Who's In Charge?

Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches.


We learn about them in school, and they are written and spoken about by our news reporters, but its seems to me that many still don't understand the role and responsibilities of each Branch.

Most of us seem to invest an inordinate amount of power and responsibility in our view of the President, and  view the Congress as having limited power.  However, the opposite is true.  Congress initiates all the laws, and appropriates funds for the budget.  The President administers the laws.

Paul Weyrich presents a dire economic forecast for us.  Whether or not his forecast will become our reality, can only be debated at this time, however it is important to note that although the focus of attention in the election is on the race for the Presidency, it is equally, if not more important to focus on the races for Congress.  It is Congress that sets the direction of this country through legislation and appropriations.

Looking back over the past two years, it is evident that the current leadership of the House and Senate, has been anything but.  If the theme this year is "Change", that's where the focus should be most appropriately applied .

We always will have our economic downturns. They basically are cyclical and we’ve suffered through many since World War II. There is simply no way of getting away from them.

Our current situation, however, is quite different. This time the difficulties are not a few in numbers but entail a rather long list. Neither are they simplistic but instead very complex, and I believe that they will take quite a long time, perhaps even a decade, to resolve.

Instead of looking at a recession, we might very well be looking at a complete economic meltdown more global in nature, rather than national, something that most of us never have seen.

The problems include a very weak American dollar; a trade deficit that will come to roughly $700 billion at year-end; the cost of foreign oil that has literally tripled over the past two years; possible trade wars with countries like China, which own sizable portions of our bond markets; a ballooning federal budget that has gone from $2.1 trillion to $3.6 trillion in just eight years — a whopping growth of 75 percent; a national debt of $9.6 trillion, closing fast on $10 trillion with a debt ceiling placed at $10.6 trillion and which cost the American taxpayer $230 billion in interest alone last year; untold numbers of jobs that are being outsourced to foreign nations through Free Trade acts adding long-term pressure to unemployment; a nation which has maxed out on credit-card debt; millions of Americans losing their homes due to the subprime lending debacle; and last, but not least, tens of millions of baby-boomers now coming close to retirement, which will dry-up America’s tax base while adding huge amounts to Social Security and Medicare outlays.

A growing number of financial institutions, including banks, are tanking-out with government picking up the tab in bail-outs and payments to depositors at taxpayer expense. Bear Sterns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and IndiMac and so many other big names, believe it or not, are only the early warning signs of what I fear is yet to come.  MORE....