Big business rise or fall?

I read an article in The New York Times Monday titled "Trying to Rein In 'Too Big to Fail' Institutions". This article by Stephen Labaton talks about the options that congress and the Obama administration are exploring to change policies for big business. Barney Frank said that they are working on legislation that would "make it easier for the government to seize control of troubled financial institutions, throw out management, wipe out the shareholders and change the terms of existing loans held by the institution."



Some say that this would make it more costly to run a big business, but it will help to create balance and make them a more stable part of the market. The government fears these huge companies because if they fail they put the whole market at risk. However, voters fear the government expanding its power in this way. Much of this fear is based on distrust of the government. People say that they have not produced many successful programs and this would be to much power for them. Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke has said he would prefer to take a more subtle approach to this situation.



I looked at some small business trends from this last year. One article said that up to 7% if the recently unemployed people could start their own business. Over the years big business and outsourcing has lead to huge changes in costumer service levels and has helped to disconnect business from the community. Some people would like to see a decrease in the amount of big business and a shift to more home town business. In some fields we are seeing this shift take place. For example one of the construction industry has taken a huge hit in the economy. So if you need some work done instead of looking in the phone book you call up a friend that needs work. This saves you money and helps your friend at the some time.

Has the Internet and big business made it impossible to go back to small town living? Do you think that family owned business will increase as a result of these now government previsions?

Relations with Cuba?

I read an article today that says President Obama has ask Spanish leaders to tell Castro that if he changes the way he treats his people we may have better relations. I couldn't help but think of how children act when they are mad. (You tell Johnny that I said he is stupid and I am not talking to him) I wonder what Castro thought of our new president. This move comes after Obama lifted travel restrictions for people who have family their, in April of this year.

I first found this article on Fox so I did a search and found other similar stories. One article is www.reuters.com/article/politicNews/odUSTRE5900TE20091026.
This article says that Obama's attempt to have better relations with Cuba is part of "a new era of U.S. partnership and engagement with Latin America and the Caribbean."

Does Castro care if we like him? Do we care if realations are restored?

Is the Supreme Court a bore?

As we all know the Supreme Court is often viewed as the medias "step child". They are often times over looked and always under reported on. Many people do not know what cases they are hearing until they have been decided. I decided to check in on what they have been up to.

Justice Roberts made a statement this week on a Virginia drinking and driving case. The Virgina Supreme Court ruled that and anonymous tip is not enough to investigate on someone who is possibly driving under the influence. While Roberts says this ruling may have huge consequences they will not review it.

If you want to read the full article: www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/20/AR200910201600.html

One case the Court will hear is to "...consider whether judges have the power to release Guantanamo Bay detainees into the U.S. of they have been deemed not to be "enemy combatants"." This issue has come up because the Obama administration is trying to close the Guantanamo facility. The Courts are going against the Obama administration, who think that these choices should be made by the President. Guantanamo is currently detaining 17 Uighurs, Chinese Muslims, who need to be placed. This case could go moot if the Uighurs are placed before the case is decided.
This full article can be found at www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/10/20/AR2009102001289_2.html

Personally I am not sure why these stories do not interest people more. These stories have plenty of conflict and the rulings are going to effect the people, unlike President Obama's Nobel peace prize. Would you be interested in more news from the Supreme Court?

EVP

EVP- Link to video of Joy's response to name calling.

EVP

EVP- Link to a video on Joy's response to name calling.

Joy Behar on HLN

CNN's sister network has recently added The Joy Behar Show to its nightly line up. She is already drawling attention to herself by welcoming conflict. Bahar is a self confessed liberal and she has said that she would like to have Sarah Palin, Rush Limbaugh, Dick Cheney and other conservative guest on her show.

I have posted a link called EVP that will take you to a short clip of what Behar has to say about Obama's schedule, and a second link to what she has to say to those calling her names.

What do you think? She is a love her or hate her kind of person.
Does she have what it takes to have guest from opposing view points sit down and have a rational discussion on issues? Can she make this concept benefit the views?

Where is the voice of the people?

After my last post I was still thinking about the meida and the shift to online publications. There have been several events over the last few months (mostly since the town hall health care debates) that have not been covered well by the main stream news outlets. These events include the tea parties and the 912ers plus others.
This last week the President, first lady, and Oprah were pushing for the Olympics to be held in Chicago. While they were lobbying for the Olympics the people of Chicago were holding protest that they didn't want the Olympics in their city. However, I think that I saw 2 (quick) stories on this, while they featured Obama's speech to the Olymic committee on the news.
I could be wrong, but I was under the impression that we (the people) elected "representatives" to stand up for what we wanted and make our voice heard. Represent in the dictionary says to present a likeness of. It feels more like they have their own agenda and they spend their time talking the people into supporting their agenda. What has to happen for the media to be the voice of the people instead of the voice of government?

Changes for the meida world--good or bad?

Over the last few days I have seen several articles on where the news comes from. Mostly the articles talk about the information that we, as consumers, receive. The following article "Where the news comes from--and why it matters" is from the pew research website. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1357/newspaper-remain-main-watchdog-and-source-of-news?src=prc-latest&proj=pej

The article says that newspaper reporters are the largest gathers of news, and television and radio mostly use that same information in some form. It went on to say that while newspaper print consumption has declined online readership has increased by 15.8 percent. The news is not going away it is shifting to online outlets.

This information got me thinking about the current recession. Many newspapers have downsized and reporters have been laid off. This would leave a smaller group of people to gather the news. I think that could make bias in the news coverage larger.

The shift to online news consumption opens up a whole new area for bias. On an average day someone logs online to check their email. When the homepage pulls up they read through the major headlines. One of the headlines catch their attention and after a quick google search they have a listing of websites relating to the topic. The information on these websites could be true, false or some were in the middle but the consumer still have many resources at their finger tips.

Journalism is a career. People spend many years studying and building up resouces for this career. They have learned about the responsibillities that come with reporting and the importance of resposible journalism and checking your sources. On the other hand the internet is open to any one with a computer. People mislead others online everyday. My point is the media's shift from print to online is a complicated move. While it is convenient to the consumer there is a great oportunity to diminish trust of the media. On the other hand there are legitimate independant reports online. These independant sites often don't have editors cutting stories becasue they are worried about offending people. They write about what they are passionate about.

These changes are huge. We all know that the change is here, but will it lower the quality of our news or raise it? Also could these changes in the media be partially to blame for the peoples loss of trust in the government?