Assignment # 4 Due 10/08/13

Part 1

Article 1 Section 8 Clause 2

"To borrow money on the credit of the United States"

       According to the United States Constitution, Congress has the right to go in to debt to pay for government programs and servicing by borrowing money. I chose this quote because over the past recent decades deficit spending by the government has been a huge political topic as it has been consistently increasing. The United States is in a massive amount of debt (about 16 trillion and counting) due to government spending. The United States owes money to the public (people, businesses and foreign governments) and to itself. Allowing the country to borrow money from itself can be viewed from two different perspectives. If the government were not allowed to go into debt many government programs and services would be non-existent. In the short run people and the economy benefit from deficit spending as government programs and services are able to continue to operate. However, in the long run deficit spending might slow the economy down as interest payments to debt holders might potentially increase. An increase in interest payments would further increase the deficit. In my opinion deficit spending is needed in order to keep our country running and functioning properly.

Part 2

Article Title: Obamacare exchange websites still full of glitches and errors

Link: http://www.politico.com/story/2013/10/obamacare-exchanges-glitches-97932.html#ixzz2h4DYnwyV

       After reading this article I feel a great amount of empathy for President Obama. In my opinion, Obamacare is a lifesaver, as it will provide many people who lack healthcare, affordable healthcare. As with any new electronic, program, retail store, etc there is going to be glitches. Nothing works out perfectly on the first try. Things take time. This is the first time in American history that something like the Obamacare has been administered so of course there are going to be obstacles. I chose this article because I was listening to a speech in which Obama described the challenges many people were facing in trying to enroll in Obamacare. He took full responsibility for what was happening and vowed to fix it. The president said the site “hasn't worked as smoothly as it was supposed to work” and “nobody's more frustrated by that than I am.” “There's no sugarcoating it. The website has been too slow. People have been getting stuck during the application process. There's no excuse for the problems. ... These problems are getting fixed.” Republicans and people who are trying to enroll in the Affordable Care Act need to be patient and give the system time to make the adjustments that are needed in order for it to work correctly.