Balanced Budget Amendment 1997 Analysis

Balanced Budget Amendment 1997 Analysis Balanced Budget Amendment Vu Luu Introduction In March 4, 1997, the balanced budget amendment was defeated in the United States Senate by just one vote. Fast forward to the present, the United States is facing a $17 trillion deficit versus the $5 trillion in 1997. The question that remains to be asked is had the balanced budget amendment passed the United States Senate and approved by Congress in 1997, would we be facing the debt crisis that we are facing today? Based on my conclusion, the answer that I believe is no, the debt crisis would not have been as severe as it is today. In this paper I will argue why the United States need a national balanced budget amendment in the constitution. In particular, I will discuss the following points to back up my claim; future implications if no changes in policies and solving government spending. As the United States’ federal deficit continues to grow, many are asking for a balanced budget amendment to be added to the constitution. A balanced budget amendment would require the federal government not to spend more than it receives in revenue. This means it would be unconstitutional and against the law for the federal government to accumulate budget deficits. THE NATIONAL DEBT ISN’T GOING TO GO AWAY According to the 2012 Congressional Budget Office report, our current policies will eventually lead to a federal debt that would eventually reach a 90% gross domestic product by 2022, 109% by 2026, and 200% by 2037 (CBO 11). These estimates are based on the assumption that our current laws remain generally unchanged and that our spending policies which is the cause of the accumulation of budget deficits remain the same. The CBO budget estimates are also based on forecasts of economic state, demographic trends, and past experience. The other interesting estimate that the CBO reported was that even if there were general changes in our current laws, they estimate that the budget deficit would reach about 60% of GDP by 2020 which is only 10% lower than our current situation (CBO 7). As indicated by the chart above, our annual deficit through 2021 would never drop below $1 trillion dollars under current policies. Although the main cause of the spike in deficit spending from 2008-2011 was mainly due to the recession, the Congressional Budget Office doesn’t believe the United States would recover under current laws. The balance budget amendment does allow exception, which in this case is the recession. If the national balance budget amendment was in place then after 2011, the annual deficit would only go down because of the radical budget changes in programs. It’s pretty apparent that the money we are borrowing is increasing more and more, but what will happen when it reaches that point when we have to start repaying these loans? The government textbook gives us a great example of what happened to Greece when they couldn’t pay off all their loans. The interest rates on Greek government went way up and by 2011, they had to pay 25% to obtain a two-year loan from private sector (Sidlow 6). Compared to the United States, we are paying a mere 0.44% compared to the 25% Greece had to pay. The ending results in the Greek government shut out of private borrowing and had to depend on other European countries. The Greece example and the CBO’s estimates are huge future implications and urge for huge changes in our policies which I believe is the federal balanced budget amendment. CALIFORNIA BALANCED BUDGET AND FEDERAL BALANCED BUDGET Although most states in the United States have a balanced budget amendment, the federal government does not and usually work with a deficit. California has struggled with the state deficit ever since the 2002 recession. They were in a deficit of more than $20 billion in 2003 and had to force drastic cuts to meet their budget (Gerston 104). In 2011, the state was in a $26 billion deficit and Jerry Brown had to take drastic measures and force more cuts in programs. All this summarizes to one thing and that is they took care of their problems with minimal support. The current federal government under the Obama administration doesn’t seem to be taking drastic measures to cut federal deficit. Instead, it seems the federal government is spending more than ever. One example of wasteful spending that I found is the building of an unused $75.5 million airport and a $29 million harbor with no roads in Alaska in 2012 (Yahoo). It’s really questionable for them to use stimulus money for these projects. The building of the unused airport and harbor is an indicator that not all politicians share the same view. The ones that run the country and the ones that run a state may have opposing views and that could bring up different priorities. According to the Government Accountability Office, the United States is on an unsustainable path because of the emphasis on Medicare and Social Security spending (Wikipedia). President Obama is known for his emphasis on Medicare and that could be contagious to other politicians. What I am trying to draw from this is that if President Clinton, who had a surplus during his administration, was still the president then I don’t think we would have an overspending problem. President Clinton attacked the deficit by balancing the budget through ordinary fiscal policy and raising taxes (Wikipedia), whereas President Obama doesn’t seem to be drastically cutting spending or raising taxes. WHY THE NATIONAL DEBT IS ONLY GROWING The United States would never recover from this deficit unless they fix one problem and that is overspending. The revenue the public generates is fine, so that isn’t the problem. The problem lies with the government and the excessive spending. Congress has three options concerning spending which are 1) they can cut it, 2)raise tax rates, or 3) pass it to the localized government. From my perspective, it seems like they did none of these and chose to spend money that isn’t budgeted which essentially only adds more to the deficit. The graph above shows the average spending from 1960-2009 which is 20.3%. Notice how when spending increase, revenue also increase. Unfortunately, this isn’t the case for the situation we are in. We are currently sitting at an all-time high spending of 24.7% whereas our revenue is at an all-time low of 14.8% (The Heritage Foundation). The sensible action to be taken in this situation is to decrease spending, which we obviously haven’t. If Congress is mandated to balance the budget, it would determine which programs are inefficient and would spend money more rationally. If the balanced budget amendment passes, I believe it would decrease overspending because it would require the president to submit to Congress a balanced federal budget each year. According to Steven Calabresi, a professor at Northwestern University and co-founder of the Federalist Society, Congress should be constitutionally required to hold a vote with the president’s projected budget in 3 months and with the president and Congress having a time period of up to six months to accept a final budget (The American Spectator). If they fail to adopt a final budget during the allocated amount of time, all federal spending except payments on the debt should be frozen. In conclusion, if we are to solve are national deficit then we should start focusing on the national balanced budget amendment. The balance budget amendment will force the president to submit and a balanced federal budget each year with the president and Congress both agreeing on the final budget. Overall, this will decrease overspending which is the main cause of our increasingly deficit. Works Cited 1.The 2012 Long-Term Budget Outlook. Publication no. 43288. N.p.: n.p., n.d.Congressional Budget Office. Web. 15 May 2014. http://www.cbo.gov/publication/43288 . 2.Sidlow, Edward, and Beth Henschen.GOVT, 4th, Student Edition. N.p.: Cengage Learning, 2012. Print. 3.Gerston, Larry N., and Terry Christensen.California Politics and Government: A Practical Approach. Boston, MA: Wadsworth/Cengage Learning, 2014. Print. 4. National Debt of the United States.Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 05 Dec. 2014. Web. 15 May 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_debt_of_the_United_States . 5. Balanced Budget Amendment.Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 May 2014. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Balanced_budget_amendment#George_H._W._Bush_and_Ross_Perot . 6. Pfeiffer, Eric. Alaskan Town Home to Airport with No Planes and Harbor with No Road.Yahoo! News. Yahoo!, 20 Nov. 2012. Web. 15 May 2014. http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/sideshow/alaskan-town-home-airport-no-planes-harbor-no-230803871.html . 7. Riedl, Brian. New CBO Budget Baseline Reveals Permanent Trillion-Dollar Deficits.The Heritage Foundation. The Heritage Foundation, 26 Jan. 2011. Web. 15 May 2014. http://www.heritage.org/research/reports/2011/01/new-cbo-budget-baseline-reveals-permanent-trillion-dollar-deficits . 8. Calabresi, Steven. The Answer Is a Balanced Budget Amendment.The American Spectator. The American Spectator, Oct. 2011. Web. 15 May 2014. http://spectator.org/articles/36823/answer-balanced-budget-amendment .

Administrator Interview Essay

For class I was to find and administrator in charge of hiring CTE teachers and find the answers to ten interview questions. I am fortunate enough to be teaching at a CTE school and was able to interview my principal. I interviewed Principal Tom Ryan, who’s the main campus principal The interview was held face to face in his office on September 28, 2012. This interview was very helpful in learning an administrator’s views and thoughts of important issues associated with CTE teachers and CTE programs. Mr. Ryan was very detailed and honest during the interview. I started the interview by asking Mr. Ryan what strengths and weakness he has seen in new CTE instructors. He thought for a moment before giving a very thought out response. See more: Ethnic groups and racism essay The strengths ; knowledge of subject content, familiarity with current pedagogy, compliant because not tenured, enthusiastic, recent employment in industry related field-familiar with real world operations, Weaknesses: uncertified –salary reduction, classroom management skills, not used to working in government bureaucracy, unrealistic expectations pertain to student enthusiasm and behavior, unfamiliar with operating procedures, typically experienced in field but not educated in effective teaching techniques and strategies. (T.  Ryan, personal communication, September 27, 2012). After reflecting upon his answer there was one point that stands out the most. I strongly agree with his thoughts that new teachers have a difficult time dealing with class management strategies. College prepares one academically for over three years but only offer a short time of practicum experience in the field. When teachers learn to effectively implement classroom management strategies and discipline they can engage students in learning activities for more than 90 percent of allocated time (Cangelosi, 1990, pp. 3-20). Mr. Ryan shared his thoughts of what skills he believed would best help newly hired teachers. Beyond subject knowledge a new teacher should be prepared to teach students life skill. Students must learn how to successfully interact with people in the work world 21st century skills. CTE teachers to become an asset for their schools must have enthusiasm, be a team player, willingness to go the extra mile, establish rapport with students and staff, and collaboration with colleagues. All of these qualities are needed in any job and are taught to our students under 1st Century Learning Skills. Next, I posed the question to Mr. Ryan if you had two applicants for a teaching position in your CTE department, what factors would you use to select any one of them and why? He responded that he would evaluate their ability to communicate, knowledge of subject matter, recent industry experience, ability to demonstrate skills, and ones perceived ability given in a 45 minute interview to fit into the educational environment –why? He simply stated, â€Å"Because these are the skills necessary to successfully teach† (T.  Ryan, personal communication, September 27, 2012). Before I could ask the next question Mr. Ryan spoke of how he perceived the purpose of CTE. We agreed that the purpose of CTE was to prepare students with entry level skills, and to expose them to current industry practices as well as to give them the soft skills 21st Century skills they will need to be successful in the work world or continuing education. One enrolls in a technical education center in order to gain employment upon graduation or move on to post-secondary education. Following the above conversation we switched gears and talked about reasons an educator would be relieved of their position. We discussed that there could be many factors that cause one to lose their job such as poor performance, layoffs due to economy, or program closures. A major factor in letting go of an employee relies on if the educator is tenured or not. Mr. Ryan stated there are three main reasons that would cause the dismissal of a certified teacher. The two he focused on was immoral or unethical behavior, and incompetence. I feel that these are fireable offensive for any job. A teacher must lead by example one should not ask others to do what they cannot Once a new instructor is hired they are assigned a mentor. A mentor’s job is to monitor the new instructors’ progress and provide feedback. This gives the instructor a forum to express the difficulties they encounter in adapting to the new work environment so that it becomes utopia. I shared that when I was first hired I found a mentor to be very helpful. When you first start teaching one has many questions that often the administrator does not have time for and/or the teacher feels uncomfortable asking. There have been many studies done that all show a well-developed mentoring program for new teachers can contribute to the quality of their practice. Moreover, many researchers state that these programs show the education system’s commitment to producing well prepared and successful teachers. Mr. Ryan spoke of the different ways that CTE programs could improve. Financing program was at the top of his list. This would allow programs obtain industry level equipment, provide proper staffing, and allow students the opportunity to participate in more internship opportunities by offering transportation. Transportation currently is the one factor preventing many students from obtaining internship positions. Financing would also provide academic support to help students gain the necessary job skills, life skills. Funding would allow for education of reading comprehension skills that will allow them to navigate new information and equip them with reasoning skills so they are able to apply critical thinking to new situations in an ever changing world. This just reiterates the fact of how important the Carl D.  Perkins Act was for CTE education. Lastly, we talked about reforms and what he would suggest for improving CTE programs and how teachers could prepare for such reforms. His biggest goal even though he thought was unlikely to occur was a shift the bureaucracy to allocating funds to actual instructional needs. Next, he felt it was important for our school to continue to strive for an instructional environment that would maximizes resources to allow all students to not be left behind.

Google ‘s mission statements Essay

1. How is Google’s mission statement related to its business strategy? Google is an organization that provide information to the world in which it can be accessible easily and letting people make use of the information and to make the world’s information universally accessible and useful. Google is always takes risk, because they really want to expand their market size so that it can reach the world. 2. How does Google’s information systems strategy support its business strategy? Google’s information systems strategy supports its business strategy. The implementing an innovation strategy in the firm for moderates the relationship between the market information system and organizational responsiveness. Innovation strategies value creative new ideas and promote risk taking to experiment with new ways or new approaches to various organizational activities. The sense-making process, the firm with an innovative strategy may construct  more novel or creative responses to the generated and shared information than the firm without an innovative strategy and firms without pursuing an innovative strategy, firms pursuing an innovative strategy are more willing to allocate resources to activities that respond to potential market opportunities and to test new ideas . So, the relationship between the market information system and organizational responsiveness is stronger in firms pursuing an innovative strategy than in firms that are not pursuing an innovative strategy. 3. How does Google’s organizational strategy support its business strategy? Google let data for a project that is going on and also let its systems to be accessible by all its employees through the help of company with Intranet. Intranet is an internal or private network of an organization based on Internet technology and accessed over the Internet. Google is let this be accessible because, they feel they might be other employees that may have idea of the work or project going on in other department. 4. Which of Porter’s three generic strategies does Google appear to be using ? There are three basic classifications strategy by Porter, which are cost Leadership , Differentiation and Focus, which target either a broad or a narrow market segment. Porter’s Three Generic Strategies Google is using Differentiation Generic Strategic , Google try to differentiate its search engine style different from other search engines and also how the ad style are been advertise is also different. The use of innovative processes for business is a unique business model. Google mission which is â€Å"to organize the world’sinformation and make it universally accessible and useful† shows that Google targeted to broad  market scope. Google also made its interface simple and easy touse compare to its rivals. Which most of it rivals have recently copied from Google.Google kept on investing on its employees so they can capture the big market or world. 5. Using D’Aveni’s Hypercompetitive Framework, analyze Google’s strategy and the type of market disruption it has created. D’Aveni’s Hypercompetitive Framework Google’s strategy and the type of market disruption it has created using a dynamic environment perspective. Google positions for speed and surprise by constantly innovating by setting limitations on how long it will take to make changes to its products and services. Through its new products and services Google gave, which are AdSense ( AdSense is a strategy for web advertesing which has gain money to web site owner without unpaid account) and GoogleApps, etc. Its low cost marketing its shifts the rules of competition by finding new and better ways to serve its customers.Google as an organization never stopped seeking new knowledge through its innovative management strategic and also they ready at all time to invest in risky projects that have a high-return potential. Beside of that, Google facing with critical problem in security of information system and Google puts security in the infrastructure and focuses more on detective and corrective control.

Early Literacy Difficulties Among Hispanic Students With...

Early Literacy Difficulties among Hispanic Students with Low Social Economic Status Ignacio Romero Central Washington University Developmental Challenge Paper The challenge that many students face upon entering first grade in a low social-economic status area is low literacy skills. The students represented in this developmental paper come from low income families whose parents were poorly educated, many illiterate. As a result, students would rarely read to at home, either due to the lack of literature in the home or the parents were non-readers and unable to read to or read with their child. Relevant Theorist The first theory with an impact on this developmental literacy challenge is B.F. Skinner’s first theory†¦show more content†¦Children at age two have a vocabulary that reaches up to 2,000 words, by the age of four, preschool age children of parents who are literate have increased their vocabulary to a maximum of 10,000 words. This would be difficult to accomplish in a household where both parents are illiterate, especially when it comes to more rich vocabulary words. Lastly, it is important to include Norm Chomsky every time we talk about language acquisition. Through his studies we can say that children can learn a new language because of their innate ability in their brain to be able to classify different words, specifically grammatical terms. He suggested that we have a device in our brain which he called a Language Acquisition Device that allows children to notice the differences between two languages. In my opinion if all of us have this device. All the child needs to stimulate it to be able to learn those important first words that a child is going to need as they further exposed into a language. Resource Senechal (1996) study show that students’ achievement level in reading improved when they had early exposure to storybook and early literacy in the home (Senechal, 1996). This study examined whether storybook, reading and the amount of teaching in reading and writing skills, provided by parents in the home would enhance the language skills and