Texas Showdown

          Senator Barack Obama (Illinois) and Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton (New York) once again faced-off in a political debate about who was going to be a better president and potentially be on the general election ballot in November. The debate was in a small auditorium with only a few thousand people but with millions of eyes posted to their televisions across the United States. Sen. Clinton began to speak against Sen. Obama by stating that his speeches might be powerful but that he is plagiarizing. To counter her attack Sen. Obama said that he is not going to waste his time attacking each other he is there to solve problems. So far, Sen. Clinton has been battered by recent defeats in previous primaries, eleven to be exact, Wisconsin and including an overseas competition among Americans who live in a foreign country. Some of the issues that were discussed were how to deal with illegal immigration, they both agree that surveillance cameras will be more useful than building a wall through the US and Mexico border. Also they both had about the same idea on how to deal with health care and once again Sen. Clinton said that under Sen. Obama’s plan there would be a total of 15 million uninsured Americans but Sen. Obama responded by blaming Sen. Clinton of working in secrecy while President Clinton was in office and mishandling the situation. Then both parties stated how they are going to take care of the situation in Cuba. First Sen. Clinton said that she would meet with Raul Castro but that he must enact political and economic reforms. Sen. Obama on the other hand didn’t ask for any kind of prerequisites from the Cuban leader but said that there must be some kind of human rights applied toward the island. In addition, even former president Clinton said that Hillary will need to win both Texas and Ohio in order to stay alive in the race, recent studies show that in Texas both have the about the same pull but Hillary has an advantage in Ohio. Other states that vote on March 4 are Rhode Island and Vermont but have little attention due to the fact that neither has a large number of delegates. Also during the debate Sen. Clinton said that Sen. Obama has been making promises, which he cannot keep, she uses the phrase “lets get real” and Sen. Obama accused Sen. Clinton of calling his voters “delusional” and she then said that all he is doing is Xeroxing someone else’s work. Sen. Clinton said that its time to stop talking and start doing something about the nations problems, “actions speak louder than words”. Then Sen. began to remind the public that the primaries are just a small step toward a larger goal which is to have the right Democratic candidate in the general election and that the rest will resolve itself. In other words that no matter how much they beat up each other that ultimately they have each other’s side for back up whenever needed. In the conclusion of the debate Sen. Clinton began to state that she has been through a lot, in regards to her husbands affair with Monica Lewinsky, but that she doesn’t suffer the daily values of voters. So she must consider her self-lucky, it seems that she is trying to touch America’s heart and remind everyone that she has been through a lot but so far she hasn’t cracked, at least she didn’t cry. To summarize both candidates did treat each other fairly and responded politically correct to their question. But Obama still has a lead on Sen. Clinton and seems to not be losing momentum, so Sen. Clinton better pick up the pace or she will be sitting at home with her daughter come November. 

A Broke America

In the month of December in 2007 there was less spending by consumers in goods than the previous year. Thus supporting the idea that the US is not spending enough to stimulate the economy and in the end causes inflation. One of the main reasons why consumers are not spending as needed is because of the increase in oil prices and food prices. If this activity continues than the US may be heading into a period of stagflation- a combination of a stagnant economic growth and increasing prices. Causing retailers to raise their prices by a 3.5 percent increase, and leading people to buy less goods with their money. If this process is to be helped then the central bank will have to lower the interest on money, so that it can stimulate growth, that is being printed. But in doing so this may lead to more inflation because retailer will be forced to increase their prices once more, thus causing more room for inflation. Also according to the Deparment of Labor, unemployment claims have risen from 69,000 to 375,000 who usually pans out how the labor in the country is doing. Furthermore the downfall's that the economy is facing, wether it be the housing market, retailers or gas prices, we will all be effected by the fall of the economy. In the end, these factors that affect the economy may lead to high enemployment rates, inflation and a broke America.