$17 Trillion and Counting

The United States is currently 17,546,283,915 TRILLON dollars in debt and counties to go deeper and deeper each day by an average of 2.75 Billion a day! But yet every day we hear about a new project being build, a new study beginning done, or we see with our own eyes new roads beginning built, and the most common  the United States sending aid and resources to another country. I can go on for quite some time on how the government wastes money on projects and seemly unless junk, But I am going to focus on one of the many fractions of our budget and that is sending our resources and money to other countries.

 Now I have no problem with the United States helping a country that has just been devastated by a natural disaster, or even helping a poorer country with starving people, but I do have issues with United States aiding countries that really don’t give a damn about us and wouldn’t even lift a finger to help United States if we are in need.

Wasteful spending in the United States is a huge issue and in 2012, $37,680,000,000 dollars were sent to other countries for foreign aid, according to Finance Degree Center. I know that 38 billion doesn’t seem like much compared to the 2.75 billion we go in the hole per day, but I feel as if this is wasteful and can be trimmed down tremendously. The top 5 recipients of financial aid were all Middle Eastern countries and were not poor countries that needed money but the US “investing” in their country. I believe United States should save more money by trimming down the foreign spending and “give away” money so we can keep that money for more pressing interior issues.

Substantial commentary #2

On March 6, 2014, Gov. Deval Patrick posted on theHuffington posted a blog title “Why Being My Brother's Keeper Matters”. This blog is about the issues young African-Americans are facing today and how the government can help motivate young urban students to have a different outlook on life to become successful.  I agree with this blog by Gov. Patrick, Americans need to become more involved with the disadvantaged students and then there will be a change in the community and society.

The intended audience for this blog is positive African-Americans who are able to be considered role models. Gov. Patrick wants to encourage those people to reach out and help other disadvantage youth and guide them on how to be successful.

Gov. Deval Patrick(D)  is the Governor of Massachusetts and says he got his motivation to act upon his troubled youth by the “my brother’s keeper “initiative from President Obama. In this initiative President Obama encourages Americans to begin a task force that is charged to consider the whole picture.

In this blog Gov. Patrick tells the readers how he has initiated his plan to help his community. He mentions his schools are supported by mentoring and after school opportunities, along with knowledge on high demands careers. In results Gov. Patrick reported” For the first time in decades, achievement gaps in our schools are shrinking. The dropout rate has been cut in half. In our targeted cities, overall crime victimization is down significantly, with a 25 percent drop in homicide and a 19 percent drop in aggravated assaults.”

Overall, enjoyed this blog it shows that public figures still care about the youth and hopefully will motivate others to do the same with their communities.