Econimic Disaster

 

The United States is facing an economic disaster of an enormous magnitude a few countries have ever experienced. Most individuals are oblivious to the crisis hiding in plain sight, unaware of how it initiated and much less how to put an end to it. While many persist in the “superpower mentality”, the nation has slowly become a second-class country in many aspects.

The United States no longer produce what Americans need to sustain themselves. The U.S imports much more than it exports and is selling off its assets taking on massive debts to sustain a standard of living it can no loner afford. It even fails to acknowledge predatory foreign trade practices undermining U.S. industry. Instead one encourages U.S. manufacturers to design, engineer, and produce in third world markets like Mexico and China.

U.S needs to take immediate action to reverse the out-of-control trade deficits. While it’s regulatory and tax systems have unnecessarily raised domestic business costs, the fundamental cause of the present crisis is three decades of extremely detrimental U.S. trade and globalization policies.

We should not simply rest on the faith that other countries will hold themselves to our standards in areas such as, labor and competition policy. These standards affect the cost of production. If other countries fail to adhere to these standards, they gain an unfair cost advantage

The U.S. industries have been so disarmed and dismantled that it now lacks, capacity and investment capital to facilitate self-sustaining production.

We All Have One Dream

This is a response to Ms. Reyes “The American Dream” blog where she briefly discusses the topic of immigration and the highly coveted American Dream. As I browsed through my peers posts and was just about ready to write my first commentary on someone else’s work I happen to find Ms. Reyes’s blog and I could not help myself but to strongly relate to her opinion, beliefs, and in a small way her life.
I was also brought to this wonderful country at a young age, I managed to learn the language in a very short period of time in order to adjust and integrate myself into the American society. Like my fellow classmate states “Being an undocumented immigrant is not at all pleasant [or easy]” there are a lot of hardships one has to endure and “sacrifices to be made”. One of the ideas or beliefs people have is that immigrants come to the U.S.  to “steal” jobs, I will not delve much into that but I don’t understand WHY people use that term. The great majority of immigrants usually work for less pay and in jobs no one else wants to take in order to give their families a better life than their country of origin.
Anyway I too was given the opportunity to obtain a two year working permit thanks to the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals of June 2012. This small policy made a huge difference in my life; it allowed me to receive a social security number giving me the opportunity to work, and free my parents of my college expenses. I also agree with Ms. Reyes and believe an immigration reform can do so much not only for immigrants but for this country as well. I understand many people believe it would be “rewarding” individuals for breaking the law but I as an immigrant myself don’t see it like that. It will be giving millions of people an opportunity to fulfill the American Dream. Don’t these set of ideals proclaim that "life should be better and richer and fuller for everyone, with opportunity for each according to ability or achievement regardless of social class or circumstances of birth”? Or does that only apply to certain people?

Punishable Practice?

 

Imagine yourself making your way to class or work one morning and notice no one is greeting you like every morning; instead you are received with disparagingly smiles and mocking stares. Confused you go about your day, but now people are starting to whisper when you pass by and you are beginning to feel very uncomfortable.  Sometime after you walk up to a group of peers gathered around a computer displaying a picture of you, and intimate picture of YOU. But how can that be so?! How did they manage to get a hold of that picture? You only sent that picture to…Oh yes your Ex.
Once upon a time, vicious people did their hurtful work through notes, gossip, insults etc. Nowadays, they have a more disturbing and repulsive weapon: revenge porn. What is Revenge Porn? Is sexually explicit photos and or videos of someone publicly shared online (most frequently by an ex-lover without the subjects permission) for the purpose of spiteful humiliation.

On October 12, 2013 the Editorial Board of the New York Times posted an article titled  Fighting Back Against Revenge Porn regarding this problem.  It briefly introduces the term and goes on to tell the reader about the lack of punishment for people who post intimate pictures of their ex partners.  It also informs the reader about the invasion of privacy law adopted by New Jersey in 2004 “which prohibits the dissemination of sexual recordings or pictures without consent”. But if he obtained the images legitimately, the law allows him to argue that he is “privileged” to distribute them. The article also tells about California’s new signed bill that makes Revenge Porn punishable with up to half a year in jail and a $1000 fine. However it only applies if the person distributing the pictures was also the photographer. California’s law does not cover situations where someone took a self-portrait and shared it with a partner, who then uploaded it to the Internet.

In my opining the Editorial Board provided good information about the subject but I feel some examples of the outcomes of such practice could have a greater impact on the reader both men and women. Both genders need to be aware of the irremediable damages of sharing a nude “selfie” can cause. Even though females tend to be the most affected by this form of humiliation men tend to be affected as well. Nevertheless, next time you are about to share an intimate picture of yourself with your significant other think twice. You may not want to see it published all over social networks. Remember, once is out there it can never be taken back.

Shutdown Needs to End

On October 3, 2013, The Editorial Board for USA Today published Why shutdown needs to end now: Our View This editorial talks about a number of issues that have surfaced as a result of the Government Shutdown. The consequences of the shutdown have ranged from minimal annoyances to more serious ones such as kids suffering from cancer not being able to access clinical trials at the national Health Institutes, to foreign leaders wondering whether the United States can be trusted to negotiate anything requiring congressional approval. And it was also estimated that a shutdown of a few days will reduce the U.S economic growth by 2%.  I feel the Editorial board is pointing all fingers towards the Republicans as the main instigators of the shutdown: the product of an increasingly radicalized Republican Party, that demands legislative hostage-taking in an effort to get what it has not been able to attain by the usual.
To me the Editorial Board got its point across (The Republicans are being childish). For generations, U.S. leaders have sought to portray an image of strength and probity as they pursued causes ranging from standing up to tyranny, to playing the role of honest broker, to creating democratic models that others could emulate now they are portraying an image of chaos and foolishness. The shutdown proves congress incapable keeping the government running and paying its bills and it undermines the American brand abroad.

More people are coming this way

According to The Wall Street Journal "Number Caught Entering U.S. Illegally Rises Again" for two consecutive years. This adds up to the debate whether the almost 2,000 mile border should be better secured before any immigration laws are passed.
By the end Of August U.S. Border Patrol agents apprehended 388,422 people trying to enter US territory without documents. That is 23,654 more people caught than 2012. The rise in apprehensions is likely to underscore calls to better secure the boundary with Mexico before Congress allows those already here illegally to gain legal status or citizenship. So what needs to be done to solve the Problem? Should another $75 billion + be invested in securing the border? Maybe quintuple the number of agents patrolling it? Truth is a strategy needs to be developed before any more money is spent in futile attempts to secure the immense border.