*A word of caution: I'm still a novice in understanding the economy, but I got the basics down...I think...*
Back to our regularly scheduled programming...
Yesterday, I'm on my lunch break and I decide to check out CNN.com. I know there are better news sites that cover our global community as we know it, but I didn't have a lot of time to experiment. As their headline, President Obama is being covered for the $3 trillion in debt cuts he wants all of Congress to agree and stop with their petty bull-shenanigans. (Obama's even threatening to veto any measure that causes any hardship on the "ordinary American" and not letting the wealthy get their brunt of the problem, too. Now, that's been said for years that the wealthy don't contribute enough, but it's now at fever-pitch because of our S&P downgrade and certain people *coughs -- Republicans* want to make sure they sabotage every plan Obama has drafted so he can be an one-term President...goodness gracious...)
http://www.cnn.com/2011/09/19/politics/obama-debt/index.html?hpt=hp_t2
Anyway, I see the sidebar of different news stories that are related. At the top of the sidebar was the article about Greece and what would it mean for us State-side North Americans if they default. Among other articles I've read, I'm highly curious about this one.
I read this article: http://money.cnn.com/2011/09/19/news/international/greek_default/index.htm?hpt=hp_t2 and I'm thinking, "Oh my goodness."
300 BILLION euros is no joke. What's worse is international economists are almost certain Greece will default. I'm just trying to pay my student loans and in total, it's about !@#$%^& <--y'all don't need to know. But, just getting a college education nowadays costs an arm and a leg (and maybe one of your kidneys considering the alcohol consumed in four years in between beer pong, SHOTS, and possible hazing). I can barely imagine what the pressure is over there as Greece nears the end of their cash flow and they struggle to make more cuts that everyone can agree on. The interesting piece of this circumstance is that apparently, the European Union can survive if Greece defaults (as well as Portugal and Ireland), but the most worrisome countries are Italy and Spain. If they go down, the results would be disastrous. Insult to injury, Italy just got downgraded from A+ to A.
Greece is nearing imminent default, Italy was downgraded, and two other countries are inching closer to default. It's bleak on every front! I'm actually surprised I haven't heard reports of suicides (or maybe I'm not looking hard enough)...
Later on in the day, after work, one of my friends posts this article on Facebook: http://thinkprogress.org/economy/2011/09/19/322405/gop-rep-whines-400k/ <--this Representative says that after all the expenses have been taken care of and he's fed his family, he has $400,000 left over. And he complains about having his taxes raised?
WHAT?! C'MON SON!
I wish I had $400,000 to complain about! Don't get it twisted, I'm not doggin' him on his success. I'm not trippin' on how he is a multi-millionaire with his small business. (A bit oxymoronic, don't you think?) What I'm saying is that if Warren Buffet can man up and raise the taxes on the wealthy (and he is listed by Forbes.com as one of the top three wealthiest people IN THE WORLD--http://www.forbes.com/2010/03/10/worlds-richest-people-slim-gates-buffett-billionaires-2010_land.html?boxes=Homepagelighttop), what's his excuse? Maybe Rep. John Fleming should do what everyone making less than $100,000/year is doing--SAVE YOUR FREAKIN' MONEY!
...and I'm done. Peace.
