This week is Mailbag Day, Summer Edition 2011 where we respond to some of your emails and letters. Also this week, the President addresses the situation in Libya, monitors Hurricane Irene, and Vice President Biden travels to Asia to re-emphasize our strong economic and diplomatic ties to Asian nations. Plus, the White House experiences a little shake.
The Republican Weekly Address was delivered by Governor John Kasich of Ohio. Governor Kasich talked about how his administration’s success closing the largest budget shortfall in Ohio’s history without raising taxes offers lessons for Washington. Working together to make tough fiscal choices, remove government barriers to job creation, and institute real, confidence-boosting reforms – like a Balanced Budget Amendment to the Constitution – is the focus of Kasich’s address. A former chairman of the House Budget Committee, Kasich helped lead the charge for the Balanced Budget Amendment in the mid-1990s, when it came within one vote of heading to the states for ratification.
“Hello, I’m Ohio Governor John Kasich. This week, the president traveled through the Midwest. He didn’t stop in Ohio this time around, but if he had, I’d have told him the same story I’m about to share with you.
“When I entered office in January, Ohio was facing the largest budget shortfall in our history and an economy suffering from the same uncertainty that’s hurting small businesses across the country. My administration worked with members of the General Assembly to reduce our shortfall to zero, all the while cutting taxes for every Ohioan.
“How did we do it?
“Well in the past, our state, like many others, relied heavily on one-time federal ‘stimulus’ dollars to fill the budget gap and used tricks and gimmicks to do the rest. But over time, that approach created a massive shortfall, caused job creators to lose confidence in Ohio, and led to increased unemployment.
On this weekly radio address to the nation, President Obama spoke to the American people from the Corner Country Farm in Alpha, Illinois on the need to create jobs and strengthen the economy. President Obama reminded the American people that we still have the best workers, entrepreneurs, and students in the world, and called on both parties to come together and act on a series of steps we can take right away to get our nation back to work.
“Hello from the Country Corner Farm in Alpha, Illinois! For the past few days, I’ve been traveling to small towns and farm towns here in the heartland of this country. I sat down with small business owners in Gutenberg, Iowa; and ranchers and farmers in Peosta. I had lunch with veterans in Cannon Falls, Minnesota; and talked to plant workers at a seed distributor in Atkinson, Illinois. And to the girls volleyball team at Maquoketa High School, let me just say one thing: Go Cardinals.
Now, I’m out here for one reason: I think Washington, DC can learn something from the folks in Atkinson and Peosta and Cannon Falls. I think our country would be a whole lot better off if our elected leaders showed the same kind of discipline and integrity and responsibility that most Americans demonstrate in their lives every day.
Because, the fact is, we’re going through a tough time right now. We’re coming through a terrible recession; a lot of folks are still looking for work. A lot of people are getting by with smaller paychecks or less money in the cash register. So we need folks in Washington – the people whose job it is to deal with the country’s problems, the people who you elected to serve – we need them to put aside their differences to get things done.
This week, President Obama welcomed the Super Bowl Champion Green Bay Packers to the White House before heading out on a three day bus tour across the midwestern states of Minnesota, Iowa, and Illinois. During his tour through the heartland, the President heard directly from Americans including small business owners, local families and private sector leaders who talked about the need for faster economic growth, strengthening the middle class and accelerating hiring in communities and towns across the nation.
“On Thursday, I visited a new, high-tech factory in Michigan where workers are helping America lead the way in a growing clean energy industry.
They were proud of their work, and they should be. They’re not just showing us a path out of the worst recession in generations – they’re proving that this is still a country where we make things; where new ideas take root and grow; where the best universities, most creative entrepreneurs, and most dynamic businesses in the world call home. They’re proving that even in difficult times, there’s not a country on Earth that wouldn’t trade places with us.
That doesn’t mean we don’t face some very tough economic challenges. Many Americans are hurting badly right now. Many have been unemployed for too long. Putting these men and women back to work, and growing wages for everyone, has got to be our top priority.
The Republican Weekly Address was delivered by Senator Pat Toomey of Pennsylvania. Senator Toomey discussed job creation from the point of view of a former business owner. He points out that there are more government regulations now that are standing in the way of business growth.
“Like a lot of Americans all around the country, I’m deeply concerned about the lack of job growth and our stagnant economy.
Now President Obama inherited a weak economy, but by nearly every measure, he has made the economy worse. Over two years ago, his administration told us that passing his $787 billion stimulus bill would keep unemployment below 8 percent.
Instead, since the stimulus was enacted, our economy has lost more than 1.3 million jobs and the unemployment rate has averaged over 9 percent.
This week, President Obama announced new initiatives that will put unemployed veterans back to work and new fuel economy standards for trucks, buses and other heavy duty vehicles that will reduce oil consumption and pollution and save businesses money. He also traveled to Holland, Michigan to visit an advanced battery facility that is using innovative technologies that will help America achieve these new fuel standards and used an address to the nation on the credit downgrade to talk about how we can create more jobs.
The following podcast is brought to you courtesy of A World of Possibilities and The Mainstream Media Project.
It’s not a very comfortable thought: We live, eat, and breathe in a complex brew of industrial chemicals, some eighty thousand of them. And all but a handful have never been tested to find out it they’re safe. At the same time, all kinds of diseases and disabilities, ranging from autism to asthma, are on the rise. What, if any, connection might there be between chemical exposure and eventual disease or disability?
We really don’t know. The laws that regulate the use of chemicals in consumer products and the environment were passed thirty years ago and remain unchanged. They’re nicknamed ToSCA, short for the Toxic Substances Control Act. Passed in 1976, even at the time the legislation was viewed by many as inadequate to regulate a rapidly evolving industry.
Today on A World of Possibilities, we’ll look into that cauldron to find out more about the chemicals we’re ingesting and what we know – and don’t yet know – about what they’re doing to us.
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