Cliff Diving: The American Debt Ceiling Debate

Victoria Falls also known as "Mosi oa-Tunya" ("the smoke that thunders") is positioned almost exactly half way along the mighty Zambezi River's 2700 km journey from its source to the sea.

While it is neither the highest nor the widest waterfall in the world, it is claimed to be the largest. This claim is based on a width of 1,708 meters (5,604 ft) and at a height of 108 meters (354 ft), forming the largest sheet of falling water in the world. The falls' maximum flow rate compares well with that of other major waterfalls

For a considerable distance upstream from the falls, the Zambezi flows over a level sheet of basalt, in a shallow valley bounded by low and distant sandstone hills. The river's course is dotted with numerous tree-covered islands, which increase in number as the river approaches the falls. There are no mountains, escarpments, or deep valleys which might be expected to create a waterfall, only flat plateau extending hundreds of kilometers in all directions.

As we head into the New Year we are once again faced with what to do about the money we already spent.  An insane argument if you ask me, but one that keeps our government divided.  Unlike Victoria Falls we do not need to go over this cliff, this is a man made crisis that has a very simple solution and not resolving this has a very big impact.

As we move closer to the date of decision the President has aligned himself with the business community and that makes prefect sense.  See the Business Community will be the hardest hit by this crisis, as the World watch our internal bickering and inability to govern they lose confidence in us as a country.  Just as the Government does, Corporate America does business using debt so all the goods and services used to make a company run are not paid for in cash.  No company is waiting with a stack of dollar bills when they ship goods or order essential office supplies.

Looking at things the first thing that happens is our countries credit rating will probably be lowered again and the impact of that is not just a loss of confidence in America, but American Business's as well.  Without Corporate America able to function on a debit and credit system, because goods and service providers do not have the confidence in them to pay their debt there will be mass lay-offs.  This is nothing unusual for America and the American population, we have been through this before and we will go through this again.  The secret is our last bout with mass unemployment taught the American people how to live on less, especially the shrinking middle-class and lower.  While Corporate America sat on billions of dollars, not hiring and not helping the people suffered, but they managed.

As unemployment increases the need for goods and services used internally by Americans will decrease, kind of a self fulfilling prophecy.  In order for American Business to be strong they need a strong American Economy.  So as bottom lines drop and corporations eat through their reserve capital and possibly go out of business, they will scream.  Yes we want smaller government but you need to help me and my business now.

In the immediate aftermath of this looming disaster decision are easy, we pay our debt on our Treasury Bonds and then we have the hard decision on what to pay next.  What Social programs do we not pay?  Do you tell mothers on Welfare that they have to starve, old people that they can't seek medical attention for what they need or do we tell the person that recently lost their job because of this Cliff Dive that they can't receive benefits to help them through their time of need?  But wait it gets more interesting, lets say we have another disaster similar to Sandy.  What do we do?  Do we allow this community ravished by disaster to tough it out on their own when we have told the senior, recently unemployed and the underemployed hey "It Sucks to be YOU!!!"?

Let's go over the cliff and see who the American people hold responsible.  Personally I think this will be the first time a Democrat has won the White House for 3 consecutive elections.  Talk about a party out of touch with reality even the business community which the GOP claims to be supporting has all but told them this is not good.

So sit back, laugh, enjoy the ride and watch as Hillary Clinton is elected the "First Woman President" in history in 2016.  Remember you heard it hear first, while others say she will run I say she will run and win by a landslide.  What does this mean?  Simply "Goodbye GOP" it was nice, but you wrote your own epitaph when you allowed the Tea Party to dictate your policy.

What's important to American's?

As the election nears what has been is very clear is Mitt Romney will say and do anything to win the election, but all aside form all that we know exactly who Romney is and where he stands.

Look at who Romney is and what we actually know about him, not what he has said over the past few years.  I mean people can and do say anything and that is a lesson that is all too clear in every phase of our life regardless to what position the person may have.  Actions speaks louder than words!

He lead Bain Capital a company the that was responsible for putting American Companies out of business and shipped American Jobs overseas.  Regardless to what he says this is what we know about him, so what does it mean?  I wouldn't begin to speculate, but this is what we do know:

• Bain Capital's leveraged buyouts sometimes led to layoffs, either soon after acquisition or later after the firm had concluded its role. 
• Exactly how many jobs Bain Capital added compared to those lost because of these investments and buyouts is unknown, owing to a lack of records and Bain Capital's penchant for privacy on behalf of itself and its investors.
• Maximizing the value of acquired companies and the return to Bain's investors, not job creation, was the firm's fundamental goal.

He paid a 14% tax rate after inflating it, and he's on the record with the following statements:

• "It is a low rate," Romney said. "And one of the reasons why the capital gains tax rate is lower is because capital has already been taxed once at the corporate level, as high as 35 percent
• When pressed on whether or not he believes that rate is fair, Romney said he thought it was the "right way to encourage economic growth -- to get people to invest, to start businesses, to put people to work."

Mitt is a Mormon and their stance on abortions is, Abortion it is a serious sin. An unborn baby is one of God's spirit children, just like every other person on earth, and that life should be valued for what it is. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints opposes abortion, and discourages it's practices, except for in rare cases where the mother will most likely die, or if the child was conceived under extreme circumstances, such as rape and incest, after meeting with the proper church authorities and receiving conformation through prayer.

Which ties in with the Republican views on overturning Roe vs Wade.  I key bit of legislation which hinged on right to privacy and a woman's ability to decide what to do with the most intimate and personal part of being a woman.  While my views are it is a private decision of a woman I only worry if they can dictate that what other personal rights will they try to legislate.

He is a advocate of a stronger military which can only mean one thing.  What would be the need for a stronger military if there was no plans to use it.  He also expressed a concern about the military being able to fight in 2 wars at the same time.  Do we really want to get involved in 2 wars in this economy?  The needlessly of lives of our potential leaders the group that will eventually take over the reigns of control from our aging Congress?

While it is said that he has flip flopped on several of his positions I can assure you that it will be business as usual for the GOP.

Are we better off than 4 years ago?  Well where were we 4 years ago.

• The American Economy on the verge of collapse
• The Dow Jones in a state of free fall hitting a low of about 7500
• No Manufacturing Jobs in the country
• $800 Billion given to Private Corporations in a Free Market (The Bank Bailout)
• Unemployment at historical levels and we were rapidly losing more jobs

Where are we now?

• The Economy is stabilizing
• The Dow Jones a steady increase
• 401K are profitable again
• American Business's actually holding a cash surplus
• The revival of the Auto Industry
• Unemployment stabilizing and we are gaining jobs 
• Manufacturing jobs are not only back but increasing

Now no one could have known how bad the economy was or repair it in such a short period of time, especially with the most ineffective Congress in History.  An entire political party that vowed to see this President become a failure.  A party hell bent on maintaining the tax cuts for the wealthy and cutting programs for middle and lower class.  

I know where I would like to see myself in the next 5 to 10 years and I want a candidate that can get me there.

While Foreign Policies is a hot issue I can assure you that the millions of out of work Americans care more about jobs here than the Middle East