Fiscal condition of the federal government today Essay

Fiscal condition of the federal government today - Essay Example The US financial crisis threatens not only its constituent states but also the world at large. The crisis has been around for some time. It started slowly with fears of the worst since 2003. As the years progressed, the fears came to pass with the present financial status leaving more to be desired in the financial markets.The last six months have demonstrated financial volatility (not only in US but world over) that has never been witnessed may be since the great depression (O'Connor, 2001. pp.10-15). This paper seeks to evaluate the present fiscal condition of the US federal government with emphasis on the causes of the crisis and an exploration of the effects of the crisis on both the public and private domain. The federal government fiscal crisis is echoed by the serious struggle by the states and local governments through unfathomable and prolonged fiscal crisis which has since spread from the federal government to haunt them. The states', not mentioning the federal government's , revenues are declining sharply or if they are growing, then this growth is indeed very slow to be noticed. This is made worse by the federal government out spending its revenues. The crisis is likely to continue unless some quick and informed remedial measures are not taken.According to the 2002 financial year report, as at September 2003 the federal government had more than $1 trillion reported assets with slightly more than $8 trillion in liabilities leaving $7 trillion accumulated deficit with a reported $365 billion operating deficit and a $158 billion unified budget deficit. The projection by the general comptroller and CBO was that the situation was headed for worse with the unified budget deficits likely to hit $401 billion and $480 billion in 2003 and 2004 respectively. This means that there was no hope in 2002 and the situation was expected to worsen with time. 2008 was recorded the climax of the financial market redundancy and thus you can imagine the situation in 2008 i f it is worse than the figures projected for 2003 and 2004. The 2008 was marked with acute financial crisis with the financial market feared to be headed for a clash. The cause of the situation was immediately credited to the borrowers who were at the verge of insolvency and thus pulling down the lenders. These borrowers include the auto industry which has since received $15 billion bailout. Based on this insolvency, most lenders declined to lend thus affecting the mortgage industry and the stock market. Apart from the cause mentioned above, the other causes of this sticky financial crisis may be traced down to the weakening economy, the 1990's tax cut policies taken by the federal and state governments, sharp decline in stock markets, and the structural anomalies in the state and federal government tax systems among other seen and unseen causes. Focusing on policy, it is common knowledge how federal policy can impact state finances. Since the 1990's, the federal government set policies to provide subsidies to the state and local governments. The subsidies were to be provided because the federal government asked the states to reduce the cost of taxes on the taxpayers. This tax cut was later to haunt the federal government. The federal government also exempted interests on bonds from the federal taxation. Another tax policy is the fact that the federal government managed the entire estate tax and shared the tax revenues amongst the states. The 2003 Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconcili ation Act (JGTRRA) came with a counter- cyclical fiscal relief or subsidies for the states. The fiscal relief amounted to $20 billion over 2003 and 2004. The fiscal reliefs to cover the tax cuts instituted by the federal government ate significantly into the federal governments financial reserves. This together with the ever increasing demand for better Medicaid and Medicare funding thoroughly utilized the federal finances. The percentage allocation for Medicaid, Medicare and other social welfare programs increased to more than 60% raising concern

Green Politics Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Green Politics - Essay Example Green politics began its earliest cruise in the form of the Green Party that was formed in 1980. This party began as a third party that follows a broad political ideology of global justice and preservation of the ecology. This was followed by a worldwide spurt of similar green parties. In Australia, the same decade saw the birth of the Green Australia Party. It came from the Franklin River Dams campaign during the 1980s which proposed to address issues like peace and democracy at the grassroots level. (www.wikipedia.com) Britain soon followed suit with environmental politics high on its list of priorities. With a formal panel of 'green' advisors, Britain's green political movement has addressed issues that basically have to do with the environment more than anything else. Meanwhile, in Canada, the Green Party of Quebec took off in the 1980s to address issues like ecological preservation and other issues in the same vicinity. (www.wikipedia.com) These parties have made a point in a world where limited resources and unchallenged use of the same are coming under fire. They have managed to have a representation in governments apart from drawing attention to causes in the form of a place of priority on worldwide agendas. (www.wikipedia.com) One of the most basic features of green politics that makes it neithe... Foresight helps a green politician perform in accordance with issues that will influence the times to come for at least seven generations. Free of alignments that could tie it down in terms of leftist or right hand ideologies, green politics is that form of politics that creates the vision for furthering causes and catering to a more wholesome humanitarian purpose. By making use of foresight more than anything else, green politics helps in a global integration of goals and results. (Hawkins, 2006) Globalization Another important feature of green politics lies in its ability to combine global issues on a very global platform. Through its efforts to secure representation in national governments, green politics seek to address global issues rather than focus merely on national ones. Globalization is a real phenomenon that is fast combining the collective conditions of economic interests, peace efforts and other such endeavors that put issues on the map and help find solutions that will benefit the entire world. With an increase in the phenomenon known as globalization and the wide use of technology as a complementary feature, human society has changed and the needs have increased manifold. Changes in the political, economical and cultural arena have challenged and effected alterations within various professions. The autonomy of nation states and political parties has been under challenge because the global arena has tried to decrease it so to reduce their power and status. Also, trust has been replaced by target setting accountability as client-professional interactions have been limited in order for services and companies' profits to be increased. Finally, all these changes have affected and put under challenge international politics. This is further