European financial crisis: A growing gap between France and Germany – The Washington Post.

While people in the United States often only think about domestic issues, what is going on in the world around us also has an impact on the United States as well.  Especially European powers also have a major effect on the United States because of their economic interdependence with these nations.  Right now, France and Germany, the European region’s two largest economies, are currently divided on whether or not they should deploy drastic measures to calm nervous economic markets around the continent.  Because of the problems with near- bankrupt Greece and Italy, many European nations are in need of an upstart from the European Central Bank- the main part of the argument.  The center of the problem lies with whether the European Central Bank (ECB) should create euros to guard against potential government defaults.  The ECB has in the past been conservative because of its major stake in the entire nation and the problems with Germany in the past during their Depression-era hyperinflation, that some are comparing with this incident.  The world will clearly be watching and affected by the decisions made between these two major European economic powers.

Obama to begin 9-day Asia-Pacific trip with economic conference – CNN.com.

President Obama is starting his 9-day trip to the Asia-Pacific region with a speech in Hawaii about the fact that he will press for progress on a trans-Pacific free trade agreement.  He and the administration are focusing on the need to create Asia-Pacific relations to help President Obama’s works to create jobs and jumpstart the American economy.  Even though there is no assurance of any agreement between the nations on the trip, President Obama is hoping to facilitate talks that he hopes will benefit the relations between the countries in the future.

How Much Ivory Does This Tower Need? What We Spend on, and Get from, Higher Education | Neal McCluskey | Cato Institute: Policy Analysis.

I found this interesting report today about the effects of higher education on the workforce and society as a whole.  The author clearly has a bias against the costs vs. effects of higher education, but it brings up lots of important points to consider on both sides of the spectrum.

Now that I have completed two debate tournaments on the topic, I feel that I have accumulated enough knowledge to explain the theories behind raising taxes or keeping them the same level as the 2003 level that President Bush imposed.

Raising Income Taxes

1) Need to raise revenue to cut our deficit and debt (not the same thing but intertwined)

-Increased revenue is only one part of the solution, but it is a vital part of the solution, tax cuts of 2003 accounts for almost 60% of our current budget deficit because of lack of revenue

2) Help the Government Stimulate the Economy

- Government money will be spent right away, while consumers saved their money rather than spent it after getting the tax reduction in 2003, not helping the economy

3) Raising Taxes Has Worked in the Past

-Clinton era, there were deficits and they raised taxes and helped stimulate the economy

Can’t Raise Income Taxes

1) Need to Keep Money in the Pockets of the Consumers

-Consumers spend into the big corporations which increases revenue for the government through corporate taxes, consumers are spending the money for vital programs

2) Raising Taxes Wouldn’t Have the Greatest Effect

- 50% of Americans don’t pay income taxes, so by increasing the amount that consumers pay in income taxes the government isn’t actually increasing revenue by that much, in order to actually fix the problem a policy that will have a bigger effect is needed

3) Not the Time to Do it Now (2012)

- FICA taxes are already increasing for consumers and revenue is being raised in this way, so we need to keep money in the hands of the people so that they can spend it and feel secure with their investments because so much of the economic growth is how confident the consumers are in investing in the market

Hopefully you understand a little bit more about taxes now.  Of course, there are rebuttals to all of these arguments, and feel free to bring these up in the comments section.

Social Security checks to rise for first time since 2009 – Oct. 19, 2011.

In 2012, senior citizens will see their first increase in social security benefits, as cost of living adjustment (COLA) has added 3.6% to the cost of living.  Many senior citizens may not see this increase, however, because soon Medicare will show how much senior citizens will need to pay for 2012 and this is likely to increase (according to the article).  There will also be higher inflation index, however, meaning that workers will be paying more into the Social Security system.  Next year the Social Security tax will be based off of the first $110,100 of a person’s wages, making them pay more than the previous basis of $106,800.  This increase of benefits for seniors will be paid for with this increase in Social Security tax.  With the talks of the increasing deficit and debt, some are questioning this fiscal move, however senior citizens are welcoming the increase from the COLA adjustment.

Wednesday night the state of Georgia executed Troy Davis for the murder of an off-duty police officer, and pronounced him dead at 11:08 pm. The overall story of the case follows (from The Voice of Russia News Station): “What happened in this particular case is that there is a homeless man named Larry Young, who was hanging out with his girlfriend in a parking lot near Burger King. They were drinking. They ran out of beer, so Larry Young went to a local liquor store to purchase beer. As he came out of the liquor store, he was confronted by Sylvester “Red” Coles, who was the alternative suspect. Red demanded Larry to give him his beer. When Larry Young refused, Red, who had the reputation in the neighbourhood of being a thug, threatened him. He followed him back to the Burger King parking lot. He said: “Listen, man, you don’t know me. I’ll shoot you.” And this is all over a bottle of beer. Troy Davis and another young man, D.D. Collins, were in the parking lot, observing what Red was doing but did not participate in it. They did not have any exchange with Larry Young and there were no words between them. Larry Young’s girlfriend at that time, Harriet Murray, observed all of this happening. Her initial statement to the police was: “I saw one man following Larry Young and threatening him. He said:”You don’t know me. I’ll shoot you.” Then he reached into his waistband. He pulled out a gun and he pistol-whipped Larry Young. And just then, because of the cries of Larry Young asking for help, officer McPhail, who was working off-duty at that Burger King parking lot, came around the corner and was shot. Only the person, who Harriet Murray saw with a gun, was Red Coles, not Troy Davis. Red Coles ran away and hid from the police and the next day he was scared that people were telling the police that he was the one who committed the crime. So he went and got his lawyer. And the lawyer and Red went into the police station and told the police that Troy Davis was there and that Troy Davis was the shooter. And from that moment forward the police were fixated on making a case against Troy Davis. They did not investigate Red Coles. He lied to them and said he didn’t have a gun. He later admitted he had a gun but conveniently lost it. And police never did anything to investigate Red Coles. They just said they built the case against Troy Davis. And the way they did it was they took the picture of Troy Davis, they flashed it all over the news for days. That same picture was put into the group of five other pictures and the witnesses were asked “Do you recognize the shooter?” That was the evidence against Troy Davis.”

He had been in trials for 20 years and maintained his belief of his innocence until his death. Many were arrested protesting for Davis’s innocence, and some are using this case as a way to justify getting rid of capital punishment because they believe that Davis was innocent. Some analysts are even saying that race played a significant role in this case because Troy Davis was an African American man who was alleged to have shot a Caucasian police officer. This case ended unhappily for Davis and his family, but others may believe that justice has now been served.