Monday, May 19, 2008
Your Morning News: 5.19.08
Posted by Josh in Barack Obama, Campaign Finance, China, Earthquake, Election 2008, john mccain, Kentucky, National Debt, Oregon, Your Morning News
The New York Times leads with news about how Senator Obama and Senator McCain, both considered campaign finance reform advocates, are gradually working to drop “reform” from that moniker. As the two men gear up for a Presidential battle, they are figuring out ways to raise the record sums of money that will be needed. Sen. McCain is considered the weaker fundraiser and will be relying on the Republican National Committee for most of his money. Sen. Obama is considering becoming the first candidate since its inception to opt out of public financing (He would opt out because he can raise much more without it). It is pretty safe to decry the influence of money in politics with friends and at work, but just check to make sure your boss isn’t hosting a $2000/plate dinner for Sen. McCain next week.
What, you mean the primary campaign isn’t over yet? Are you sure? Wait, there are primaries TOMORROW. Oh crap, oh crap… What states where they in again? Oh right, Oregon and Kentucky. That’s right, in the next round of the “campaign that wouldn’t die” Senator Clinton and Senator Obama will face off in the Oregon and Kentucky primaries. Obama is expected to win big in Oregon and Senator Clinton is expected to win big in Kentucky. Yesterday, Obama held a rally in Portland that attracted a record 75,000 people (about 1/6th the city’s population).
China has begun 3 days of mourning to commemorate the victims of last week’s earthquake. Meanwhile, the death toll continues to rise and authorities begin to focus on health concerns, especially outbreaks of Cholera spread via contaminated drinking water (with poop - ewww).
Lastly, the federal government’s debt grew by $2.5 trillion last year. This raises the total combined debt of the federal and state governments to $61.7 trillion, or $531,472 per household. This is despite the fact that the feds only reported a $162 billion deficit. The federal government uses accounting practices that don’t factor in things like Social Security, Medicare, or the Iraq War. The funny thing is that the feds have made these accounting practices illegal for corporations and state governments, but continue to use them themselves. Hard to say who will be paying this debt off, but I would bet that the people who will be have facebook pages.
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