Tearing Tigers

1. Tearing Tigers Vote With Choice , But Let It Be Your Only Voice!!

2. Taxes • No one LIKES to pay taxes, but taxes pay for other services that we rely on in America. On what does your party believe taxes should be spent? • School Books • School Supplies • Helping children in school who cannot afford the supplies • Helping the teachers out with buying books for the kids to read • Health care • Provide for the poor • Also the people who aren’t eligible for jobs

3. The Economy • What is the health of the economy? How high is unemployment? • The economy is bad and we are in a recession • Employment is very high and rising .The rates of unemployment as of now is 6.3.The historical high is 14.3 and the historical low is 3.2. • Global warming is expected to take an increasing toll on the economy, food production, fresh water supplies and human health as the century progresses, according to a draft study for the United Nations. • Unemployment Rate in the United States decreased to 7.20 percent in September of 2013 from 7.30 percent in August of 2013. Unemployment Rate in the United States is reported by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. From 1948 until 2013, the United States Unemployment Rate averaged 5.8 Percent reaching an all-time high of 10.8 Percent in December of 1982 and a record low of 2.5 Percent in May of 1953. In the United States, the unemployment rate measures the number of people actively looking for a job as a percentage of the labor force.

4. Education • what is the status of education? Is it the role of the federal government or state government to monitor schools progress? What about NO Child Left Behind? • The status of education is bad because we have a lot of dropouts and students not coming to school and when they do they don’t do any work. • I think it’s the role of the state government to check the progress I think they should check and see what’s needed and what’s being taught in the classrooms. They should check and see if more students are dropping out and figure out why are they dropping out and not coming. • I think the No Child Left Behind Act should still be used today I think it would really help the children .I think if this act was in the would have something to look forward to and stay in school because they would believe that they would have a chance. Of course they will have to do some work with it but I think if you gave them a goal to meet to be eligible for the No Child Left Behind Act they would stay in school and would meet their goals to finish school. • The tax cap, which limits tax levy increases every year and, thus, a district’s spending, is sure to get its share of blame with some saying more money is needed to bring students up to standard

5. The Environment • what do we need to do to preserve our environment? • Use compact fluorescent light bulbs: It is true that these bulbs are more expensive, but they last much longer and they can save energy and in the long term your electricity bill would be reduced. • Donate: You have tons of clothes or things you want to get rid of. If they are still usable, give them to someone who needs them. You may also choose to give them to associations. These associations may sell them and collect a little money. Not only will you protect the environment, but you will also contribute to a good cause. • Walk or cycle: Driving is one of the biggest causes of pollution. If you want to use your car, ask yourself the following question: do I really need my car? Walk or use your bike if the journey is a short one. • Detergent: Follow the recommended dose of detergent to wash your clothes or dishes.

6. Foreign Affairs • What do we need to do about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan? What about North Korea and Irans threats of having nuclear weapons? • President Obama announced that all U.S. troops and trainers would leave Iraq by the end of the year, bringing the U.S. mission in Iraq to an end. On 15 December 2011, U.S. Defense Secretary Leon Panetta officially declared the Iraq War over, at a flag lowering ceremony in Baghdad. • Since the U.S. military's withdrawal, significant violence has continued in Iraq, as Sunni militant groups have stepped up attacks targeting the country's majority Shia population to undermine confidence in the Shia-led government and its efforts to protect people without American backup. • The twin nuclear crises the Obama administration faces in Asia and the Middle East underline a harsh reality for U.S. strategists: North Korea's weapons capabilities are far more advanced than Iran's. • Pyongyang, as a result of decades of covert atomic work, is close to mastering the technology to mount one of its estimated dozen nuclear warheads atop medium-range missiles that are capable of striking U.S. allies South Korea and Japan, American officials and international nuclear experts believe. • Iran, by comparison, has no atomic bombs in its military arsenal, nor the ability to deliver them, say U.S. and United Nations experts. Iran says its nuclear program is strictly for civilian purposes, although the Obama administration has charged Tehran with trying to develop nuclear weapons.

7. Gun Control • how much or how little do we need? • I think we need little control because without stricter gun control laws people can buy guns anywhere at any time and not get caught for doing it. There has been many shootings going around for years now and nothing has happened to the gun laws. Gun laws are meant to protect people from being hurt not getting people hurt or even worse killed. • I think that certain people should be able to own guns if you have a record on violence or any felonies you shouldn’t be able to buy one. I also think they should limit the people who sell them also. • I think only the police should be able to sell them and high officials other than that because it is too easy to get guns around here because they get into the hands of the wrong people and very bad things happening. • I think the army and the police should have them and people who really need them but I don’t think everybody really needs one.

8. Immigration • what kind of plan do we need to deal with the large number of foreigners who want to live here? • I think that they should have a plan like if you want to live over here you have to have something going for yourself. • You have to have a job or going to college or making progress with yourself. • They should be able to come over here but since there not really allowed to just make them do something with their lives other than sit around.

9. Abortion • Pro-choice or Anti-Abortion? Or is the answer something else entirely – no pregnancies for example, prevention instead of dealing with the pregnancies? • Anti-Abortion • I say this because if you don’t want a baby you should use a condom or not have sex. The baby doesn’t ask to be born so don’t abort them. I am against it 100%. • It should be legal for reasons including the mental or physical health of the mother, pregnancy due to rape and incest, and fetal deformity

10. Action Affirmative Programs • Affirmative action programs require businesses or educational institutions who receive federal money to avoid discriminatory practices in hiring by insuring some of their employees are minorities and women. • I’m against it because I don’t think you shouldn’t hire someone because of their race, color, or sex. Because you really don’t know what they could bring to the table they could actually bring your business up but you wouldn’t know that if you don’t hire them. • If they have a record saying that they are a horrible worker then that’s a reason but other than that I think you should give someone a chance if you’re not going to give them a chance don’t let it because of race, color, or sex.

11. Social Security • how do we insure that your generation will have Social Security benefits? • Congress seems to want a ruse to disguise a cut in benefits as something else — like the discovery of a technical error that, once corrected, would let the government write smaller checks without taking the blame for cutting benefits. • In the 2014 budget proposal released in April, Obama proposed that retirees’ Social Security benefits be indexed to something called the Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers or C-CPI-U, rather than the current benchmark, the Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers, or CPI-W. • This seems to correct a real technical error. Economists have argued that the current index overstates the actual inflation rate, and that a switch to the C-CPI-U would make the inflation indexing more accurate, seemingly justifying the resulting gradual reduction in benefits. (And it would be a reduction, to the point that someone retiring today would be receiving about 5 percent less in 20 years.) • The purpose of Social Security is to help families. It reinforces the intergenerational sharing that families already — though imperfectly — provide. It helps retirees by stabilizing their income, and it helps their grown children, who are relieved of any excessive burden of supporting them. • This purpose strongly suggests that the Social Security benefits should be indexed to some measure of the available, aggregate economic pie. That means a formula that looks completely different from the ones being discussed today. • Clearly, something needs to be done: if nothing changes, and the trust fund runs out in 2033, the system would be able to pay only about 75 percent of promised benefits.

12. Medicare • how do we insure there is enough money to pay the bills of the elderly who use Medicare to pay for their medical costs? • There is no way to wrestle down the deficit without reining in Medicare costs. Ensuring that the program provides quality health care coverage to millions of older and disabled Americans is essential. These goals are not incompatible, but they require a judicious approach to policy making that is depressingly absent in Washington. • Medicare is nothing less than a lifeline for 49 million older and disabled Americans. It helps pay for care in a wide range of settings, including hospitals, nursing homes, outpatient clinics, doctors’ offices, hospices and at home, as well as for prescription drugs. • It is also hugely costly. The federal government spent about $477 billion in net Medicare outlays in fiscal year 2011 — 13 percent of its total spending. By 2021, it is projected to spend $864 billion — or 16 percent of the total — according to figures derived by the Kaiser Family Foundation. That rate of growth is not sustainable indefinitely. • There are three key drivers of Medicare spending: the spiraling cost of all health care as new technologies and treatments are developed; much greater use of medical services by the typical beneficiary; and an aging population. By 2020, the number of enrollees will increase to 64 million.