1. Which political cartoon do you most agree/disagree with? To what extent do you agree? Why?
Next, read this FoxNews article about the impending cuts. Do you agree with Boehner? Should compromise be the primary focus or should each side stand their ground? Respond below, either to someone else's post or make your own.
After responding to the FoxNews article, read this CNN article focused more on lack of Congressional urgency. Should congress be urgent in ensuring these cuts do not happen? What would it mean for the Pentagon and other governmental agencies if sequestration is upon us?
Finally, go to either FoxNews article or CNN article about impact on the Pentagon if sequestration goes through.
You must comment with an original post or a comment on another classmates post to receive credit for today. I hope everyone has a good weekend and I will see you next week.
27 comments:
I most agree with the political cartoon that has the GOP truck and the Democrat truck on a head-on collision with the chicken inbetween them. The reason I agree with this cartoon the most is because in our government, it is very polarized. And since it is polarized, nothing is able to get done, which causes the economy, the chicken, to be hurt. Also, I like to play chicken and I appreciate how they used this fun game to show their opinion and how they wanted it to be interpreted.
The articles seemed to both agree that cuts to the military are a bad idea. Fox News however offers an alternative by cutting spending else where. I completely disagree with this, if any cuts need to be made they need to be made equally across the board and not just in one area.
I also agree with the political cartoon with the chicken and the two trucks. It shows how both sides refuse to go the route of bipartisanship because of how stubborn they are and that they would rather see the economy crippled than meet in the middle with their policies. I agree with Jack on everything, and yes chicken is fun.
I believe that my opinions are best represented by the fourth cartoon. Since the founding of our country we have been warned by leaders such as George Washington about the issues that political parties bring up and this cartoon is a good example of this problem. The democrats and the republicans can not come to terms with each other concerning budget cuts and wait until the last minute hoping the other will back down. In the long run this hurts the economy because it just delays the solution to our deficit. I agree with Jack on this matter because I also like to play chicken.
I most agree with the Breaking Bad political cartoon. It seems like a drug addict, or dealer they go to rehab to make the people that love them happy, and shut up so they can just do it again. Te government just keeps increasing the debt ceiling so the crisis is temporarily gone, and make the public happy. However money needs to be shifted and programs need to start being cut, instead of putting it off like the government is doing.
It seems as though both Obama and Boehner - and their respective affiliated parties - are more concerned with a win over their rivals than they are with the well being of the American people. The Democrats and GOP need to collaborate on a plan that would best serve the interests of Americans as a whole, rather than their independent political careers. The only way a compromise can be created that uses our resources to full capacity, rather than dividing them in the pursuit of different goals, is if both parties to drop the pretenses of their differences and focus on helping the people they've dedicated themselves to serving. Neither Obama nor Boehner are in the right here, as neither accept that they will have to work with the other. Their partisan philosophy is a large part of what contributed to our current economic status, and needs to come to an end.
I agree most with the second political cartoon that depicts Uncle Sam as a butcher. This is because sequestration deals with many "draconian" cuts that I feel are necessary to spur Congress into action yet if they fail to achieve their intended effect then various parts of our government and economy are left to suffer. It presents defense as one of the bigger pieces that could be cut but I believe that is the last thing that should be affected by any type of budget cuts.
I agree with Robert that if the government is going to cut spending, it should be equally distributed across everyone, not just one group or oganization. But, in order to get anything done in passing these cuts, it must be approved by the government official, which are extremely polarized. So thins that would normally have been passed and would of had great success will not be given and opportunity to.
I agree with Jack. The chicken cartoon correctly illustrates the issue of: if politicians do not come together soon, citizens and the economy are going to get hit. With hours cut and salaries going down, less spending in the country will occur, again.
To a degree, Boehner is correct in saying something needs to be produced ASAP. However, it appears he is also trying to throw Obama under the bus by playing the blame game. Because, Boehner is forgetting, unless he is also willing to meet in the middle with soultins to the problem, the problem will only get worse. This is not just one man's problem or ultimate decision.
Yes, congress much be urgent. Otherwise wages will be cut and the economy will only move in a downward direction. A decently large proportion is going to be negatively affected.
I don't agree completely with Boehner, but I can see his point in the article. Both sides of the argument should compromise instead of standing their ground, because clearly both sides waiting for the other side to break to their will is a lost cause. What needs to happen is that instead of completely breaking down on wha they believe in the Democrats and the GOP should go ahead and start writing lists on what they would want to cut and what they should keep, and then maybe if the Democrats decide that they can make some cuts in the areas where the GOP would like to see them, then the GOP would also play ball and start closing a few tax loopholes. But because this makes sense it will never happen.
Even though Congress is composed of two different political parties they must act quickly to eliminate the "meat cleaver" of spending cuts. I believe that Congress must compromise with each other, especially on this matter. Other wise thousands of Americans will lose their job all due to the fact that the political leaders we elected to office could not learn to compromise a little for the greater good. During the fox article Obama asks congress to at least come up with a temporary solution that will delay the upcoming budget cuts. I believe this is not the correct way to go. We must solve the issue now and stop trying to delay the inevitable.
In the Boehner to Obama article I would not agree with Boehner, but rather that a compromise between the two sides needs to be reached. The sequestration is important in that is what an attempt to force Congress into fixing the economy thus it is not too important where it came from. It is more important then that the purpose for the sequestration in the first place, be carried out. That is both the Republicans and Democrats must come to an agreement in order to avoid such harsh cuts across the board.
I do think that Congress must then be urgent in its handling of this situation as time is of the essence. The impact on various agencies including the Pentagon is too significant for Congress to waste time. Bipartisanship is key in this situation in order to find a compromise that both benefits the economy while protecting the integrity of the Pentagon, the US military, and the reputation of US abroad.
I believe that congress must be urgent on compromising on the matter of budget cuts. They must be urgent because the day is coming up and there is no time that can be wasted in this decision. If these budget cuts were enacted they would leave a good majority of our armed forces weak and not able to carry out their tasks effectively due to the lack of money supplied to them. This does not just apply to the armed forces though, many other organizations such as the FBI or the FDA will be in the same boat.
I most agree with the cartoon including two trucks heading toward each other, one titled "GOP" and the other "Democrats" with a chicken in the middle labeled "economy" saying "Why is it every time they play chicken I get hurt" because in the shoes of an American citizen, it seems like neither parties will swallow their pride to come to any sort of conclusion and they are always going head to head wothout any regard to their impact on the people and the economy, because either way they are going to get their large Government salary.
I think that Boehner is correct to a certain degree, because according to Fox News, the White House created the sequester, so they are largely responsible for finding a solution. I think that if Boehner wants to go anywhere with his plan to close tax loopholes, he needs to actually tell the public what those loopholes are because right now his words dont own up to anything. This was a problem that Romney was criticized for during the 2012 election because he kept mentioning closing tax loopholes but would never mention any of them.
I agree with the political cartoon showing the sequester as a monster terrorizing Washington. I agree with the comics point that the politicians in congress are using the sequester to attempt to shift the burden of having to make cuts to the budget on the other party. Each side is unwilling to compromise because of the strongly polarized political climate in the country. I believe they should make cuts to entitlements and close tax loopholes so that both parties are satisfied and the catastrophe of the sequester will be avoided.
I agree with the cartoon with representing the Democrats and Republicans playing chicken. I agree with this because it seems that all I hear on the news is Democrats and Republicans trying to get each other, no matter who gets hurt. It seems that they hate each other more than some of our actual enemies. A house divided against itself cannot stand.
If sequestration hits, civil service workers will have to take a 3 week long furlough. That's 3 weeks without a paycheck, which could negatively impact some families. The spending cuts, however, won't affect the economy too bad. It's meant to slow down the GDP growth very slightly (probably like 1% for a few months) and then private investors will invest more.
The political cartoon that I agree with is the "Governing Bad" picture. It's like the guy holding the "fiscal crisis" is the government, because basically the government has our national economy in their hands. When the man says "I can't stop cooking" this implies that the government is putting off the fiscal crisis to the side. It's like they're trying their hardest to just forget about it, when the deadlineMarch 1st) is rapidly approaching.I also agree that the governement is putting off the resolution to the fiscal crisis, although it will not be easy. The two parties also need to come to a compromise between what the two believe. The Republicans want to make sure that taxation is not increased and that taxation loopholes are still active. While the Democrats believe in increasing taxes to get out of the deficit.
I think its wrong that the republicans are being blamed for the sequester by the democrats. I see why Boehner wouldn't want to help seeing his party is being blamed for something that came from the white house. However The parties need to compromise, for the sake of the nation. Our deficit is really getting out of hand, stuff needs to be cut, and its gonna harm some people economically but it will help the nation as a whole. I think the government needs to stop worrying what every little person thinks and start cutting.
-I most agree with the third political cartoon, depicting The Sequester Frankenstein creature. I think it ultimately sums up the issues of the sequestration. All of the other cartoons seem to try to make the reader choose a side but in essence the issue is not whose fault it is but what we are going to do about it. This is the point of the cartoon to point out that the politicians need to stop passing blame and just resolve the issues facing the country.
-No I don’t agree with Boehner, what is pointing fingers ever going to accomplish. He’s basically saying that since the President came up with this idea he should fix it, what kind of solution is that? The main idea of our government is to be able to compromise until everyone reaches an agreement. This is how decisions are made in the world and until Congress and the President agree on something nothing will ever get done.
I agree with the final cartoon with the trucks playing chicken. Neither side is trying to compromise with the situation, both the GOP and Democrats are trying to get the other side to buckle under the pressure and submit to their plans. If both sides continue what they are doing, and refusing to compromise, they will just end up hurting the economy, and each side will blame the other for the disaster.
Boehner, it seems, is trying to get a head start on the blame game. Instead of trying to find a solution that will work for both sides like they should be doing, Boehner remains stubborn and claims this situation was Obamas doing, so it is his responsibility to fix it. Although both sides are at fault here for not coming to a solution yet, im inclined to support the democrats and criticize the GOP, because Boehner is not even attempting to work with Obama.
I think that both sides need to realize that the other side is not going to give in. they need to realize that if they dont act soon, the entire nation will start to feel the ramifications of having an extremely polarized government being forced to come to a compromise.
The cartoon that I agree with the most is the "Governing Bad" cartoon. I agree with this the most because I feel it shows the worst part about the financial crisis. It is a parody of the TV show Breaking bad, but instead of drugs, it's saying that congress must run and do its job; however like in breaking bad, it is a terrible thing. I like how the "fiscal crisis, is representing the drugs, and the saying used " I can't stop cooking" is showing how nothing is going to work. This is because if it goes through, then $1.2 trillion worth of government materials will be decreased, but if it doesn't go through, and then we will increase the dept that we already have. I deeply agree with this cartoon, and like how it has put the whole thing into terms that a teenager can understand better. I think that compromise should be the primary focus. Trying to stand your ground is becoming childish, and if something is going to get done and passed, both sides are going to have to compromise, and be able to listen to each other, and not be butt-hurt about winning or losing. I read the CNN article, and it seems it would have a huge impact on the pentagon. It states that " pentagon cuts would compromise half" which is around $43 billion. It also has a direct impact, as over 800,000 workers would work one less day a week.
I agree with the political cartoon depicting the two trucks colliding with the chicken between them. I feel like, as Jack said, the political standing of the country is so polarized that regardless of the outcome the economy will be hurt. It seems as if no one is really concerned with the state of the economy anymore, but with being "right", and proving a point.
In regards to the Boehner article, I believe that compromise is the key to dealing with the sequestration issue. It amazes me how politicians are so skilled at acting like children when it comes to such influential decisions such as this -- even kids know that you don't always get everything you want, so you may as well compromise so that everyone is satisfied. The pointing fingers and refusal to budge on ideas is definitely the biggest problem in Congress today, from both sides.
I agree most with the political cartoon of the two head-on trucks with the economy in the middle. I think it accurately shows how the sequestration is becoming more of a game of chicken in seeing who is going to stand their ground for the longest which is actually preventing compromise and is going to eventually result in hurting our economy (the chicken) if they refuse to finally do so.
I think that compromise should definitely be aimed for rather than one side getting all of their demands because as history has shown, such a polarized government is not conducive to a happy people and by aiming for compromise more so than 'winning' at least steps will be taken to improve the economy rather than remaining in a standstill like it is now.
Some of these cuts should not be allowed to go through because by doing so, the government is weakening not only our economy by inappropriately apportioning funds but it also weakens the US' place as a world power because we are as of current not able to focus on our own issues - much less global issues.
I agree with Dustin's comment on the breaking Bad political cartoon. It really does show how the government raises the debt to make people happy making it almost like an addicting drug. but i don't think we should just cut the money off just like that it needs to be a slow decrease in spending because if you make a rapid change people would freak in my opinion.
I agree with the political cartoon where both the Democrats and Republicans are playing chicken, because essentially that's really how both the parties are behaving. We can visually see the polarization between the two parties, which prevents important decisions from being made. George Washington warned us about having political parties that would create "a house divided". So it's important they come to a decision even if it means compromise. So both parties can be satisfied with the outcome, however we all know that's not the case(not everyone will be happy).
I agree with the governing bad picture because the democrats and the republicans made policies but it doesn't harmonize just like cooking with ingredients that don't match. They propose solutions but the way that each side wants to do it differs.
I think both sides need to compromise without thinking about the tension between the republicans and the democrats. Instead of saying that "It's a bad policy," propose one that might help the economy. Each side should not stand their ground because the only way that problems are solved is by working things out. Neither sides are willing to compromise. They are just trying to blame the other side.
I agree the most with the 4th political cartoon “Prime Cuts.” I believe that it is clearer than the rest of them and straight to the point. This cartoon illustrates how at the time different groups of the government had different ideas on what should be done in order to reduce the nation’s debt for the next ten years. While some people find that the government’s job is to do what is best for the people they are all kind of stubborn with their own ideas and way of doing things. For the most part the groups of government are willing to compromise though it takes a long time because they feel so strongly about their ideas. Government clearly is represented by Uncle Sam and the parts of the cow are parts of that should be cut out for debt reduction. Uncle Sam is shown dumbfounded.
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