Dear President Obama and Governor Schwarzenegger,    

    As the leaders of the nation and the state of California, President Obama and Gov. Schwarzenegger both of you will lead and make important choices for the United States and California as it enters 2009 and beyond. In the years to come there must be changes at both country and state levels to keep the country from falling apart. With the current economic problems the nation is in a recession and faces the devastations of another depression, unless something radical is done to stop the declining of jobs and other important factors pertaining to the economic problems. While the economy is in need of drastic fixing, there are many other problems such as pollution and waste contributing to global warming that need to be addressed.  Not only is the state of California and the United States affected by global warming, but the environmental crisis reaches globally and prospects of the future.  The economy and global warming are two of the most important issues that you, President Obama and Gov. Schwarzenegger must deal with in the next few years in order to keep the United States of America from a dismal future. The nation’s future looks bleak unless we are able to implement the change which your campaign, President Obama so successfully represents and see it through fruition.
    
    The Economy on both state and national level is in shambles. The state of California's unemployment is 3rd only too Michigan and Rhode Island having 8.4%. [1]. The nation’s unemployment has risen to "7.2 percent in December"[2]. With the increase of unemployment across the country, more and more people file for unemployment each day and the Government are forced further into debt.  The first step in fixing the economic problems is to regulate where they started, Wall Street. Forbes writer Roger Parloff said it best about the investors when he said, "they took your money. They wrecked the economy."[3] Without regulating the stock market there is nothing stopping another problem like we have today. Regulation of the stock market will stop the investors from "lying, cheating, and stealing"[4]. Another great way that has already been proposed by you, President Obama is by creating more government jobs through fixing our infrastructure.  Not only are the Americans getting jobs, but transportation in major need of repair will be fixed and in some cases improved.  Therefore Gov. Schwarzenegger, in California the state government should start state funded projects and create more jobs locally.  California has one of the highest unemployment rates and by adding programs such as cleaning beaches or other park, recreation or ocean side projects, “means healthier coastal economies that increasingly depend on beach tourism for their livelihood.” (5)  A third fantastic way to help the government get out of the red and into the black is by stopping "bush tax cuts"[6]. Mad Money host Jim Cramer’s idea to save the economy is exactly correct, "we need to raise taxes so bad... right now"[7]. Both of you must end tax breaks for the rich and start taxing fairly. I personally come from a home that is in the upper middle or low upper class and in talking to my parents they feel that paying a higher tax is necessary as it will stimulate government funding and spending capabilities.  Not only should the government stop giving tax cuts to the rich but also regulate oil companies and the amount they charge for a gallon of gas. The oil companies are robbing American people by keeping gas prices high with the recent cost of a barrel of oil being “35.40$“[8] as of January 15, 2009 and the average gallon of gas cost “1.78$” [9] according to EIA. Gas should be close to half of what it is today mathematically, considering a barrel of oil in July of 2008 was close to 140$ and companies showing record profits instead of making adjustments to the new cost of a barrel.  As the leaders of the nation and state the economic problems should be on the top of your list to fix while in office so that our great nation does not fall into another depression.    

    Along with the economic problems the environment needs a great deal of help as well. Current studies have shown "effects that recent climate changes have had on animals and plants throughout the world. [10] Humans activities have been causing a great deal of green house gasses slowly changing the climate around the world. With what money the government can spare should be put toward finding a way to power vehicles with cleaner and cheaper means then using oil to power our cars. If a major break though can be found one day” Where once oil pipelines were laid and gigantic oil tankers plowed furrows in the ocean, now great water tankers and water pipelines take their place.” (11) Imagine the country running so clean that the uses for oil will decrease so much that there will be no more oil tankers off the coast of dangerous underwater oil pipes. These types of technologies are on their way already starting to take shape. Car and Driver magazine tells its readers that the 2010 Toyota Prius EPA estimated gas mileage of “48-city/45-highway” [12]. Imagine all the cars on the road getting this kind of gas mileage or better. The need for oil will become less and less and eventually gone all together. The way to get rid of the oil dependence is to start to set a higher standard for gas mileage for all car manufactures who want to release a car in the United States. With this done the use of oil in the cars will decrease and so will pollution. With a great deal less of green house gasses being made the hopefully the effected ecosystems will return to what they were intended. Not only will “going green” help the earth but also in my opinion, decrease our need for oil and occupancy in the Middle East. With the less dependence on oil the United States will not need to be involved quite so involved in every issue the Middle East. This not only keeps our soldiers home but also gives the Middle East nations a sense of freedom from the western world, which in some cases they claim to desire and has not been the case in years. By saving the earth from global warming and going green nations beside the United States will benefit and the environment and prospect for our natural world and all in it will have a better future.  

        As elected officials the nation believes in both of you as political leaders and trust that you will do what is right and in the best interests of the nation. The tough times that we face as a nation is the perfect a stage for someone to perform and solve our economic crisis and devastations of global warming. I hope that both of you take will take my proposals and ideas inconsideration.  However, I know that legislature can take a long time to pass, but hopefully I will see these changes in maybe not the immediate future but in the few years to come. In your own words President Obama “we are, and always will be, the United States of America.”[13] Lets keep it this way and good luck in the upcoming years in your positions and hope that everything that can be done will be done to keep our nation and state running strong.   

Sincerely,

Kyle Yatabe

Footnotes

1.         Current Population Survey(CPS)." U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. http://www.bls.gov/CPS/

2.The Associated Press: AP Top News at 8:59 a.m. EST(2009)." Google. http://www.google.com/hostednews/  ap/article/ALeqM5g8-

3.Roger Parloff . "Sending Wall Street To Jail." Fortune, January 19, 2009.

4.Roger Parloff . "Sending Wall Street To Jail." Fortune, January 19, 2009.

5. Wanda Jones. The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today: 60 Of The World's Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half-Century. Waco, TX: Thomas Nelson, 2008.

6.John Reiss. Hardball with Chris Matthews.First broadcast 14 July 2008 by MSNBC, With Chris Mathews

7.John Reiss. Hardball with Chris Matthews.First broadcast 14 July 2008 by MSNBC, With Chris  Mathews

8.OPEC Basket Price." Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries. http://www.opec.org/home/

basket.aspx

9.U.S. Retail Gasoline Prices." Energy Information Administration - EIA - Official Energy Statistics from the U.S. Government.(2008) http://www.eia.doe.gov/oil_gas/petroleum/data_publications/wrgp/mogas_
home_page.html

10.Post, Eric. "Extensive Research Survey Confirms Life on Earth Now Being Affected by Global Warming."  Science Journal 20 (2002): 1-5.

11. Stanley Prusiner. The Way We Will Be 50 Years from Today: 60 Of The World's Greatest Minds Share Their Visions of the Next Half-Century. Waco, TX: Thomas Nelson, 2008.

12.Aaron Robinson. "2010 Toyota Prius - Car News ." Car and Driver, July, 2008.

13. Deb Riechmann. "Obama Victory Speech - VIDEO, TEXT." Breaking News and Opinion on The Huffington  Post(2008). http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/11/04/obama-victory-speech_n_141194.html

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