Have you been so busy with #WorkForest that you have not had any time to keep up with the news? Here are some tidbits from this week to keep you updated and in the know.
Mo’ government, mo’ problems. Aaaaand the government is still shut down, two weeks later. The U.S. Federal Government is now entering its third week of the shutdown and no end is in sight. The deadline for raising the debt ceiling is also fast approaching. If the government does not reopen and reach a deal before October 17th, the U.S. will default on its debt for the first time ever.
*Graphic from GAO.gov
So like, what’s a debt ceiling? The debt ceiling is a legislative mechanism that Congress puts in place in order to limit the amount of national debt that can be issued by the Treasury. The federal government will default on its debt on October 17th if a deal cannot be reached for raising the limit. You may have heard a lot about this problem before, as the government dealt with it earlier this year and back in 2011. It has become more and more of a point of contention for Democrats and Republicans, as government spending has continuously increased throughout the years, which does not make Team Red very happy. The U.S. Government makes its money in two ways: through taxes, and from borrowing money. The borrowed money comes in the form of Treasury bonds. When you buy a Treasury bond, you are lending money to the government, which gets paid back to you with interest each month. The next interest payment is scheduled for October 17th, in the form of $13 billion. So you can see the problem here.
If an agreement is not made to raise the debt ceiling, another financial crisis could ensue, which would be very bad for our still-recovering economy. The debt ceiling has to be raised so that Congress can borrow more money next year and so that the Treasury can pay the bills Congress has already accrued this year (Congress has authorized more spending than the debt limit allows). So if it doesn’t pay back the interest on those bonds, it will default and the full faith and credit of the United States will be tampered with. How would you feel if your friend didn’t pay you back the money she owes you?
Bye bye, birdie. The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons began their job last week of dismantling and destroying Syria’s chemical weapons. This marks the start of the diplomatic solution that was met between the United States, Syria, Russia, and other members of the UN Security Council. The team has nine months to finish the job.
Keeping Up with the Kool Kidz. This week, Bruce Jenner and Kris Kardashian announced that they have been separated for the last year and living in separate places. This announcement doesn’t come as a shock for many people that have doubted the strength of their relationship lately. A very sad, yet typical story in Hollywood. We can’t imagine what Kim, Khloe, Kourtney, Kylie, Kendall, Kanye, Scott, Lamar, and !North! are going through.
One step for womankind. This week we learned that President Obama is set to nominate Janet Yellen as the next head of the Federal Reserve, taking Ben Bernanke’s place. If confirmed, she will be the first woman ever to run the central bank. She already works at the Fed and very closely with Ben Bernanke so the job should be a fairly smooth transition. Except for that whole government shutdown/defaulting on debt problem, should be a breeze!
Peace, dude. This week, the winner of the Nobel Peace Prize was announced: The Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. Bravo, fellas. Many thought that Malala Yousafzai, a Pakistani teenage advocate for girls’ education, would win, but no such luck.
*Image from mirror.co.uk
R.I.P. This week, the hit TV show, Glee, aired its farewell to Finn episode (“The Quarterback”), in remembrance of the actor Cory Monteith. Monteith died this July due to a toxic mix of heroin and alcohol. The show never gave any specifics for how he died, leaving an ambiguous end that will allow fans to grieve in any interpretation they like. Glee creator Ryan Murphy claims that all of the emotional reactions on the show were first takes that allowed for the actors’ real emotions to show through. Many tears were shed, including this gal’s.