College, College, College

As a senior in high school, college is very important to me and many of my classmates. We seemingly feel as if college is controlling our lives because when we look at the statistics, it really is. Since the economy is so tough right now, it's hard to find a job especially without a college degree. However, college can be a troublesome time for families who cannot afford pricey colleges. Recently, Obama has decided to introduce a plan that helps make college more affordable to students. Now, after discussing equality in class this past week, is it fair that college will become more affordable to other students? After all, America is all about freedom and competition. Why should others have the ability to competitively compete for limited spots in colleges now that they have more funds to do so? There is two ways to look at this. One, coming from the side that supports the funding and then the opposing side that has the ability and means to afford the college without the additional help. What do you believe is fair?

In class we have been talking about welfare, the purpose of welfare is to help those who cannot financially take care of themselves, due to different reasons. As unemployment grows, the amount of people on government aid grows. This video talks about America's unemployment rate. In the video they show the ruin of an old manufacturing town. Many people in this town are out of work and looking for the government to help. Once upon a time however people in this town use to be employed and very efficient people. This town, use to be named "silk city", because of the mass amount of silk the city produced. A lot of people in the country don't agree with welfare but can not come up with a solution to solve all the problem with welfare. I don't believe welfare problems will ever be solved, but one thing we can do is create jobs for people so they will no longer have to need government based aid. I know this isn't a fast or easy process but this man seems to have a way we can start to bring jobs to Americans. America use to produce a lot of things, now it seems every time you look on the bottom of an item is says "Made In (another countries name)". The man in the video suggest if we bring manufacturing back to American a lot more people will have jobs. Bringing manufacturing back we might just be able to revive the booming production towns such as "silk city".

Welfare

While there a lot of things I don't agree with in this video, there are still a few that do. The video explains that there are people who have learned to milk the welfare system, while they sit at home on their butts doing nothing to change their financial position. Yes, I do agree that reasons like that are why welfare comes off as a complete failure, and the working tax paying Americans feel it should be disposed of completely. But, we must all keep in mind that it's not only the lazy people of our society that are on welfare. There are people who once worked their tails off to make ends meet every month, and could not help losing their jobs, and once the unemployment checks run out they have no other option to take than welfare. So before we sit back and say welfare needs to be disposed of, we need to keep in mind that there are people who honestly need it and aren't sitting around having more and more kids just to collect a check. I feel that we need to find a way to fix the system where it's not as easy for those non deserving people to steal from the rest of the tax paying citizens. How? I don't know, but there has to be a way, and we need to find it soon. Or else our country will continue to be in a bad place, financial wise.

ESPN has reported and confirmed that the Detroit Tigers have signed Prince Fielder to come play. This was a great opportunity cost for the Tigers because of the competition they have at first base. Cabrera is the other premier first baseman that the tigers have. Both have similar numbers and build. These types of first baseman are rare but why would you need to on the same team? Also fielders contract is huge. Fielders is the fourth 200 million dollar contract in baseball history. But why would you pay someone 200 million dollars to sit on the bench half of the time? Fielder and Cabrera most likely can not play another position because of their size and weight. On the other hand the attendance for each game would go up which would help the club raise money for other free agents. Fielder would also help create run support for the weaker end of there pitching staff. So I'm asking you was it worth it for Detroit to sign prince Fielder.

Market Systems In Relation to Children

Recently in school, a teacher told me about an article that he had read about how children wanted discipline and rules. As we talked about market systems in economics this week, I thought that article would be an interesting article to analyze in relation to a market system. Now why in the world would kids want rules? No rules means absolute freedom to do whatever they want much like the market system that Adam Smith heavily supported. But just like the Lord of the Flies example in class, with absolute freedom comes complications and problems that can turn bad very quickly. If kids were given a world without rules, they would have to fend for themselves, make decisions and essentially survive solely by themselves. If the world was a market system, I believe chaos would break lose. We need some type of governmental structure to maintain order or else everyone would be competing with each other without rules or regulations. Life could become dangerously challenging if nobody was required to run businesses, pay employees properly, organize taxes or regulate the economy. The world is a very fragile place and without order, we would simply fall into a cycle of trouble and recklessness just like kids would do without rules.

This article deals with the ‘Big Chop’. The act of a girl cutting all her hair off for the sake of growing a new, natural,healthier head of hair may be taboo for some people. This change for healthier hair is called ‘The Big Chop’. Although the act my be unheard of for a lot of people it has created a buzz within the African- American community for some time now. Some might ask why exactly would you do this to yourself? Doing the big chop will free some women from the harsh expensive chemical, better known as a relaxer,  used to straighten their hair. Women who do the big chop will learn to embrace their hair naturally, which gives them a new look but also a new attitude on life. This idea of embracing your natural self sounds great but the struggle it takes to achieve this new natural lifestyle is quite a journey. Others most likely will have an opinion about doing the big chop. Mainly because our society via media isn’t glorying the idea of a African American wearing her hair has it naturally grows from her head. Dealing with negativity is also a con of doing the big chop. Once a woman has cut her hair off to such a short length she can feel very self conscious. Many woman who have been receiving a relaxer for most of their life, manging their own natural hair can be quite the task. Some women have long relaxed hair but to become fully natural will cut most of it off and have to maintain a curly, kinky look. Many people desire to go natural but will have to give up their long, easier to manage hair. In other, more economic, terms the opportunity cost of some one going natural will be the parting of long, straight hair.

In this video, Homer has one peanut that he considers of great value because it's the last one that remains. But once he drops it and finds the $20 he is faced with a choice. He can get the peanut that he was longing for off of the floor and eat it, or he can use the $20 and go buy a few bags of peanuts. Homer chooses to take the $20 instead, but the opportunity cost is that even though he will get more than one peanut, he will have to wait a few minutes because he has to go all the way to the store, and there is always a chance that the store won't have any.

In this video the theory that "There is no such thing as a free lunch" is proven. Jerry's friend "gives" him a brand new suit and says he wants nothing for it, but then suggests that he is taken out to dinner at a nice restaurant. As a result Jerry has to take the man out to eat twice, and has likely spent a large portion of the cost of the "free" suit, on the man's food. When companies have sales like "buy one get one free" or "buy one get one half off" the consumer is never really getting that great of a deal. Yes, they are paying a few less dollars, but since the prices are already higher than production costs, the companies still receive a profit, and the consumer is still paying more. Thus proving, "There is no such thing as a free lunch".

This article is about the Rangers trying to sign Yu Darvish. The Rangers had to pay 53 million in order to negotiate with him. This was an opportunity cost that the Rangers had to take in order to get the team ready to make another run at the World Series. Even though the Rangers are hopeful to sign him and they are missing out on other free agents at this time. If the rangers are unable to sign him they possible could miss out on Prince Fielder or extending Josh Hamilton's contract. Yu Darvish is a special pitcher though. He is 6'6" and can throw 9 pitches. It is scarce to find a pitcher like Yu because of the kind of pitches he throws and the velocity with those pitches. Nolan Ryan believes that his fastball and curveball are good enough to compete in the MLB. Now in order to sign Darvish comes down the the contract and money. The Rangers should be able to meet Darvish's standards so he can sign. The Rangers want a long term contract while Yu wants a shorter contract. The price doesn't seem to be the issue but it will come down to the wire on Wednesday.

Opportunity Cost And Paradox Value of Phobias

Phobias are known worldwide as severe fears. Phobias range from more common fears such as fear of death or heights while also focusing on eccentric fears such as fear of clocks or laughter. But really, what could people be sacrificing when living with these absurd fears? When a person develops a phobia, for example telephonophobia which is fear of telephones, he or she is making a choice to give up a normally common aspect of life. This relates to economics because the person factors in an opportunity cost into his or her life. Should I use the telephone or email the person I want to communicate with? Telephones are the opportunity cost because they are the next best thing to the person with the fear of telephones. Also, this person places a paradox value on certain objects. Most people would love if I came up to them and give them a brand new phone of their choosing. However, since this person has a fear of telephones they would place a different value on them than everyone else. Do you have any phobias? What exactly are you giving up and placing value on while living with these fears?