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Michael Needham is CEO of Heritage Action for America, an activist group associated with the Heritage Foundation

Our nation’s government is built upon a system of checks and balances. Fiscally, it also has alarm bells that go off when our spending is out of control. The debt limit is the loudest such alarm bell.

Since the Democrats recaptured Congress in 2006, our debt ceiling has been increased six times—from $8.965 trillion to the current $14.294 trillion. Each and every time the alarm bell has rung, it has been ignored and the type of fundamental changes necessary to get our nation back on track have not been implemented.

This year must be different.

Before we begin considering the events surrounding an increase in the debt ceiling, we must put one dangerous and politically motivated rumor to rest. The simple act of refusing to raise the debt ceiling would not cause America to default on its public debt.

The Obama administration is simply wrong when it says failure to raise the debt ceiling would &"precipitate a default&" and &"have catastrophic economic consequences.&" If the government runs up against the debt ceiling, it will still be able to collect money and spend the money it collects. As my colleagues at the Heritage Foundation point out, the government will have more than enough revenue to pay interest on the debt.

[Check out a roundup of editorial cartoons about the federal budget and deficit.]

Reaching the debt ceiling would not be catastrophic, nor would taking the time to couple raising the debt limit with common-sense policy changes aimed at getting our fiscal house in order. What would be catastrophic is a continuation of the status quo.

Now is not the time for rhetoric, strategic ambiguity, or empty promises. We must seize this opportunity to confront the enormous challenges facing our nation. It is an opportunity to reform entitlements, reduce discretionary spending, and correct a legislative process that leads to ever more government spending. [Read more about the deficit and the national debt.]

For the first time in our nation’s history, spending on entitlements (i.e., Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security) has outpaced government revenues. In other words, we could slash every discretionary spending program, including defense, and still run a budget deficit. We cannot be serious about the debt ceiling until we’re serious about addressing these budget behemoths. And even though entitlements are the proverbial elephant in the room, Congress must also address the rapid rise in discretionary spending. Since 2001, discretionary spending has increased by 60 percent. My Heritage Foundation colleagues have identified more than $340 billion in potential spending reductions, all of which should be on the table during the debt ceiling debate.

Pursuing the right policy is important, but we also need to change rules to lock in those policy gains. It is essential to limit the cause of the problem, which is spending. By capping spending, we ensure future Congresses will not relapse into a reckless spending addiction.

It is almost impossible to understate the scope of the problem. By the end of the year, our national debt will exceed our gross domestic product. As we’ve seen with Greece, Ireland, and now Portugal, this is not trivial. Simply put, a debt-laden country cannot thrive.

[See political cartoons about the economy.]

Congress must insist on immediate and substantive spending reductions and reforms. It must focus on entitlement spending, discretionary spending, and the way Washington spends money. Those issues must be addressed either prior to, or in conjunction with, any increase in the debt ceiling. Anything less will be yet another blank check that our children are forced to pay.

See the other side of the debate: Read an op-ed by William Gale of the Brookings Institution on why it is necessary to raise the debt ceiling.

• See political cartoons about the federal budget.
• Read more about the deficit and the national debt.
• See the 10 best cities to find a job.

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New York, NY (PRWEB) March 28, 2011

Viva Media, the games North American publisher, shares the third Developer Diary for Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops. The release comes one week before the April 5th release date, and provides gamers an inside look into the creative process behind Black Lion Studios stealth-action game. This Developer Diary profiles the character Myra Lee, the games stealth and espionage expert. The game will be available in retail stores and via digital download.

In addition to the Developer Diary, Viva Media has released a new trailer for the game highlighting the stealth and espionage elements. The trailer can be viewed here, or downloaded from Viva Medias Virtual Press Room.

ABOUT SHADOW HARVEST: PHANTOM OPS

When tyrants and warlords threaten the well-being of International Law, its the job of those few, of those skilled to protect the world and maintain the veil of secrecy. These men and women are the unsung heroes, the soldiers who get the job done even behind enemy lines. Often going unheard and unnoticed, but certainly felt – at least by their enemies; they fight a war of high stakes that civilians will never even know about.

Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops takes place in the year 2025 as the world is shaken by numerous conflicts over the control of dwindling natural resources. Greedy warlords and dictators of 3rd world countries thirst for advanced weapons systems and never before have arms dealers been so profitable. Players will be immersed into highly detailed environments in Somalia, Cuba and the city of Dubai. The central characters, Myra Lee and Aron Alvarez are operatives of a secret US military intervention unit, called the ISA. Both agents are relentless warriors with unique and deadly battle skills.

Platform: Windows PC

Price: $49.99

Genre: Stealth-Action

Release Date: April 5th, 2011

BLACK LION STUDIOS is a gathering of highly professional and veteran game developers with the declared goal to create the ultimate gaming experience. The company is an independent game development studio, set to exclusively create AAA-content for todays leading entertainment platforms. Black Lion Studios was founded in early 2007 by Martin J. Schwiezer, who is in the industry since 1991 and who was also the founder, managing director and lead visionary of Reakktor, the company that developed Neocron, the worlds first cyberpunk MMORPG. Martin J. Schwiezer also wrote the initial concept for Reakktors upcoming Sci-Fi MMORPG Black Prophecy and was the executive producer of the ultra-realistic racing sims GTR and GTR2.

VIVA MEDIA, founded in 1999, has grown to be a market leader maintaining a top 10 NPD ranking for the last several years. Viva Media products are found in most mass-market retail locations. The New York based company focuses on delivering quality and is dedicated to publishing a wide array of interactive content of the highest standards on a variety of platforms.

The companys collection of over 150 games boasts more than 100 awards for excellence in interactive publishing. Recent and upcoming releases include Shadow Harvest: Phantom Ops, Edna and Harvey: The Breakout, Black Mirror 2, Black Mirror 3, Gray Matter, Cargo: The Quest for Gravity, STALKER Call of Pripyat, Grand Ages Rome, the wildly popular Crazy Machines series, the Learn to Play Chess series based on the worlds #1 chess software engine, the renowned car racing simulation games RACE, GTR Evolution, RACE ON and a variety of casual games including North American best sellers, Farm Frenzy series, the Treasures of Mystery Island series, Natalie Brooks and many more.

Follow us on Facebook: on.fb.me/hAImKi

Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/vivamediapress

For more information please visit our website at www.viva-media.com.

Contact: Andrew Emond – andrew(at)viva-media(dot)com

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For the original version on PRWeb visit: www.prweb.com/releases/prweb2011/03/prweb5199474.htm

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The number of Internet subscribers is on the rise, but about 60 percent of those connections are slower than the 4Mbps that the Federal Communications Commission says is necessary to accomodate todays bandwidth-heavy apps, according to data the FCC released today.

The number of Americans with wired Internet connections increased from 81 million to 82 million during the first half of 2010, while the number of people with mobile wireless devices and data plans for full Internet access jumped 27 percent from 56 million to 71 million.

But how fast are those connections? In July, the FCC updated its definition of what constitutes broadband service. For over a decade, the standard had been set at 200 kilobits per second downstream, but the FCC updated it to 4Mbps downstream and 1Mbps upstream.

Based on the data released Monday – collected by the FCC from phone, cable, wireless, and satellite providers – fixed providers are more likely to produce broadband-levels speeds. About 41 million fixed connections hit 4Mbps compared to 5 million wireless.

By mid-2010, however, 60 percent of all Internet connections – or 92.5 million – were still slower than 3Mbps. About 9 percent, or 13.6 million were between 3-6Mbps, while 31 percent, or 46.8 million were at least 6Mbps.

In sum, 69 percent of reportable Internet access service connections (or 106.2 million connections) in June 2010 were too slow in both the downstream and upstream directions, or too slow in a single direction, to meet the broadband availability benchmark adopted by the FCC last year, the commission concluded.

The FCC also found that VoIP connections grew 29 percent between 2009 and 2010, while the number of traditional phone lines droped by 8 percent in the same time period. About 77 percent of people who use VoIP connect via a cable provider.

Last year, the FCC launched a broadband testing tool that let consumers test their connection quality or alert the FCC if they lived somewhere without broadband access. Several months later, it released a report that said 80 percent of broadband users in the US do not know the speed of their connection, as well as another report that said consumer broadband speeds are roughly 50 percent slower than their advertised rates.

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