ULISH CARTER
I really wanted to dig into the national news as it related to President Obama and the economy, but all the rest of the media is dealing with everything but the economy which is the real problem affecting most of the people I talk to.
What’s happening in the Middle East is important but how does that relate to me getting a job, getting a better job, getting a raise or promotion or being able to hang on to what I have with so many businesses either shutting down or cutting back.
The Sequester was supposed to shut the country down or at least put us back into the recession, but somehow we are surviving it.
The killing of the Americans in Middle Eastern countries is all we hear about on the news and all the GOP could talk about for months. This was a tragedy but come on, anything can happen at any time in the Middle East. Anyone who goes over there for whatever reason, and especially as a representative of this country is putting his or her life in harm’s way and they know it. Are there any stable countries left over there?
My advice is learn from our mistake and move on. Why it happened is because there are a lot of people who hate us over there, and there are also a lot of religious fanatics using religion as a reason to kill Americans—Europeans, Arabs, anybody.
I’m still not totally sure why we are over there at all putting our people in harm’s way. It doesn’t matter which party, Democrat or Republican.
Why can’t we let them solve their own problems? Because we aren’t sure who we want to support, just because one group is fighting a tyrant doesn’t mean that once in office the rebel will not be just as bad or worse. Remember we supported Saddam Hussein at one time even giving him weapons to fight Iran.
And remember after we removed him from Iraq in came the Taliban, who couldn’t get a foothold in that country as long as Hussein was in power.
So I searched for information on the Economy. Everything from the Democrats was positive, and everything from the Republicans was negative, so I sought an independent source, the Associated Press and other unbiased news sources and this is what I got.
There were a record number of new jobs, 175,000, created last month and the unemployment rate stayed around the same, 7.5 percent. There were more people seeking jobs last month, which experts say was because they had more confidence in the economy, which caused the unemployment rates to stay around the same instead of decreasing. This occurred despite government spending cuts, government jobs lost because of the Sequester, and tax increases. America is strong in comparison to Europe, which is still in a recession and Asia, led by China, is now struggling. However, because the rest of the world is struggling the U.S. lost jobs in manufacturing because of the slowdown in goods and services, which would normally go to these countries that have cut back purchases. Overall the stock market is at near record highs, the housing market is strengthening, auto sales are up, the budget deficit has shrunk, and consumer confidence is at a 5-year peak.
Overall this should have been great news, but it barely got any coverage because of all the crap going on in the Middle East, and all the invasion of privacy news, and the IRS.
The most recent news is the government obtaining information from the social media through cell phones, the Internet and stuff like that.
On the latest issue the media is up in arms but the politicians say nothing was done wrong and there’s a misunderstanding. They aren’t going to bother the journalist who broke the news but they are going after the person who fed him the information. Both Democratic and Republican leaders said this person should be tried. Even the media people on the Sunday News Shows said he should be. So I ask. How are they going to know who fed the journalist the information if they don’t force him to reveal his source? And isn’t this the same as the AP issue? What ever happened to Freedom of Speech?
Both party spokespeople said that this information has been gathered for the protection of the country but it has only been used in two cases in which lives were in danger. And of course anytime both parties agree, I believe them 100 percent. They wouldn’t lie together. Would they?
I agree with the journalist. Before anything like this is done it should be discussed in public, debated and put before the American people and let us make that decision. We may vote yes. But at least give us that opportunity in what is supposed to be a free, democratic country.
It’s not that I don’t trust government. It’s not that I don’t trust any of these people with my rights. It’s just that I believe any small group of people can be corrupted, when the only people who know are they, and there’s big money out there. Who’s to say that with all this gathered information just sitting there, someone doesn’t decide that they don’t want someone in a certain position, and is willing to pay somebody to put out secret information on that person.
I just feel better when information is revealed and the people are allowed to make these decisions. If we make stupid decisions, then we pay the consequences. For example voting in a Democratic President, Democratic Senate, and a Republican House and expecting something to be accomplished.
But then again, I’m a journalist. I believe in freedom of speech, freedom of the press, and the government being open to the public and information flowing freely. We’ve survived all these years, even with the War on Terror we will continue to survive with a free and open government.
But my main concern is when is the media going to get back to the economy? How many jobs is our involvement in the Middle East creating? The economy appears to be gradually getting back on track under Obama’s leadership, but who knows?
(Ulish Carter is the managing editor of the New Pittsburgh Courier.)
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