Oh Canada!

*Even though I am aware that I may be the only American not related to an Olympian who watches the Olympics, I feel the need to share Olympics themed facts with everyone anyway. As I began watching the coverage, I realized how little I know about the Canadian government. Ergo, my facts for this Opening Ceremony night are Canada themed:
**Canada is a Federation consisting of 10 Provinces and 3 territories. Let's name them:
The Providences are British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec,
New Brunswick, Nova Scotia (not a word according the Blogspot's spell check),
Newfoundland and Labrador (that's one province/ two dogs), and Prince Edward Island.
The three territories that make up Canada's Northern region are the Yukon, Northwest, and
Nunavut.
**Canada is a Parliamentary Democracy and a Constitutional Monarchy.
**Canada has a ceremonial Head of State (a position which is largely ceremonial anyhow), Queen
Elizabeth II, and an acting Head of State known as the Governor General. The current
Governor General is Michaelle Jean.
**The Head of Government is the leader of the majority party in Parliament. Currently, that
person is Prime Minister Stephen Harper of the Conservative Party.
**As in the British Parliament, the Leader of the Opposition party is an official government
position. The current leader of the minority party, the Liberal Party, is Michael Ignatieff.
**The Canadian Parliament is composed of an Upper House, the Senate, and a Lower House, the
House of Commons.

*Those who follow the news may have heard that an Olympian died today during a training run.
Twenty-one-year-old Georgian Luger Nodar Kumaritashvili crashed while taking his practice
run on the Vancouver course, which is known to be extremely dangerous. The athlete is only the second Olympic hopeful to be killed while competing.

Zig Zag Wanderer

*When troops are deployed to the Middle East, they are first sent to bases in Europe. In one such case, a friend of mine's platoon went by ship to a base in Spain. It took nearly a month for the troops to arrive in the Mediterranean. The reason? U.S. naval ships cannot approach any European country in a straight path. They must zig zag their way across the Atlantic, otherwise, the arrival of the ships is assumed to be an act of war. A journey that should take less than one week, takes several because apparently Spain still cannot be 100% sure when the United States Marine Corps sends troops to NATO bases that it is not an act of aggression.

National Debt vs. Budget Deficit

Among the long list of facts that most Americans do not know about government is the difference between Debt and Deficit. The two words often seem to be used interchangeably, though they have distinct meanings and implications.

Every year the government forms a budget (funded from taxes and other forms of revenue) that goes to finance government programs like Medicare. Often times the government spends more than it brings in. This is deficit spending. The government borrows money (yes, sometimes from China and Russia) to cover the deficit. Then that money owed becomes part of the National Debt. So the deficit is the annual budget's shortfall, and the debt is carried over year-to-year.

Summation: Buying new curtains from Ikea on your credit card (Deficit spending). Money you owe to AmEx (Debt).

Implication: Cutting deficit spending will not help lower the national debt; however, continued deficit spending will add to the national debt.

2009 Deficit: $1.75 Trillion (estimated)

Total National Debt: $12.3 Trillion