Economics Blog #5 – Black Friday

Listen to this while you read and laugh at funny pics!

Black Friday used to start the day of thanksgiving, at midnight ON FRIDAY. According to information I read, stores and retailers have been offering immense deals long before the actual time of Black Friday. Did you know that the name “Black Friday” originally came from the collapse of the U.S. gold market in 1869. in 1961 Philadelphia police used black friday to describe chaos, and congestion, streets became flooded by shoppers headed to big retail stores for deals. Black Friday became the way it is today in the 80’s and 90’s.

Gray Thursday is deals that take place online and in stores on the day of Thanksgiving, which is the day before Black Friday. Cyber Monday are days where the sales last for just the day after Black Friday, and all sales are only online

I did Black Friday this year, and bought my first ever smartphone, even though I didn’t wait in a line for hours on end until a store opened, I still technically participated, because I went to “Gray thursday,” and not black friday. The huge crowd was not as enormous as it has been in the past few years before this most recent Black friday, in 2014. Statistics have shown that sales have dropped at least 11 percent since last years Black Friday. That’s from over $57 billion down to over $50 billion in sales (worldwide). Over 133 million people shopped in stores, and/or online over the weekend, that is approximately 5 percent fewer than the number of shoppers than last year.

I would assume that the drop in shoppers, and sales is a result of that fact that people got either injured, killed, or robbed in previous years of Black Friday. I also feel like the numbers have dropped because gray thursday, and cyber monday were created. But I can understand that Gray thursday, and cyber monday were most likely created because of the incidents that happened on the previous Black Friday years.

I like this quote “You can try to get the consumer to spend earlier. But that doesn’t mean there’s more money in their pockets,” said Marshal Cohen, chief industry analyst at the NPD Group, a market research company. This is true, and I feel that this is another reason why “Black Friday” isn’t as popular as it used to be.

ECONOMICS BLOG #4 – Teen tobacco use

In the years 1999-2003, the number of adolescent tobacco smokers was at an all time high! Someone who smokes at a young age is much more likely to end up with severe respiratory disease/illness, and defects in lung function compared an older person. Did you know that the average person started smoking before age 18. In the late 1940’s minors started to become addicted to tobacco because cartoons like the flintstones, and normal tv commercials would portrait smoking cigarettes, and believe it or not, even doctors recommended cigarettes and would say how good that they are. Smoking cigarettes became the new cool thing to do from the 1950’s to the late 1960’s.

So many people have become addicted to tobacco at a young age that even all the way back in 1986, someone suggested that the minimum age to buy tobacco products should be 21, in hope that the young adult market, (ages 17-20) would not buy cigarettes. For whatever reason that never happened. Even though I think this was on purpose.

Teens are most likely to try tobacco in some form (dip, snuss, chew, or by smoking it) because of influence from their family members, environment, or by peer pressure

According to health officials, the teen smoking rate has gone down more than 50% from (1999-2014)

Did you know that tobacco has been a huge amount of revenue for state, and federal governments in the united states?

In 2004, over 11% of middle schoolers admitted to using any type of tobacco product.

A lot of today’s generation is still addicted to cigarettes, and cigarette prices are high so people try to find a cheaper route to help them with their crave. This video, although not completely on topic, the guy talks about how much cheaper, and better it is to roll cigarettes yourself. He also points out that rolling cigarettes himself helps him not want to smoke as much, so that could be the more positive side to this video. This video also is a good example of underage tobacco use. This was posted in Feb. 2014. The kid looks like he’s 12 years old and he’s telling an entire story about him dipping for the first time.

Economics Blog #3 – Feeding The Homeless

Should there be restrictions for feeding the homeless in public? I think that if someone who is not homeless feels generous, and wants to give food to someone who is homeless, so be it! It is their decision because they will be using the money that they worked hard for, and no one should get fined for having generosity, and kindness.

Some people feel that a homeless person should just get a job, but since they are not homeless, then they most likely won’t understand that it is harder for a homeless person to get a job, for a number of reasons. The homeless person might not have any nice looking clothing to wear when they (even as soon as,) go to get an application to even apply for a job.

Applications can also be turned in online, but if a person is homeless they are highly less likely to have any access to the internet. They don’t have a home to take a shower in to get clean. Most likely the only way that they can get around is to walk unless they have a bicycle or something like that.

One thing that i am pretty sure about is that a lot of homeless people collect bottles, and cans to get money for recycling them, and that’s at least one way that they could get money for food but they make that decision.

In a certain sense, some states technically made it illegal to be homeless and the video talks a little bit about that. At one point “James” states that one reason that (florida) has made it pretty much illegal to be homeless is because when they are fed they may take more food than given, and they sleep in public places. I can understand why some states have technically made it illegal to be homeless. One time is too much and way more than once throughout the United States there has been homeless scams where people seem legitimately homeless but they aren’t and they get free money from people who work hard. Other incidents where a homeless person may have overdosed on drugs, or are serious alcoholics, or use the money that they get from people to buy cigarettes, instead of using it to buy food like they say they will.

Unless cities, and countries make more homeless shelters and somehow get money to feed the homeless, I think that people who aren’t homeless should be able to feed the homeless if they so please!

Economics Blog #2 – Drought

Have you ever actually thought about how much natural water all of us people in the United states use each day! Neither have I, but that’s beside the point. California is currently in a major drought, which started in about 2001. Lots of places are either in a drought, or Have been in a drought before. Certain areas in the United States have not been affected as much by the drought in the United States. California is one of the unlucky states who was, and is still majorly affected by the drought. The drought in California started mildly in about 2012, and it is way worse now in 2014. California’s drought has had major effects on the people. For example, The shortage in water has caused a huge decrease for many farmers of crops and other things that require water. According to certain studies, It has been said that California has lost approximately 63 Trillion gallons of water.

About 4 months ago my mom and I had a small garden in which we grew a very wide variety of peppers and tomatoes. I was kind of bored at first because it was taking so long for anything to grow. We had not previously grown a garden so it was a learning experience for the both of us. Eventually all sorts of peppers and tomatoes started budding out of the plants, so then I got excited, and wanted everything to grow already so I could pick stuff off of the plants. Eventually after that, things were ready to pick everyday. Eventually the plants slowed down the rapid production of peppers, and tomatoes, and one plant in specific, (my jalapeño plant) was really turning a dried up tanish color, and the jalapeño peppers were not growing big enough to pick. this really confused me because my mom and I would water the garden almost everyday. Then my cayenne peppers were staying green and not turning a ripened red, and the plant was really easy to break pieces off of it. Generally the same thing happened to my other peppers and now, to this very day, the plants are all dried up. I now strongly believe that the plants started to dry up not only because the plants were going “out of season,” but also because of the drought that was slowly getting worse as the days went on.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yk_KIN3_C0M

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WCxpxOr0gt8

http://blog.emergencyoutdoors.com/how-to-survive-a-drought/

http://www.blue-point-trading.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/07/US-drought-2012.gif

Economics Blogpost #1 – Ebola

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26835233

Can animals be a source of ebola? In Africa, the process in which meats are prepared majorly differs from the way meat is prepared in america. They also don’t use the same kind of meat. they eat animals like monkey, bats, and deer, etc..

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-africa-26835233

These few animals are what they call bushmeat. Bushmeat is any animal that comes from the forest. Certain bushmeat like birds, bats, and monkeys are most likely to have some type of disease, and can be more dangerous. There are studies that have shown that the animals that the people in Africa find, kill, and eat are a huge possible cause of ebola.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYwaYSFyD6M

Forest monkeys, and fruit-bats are most likely to has some type of disease. A reason that I think causes, or spreads ebola is if the bushmeat is not cooked properly. Meat in america can also be bad if it is not cooked properly, or entirely. Bacon, and sausage are good examples of food that can cause sickness, and other problems, or be bad in some way if it is not entirely cooked, or if it is cooked improperly.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XasTcDsDfMg

Some of the things that are discussed in this video talk about are how the liberian government put a ban on the sale of meat in all meat markets, but that was ignored. Some people keep monkeys as pets, and others cook it up and sell it in the meat markets. People native to africa talk about how their great ancestors were eating bushmeat and that they aren’t afraid of ebola and they call it a rumor. It is said that approximately 900 people in Africa have died from the Ebola virus.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/why-west-africans-keep-eating-bush-meat-which-could-be-ebolas-bridge-from-animals-to-humans-20140806-100u73.html

Will there ever be a natural medicine in africa for the Ebola disease?

Blogpost #4 – Foreign policy

The U.S. Foreign Policy AKA Foreign Relations Policy is strategies and goals created by the U.S. in order to interact with foreign countries, and also protect the nation’s interests. The goals of the U.S. foreign policy are to protect the U.S. from terrorist attacks, protecting Americans’ jobs, preventing the spread of weapons of mass destruction, reducing dependence on imported energy, combating international drug trafficking, reducing illegal immigration, strengthening the UN, dealing with global climate change, promoting and defending human rights in other countries, help improve living standards in developing nations, and promoting democracy in other nations.

PEW Research center makes the foreign policy. It started in the mid 1700’s. One example of foreign policy is the Treaty of Amity, Commerce, and Navigation, between Britain and the U.S. this treaty was created in June 24, 1795. Americans have mixed, and similar opinions about the U.S. foreign policy, most people want the U.S. to focus on challenges at home, some people agree with the U.S. Foreign policy, and others have their own personal opinions.

Here is an example of a “real-time” event/problem that is happening. Even though this video is making jokes about serious matters, it talks about The effect that “ISIS, the real-time event/problem” has on the world right now. ISIS is now trying to attack the U.S. https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10152413432917297

On a more serious note http://www.foreignpolicyjournal.com/2014/09/29/unintended-consequences-of-obamas-isis-plan/

http://www.cnn.com/2014/09/29/world/meast/isis-syria-iraq-strikes/

ISIS so brutally insane that they will kill anyone who decides to do anything that does not pertain, or relate to the rule, and belief system that they live by. ISIS is full of hate, and revenge. ISIS troops are well armed, and their common enemy is the Baghdad government. They believe in rule by Allah, and are supported by the Quran. they keep a record of their attacks, and murders. ISIS’s main goal is to bring chaos to all of the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria. ISIS’s main goal is to bring chaos to all of the Islamic state of Iraq and Syria.

I feel like the only reason that ISIS is turning on the U.S. is simply because of the fact that we help other foreign countries that they don’t like, and they are stubborn and have the desire to randomly kill people, sometimes in a genocide, simply because they didn’t “get their way.” They have already beheaded two american journalists, and one french journalist. This is a major example as to why we have a foreign policy in the first place. In ISIS’s case these journalists were disrespectful, and “intruded” on their territory. This relates to America’s foreign policy because ISIS is a terrorist group, and the U.S. doesn’t want a terrorist group getting into the U.S.

Blogpost #3 Gerrymandering

Gerrymandering – The process of dividing up, and redrawing district lines, in order to give your political party an advantage.

Gerrymandering came about in 1812, when governor of Massachusetts, Elbridge Gerry supported and signed a bill that allowed redistricting.  “The redrawing of the boundaries/lines that separated districts.” but he only did this because the new lines benefited his own party, the democratic republican party. he wanted his party to win as many senate state seats as possible,” the more members of your party that vote, the more likely you will win an election. New lines were drawn that would help Gerry in the future. They were so strange looking that someone stated that the new districts looked like a salamander. The Boston Gazette Country Journal added Gerry’s last name to the beginning of the word salamander, which then gave the redistricting strategy the name “to Gerrymander, or Gerrymandering.” You could use the Republicans vs. Democratic parties as a good example of Gerrymandering, because each party wants to get as many districts as possible to be able to control certain things like state costs, the rules of the district, etc.

In 1900 was the 57th congress, and also when President William Mckinley was re-elected as president. Leader of the Republican party, David Henderson, was the majority party with 190 seats before the election/census, and won 8 seats more after the election, leaving him with 198 seats after. Leader of the democratic party, James Richardson, was the minority party with 158 seats before the election/census, but unfortunately lost 5 seats, bringing him down to 153 seats after. The 3rd party, the populist party had 6 seats before the election, and lost 1 seat, bringing them down to 5 seats after the census/election. The 4th party, the Silver Republican party had 2 seats before the census/election, and lost 1 seat, leaving them with only one seat after the election. There was 357 seats in total, after census of 1900.

Seats are reapportioned after every census, each term/census lasts for 2 years, and ⅓ of the senate is elected. Constituencies are people, and interests that senators represent. Often larger interests than those in the house, due to the size of the area it represents. I think that an example of this could be a big political party, for example, a Republican , or Democratic.

After every census, the district lines are supposedly redrawn fairly, to political representation of the people of the state, but this isn’t always true. Sometimes a district leader will cut out a certain area of where they represent if he, or she feels that it is necessary, but most of the time is because that specific area did something that the district leader didn’t like. An example of this is, If someone in the Vista district told the newspaper about something they wanted to change, the Vista district leader “Darrell Issa” could cut out that certain area so that person doesn’t have a voice.

A link that I found, and think is cool is of president mckinley’s inauguration speech to the state of the Union , in 1900

http://www.let.rug.nl/usa/presidents/william-mckinley/state-of-the-union-1897.php

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_House_of_Representatives_elections,_1900

Political ideology – Blogpost #2

The most common political ideologies in America are, conservative, liberal, libertarian, and centrist. Conservative ideologies, for the most part, are people who believe in reason, and logic, they favor a smaller government, and desire for stronger individual liberties. Did you know that Larry The Cable Guy is a conservative?! Liberal Ideologies, want to have a stronger, powerful government, and desire for there to be less power to the people(freedom of individual rights). Did you know that Leonardo DiCaprio is a liberal?! One thing that Conservatives and Liberals have in common is that they both desire to have a better society. As you may or may not know, a nickname that is often used to refer to the government is “The Big Brother,” because they like to watch over a lot of the things that we do. Libertarian Ideologies, believe that the government should protect the people from outside danger, that the economy and social value of the people shouldn’t be controlled, and support lower taxes, and no regulations on business. Did you know that Clint Eastwood is a libertarian?! Centrist ideologies, are “in between” both sides and like to agree a little bit with both sides, and don’t want any major political changes. Most americans are centrist. Did you know that Benito Mussolini was a centrist?! I feel like the centrist ideologies make the most sense to me because they agree with both sides. I personally am more of a centrist because I don’t really want to take part in elections, but if someone comes to me asking about what I think, I would do my best to explain my opinions on the subject, and I very often agree with both sides of conversations. One of the majorly discussed issues that is still being argued about today is Gay marrige. Though most people, and practically every religion doesn’t think it’s right, or even so much as “un-holy” for gay, or lesbian couples to get married I feel that if that is what two people want to do then so be it. I have nothing against two guys getting married, or two girls getting married, it is their choice as thier own person. So many tragedies, and other unexplainable events can always occur because of people owning guns. One example of this is the case of “Zimmerman vs. Treyvon Martin,” Zimmerman was a neighborhood watchman, and Treyvon was a young black 17 year old. Zimmerman saw Treyvon as “suspicious” so he got out of the car to go closer and “scope the scene,” even though police officers told him not to. Zimmerman claimed that after following Treyvon for looking suspicious, Treyvon attacked him and tried to take his gun, and hit him multiple times. Zimmerman ended up shooting and killing Treyvon in “self defense.” This is a huge reason why gun laws, and the 2nd amendment are questioned to this day. I do, and don’t agree with the debates about gun laws. Some people want nothing to do with guns all together, but I think that is unjust for the rest of us who own and use guns properly. I personally think that it’s a matter of who’s hands the guns end up in, and that gun rights should not be taken away, even though I can see the point that people are trying to get across.

I feel that the song President gas by the Psychedelic Furs can relate to political Ideologies because it talks about government, voting, and a president.

Political Ideology is the consent pattern of opinion on political issues that stem from a basic underlying set of beliefs. A person’s political ideologies are one of the main reasons that will affect the way that they choose to vote in an election. Ideology is also known as theory, this means that (when discussing politics,) a person explains their theory or theories/beliefs on a certain event of politics. Everyone has their own opinion, which results in their political ideas/beliefs. Sometimes religious choices/opinions can affect someone’s political ideologies simply because that can be a standard that they believe in. For example, in the 2012 presidential election between Barack Obama, and Mitt Romney, a lot of people chose to vote for Barack Obama because Mitt Romney is mormon. I guess that made them think that if they elected someone as president who believes in religion, then he might do something that requires people to do religious things.

Unit 1 Gov.

First and foremost, the first ever “constitution” to be founded was the “Articles of Confederation,” which were ratified in 1781, established a firm league of friendships between the states. However, it had many weaknesses. It had a weak federal government, with no right to tax, it was disorganized, and lead for many leaders/Federalists to call for a more powerful central government at the constitutional convention. Anti-federalists attacked the Articles of confederation out of fear of strong central government plans, and because it lacked a Bill of Rights. On 9/11/1786 the “Annapolis Convention” state delegates agreed to revise the “Articles of Confederation.” One year later delegates from all of the states except Rhode Island met and argued about how to strengthen the government.

The preamble (WE THE PEOPLE) is basically an introduction to the constitution. To state it more simply, every U.S. citizen wants to live equally among each other, help each other, and have a common knowledge of their rights, and liberties. A phrase that might be used to describe the constitution is, “By the people, for the people,” because that is how it was intended to work, U.S. citizens to help other U.S. citizens.

The seven articles: The first three are the branches of government, the fourth is about relations among the states, the fifth, amending the Constitution, Amend: to change, the first changes to the constitution were at the Annapolis Convention, and changes can still be made to the  constitution today, sixth is about national law and presidency, 7th is ratifying the constitution, to agree upon and allow the constitution.

27 amendments, The first 10 amendments are what make the Bill of Rights, written by James Madison “The Boss,” and guarantee individual liberties. 11th: adopted to overrule the supreme court’s decision. 12: president and vice president work together, equally. 13-15: reconstruction amendments.  16: income tax. 17: direct democracy from senate, we vote for our senator directly, rather than having them appointed through state legislatures. 18: prohibition- temporarily banning of alcohol. 19: (1920) women were allowed to vote. 20: handles the death of presidents before oath. 21: repeal of the alcohol prohibition(18th amendment). 22; presidents can only serve two, four year terms as president. 23: allows Washington DC to have 3 presidential electors. 24: ensures you didn’t have to pay to vote for any federal office. 25: decision on a president who cannot perform presidential duties. 26: allows US citizens 18+ year olds can vote, and also get drafted. 27: any law that caused increased pay of legislators cannot be in effect until after an election. Six basic principles/beliefs of the constitution are popular sovereignty, limited government, separation of powers, checks and balances, judicial review, and federalism

 

I believe that the 2nd amendment is significant because it allows US citizens to have a gun to defend themselves when they feel harmed, but the downside to this is that a lot of people misinterpret this amendment, and misuse guns and therefore cause death, and crime. Guns are an extreme privilege and not meant to end up in the wrong hands! Which is why there are gun laws and restrictions like age, mental state, a background check, etc.

Secondly I believe that the 5th amendment is significant because just for being an american citizen, you have the freedom of speech(unless in a courtroom), and the right to state your side in every accusation against you, whether or not you have been accused of any crime, or blamed for someone else’s wrongdoing(crime).

The fact that the 13th amendment abolished slavery(1865) is good on so many levels. Slavery, and white supremacy were a huge negative impact on the world in the 1860’s, and this change totally flipped the way people lived. The 14th amendment states that all citizens of all states(in the US) had rights on a federal, and state level, this is another positive fact. The 14th amendment relates to the 13th amendment because it removed the 3/5ths counting of slaves, which meant that African Americans were then able to vote, and that they each counted as one person.

If I could present a 28th amendment to congress, I would ask that the percent of taxes that is taken out of our paychecks every payday could be reduced so we have more spending money, so we can pay off our bills, be able to support our families easier, etc.  

 

SENIOR YEAR!!!

I can’t believe that I’m already a senior! It happened so fast, and it’s really crazy that this is my last year at Mission Vista High School. It’s really awesome!!!