The Government and Inflation

Keenan E., Danny V., Joe I.

Summary:   That the government doesn't put billions of money at once  into the economy because it could cause inflation with the economy. They  report data on the nation’s money supply monthly in the form of M1 and M2.  M1 is the measure of the physical money and M2 consist of everything from M1 plus savings accounts.  M1 put in $1.7 trillion  and M2 put in $7.7 trillion.  Before they start putting in  money from the economy, they have to take out some money to balance out the money in and out so it doesn't cause inflation with the country.  

Outside of physically distributing money, the other main way the government puts money into the economy is by first taking out of the economy.  This is done primarily via income taxation, which represented 44% of all collected taxes in 2006, but also through a number of other taxes including: corporate income tax, gift taxes, employment taxes, excise taxes, and estate taxes. Capital gains (investment income) are taxed as well. In total, it is estimated that the IRS took in $2,518,680,000,000 in taxes during fiscal 2006 according to the Heritage Foundation

.  And deals with economics because its saying how they put money in and out of the economic banks.

Ritchie, Joshua. "How Money Finds Its Way Into the Economy." MintLife Blog. Joshua Ritchie, 27 Aug. 2009. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Blogbuster

By: Eli Suchowacky, Sean McEachran, Adam Halter

You may have heard that Blockbuster, a giant in the movie rental industry since its beginnings in the 1980s, recently decided to shut down its remaining retail stores and its DVD-by-mail enterprise. The Huffington Post published this article, which explained in further detail the reasons behind this announcement on November 6 from DISH Network, which has owned Blockbuster since 2011. The company decided that digital distribution of videos, most famously practiced by Netflix, is the way of the future in terms of home video viewing. As such, they are not closing operations on their on-demand video streaming service “Blockbuster @Home”. Ironically, Blockbuster had the chance to buy Netflix in the year 2000 for only $50 million (a small price given their net worth at their peak in the early 2000s was about $5 billion), but declined.

And so, what was once a major competitor in the monopolistic competitive market of movie rentals has been reduced to almost nothing. New technology has rendered its once lucrative service obsolete, and the consumers in its industry have decided that other forms of watching home videos are a better value and more convenient.

A Blockbuster Video store; don’t tell me you don’t remember walking into one of these as a child.

Do you think the physical movie rental industry has become obsolete? If so, what benefits do consumers see in on-demand movie rentals as compared to renting a physical copy?

Strachan, Maxwell. "Blockbuster Closing All Of Its Remaining Retail Stores." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, 06 Nov. 2013. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

Poverty
Nate Unzen and Sammie Peterson

Children:

There are 2.2 billion children in the world and 1 billion (every second child) lives in poverty.  For the 1.9 billion children from the developing world, there are 640 million without water, 400 million with no access to safe water, and 270 million with no access to health services.  So many children have died due to poverty, and not being taken care of.  Worldwide, 1.4 million children die each year from lack of access to safe drinking water and adequate sanitation.  2.2 million children die each year because they are not immunized, and due to HIV/AIDS.

Poverty in Economics:

Countries with poverty don’t live as healthy as countries that don’t have poverty do.  Like Sudan, and Haiti for example, live in poverty.  Their lifespan is dramatically shorter, because of the diseases, lack of nutrition, and lack of medical care.  Countries that live in poverty, have bad economies.  The better your economy in your country, the less poverty you see.  Almost half the world, over three billion people live on less than $2.50 a day, and at least 80% of humanity lives on less than $10 a day.  Poverty has been rapidly increasing since the 1800’s.

Poverty to wealth ratio statistics:
-1820: 3 to 1

-1913: 11 to 1

-1950: 35 to 1

-1973: 44 to 1

-1992: 72 to 1
*Has increased rapidly*

What do you feel the US and other industrialized countries could do better to help the poverty in other countries?

"Poverty Facts and Stats." - Global Issues. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

"World Poverty Statistics." Statistic Brain RSS. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

The Giving Pledge

Sydney Blair, Ashley Westcott, Karly Neuberger

If you gained millions of dollars would you become a philanthropist? If so what cause would you give to and how much of your money would you give? If not then why are you keep your money?

Philanthropy. It’s an altruistic concern for human welfare and advancement. It is usually shown by giving of your time, effort, or money. But when you think of philanthropists, most people's first thought goes to people like Mother Theresa. What many people don’t know is that many of the worlds richest people are beginning to take part in giving. There is a new club started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett simply called The Giving Pledge. When you join this “club” you agree to give away a large majority of your wealth, generally over 50 percent. The leaders of this group, Buffett and Gates, are giving away almost all of their wealth. Buffett has announced that he will be giving 99% of his life time earnings away to various charities. Considering that Buffett is worth $58 billion, that is a lot of money going to charities. Also, the Gates family is helping many world wide issues such as polio, poverty, world population, and many  more. As the idea of philanthropy keeps growing, our country’s distribution of wealth is changing, and the world is becoming a better place everyday.

Philanthropists giving their money to charities is a lot more relevant to economics than you would think. First of all, it puts more money into the circulation. Second of all, it is the distribution of wealth by them giving half or more than half of their money to charities.

"The Giving Pledge :: Pledger Profiles." The Giving Pledge :: Pledger Profiles. N.p., n.d. Web. 21 Nov. 2013.

http://givingpledge.org/index.html

Revolutionary Legalization

Levi McKercher Alex Darrington Pd 6

Uruguay was in the process of a world first.  In August, the South American country legalized the drug, Marijuana (cannabis), for recreational use.  They were the first country in the world to date that legalized this drug completely, up to 40g (1.4oz) per month.  They based this law off of the allowance of Marijuana use in US states Colorado and Washington.  The United States still has federal laws against marijuana use/possession, and the Netherlands has allowed approved businesses to sell the plant in low quantities, but the growth and supply is still illegal.  

The lower house of Congress in Uruguay passed the bill with a vote of 50 to 46 in favor.  Uruguay’s government wanted “to encourage the consideration of new approaches” in reference to so many drug convictions in their country.  There was heavy opposition before the law was passed, but advocates argued that organized crime and secret usage related to the drugs were more harmful than the drugs themselves.  The UN drug conventions have been heavily opposed to legalization of all prohibited drugs of today, but Uruguay took other actions to lessen the problems that corrupted their country.

The legalization of cannabis in Uruguay will greatly affect the countries’ economy. The Uruguay government has argued  they will spend less money on the conviction and prevention of marijuana consumption by legalizing it. Also, the government can now focus more on violent crime and hard drug smuggling. The legalization will open up more markets related to the production and consumption of cannabis. Possibly, drug awareness programs would be made to spread information about safe usage. Finally, the government will make revenue on a previously underground and not taxable industry.

1. Do you feel Uruguay legalizing cannabis will help it’s economy or harm it?

2. Do you feel this will help or harm Uruguay’s drug related crime problems?

Author Unknown "The Experiment; Drug Legalisation in Uruguay." The Economist (US) 3 Aug. 2013: 31. Print.

http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21582579-another-blow-against-prohibition-experiment

Mexican Drug Cartel

Lilli, Alex, Savannah

Summary:

A 600 yard tunnel for smuggling drugs was recently discovered under the mexico border into San Diego. The tunnel was shut down on Wednesday after several weeks of surveillance. Authorities found 8 tons of marijuana and 325 of cocaine in the 4 foot tall, 3 foot wide tunnel. This was the fifth large scale drug smuggling tunnel discovered in San Diego since 2010.  These drug cartels have spent years and millions of dollars to create underground passages. Authorities have insisted that no drug smuggling tunnels are currently in operation.

This has to do with economics because it is a Black Market. A Black Market is an illegal transport of goods and services. They are an illegal market, so, there are no taxes and you do not know what you are you getting because it is not government regulated.

Question: The drug cartel has been around for many of years. Do you think in the future we could possibly stop the drug cartel? 

LIAM DILLON and IAN LOVETT . "Tunnel for Smuggling Found Under U.S.-Mexico Border; Tons of Drugs Seized." New York Times. (2013): n. page. Web. 21 Nov. 2013. <Tunnel for Smuggling Found Under U.S.-Mexico Border; Tons of Drugs Seized>.

Oil Spill in the Gulf

Oil Spill in the Gulf

Amanda Berberich, Leandra Marais, and Emali McGee

The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico was the worst known spill in the history of the U.S. Therefore causing the death of many species, animals, and humans. The leaky pipe was 42 miles off the Louisiana shore and emptied 4.9 million barrels of oil into the gulf within a span of 87 days. The tear, being five thousand feet down, made it extremely hard for scientist to fix. As a result, the ecosystem and the natural wild life will always be impacted by the oil spill. The oil will remain years later buried under layers of sand that washed up on the beach, and the animals who happen to dig in the sand will become sick all over again from the oil.

The oil spill in the gulf of Mexico raised the price of oil dramatically. BP had to pay $40 billion dollars in fines, cleanup costs, and settlements, and an extra $16 billion due to the Clean Water Act.  Oil prices went up to $85.82 a barrel. Gas prices rose from about $2.70 to $3.83 per gallon. Gas prices have never gone down since the oil spill. If anything gas prices have increased.

"Gulf Oil Spill." Smithsonian Ocean Portal. N.p., n.d. Web. 20 Nov. 2013. <http://ocean.si.edu/gulf-oil-spill>.

Question:

Why do you think the oil spill is still affecting gas prices today?