THE WORLD AS IT IS.

The country is in political disarray, due to the 2012 presidential elections; as the Republican Party scrambles to find a candidate in a face off contest for the White House. The Democratic Party is propping up in readiness to resist any attempt of the opposition to topple it from power; and there is no denying about that.

President Barack Obama has to dig in his heels to prevent his goals of bringing America's economy out of the pits, and be able to cut back on the salient problem of unemployment, to be shelved.

He knows that if the Middle class will flourish again, as in the 70s, 80s and 90s (Those were the days, my friend), then poverty must be stopped from spreading, and work must be available to anyone who is employable.

All racial ethnicities must have their share of the economic pie to feel satisfied that their people have become accustomed to living just as well as the others. Their demographics must be equal to that of those who are making progress socially and financially.

Yet, there is an enormous deficit that has to be dealt with, to remove the ominous cloud of uncertainty for investment capital to flow back into a sluggish economy and revive it.

Wall Street has become anemic, and stocks are just floating around with nobody to purchase them. The days of paper tickers are gone, or else there will be no more room on the trading floor for them, and a parade will be needed to throw them out of the window to get rid of them.

Business is bad for the financial markets both at home and abroad, as currencies are being shipped in loads across International borders. The Dollar, the Euro, the Yen; all are perplexed, and are undependable.

Good old gold is the most popular investment product, and its price is soaring through the roof; but its effects are at the same time draining the pools of money that can go into ordinary investments, like manufacturing, research and education, for the government and industries to battle the high unemployment levels. So, it (gold) is not beneficial as far as the average person is concerned.

The Congress of The United States must prepare plans that will slash the debt that is being carried by the nation in half, in a short period of time. It is not just the president, who must do his part to calm the adverse financial scenes. It (Congress) has a vital role too in that respect, to invite investor confidence back into the economy for it to get the bounce it requires . Its other responsibility is to see that the debt crisis is not carried forward for posterity to shoulder.

However, all that is on the home front. The other front or the reverse of what is been seen on the outside of the American economy is also crucial to the well being of all of us.

The whole world too is in serious trouble, with the finances of many major countries in tatters. Countries like Italy, Spain and Ireland are reduced to cup-in-hand entities in economic terms. Who will have thought of the reality of that happening to them only a few years ago?

Wars, famine and pestilence are manifesting themselves in Africa, with literally millions of people on the verge of dying from hunger and thirst. The British Isles, of all places, have riots in almost every major city. Asia is restless with the recruit of suicide bombers streaming from among even young women, children and the old; and the horrible death of many innocent people is a daily occurrence.

Islamic fundamentalists want Sharia Law to be accepted in all nations; however, some see it as a strange religious intrusion; an infiltration that must not be allowed anywhere. There will be too much confusion in many areas in the world, and the travesty of justice will be common almost everywhere, as legal experts will be tripping over each other, trying to interpret unfamiliar rules and regulations. Therefore, every nation must have its own laws

Those are just some of the problems that are affecting every single person living on Planet Earth today, as the world has revolutionized to be a "global village" twice over. What happens in China has an effect on what takes place in Portugal.

Communications technologies have made it easy to relay important as well as trivial messages in nano-seconds across from one end of the earth to the other. News of events and all types of information are disseminated around the globe within minutes of their happening, instead of several hours or days as before. Calamitous situations are all around us, and they are overwhelming.

The only super-power in the world now is the United States, and therefore it cannot sit back, look and listen. Most people are saying that it must solicit the support of the United Nations to find solutions that will usher peace, in all its aspects, into the world for the sake of all mankind.

In order for America to impose upon itself such an awesome task, it must be at peace within itself. That is what Americans must be striving for at this present moment, rather than be selfish and start bickering among themselves along party lines.

All parties must come together to resolve world problems, and the ones at home will also be resolved. Or the world will still remain a troubled place.

CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER.

Who gives Charles Krauthammer the audacity to speak like that? He sounds as if he is speaking on Heaven's authority (as if he believes in Heaven), and yet, what comes out is just downright hogwash.

Whatever he thinks he is, we know that he is just an opinion writer for the Washington Post, and that he is a syndicated columnist; but he tends to assume airs of importance, which do not fit his position or personality.

Not everyone voted for President Barack Obama in the last 2008 election, or supported him in anyway; however, he has been given the right by the United States Constitution to lead the country and conduct its affairs as president.

For that reason alone, he must be offered the respect his office demanded; and therefore, one could not just open one's mouth and spout stupid remarks at him.

Charles Krauthammer does not realize the fact that everybody knows that he is doing what he does for money. That he is being paid by somebody to say or write any type of foolishness about his topics, and that he is a hired hand and under the control of those, who have hired him to do their bid. He can influence some of us some of the time; some of us all the time, but not all of us all the time.

However, as much as he will lambaste another person, he must not lie about him or her.

The case in point is the president's speech after the Standard and Poor's downgrade of America's credit rating. He, Obama, did not mention the Tea Party even once, when he was commenting on the reasons that have led the company to do what it did. He was not assigning blame to any entity, except to name a few incidents that have contributed to the present economic state of the country.

In every sense, he was not "passing the buck", and expecting people to believe that natural causes and other uncontrollable events had made the economy to become dysfunctional.

He, Krauthammer, said that was the president's aim; and that Obama was trying to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people. What?

He made that allegation among others on several televisions programs; on Fox News Special Report and in Bill O'Reilly's segment on Fox TV.

He has joined people like Lou Dobbs, Bill O'Reilly and Donald Trump to vilify the president; and said that, "The president's performance on the economy is central to his re-election,".

Those people just wanted to savage him out of hatred; and for racial discrimination, which they have made as collateral in the ongoing political campaign for the 2012 general election.

They were doing so, or they have been hired to accomplish the obnoxious desires of those who want Obama to fail, by lying through their teeth; and maligning him before the American people.

They even called him a "weak" leader; and that the Democratic Party was looking for an alternate candidate to challenge him. That was complete balderdash, and they knew it.

Of course, Obama must do all he can to win his re-election, not because he just wants to be president, but that he has the ability to make America great once again, in spite of his race.

Again, not all of us voted for him in the last presidential election, and not everyone would want him to win a second term; but people, such as Krauthammer, must try and be fair in their political commentary, when their core reference was directed toward the office of the Presidency of the United States; and also toward a particular person, who happened to occupy that office. They should do so out of common decency.

OBAMA'S INHERITANCE.

Americans are watching history in the making at first hand, when a plot to denigrate the efforts of a young government to push its faulting economy out of the doldrums of the past few years, is being unleashed by its opponents.

Those efforts are being trampled under foot right before our eyes, and they are being thwarted with political intrigue from the government's opponents and detractors, who are managing to woo support of the average person to condemn what has started with so much promise for America, through the election of the first African American as president of the United States.

He has been given the reins of government in a decade within which have been tragedies, like Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath that has drained the coffers of the federal government; as well as the cost of two wars against terrorism, which must be paid for with the blood, sweat and tears of ordinary men and women in the military forces, has been laid on his shoulders.

His inheritance has been tremendous, and so his government must find ways to grapple with each issue and bring life to normalcy again for all citizens, by opting for a strong economy and to offer employment to anyone that can work.

Al Qaeda, the organization, which has claimed responsibility for the September 11th, 2001 attacks on mainland United States, is still a threat to U.S. national security; and now the Taliban, another group of Islamic fundamentalists, has joined in to make the world a more dangerous place.

With those wars and the normal financial constraints of America around the globe, in the form of military bases and diplomatic commitments, which have skyrocketed to put the nation's fiscal spending beyond its means, for it to borrow from debtor countries and cause the government to be in the throes a huge debt, have therefore not been accidental.

Spending, spending, spending; that is the outcry of the the government's adversaries, but they do not tell you where the money goes. It goes to pay for your security and peace of mind; and for you to be free to live as an American.

The circumstances have been real and they have been passed to him. He has inherited a heavy burden.

If the above statements do not describe President Barack Obama's administration, then nobody knows what they are. However, many will think that they do point to it.

Yet, he is not receiving any help from politicians in the Congress of the United States, who are creating difficulties for him to fail.

The case in point is the recent crisis that has come from nowhere in regard to the raising of the debt ceiling for the government to meet its financial obligations. The process has ordinarily been simple in the past, and the government has proceeded without a deadlock.

Politicians have been able to turn it into a circus, and they have almost caused the government to default for the first time in history.

That has given way for investors to panic, and to promulgate fear all over the world; thus creating an atmosphere to warrant Standard and Poor's Investments, a credit rating company, to downgrade America's high status of AAA to AA+.

They have been warned of the consequences of their actions; but members of the Republican Party have delayed the debt limit process to make the world financial markets to become despondent. Hence the monetary tumult we are witnessing today.

Wall Street has been seen as a dumping ground for traders, who will make the Dow Jones Averages to fall to abysmal figures. The economy is in shambles, and nobody seems to know what to do.

The most fearful thing about it all is that, they are turning around and pointing fingers at the president as the one who has manifested the crisis with his economic policies.

However, many Americans will know better, when the time comes. They will express their views in no uncertain terms to instill in the minds of politicians that they (Americans) are no fools; for they are certain of who the real perpetrators of the economic troubles are.

DOWNGRADE OF CREDIT RATING.

Psychologically, the credit rating agencies, of Standard and Poor's, with Fitch Ratings and Moody's Investors Service in the background, have discovered that there was a "chink in the armor" of the United States Congressional system of government, when a small, minority of members could hold the administration hostage, by causing it to almost default in paying its mandatory and appropriations bills.

The agencies happened to be the sources of regulations in setting standards for individual countries, for example , to adhere to. In other words, those countries were held to stringent fiscal policies, and they were rated in accordance with the feasibility of those policies being followed to the letter by them.

The fiscal performance of all countries, governments, organizations or issuers, as they were normally called, were monitored, as it (performance) must fall in line and within the jurisdiction of the policies agreed to by these agencies with them (individual countries, governments or issuers).

The agencies, though not collectively acting as coordinators, served as conduits between their client entities or issuers, be they countries, governments or organizations, and the financial sector. Their oversight was essential for the smooth running of all financial transactions appertaining to those client entities or issuers, which also included monetary markets, as well as the overall global economies.

The objective of these agencies was to see that all financial systems worked in simpatico, or in synchronization, like clockwork, to ensure safety and stability in a worldwide fiscal environment.

In the financial world, those regulations were held strictly to a set of grades that ranged from AAA, AA+ through to D, to communicate any single agency's "opinion about the ability and willingness of an issuer, such as a corporation or state or city government, to meet its financial obligations in full and on time." (Unknown source).

Thus the refusal of following any part of the regulations would affect the level of credit and render the issuer almost hapless in raising funds to undertake vital obligations, such as, in the case of the U.S., to cover the cost of two wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and also to require funding for internal civil and infrastructural projects. Their influence was binding in the world of financing.

What went on in Washington D.C. in recent months, in connection with the raising of the debt ceiling, was phenomenal; in that no U.S. government must be obstructed by any entity in honoring its debt obligations; but for the first time, it was held back by entrenchment on the part of Congressional Republicans in a debate that took place over several weeks; and so, it did weaken the government's ability to perform its assigned responsibilities, as it was constitutionally expected to do.

Eventually, it was able to come out of a deadlock stemming from the debate, and only short of a default to its principal debtors, by the raising of the debt limit in the nick of time.

By then, the government was already in trouble, due to the amount of precious time the protracted talks and meetings had taken. The process of reaching a compromise with Congressional Republicans had consumed so much time and energy, as efforts have been wasted on less imminent matters; and so, the long delay would send jitters through the financial world.

It (government) went over the hurdle of default; otherwise the consequences would have been more catastrophic than it was presently.

However, those were the prevailing circumstances that were prompting the U.S. government to shut down; and they could also have caused the stock market to crash. For there was so much confusion coming out of Washington, and the world markets were in an askance situation.

Hence, in many minds, the rating agency of Standard and Poor's decision to step in and downgrade the credit rating of the U.S. for the first time in history (since 1917), as "a warning shot across the bow" of Congress.

It might have assumed that would help both sides of the issue, the Democratic Party government and the Republican Party opposition, to simmer down and reconsider the consequences and the outcome of the destructive path the country was following to deal with its economic problems.

Most Americans were saying that the company was, somehow, indicating that the bickering between the two parties would not be a panacea to resolve their grievances. That could be true or false, but who could tell, It happened anyway.

However, the wonder of it all was the Fourth Estate, or the media, as it was now known, being mum in finding the analytical cause of the economic crisis that the nation was embroiled in.

Their analysts and news contributors had mentioned everything that could cause the problem, except the intimidation perpetrated on the Obama government by the Republican Party, which permitted its members of the so called Tea Party to gain the upper hand in the debate.

They were against the raising of the debt ceiling; and though, the choice was for raising it, but they came up with plans to delay the process, like the "Cut, Cap and Balance" bill that failed to pass through Congress.

The obvious answer was to choose "for" and not "against"; but they had always chosen the latter in every aspect of the talks to reach an agreement.

They would continue to pursue a unilateral political posture, and to rail against the idea of the debt ceiling being raised, by making the cuts in social services as part of the huge deficit reduction they were demanding the government to make. That, unfortunately, became the sticking point in the ensuing argument. They would have "their way or the highway".

The country was firmly in the throes of political war, and the media would not try to investigate its origins as they usually did, and as their profession required. They were fishing for friendship in all kinds of places, except on Capitol Hill, where it mattered most, to find the culprit of such an atrocious happenstance that has placed the country under so much pressure. What a shame!

Finally, President Barack Obama was able to sign what many regarded as a tentative bill passed by Congress into law, to bring things under control; a committee system of six members of each party has been structured into the legislation to deal in detail with the deficit reduction requirements of it (bill) in the future.

Yet, the stock market and other financial establishments had become skeptical even after that, as the Dow Jones Averages fell by 500+ points in just one day. That was Thursday of last week, and the news of the downgrade of the U.S. credit rating had not broken as yet.

However, let us hope that the markets would not go giddy up on Monday, August 8th, and force traders to react negatively. For if the markets went haywire, so would the fragile economy.

We pray they wouldn't.

DOWNGRADE OF AMERICA'S CREDIT RATING.

The downgrade of the United States credit rating by Standard and Poor's is not surprising; but it is a hurting experience for it to happen at this present time, when the economy is still struggling in a slow growth recession.

It should not have happened, but for the foolhardiness of politicians, who were told of the consequences of the U.S. Congress not raising the debt ceiling on time and without any fuss in doing so.

The process of raising the debt ceiling has taken place on several occasions, with very little opposition for the government to pay its debts to cover its military expenditure and other appropriations by Congress.

Yet, the processing took an unprecedented beating, with an unnecessary debate, led by members of the Republican Party, who tangled it with proposals designed to inflict huge cuts on social and entitlement programs to deal with the nation's deficit reduction. They had made that a condition to allow any debt limit increase.

The Obama government disagreed by saying that revenues from businesses and private individuals must also be forthcoming, as cutting down on social and entitlement programs that the Democratic Party felt so strongly about alone would not produce a balanced approach toward any deficit reduction.

The behavior of Congress placed the whole world on edge, including the overall global financial and business sector. Big corporations and financial institutions were not able to determine where the American economy would eventually end up.

The government would be hard pressed for money and it would default for the first time in history, if its fiscal obligations were not met.

However, the argument finally subsided, and President Barack Obama signed a bill by Congress into law to relieve the country from a political choke hold by the Republican Party, through the influence of its Tea Party members.

The downgrading of the country's credit rating would affect the economy in many unfavorable ways. Interest rates would soar and loans of all kinds would be hard to come by; but most of all, the price of consumer goods would plummet, causing the cost of living to go up for the average person and his or her family.

The situation has come about, solely because some politicians would do what they felt was in their own best interest and not that of the people who voted for them; and that should be a lesson for all Americans.

The budget crisis would not have happened any other way; but for the stubbornness of some members in Congress, who thought that party ideology was more important than the country's needs. They deliberately failed to pay any attention to what many economists were saying, that taking the country down the unenviable path of default was not the right thing to do. It would only create economic difficulties all around.

However, they went ahead and did that anyway; hence, the downgrade of America's credit worthiness. Therefore, independent voters, particularly, should know where or for whom to cast their votes from now on.

"A word to the wise is enough.".

DEBT CEILING DEBATE.

The spate of catastrophes leading to the nosedive of the markets on Wall Street on Thursday, were plain to visualize; yet market gurus mentioned everything on earth that could cause them, including a slow economy in the United States, the job market and the subsequent report on the unemployment level that was expected on Friday (today), the economic setbacks in Spain and Italy that have suddenly railed against the activities in world markets, and so on; but the Debt Ceiling crisis that has just gone by was completely left out.

The Dow Jones average fell in eight straight days until Wednesday, August 3th, 2011, after the debt limit bill had passed through both chambers of the U.S. Congress. It recovered on the ninth day, which would have been a new record in its trend of going down, whenever the markets were upset by an external event of some sorts; however, that was somehow avoided.

Then, on Thursday, August 4th, as if from out of the blue, the Dow started a free fall that would make it to lose over 500 points in one single day. Traders have panicked and have begun to dump all kinds of stocks to relieve the heavy burden the uncertainty of the debt ceiling debate has placed on them in recent months.

They (traders) would have handled that risk in a discreet way, as they have done in previous years, but for the additional economic bad news that sprung out of no where from Europe to cause trading to get out of hand.

However, would it not be a wonder that none of the experts that crowded the media to analyze the kinds of things, that have usually generated an upheaval of the type that was seen yesterday, to make the markets to become so volatile, never imagined that the strenuous debt ceiling debacle, brought about by the Republican Party entourage in Congress, had contributed to what had happened in the marketplace?

Although, they knew perfectly well that both consumer and investor confidence have waned considerably, during the time that the whole world was waiting to see if the U.S. would default in making its bill payments. Such being the case, there was a standstill atmosphere around globe

In that, some members of Congress have wasted so much energy in turning what a normal process of raising the so called debt ceiling into a national argument, which was rather unnecessary; and the rest of the world was caught in holding its breath and to wait. It finally concluded as a non-event, with respect to its outcome.

A bill was signed into law by President Barack Obama to lift the debt ceiling and bring the crisis to an end.

Yet, the damage has already been done to undermine the American economy by those who professed to formulate policies that would stop the government from overspending, for they have been mandated to do so by the electorate in the fall of 2010; but their ulterior motive was promoted, and certainly promulgated by sheer jealousy for the Obama administration.

Their actions have triggered off the instability that would follow and send jitters through the markets; however, investor confidence would return to make up for the loss on Thursday; thus the markets have to bounce back for the sake of the nation.

Its (nation's) determination for a stronger economy would prevail in the long run, despite what some politicians have deliberately done to disrupt the pace of progress it (economy) should be making. Its present fragile condition would surely improve. What they did was to prevent it from moving forward faster than it was expected. Gauche.

DONALD TRUMP.

Donald Trump has been attacking his political opponents for reasons nobody else knows about, but just himself.

His favorite target is President Barack Obama, because he thinks that the Conservative Republican Party will adopt a "write-in" strategy to have his name to be written among the list of the party's candidates for president in the 2012 general election. However, many believe that he is just being naive to be thinking that he will ever be given that privilege.

His latest rhetoric is one that "takes the cake", that America has "become the laughingstock of the world", because of the leadership of the president. Yet, he does not give ample reason why that is so, except that the Chinese political leaders are always gaining the upper hand in their dealings with the United States. That is a complete fallacy.

In fact, there is not a shred of evidence in that statement; and Trump is using the Chinese authorities, who are extremely protective of their currency, and therefore refuse any other currency, be it the United States Dollar, the European Euro or the Russian Ruble, to become predominant.

The economy of China is growing at the rate of 11% a year, but its consumption of goods and services, in the form of imports, is far below other industrial countries; and so, there has always been a tipping balance in its (China's) favor. The country's economic policy is one that does not permit open market. It is willing to sell to others, but it is not willing to accept comparable inflow of products.

In the financial world, the consensus is that the Chinese Yuan must be devalued so that its real value can be determined in an atmosphere of free competition with other currencies in the marketplace. The leadership has always turned a deaf ear to world opinion in regard to that suggestion.

Yet Trump, who claims that he has been doing business in China does not seem to be aware of that fact. His vitriolic assertions that the Obama administration is not doing well in world affairs have no bases (if one must use the plural of the word "basis").

He has joined a group of people, who are incensed, because Obama happens to be an African American. First of all, he wants him to supply his long form birth certificate to prove his citizenship; and he has done so. He (Trump) supports the Tea Party people for putting the country through an unnecessary ordeal by bringing up a debate on the raising of the debt ceiling, just to embarrass the Obama administration.

The debt limit to allow any U.S. government to pay its bills has never been met with any opposition as stiff as the one that has just gone by. He thinks that the Tea Party wing of the Republican Party must be commended for making the U.S. Congress to be tied up in a senseless argument.

Well, as everybody knows, it has ended up in a resounding defeat for them. They have wanted America to default for the first time in history; but it (America) has not defaulted.

Donald Trump has hopped out as candidate for the 2012 presidential election; but nobody is stopping him from hopping in again to challenge Obama, instead of sitting on the sidelines and indulging in ignominious remarks about the present leadership of the country.

He will be chewed up and spat out by American voters; and he knows that for a fact.