Week #3, Blog #3, Top 5 Issues

This week we have not heard as much about Sarah Palin as we have in the last several weeks since John McCain's announcement of her as his Vice-Presidential running mate. I think that the media has beat this issue into the ground and now that we have new news such as the financial markets failing, then we have a new drum to beat.

Last week we heard a lot about Representative Charles Rangel (D-NY) and his tax evasion. This issue has also seemed to have disappeared.

Obama and McCain are still battling it out for who is the front-runner. Fox News has projected it as still a toss-up with no clear favorite at this point.

The financial markets collapse in this past week has really dominated the news coverage and any political discussion that you have with a teacher, family member, or classmate. When you have a situation like this in the greatest economy in the world you have to think about what this might mean for other countries who are not as lucky as we are to have the resources to bail out these institutions that are the centerpiece to our economy. As we witnessed with the sharp decreases in the stock market early in the week and then the rebounds at the end of the week we see that this action by the federal government seems to be looked at favorably by Wall Street. When we look at this issue we have to understand that this money will be paid back because these bailouts are in the forms of loans. There is no guarantee that the treasury will see any of this money repaid but that is the current intention.

The media has certainly capitalized on the scare tactics opportunities that this issue has presented itself. This is certainly the main issue for the week and will probably remain the top political issue in the weeks heading up the election.

Top 5 Issues

1. Financial Markets/Institutions failing
2. 2nd Stimulus Package vote fails in House
3. Representative Don Young (R-AK) wins Primary
4. Senator Ted Stevens (R-AK) is heading to trail
5. Gas prices declining after Hurricane Ike