Editorial CE #3

This week’s editorial is from the Washington Post called “Recession’s Hidden Virtues” written by Michael Gerson. Basically, it is talking about how typically we would argue that a recession and unemployment leads to an increase in health problems. Traditionally, it could lead to stress smoking, unhealthy comfort foods, increased alcohol consumption, heart problems, depression, and possibly suicide. But this editorial argues that we actually become healthier in a recession. According to Christopher Ruhm’s studies at the University of North Carolina, it is confirmed that recession increases mental health problems. But he found that physical health improves. For every point of increase in the unemployment rate, there is a half point decline in the death rate. During tough times, people tend to increase exercise, drive less, smoke less, and cook healthier food. In other words, we try to control everything else in our lives that we are still capable of. There is also a parallel debate on the nation’s moral health. The editorial says that studies during the Great Depression show that there was a decrease in crime and divorce. During the prosperity of the 60’s and 70’s, crime rates shot up and families fell apart. James Q. Wilson hypothesized that the Great Depression pulled families together and this cohesion inhibited crime. In my opinion, I agree with this editorial. I would say that during tough economic times, people do tend to cut back on unnecessary things such as smoking, drinking, and any other perks that cause stress and waste money. The death rate decreases but that won’t be for long if this crisis isn’t reversed. Overall in that light, I would say that every cloud has a silver lining.

Editorial CE #2

Washington Post
President of Everything
by Eugene Robinson


This week’s editorial called “President of Everything” by Eugene Robinson. It summarizes his opinion on Barack Obama’s new presidency. He refers to it as “a presidency on steroids.” In the first month, Barack Obama has decreed an end to torture and the Guantanamo prison, extended health insurance to more children, reversing Bush-era policies on family planning. He also managed to push through Congress the stimulus package designed to stimulate the economy and reorder the nation’s priorities which he said is “little short of astonishing.” His next obstacle is to set the parameters of a new presidential role: managing the big chunks of the private-sector economy that are now more accurately described as semi-private.
This week, executives of General Motors and Chrysler are reporting on their progress in transforming themselves into “lean, mean, car-making machines, capable of leading American industry into a new golden age. They’ll also explain that they need more money fast. General Motors got a $9.4 billion cash infusion from the government two months ago and wants the remaining $4 billion that the Bush administration approved. Chrysler which got $4 billion in December, needs $3 billion more.
Robinson says that Obama has abandoned plans to appoint a “car czar” to oversee government aid to the auto companies, giving the job instead of a high-level task force. So far, he has declined to face the central question: can GM and Chrysler thrive under present management? If the Big Three are not going to merge into the Big One, Obama and Congress are going to have to oversee GM and Chrysler almost like a board of directors.
The auto industry problem is cheap and simple compared to the other problems Obama must face in the financial sector. Because of the amendment that Senator Christopher Dodd inserted into the stimulus bill, Washington now has control over bonuses and severance packages at financial companies that have taken funds from the Bush administration’s Troubled Assets Relief Program. All Barack Obama wanted was to be president, but he may have to become an auto executive, a banker, a mortgage broker, and who knows what else before we overcome this crisis.
In my opinion, this editorial is pretty accurate in depicting the overall view of Barack Obama’s presidency. He has done a lot over the past month and he’s still got a long way to go before fully resolving any of the problems our nation is facing. I think he’s made the right choice putting an end to the Guantanamo prison and the stimulus package is necessary to reverse our economy’s condition. However, I’m not sure why GM and Chrysler are discussing a merger when it is something they should go ahead and follow through with.

Editorial CE #1

The Senate Balks
Why President Obama should heed calls for a more focused stimulus package

This week's editorial basically just discusses Barack Obama's decision to pass the $900 billion stimulus package. Obama was challenging all of the critics of the stimulus package, accusing them of peddling "the same failed theories that helped lead us into this crisis" and warning that, without immediate action, "Our nation will sink deeper into a crisis that, at some point, we may not be able to reverse." Obama is justified in signaling that the plan should not be tilted in favor of tax cuts and that the GOP should not waste valuable time trying to achieve that. As the package emerged from the House, it suffered from a confusion of objectives. Obama praised it as "not merely a prescription for short-term spending" but a "strategy for long-term economic growth in areas like renewable energy and health care and education." As credible experts have pointed out, much of this "long-term" spending either won't stimulate the economy now, is of questionable merit, or both. All other policy priorities should pass through the normal budget process, which involves hearings, debate and competition with other programs. Senator Susan Collins of Maine is one of the moderate Republicans whose support the president must win if he is to garner the 60 Senate votes needed to pass a stimulus package. She and Democrat Ben Nelson of Nebraska are working on a plan that would carry a lower nominal price tag than the current bill, perhaps $200 billion lower, but which would focus on aid to states, "shovel-ready" infrastructure projects, food stamp increases and other items calculated to boost business and consumer spending quickly. She would also keep Obama's priorities, including a $500-per-worker tax rebate. Overall, I'm not sure what to think about this editorial because I'm not well informed about the stimulus package, but I think that if that is the best solution right now, it is something Obama should follow through with.