Welcome my son, to the machine

And by 'machine' I mean my new blog. The old one was a tad directionless, and, thus, a little hard for inspiration to strike. This one I intend to be dedicated to current events, which may seem to be a little vague as well, but the current state of things is something of which I try to keep apprised. The blog postings from here on out will be commentary about what is happening in the business world, political arena, society, and contemporary culture. The slant will be to the left (mostly) for social issues and pop culture, and right (mostly) for economic and political issues. The controversial points that are bound to come up will be the most fun to discuss.

For instance, as a resident of Texas, I feel the political landscape has been enhanced by the recent addition of our governor, Rick Perry, to the crowd of republican primary candidates. My sentiment is that though I feel Mr. Perry to be rather ignorant about many things including healthcare and education, I am inclined to think he is a responsible choice for president in 2012. This is based on his ability to balance a budget and stimulate job growth. Unless there is a drastic change, these will be the two most important issues in the upcoming presidential election.

President Obama, on the other hand, has an abysmal record of job creation and controlling a ballooning deficit. Though I feel that a comprehensive healthcare system is important (as a developed country, the lack of such a system is a bit of an embarrassment), the amount of political capital that Mr. Obama used to push that item on his agenda forward was unjustified.

For the past three years, the issue that should have been the most important for the president's policy makers has been the economy. That was part of the reason voters chose Mr. Obama over Mr. Mccain in 2008, and here we are in 2011 with the same problems that existed for the president during his last election. If the economy regains some momentum and unemployment drops in the next 15 months, however, we will see a much different general election.