State of Our World

The reason why I decided to title this as the "State of Our World" is because the State of the Union doesn't just map out the Presidents' plan for the next year while reviewing past successes and failures, it maps out the Presidents' plans and intentions across the world. Since the U.S. has become a global superpower, anything the U.S. does, economically, financially, militarily, socially, and politically affects billions of people (for better or worse). Today the U.S. does all these together and is constantly reshaping the world regardless of whether you agree or disagree. 

The Iraq War changed the dynamic of the Middle East, The Afghan War affected the geopolitics of Pakistan and Iran. The U.S. economic meltdown had massive repercussions to the rest of the world but especially our trade allies. Over the past 6 years (2 of which was under Obama) the U.S. has borrowed ridiculous amounts of money which has pulled in lenders from around the world. While social changes like the repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell will create new challenges for the U.S. military on how to deal with gays and lesbians serving in countries where being a homosexual has the consequences of imprisonment and even death( if not murder by the people).

This isn't necessarily new, I believe that the "State of Our World" concept (that I came up with, thank you very much) has applied since even before the Cold War, but may have been strengthened in its importance by President Ronald Reagan. 

This isn't to say that the world will just follow along. The President could outline a path for the future and have little support for it. However, any outline that the U.S. envisions for the future is something that is taken into consideration by all world leaders and how it affects them. Here is where the latest State of Our World comes in by President Barack Obama.  Here is an interactive Youtube video of the speech to hear it for yourself in case you haven't already. Note: the first 5 mins are clapping, so skip over them and if you don't like the tiny screen, just click on the video and it should take you to the youtube video for a large screen.

If you don't want to watch, you can find the full transcript of the speech here.

As usual, the President struck a great tone by congratulating the new members of Congress and especially the new Speaker of the House John Boehner, not to mention his mentioning of Congresswoman Gabrielle Giffords who was shot recently by a mentally ill ma (as well as other victims).  A very telling picture was seeing former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi sitting in the seats rather than next to Vice President Biden. His speech is as inspirational as you would expect of this gifted orator, but let's focus on the content.

He began by discussing what they've accomplished so far and among those accomplishments he listed:

1. Payroll Tax Benefit that added $1000 tax benefits to the average family
2.  Small business tax cuts for employing more workers.

He also said that "we need to take responsibility for our deficit" which is kind of hard to take seriously with so much spending that went on with his signature. That's not to say that I don't support a lot of what he's pushed in Congress, because I do, and that's not to say that there wasn't a lot of "pork" on the bills and backroom deals, but fact is, we spent a hell of a lot of money (for better or worse) and it has hit our long term debt and affected our annual deficit.

Next he proposed steps for leading the world to make peoples' lives better. The first thing he mentioned was inspiring innovation. I have no doubt that government research grants are completely worth it because every single major development in U.S. history has been either funded or invented by the government (mostly the military, i.e. internet, highway system, and more). My only issue is that you can't really spark innovation or force creativity; it will come on its own. All you can do is create a fund so that the creativity doesn't go unfunded. Our problem with energy won't be solved by "independent enterprise," it will be solved when the U.S. military finally discovers that a military running on oil is not an efficient military at all with a vulnerable point; in other words, the U.S. energy crisis is a matter of national security! Get the military on it! They have a strong history of advancing the country!


So I'm not necessarily against helping the private sector develop the technology, but the research and funding would be much stronger and faster coming from the military because profits aren't considered and there is just more manpower that can be applied. Don't spend the money for incentives, redirect it to military research on energy (when they finally "discover" the solution/s, it will be free for ALL private industries to use, benefiting the entire country). If we don't want more spending, we should just tight or cut aside certain spending in the military budget to increase research in the area. There is nothing, absolutely nothing, that is more important than energy independence, it will determine who wins wars in the future (who is the least strapped to natural resources) and determine who gets involved with them in the first place.

After that he concentrates on a personal favorite: education! The President has already done some things for education by started the Race to the Top Funds (of which Massachusetts won) for it's government and high schools introducing innovative teaching systems and techniques to help increase student learning, participation, attendance, and scoring (My high school is getting some money for a specific program: New Bedford Leadership Academy).  The "Race" has inspired 40 states to increase their teaching standards.  I've also noticed the President has a smart focus sciences and technology since the world is relying more and more on those subjects. He follows these up by reasserting his belief in government grants and funding for students to attend college as "the right thing to do."

As a college student that receives overwhelming amounts of money from the federal government, I recognize (especially during my college application process) that I wouldn't decide where I went to college; the money would. Without the funds from the government I wouldn't be going to Bentley University. However, I also realize that because of government grants, schools tuition rates have increased faster than inflation since schools have little incentive to keep prices low when the government helps them fun so many possible students. I don't know how to solve this problem because I and others like me, are dependent on Federal and state aid to gain the opportunities we have in higher education, but colleges are taking advantage of the system by raising their tuition and costs to make higher profits.  I will leave this one to the "experts".

And finally! We get to my favorite topic, and one that will saturate the news for the rest of the year: Illegal Immigration! A brief mention, but still a mention! Let's get it on! More, when the legislative push comes.

Following his stress on technology, the President outlines his concerns about the country's infrastructures as well as national internet networks.

On health care, he made an interesting cost, that "economists" predict that repealing the law would add a quarter a trillion dollars to our deficit. This puts deficit hawks weary about repealing it because it would make them look like they are adding to the deficit when their goal is to do the opposite; a subtle, but important comment.One final point he makes of domestic policy is simplifying the tax code, I really like the idea since it would help close tax loopholes and abuse and help even the playing fields in between classes.

Finally, the President turned to foreign policy by highlighting the removal of 100,000 soldiers from Iraq as it slowly stabilizes (though some argue it hasn't really addressed its main problems), minor improvements in Afghanistan (and plans for the future with troop removal beginning this July). Obama also mentioned his New Start Treaty with Russia on nuclear power while also addressing Iran's nuclear ambitions.

All together the President's State of the Union was what I expected, but nothing spectacular in my opinion. He concentrated on all the right points, but this speech is as political as it gets and it has been for decades. Inspirational yes, but it won't accurately depict the "battle" going on as the year goes on as everyone looks forward to the next election of Congress and the Presidency. More will concentrate on bashing each other, than doing what is right.  More will be influenced by lobbyist than serve the general interest. Unfortunately, because of the massive influence of the U.S., these interests will mean more than just negatively affecting the U.S. and its people, all will suffer unless the fundamental problem of government isn't addressed: unnecessary influence by interest groups (whether domestic or foreign). This isn't just a "State of the Union" it will determine the "State of the World."

(I'll post up a follow up with further analysis soon on responses and more!)