Changes

Three things that I would change about Henry Clay are the parking situation, the constant interruption by the intercom, and the overall organization of the school.

Although I have a car and ready to drive to school, I am still on my permit. So unfortunately, I cannot drive wherever I please and that would include school. But what I am happy about is that I don’t have to constantly worry about getting a parking spot on the hill. I’ve heard so many stories of having to squeeze the car into a small space, or half the car in the yellow, and of course, the lack of space in general. I think it’s ridiculous that not everyone has a place to park in the student parking lot. All the other schools (I think) in the county have enough and Dunbar even has open spaces all the time.

Multiple times throughout the hour, the intercom beeps, and someone from the front office or the principal calls a specific student out of class. Sometimes it is because the internet is down, but still, it is too frequent. I don’t understand why they can’t just look up the person’s schedule on infinite campass and call the class directly so that they don’t interrupt other classes. For a school that emphasizes the importance of a good learning environment, they sure like to disrupt it.

Finally, Henry Clay tends to be unorganized. Everyone is always confused when we have a dry-run (multiple times) or a random homeroom. And it’s not just the students; most teachers don’t know when or where something happens either. There’s also a lot of miscommunication such as who receives exemption passes, what they can be used on, when they are received, etc. And the pep rally held this school year was a great idea, but once again, I felt like it could’ve used more organization to be even more successful. Although a lot of things are done for the betterment of Henry Clay, I think it would greatly improve and be more efficient if a little more effort went into organization and communication.

Ch-ch-ch-changes!

Alright. Here we go. Changes at Henry Clay.... Well, let me start out with one thing I would never ever change. The amazing junior academy english teacher!! Am I right, or am I right?

Anyways... Three things I wish would change at Henry Clay are:

• The huuuuuuge population of students. I mean, really. 2,500 students in one building of less than 100 classrooms. I literally fear for my safety when trying to commute from first to second hour. The intersections where the hallways meet are completely ruthless. Pushing, shoving, yelling, cussing, books torn out of student's hands, feet stepped on, and people going off on each other because of an accidental collision. I'd rather run across a highway during rush hour. Henry Clay could easily be split into two good sized schools, but adding another high school to Lexington's five large public high schools would be a huge project, what with the redistricting, hiring of new teachers, and funding. But really. Funnel some students to other schools!
• Weed. Crack. Dope. Forget specifics, our school has it all. In the bathrooms, outside, under the bleachers, heck, even in some classrooms! This needs to stop. I have discussed this issue with some of my fellow students, and they agree. We wonder, "why haven't the teachers done anything to 'crack' down on this problem, yet?" We all see it. We all smell it. We all know who does it and where, and when (upstairs orange hallway bathroom between second and third hour). Why hasn't it stopped? Do they not care? Or can they simply not control their students? I wish it would stop. The smell makes my skin crawl, and it clings to me if I walk by the bathrooms. Also if I bump into anybody because of the OVERCROWDING in the school (see previous point).
• Henry Clay is well known for its academics and athletics. We all know about the academy, and the football and basketball teams, but what about the arts? Band, orchestra, painting, photography, chorus, film-making, authors, percussion. The unsung heroes of our society. We all know about the big game weeks before it takes place, but who knows about the band concerts? The art contests? The orchestra recitals? The creative writing magazine? These events are happening all the time, throughout the entire school year and summer, and no one ever cares to mention them. The stands will fill with blue and gold at a football game, but only band parents attend the marching band competitions. No cheering fans. No school-wide support. People say artists are unsuccessful. How are we supposed to succeed when no one cares? If our school could be more aware of its art programs, maybe mention them on the announcements or give a shout-out to an all-STATE musician instead of the star of a single football game. Best in state versus best in game. I wonder which is more significant....

So these are my opinions. Henry Clay is a good school, but it could be great. It could be special. If only they'd listen to those who know it most. Those who patrol its hallways daily. Those who see the secret crimes committed out of sight of teachers. Those who understand what students need to be successful and happy in their high school. Those who care. Those who are really affected by any administration decided by the board. The board isn't a part of our community. It takes a student to understand a student. If only they'd listen to us.

If I had to limit my grievances to just ONE...

If I had just ONE grievance about my time at Henry Clay so far... it would be the lack of school spirit.

Honest to goodness, if you're going to be proud to call yourself a Blue Devil, then at least go out and support the people who are trying to go out and prove Devil pride by being successful in sports as well as academics. And don't just go to socialize. It's so annoying when people show up at games only to completely ignore how hard the athletes are playing and all the points they score. EVERY OTHER SCHOOL in Fayette County can get a good turn out for a football game - their entire side of the bleachers at least 3/4 filled or more - and Henry Clay can hardly get a quarter - and people that is NOT even close to a quarter of the Henry Clay student body. And here's another thought: support the freshman playing. Yes. They are freshman, which means your instincts probably tell you to avoid them, but there is no harm in going out to support their achievements as well.

On a similar vein, go support the non-sports as well. Go to the academic team matches as we attempt to prove who's got quicker reflexes - because let's face it, we can't prove which school's got a smarter team because they're all exceedingly smart. Go to orchestra concerts because you want to be a cultured individual and support your friends who have spent so much time and effort to learn something that truthfully very few people can do. Go support the people you know in band because despite your cultured predisposition telling you to avoid band kids, you realize that there are a select few sane ones. For that matter, support people you know who are IN bands. I went to Battle of the Bands with some friends, and I was constantly flabbergasted by the things drummers can do. Go support friends and acquaintances alike, so that when the time comes for someone to celebrate your accolades, someone will actually BE there. It's a rotten feeling to look out into an audience or the stands or something like that and not feel like anyone there is there to cheer YOU on, but if you've got a bunch of supporters by proxy then you feel a heck of a lot better. Also, DO NOT expect people to come see you when you've not gone to see them. Turnabout is fair play and if you've not turned about then the play will not be in your favor.

Basically, if you're going to tell people you're a Blue Devil, wear a class ring, a pair of Henry Clay sweat pants or a cap and gown then you better have done something to earn it besides SITTING on your HEINIE during a class located inside the Henry Clay High School building, because that is NOT what being a Blue Devil is about, and that is a poor show. You are NOT a Blue Devil.

School issues

If I could change anything in school, I would start by stopping that one couple from making out by the stairs everyday (you know the pair). Then I'd go on to improving the smoke detectors in the bathrooms so that there isn't that horrible smell in stairway by Pope's room. Finally, I would resolve major school problems such as the overcrowding- one of school's similarities with jails- as well as shortages of school resources such as books. After all these are the problems that we as students face everyday with problematic bathrooms and crowded halls being constant nuisances. I've heard horrible stories about what goes on in the bathrooms and avoid them myself at all costs. Furthermore, smokers not only disrupted my citizenship class nearly everyday freshmen year but also make it intolerable to pass by some of the bathrooms which foul up the halls. Thus, I'd say this is a problem requiring attention. The crowded halls are a more commonly recognized issue at Henry Clay, and although I have learned how to navigate them after three years of school here problems such as locker shortages and not enough supplies in classes continues to be a problem stemming from the overcrowding issue. It must also be resolved in the near future. Such could be resolved by Lessing the admittance of future generations or the more costly approach of adding on another wing to the school which would most likely just be filled up.

pick 3, any 3

If I had to pick three things that bother me the most about this school, they would be 1) it is too crowded 2) there are not enough windows 3)why aren't there any trash cans in the bathrooms?

It goes without debating that Henry Clay is over populated. Walking down the hallways between classes you can't avoid getting uncomfortably close to someone's unwashed hair, or practically wilting from the stench of body odor, or even getting yelled at by the sassy little girls for "touchin' huh purse." Every year, it seems as if there are more new freshman than seniors who recently graduated. There are barely enough seats during lunch, evidently not enough classrooms (hence the little portable village out back), and most definitely not enough parking spaces. The school can't even put us all in one gym for assemblies, because it's a fire hazard! I guess the smallest change they could make that would benefit students and make the overpopulation bearable, would be to add one more minute between classes. That way, more people could use the bathrooms and go to their lockers.

More than half of the classrooms in this school do not have windows, and those who do tend to have them covered up so that the smart boards and projectors can be seen easier. This isn't something that can be inexpensively fixed, which is unfortunate, because studies actually have shown that natural light helps the body and mind alike.

Now I am aware of the fact that we don't have paper towels in the bathroom because someone set a whole roll on fire a few years ago, but there do need to be trash cans. Often times it is impossible to wash my hands in the sinks because they are filled with empty bags of chips, soda cabs, napkins, toilet paper, and makeup. Sometimes there is even trash on the floor! Sure, the janitors come and clean everyday, but by putting trash cans in the bathroom their job would not only become easier, but also it would be less of an inconvenience for those who want to use the sinks and bathrooms for their intended purposes.

...I'll probably take whatever's left and just split it up, so everybody that I love can have a couple bucks

Its a good thing you gave props to Jack, now we know who to harass for this week's blog. Just kidding. But in all honesty, I really do not know exactly how and what we should/could do to fix this economy. I mean sure, there are plenty of ideas out there, but whenever someone tries one, it seems as if so many others are opposed because it isn't being done their way. Although I do not know enough about economics and how the specifics work, I can tell you that the only way we will ever get anything accomplished is to stop bickering and trying to insult each other's ideas simply because they are not our own. Politics is playing an enormous part in the difficulties we face trying to fix our economy. If they would just try and work together instead of hurting the other party's reputation and image towards the American public, then they would actually not only get more accomplished, but also gain more respect.

Assignment 20: School

Based on your time spent in in school, what needs to be changed the most?

(Thank you, Zea Wang, Alex Atwood, and Connor Lakofka!)

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, March 4 at 11:59 pm

recession

In our recession I don't think there is just one answer to fixing this problem and there is no guarantee that it even can be fixed because so much is dependent on the confidence people have in the economy which can be very unpredictable. The obvious way would be to create jobs in our communities, have government or privately funded road works and such, but this could be difficult because so much of manufacturing is done overseas now days so the factory jobs are not available to citizens here purely because it is cheaper in other countries. So I believe that the government should also promote companies that are rooted here in the United States because they are providing jobs to citizens here. Also individuals should think before they barrow money from banks. When people start borrowing more than they can afford and the market crashes there are large consequences which then also weakens the economy due to the fact that people are consuming less. Overall I don't think there one thing that can be done to fix the economy, this is a process that needs to happen over time.

I don't know.

To tell you the truth, I am not very familiar with politics or economics, reason being that I'm just not as interested as I probably should be. I think, in order to "fix" our economy, you need to find the root of the problem. There's a debt, taxes, programs that create more taxes, unemployment, and the list goes on and on. Unemployment's a big issue - if the government could find some way to create some 14 million jobs, everything might be (but probably not be...) solved! Jobs mean more people employed, which means more people with income, which means more people able to pay taxes, which means more money for the government. I also think getting our country out of the debt is a much bigger priority than anything else because doing anything else is only digging a bigger hole for us. I'm not saying health care is unimportant, but we need money first...

Then again, if the economy could be "fixed" so easily, we wouldn't be here writing about it in the first place.

In all honesty, I know next to nothing about economics. However, I do know that in order to get out of this recession, we need to stimulate the economy. Now, since this question does not ask how to make the world a better place, but only how to fix the economy; I can say, without shame, that the way to stimulate our economy is to start another world war. The war that the United States is currently engaged is in nowhere near the scale that would be needed to restart the economy, therefore we need to get more countries involved, and soon. How we as a nation go about doing this is entirely up to those who wage war, but the result will be the same. Now the ethical dilemmas in this solution should in fact be taken into consideration if this was a legitimately suggested solution and not a high school blog. But, given the fact that this is a high school blog and the only goal is to fix our economic problems, then a world war would provide enough demand for production and labor in order to fix it.

Run like the wind Bullseye!

To fix the economy, we should just get rid of all our money for good. I mean, that's what the problem is, isn't it? Money, or lack there of? Just burn every dollar and dispose of every piece of change and there goes all your problems. Just run away from all the problems and that fixes everything, right? Sure. And then we can just forget about all the economy mumbo jumbo. If we just delete the cause of the problem, we won't have to worry about anything and everything can be sunshine and rainbows. All peachy-keen. BOOYAH!

It's the economy, DYLAN FRENCH!

That's right, underneath what most people believe is the most important thing in selecting a political leader, it's not just social issues, it's the economy. And as of late, our economy isn't flourishing nearly as much as we would hope. There is, however, a way of getting ourselves out of this mess, and while I'm not an economic expert, here are a couple of ideas that I think would greatly benefit us.

From a long-haired hooligan such as myself, I'm sure that you all would expect this first suggestion, but once you can get past stereotypes, the legalization of marijuana would be a huge boon to our economy. If marijuana were introduced into the market we would have a whole new industry at our hand, and a lot less senseless crime. There would be significantly reduced activity in the black market, and the drug itself would be made safer because it would be regulated by FDA mandates, also meaning that it would be less of a gateway drug to harder drugs because there would be no chance of those drugs being laced in the marijuana. Not only that, jobs would be created through the industry, and it would be a strictly American product because it is illegal in so many other countries and the jobs cannot be outsourced. I could go on a moral justification on why it should be legalized, but this is more about the economic standpoint.

Aside from that point, another important change to make would be to cut Social Security, and if not just by a significant amount, completely rid of it. At first, such a drastic suggestion would seem to set people off in anger, especially leftists, but when you think about the facts, it doesn't seem like such an awful idea: it takes around a fluctuating 21% of the Federal Budget, and you literally get less out of what you put in. One of the only intelligent things to ever come from Rick Perry's flapping mouth is that Social Security is a "Ponzi Scheme." And we don't necessarily have to totally get rid of it, but what bugs me is that there is not way to opt out of it. If I have the sense to save money on my own, I should be able to, and that's where my problem with it lies.

It's the economy, stupid! (©™ Dylan French)

The United States has a lot of debt. But you're not here for intro paragraphs, I can tell. So BOOM, we're going straight to solutions.

1. Cut welfare. No more "poor" people getting government checks to pay for new Caddys and flat-screen TV's. Force them to get jobs if they want to survive and stop spending billions of government dollars on them. If they complain, just have Obama give a 3-word speech, "deal with it." It's just pointless to waste resources on welfare; instead try and create more jobs and avoid poverty entirely.

2. Raise taxes. We just got out of a very long war, and instead of raising taxes at that time, we actually lowered them. Our military budget is higher than every other developed country's combined (source Ethan Campbell), and attempting to sustain that without a substantial tax increase, something that had been done with every previous war in the nation's history, was stupid. Insert nonsensical defense of Bush here.

3. Get rid of pennies. Start rounding everything to 5's and just melt them down or something. It's probably not even worth that actually, so just throw them away. Or maybe when we round things, we always round up, and the government takes those extra couple cents as additional tax? Because how many times do you hear someone say "keep the change" when all it is is a few cents? They're entirely worthless.

Not Barack Obama

In order to fix the economy, we must not, under any circumstance whatsoever, re-elect the man who will one day be widely-accepted as the single-worst President in American History—Barack Hussein Obama.

Admittedly, it is horrendously difficult to just write about the President's glaring inability to restore the resplendent wealth of our nation's economy. For ultimately, it is nearly impossible not to illustrate the innumerably abundant manners in which he is a despicable individual on a personal, spiritual, and professional level. Yet, seeing as the prompt elicits a solely economic response, I will try to limit the breadth of my assault upon the President's efficacy to just that—the economy. The following, then, is an enumerated list chronicling the absolute idiocy of our President, his mockery of our nation, its ideals and founding principles, and most importantly the steps we, the Americans who unlike our President are honest, freedom-loving, hard-working, God-fearing, natural-born citizens, can take to fix the Economy.

Yet, before I present this list, I must acknowledge the fact that many of you must believe that I hate the President with every atom of my body, and possess not a single iota of respect for him. In order to clear up any confusion, I respond then in saying that such a characterization would be absolutely, resoundingly, and uncategorically-speaking, correct. I say this to be frank, and absolutely honest. I would not want to deceive you into thinking that I was just another moderate, willing to blithely perpetuate the decadence of this great nation. While my vehement resentment of the President and his policies in by all accounts extreme, and perhaps even unhealthy, I harbor it only for I fear the abridgment of our freedoms and the deprivation of a bright future for our own progeny. In short, I hate Barack Obama, because I love America. Yet, may that not be extrapolated to the extent to only those that hate Obama, love America, for that is not the case. I have met many a good-liberal. Just because Obama, who happens to be a Democrat, is among one of the most incompetent and reprehensible human-beings alive, does not mean that every Democrat is a bad guy. Quite the opposite is true. For the truth of the matter is, that to truly fix our situation, we must unite both parties; however, that is impossible under a president like Barack Obama (a point I will touch on later). Thus, I am fully confident in every American's mental-faculty, whether they they stand on the left or right, to see the following as a powerful, comprehensive, and earnest plan to repair and restore the standing of our nation, engendering an unprecedented level of wealth and prosperity for the American people—the greatest people this world has ever known.

1. Repeal Dodd-Frank: This little-known piece of legislation is perhaps the single greatest job-killer of them all. Ultimately, it puts a ton of regulatory burden upon banks. If you speak to anyone in the financial sector who has to deal with this legislation, they will tell you that it has demanded that they spend the majority of their job filling out hours and hours of mindless paper-work. Bankers who work five days a week, will spend close to three of those complying to the insufferable weight of Dodd-Frank. It has resulted in the injection of countless regulators into the system who pursue an ambiguous pursuit of determing the size and scope financial institutions and their procedures. In trying to insure market stability, it has slowed down the recovery, and is in every way antithetical to the swift accumulation, of wealth, profit, and financing for businesses which is essential for the economy to recover. Yet, I am sure many of you are understandably thinking to yourselves, "Why should we make the jobs of the bankers easier? After all, weren't they the ones who got us into the recession?" Yet, this simply isn't the case, and is representative of a very large misunderstanding about the majority of Americans. The recession in reality, was not caused by bankers. Rather, it was caused by government regulation which made it such that all banks had to give out sub-prime loans to those who could not afford them. This was against the will of the banks. Ask any banker (I assure you they are not as villainous as the media portrays them), and they will tell you this fact, that the government was making them hand out loans, the did not, and should not, have wanted to give. Which brings us to today, in which we see banking-regulation, Dodd-Frank, ultimately hurting the economy. You think Obama would've learned his lesson about the failures of government regulation in 2008, but he hasn't.

2. Repeal Obama-care: Obama's health care bill is the single worst piece of legislation ever devised in the history of this nation. Its 2700 pages, of which not a single member of congress had the chance to even read, outline half-baked policies. As it stands, before it has even come into effect, it has made the price of health-care increase dramatically. Health-insurance companies, are in fear of it, and have jacked up their prices. The owners of small businesses, who provide health-care to their employees, have been forced to foot the bill for it all, making it such that businesses, who in a recovering economy are supposed to be putting people back to work, have been faced with outrageous cost, giving them less money to grow and expand their businesses. That's not even to mention the fact that Obama-care is inherently unconstitutional in that it forces a mandate upon every American to own health-insurance. Our economy is founded upon the principle of consumer-freedom, in which the consumer gets to choose what they want to buy. Yet, when the government makes it compulsory to by a product, just by nature of living, it is a breech of the freedoms guaranteed by the constitution. The point which differentiates mandatory auto-insurance from mandatory health-insurance is that one has the choice of whether or not to own, while one does not have the choice have whether or not to live. Thus, Obama-care presents a detriment to not only the economy, but our economic-freedoms as well.

3. Stop bailing out businesses: Now, I'm sure many of you, especially those that voted for Obama, are asking, "How the Hell can you say not to bail-out business? Didn't you see how General Motors is turning historically high-profits after Obama bailed them out?" Yes, I did see that. But this why, and how, I say it is wrong to go and bail out a business. For one, if the federal government, had not bailed GM, GM would've went bankrupt. Which is actually agood thing. Bankruptcy does not mean simply that a business closes up and dies. Rather, it means that the company gets to reorganize, and renegotiate contracts and debts. In the case of GM, this means it would've given them the ability to lessen the burdens they are faced with in costly contracts with the United Auto-Workers Association. For as it stands now, even though GM is turning a great profit, they, as a corporation are unhealthy due to these obligations. If you look at the stock-market, even though the market in general is on the rise, the GM is on the fall, for investors are aware that the bailout made GM weaker than they would have been through the bankruptcy process. It is my prediction that in coming quarters we will see the performance of GM slip up for this very reason. Moreover, this situation from the fiscal perspective is a complete mess. The government still owns 50 billion dollars of GM. To every see a return on our money the value of GM's stock will have to over double. And this will not happen. Obama's handling of GM, blowing 50 billion dollars to weaken a company (only a feat something as inept as government could do), should serve as a lesson for coming generations of America.

4. Terminate Cronie-Capitalism: The White House loaned $535 million loan to a solar-panel company named Solyndra. Three months later, the business filed for bankruptcy. The solar-panel technology of Solyndra, which Obama lauded as being revolutionary and a promising component of a "green-economy" was obsolete. Chinese competitors were already producing cheaper and more efficient panels. Perhaps it is only a coincidence that the lead financier of this project was hedge-fund manager Henry J. Kaiser, a friend, and campaign contributor of President Obama, who had made five visits to the White House. These shady dealings are now under current investigation by the FBI. But that is not the point, rather, it is only a marker of a larger problem—the manner in which that tax-payer dollars are being squandered and wasted on pet-projects of the President. Rather than stimulating the economy, and producing jobs, such projects just blow money. These need to be ended.

5. Reduce the debt: The biggest threat to our nation's economy is the federal debt. As it stands today, the debt totals over $15-trillion. The debt has increased under Obama by $5-trillion in three years. Under Bush, it increased by $3-trillion in eight. As it stands, this debt threatens economic stability. One must only look to Greece to see what crushing and debilitating effect debt can have upon a country. For as it increases, consumer confidence, and causally consumer spending, decreases. This debt, under Obama's proposed budget this year only plans to increase it. As a matter of fact, the debt is projected to total over $16-trillion by this November. What we need is bold comprehensive reform—the very thing which Obama consistently fails to deliver. Even when he had a super-majority in Congress, the President to get a budget passed. He epitomizes the ineffective nature of our government and political system. He must not earn a second term. Steps six and seven outline just how to reduce the debt.

6. Tax-reform: This should not be achieved by increasing taxes upon a single income bracket. Rather, it should aim to close off tax-loopholes. For as it stands, huge-companies, such as General Electric, who have lobbyists in Washington, have been, by nature of loopholes, declared tax-exempt. They pay not a penny of tax. While small-businesses, which provide the majority of all employment, must pay exorbitant rates. As it stands, my father, a small-business owner, has 62% of his income paid to the government. Rather than reinvesting that money in his business, and hiring an untold number of workers, his hard-earned money gets squandered by the government. Yet, if Obama had his way, this situation would only be inflamed. Obama claims the rich aren't paying enough taxes. To be frank, I do not know what the hell he is talking about. Obama, consistently employs class war-fare, pitting the "fat-cat one-percenters" against the starving-masses. Yet, this an unclear and gross picture of the situation here in the states. For one, there is no class-division; we are simply all-Americans. If one truly wants to identify the stark division of wealth in the world, one must compare Americans to the world at large. For if one is among the richest one-percent of the entire world, they must only make over $35,000 dollars. So by that measure, even underpaid teachers are glorified fat-cats on the world scale. Secondly, it is the "fat-cats" who hire and employ in this nation. The more money they have to spend and invest in their businesses, the greater the number of people get hired. Thirdly, as it is today the United States corporate income tax is the second greatest in the world. This truly makes the US inhospitable for any sort of economic growth. So, tax-reform should not be slamming small businesses, or the one-percent, it should make sure that everyone pays what they should. For when that is achieved, tax-rates can be lowered for all the classes, allowing people to spend more, bolstering the economy.

Now, I expect many of you are thinking, "Well, what about how Obama extended the pay-roll tax-cuts?" And sure, I can commend him on that. But in actuality, the pay-roll tax-cut achieves very little. For one, it isn't paid for. And it offers only eighty-dollars a month the average American goes out and blows. The money and stimulus it offers is not wealth-creating in any sense. If anything it is short-term, myopically oriented policy. I'd compare it to putting a band-aid on a cancerous growth. Sure it covers up the problem in a superficial manner, but does it seek to fix the problem to its core? No.

7. Cut-spending: Don't have another stimulus package. Don't throw away money in Solyndra. Don't have Obama-care. Don't have the bailout. Don't increase the debt-ceiling. Reduce welfare entitlements. Reduce the amount of time people may remain unemployed. Create a balanced-budget amendment. Stop wasting money. For what we have in truth is not a revenue problem, it is a spending problem. For as it is today, government revenue is generally greater than ever. Yet it is spending which adds so much to the debt. Our politicians in Washington need to practice frugality that the hard-hit families on Main Street. And the easiest way, I would say, for the American people to cut-spending, would to be not to re-elect Obama.

8. Energy Independence: This topic was briefly touched on by point number four, in regards to Solyndra. But what needs to happen is an authentic movement towards energy independence. This, I believe, should be pursued by all possible avenues, renewable and non-renewable. For if our economy is to recover, the price of energy needs to be cheap. I'm sure all of you have noticed the recent spiking of gas-prices, which is projected to continue, over $5.00 a gallon. This breaks the back of the every-day American, as they struggle to fill up the tank. Will they pay their heating-bill, the braces for their kids, or just fill up their gas-tank? Sadly, this is precisely what Barack Obama wants—ridiculously high gas prices. As we saw two weeks ago, in his rejection of the Key-Stone pipeline, Obama is totally opposed to cheap energy. He cites environmental cost, without noticing the amount of human-turmoil he is creating. That pipe-line, sought to bring oil from Canada, all the way through America. Now that it is rejected, the Canadians have formed an alternative plan to pump cheap oil into our competitor China. Obama, in pandering to his radical, environmental base, alienates the average, working-class American. His energy policy stands to subvert the wealth of our nation. If only he were to allow us to drill off-shore, if only our coal-industry wasn't destroyed by government regulation, there is no telling the number of jobs that would be generated. Ultimately, it is a fact that the free-market delivers the cheapest product to the consumer. And in terms of energy, that is something to which Obama is opposed.

I could come up with several other dozen points. I could belabor how Obama seeks the creation of a socialist state. I could go on about how Obama hates business. And love big-government. I could format a concert-tour form Obama, singing classic soul-music, after all, he is a better singer than he is a President (Did you see him sing Al Green at the Apollo?). But it would be beating a dead horse. For the preponderance of evidence against President Obama is just too great. For ultimately, 37,000 Americans still lose their job every week. Since Obama has been elected, over 5 million Americans have left the work force, making the true level of those absolutely unemployed over ten-percent. Obama promised that under his presidency we would never see unemployment reach over eight-percent. He promised us he would not add to the deficit. But in truth, he has done the exact opposite. His policies have worsened the recession. And under his Presidency we will not see a full recovery. It is imperative we remove this man from office. He may lie and tell us all that he has saved jobs, that he prevented a depression, but anyone with half a mind can tell that is not the case. We need a change of leadership. We need a man with common-sense, and a shred of integrity. We need a man who has more faith in the American people than in the American government. We need a man who respects the Constitution. We need a man who believe in free trade. We need a man who can insure a brighter future for not only the American's of today, but the Americans of tomorrow. And that man is not Barack Obama

Economy?

When fixing problems as complicated as our economy, a certain degree of frankness is necessary. So before I state my plan, let me say that although I am an intelligent individual, I know next to nothing about economics and finances. Seriously, economics is the most confusing field of studies in my opinion. Judging by the other posts, however, I can see that I am not the only one that believes this.

If I was given absolute power over the government's economy, I would first begin my task, or rather labor, by creating a economy-saving dream team. Because I know very little about what I would need to do, I would choose to surround myself with the most intelligent and informed economists that would be willing to assist me, which is like what Warren G. Harding chose to do. With such a team, I would be able to receive the best advice on what to do, and also a diverse range of opinion.

As a conservative, I would most likely start by reducing government spending and decreasing the taxes of individuals. This seems to be the most effective way to curb the economic downturn and make the American economy strong again. So, I suppose one could say that I would be a supporter of the Reaganomics ideology. However, I do not think much change would be needed because the economy has a way to repair itself overtime. So perhaps a more hands-off approach would be the suitable way of handling the economy. Once again, though, I am no expert in the field and therefore have no say in the matter.

Honesty

Well, I'm going to be quite honest here. If I could solve the debt problem with our country in two weeks then, one, I wouldn't bother going to school at all and would be making my own living and, two, I would now consider every person in the country an idiot. How could someone call themselves even slightly intelligent when a 17 year old kid from Lexington, Kentucky solves a problem in two weeks that has had them scrambling for decades? The only solution that I or anybody else here can offer is a vague description of how they would "cut spending and decrease taxes" or "increase spending and increase taxes". Actually, most of what you're going to read on here is repeated information; ideas that have already been developed, refined, and edited by thousands of other people. But quite honestly, that's almost expected from us. We're only 17 year old and we have little to no experience with handling money or even understanding how expansive, complex, and interconnected the economy is. The only thing we can do is repeat what other people have told us because we have no experience or information to tell us to disagree with them or agree with someone else. While this might be a sad truth, it is a truth nonetheless. Until we become fully functional adults and financially independent and informed, we cannot offer a legitimate solution to the problem.

I vote we ask Mr Pope to solve it

Well I, the average lazy and uninterested high school student, know little about the workings of the American economic system that has been sculpted by hundreds of years and thousands of individuals who consider themselves experts in this field; but here is my shot at "Fixing" it. The economy, from my point of view, seems fine, and the only think wrong with it would be everybody complaining about its management. So lets do a quick refresh of management positions, and see how much that pacifies the people of whom I identify as a problem. I also think that we spend way too much money in China; everything is made in china. We have some stupid amount of money that we owe china for all that stuff they make us; the only solution I can conceive is that we nuke China. Just kidding, we need to erect a good old fashioned tariff and just prey that China doesn't get mad about their lost income and attack.

We kind of seem to be stuck in the deepest hole ever dug; in history. We cannot put up super high tariffs because other countries will become more hostile towards us, or would stop trading with us. Also we cannot simply use violence to rid our debt, that is very frowned upon by the UN. The only thing we can do, in this age, is internal improvements of education, jobs, and agriculture; the world today is far too organized and well connected for us to do anything that could be considered 'rude' to another country, we would be drawing negative feelings our way along with a little seasonal extra cash.

We're not pilgrims, we're 21st century Americans struggling to stay out of a depression like our grandparents.

Two weeks back when I saw this prompt I thought about taking the idea of one of my classmates from a previous blog entry and writing four words, 38 times each. These four words are “GET RID OF OBAMA.” I have a right to take that stance but since I’m not sure what kind of grade I would get for that, I’ll try to answer this with a more detailed way to fix our economy, if that is a possible feat. 

In all seriousness, I will say that I believe Obama’s administration is a large reason why our economy is failing. In his first term he has added about $6.5 trillion to our debt, more than any of our other 43 presidents. Now if that doesn’t scream something is wrong with this situation, I really don’t know what does.

So, step one, remove this man from the presidency. The next step to improving our economy would be to stop the dependency of so many Americans on credit. This idea has its good points but it creates a false feeling of wealth which can crumble as seen with the Depression of the last century. If we turn away from this then maybe we will go back into a time of more prosperity like that of after the world wars. When people pay in cash, they are more likely to watch it; thus more likely to make better choices on how to spend it. 

After reading these other blogs, I have to say that the barter system just isn’t plausible in this time. Bartering goods for goods would mean going back to a primitive “apple for corn” kind of economy to which we cannot revert. Distributing the gold to the people (instead of paper money, not like a distribution of wealth- that would kill us even more, and make us a socialist/communist nation. No thanks!) doesn’t come across as that bad of an idea since we could directly trade to foreign countries, but it would mean less money to go around and would completely change how we pay for things. 

 We do need to keep exports down, specifically trade for oil, but to do that we would need to develop alternatives. I honestly don’t think it would be too terrible to drill for oil in a very low inhabited area of North Dakota, it doesn’t exist anyway right (Mr. Holloway reference)? If it is true that we have a truckload of oil up there then why not use it and keep the money in America? Perhaps a higher tariff on imported goods should be enacted to make it less expensive to keep production here and not in China or other such places. 

Now, I am not an economy guru, I haven’t even taken an economics class, and I know plenty of you will highly disagree with this, but I’m just throwing ideas out there which seem plausible to me. Hopefully soon we will get some leadership in helping our economic situation and these blogs won’t be needed.

economy

I took business economics freshman year and I honestly cannot say a single thing I learned that year. With that said, I have no idea how to fix the economy. It’s too subjective and there are way too many circumstances to know how to handle it. I don’t understand anything about interest, taxes, where the money goes, who should pay what, etc. but this post isn’t 150 words yet so now I have to make something up. I have one solution that would not solve the problem: go back to the barter system. Personally, I don’t want to go back to bartering but who knows, other people might. I think the barter system is like the reciprocity norm in psychology where people reciprocate actions. If someone did something for you, it is logical to pay them back by doing something for them. If life were so simple, then this would work but unfortunately society today is not like that. What worth would an iPhone have? What about private education? All in all, the economy is not something that can be fixed by me.

ECONOMY DOWN!

It's no great secret that America's economy sucks a big one. My first proposition is to do an (almost) complete overhaul of Congress. Most (especially old Mitch McConnell) have been in there way too long, have grown used to power, and have grown comfortable in the pockets of some large corporations. This is how NDAA, SOPA, PIPA, PCIPA, and countless other recent bill have been started simply to appease the large corporations. We need to root out all these corrupt, ignorant idiots and fill it in with a bit more progressive politicians. I think the president has some good ideas on how to fix the economy, but do to a large Conservative Congress population, many stifle these ideas and never let them see the light of day. This failure of ideas is attributed to the President rather than the stubborn myopic conservative senators.

Another large problem I see is with crime. I believe marijuana alone should be decriminalized. This means it's not legal, like sold in stores and legal to do on street corners, but one doesn't go to prison for possession. It's a complete waste of taxpayers money to keep idiots like that in prison. Instead, I believe in gargantuan, completely un-affordable fines to discourage users while also gathering large revenue. Drug users can get over a sentence in jail, but they might think twice about smoking weed when it could cost all of their money. And of course, they wouldn't have a problem stopping when necessary because it's not "addicting" and they know when to stop, right? Whatever...

Fixing the economic crisis

Fix it, you say? If only it was so easy. I doubt that any of us quite have the proper credentials to deal with such a massive issue, but I'll give it a shot. It's also worth mentioning that economic matters are far from my area of political expertise. Anyway. The debate over whether the wealthy should be given a higher tax rate is, as far as I'm concerned, unimportant. Studies have shown that changing the tax rate makes much less of an impact on the national economy than cutting spending on unnecessary federal programs. Which programs actually are unnecessary? Well, I'm frankly not economically versed enough to make that call. But I do believe that raising or lowering taxes is the wrong way to go about it.

We told them the wealth would "trickle down!" HAHAHA

You don’t have to be a wackadoo libertarian to realize that both major parties are making major mistakes (believe me, I’m not a libertarian). The problem comes from both sides caring more about elections than they do about people. In order to actually fix it, we need to stop spending so much money on things that we don’t need without putting innocent, hardworking people in positions that they would be in if Ron Paul got his Hooverian “self-determinism” way.

The solution is simpler than you may think, cutting in a lot of unneeded places and increasing taxes on the wealthy (not because they make more, but as punishment. It’s certainly not the lower classes’ fault that the economy is the way it is). Firstly, there are two wars that we need to end. Whether we’re out of Iraq, we’re still meddling in Afghanistan and the Middle East, and it’s a tremendous waste of money. Defense spending could easily be cut by 25%. The other war is, you guessed it, the failed war on drugs. I can’t begin to explain how much money this would save on incarceration costs, law-enforcement, etc. The government has no right to regulate what people put into their bodies, if it induces violence, arrest them for the violence, not the drug. The drug in itself isn’t harming anyone. I’m sad to say this, but in the United States we spend far too much money prolonging the already miserable senescence of the elderly population. It’s almost taboo to speak of cutting from Medicare and Medicaid, but pragmatically, what sense does using tax dollars to keep non-contributing members of society alive make? The last thing to cut is all of the unnecessary bureaucratic government organizations. Not the department of education or actually important ones like Ron Paul wants to do (albeit those could be heavily reformed), but I mean, do we really need a department of weather?

Barter

We are all aware that the economy is in a terrible state. It had been that way for a while now, and it won’t get much better unless we have a strong plan. The plan that I brainstormed is to go to back to a bartering system. Yes, this is something the first colonists created, and there was probably some reason why we as a people began to steer away from it, but it seems like a legitimate idea that we must open up to again.

We would start of small of course, in order to work its way into the economic system. We also wouldn’t barter for everything, just certain things. We would still have the stock system, but we would begin to start bartering for certain things, i.e. food. People could start growing their own crops within a little garden, then, within a community, people could barter what they have for what their neighbors have. When winter comes, people would buy their food in places with harsh climate, but that would be the only exception.

If the bartering system starts off failing early, we as a country will abort the idea and think of other ways to fix the economy.

Reversing Debt

Honestly speaking, I have no clue how to fix the economy. I know very little about the process we would have to go through in order to restore it and make it prosper. If I had already gone to college and studied the ways to correct it, then I might be able to provide a solution. Seeing how I have not done these things, I would find another way to reverse the United States debt. I would hire a group of experts to work on it. I would get the best of the best, coming from all over America. All of them would work on a team together and combine the best of their ideas. They would come up with an abundance of solutions. From these, I could pick the one that I liked best and had the greatest chance of working. Then I would put this solution into action. It would build our economy back up and we would gradually be able to pay off our debts to other countries.

wh-wh-what???

fix it? are you serious? how are we supposed to do that? honestly, if i had the knowledge making me capable of fixing the economic situation of the United States, do you think i would be sitting in your classroom on weekday mornings? no i would be sitting on Wall Street making millions of dollars and kicking some major butt of anyone that suggested i need a high school education. i would buy a penthouse apartment in new york, and a couple vacation houses elsewhere to keep things interesting for when i vacation, and to give a little thanks to my family when they feel like usin them. i certainly wish i had the knowledge of ecomic trends and actions that would make me capable, and i wish i could be like the main character of limitless, because we all wish for that kind of mind, but sadly i dont.

so the only half baked, crappy answer that i could possibly come up with for this insanely absurd question bein posed to us is this: make the US almost 100% self reliant. raise the tarriffs on foreign goods to the point that US made material is competitive again, and only use imports on things that are 100% unable to be made in the United States.

barney

no, this is not Barney Miller that you are thinking of from how i met your mother, tho he was considered.

the character i would choose to be is Barney in the movie Zapped. played by Scott Baio, he was a kid genius that recieved telekenetic powers from an accidental mixture of growth syrum, cannabis extract, and beer. but once this was done, the world became his playground! he finally got a date to the prom, he could win at all the sports he played, and even beat up all the bullies that crossed him. life became a breeze. Barney set to messing with the people that deserved it, and even had a little fun destroying the senior prom. but, once over, he walked away with his girl and flew across town with his newly found powers, being the only two to know about his incredible situation. i want that power to have fun and do what i want, and perhaps more importantly, i want it to be a secret too, so only the one person i can trust will know what i can do.

Swags

One must first check thyself before one wrecks thyself. Obviously there is something seriously wrong with our economy. Instead of offering a solution that no one can agree on I suggest a different way to go about this. Here is a 5 stage program to help get us get in the right mindset before we even begin to fix our economy.
Pretend that our economy is a small seed.

Sow-First we must find a place to sow our seed. The soil must moist and full of nutrition. Once we find the right environment for our seed we must begin to sow it. Our seed is small, rough, and unsightly and as we plant it we wonder if it will blossom or perish in a unforgiving world. But we must hope.
Water-Water is the essential nutrient that we must be sure that our seed receives. We tap into our deepest reserves and nourish the seed with all the water that we possess. We must put much into the seed if we expect the same in return.
Absorb-The seed will begin to take in all the water and nutrients that we have been feeding it. We may not see any change right away. But think of how great it will be to see the small green plant sprout from the Earth.
Grow- At this point we can do no more for the seed. It is up to the seed to determine whether or not it wants to grow. If all of our resources were put into the seed and we devoted the time and effort towards it growing big and fruitful, then the seed shall grow.
Succeed- Watch now, as all the hard work blossoms into the plentiful tree that would make all the neighbors jealous. Soon the tree will bear seeds of its own and we will not have just one tree anymore, but a forest.

How would I fix the economy? First of all, I'd get rid of all of the high-moral problems that are currently hindering us from progress. I think you all know what I'm talking about; the high intolerance against currently-illegal substances (marijuana, for example) is a serious problem that should be ended. The regulation and taxation of these highly popular substances would cause a serious economic boost, at-least for the federal government. Now, with that being said, I feel like I have to make it clear that I am one to use drugs or narcotics for recreational purposes. However, I feel that there are enough responsible users out there to cause a serious amount of depletion of U.S. Debt.

Think about it. We arrest about 1,000,000 people every year for marijuana-related offenses. The entire time we do so, the government is paying for their stay inside a prison cell, their food, their water, everything they are given is paid for by the government. All in all, per year, the government spends about 7.6 billion dollars out of the taxpayers' money in order to arrest citizens for marijuana alone. Legalization would put all of those criminals (considering that they don't have any other charges against them) out of the government's care and back on the street. That's 7.6 billion dollars that the government has back in its pocket to care for the national debt.

Along with that, regulation of marijuana along with age prohibition can gain us even more revenue for the government, considering that we put a 7% tax on it. Approximately 40% of people in the United States population, from ages 12 and up, have used marijuana before and use it quite regularly. We put a price on that marijuana, and suddenly 40% of that population (before subtracting those underage) is putting money that used to be gained off of the black market into sales tax.

Along with that, legalization of marijuana can create an entirely brand-new industry, thus creating more jobs for citizens everywhere in the country. More farmers and scientists alike will be able to make a profit off of selling a brand new cash crop on the market. This should take down the unemployment rate substantially.

In rebuttal to those who oppose marijuana usage on the basis that it is either an addictive substance or that it ruins lives, I have to say that the former claim is incredibly hypocritical. In the United States we have evolved from treating drug-abuse problems as a disease to treating them as a federal offense. When people succumb to alcoholism, they aren't arrested, are they? They're taken into AA or other forms of treatment. Why don't we do that for all drugs?

The list goes on and on in favor of marijuana legalization. Our nation could take a serious improvement, economy-wise, if we were to just get over this personal conflict and work towards the greater good.

Make Love, Not War

Our economy is in recession.... We all know this. We all dislike this. Why isn't it fixed yet? Why should our generation inherit a nation like this? I do not know anything about the economy, but I do know that everyone needs a home, and food, and medical care. If the entire world would take a year, just a year, off from war and conflict, our economy and the economies of every other nation would explode with benefits. The war in Iraq, for example, cost the U.S. over $3 trillion, not to mention lives and families. With that money, we could pay off almost a third of our national debts. So, in my opinion, we should just stop fighting. For a week, for a month, for a year, for a decade. Our entire population would benefit, and the money could go to support each nation's own economy and help their underprivileged and underpaid citizens. Make love, not war

Let's Just Do Away With It All

Let's just get rid of it all. The paper money, the stealing, the borrowing, the coins, the checks, the bills - all of it. Where has paper money gotten us besides material goods? No, we should completely cease and desist all use of money backed (or rather, not backed) by a gold or silver standard. Instead, let us resort to a free-for-all, first-come-first-serve based economy. Not only will this aid with the progression of evolution - getting rid of those unable to fend for themselves, but it will also eliminate all of the problems that paper money has created such as debt, thievery, and foreign dependency.

First of all, if everyone has to constantly battle for their supplies a la Hunger Games (battle royale), we will be aiding natural selection. We will weed out those who are incapable of providing for their own, and thus we shall grow into a super breed of capable beings. Our instincts shall be sharpened, our muscles will ripple (making everyone equally attractive and destroying the lure of the personal-image damaging media), and we shall become creatures forged from intelligence itself. Classes will be eliminated, as everyone will be on equal footing, and welfare will be unnecessary - and will become another expense saved by eliminating all forms of economy. Vendors and business people who can't stomach the violence that will have been incited, at least at the beginning, will simply stop producing things for people to grab at, and everyone will return to a mode of subsistence farming, hunting and gathering, and bartering with each other. Within a few years, peace will be restored.

A lack of economy will also eliminate the crutches that paper money has provided us. People who have no reason to purchase also have no reason (and nothing) to borrow from banks or other people. No one can spiral into crippling debt if they have nothing to owe and no way to put themselves into that situation. Thieves will be constantly thwarted when their larceny is a mockery, and they will not be incarcerated - just another group of people we won't have to try to upkeep jails for. We won't have to borrow money from China, because their gold will have been rendered superfluous. This will also make us more appealing to other countries and will inspire more innate worldwide goodwill because as we have nothing that we need from them to continue to survive, they will feel more at peace with our existence, and will be more willing to open their arms to us and give us things for free - or possibly in exchange for our super human talents.

All in all, the complete and total elimination of an economy could only be to our benefit, and if our economy does not revive itself then it may be our only option.