The Fiscal Deficit Crisis in the United States :: Government Politics Political Bush Essays

The Fiscal Deficit Crisis in the United States Since the inauguration of George W. Bush as the president of the United States in January 2001, a series of issues and problems have appeared. President Bush created problems in education, finance, medicare, social security, as well as foreign affairs. In addition, he has turned a 500 billion dollar surplus into a 500 billion dollar deficit (â€Å"Historical Tables† 2004, 21-22). We must ask how he could do this. Were funds spent on improving education, social security, or healthcare? No, in fact these areas were under-funded. Rather the deficit is a result of over-spending on defense, homeland security, and tax cuts across the country. In the 20th century, there were 73 years with a deficit in the government budget. The problem has become a very serious issue since 1958, since which there was a deficit in the fiscal budget nearly every year (â€Å"Historical Tables†, 2004, 21-22). During the mid-1990's, when Bill Clinton was the president, the deficit was reduced and net surplus occurred in 1998 and 1999. After George W. Bush had taken office, the trend of having surplus in fiscal reports couldn't continue. During every year of his term, George Bush increased the United States debt significantly. One hundred-fifty-seven billion dollars was the deficit in 2002, while 521 billion dollars was the deficit in the fiscal year of 2004 (â€Å"Historical Tables†, 2004, 21-22). The American government's debt is increasing at $20,000 per second. A person with an average-income will lose his annual salary in a matter of few seconds due to the rapidly increasing debt (US Debt Clock). This is a very important issue to teenagers and college students, as they will soon have to carry the financial burden from the United States government. The underlying reason for the deficit in the budget is due to the mismanagement in the spending and taxing policies adopted by the President. The terrorist attack on September 11th, 2001, the crash of the stock market after that event, the war on Iraq, and the increased homeland security aggregated the problem of the budget deficit. If President George W. Bush is re-elected and continues to ignore this problem, the United States will continue to build up its huge debt. By 2009, the Gross Federal Debt will be over one thousand billion dollars, and that would transfer to every person living in the United States to have a debt of about $36000 (â€Å"Historical Tables†, 2004, 118-119).

The Acquisition Team

The Acquisition Team is an information-based organization that is composed of more specialists than in the traditional command-and-control organization. Members of an acquisition team consist of multi-organizational as well as cross-functional, i. e. contractors, suppliers, acquisition professionals (Engelbeck, 2002). The focus of this paper is to present the students selection of a business opportunity offered by the Department of Energy and found at http://www. fbo. org/. This student will analyse the posting and then â€Å"reverse engineer† the notice to create the ideal agency’s acquisition team that could have prepared this solicitation. This student will also cite and summarize the FAR provisions for the formation of the acquisition team, describe the nature and specifications of the project, identify every area of expertise needed on the acquisition team, using the â€Å"Bodies of Knowledge† diagram in Engelbeck, Chapter 2, as a basis, and justify the involvement of each team member by describing his or her specific contribution to the solicitation/ request for proposal and later steps of the procurement process. Finally, the student will describe the steps to follow and ensure that the solicitation notice is complete, clear, and accurate before submitting it for posting on the FedBizOpps. gov Website. FAR Provisions for the formation of the acquisition team. The dissemination of Federal Acquisition Regulation (FAR) in 1984 replicated the Congress' intention to create a structure that was uniform for Executive Branch federal contracting. Prior to the introduction of the FAR, civilian agencies and the defence services had different and self owned set of regulations. The FAR is codified at Title 48 of the Code of Federal Regulations. It consists of regulations and rules as articulated by the United States federal government that governs the procurement processes for the government. The FAR contains the standardized procedures and policies for acquisitions by any and all federal government agencies. After the circulation of the FAR, the standardization goal was destabilized by the diverse agency-specific supplements (Vacketta, 1999). The FAR enforces the implementation of nearly every decision-making plan related to procurement. It is also within the FAR mandate to accomplish every stage of the process of acquisition. FAR 1. 102 (d) stipulates that: The function of every member of the Acquisition Team is to ensure the exercise of individual initiative and effective business decision while providing the best value product and service that meet the needs of the customers (Acquipedia, 2012). It further explains the scope and procedure of the acquisition team. This consists of the federal government team members responsible for integration tasks constraint and contracting negotiations including the requiring activity, the paying agent team, the contracting officer, financial management and others. Summary of the FAR Provisions for Acquisition Team Opportunity: Supply of Silicon Drift Detector Summary of Opportunity Opportunity is typically defined as the occasion and time that present favourable circumstance to attain precise goals. The details of opportunity identified on http://www. fbo. org/ are as presented below: a. Opportunity title / project location: Supply of Silicon Drift Detector b. Solicitation Number: RC238923 c. Agency: Department of Energy d. Office: Brookhaven National Laboratory (DOE Contractor) e. [Office] Location: Brookhaven f. URL: https://www. fbo. gov/? s=opportunity&mode=form&id=a95ff19f0cbf7a7448fbd5503527130b&tab=core&_cview=0 Nature and Specifications of the Project This is a short-term project in which a federal government body requires the supply of Silicon Drift Detectors. The Contractor is required to deliver 1 Silicon Drift Detector to the US Department of Energy. The project requires fixed pricing terms. The Silicon Drift Detector should be delivered within 180 days upon the signing of the contract at the Department of Energy office, Brookhaven National Laboratory, Brookhaven. The timings are required to be identified by the COR Feb 01, 2013 11:59 pm Eastern: Provision 333 — Machinery Manufacturing/333999 — All Other Miscellaneous General Purpose Machinery Manufacturing, many others as stipulated in AMS – Form – 010, rev. 5, should be considered for the entire process involved in the solicitation and acquisition. Technical specifications of the Hitachi Vortex Silicon Drift Detectors are that it must have a cylindrical Snout. The length of the snout should be 638 millimetres. The detector must be Ultra High Vacuum compatible with active detection area of not less than 500mm2. The unit must be usable indoor/outdoor with 12. 5 ?m window. The detector must operate with power supplies operating at 220-240 volts. Area of Expertise Required The â€Å"bodies of knowledge†, for this project consists of contracting, finance, engineering, logistics, legal, test and evaluation and cost estimates as identified by Engelbeck (2002). The areas of expertise are as outlined below: Contracting expertise will be required since it will facilitate the selection process of a contractor or vendor of Silicon Drift Detectors. The expertise includes communication skills that will enhance the process of dealing with the customer and the supplier. This will help develop trust among the acquisition team. The drafting of the contract will become easy relative to the project priorities. Risk allocation will be easily identified in managing beforehand to make the deal successful. Financial expertise will be required for the project in establishing the financing terms and budgets related to the project. This expertise will facilitate the valuation of the project for the valuable price to be considered for solicitation. Engineering expertise will be required since it will facilitate the classification of technical stipulations required for the project at hand. References for at least three successfully-manufactured, assembled, tested and delivered single-element detectors with similar complexities as the quoted product must be provided. Logistics is a central part of the project since it specifies the items and timings for the project delivery. It will also facilitate the control of the inventory and related costs to be effective in controlling extra costs. Any project under FAR should be incorporated to the law governing the situation hence Legal considerations will be critical as the terms and conditions must be aligned to FAR. Test and evaluation are as important as any other consideration because failure to create standards for the project will make it impossible to create effectiveness in the project. Evaluation is important to be considered as it will facilitate the future course of actions. Cost estimates are critical as they present the bottom-line of project. All the financials related to this project are based on cost estimates. The cost estimates are an underlying factor to the evaluation of the quality standards. Involvement of Team Members Contemporary, the integration of team members is fundamental to acquire the quoted product with the required specifications to effectively complete the processes and projects on time. The contribution of each member in the team will create synergy. Their presence during the project will act as a positive energy for team success. The involvement of each team member is based on their area of expertise: The end user is the definitive team member. In this case, the end user is the staff at the Brookhaven National Laboratory. The staffs represent the Department of Energy which offers valuable resource for the Silicon Drift Detectors being procured. The Program Manager will make sure that the ensuing agreement meets the long- and short-range requirements of the project’s mission and that the design produce the intended results. The contracting officers will make sure that all contract activities comply with relevant laws, regulations, executive orders, and other applicable measures including approvals and clearances. Financial managers will ensure the provision of information needed by the team to make decisions on the amount of money available. The legal counsel will ensure continuous provision of guidance related to legal compliance and interpretation of regulations and laws. All team members will provide necessary and continuous support throughout the project lifecycle. Steps for Solicitation Completion There are a number of steps that will be applied to make sure that the solicitation notice is clear, complete, and accurate prior to submission for posting on the FedBizOpps. gov Website. Prior to finalization of the draft solicitation, the officer in charge of contracting may issue a draft solicitation to obtain questions and comments from a group of potential (but not eligible) candidates before releasing the final solicitation. This will help to better refine the solicitation and clarify any vagueness. Posting the draft solicitation will allow exchange with industry in the form of questions, suggestions, corrections and comments that can improve the final solicitation. The contracting officer will also make a request for a review of the draft solicitation by the counsel and project officer in harmony with procedures prior to release. Upon review, the contracting officers should then seek and obtain the concluding approval from the agency leadership (Gouder, 2007).

Victory of the North - 1306 Words

22 March 2013 Victory of the North There are many causes that led to the victory of the North, as well as many effects that follow their victory. Three important causes that led to the victory of the North are economic growth, secession, and the election of President Abraham Lincoln. Three important effects that followed the victory of the Northern States in the American Civil War are emancipation, a new financial system, and political freedom. The Civil War of America has been discussed as the first modern war of the new industrial age. Army’s of such a large size had yet to meet head on, face to face in the battle field with weapons of such mass destruction and deadly force. America had not yet seen casualties of this magnitude to†¦show more content†¦They continued to adopt a constitution of their own. Then they chose Jefferson Davis from the state of Mississippi to be their president. The first effect of the North’s victory over the South is emancipation. Even though slaves were technically freed through â€Å"contraband†, Lincoln continued to persist that this fights intent is to save the Union, not to free the slaves. But, before eighteen sixty-two, Lincoln considered emancipation as being the next step necessary to win the war. On July twenty-second eighteen sixty-two, Lincoln unveiled a draft of the Emancipation Proclamation to his cabinet. It proposed emancipation of all slaves in rebel areas on January 1st, eighteen sixty-three. The Secretary of State William H. Seward agreed with Lincoln s initial draft, but he warned President Lincoln to wait till the Union had won a major victory before introducing the proclamation to the public. In eighteen sixty-two President Lincoln got his opportunity to do so, when the Union was victorious in the Battle of Antietam. On September twenty-second President Lincoln officially issued the Emancipation P roclamation to the public. The Proclamation warned the Confederate states that if they did not surrender by January first, eighteen sixty-three, their slaves would be freed. The second effect of the North’s victory over the South is a new financial system. The American Civil War destroyed theShow MoreRelatedWas Victory For The North Inevitable?2021 Words   |  9 PagesAbby Keating Was Victory for the North Inevitable? Often, when one feels as though they have a better chance at succeeding than their opponent, the odds will flip, and that person will find that what they thought would be an easy win takes much more of an effort. In the American Civil War, the North went into battle with this mindset, later realizing that in order to keep the Union alive, they would have to put forth much more exertion than initially suspected. 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The North had many things the South hadn’t such as an abundance of factories, trains, and phone lines for the telegraph which the South happened to be lacking. Due to their technological advancements, the North was able to gain the upper hand and win the Civil War. First of all, the North had placed many railroad tracks while the