The End... But not really

The year’s come to a close and it’s time to reflect on our progress. At the start of this year, I hoped to advance my understanding of basic economics, but over the past 64 posts I have learned so much more. I don’t think any one or two posts exemplify my journey because my style truly has evolved over this year and so has my content. For one, I have become far better at utilizing the blog as a media outlet for quick, unrevised entries that expresses the purest thoughts in perhaps their least polished literary form. More importantly, I have gained a greater grasp of economics, been introduced to the voices of fiscal policy and integrated myself into an ongoing conversation. Best of all, along the way I’ve been able to pause and talk about YouTube, Harry Potter, music and other stuff that has mattered to me. I hope to continue to share my thoughts, discuss economics with you into the future and further pursue this growing interest.

20 Is Better Than 8! For Now At Least

            NPR’s Planet Money had an interesting brief post a few days ago titled “The G8 Still Exists!” The title portrays the situation fairly accurately; don’t forget the still powerful G8. To those who don’t know, the G8 is comprised of the United States, United Kingdom, Russia, Japan, Germany, France, Canada and Italy, and was the go-to group for any large scale decision not too long ago. Off late, China alone has amassed an economy larger than that of nine of the G20 nations, and other countries such as Brazil and India have stepped to the fore front of international policy. Though the G8 continue to control major global institutions, the broadening spheres of influences have given rise to the more comprehensive G20 which includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, the EU, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey and the current G8. This group represents major players from across the globe, each wielding power unto their own, who in collaboration are in near total control of world affairs. Though some believe the G20 simply represents a transition group to a new G8 encompassing tomorrows superpowers, for now power rests in this large group.

I'm A Senior Now! (Pt.1)

            This last week has been very stressful. I have attempted to carefully balance hanging out with friends and going to grad parties with finishing our homework and studying for the upcoming SAT subject tests. This year I am taking the US history and Chemistry subject tests as I recently took those AP Exams. Nonetheless, I am still at least 350 pages away from being ready if not more. Homework appeared to be done as of this morning as our language portfolios and US projects were turned in last week and I put the finishing touches on our AP Psychology project yesterday night. But surely enough, as I walk into the computer lab for AP Lang, I find out that I accidentally missed a week of blogging. Don’t get me wrong, I do enjoy keeping up to date and discussing economics but at this point I was kind of hoping for some extra time free of school to study and relax. But enough bickering! I wanted to briefly talk about this term as a whole.

            Third term has definitely been far easier than second term which was seriously hindered by swim season. Though I do play tennis in the spring it is far less time consuming and generally stressing than swim season. Tennis is best described as my fun sport; that sport that you do because you have nothing better to do, it’s fun and your friends do it. I would like to be better at tennis but that’s probably not going to happen soon. In the mean time, I shall content myself with playing with friends over the weekends and slowly bettering myself. Otherwise, classes with the exception of French have come to a close as focus has shifted towards the AP exams. The AP exams took place in the first week of March and are in part the reason why I took such a long break in blogging. To broadly evaluate this year’s exams, I’d say United States history was a solid 3/4, Language and Composition was a bit uncertain at 3/4/5, AP Calculus was good at a 4/5, Psychology was generally easy and should be a 4/5 and Chemistry was… well it was chemistry and I’ll give it a 2/3/4 hopefully. If all turns out well, I’ll get a few fives and fours but no guarantees. The one benefit of all these AP exams shows up around finals; we don’t have finals. This week all I really have to study for is my French final. Otherwise, in US I get to watch people present projects (I’m done with mine which was about Rain Man. It was a great movie that you should watch if you haven’t already), LA I get to do this blog and a final one, Psych I present a movie and Chem we go to donut-land! Calculus has been the best of all; most of the class is comprised of seniors who have now graduated and as a result, I don’t even have to go to class and have a free third hour.

I'm A Senior Now! (Pt.2)

            Departed seniors bring up the topic of graduation. I am one of the few juniors who for some reason or another decided to go to graduation which was a lot better than I thought it would be. Though two speeches that I won’t identify were particularly boring, the remainder were exceptional. Sure they fit the mold of typical freedom in life and push your barriers themes but each had its own unique twist or conveyance that really moved the audience. The performing arts also did a great job and I really enjoyed hearing the band, orchestra and choir fuse into one. After the ceremony, everyone said their farewells and exchanged tears and hugs.

            With graduation, I am now officially a senior! One more year and then… I’m not really sure to be honest. Some college and then the rest will happen as it comes. Anyways, back to more current news. Summer swimming starts up Monday and I can’t say I’m too excited. I do want to get back in the pool and back in shape but I’m not a big fan of being waking up at 6:30 or of swimming 3 hours a day. I’m also hoping to start up running a bit to get a steady number of miles every day; hopefully this will help me stay in shape during the swimming off seasons and be somewhat fun at the same time. Speaking of fitness, Alli Koch’s Powered by the Heart (linked to the right) started just yesterday. After biking through over 70 miles of what I’ve heard was pretty crummy weather, she’s been at it again today for another 120+ miles. We all support her great cause, are very proud of her, and wish her luck on her long journey. If you would like to know more about what she’s doing or want to donate (which you should!), once again the link is to the right.

            Well that about does it for my random updates for the end of the year. I apologize for how unorganized this entry was but it should cover a lot of what’s been on my mind lately. Hopefully I didn’t bore you too much with all this random non-economic stuff.

Can Obama Pull a Jackson?

It was the eight of January, 1835 when officials from across the country gathered in Washington DC for a meeting presided by President Andrew Jackson when it was officially announced the United States had paid all debts to other nations for the first time in history. Not only was the country out of the hole but for the time being, we were running a national surplus.

Right from the start debt was a choice for the United States. Following the Revolutionary War, as we were founded we had the simple option to default and forget about wartime loans. All the bonds and grants to the government would be forgotten but at the cost our credit, economic stability and credibility as a state.

So the US decided to take on its debt which for the same reasons as today, wasn’t very easy to finance. The debt wasn’t expanding at quite the rate it does today but neither was it shrinking. Then along came Andrew Jackson who as a land speculator in the West had gone in the red after a deal gone bad. His experience led to a campaign oriented around economic stability and would go on to enter office despising banks and considering debt a moral failure of sorts.

And so he went to work almost immediately, and shut down the National Bank. He then began selling US assets primarily in through federally held land in the West. Further, he ruthlessly blocked spending bills, vetoing expenditure of nearly any form. Though some questioned the integrity of his practices, there no doubt that it worked. Money poured into our coffers as spending simultaneously shrunk and the miraculous result was the erasure of our remaining $58 million debt within 6 years.

 And so it was on the eight of January, 1835 when Jackson realized he had the wonderful new dilemma of what to do with his extra reserves now. There was no National Bank anymore so he decided to divide the money and grant it to states by population. And sure enough that’s when the good times ended. The states weren’t quite as cautious as Mister Jackson and began a land purchasing bubble not hugely unlike our housing bubble, which soon grew out of control. Jackson noticed this and stepped in but immediately realized he was too late. By requiring land to be purchased in gold or silver, we saw a crash causing a recession that would drag on for six years. And just like that, with the pop of a bubble we said goodbye to a year long debt-free US.

Even when accounting for inflation, the debt Jackson tackled pales in comparison to the burden we carry today. Last Wednesday, President Obama proposed a combination of long-term spending cuts particularly in national defense, tax hikes and changes to welfare programs. Personally, with my limited economic knowledge, I believe each of these is exactly what we may need. Spending as our dear old President Jackson demonstrated is the obvious and possibly most important point. Tax increases (audacious considering elections are approaching) may very well be a fact that we are just going to have to learn to live with if we ever plan on lowering our deficit. Lastly, welfare programs at the moment have already been identified as facing huge sustainability issues particularly in the case of Social Security so reform is necessary in any case.

                 If these measures were to take effect and be as successful as planned, the national debt would be reduced by $4 trillion in the next 12 years. This goal is ambitious to say the least especially considering years past, but offers the kind of hope and worthy cause America needs at the moment to handle a task as daunting as this. So though for now the debt clock continues ticking, the beginning of our journey to the end just may be in sight.

Drugs: Are We Better off Legalizing Them? (Part 1)

The fundamental point behind making drugs illegal is that in addition to law abiding citizens, those who wish to abuse anyways face high production and sale costs which in theory should decrease demand. But illegal drugs are a special case in that their price is fairly inelastic because they’re addictive. The result is that unlike most other commodities, people are always going to be willing to pay any affordable amount to get high. So making drugs illegal simply limits the number of dealers to those who can overcome legal barriers, and in the process makes them richer and spikes crime rates.

So to test this beyond the theoretical economic mind, NPR’s Planet Money talked to Freeway Ricky Ross who after became a large scale crack dealer in Los Angeles was sentenced to life in ’96 only to be released on parole 13 years later.

So the first part: making drug sales illegal drives the price up. To judge take a look at Ross’ numbers. Ross went through up to $3,000,000 a day out of which he made between 200 and 400k off each million. Of this profit he estimates that the forbidden nature of his products is responsible is responsible for approximately a thousand fold spike in their price.

                Now onto part two, that part of this money funnels into higher crime rates. Rick worked with 30-40 guys each of whom at any given moment was required to be armed. This thug and armed environment had obvious effects.

Drugs: Are We Better off Legalizing Them? (Part 2)

Money was further distributed to uphold ties between groups that bought you a free pass in the otherwise fatal streets of LA. And these guys weren’t necessarily drug dealers but included an assortment of criminals be they robbers, “jackers” etc. Other major costs ranged from reserves to pay bonds to financing lawyers to hiring the so-called small timers involved in the intricacies of running a drug operation.  To these individuals, seeing such profitable business is a huge enticement to enter this world.

But the thing that economists don’t necessarily take into consideration that Rick can point out is pretty simple if you think about it. Drug dealing is different from any other job you could ever have. High risk jobs normally demand high compensation but to starting dealers, life in gangs is a slow transition from life at home so any compensation can be seen as a lot. Furthermore, the life involved and processes becomes a culture unto its own that can be more engaging than it is dangerous. The result, even if you weren’t paid as much as Rick, even if you were broke and hunted, it was a life that some just wanted to live.

The simple solution is to legalize these substances but that would spike addiction. So the choice really is would we rather have higher crime or more people addicted to drugs? But there is a third option and that is to destroy the motivation to use or sell drugs in the first place. And that’s what Ross addresses now by talking to youth and others about the life after prison or lack thereof if you’re killed. It’s not an easy task but it may be the only option in a business that’s otherwise economically and socially irresistible.

YouTube Again plus Cricket

Hey guys I’ve blogged about cool YouTube channels and I’d like to add two more to my list. FPSRussia and EpicMealTime have gotta be the manliest, most amazing channels ever! The first is a Russian guy, and yes he has an amazing accent, who shoots guns. The second is a bunch of surprisingly healthy looking guys who make massive, ridiculously unhealthy meals using bacon, meat, bacon, other stuff and bacon and eat them. Both are pretty primordial and I’m sure not all of you will enjoy them but for everyone else, these are some awesome youtubers.

 PS INDIA WON THE CRICKET WORLD CUP in an amazing championship game!!!

Too Big to Fail!

Over the past year or so you’ve probably heard the term “too big to fail”. The term implies exactly what it says; these companies are so large and interconnected to other services in our economy that the failure of any one of them would have significant implications on the entire financial systems. In fact some people believe that any one of these corporations could destroy our economic foundation as a whole. For this reason, the phrase became the backbone of government bailouts that took billions upon billions out of a heavily indebted treasury to support these businesses.

Though these bailouts were admittedly successful and will for the most part be repaid over the years, they placed immense stress on our fiscal system and often came very close to not working. And hence recent legislation, specifically the Dodd-Frank bill. Under the law, companies titled too big to fail would have to not only create a safety blanket of reserve capital but also create a sort of will that would detail their shut down process in case. Furthermore, all of this will be subject to extra scrutiny by regulators.

I personally completely agree with this proposition as it’s the first concrete and system-wide step in the right direction. Though many of us saw the negative consequences of the recession, little has been done in the way of preventing its recurrence on a large scale. For reorganization beyond the responsibility these times have instilled in us individually, I think legislation such as this is going to prove absolutely imperative.

So now the question for Dodd-Frank is who would fall under the category of too big to fail? At this point, any bank holding over $50 billion in assets immediately makes the cut. But other companies aren’t going to be nearly as easy to judge nor will deciding how many companies will be on the list going to be easy. Right now the primary contenders are insurers like AIG, hedge funds, asset managers and extremely large corporations. As the decision process continues however, lobbying persists as companies try to get themselves off the list. I find this absolutely terrible as I’m sure many of you do. For now we can simply hope that necessary reform takes place unaffected by money or power.

Maybe You Don't Own Yourself...

As you may have noticed in previous posts, I enjoy watching 60 Minutes every Sunday on CBS and I was on their website today watching an old story about patenting genes. They began by covering the story of Myriad Laboratories, a company that has patented a couple of genes that have proven extremely significant in relation to cancer, specifically breast cancer. This patent like an invention, means that no other company can test, work with or even develop therapies towards these genes without Myriad’s consent. But this is very different from any invention because the gene in question here, can be found in any woman who has ever genetically inherited breast cancer. Essentially, Myriad didn’t invent anything; it just found something we were long looking for that thousands of women have already owned.

Today, almost 10,000 genes have been individually patented accounting to a grand total of about a third of all human genes. That’s right, companies across the world hold the write to examine and experiment with about a third of each and every one of our bodies. This reminded me of the case of corn planted on farms across the United States and elsewhere which contains patented genes that prevent disease. These patents have come to the point that farmers cannot replant seed and must buy it for each year and further, they must prevent cross pollination of the gene to the corn of farmers who haven’t bought it. If we were to extend this to humans the implications sound absolutely crazy. If a member of a couple bought a gene from Myriad for example that somehow prevented all cancer, would the couple have to pay to have children who would inherit the gene. It’s absurd but could be a very real problem in the future.

For now, these patents have been condemned for preventing advancement. For as long as Myriad has owned the genes it does, research within breast cancer has come to an effective stand still outside of the company which fiercely protects its patent. However, if such protections didn’t exist there exists the very real possibility that the economic incentive to investigate grave disease wouldn’t exist. So the question arises if our system of rewarding discovery is preventing the potential for future discovery and many would say it does. So how do we solve this problem?

Random Thought

Today after tennis, for once, I noticed the whole family was in the car. I got into the driver’s seat awaiting an explanation as to the great event that had drawn everyone out on a Wednesday night and surely enough it was (drumroll) to pick out cabinets for the basement bathroom we were finishing. OK… two things I’d like to quickly blog about concerning this event.

Does picking cabinets really excite people? I mean apparently it must, but still! I can understand being excited to say go buy a car, I can sort of understand being excited to even go buy clothes but the idea of being excited to choose the parts of your restroom remains outside my comprehension. And so I drove on, amused by the fascinations of my quaint little family.

Shortly, we arrived at the store except for it wasn’t really a store. I say this because this place, dedicated to enriching our restroom experience, was quite the fancy affair.  Upon entry we were greeted by a lady with whom we had a prescheduled appointment. She in turn stood in front of a well furnished office, a wall of color sample woods & tiles in nearly every hue known to man, and hundreds of square feet in mock kitchens featuring any and every cabinet setup. It was at this point that I arrived at my second epiphany* of sorts.

Only in our extravagant Western World do we have such exquisite boutiques dedicated to such frankly ridiculous purposes. My family comes from India and having visited the country, I’ve had the humbling experience of seeing poverty at its very worst. I don’t mean to sound dramatic but this single event capitalized on the absurdly comfortable lifestyle I’ve become so accustomed to.

So there you have it, my two odd observations of the day. I just thought I’d share; take what you want from my experience, and hopefully you’ll be a better, more appreciative person.

*I had the word on my mind after watching the prejudicial UCLA video. If you haven’t seen it, check it out. Terrible as she is it’s really kind of funny and so are the responses to it.

Should NPR be Publicly Funded? (Part 1)

NPR’s Planet Money recently did a story about the debate to cut federal funding of public radio. I know what you might be thinking that’s gotta be biased. I thought the same but nonetheless, NPR being the reputed source that it is, I thought I’d hear them out.

The key question they point out is whether or not NPR is a public good. Government spending goes to public goods which by definition are things that everyone benefits from that the private sector may not afford at the moment. So fundamentally we ask ourselves if everyone benefits from NPR. Now this question isn’t as subjective as it might seem in that it’s not really about if you like NPR as much as if it’s available to you and anyone else. And in this aspect there little dispute. Even if you don’t contribute to public radio’s fundraisers and hate it to your very core, you still have the option to at any time to turn on your radio and tune in. Furthermore, it is a non-rival commodity in that usage and external factors don’t make it more or less available to any one person or group.

So NPR is a public good but that isn’t by any means a case closed for funding. There are a lot of things that technically fall under the category of public good such as that fart that nobody paid you for but yet you so graciously released for everyone’s smelling pleasure. This is when the real question of whether that public good is worth it comes into play; would people actually potentially be willing to pay for it. This is the far more difficult question to answer. Unlike normal things, public goods receive little in the way of market feedback which is the essence of assessing demand. When people buy a car they are endorsing its value over its cost but how do you know if the same holds true for NPR?

Should NPR be Publicly Funded? (Part 2)

The other question that comes to mind is why the government funds NPR but not other radio stations or the TV etc.  In this case the answer seems to be that these other products have transformed their playing fields. Through the use of commercials, they have made us the listeners the product which the station sells to paying advertisers. In this way, by creating rivalry among businesses for our attention, such programming is not a public good. From this perspective, though NPR is founded in principles that classify it as a public good, it does receive some commercial funding. But NPR isolates this to only the money it needs (non-profit) so that the vast majority of content is publicly provided and therefore the situation becomes extremely delicate. And by publicly provided I’m not referring to the government but rather the so called economic K group. Or simply people with large purchasing power who are willing to pay for those who can’t or who exploit as “free riders”.

And some argue that this minor advertising and major K group together should exempt NPR from federal backing. As newspapers and other goods adapt to our world, a lot of their content is available for free online and they have to find new ways to earn revenue so why shouldn’t NPR. In fact some believe that public radio would receive even more money and do better if it weren’t perceived under the government. But what if radio would be even better if it could avoid fundraising drives by getting more taxpayer money.

                If nothing else, you get the point that there are a lot of ifs and buts. No one knows for sure what to do and I honestly can’t say I have an opinion on what should be done. On the one hand NPR in my opinion is extremely valuable and ought to be supported no matter what. But on the other hand, in today’s technological age, I agree that it is public radio’s responsibility to support itself and find a sustainable outlet for its content. Feel free to share your views in the comments and stay tuned as we look towards what the final verdict shall be.

Capital City: Zug, Population: 15

                60 Minutes recently reported on over $1.2 trillion that has weaseled its way out of US coffers into the hands of foreign governments.   What is this treasure trove; it’s investment, capital and primarily corporate taxes on billions in revenue from US companies whose assets have been shifted offshore to avoid our aged, outrageously high tax rates.

                To report, they traveled to a tiny unheard of town in Switzerland called Zug specifically to its economic development office. Zug in past years has worked with companies to offer a tax rate lower than Switzerland’s which itself is far less than the US. In effect, this tax haven within a tax haven allows for a mere 15-16% corporate tax rate. The result is that many companies move their corporate headquarters to Zug… well sorta. To explain let’s look at Transocean, the company involved in BP’s recent oil spill catastrophe, which moved and now claims to be internationally head quartered in Zug. Sounds like a pretty big move right? Transocean maintains about 1300 employees in Houston and less than 15 in Zug none of whom is even the CEO. In fact international headquarters comprise of a relatively small office in a rented business complex which somehow transfers the company’s citizenship to Switzerland. And this story isn’t all that uncommon.

                The obvious solution would be to impose tighter restrictions which congress did in 2004 only to see these companies relocate altogether or lawyers find new loopholes to avoid full payment. Sleazy as this may seem, companies have a very valid point in searching for low tax alternatives. Un-American as their actions may seem, these actions funnel money into the hands of shareholders many of whom are Americans.  When taxes result in about 60 to 90% lower tax rates, companies simply cannot refuse.

                However, this occurs at the cost of thousands of American jobs. In the example of Ireland, nearly 60 US companies employ over 100,000 Irish workers on a 12.5% tax rate. As they put it on 60 minutes, our treasury effectually subsidizes investment in Ireland. And it’s really not that hard in today’s world. With everything computerized and digital, moving a company is as simple as moving a folder or code or data center to another country.

                The solution quite simply is to reduce tax rates but that could mean trillions in lost revenue. This is quite obviously impractical and until a better solution can be found, the US will continue to lose business to foreign states.

Hope and Heroism in the Face of Tragedy

               It seems like there are too many major events going on these days for even the most ravenous news stations to keep up. One story that seems to have slightly faded in the mess of updates is the status of Japan as it continues attempts to cope from the major catastrophe  and somewhat more urgently, to stabilize the condition of its nuclear power plants. There have been a lot of misconceptions about what is going on in these reactors particularly that we are on the verge of a nuclear meltdown that could cripple East Asia just as the Chernobyl explosion once did. This post by another blogger appears to shed some well informed light on the issue and I would greatly encourage you to read it particularly if you don’t work at a nuclear plant yourself.

                I feel it worth noting the efforts of Japanese workers who have stayed back as US forces and other on site officials have retreated to safety. We all owe some pride to these individuals who demonstrate true heroism. Though as I said, the situation isn’t utterly volatile, it is dangerous and has the potential for spreading radiation. These workers have been working hard to prevent the situation from worsening, all the while exposing themselves to radiation.

                I thank the efforts of these workers and hope for the best as they continue to alleviate the situation.

Japan: The Economic Picture

The crisis in Japan has taken a huge toll as is evident in the widespread destruction, infrastructural failures and terrible loss of human life. Despite this, from a purely economic standpoint, the natural disaster offers a unique scenario that does not appear very fiscally threatening.

The thing that makes this disaster different from say the earthquake in Haiti or the Tsunami in Indonesia is that Japan isn’t poor. Quite to the contrary it currently stands as the third richest nation in the world and consequently its economy reflects the vitality and resilience of say American or English markets. Sure some regions have lost all manufacturing output. The result is that many manufacturing plants such as automobile lines are shut down for lack of parts supplied by stricken regions. And yet, these areas only account for about 2% of the country’s annual output, and parts can quickly be channeled in from other sources.

NPR’s Planet Money team offered a great historical comparison to illustrate this. During World War II, the allies sought targets that they could bomb to cripple the German economy. After thinking on end, they finally thought a ball bearings factory would be great to destroy and so they did. German production lines were forced to stop almost immediately but soon enough ball bearings were brought in from elsewhere and everything resumed.  To emphasize this further just think of today’s times. I have cell phones on my mind after the At&t and T-Mobile merger, so think about your cell phone. For many of us, our cell phones are our life lines, so imagine for example if due to some disaster or technological failure that Verizon crashed. Sure there’s panic right away; millions will lose their cell service and large portions of the country will be shut out of communication. Yet as morbid as the situation may seem, give it a month or two and if Verizon isn’t already working again, people will have already switched to At&t or Sprint or a smaller carrier and all will be fine. The point is it takes a lot to bring down a modern economic power. Unless perhaps Tokyo were hit, no one part of the country could bring down the entire nation because for every service there is a redundancy.

Now in the less developed countries I mentioned above like Haiti and Indonesia, a natural disaster can be irreparably damaging, but for now it appears that Japan will not be affected. If anything, some predict that reconstruction from the disaster will prove to be a stimulus package of sorts, allowing for investment, new jobs and the movement of capital. But that’s just the economics of it; otherwise this is a terrible disaster whose toll in lives shall never be repaid.

Libya Updates!!!

Over the days since I last discussed the state of Libya, much has happened and at last, necessary measures have been put in place. As you have probably seen on the news, the situation in Libya leading up to the coalition strike only deteriorated as Qaddafi declared total war on rebel groups and effectively declared the genocide of his own people. Since then the United States has taken the lead alongside other UN members under General Carter Ham in a tactical assault primarily involving bombers and cruise missiles on Libya’s air infrastructure. However, these strikes have allowed us to also destroy army ground units and tanks threatening rebel strongholds.

Now, some are saying that the United States’ plan has been a cop-out of sorts. To put this in context, America currently holds a policy of no boots on the ground. Furthermore, we intend to withdraw from fighting for the most part after the initial offensive, only interfering when our “unique (military) capabilities” are called upon. This will leave the remainder of the conflict to other countries and limited US resources. Though I will agree that it is a bit disappointing to see this sort of haphazard effort, this intercession was absolutely imperative considering the circumstances. Little as these attacks may seem they completely turned the tables in a conflict where both sides held what can at best be described as primitive military capabilities in our modern age. Without our help it’s hard to say how many citizens may have been killed. Think of it this way; even as Qaddafi’s forces retreat unable to counter the powerful UN air strikes, they continue to snipe indiscriminatingly at citizens in towns along the way to the point that people don’t dare set foot outside. Furthermore, considering how thinly spread the US army is and the costs, any help is better than none. We have already incurred bills totaling hundreds of millions and any further support is likely to greatly add to that expense. Though you might say that there is no price on human lives, from a pragmatic perspective this is reasonable support.

As for now, the rebels hold out slowly gaining strength and confidence. At this point, I believe one of their top priorities must be to organize some form of government. If utter chaos and disorder are to be avoided a governing body must exist before the current state collapses. As in the interim board in Egypt or even the colonies of a freed America, some form of organization amidst a lack of rule will be extremely important.

The other heated question at the moment seems to be the decision of whether or not to target Qaddafi himself. I personally believe that this is up to the UN. Though killing Qaddafi may seem justified and may very well be the key to quickly ending this conflict, such a decision remains in the hands of those international magistrates responsible for evaluating war crimes and crimes against humanity. If we or any other country were to privately make that decision, it would go against what we deem as unalienable rights and would have great political implications.

In the mean time we must continue to take steps towards freedom and democracy in Libya and hope for the well being of the country’s citizens.

Heroism in the Face of Tragedy

It seems like there are too many major events going on these days for even the most ravenous news stations to keep up. One story that seems to have slightly faded in the mess of updates is the status of Japan as it continues attempts to cope from the major catastrophe  and somewhat more urgently, to stabilize the condition of its nuclear power plants. There have been a lot of misconceptions about what is going on in these reactors particularly that we are on the verge of a nuclear meltdown that could cripple East Asia just as the Chernobyl explosion once did. This post by another blogger appears to shed some well informed light on the issue and I would greatly encourage you to read it particularly if you don’t work at a nuclear plant yourself.

                I feel it worth noting the efforts of Japanese workers who have stayed back as US forces and other on site officials have retreated to safety. We all owe some pride to these individuals who demonstrate true heroism. Though as I said, the situation isn’t utterly volatile, it is dangerous and has the potential for spreading radiation. These workers have been working hard to prevent the situation from worsening, all the while exposing themselves to radiation.

                I thank the efforts of these workers and hope for the best as they continue to alleviate the situation.

Powered By the Heart

As you may have noticed, I recently linked to Powered by the Heart on the left. Powered by the Heart is a project that a senior at my high school, Alli Koch is undertaking this summer. She plans to bike over 2,200 miles from the Canadian border in Minnesota to the Mexican border in Texas. All donations to her website and sponsorships will be donated to the American Heart Association. So as you can see, this is a great cause and a truly phenomenal project so please show you support by visiting her website (many more details) and donating if you can!

Happiness? That'll be $75,000 sir

NPR’s Planet Money team recently investigated whether money buys happiness and recent evidence says that yes, it does. Shocking right? I mean after everything we grew up hearing, how could this possibly be true?

Throughout history, rich people have always seemed happier than poorer populations. But the key observation was that this only holds true within a country. An American with a billion dollars is a lot happier than the American with a million dollars but not necessarily more than the Englishman with a million dollars. Economists reasoned that this was because of relative comparisons; being richer than your neighbor was all that mattered, not the guy living a mile away. But this theory was soon disputed by the fact that money isn’t worth the same everywhere as we can see in the example of the middle class New Yorker who would be rich in the plains of Iowa. And he isn’t necessarily going to make the move. So we decided that instead of being relatively wealthy, people enjoy being absolutely wealthy, or rich on a level field.

Under these new terms, Justin Wolfers an economist at the Wharton School plotted happiness levels and GDP per capita and lo and behold, he found a 0.8 correlation between both factors. In fact, a 10% income rise in any given country buys some more happiness. And this statistic doesn’t stop when people have met their basic needs and even some luxury wants. Nope it just keeps on going.

However this doesn’t hold true for all measures of happiness. When looking specifically at affective measures like if you smile a lot yesterday or things along those lines, we find that rises with income are small and generally stop when we hit approximately the $75,000 mark. But even in this case, far fewer the 1% of the people in the world ever cross this income level. So in nearly every way, money can buy you happiness.

But why? From our current knowledge, it all comes down to how you view that higher income of yours. Being wealthier isn’t as much being able to buy the nicest new car as it is say affording the medical advancement to successfully deliver and nourish a baby into childhood and adulthood. These amenities offer a security that is often key to avoiding traumatizing hardships. Other strong evidence has found that how respected we feel increases with income. And there are several other obvious factors; fewer things to worry about, greater health, freedom of choice.

Yet another part of it is the evidence that in many lower income regions, family ties take precedence to personal happiness. This means that working a little longer takes the backburner to spending a couple of extra hours with even distant relatives. Whereas in well developed countries, the opposite is often true.

The broad implication of this is that living a happy life may not be the most important thing. Happiness may not be as vital to life satisfaction and fulfillment as we ever designate it. So yes money can buy you its weight in happiness, but who knows, life just may not be as great as you thought it’d be.

Third Term! Updates

It’s third term! I am officially over two-thirds of the way through my Junior year which has been flying by. With a new term I’m heading into AP exams, Tennis, ITEDs, SAT subject tests and all that other fun stuff… To kick off the term I thought I’d do a slightly random entry so here it goes.

            I just wanted to briefly follow up on my blog entry on Egypt to discuss the status in Libya. As many of you have probably heard, what started as another protest against unjust government quickly turned into chaos as Libyan dictator Colonel Qaddafi deployed armed forces against rebels. By February 18^th, it became clear that soldiers were using automatic weapons and even snipers to intentionally kill numerous unarmed civilian protesters. As days passed social networking sites and YouTube have brought videos and the news of these horrors in Libya to the world. And yet no action has been taken.

            I must confess myself beyond appalled. Throughout its history, the United States has made it clear that violations of democracy and human rights will not be tolerated. I am not suggesting that we fully go to war with Libya, but I simply can’t understand the current stance of doing almost nothing! But it is my firm belief that the US must work with the UN to mediate the situation in Libya. Though talks and sanctions would be ideal, UN forces must be deployed if such measures fail to protect Libyan citizens and depose Qaddafi if necessary.

            For now all we can do is hope for the success of rebels in Ras Lanuf and elsewhere, and hope that our and other governments take action.

            According to gallup poll data, the hypothetical happiest guy in America would be a tall, Jewish, Asian-American, married business owner who has children, lives in Hawaii and has a household income over $120,000 an year. That’s kinda like me… except I’m not married with children nor tall nor Jewish nor living in Hawaii nor earning over $120,000 but close enough.

            A US Government Accountability Office report’s finding support the theoretical fiscal savings of replacing $1 bills with their equivalent coins. In fact, the US could save almost $5.5 billion over 30 years by making the switch.

            And the reason for the huge savings is pretty simple. Bills stay in our wallets and purses a lot longer than coins which more often than not end up on the closet floor, under sofa cushions or in coin jars. And all money translates to uncirculated currency which is in effect a interest-free loan to the government. For this reason among others, Canada, Japan and several European countries have adopted coins of greater values. Maybe the US will be next.

           

There you have it. And if you reading this are a student as well, I wish you a great end of the year!

Food: Why We Have It Better

The price of food in the US rose 1.8% over past year which somewhat high as it may sound, is relatively little compared to the rising costs of food around the world. To offer a very basic explanation for this discrepancy, let’s look at where the cost of say bread comes from. In the developed world, very little (well under 10%) of the cost of bread comes from the wheat needed to make it. The rest of the price is a result of manufacturing and labor. In poorer or growing countries on the other hand, as much as 70% of the price of bread comes from wheat. So the real problem of skyrocketing wheat and corn prices, are the reason that countries like the United States face much lower price hikes than do less developed regions of the world.

Money Flying off Into the Skies... And Lots Of It

Today in AP US History we were discussing the post war $250 billion debts and of course today’s debt and the US debt clock came up. You’ve probably heard of comparisons to bring debt into perspective so here’s my go at it.

A treasury issue USD bill is 6.14 inches × 2.61 inches × 0.0043 inches for a volume of 0.06890922 cubic inches. So now at about 9:30 AM Thursday, February 24^th 2011, the debt clock puts us at $14,179,879,136,000 in the red. So if we were to translate all of this into 100 dollar bills, that’s 141798791360 bills each 0.06890922 cubic inches in volume. That puts us at a grand total of 9771244109.5603392 cubic inches or about 67855861.87 cubic feet. Now lets compare that to a Boeing 747-400… yup that massive jetliner with a small second story (Not the A380). A 747-400 has an interior cabin space of 31,285 cubic feet which means that the US debt could fill up 2169 of these planes!

           So there you got, just another comparison to solidify our $14+ trillion debt.

A New Perspective on the Great Depression (Part 1)

I’ve used NPR’s Planet Money previously for my blog including last week on the gold standard. Well it turns out that story was part of a mini-series on the Great Depression, which is undoubtedly one of the most interesting and well-studied times in economic history. They published the next podcast Tuesday and it covers the recently published diary of Benjamin Roth who wrote over the entire course of the Great Depression.

Roth was a lawyer during the depression and led a life that you typically don’t associate with the times; he didn’t stand in soup kitchen lines, or live in a Hooverville or migrate west out of desperation. Sure his profits dwindled to for less than prosperity but he offered the rare perspective of someone educated, analyzing the unfolding events.

As depression hit, Roth’s cases became increasingly entwined in foreclosures and bankruptcies and fees turned into items. One honest customer even paid with a passbook to an account he held at a bank that had closed, saying that if the bank ever reopened, Roth could have all his money. These events inspired Roth to begin analyzing the day’s local and national economic news whenever he found some spare time at his law office.

Before going over a few of the 14 notebooks worth of diary there are a couple of things we should note. Firstly, for as much of a hero as Roosevelt is always portrayed as, Roth did not vote for him nor did he support many of his policies. Second, the depression Roth illustrates for us is very different from the account we are accustomed to hearing from our teachers or historical books. As bad as the depression got, employment still remained at about 75%, well over the majority, and extremes like the dustbowl severely affected only select groups of individuals. This isn’t to undermine the severity of the depression but rather to say that many American’s were not affected in the ways we may think.

A New Perspective on the Great Depression (Part 2)

The most important and broadly impacting changes of the time were a general constriction on the average family’s budget and a growing mistrust in currency. The first is depicted by an entry on August 18^th, 1931 in which Roth’s dentist asks him and his family to come even if payments would have to be made later. Roth noted that people had simply stopped going to the dentists and if a tooth hurt, they would just get it extracted rather than incur the expenses of checking and healing it. In this way many American’s were avoiding any “unnecessary” expenses and adjusting for thriftier times. The latter point is best shown through the series of bank failures that hit the country. Roth, who begins researching extensively to understand events, details how bank deposits are often invested in mortgages that are usually safe and profitable but not easily liquidated. So as mortgage payments declined and people began scrambling to withdraw their savings, banks couldn’t pay back on accounts and were often forced to close. Hence, the circulating supply of cash shrunk even further with no room for expansion until the gold standard was dropped (because the government couldn’t print more money without backing it). As people saw their savings literally disappear and the money supply decreased, they simply couldn’t trust the dollar. The severity of this apprehension is best shown through a story Roth’s son tells of 1946, a time of post-war peace and prosperity. Roth’s son finds himself mediating a large trust investment for a very wealthy customer. As the customer is preparing to sign with the rather eager trust representative, he sharply and unwaveringly demands that the representative sign that the customer’s money would never be invested in anything other than government bonds. As shocked as Roth was, he saw the degree to which people saw risk in nearly every investment vehicle.

Interestingly enough, the challenges we see in Roth’s diaries, correspond closely to what many American’s can identify with in today’s recession. The problem of defaulting mortgages is perhaps the obvious one, but many of the entries also show us a sense of anxiety that today as well, makes many of us think twice about everything we do with our money.

I look forward to reading Roth’s published journals and hopefully to draw some unique insight. I cannot help but wonder about the true story of daily life in the depression and how our story will be portrayed a few decades from now.

As Good As Gold? Not Quite

In AP US we have recently been studying the Great Depression and one factor that we haven’t discussed much which is underplayed in most documented histories, is the role of the gold standard. I have previously discussed the gold standard as an intermediate in the creation of money with no intrinsic value. NPR’s Planet Money did an interesting report on the vital role the gold standard played in starting the Greatest Depression we have ever faced.

Prior to the 1930s, nearly every economics power in the world and even the small-scale trade nations was on the gold standard. The story of the turnaround begins in 1931 with Montagu Norman who was central banker at the Bank of England and in effect was one of if not the most powerful economic figures in the world. As stock markets crashed, banks collapsed and the world slipped into depression much of the public withdrew their money and many sought to exchange it for gold. England like most other countries didn’t have nearly enough gold for everyone to reclaim their notes and so to deter these citizens, Norman had to resort to raising interest rates. In doing so, people had an incentive to keep their money in their accounts rather than have gold sit idly in their homes. But this ran wholly counter to depression policy; raising interest rates meant that now less money would be circulated preventing consumer spending, and lending became more expensive which prevented inhibited new entrepreneurs and existing businesses. Just look at today’s world; when recession hit, we regularly heard of the Fed lowering interest rates, not raising them.

And so the depression worsened. In fact you could say that though economies were suffering from a visible downturn, these interest rate hikes caused the actual start of depression.  And all thanks to the gold standard. So obviously, why don’t we just end it? To Norman, the gold standard was the foundation of the British economy and he simply felt that removing it would cause complete fiscal collapse and chaos. So Norman who now finds himself between a rock and a hard place with the fate of England and, to some degree, the whole world in his hands, cracks. He began having nervous breakdowns, severe headaches and was essentially breaking down. And so on recommendation from his doctor, England’s Central Banker goes on vacation to Canada right as the world economies begin collapsing. As Norman is on the ship returning to England, his advisors who are in charge without him, decide to leave the gold standard. They send a cable to Montagu saying they “were going off tomorrow” and of course he thinks they mean they’re taking a day of vacation… He does not object and bam England is off the gold standard. The pound immediately loses value and fear sweeps the world as people everywhere begin turning their money to gold. Roosevelt, who must react quickly, acts against his advisors, doesn’t tell the public and sneaks this amendment onto the Agricultural Adjustment Act which is unsuspectingly passed. And so the cabinet, treasury and public get a pleasant surprise when they find out that Roosevelt had conveniently removed the gold standard.

Now FDR is free to act as is necessary and so he begins taking counter measures to the deflationary spiral. He did so by raising the price of gold by having the government buy out gold. Slowly the United States began climbing out of depression and countries around the world parted with the gold standard. Soon money was back in circulation and confidence returned to money for what it was; paper.

           And so we only transitioned into the final stage of creating money over the Great Depression. And this final step was absolutely vital to progress. To this day, economists consider the gold standard as one of the most dangerous and counterproductive means of conferring currency its value.

Egypt: Progress, Hope and Uncertainty (Part 2)

I don’t meant o sound melodramatic but the events that unfolded between then and February 11^th, 2011 were undoubtedly one of the greatest demonstrations I have witnessed in my life and have altogether altered my perspective and opinion on the prospects of the Middle East. Success in Egypt can be attributed to three primary factors, each imperative to end success. The most important to sowing the seeds of revolution was the sheer will power of the Egyptian people who day-after-day flooded the streets protesting and standing up for their beliefs. The second factor and most important to preventing a break-down was the neutrality of the army. Unlike the past, in our world today, the idea of the public utilizing available weapons to fight the brute and technological strength of modern armies is nearly absurd to say the very least. It was vital and admirable that the army righteously served as a mediator, intervening primarily to hold the peace and not protect any one side in particular. The final key as I mentioned before was the pioneering use of the internet. This mode of communication via facebook, youtube etc. added an unprecedented dimension to this activity and drew global attention to the situation rapidly. These favorable aspects allowed the Egyptians victory against a stubborn Mubarak, who would take over two weeks to step down despite pressure to do so from around the world and domestically itself.

The implications of the success of this protest reach far beyond the boundaries of Egypt. The Middle East, which I had resigned to infighting and ceaseless conflict, may apparently have a chance at standing up against disorder and unjust governments. You have probably heard of the last few days’ attempts by other countries to emulate Egypt only to have resulted in further chaos and/or violent police reactions. Nonetheless, the revolt has inspired the Middle East and the entire world to reconsider and revaluate their governments and the job they are doing.

As for Egypt, the future remains highly uncertain as the complete infrastructure of a government has yet to be arranged and even the smallest decisions can alter life in the country for decades to come. But this is a much needed fresh start and we can only watch and see where it takes us.

Egypt: Progress, Hope and Uncertainty (Part 1)

The recent revolution in Egypt came out of the blue for most of the world as most of us remained completely unaware of injustices that have plagued the country over the past century or so of “independence”.

Though it would be a lie to say that fiscal conditions were the sole instigator of violence, economic factors undoubtedly helped aggravate the sentiments cumulating to uprising. Perhaps the biggest problem has been President Hosni Mubarak’s effecting isolation of Egypt from the world despite its strategic location for trade alongside the Suez Canal and near the center of Eurasian trade markets. Instead, the government has left aside or failed to utilize about $17 billion in US aid, Suez Canal dues and tourism which has continued to flourish without any basic national infrastructure. In these ways and others, extra income flow has been stifled especially at a time when recession has severely crippled agriculture and the foundation of the economy in the region.

Furthermore, the odd sort of socialism employed in Egypt worsens the problem. Little has been done to combat rising food prices, which have caused nourishment to require about 40% of the average family’s income; the US in comparison only uses under 20%. Large public ownership and government review of investment projects have made obtaining funding for any entrepreneurial venture extremely difficult. To make matters worse, corruption occurs regularly, almost as an accepted part of life. All of these practices have gone unchecked for decades, with no end in sight. That is, until the so called “Days of Rage”.

I don’t want to go into the details of the revolution itself as much as I want to share my reaction to it and its definite significance. When I first heard of revolts in Egypt I automatically shrugged it off as yet another conflict in the Middle East, where support would soon crumble to the government. The only Interesting part was that the news first reached me via a YouTube video. But the next day as I picked up my iTouch and went to YouTube to catch up on the day’s featured and top viewed, sure enough, the screen was literally dominated by videos of protests. Pages and pages of them and as I watched them, I couldn’t help but question my earlier assumptions.

Shall We Eat At the Burj or On An Iceberg?

By Credit Suisse’s definition, there are more millionaires today than there are Australians. These affluent individuals control about $69.2 trillion or about a third of the world’s wealth and about a half of them reside in the United States.

Likewise, the ultra rich populace is growing as well and many of these individuals can have a very difficult time spending all their money. Contrary to the classic story of the rich man who squanders away his fortune, most individuals with assets of say over $100 M can’t just simply get rid of their money. But not to worry, just hit up Ben Elliot, founder of Quintessentially, his company that caters to the rich, helping them spend their money in whatever way they find fit. Whether it be a straightforward request like booking the $18,000 a night royal suite in Dubai’s seven star Burj-Al-Arab or handling more complex requests, Elliot can have anything arranged for you. And he really has received some crazy requests; whether it be arranging a romantic dinner on an iceberg, delivering a metal detector to find your keys on the French Alps, closing the Sydney Harbor Bridge so a member can propose, arranging a party at the pyramids or airlifting a member from one part of the Amazon to another to see the rare pink dolphins, Quintessentially has rarely failed its job.

So if you become extremely rich one day and have a “special request”, you know who to call.

Pay What You CAN

                “Pay what you want” systems have been tested off and on around the country. Recently, a group of researchers at the University of California tested this policy to see how generous we really are and if such a model would be sustainable for businesses. The procedure was really straightforward; they took the amusement park ride pictures of a 100,000 people (really big sample!), split them into two groups one of which was given a fixed rate and the second an open price, and also told half the people within each group that part of the proceeds went to charity.

                The sales were lowest amongst the fixed cost group with the pay as you want members buying almost eight times as many pictures at a higher average price too. Sales generally remained the same when considering charity, but the open ended group spent even more money. Shocking as the results may seem, this isn’t the first time such results have come up. NPR covered several restaurants that tried the same thing with their food sales one of which was a Panera. There were of course those individuals who couldn’t afford to pay much as well as those who gamed the system and chose not to pay for large amounts of food. Despite these factors, the Panera reported higher revenue and profit than a similar control restaurant.

                So the truth is, humans really our generous and these kinds of sales method is viable for certain companies. This isn’t to say that Best Buy or any other company could say offer up their iPods, TVs and Game Systems for whatever you wanted to pay nor could Ferrari do the same with their cars. But if some restaurants and other daily service businesses offered “pay as you want”, the poor would benefit and the business just may be a little richer.

Expensive? Yes, but at least we have it.

I just wanted to do a quick follow-up post about how outrageously expensive college has become. I checked out how other countries’ tuitions compare to that in the United States and we for the most part face the worst costs. In most European Union states, there is a fixed low rate for domestic students to any university. Here are a few examples: England £3,000, Ireland €900, France €165, Germany €1,000 and Australia 15,000 AUD. All in all college in America is extremely expensive but it’s important that we note that all this data covers highly industrialized and developed states. In many countries around the world, college is a privilege reserved for the wealthy elite with few others ever even having a chance to step onto a campus. Nonetheless, for a country as advanced as the USA, these kinds of costs are a discrepancy that must be addressed.

Random Update: Sick, SAT, TV

So I’ve been sick since yesterday with some kind of throat infection that I seem to get about twice or thrice a year. I’ve lost my voice, am really congested and just generally don’t feel good. Luckily, districts for swimming is still 2 weeks away and shouldn’t be affected by this. The odd thing is that I very rarely get sick with anything other than this. It’s been a really long time since I’ve had the flu or any other illness for that matter so what’s up with my throat?! I’ve thought that it could be related to my tonsils but I have absolutely no knowledge of anything medicine (except for maybe what I gleaned from AP Biology). Explanations?

On an almost equally frustrating note, I had to take an SAT this exciting weekend. I can’t disagree with the concept of an SAT; aptitude is important when it comes to college and I believe the SAT does a pretty good job at measuring this accurately. This system is also a lot better in my opinion than that of some other countries; back in India where I was born and my parents grew up, college entrance often revolves around a single achievement test. Success on the test almost solely depends upon ceaseless hours to days of studying and there are almost never any second chances. The test is administered once and you can hope for your life that it’s a good day and that you’re not sick, say with a throat infection. In that way I really do favor the SAT/ACT but that’s about as far as my preferences go. The SAT is way too long! I understand the need to measure mental endurance as well and I know that there are probably longer tests out there, but still 4 straight hours including only three short 5 minute breaks  is a little too much. The most frustrating part for me is the experimental section; for those of you unaware of this, the test makers throw in an extra 25 minute section with possible future questions. It just really annoys me that while I’m working away hard, trying to stay focused, one of the sections isn’t even going to count! Well for now I’m just going to hope that my worst section was the extra one and we’ll find out on February 10^th I believe.

On Sunday I completely lost my voice and did almost nothing but watching TV. The day started off with some NHL which is a lot of fun to watch plus the fights can’t hurt. I then moved on to the 10^th Annual Eukanuba (I think that’s how it’s spelled) dog show which was actually interesting to watch except for I can’t for the life of me understand how the judges criteria in picking the best amongst those dogs. I then watched the playoffs. For no personal reasons whatsoever, I am kind of glad the Packers won. My AP US teachers is an avid Packers fan and though we can’t make fun of him now, class should be a little easier and maybe more fun this week. I don’t watch too much football but I’ll probably be supporting the Steelers at the Superbowl.

So it’s been an unusual weekend. Feel free to answer my question or share your thoughts in the comments section below.

Wikipedia: An Underappreciated Treasure

Wikipedia recently got a lot of attention after its extremely successful fundraising campaign in which the company received $16 million in donations over the course of just 50 days. Many of the approximately half million donors from around the world contributed $20 or less each to keep the site free of advertisement (now the only remaining top 10 website to be commercial free).  In this blog entry I just wanted to briefly address one debated reason for how the website raised so much money so quickly and the accuracy of the encyclopedia itself.

Now almost any of us who frequent the internet can remember the banner that has occupied the top of Wikipedia asking for contributions over the past couple of months. And the most memorable aspect of it has for many been the face of founder Jimmy Wales. A little bit ago I heard an interesting report on NPR during a more conversational segment claiming that Wales’ face was one of the primary reasons for the campaign’s success. In a rather un-NPR-like fashion the discussion revolved around how the image of an unshaved, somewhat disheveled founder has persuaded users to donate simply to get his face off of each page. Personally I can’t say I agree with this; to me his face seemed to have an extremely friendly appeal. He looked like a smart guy who needed help almost like a real nice guy who is just going through a hard time and it kind of made me want to give too (I believe in the cause and would have but of course I got lazy and didn’t). Whatever individuals took away from the banner, there must be some merit to this argument as the website raised in about a week as much as it did in a month last year. Even when taking into account the increased traffic to the site, that’s a huge jump.  So next time you need to raise some money, one sure fire trick is to plaster a picture Jimmy Wales on your pleas.

Now onto my second topic, the accuracy of Wikipedia. To get right to the point, I hate it when teacher’s say that you are not allowed to use Wikipedia in any way, shape, or form for a project. Wikipedia is one of the few places to offer a comprehensive analysis of numerous sources in a way that’s highly accessible and easy to use. Plus to be honest, whatever the teacher says, even her most prized student is likely to start at Wikipedia prior to proceeding to “better”, “more accurate” sources. Now I’m not going to go to great details and research this, but Wikipedia is cited numerous times as having similar error margins as several highly renowned publications such as the Encyclopedia Britannica. I will concede that if we were to travel just a few years back, information was often significantly flawed. I remember back in middle school when anyone could change the information on the site and I used watch students go to random pages changing details. However, with the progression of time, Wikipedia has taken significant measures to prevent vandalism which has also allowed time to remedy falsified pages. Now, experts for the websites constantly monitor new content and verify altered information. Perhaps the biggest deterrent is the simple requirement of a user account to make changes. This has, as the company cites, prevented many would be vandals with “nothing better to do” from wasting time changing data.

In the end it’s your choice as to whether or not you use Wikipedia, but to discredit it as an unreliable source is just plain wrong. After all, the very idea of Wikipedia, a universal online hub of knowledge, is a noble one and is a symbol of the union of modern technology and amassed human intellectual achievement.

Billy Walters: Bookies Better Run

I recently blogged about Warren Buffet, the genius of Warren Buffet who  has made a fortune and built the empire of Berkshire Hathaway off of his success in the stock market. 60 minutes did a story today about Billy Walters who is in many ways, Warren’s Las Vegas counterpart. Walters’ bets on basketball and football have earned him respect, a fortune of hundreds of millions of dollars and even fear amongst Vegas book makers.

Gambling permeates nearly every aspect of Billy’s life which becomes evident when you see that he bets thousands with close friends even while golfing which was his original profession.  From golfing, Walters spent years betting his way to a fortune often doing so well and winning so unbelievably high that law enforcement has come knocking on his doorstep. Now thirty years later, no one even questions Billy who has the understood power to defy the laws of betting, losing days and even months but always winning on an annual level. The degree of his success is perhaps best demonstrated by his $3.5 million bet on New Orleans in last year’s super bowl. Nowadays, you can find Walters spending his Sunday morning’s in front of his computer monitoring stats and on the line with numerous agents supplying information and capable of placing immense bets. After that, he simply sits back and watches money occasionally slip away but more often pile into his accounts.

Whether it be changing bookie’s official victory lines or reaping millions, there honestly is no one like Billy Walters in the gambling industry.