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1. Can the ABLE Act serve as a model for bipartisan cooperation on Capitol Hill?
2. Should colleges ban fraternities and sororities?
3. Can Kevin Orr save Atlantic City?
4. Does the U.S. need to increase the number of H-1B visas?
5. Would raising taxing on capital-gains harm economic growth?
6. What sent RadioShack into bankruptcy?
7. Has the U.S. lost Yemen?
8. How can moderation be restored within the Republican Party?
9. Should states eliminate their non-medical vaccine exemptions for children attending public school?
10. Is President Obama’s outreach toward Iran complicating the fight against ISIS?
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The Marshall Speech Spectacular, formerly known as the Schwan’s Speech Spectacular, is a fifth tier tournament in this year’s Extemp Central National Points Race. The event typically attracts some of the best competitors in the Midwest and as has been the case in previous years, Minnesota dominated the competition. Haley Williams of Chanhassen High School (MN) captured the tournament title by four ranks over Rishabh Gupta of Eastview High School (MN). Williams received two first place ranks among the three judges in the final round to win the first Extemp TOC qualifying tournament of her career.
Mark Rinder‘s chance of winning back-to-back Extemporaneous Speaking Tournament of Champions (TOC) qualifying tournaments was denied last weekend in Basking Ridge, New Jersey as Jay Sirot of Montville Township High School (NJ) defeated the Columbia champion and won his first TOC qualifying title of the year.
Five years ago, Greece’s sovereign debt problems nearly brought down the eurozone. In February 2010, the country found itself unable to pay its creditors and was forced to turn to the European Union (EU) and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for aid. As a euro user, Greece was required under the Maastricht Treaty of 1992 to keep deficits below 3% of its GDP and to keep its public debt below a 60% ceiling. However, Greek political officials concealed the true state of their budget situation with the help of American investment bank Goldman Sachs. This allowed them to join the eurozone and borrow at low interest rates. When the true size of Greece’s debt was revealed, panic swept European markets, especially those of heavily indebted countries such as Portugal, Italy, and Spain. The fear was that if Greece failed to pay its debts that other indebted European countries, all of whom are euro members, would as well. To calm markets, the so-called Troika of the EU, the European Central Bank (ECB), and the IMF stepped in and funneled billions of dollars in loans to the Greek government. This assistance required painful austerity measures, which caused Greece to increase taxes and reduce public spending. The austerity measures have been very unpopular in Greece and two weeks ago, on January 25, the Greek populace elected the far-left SYRIZA Party, which opposes austerity. New Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras has vowed to not follow the conditions imposed by the Troika and is seeking a restructuring of Greece’s external debt. Analysts warn that SYRIZA’s position puts it on a collision course with powerful EU nations such as Germany and that Greece’s recent election might take it out of the eurozone.
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