Tag: obama

05/17/11

Freedom From the Grasp of Foreign Oil?

Over the course of any history class, it becomes quite apparent that any event, act, or regulation has a very direct cause . One issue that seems to constantly be making headlines and undoubtedly has a very clear and direct effect on each of us is the perpetually  rising oil prices. At it’s core, the principals that govern the fluctuation of oil prices are the most basic fundamentals of business – supply and demand. However, as our dependency on foreign oil rises, it becomes easier for oil producing countries to step beyond these fundamentals and take a more active role in setting their own prices and indirectly having their say in the direction of our economy.

An offshore oil rig in arctic Alaska

Any disaster as severe as the Exxon Valdez oil spill in 1989 or the explosion of the Deepwater Horizon near the Gulf Coast this past summer is sure to stir up quite a scare when it comes to the dangers involved in the exploration and drilling of hard to reach oil fields, so it should come as no surprise that the government would subsequently put further exploration under a close watch. But the more you read into the benefits of increasing domestic oil production and therefore lessening our dependency on that of foreign countries the extent to which higher domestic output only becomes more and more apparent and it becomes irrefutably evident that it would be a major step in our ongoing quest toward economic recovery.

Over the past few weeks there have been many steps taken by the Federal Government to trying to ease the effects of these steadily rising prices on the pockets of the American people; and in fact, just yesterday “In his weekly radio and Internet address,” President Obama said that, “the administration would begin to hold annual auctions for oil and gas leases in the Alaska National Petroleum Reserve, a 23-million-acre tract on the North Slope of Alaska.” (John Broder, New York Times). It’s very clear that the president has real understanding of what’s actually going on in our country and is making an effort to show the people that he’s doing what he can to help us; and although I do not agree wit hall of his policies, I feel that I must commend him for his ability to speak to, and connect with, the average American citizen on very personal level.

This latest step in Washington’s stance on drilling within our nation’s border is sure to have a very direct and hopefully positive effect on each of us individually as well as on our economy as whole, and I encourage you all to take a few minutes to read the article that I’ve linked below – or at the very least watch the videos.

-C. Salama

Video: Obama on New Drilling Leases

\”Shrinking Oil Supplies Put Alaskan Pipeline at Risk\” – The Wall Street Journal

\”Shrinking Oil Supplies…\” Video

\”Obama Shifts to Speed Oil and Gas Drilling in U.S.\” – New York Times

05/15/11

Obama’s Financial Reform : CPA

In Obama’s Financial Regulatory Reform program for the nation, a bill was passed to create an agency that would protect consumers from abusive lending practices, set rules for trade, and take steps to ensure that the failure of a couple of large banks/investment firms would cripple the economy. This agency is called the Consumer Protection Agency (CPA). In this case, Obama is tightening government control over trade and the banks to ensure that the economy doesn’t completely topple over.

Contrary to this, Reaganomics spoke of “economic freedom” and proposed an “economic Bill of Rights.” Reagan wanted to combat poverty and dismantle regulations as well as reducing taxes. Reagan did not have to deal with a failing economy the way that Obama did when he entered the presidency. Therefore their financial regulation policies were much different due to these different situations.

 

http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/c/credit_crisis/financial_regulatory_reform/index.html?scp=8&sq=government%20regulation&st=cse

05/15/11

Regulation for Regulations

On January 18, 2011, President Barack Obama signed an executive order, which allowed the government to review all federal regulations.  The regulation was put in place mostly for the businessmen in America, who weren’t so sure Obama was the right person to help fix the economy. Obama agrees that too much regulation in America is not beneficial, but he also admitted that lack of regulation is bad as well. He attributed the recent financial crisis to lack of regulation. This new order will also help the government focus more on small businesses, and can hopefully result in a more efficient economy. (Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/01/18/us-obama-regulations-idUSTRE70H13W20110118)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gH5ve_JFCsU

During the 1980’s President Ronald Reagan also tried to stimulate the economy. He did this by passing what was known as The Tax Reform Act of 1986. This act was created in order to simply the income tax code, expand the tax base, and get rid of tax shelters. Individual tax cuts were decreased, but corporate taxes were raised. This in turn kept the tax level about the same as it was before. However, this shifted the burden of the tax to corporate companies. Both Reagan and Obama have been seen to help the individuals more than the big businesses. While Obama is trying to help the Americans by attempting to find ways where they can succeed, Reagan is simply handing them help. He is giving them a tax cut, which requires no effort on their part. Whether this is the right thing or not lies in the mind of each and every person.

 

05/15/11

Financial regulation


Since Great Depression, there was the worse economic crisis on the Wall Street at 2008. However, Obama administration gave five Financial Regulation Proposals to recover the crisis. First, Obama wanted to “promote robust supervision and regulation of financial firm”. The Second point is to deconcentrate financial markets. Third is to pretest consumers from financial abuse. Fourth is “reforms must address operational issues that tie regulators hands”. Fifth is regulating international financial institutions.
source: http://seekingalpha.com/article/143774-obamas-financial-regulation-proposal-the-devil-is-in-the-details

During Clinton presidency, Clinton established fiscal discipline to reduce the Government spending, pay off national debt and extent Medicare solvency. Also, he opened foreign market; he had 300 free and fair trade agreements with other countries. Especially, he ratified the North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) in 1993 and Permanent Normal Trade Relations with China in 2000. This created 22 million new jobs due to export goods aboard.
source:http://clinton5.nara.gov/WH/Accomplishments/eightyears-03.html

05/15/11

School Lunch

President Obama signed the Healthy, Hunger-Free Kids Act on December 13, 2010. This act is an effort to help American children stay healthy and have access to balanced nutritious school lunches. More students are eligible to enroll in school meals; this legislation addresses issues such as hunger and obesity levels that are currently affecting many kids in this nation. This important dilemma is being tackled to give children choices to have a healthier lifestyle. This bill allocates $4.5 billion towards the implementation of nutritional standards in public schools.

Back in 1994, the Schools Meals Initiative for Healthy Children was passed to order to teach children how to make healthy choices. All school meals must meet nutritional standards, but very few schools actually met those goals.

 

http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/2011/may/14/school-nutrition-regulations-come-under-fires/

http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2010/12/13/president-obama-signs-healthy-hunger-free-kids-act-2010-law

05/15/11

Obama’s New Deal

The article that I chose is “Obama : Fix Market Regulation” from USA today. Obama came into office at a time of turmoil in our economy. This article is about how Obama and his administration are trying to set new rules and regulations to revive the economy. According to USA today McCain stated “There is a tendency for liberals to seek big government programs that sock it to American taxpayers while failing to solve the very real problems we face.” As you can see that the previous administration believed in very little regulation. Obama stated “Our free market was never meant to be a free license to take whatever you can get, however you can get it. That is why we have put in place rules of the road to make competition fair and open and honest, We have done this not to stifle, but rather to advance, prosperity and liberty.”

 

One of the new regulations that Obama have put in place since he came into office is for credit cards and those who are burdened by debt. An article from MSNBC stated “The new credit card rules… prohibit companies from giving cards to people under 21 unless they can prove they have the means to pay the debt or a parent or guardian co-signs. A customer also will have to be more than 60 days behind on a payment before seeing a rate increase on an existing balance. Even then, the lender will be required to restore the previous, lower rate if the cardholder pays the minimum balance on time for six months.”

 

http://www.usatoday.com/news/politics/election2008/2008-03-27-economy-speech_N.htm

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/30884011/ns/business-personal_finance/t/obama-signs-new-rules-credit-cards-law/

05/13/11

Eligibility Standard for “Companies that are Too Big to Fail”

http://video.nytimes.com/video/2011/05/12/business/100000000816342/bernanke-takes-on-too-big-to-fail.html

 

Barack Obama has signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumers Act in July 2010. This law allows the government to oversight and regulate financial companies that are critical to the economy; however, the government finds it difficult to determine the eligibility standards for the companies. At this point, the regulators have decided that any banks with over $50 billion worth of assets will automatically fall under the standard for additional regulations, but as for financial firms, such as hedge fund and insurance companies, the regulators will need more information and guidelines to determine the standard. The government claims to formulate the standards by this summer, while the deadline for the grand decision is January 2012.

 

The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act, which increases government regulation and eliminate certain economical freedom, is opposite to the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act of 1999, which gave financial more freedom by allowing them to consolidate. The Gramm-Leach-Blieley has repealed the prohibition of combining insurance, securities, and banking by the Glass-steagall Act of 1933. By eliminating such restriction, the US economy has move a tiny step closer toward a free economy. However, the US economy has taken a larger step toward government regulated economy after the passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Act.

 

 

 

Article Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/13/business/13regulate.html?_r=1&scp=1&sq=government%20regulation&st=cse