Celebrity Interventions - Government Class Essay

Celebrity Interventions - Government Class - Essay Example Some of the interventions by such celebrities have seen the establishment and shaping of policies that have enhanced the lives of the people in the rest of the world who suffer from illnesses, poverty, and injustices. For example, the activism by Bono, to have the African countries relieved off its debt is an act of honor by a top celebrity (Nelsen, 2). Such intervention is for the interest of thousands of millions living in the African continent, whose country’s economic status cannot survive without debts from other countries and from the World Bank. Through such an intervention, millions of people benefit by having the money that would have been committed to debt repayment be invested in other social and economic projects that can directly benefit the people. His concern for the uncontrolled spread of HIV in Africa is yet another major intervention worth recognition, in that, it enhanced the participation of the developed countries to offer free medical equipments and drugs for the control and intervention of HIV in Africa. This way, the celebrity has played an active role in saving the lives of many people in the African continent who would have otherwise succumbed to HIV and die. Celebrities are in a better position to make such interventions, since they can easily mobilize, persuade, and influence people and leaders in positions of authority to indulge in interventions for addressing humanity problems (Liza, Christos, and Asteris, 59). For example, the call for relief of African debts by Bono saw a meeting of highly ranked world leaders to discuss the issue. Such intervention was a success, since it saw the world’s most developed country make a decision to relief debts for African countries, which were perceived to be most affected by worse economic situations, to the point of making them unable to service such debts. In support for justice

Efforts to Reduce the Budget Deficit Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Efforts to Reduce the Budget Deficit - Essay Example Indeed in line with the conventional analyses, the United States has been a clear example of how disruptive an increasing debt deficit is to the long-term economic growth. The national debt has not only suppressed the overall national savings, which, in effect, has reduced domestic investments, but has also increased the country’s borrowing abroad, as evident in the current account balances. It is undeniable that sustained national debts over the years have played a lead role in increasing interest rates, making internal borrowing for investments expensive, hence the capital from abroad to finance the federal budget for almost every government that has ever been in place. As a result of the alarming successive decreases in the national income due to the huge returns from the domestic capital stock accruing mostly to the foreigners, a trend that has now erected caps on the national productivity via a mounting unemployment, several statutory budget controls have been enacted by the congress to reduce the budget deficit, with most notable efforts beginning in the year 1985. After years of disagreements between Congress and the President [Regan, to be precise] on either tax increases or spending cuts as a way forward in halting the trend of deficit growth, members of Congress from both sides of the divide finally passed the Balanced Budget and Emergency Deficit Control Act of 1985 [popularly known as the Gramm-Rudman-Hollings Act ("GRH")]. Passed and approved by the President as â€Å"an important step towards rectifying decades of fiscal failure† GRH laid down procedures of eliminating the federal budget deficit that stood at $200 billion in 1986 by the year 1991 (Stith, 1988). GRH was essentially a binding enactment, enforced independent of the legislative budget process and the executive orders, which had failed in cutting down the total government spending and/or resisting political pressure for more government programs. The celebration particular ly for President Reagan who had grander ambitions of reducing the share of the national resources consumed by the federal government was, however, short-lived, as the provisions of GRH was ruled a ‘violation of the principles of the separation of powers’ in 1986 by the Supreme Court in Bowsher v. Synar. To save efforts that went into making the GRH from complete collapse, the Congress went back to the drawing board, eliminating the constitutional defects identified by the Supreme Court eventually producing an amended version of GRH that moved automatic sequestration process from the hands of Comptroller General to the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) in the Office of the President (Stith, 1988). Accordingly, the deficits decreased in the subsequent years as a result of substantial cuts in spending accompanied by economic growth that ensured increased revenues. With the turbulent Bush administration in the 1990s, GRH proved insufficient in restricting the growth of the deficits. Congress, thus, reached an agreement with the regime allowing for a combination of â€Å"tax increases and caps on government spendin