The budget drama of the past two years has finally reached a boiling point.

 The dreaded sequester, a broad swath of arbitrary government cuts, came into effect March 1.

Citizens winced as congressional members and its leaders stood by and watching these cuts go into effect. This was especially annoying as there was chance after chance to prevent the fiscal bloodletting.

Keep in mind that the cuts that were signed into law by the President are not actual cuts to the budget, but are cuts to anticipated increases.

True, the nation has issues with spending and taxing.  What is certain, our problems seem to stem from here.

We see it like this…think of the budget as a person, who has a little bit of weight problem, their diet has consisted of:

• Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan

• Tax cuts for the rich

• Medicare part D

The person is becoming so overweight that its endangering their health, they might not be able to take care of their elderly parents or invest in their young children. Plus they need to stop borrowing from their friends from China and Brazil.

But they do not want to go through the hard choices of physical activity and eating less, so instead they “Rig their fridge to explode when they open it”.

Now that these so-called cuts have gone into effect, it is anticipated that they will have a great impact on the economy. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the cuts will slow economic growth by would be slowed by 0.6 percent.

The economy is stagnant as is. Now with this sequestration it appears stagnation will be sticking around like an unwelcome relative.

No doubt we need to get our fiscal house in order, (more on that later). But that is no excuse for the current political logjam in Washington. To us citizens it is incompetence at its best.

Image By: daniellehelm

Inspiration? Or thinspiration?

You can find pretty much anything you search for on the Internet. But that isn’t always a good thing, especially when it comes to information about eating disorders.

Social media platforms such as Tumblr, Instagram, and Pinterest have all been criticized during the past year for allowing users to post pro-anorexia or “thinspo” content such as images of extremely skinny girls or tips for extreme weight loss. Now, you can add YouTube to that list.

According to the Huffington Post, new research has found that out of 140 videos about anorexia on YouTube, nearly one-third were pro-anorexia. These videos received three times the amount of positive ratings as the other videos. According to one thinspo blogger:

“[I like to post] images that show skinny, happy girls. They look so confident and we can see their bones through their skin. It’s the most beautiful thing ever. I also like tips about food or how to ignore hunger.”

The researchers suggest that YouTube enforce filters to remove this kind of content and prevent misinformation, but similar policies on other social media platforms have failed to detect all posts that support eating disorders. 

How should social media handle thinspo content? Where do we draw the line when it comes to freedom on the Internet? Let us know in the comments below.

• Monday, March 4th during free hour (12-1) in Physics 201 featuring Executive Vice President Kian Larijani and Speaker of the Senate Valerie Parks
• Wednesday, March 6th from 4-5pm in Commons 331 featuring Vice President for Student Organizations Michelle Kuah and Finance Board Chair Samantha Spehr
• Monday, March 11th from 7-8pm in Public Policy 206 featuring President Kaylesh Ramu and Treasurer Chisom Ebinama