Electric Cars on the Decline

A recent experiment by Chevrolet lead to an investigation on Lithium ion batteries in cars. A Chevy Volt burst into fire on a test one day. The lithium batteries may be a hazard for drivers and there's no telling whether or not the battery will just bust and cause a fire in the car. Another problem with the car is that retailers for the car are afraid that after the car is purchased its value will decrease way more than a car that uses gasoline will. It's an estimated 70% decrease in value in four years for cars with replaceable batteries rather than the 40% in four years for cars that use gasoline. That is a really problem for dealerships that want to buy the car back and for the people that decide to sell their battery powered car. The battery powered cars deal with long recharging times and limited ranges, which would frustrate people when filling up a car with gasoline takes a few minutes. The only upside to the battery and gas is the battery will cost little to no money to recharge rather than spending all the money on gas. Some think that electric cars will help the US become less dependent on imported oil which demand for the purchase of oil will increase dramatically. Eventually putting the oil company out of business if we as a country convert to all battery powered machines.

Rangers and the World Series

The Texas Rangers have been the world series two times in a row now and have come up short both times. The only thing that the Rangers have gained from the world series was more money. They have brought in so much money from all the merchandise that has been bought. After they went to the world series for the first time, they became a lot more popular and were selling more tickets for the next season. One good thing from all the merchandise that was sold is that Nolan Ryan has more money to spend on free agents to make next year's team better, and take us back to the world series and finally win one. The Rangers bring in a lot of money each year from sales and everything, and the increasing popularity that they are bringing in is helping them increase in value. They'll be able to buy more equipment and things for the players and give them bigger signing bonuses that will hopefully keep them there for a long time. The world series gives any team more revenue and by winning the world series, the team that wins will receive a huge amount of money. More and more people will want to watch the team next year and this will boost the confidence of the team to do well and win another world series.

The Cost of College

Recent surveys have shown that college tuition is on the rise again and this time, it's a big increase. The biggest price increases were in public institutions. There was 8.7 percent increase for in-state tuition at public two-year schools, and an 8.3 percent jump in the price of four-year public institutions, for in-state students. With this price increase some kids might not be able to afford college near their hometowns and will have to go to a junior college or something like that. This will be hard on the small town people that don't have much money and the kids will lack the higher education that they so rightfully deserve if they have been accepted to that college. Now with these price increases this will give kids more incentive to do better in school and try to achieve a scholarship that will pay for most or all of their college tuitions. For some this price increase means nothing and will not affect them at all. Colleges might see a decrease in the number of kids they have with the new price increase so they could lower the price back down to what they had when they had the most kids going to the their school. It would be nice for everyone if they could find an equilibrium price.

NBA Labor Problems

The NBA lockout has been underway for some time now and the commissioner has cancelled the first few weeks of the season and the labor problems don't seem to be getting better. The biggest problem for a lot teams and definitely the players is the amount of money they are receiving. The dilemma is that the NBA is full of great athletes, but it is classified by the superstars that make the team great. And those superstars think they should be paid a higher amount than the players not making the big plays. The owners are trying to even out the amount of money that the players receive. That's a real problem for the big name players and it will make them hold out until they can get more money. Some of the small name teams that don't ever do much might have to be shut down and more money will have to be made by the other teams to pay the superstars more money. There's no guarantee though that the teams not shut down will do well in the economy that we are in right now. The big time players might just have to sit out a while and accept the pay cuts and play the game that they love.

Paying after the Slip

A recent national survey has found out that one out of every three Americans would be unable to make their mortgage or rent payment for the next month after losing their jobs. Even higher-income households would find themselves in trouble quickly. Ten percent of survey respondents who make 100 thousand or more said they would immediately miss a payment on their mortgage or rent. One spokesperson proposed a solution to help the unemployed, but it requires people to be taxed more into a giant savings account that would be spread across the unemployed to help them pay for their mortgages or rents. The unemployed would really push for this proposition, but most all other people that have a steady job and paycheck don't like this idea. They don't think it's fair for them to just give their money away to the unemployed when they have to work all the time and work to stay in the house they bought themselves. The unemployed people would not start looking for a job so soon if they were handed money to pay for their rent and everyone would possibly have to start working more to make up for the money they have to give away to the unemployed to get by. Jobs might open up left and right if this happened so that the unemployed people could quickly find a job and less people would have to be taxed to help support the unemployed. If this proposition was implemented a lot of people would get very angry.

Race for the Cure

The Susan G. Komen for the cure foundation is a very inspirational cause that many people donate money to every year. The money that is received is all used for research for finding a cure for breast cancer. October is the month for breast cancer and everything at this time has pink on it and its proceeds go to the cure. Schools are now playing a big part in helping out. Schools all across the country are having 'pink outs' at their football games and pink merchandise is being sold, like pink gloves, cleats, wristbands, tape, etc. All of the proceeds go to the cure. Student council for these schools are ordering pink shirts that are sponsored by local donations and all the money received from buying a shirt goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Even if someone is not affected by breast cancer or their friends haven't been affected by breast cancer, people need to donate money to the foundation just because it's for a great cause that can happen to anyone. And a cure needs to be found so it won't happen and if it does, it can be cured quickly. Everyone needs to be apart of something special and by donating to this cause, people can feel good about themselves and know that they are helping out in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.

The Future of Apple

The former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs passed away a few days ago and many people are mourning his loss. Some people believe that Apple won't have much success now that he's gone. Others have said that with the products that Apple has recently released the company will have momentum for the next few years and they will be fine. The challenge will be if Tim Cook, the new CEO, can continue the success that Jobs lead Apple to for all these years. Jobs was instrumental in designing new technology and products that have revolutionized the world. The demand for the new iPhone 4S coming out soon is so high already and that's because of the new technology that was put in it and that technology was designed by Steve Jobs. Now that he is gone, people worry that in a few years the Apple products won't be making the huge leaps they are now. They fear that the demand for all their products will go down affecting the company's production, thus causing their prices to go up to make up for losses. Right now a lot of people are going to be buying Apple products just for Steve Jobs and this will be happening for a long time, so Apple should have nothing to worry about with their production and demand for their products. Apple will flourish and will forever flourish even without Steve Jobs. Tim Cook will take the company farther than it's ever been and will innovate this world in ways we will never even imagine.

Americas and Oil Companies

Throughout the Americas, countries are making new oil rigs to drill in new found places with oil. A Chinese-built rig has been placed in Cuba to drill in the waters for more oil. But surprisingly, the hottest new oil market is in North Dakota's prairie where 400,000 barrel of oils are being produced daily and it may ease our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Western oil companies are now focusing their sights on clusters on oil fields in the Americas. Now that we are drilling in our own land and country, this might help us control the gas prices and ultimately lower them. Though the Middle East still can control the prices because their oil fields are cheaper to develop and many countries want to go to them to save money. We are still looking for new places to develop oil other than the Middle Easy and now North Dakota. Right now we are looking for oil in regions near Russia in part of the Arctic Ocean. The biggest deal is how much the cost will be to actually drill in at the site. If it costs too much money, then we won't drill there and we'll have to keep drilling in the Middle East. A big oil boom, soon is much needed to keep this country at peace and from getting in to even more debt. The Americas need to become more producers of oils to help each other and not allow outside countries to drill from them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/americas/recent-discoveries-put-americas-back-in-oil-companies-sights.html?hp

States Taxes and Spending

States have been struggling to fund the most basic programs in 2011 and most likely won't be able to avoid tax and fee increases. States are now taking a closer look at business incentive programs, trying to focus more on returns on investments. They're looking at unemployment insurance tax rates and reforming or reassessing tax structures in other states, for example, sales tax exemption. There are many other taxes that states are looking at to reform, reassess, raise or decrease or even get rid of all in all. Business could benefit from these new taxes, but there is always that possibility of failure as well.

In the last two years, almost all the states have made cuts to major service areas and will most likely make more cuts to programs this year. The Recovery Act fiscal cliff will worsen funding shortfalls, more than likely in education and infrastructure, resulting in more drastic cuts in those areas from last year. Due to the loss of stimulus funds, 75 percent of the nation's school districts expected to cut teaching jobs last school year. In addition, states might attempt to shift cat burdens fro programs onto local jurisdictions, such as juvenile and adult correctional expenditures and pensions for teachers.

Rising Gas Prices

Gasoline prices are peaking up to 5 dollars a gallon in some areas of the country and is certainly a cause for concern. According to a poll in the Washington Post, about 70 percent of Americans say that high gas prices are the reason for their financial crisis. High gas prices in 2008 contributed to our nation's deep recession, and we still haven't fully recovered from it. Policies that lower fuel prices and lift regulations that are contributing to even higher petroleum and energy prices need to be favored more than the other policies trying to get passed. Since failing to pass a flawed cap and trade legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency has been used as backdoor to implement new harmful regulations and energy taxes. Recently, the House passed H.R. 910, The Energy Tax Prevention Act, in order to prevent the EPA from promoting any regulation relating to climate change under the Clean Air Act. We also must take steps to ensure our nation is not held hostage to the prices set by the Middle East. That means we need to look for new sources of oil in Alaska, on the Outer Continental Shelf and from shale in the West. The use of American innovation to accelerate technology that burns coal in a cleaner way because it is an abundant energy source in our country needs to be used. I believe that over the long run, we the people need to develop and implement new alternative energy sources and technologies.