just a link (senator Michael Grimm threatens reporter if you missed it)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=425ysh-24wo 

State of the Union Address

Obama has made it clear that he will be using executive power to bypass congress if they won't work with him. To me this seems to be the opposite of what our country was meant to do. We have a system of checks and balances for a reason though executive power may be the only way he can get things done. Bush had to do the same thing. One thing that looks promising for Obama working with congress is immigration reform. Obama claims that America is in it's best position it's ever been. He acknowledges that there is an argument over the size of our federal government and that it has caused too much friction. Because of this important argument we can't get anywhere. I'm starting to get pissed off over the excessive clapping. They won't let him finish a sentence and they clap for 30 seconds at a time. Obama is talking a lot about having more things made in the US. I am liking this part of his speech and hoping he backs it up. Obama says we have reduced our carbon foot print by more than any other nation this year. Obama claims our immigration system is broken and needs to be reformed to make America more attractive for businesses to start and fill jobs. I like how he is talking of making high quality pre-k more available. This will help low income families to pay for early education since it will be free and the children living in bad environments to stay away from their bad environment a little more. I hate the fact he plans on raising the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour with executive order. I don't want to pay $15 for my McDonald's meal then go work at my office job where I get paid the same as the guy to flipped the burger I ate. Obama pointed out some of the benefits of Obamacare but did not address the obvious flaws and problems it has had thus far. He mentioned gun violence for a brief moment but did not expand on his plans. He just said it is bad. He babbled on about terrorism though I don't think that's really a heightened issue right now. He closed it well. That's a basic summary of the State of the union Address.

This was from 2013 but the picture would look pretty much the same this year with different tie colors. It was just what I could find.
Pictured left to right: Biden, Obama, Boehner

I also watched the republican response from Cathy McMorris Rodgers. She did well in speaking. I agree with most of what she said. Goodnight.

Minimum Wage

When it comes to the minimum wage, everyone has a different opinion. It seems as though democrats tend to want to raise the minimum wage and republicans want to keep it the same. Most democrats want to raise it by a few dollars but some extreme democrats want to raise minimum wage to double what it is now at $15 an hour. Of course there are also extreme republicans that want to get rid of the minimum wage all together to maximize efficiency within business. Personally, I don't think the minimum wage should be raised above 8 bucks. If a high schooler lands a job when he/she (I'm just gonna say he) is 16 and is making 10 bucks an hour, he might be encouraged to live off of that wage and drop out of high school to work full time. And if he can actually live off of this wage then good for him but what happens when more and more high schoolers drop out to make money instead of spending it on college? America won't have people encouraged to continue their education and pursue the jobs we need people to have. So what would we do to fix that? America would have to raise the wage of every job to encourage people to want those jobs. But how are businesses going to make make money now that they have to pay all their workers extra money? lets take 5 Guys as an example. This burger place is designed to be run by 5 people at a time. Lets say they work an 8 hour day. If minimum wage went up $2, then to pay these 5 workers they would be paying an extra $80 a day. So businesses, in order to not go into debt, will either raise the price of their product and you will be buying $15 big macs or they will fire workers and have them work fewer hours. Now it will be harder to find a job and unemployment will go up. I think the minimum wage as it is today is A-okay. I think that adults that didn't apply themselves in high school and complain about their wage now only have themselves to blame and should stop bitching at society. That being said, I think teacher salaries should be raised as that is an underpaid  job especially since they don't get paid for all the hours that they acutely work that isn't shown on paper. But until inflation drives down the price of the dollar by much more, when you want to pay a person who flips burgers or puts items in a bag all day $10 an hour, I think it is safe to say you are a lunatic. There are people that work much harder that make that same wage. I don't agree with the radical republicans that want to get rid of the minimum wage however. I think it will only lead to wages so low that high schoolers would not want to work them and then people will go on strike and again unemployment will go up. This will cause an even further separation between the wealth of the 1% and the rest of America.

Chris Christie

So how bout that Chris Christie? Governor of New Jersey is now being investigated due to a lane closure that happened back in September. People originally accused Christie of causing the lane closure in Fort Lee because the Democratic Mayor there did not support his campaign. Initially this accusation seems ludicrous; suggesting that Christie, who had a 24 point lead in the polls, would retaliate on one mayor for not supporting him. But emails between members of Christie's administration are quoted saying "get ready for a lane closure in Fort Lee" hours before the event. But really cares about a lane closure in some city you've never heard of in the state of New Jersey? The problem was that it caused a FOUR DAY traffic jam and on the George Washington bridge which spans the Hudson River and serves as a major commuter route between New York and New Jersey. As of now, Christie claims to not know of the plans of the two members of his administration before it was revealed to the public. Before this incident, I thought of Christie as a pretty decent guy, one of the few non-corrupt politicians. Hopefully he is not guilty of such a dumb ploy at revenge and that it doesn't effect his chances for the 2016 presidential nomination. But these are just hopes and it looks as though some people are already talking about impeaching him. Jon Stewart of Comedy Central recently bashed Governor Christie on his show, The Daily Show: With Jon Stewart. Link to video is here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=0kbSzvm5cyI  Caution: contains adult language. 

Chris Christie (fat jolly man)

not to be confused with:

Kris Kringle (fat jolly man)