteract such an attack.

Mixed feelings towards the bill have already spurred; against it and for it. Several news channels such as CNN, The Inquisitor and more have been discussing the probabilities of the President looking weak in the event of a cyber attack and that he needs to be able to protect the country. Others view it as a means for panic if the internet was turned off and would bring the economy to a complete halt.

How do we know what exactly is going on if the internet access is shut down for even just a minute? If there's an attack and the internet's shut down, is it a precaution or an actual attack? Postchronicle.com features a video on some first thoughts on the idea of our nation's President having a main power switch to the internet.

Butting heads on BP and the new tax cut bill

C-SPAN2 - The oil spill that resulted from BP's negligence continues to destroy the Gulf Coast's way of life; people and animals alike. This morning in the US Senate the Democratic senator of Nevada, Harry Reid, said that republicans actually apologized to the company on this past Wednesday, for President Obama's asking the CEO of BP, Tony Hayward, for 20 billion dollars to compensate for those whose businesses were destroyed by the oil spill; fishermen, shrimpers, etc. It's amazing how a company gains sympathy when they put their workers' lives at risk and then devastate an environment and everything/everyone who dwell in it.

Republican senator of Alabama, Jeff Sessions, stated that the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund is another addition to the several debts that our country has, that the money for the trust fund doesn't clean up the oil spill. So, this probably means that Republicans are not concerned at all about the people who filed bankruptcy due to the oil spill.

Before Sessions wrapped his speech with criticizing the Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, he spoke on the "Extenders' Bill;" a document that was presented on Thursday, June 17, by Democrats to promote extending tax cuts and unemployment benefits, but was shot down when votes were counted 45-52. Sessions quoted the Joint Committee on Taxation that by passing the "Extenders' Bill" would be hazardous to the American economy.

According to Sessions, the total spending on the bill was a whopping of 26 billion dollars, but Democrats have done some recounting, which wasn't reported, and other budget gimics exceeded 78.6 billion dollars. By the end of this year, said Sessions, the bill will reach up to 1.5 trillion dollars. "This represents the largest, annual deficit in the history of the American republic."

The CBO estimated that deficits will average to one billion dollars per year, over the next ten years, under the budget that was presented by President Obama. In addition, Sessions said that the "lowest projected deficit in the ten year period, would be 724 billion by 2014." Let's not forget about the interest payments that we'll also have to pony-up for. For instance, in regard to our debt to China, by September 30th of 2010 we'll be paying 209 billion dollars in interest. Sessions doubts the occurrence of major deficits if certain aspects of the bill were significantly changed.