Small Business Survival

I agree with Teenie on this subject.  Small businesses do have a harder time than larger businesses when the economy is in a recession.  Unlike a large business, a small business does not usually have the financial stability that a large business is able to enjoy.  I believe small businesses have a harder time to being able to obtain financial security because of the taxes they pay and because they must attract the attention of their competition.  The government should consider a change in taxes to help assist these struggling businesses. 

Good Luck on Retiring

There was a bill passed in Rhode Island this week that suspended pension increase for state employees for the next five years.  Those five years many turn out to be longer if the pension funds do not meet certain financial targets.  The state decided to pass this bill because of the financial crisis they have found themselves in.  The state of Rhode Island currently needs $7 billion to cover the pension funds for every state and municipal employees.  That is roughly the same amount as their state budget every year.  While many, if not all, of the lawmakers who passed this bill believe it is necessary to help the fiscal budget, many of them believe that it is not fair to the employees who are not able to have their pension fund increased.  By doing this Rhode Island has shown to the other states that if they are able to pass this bill to get their fiscal budget under control they can do the same.  The United States has a collective debt of $1.26 trillion of what they promised employees and what they have to fill that promise.  Rhode Island may have made a lot of people angry but they would have had to happen one way or another.  If the state had not made this decision they would have had to increase taxes on its residents which would have made the residents just as angry. 

I believe that Rhode Island made a good decision to put a cap on its pension for now.  I agree that it is not fair to current retirees and state employees to deny the pension originally promised to them, but I agree that the state needs to get its budget under control.  The states being in debt results in the nation being in debt and our current national debt is something that would make your jaw drop at the rate it is rising.  Hopefully something will happen in the next few years that will take the cap off of Rhode Island’s pension plan so that the retirees and current employees may receive the benefits that were originally promised to them.

Think Before You Support

At first glance this plan seems like a winner in the eyes of students and former students who have miles of debt, but I have to disagree that this plan will even remotely help anyone right now.  While this plan seems like a great idea I believe there are still too many open ends left open to even consider this as a possible option for student debt.  My biggest question is what would happen to all of the leftover debt after the twenty year limit is up?  Would it just disappear into thin air or would the government be held accountable for the left over debt?  If the government were held accountable for the debt it would increase our national debt to a number that is already entirely too large.  The idea looks great to the young adults who are now or getting ready to attend college but I believe that this proposal is a stunt by Obama to help him gain more support for the upcoming election next year.  I think that Obama should be focused on how high the cost of college has become first and then focus on getting loans paid off.  By focusing on the cost of college first he could cut the number of student loans by a considerable rate.  This would in turn make the payoff rate for college loans much shorter.  The cost of obtaininga higher education has become too high and something needs to be done to stopit from climbing.  I believe that students should consider this before they start supporting this plan.