Interviews

Jen K.
I chose to interview a family member of mine, Jon.  He is very intelligent and up to date with the news, politics, and government and I thought it would be interesting and effective to interview him.  I was interested in his opinions, thoughts, and ideas on the Government Shutdown of 2013.

Do you think the government shutdown was effective? Why/Why not?

Government shutdown was not effective, all it did was put the country in a bigger financial deficit and negatively effect hundreds of thousands of government employees.

Do you think it was an effective way to solve the issues? Why/Why not?

It was not an effective way to solve any issues.  The disagreements between the Democrats and the Republicans only put our country in a bigger hole and hurt the hundreds of thousands of government employees who were furloughed and negatively affected the millions of other US citizens.

What were the advantages to this?

Many furloughed government employees will be back payed and essentially got a month of free vacation.

What are the disadvantages?

The government is now even further in debt, millions of citizens had to deal with uncertainty on when the shutdown would end and when they could go back to work/get paid again, the shutdown "fix" is only temporary and will likely happen again in January.

How might this be improved/fixed?

Congress (who is not affected by any shutdowns, furloughs, etc) needs to put aside their political disagreements and find something that works to correct these issues and ensure the government does not shutdown and can pay off its loans.

What do you think might happen in January? Another shutdown?

Another shutdown will most likely happen in January if not worse, such as, not being able to pay bills and bankrupting the country.

What disagreements, if any, about the shutdown exist in the community?

 Republicans/Democrats in the community probably agree with what happened because they see their parties side of the story.

The blog interview was effective in helping me learn more about the Government Shutdown.  Hearing perspectives, opinions, and point of views from another person helped me better understand how the shutdown negatively affected a lot of Americans and how it was only a temporary solution to the problem.  In January, another shutdown could happen, or worse...  The interview was a way to hear ideas from another person who may be more familiar with the situation than I am because I knew very little about the whole situation prior to doing this assignment.  Reading interviews online, looking at websites, and doing research are all effective ways of learning more about a topic, but also, interviewing someone about their ideas also allows us to receive information about this topic.  



Jocelyn

First name of the person you interviewed and/or their title in the community: Erin, Friend

“I told Erin that I was studying and finding out about more information on the government shutdown and the causes behind it.”

Is this a problem you think is important?  Why/ Why not?

“Yes, I think this is an important issue because the two parties that are supposed to be running the government are not in agreement but instead they keep butting heads, almost.”

Do you think others in our community think this is an important problem? why/ why not?

“I think some people think it is important but others do not know or care to know about the issue or causes. I think that the people who care about the issue are mostly older and involved with the community. They are reading newspapers, and involved in careers where the news applies to them. I also think that younger people, especially teens, have no idea what is going on with the government. I know people that did not even know it was shutdown, days after it actually did shutdown. There are many people that are not directly affected by this shutdown and don’t care to know more.”

What policy, if any, does government now have to deal with this problem?

“I do not know what policy the government now has to deal with for this problem.”

Where can I get more information about this problem and the different positions people take on this problem?

“You can get more information about this problem from watching the news, reading news papers, listening to the radio talk stations, watching talk shows, and talking with others about the information.”

I thought that this interview was helpful for what some people think in general. I still feel that a lot of people are up in the air about the government shutdown. I think that it is half and half as far as who knows about it and who does not really understand it. I learned that I was not the only one that had kind of a clue but not really. I think that it is interesting how differently people think about who might know what is going on and who does not have a clue, in addition to why they think this. 

Blog 1

Behind the Scene of the Government Shutdown
     Have you ever wondered why the government shutdown? Who was involved and why they allowed it?
           That is what we were wondering as well.

When the government shutdown first began, in the beginning of October, people knew that it was a disagreement between two groups, but did not understand the underlying issues of the disagreement. The speaker for the Repbulican party, Boehner, had the upper hand in deciding whether to pass or put down the Senate's proposed spending bill and keep the government running. When the spending bill was proposed, the Republicans pushed to make sure that the bill included defunding of Obamacare. The Democrats pushed that the bill did not include defunding of Obamacare. The spending bill proposed by the Senate did not get passed, and therefore the government shutdown. The Shutdown lasted for sixteen straight days starting on October 1, 2013 when the new fiscal funding year (2014) began. The Shutdown, which cost the US Government $24 billion (TIME), affected hundreds of thousands of federal employees and millions of other US citizens. Many people were furloughed or forced to work without pay. National parks, museums, and other federally funded sites were closed, all because the Republicans and Democrats in both the House and the Senate could not come to an agreement. On October 16, 2013, the Senate finally agreed to suspend the debt ceiling until January 2014, effectively ending the Government Shutdown, for now...

 Jocelyns view:
In my (Jocelyn) own personal opinion, I believe that this is all political drama. I understand that the government shutdown because the senate tried to pass a spending bill. With the spending bill being proposed, the democrat party and republican parties did not agree. I find this ironic because both parties are there for the purpose of making decisions for our government and making sure that the decisions are beneficial. I feel that, with this situation, both parties were not in agreement to make a big deal and get reactions. They wanted people to know what was going on and to form opinions.

Jennifers view:
In my (Jennifer) opinion, the Government Shutdown caused so many people anguish and made them see our government as a negative. I personally know of a few people who were directly affected and it was difficult to watch them worry about what was going to happen. For people who were furloughed, they worked day to day without pay, or did not work at all. These people had the burden on their shoulders about how they would pay their bills without being paid themselves. The government agreed on a temporary plan, for now, but we will all revisit this issue in the beginning of the New Year, which only causes federal employees and other US citizens to worry from then until now. The whole shutdown is not only causing issues amongst the political parties in our government but is causing issues amongst the citizens of our country. The shutdown is the biggest story throughout newslines across the country, affecting so many people and I think that the government needs to come to an effective permanent decision quickly, before January, so that our country can go back to normalcy.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Business/2013/1017/Government-shutdown-over-How-big-of-a-hit-did-the-US-economy-take-video
http://swampland.time.com/2013/10/17/heres-what-the-government-shutdown-cost-the-economy/ http://www.cnn.com/2013/09/30/politics/government-shutdown-up-to-speed/