The Debt Speech

On Monday night President Obama addressed the nation in a fifteen minute speech giving Americans a status update on the continuing debate on how to resolve our nation's $14 trillion debt. The president speaks in a calm, sympathetic tone as he reviews the different points that have been discussed by both parties during this long and arduous process. The government had the funds to pay off their bills but instead of applying that money wisely the debts were ignored and new programs, or problems, were piled on and it is now the problem of American citizens. We have come to a breaking point where a decision needs to be made as soon as possible. Democrats and Republicans both believe that the debt ceiling should be raised so the country does not go into default but the manner in which the debt should be resolved differs in each party.

Currently we are in a recession. Meaning that people are skimming by trying to survive as the number of available jobs decrease thereby increasing unemployment rates. Many Americans do not have enough money to go shopping and make big purchases which would contribute to the state's revenue and help the economy.

The Republican party is known to represent the wealthy percentage of the population and the Democrats represent the middle and lower classes, which the majority of the population consists of. While the middle class have to pay every itemized tax, many wealthy citizens and large corporations are able to get around certain taxes through the use of deductions. Now this isn't fair when the ones who can afford to pay every tax are given a break which in a sense gives them more money than they earned. The Republicans are steadfast on not giving up these generous tax deductions which of course the Democrats see as unfair because they are not putting in their fair share.

This is where the Republicans need to grow up and see the bigger picture. Right now the Republicans are being selfish and greedy in not wanting to give up their deductions. They need to realize the critical state of our country and how much we can benefit from their "additional" contributions. There is only a small percentage of the population that is wealthy which should set off a green light that the middle class who is carrying the burden cannot do it alone and need assistance.

On top of not wanting to pay forward the money that they technically do owe, they are also asking to cut spending on important programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. These are programs that the middle and lower classes make use of, so of course the upper class would want to cut spending on something they don' use. Another program that would be effected by spending cuts is the military. Here we would see a decrease in the United States' involvement in the Middle East. This does help in forcing the President's hand to bring our troops home, so there is a positive side to this cut. The United States has overstayed our welcome in the Middle East, not that we were ever welcomed there to begin with.