I was reading an article in the March 30 Newsweek called “Don't Let the 'Big Men' Win,” by Michael Kazin. It gave a little history lesson of the Great Depression and talked about the AIG bonuses and how they could be a threat to capitalism. It was wrong for them to use the money that way but I do not think the bonuses are a threat to capitalism. Companies can do whatever they want with their money because in a capitalist system, the government doesn’t get involved. The threat to capitalism isn’t the bonuses; it is the government giving out money to companies in the first place.
I have been reading about the current situation with GM. Basically, they were given billions of dollars and Obama had the CEO, Rick Wagoner, resign. Now, Obama is developing a plan for GM on how to save their company. Stuff like this is the real threat to capitalism. The government came in and took total control. This is socialism.
The Newsweek talked about Dorothea Lange’s picture of a sign saying, “THIS IS YOUR COUNTRY. DON'T LET THE BIG MEN TAKE IT AWAY FROM YOU.” The biggest man, President Obama, is taking our country’s capitalist system away. I think it is wrong that the government is intervening so much.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
#9 3/24/09 Spend Money
The March 23 Newsweek had a very interesting article called, "Stop Saving Now!," by Daniel Gross. The article said that because of the recession, people are not spending any money so businesses don't get any customers so the economy gets worse. Gross said, "If everyone saves during a slack period, economic activity will decrease, thus making everyone poorer." People think they are doing the right thing by saving money but it would actually be better for the economy and the country as a whole if people weren't so thrifty.
"Hoarders must open their wallets and become consumers, and businesses must once again be willing to roll the dice. Nobody is advocating a return to the debt-fueled days of 4,000-square-foot second homes, $1,000 handbags and $6 specialty coffees. But in our economy, in which 70 percent of activity is derived from consumers, we do need our neighbors to spend." I know that money doesn't grow on trees but if we have a little extra laying around, spend it and remind yourself that you just helped everyone out by pumping money back into the economy.
"Hoarders must open their wallets and become consumers, and businesses must once again be willing to roll the dice. Nobody is advocating a return to the debt-fueled days of 4,000-square-foot second homes, $1,000 handbags and $6 specialty coffees. But in our economy, in which 70 percent of activity is derived from consumers, we do need our neighbors to spend." I know that money doesn't grow on trees but if we have a little extra laying around, spend it and remind yourself that you just helped everyone out by pumping money back into the economy.
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
#8 3/17/09 The Recession and the Environment
We are currently in an economic recession. Some people may even call it a depression, but some people are crazy. You may think that nothing good can come from a recession like this. I thought everthing about it was bad until I read the Newsweek article called "The Recession's Green Lining" by Sharon Begley from the March 16 issue. The article talked about how the global recession is closing dirty, pollution-emitting factories. These factories would be operating right now, pumping toxins into the air, if it wasn't for the economic crisis, which forced them to close.
Begley specifically talked about the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, located in Siberia. The mill had a terrible smell, it put chemicals into the air and water, and the pollution was killing plants and animals, including the nerpa, the world's only freshwater seal. The article said the mill "has been belching foul-smelling sulfates into the air and chlorides, phenols and other chemicals into the lake since it was built during the Cold War." The people living there were mad about all the damage it was causing to their area and to Lake Baikal. Environmentalists were trying to shut down the mill for years but were unsuccessful. Then, with the recession and a loss of business and funding, the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill closed and will hopefully never open again. In the article, Marina Rikhvanova, the head of the environmental group, Baikal Wave, said, "The economic crisis worked like magic." Environmentalists rejoice! We can't afford to keep open factories!
China, India, the United States, and many other manufacturing countries have closed many plants and cut pollution drastically. But, when we come out of this recession, the factories will probably open back up and start killing animals and melting the ozone layer all over again. I think we need to use this time to find alternatives to our current factory production methods. We have to come up with new ways to make the same supplies but with less damage to the environment. Pulp and paper mills like the one in Siberia could find alternatives to the chemicals they treat the raw materials with. Other factories could use solar or wind power as fuel. The government could make stricter rules and regulations about pollution. After the recession, we can not go back to how factories used to be.
Begley specifically talked about the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill, located in Siberia. The mill had a terrible smell, it put chemicals into the air and water, and the pollution was killing plants and animals, including the nerpa, the world's only freshwater seal. The article said the mill "has been belching foul-smelling sulfates into the air and chlorides, phenols and other chemicals into the lake since it was built during the Cold War." The people living there were mad about all the damage it was causing to their area and to Lake Baikal. Environmentalists were trying to shut down the mill for years but were unsuccessful. Then, with the recession and a loss of business and funding, the Baikal Pulp and Paper Mill closed and will hopefully never open again. In the article, Marina Rikhvanova, the head of the environmental group, Baikal Wave, said, "The economic crisis worked like magic." Environmentalists rejoice! We can't afford to keep open factories!
China, India, the United States, and many other manufacturing countries have closed many plants and cut pollution drastically. But, when we come out of this recession, the factories will probably open back up and start killing animals and melting the ozone layer all over again. I think we need to use this time to find alternatives to our current factory production methods. We have to come up with new ways to make the same supplies but with less damage to the environment. Pulp and paper mills like the one in Siberia could find alternatives to the chemicals they treat the raw materials with. Other factories could use solar or wind power as fuel. The government could make stricter rules and regulations about pollution. After the recession, we can not go back to how factories used to be.
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
#7 3/10/09 Pirates
Piracy may seem like a thing of the past but it is still happening around the world. It is a major problem off the coast of Somalia. The pirates steal ships and hold the crew and cargo ransom.
These aren't the peg-legged, eyepatch wearing, parrot sitting on their shoulders pirates like there used to be. The Somali pirates work in crews of fishermen, militiamen, and techological experts. They use fishing boats and other small boats to get next to the ship and then they climb on. Armed with sub-machine guns, rocket launchers, and hand guns, these pirates are not to be messed with. They take the crew hostage and hijack the ship and hold it for millions of dollars ransom.
One ship the pirates took was the Sirius Star. It is a Saudi-Arabian oil tanker that was holding $100 million worth of oil. The pirates were paid $25 million for the ship and crew. Another was a Ukrainian ship called the Faina that was filled with guns, grenade launchers, ammunition, and tanks. In the article "Somali Pirates Capture Tanks and Global Notice" by Jeffrey Gettleman, an anonymous Western diplomat says, "If there are tanks on board, I don't think there's a chance in hell they can get them unloaded." It is worth $30 million and the ransom has still not been paid but the United States Navy is chasing after it.
Some ships hire bodyguards but they haven't been successful in stopping the attacks. Now, many countries send their navies to patrol the waters in that area to ensure that this doesn't happen anymore. Along with their navies, I think countries need to send their militaries to stop the source of the pirates on land. We can't just sit around and do nothing because innocent people are going to get hurt. The pirates will never be truly stopped until we get to the heart of the problem.
So, what do you think needs to be done about the pirate attacks?
These aren't the peg-legged, eyepatch wearing, parrot sitting on their shoulders pirates like there used to be. The Somali pirates work in crews of fishermen, militiamen, and techological experts. They use fishing boats and other small boats to get next to the ship and then they climb on. Armed with sub-machine guns, rocket launchers, and hand guns, these pirates are not to be messed with. They take the crew hostage and hijack the ship and hold it for millions of dollars ransom.
One ship the pirates took was the Sirius Star. It is a Saudi-Arabian oil tanker that was holding $100 million worth of oil. The pirates were paid $25 million for the ship and crew. Another was a Ukrainian ship called the Faina that was filled with guns, grenade launchers, ammunition, and tanks. In the article "Somali Pirates Capture Tanks and Global Notice" by Jeffrey Gettleman, an anonymous Western diplomat says, "If there are tanks on board, I don't think there's a chance in hell they can get them unloaded." It is worth $30 million and the ransom has still not been paid but the United States Navy is chasing after it.
Some ships hire bodyguards but they haven't been successful in stopping the attacks. Now, many countries send their navies to patrol the waters in that area to ensure that this doesn't happen anymore. Along with their navies, I think countries need to send their militaries to stop the source of the pirates on land. We can't just sit around and do nothing because innocent people are going to get hurt. The pirates will never be truly stopped until we get to the heart of the problem.
So, what do you think needs to be done about the pirate attacks?
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
#6 3/3/09 Time Squad
A long time ago, when I was nine years old, there was a TV show on Cartoon Network called "Time Squad" that I watched all the time. It was funny and educational!
According to the Wikipedia article about Time Squad, "Time is like a rope, and, as it is woven at one end, ages and gradually unravels and frays at the other. In the context of the show, this often means that historical figures have made different, and often anachronistic, choices in life, and as such will not be able to fulfill the role that history says they fulfilled." Basically, historical figures messed up big time and it was Time Squad's job to clean up their mess.
Time Squad consisted of a buff man named Buck Tuddrussel who was in charge of the team, a robot named Larry 3000, and an orphan boy named Otto Osworth. It was a goofy group but they always got the job done.
One person they helped was Eli Whitney. He invented flesh eating robots instead of the cotton gin. They really had to fix that! Another was Edgar Allen Poe. Instead of writing dark, scary poetry, he was really happy and writing children books. The Time Squad simply could not let Poe enjoy life. They had to make him suffer and hate the world so he would write poems like "The Raven." They did. Good thing they did because otherwise, juniors in Honors English would not have the pleasure of reading Poe's poems and searching for literary devices. Yay Time Squad!
According to the Wikipedia article about Time Squad, "Time is like a rope, and, as it is woven at one end, ages and gradually unravels and frays at the other. In the context of the show, this often means that historical figures have made different, and often anachronistic, choices in life, and as such will not be able to fulfill the role that history says they fulfilled." Basically, historical figures messed up big time and it was Time Squad's job to clean up their mess.
Time Squad consisted of a buff man named Buck Tuddrussel who was in charge of the team, a robot named Larry 3000, and an orphan boy named Otto Osworth. It was a goofy group but they always got the job done.
One person they helped was Eli Whitney. He invented flesh eating robots instead of the cotton gin. They really had to fix that! Another was Edgar Allen Poe. Instead of writing dark, scary poetry, he was really happy and writing children books. The Time Squad simply could not let Poe enjoy life. They had to make him suffer and hate the world so he would write poems like "The Raven." They did. Good thing they did because otherwise, juniors in Honors English would not have the pleasure of reading Poe's poems and searching for literary devices. Yay Time Squad!
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