State of the "Union"

I will admit I did not watch the State of the Union speech last night. I almost never watch it no matter who the President is. I prefer to read the text of the speech instead. The reason I prefer to read it is purely practical- I can read it in about 15-30 minutes because I don't applaud after every sentence. Honestly, if the people in the Senate chamber would hold their applause until the very end of the speech, I'd watch it live. I would prefer to hear the President's voice reading the speech prepared for him. Reading the speech does provide one benefit- I can re-read lines of interest, skip the annoying "thanks Beyonce for singing (I mean lip syncing) at my inauguration" lines, and really gain a different insight on the speech. I can also read the opposition party's rebuttal speech immediately after, without having to watch endless news commentary.

And so I think the State of the Union is sadly broken. Our country is broken because we fail to address the causes of problems and think that "spending" and "incentives" are the way to solve them. Our country is broken because when one person offers a solution to the cause of a problem, another person dismisses it as "not the right way." Our country is broken because 535 men and women who were elected to represent us have forgotten where they come from. Well, not all of them- the representatives from wealthy districts seem to remember where they're from.

From the President:

I thought the speech was very well written, but I especially thought the part about poverty was applicable to this blog.

OBAMA: We know our economy’s stronger when we reward an honest day’s work with honest wages. But today, a full-time worker making the minimum wage earns $14,500 a year. Even with the tax relief we’ve put in place, a family with two kids that earns the minimum wage still lives below the poverty line. That’s wrong.

I see someone from Washington, D.C. has been reading! I am glad that a President finally had the courage to include this fact in a speech. For too long I think the assumption most people live under is that if you have a job you can't be impoverished. It's about time we all got a wake-up call in a nationally televised speech!

Tonight, let’s declare that, in the wealthiest nation on Earth, no one who works full time should have to live in poverty ...

While I can agree with the last part of the sentence, I don't think America is the wealthiest nation on Earth. In fact, Qatar is. America is number 7. Top 10 isn't bad, but can we finally show some humility and quit defining our country in superlatives?! We are a great nation, and I love living here. But I'm tired of us walking around with this bravado that says, "we're the best country in the world." Saying we're the "best," "wealthiest," "smartest" country doesn't leave us open to learning from other countries. I don't think Qatar's economic system would work here, but it works for them. It doesn't make them better than us, it doesn't make us better than them.

The point I'm trying to make is: we don't have an obligation to be the "best" in the world- we have an obligation to do what works best for our country and the common good both here and abroad. So I wholeheartedly agree that "no one who works full time should live in poverty." What saddens me most about the situation of the working poor is that a lot of these people aren't satisfied with their wages, but they know that some money is better than no money and don't have too many alternatives.

...and raise the federal minimum wage to $9 an hour. ... This single step would raise the incomes of millions of working families. It could mean the difference between groceries or the food bank, rent or eviction, scraping by or finally getting ahead. ...

I did the math on the $9 an hour, and that makes $18,720 a year. That's a $4,220 annual increase. That may not sound like much, but consider that a family of four with two full-time employed parents would earn an extra $8,440 a year, that could be the difference between a lot of things! Imagine if those families didn't need food stamps anymore- they could regain their dignity at the grocery store. Imagine if those families didn't need rent assistance- their children could go to school without worrying about having a home to return to that afternoon. Imagine if those families received financial counseling to help them save their extra income and invest for their children's education and their own retirement. Or...

 For businesses across the country, it would mean customers with more money in their pockets.

Or we could promote the materialism and consumerism that have kept most people from getting ahead. I will probably devote an entire series to this topic in the future, so the short answer is: spending more money because you have more money leaves you with less money.

Then Someone Let Marco Rubio Talk:

In the spirit of not wanting the President to be right about anything, the Republicans let Marco Rubio (good thing he introduced himself, because I had no clue who he was) talk on their behalf. Most of Rubio's speech was typical, "the President's policies haven't worked, aren't working, and won't work" rhetoric. I think everyone can see the constant hypocrisy in Rubio's speech- e.g.- Medicare needs cut in order to balance the budget, but, "it pays for the care my mother receives now." I'll let the left-leaning Internet blogosphere torch the speech. I thought the only thing Rubio said that offered anything positive to the discussion on the State of the Union was this:

The real cause of our debt is that our government has been spending 1 trillion dollars more than it takes in every year. That’s why we need a balanced budget amendment.

All sarcasm aside- okay, quick sarcastic comment: REALLY?! Our government is in debt because we spend more money every year than we take in?! Is that how debt works?!

Okay, now all sarcasm aside- we've been hearing about a "Balanced Budget Amendment" since Bill Clinton was in office. It's been so bad for so long, I often quip, "if the government can deficit spend, why can't I?" We live on a balanced budget and we do just fine. Almost every corporation runs on a balanced budget. Every non-profit in the country has to operate on a balanced budget. Why can't our government live on a balanced budget?

Moving Forward

I don't pretend to have all the answers to fix our country. I do know that none of the President's vision for a better country will happen if we don't all start working together to make it happen. I think we can all agree that what's made our country great is our innovative spirit. I think what President Obama was trying to encourage in his State of the Union address was that we need to get back to that innovative, "can do" attitude. We are, after all, Ameri-CANs!