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Gore Administration Looking Back Pt2
The Accomplishments of the Gore Administration Pt. 2
Immigration
The Gore Administration's stance on immigration was a mroe refined version of what Gore had as Vice President. While his Citizenship USA program was remembered for its emphasis of quantity over quality, the process became a bit more streamlined this time around and was made a bit easier and more efficient to let people immigrate into the nation. Fees were lowered and the process was beig examined to try and computerize more to make it more efficient. Additionally, Gore also put more work on emphasizing fitting the immigration policy to the likely applicants. While Spanish speakers would be rewarded with easier access, they were not the only ones as Middle Eastern immigration was gradually growing though Gore noted private concerns that the situation in the Middle East could blow up and in turn, start a refugee crisis. It was a discussion point he brought up in 2007 and 2008 privately amongst his fellow leaders, both in the European Union and in the Middle East alongside others such as Canada and Mexico. For the most part, immigration was given modest reforms over time that made the process easier. There was mixed reception in regards to the increased immigration though it became noted that illegal immigration went down as it became easier to apply for the legal process. Gore also began expanding to see if third parties could assist in accelerating the process while maintaining high standards and accountability.
Housing/Homelessness
Housing was a bit of a contentious issue in the early years of the Gore Administration as troubles deciding ow low to keep interest rates would prevent much effort on the front before the attempts were shelved in favor of dealing with more immediate crisises such as 9/11, Exxon-Mobil and Katrina along with mroe ambitious and immediately noticed changes such as Medicare for Kids. Howeverm tackling housing issues did return in the last couple years of the Gore Administration, now with some trepediation given the potential signs of financial troubles. Nonetheless, interest rates were lowered and it was made easier for people to try and begin buying homes through mortages. Additionally, plans were made to reduce homelessness, especially among the veterans, through job programs and low income housing though the difficulty came through the troublesome aspects of the housing market, which became a point of mild controvesey when a Gore associate made a scathing point on part of the housing market and the growing spread of discontentment regarding the housing market as a while as a result. Nonetheless, homelessness did go down for the most part and one route was simply making it easier for the homeless to go to areas where it would be cheaper to live off. The person or faily in question would apply to go to a new locale and try and apply there, with things like having family, work opportunites or whatnot that would bump them up the waiting list to be transported there. Some towns and cities partook more in the program as some saw it as an alternative to immgiration though those comments raised further scrutiny.
Fair Labor Practices
Al Gore was a neoliberal and still believes in working with corporations rather than use governmental power to force their hand. That being said, the Exxon-Mobil Scandal did force him to realize that sometimes more forceful methods would be needed, at least with companies that would not be willing to try and play ball. The minimum wage was raised from $7.25 to $8.50 back in 2006 along with a few other proposals such as a bill to have the minimum wage be calculated or tied to dynamic economic patterns, reflecting the state of the economy or one to have minimum wage be increased to $10 in 2010, a point that was discussed over in the general elections. Both McCain and Biden noted that they were unsure if $10 would be reachable, the idea of a wage increase by that point was not dismissed and noted it would depend on the state of the economy. Somewhat tied to this was the rise in fair trade practices, a result of the Gore Administration stumbling into taking Nestle over unsavory business practices that expanded to include questionable labor practices and environmental practices, one that would see Nestle be torn several notches. Additionally, there was the successful repeal of some of the worse of the striker replacement laws. While seen as a point of friction, it was pushed through thanks to public support for the bill and the growing skepticism toward corporations, especially after Exxon-Mobil.
Corporations and Companies
While the Gore Administration maintained neoliberal policies that favored the so-called job creators, the Exxon-Mobil scandal and its fallout was the culimination of the various financial scandals that plagues the early 2000s and thus, they were not viewed with as much favor and now replaced with skepticism. Additionally, the rise of social media and how the public took to it meant they were in need of change. While the American automobile industries would be given a kick in the rear regarding their projects thanks to Iacocca and funds from the green incentives of the Gore Administration, other companies needed to deal with the change in the decade on their own. Stricter rules on financial transactions and whatnot were made to try and prevent similar chicanery from the beginning of the year. However, it seemed like everything was fine though some troubles later on were hinted with the bank and other businesses were entering the period of decline thanks to the rise of new technologies. Video rental stores were graduall losing income with the rise of the internet and the potential of accessing the material from anywhere. Entertainment companies also needed to deal with such new things along with the growing changes in the zeitgeist. It was becoming gradually more difficult for advertisement to influence people, at least in the way to their liking. All in all, while corporations and companies saw their profits increase in the Gore industry, the growing prevelance of going green in the mainstream has been a little concerning since it would mean creating disposable goods and other related matters would be no longer profitable.
A large example of this was how in the aftermath of Katrina, there was plenty of oil spilt all over the place and while it was being cleaned up by a mix of people, private companies and the government, who should foot the lion's share of the bill was debated. While the Gore Administration did offer a chunk, the oil companies instead tried to demand financial compensation for the product lost. The keyword being "tried." Being so close to the Exxon-Mobil scandal, it just reignited anger at the oil companies' who quickly backdown and negotiated terms. While they would be forced to help pay for clean-up through administrative arm-twisting, their initial reaction of the demands for financial compensation and the later revelation of how they tried to make up for the loss through underhanded tactics such as downsizing and cutting worker pay led to further disdain toward the oil company and fossil fuels, leading to a doubling down effect of finding solutions, especially with plastics.
Education
Education unsurprisingly recieved a nice boost from the Gore Administration. While the "No Child Left Behind" Act was passed with a bit of trouble, if namely to ensure the arts and such weren't cut and making accessability easier, some saw it as not enough to really be wholly beneficial. Overtime though, new programs and financial incentives would make the pursuit of higher education more feasible to people. Tax breaks for students going to college along tax deductibles for college tuition would be promoted and managed to be passed through. A large part of this was connected to Gore's green incentives, albeit indirectly. Namely, he started out by giving the tax breaks and deductibles over to vocational colleges, with the emphasis of getting more young folk into blue collar jobs with the direction of making blue collar jobs green, an incentive that was wholly welcomed by the voters. The tax breaks and deductibles would then be expanded to include anyone within the medical field (including dentistry) along with the sciences and engineering. Eventually though, the rest of the fields such as law, the arts and humanities would be included with tax breaks and deductibles by the end of the reforms around 2006. As such, many young folk would find themselves in greater economic opportunity and not feel as worried about student loans and debt. Despite this, not all of Gore's plans foe education were passed. Things such as making two years of university and college free were rejected, albeit barely and people were willing to accept it for the most part. However, Gore would still manage to find some other ways to lower student expenses, namely by targeting other huge sources of financial sinks. Student housing was considered a big money sink and approaches were made with housing and whatnot to make student housing cheaper along with methods of making transportation to campus easier. Unsurprisingly, computer sciences and emphasis on the internet was also placed heavily as mroe and more schools got access to internet with quality speed. However, the arts and humanities were fortunately not neglected and efforts were made to put more attention on them as well, especially once Project MAY got off the ground and people saw possibilities with having their own creative career and not be so shackled by advertisements.
Immigration
The Gore Administration's stance on immigration was a mroe refined version of what Gore had as Vice President. While his Citizenship USA program was remembered for its emphasis of quantity over quality, the process became a bit more streamlined this time around and was made a bit easier and more efficient to let people immigrate into the nation. Fees were lowered and the process was beig examined to try and computerize more to make it more efficient. Additionally, Gore also put more work on emphasizing fitting the immigration policy to the likely applicants. While Spanish speakers would be rewarded with easier access, they were not the only ones as Middle Eastern immigration was gradually growing though Gore noted private concerns that the situation in the Middle East could blow up and in turn, start a refugee crisis. It was a discussion point he brought up in 2007 and 2008 privately amongst his fellow leaders, both in the European Union and in the Middle East alongside others such as Canada and Mexico. For the most part, immigration was given modest reforms over time that made the process easier. There was mixed reception in regards to the increased immigration though it became noted that illegal immigration went down as it became easier to apply for the legal process. Gore also began expanding to see if third parties could assist in accelerating the process while maintaining high standards and accountability.
Housing/Homelessness
Housing was a bit of a contentious issue in the early years of the Gore Administration as troubles deciding ow low to keep interest rates would prevent much effort on the front before the attempts were shelved in favor of dealing with more immediate crisises such as 9/11, Exxon-Mobil and Katrina along with mroe ambitious and immediately noticed changes such as Medicare for Kids. Howeverm tackling housing issues did return in the last couple years of the Gore Administration, now with some trepediation given the potential signs of financial troubles. Nonetheless, interest rates were lowered and it was made easier for people to try and begin buying homes through mortages. Additionally, plans were made to reduce homelessness, especially among the veterans, through job programs and low income housing though the difficulty came through the troublesome aspects of the housing market, which became a point of mild controvesey when a Gore associate made a scathing point on part of the housing market and the growing spread of discontentment regarding the housing market as a while as a result. Nonetheless, homelessness did go down for the most part and one route was simply making it easier for the homeless to go to areas where it would be cheaper to live off. The person or faily in question would apply to go to a new locale and try and apply there, with things like having family, work opportunites or whatnot that would bump them up the waiting list to be transported there. Some towns and cities partook more in the program as some saw it as an alternative to immgiration though those comments raised further scrutiny.
Fair Labor Practices
Al Gore was a neoliberal and still believes in working with corporations rather than use governmental power to force their hand. That being said, the Exxon-Mobil Scandal did force him to realize that sometimes more forceful methods would be needed, at least with companies that would not be willing to try and play ball. The minimum wage was raised from $7.25 to $8.50 back in 2006 along with a few other proposals such as a bill to have the minimum wage be calculated or tied to dynamic economic patterns, reflecting the state of the economy or one to have minimum wage be increased to $10 in 2010, a point that was discussed over in the general elections. Both McCain and Biden noted that they were unsure if $10 would be reachable, the idea of a wage increase by that point was not dismissed and noted it would depend on the state of the economy. Somewhat tied to this was the rise in fair trade practices, a result of the Gore Administration stumbling into taking Nestle over unsavory business practices that expanded to include questionable labor practices and environmental practices, one that would see Nestle be torn several notches. Additionally, there was the successful repeal of some of the worse of the striker replacement laws. While seen as a point of friction, it was pushed through thanks to public support for the bill and the growing skepticism toward corporations, especially after Exxon-Mobil.
Corporations and Companies
While the Gore Administration maintained neoliberal policies that favored the so-called job creators, the Exxon-Mobil scandal and its fallout was the culimination of the various financial scandals that plagues the early 2000s and thus, they were not viewed with as much favor and now replaced with skepticism. Additionally, the rise of social media and how the public took to it meant they were in need of change. While the American automobile industries would be given a kick in the rear regarding their projects thanks to Iacocca and funds from the green incentives of the Gore Administration, other companies needed to deal with the change in the decade on their own. Stricter rules on financial transactions and whatnot were made to try and prevent similar chicanery from the beginning of the year. However, it seemed like everything was fine though some troubles later on were hinted with the bank and other businesses were entering the period of decline thanks to the rise of new technologies. Video rental stores were graduall losing income with the rise of the internet and the potential of accessing the material from anywhere. Entertainment companies also needed to deal with such new things along with the growing changes in the zeitgeist. It was becoming gradually more difficult for advertisement to influence people, at least in the way to their liking. All in all, while corporations and companies saw their profits increase in the Gore industry, the growing prevelance of going green in the mainstream has been a little concerning since it would mean creating disposable goods and other related matters would be no longer profitable.
A large example of this was how in the aftermath of Katrina, there was plenty of oil spilt all over the place and while it was being cleaned up by a mix of people, private companies and the government, who should foot the lion's share of the bill was debated. While the Gore Administration did offer a chunk, the oil companies instead tried to demand financial compensation for the product lost. The keyword being "tried." Being so close to the Exxon-Mobil scandal, it just reignited anger at the oil companies' who quickly backdown and negotiated terms. While they would be forced to help pay for clean-up through administrative arm-twisting, their initial reaction of the demands for financial compensation and the later revelation of how they tried to make up for the loss through underhanded tactics such as downsizing and cutting worker pay led to further disdain toward the oil company and fossil fuels, leading to a doubling down effect of finding solutions, especially with plastics.
Education
Education unsurprisingly recieved a nice boost from the Gore Administration. While the "No Child Left Behind" Act was passed with a bit of trouble, if namely to ensure the arts and such weren't cut and making accessability easier, some saw it as not enough to really be wholly beneficial. Overtime though, new programs and financial incentives would make the pursuit of higher education more feasible to people. Tax breaks for students going to college along tax deductibles for college tuition would be promoted and managed to be passed through. A large part of this was connected to Gore's green incentives, albeit indirectly. Namely, he started out by giving the tax breaks and deductibles over to vocational colleges, with the emphasis of getting more young folk into blue collar jobs with the direction of making blue collar jobs green, an incentive that was wholly welcomed by the voters. The tax breaks and deductibles would then be expanded to include anyone within the medical field (including dentistry) along with the sciences and engineering. Eventually though, the rest of the fields such as law, the arts and humanities would be included with tax breaks and deductibles by the end of the reforms around 2006. As such, many young folk would find themselves in greater economic opportunity and not feel as worried about student loans and debt. Despite this, not all of Gore's plans foe education were passed. Things such as making two years of university and college free were rejected, albeit barely and people were willing to accept it for the most part. However, Gore would still manage to find some other ways to lower student expenses, namely by targeting other huge sources of financial sinks. Student housing was considered a big money sink and approaches were made with housing and whatnot to make student housing cheaper along with methods of making transportation to campus easier. Unsurprisingly, computer sciences and emphasis on the internet was also placed heavily as mroe and more schools got access to internet with quality speed. However, the arts and humanities were fortunately not neglected and efforts were made to put more attention on them as well, especially once Project MAY got off the ground and people saw possibilities with having their own creative career and not be so shackled by advertisements.
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