Fieldtrip Review

Personally, I thought the fieldtrip downtown was really productive.  I learned a lot about the functions of the Federal Reserve Bank and the CME.  The lady at the Board of Trade was very knowledgeable and able to answer all our questions.  The man explaining bitcoin also seemed to know a lot about it, and everything ihe said was new to me, so that was cool. Downtown Chicago is one of my favorite places on earth, and I am looking into majoring in Economics at whatever college I choose to attend, so this fieldtrip was really fun and educating for me.  Also, my grilled chicken sandwich was really good.

Blog of the week.

One of the main themes in the book "Freakonomics" is that conventional wisdom is often wrong.  I couldn't agree more with this statement.  There are so many common "facts" out there today that everyone believes to be true.  Most of these facts, however, are probably either partially or completely false.  The example in the book is that if someone drinks on average eight glasses of water a day, they are expected to live significantly longer.  This is something that has been believed to be true by almost everyone who has heard this.  However, while its by no means bad for you, drinking eight glasses of water a day has no significant impact on your health.  Wisdom is always changing.  To me, there really isn't such a thing as "conventional wisdom."  Its almost like an oxy moron.  Wisdom revolves around the unconventional and unorthadox.  If wisdom was conventional, then wouldn't every normal person be wise? And if that were the case, then noone could be considered wise.

Basketball is Here

Basketball season is officially in full swing, which marks my favorite time of the year.  The NBA season has begun, as well as the NCAA season.  High school basketball has started practice, and the games will be here soon.  A topic recently has been the debate about which is better, the NBA or NCAA. Personally, I enjoy watching college basketball much more than I like watching the NBA. In professional basketball, the players play for the money. At the collegiate level, the players play to win championships, which is much more respectable.  Everyone knows that it is not the best players that win, but the best teams.  This is much more important to the college players because they do not have the freedom to just be paid to do what they do best yet. Today in the NBA, the referees are so lenient because the superstars are so powerful and will complain without repercussions.  If the players in the NCAA complain, the coaches will simply bench them. This creates better chemistry on teams, which in turn creates more competitive and respectable teams and tournaments all together.

Writer's Blog

Right now, I have writer's block, restricting me from adding to my blog.  I'm going to call this writer's blog.  This post is due by class today, but I just cannot find anything interesting to write about.  I'm kind of hoping that if I just continue talking about not knowing what to blog about, something will come to me.  Unfortunately, it has not happened yet, and I kind of don't think that will happen any time soon.

The Economic Side of Halloween

Tomorrow is the last day of October, which is also Halloween. Although I will not be trick-or-treating, I will not be completely out of the festivities. I will most likely be answering the door for the trick-or-treaters that are brave enough to ring the doorbell (my mom put up spooky decorations. I was too scared to use the front door for a week). Every kid out there knows that it's all about the candy. This may be one of the only times when its quantity over quality. Only the coolest kids fill up their buckets of candy all the way.  And its usually the ones that think like an economist that recieve the most candy. This is my guide to getting the most candy.
       First things first; door etiquitte. Kids should travel in groups, but not too big of groups. I would say about four to five kids is a solid number. Tomorrow, if I see eight kids come up to my door at a time, I'll be more reluctant to hand out a lot of candy to each kid because I'll be afraid that I might run out later in the night. If I see just a few kids walking up, I'll hook it up with a handful of candy for each of them. Also, the golden rule is, no one is getting candy unless they say "Trick-or-Treat!"  There are certain traditions that are worth keeping around. I'm giving out free candy here, the least the kids can do is say those three magic words. Saying "thank you" never ever hurts either. The face-to-face confrontation is huge when trying to get the most candy possible.
       The person giving out candy wants to be impressed by the costume.  The more effort that goes into your costume, the more candy you'll get. If a kid goes as a ghost with a bed sheet over their head, they are getting a jolly rancher from me. Creativity, originality and funniness all are contributing factors for those of you still trying to find a costume.
       Arguably the most important intangible is the planning of your route ahead of time.  Efficiency is key.  It is crucial not to waste time deciding whether to make a right or a left at a fork in the road while trick-or-treating. Mapping out the route can eliminate this risk easily, leading to more time for the candy income. Move quickly, and bring a hat, gloves, and a water bottle so there's no need to stop at home for anything.
       Of course, I will be passing this information onto my little brother. He will be sharing with me, he just doesn't know it yet.

Kobe Bryant is an Economist

The NBA season is getting ready to tip off, which marks my favorite time of the year. The holidays are right around the corner and the basketball season will be in full swing within the next 30 days.  One of my favorite players, Kobe Bryant, is in the process of rehabilitating his achilles tedon, which he tore in the playoffs last May. Some said his career was over, and most thought he would not be back for a while, possibly missing all of this upcoming season.  But noone expected Kobe to be where he is now.  He is probably still at least two and a half months away from playing in an official game, but Bryant has amazed everyone with how quickly he is recovering. Time and time again Kobe has proved that he is the league's toughest player, but he must have been doubting himself big-time in the training room this past May.  The regular season wasn't ideal. The Los Angeles Lakers did not live up to expectations, and they were lucky to make the playoffs. Kobe knew the diagnosis as soon as the injury occurred. He knew that he was done playing basketball for a while.  But instead of being helped off the court, he actually slid the tendon back into place for the time being and shot his free throws before walking off the court under his own power.  That right there is enough to show why he is the toughest player in the NBA. After the game, Mr. Bryant had some decisions to make.  He realizes his age is climbing. What does he value more? His health or basketball? For a lot of people, the easy decision would be to retire.  Surely Kobe has more than enough money to support his family for generations to come. But I am willing to bet that the easy decision for Kobe would be to rehab his ankle and do everything in his power to make a comeback.  After all, the only things Bryant has known are loyalty, toughness, and winning.  In more ways than one did Kobe have to think like an economist.  Would he retire or attempt to come back? This decision was probably easy.  His values are very clear. It has always been about basketball.  aHow would he go about his rehab? There are probably more ways than one to go about a torn achilles tendon.  Did one way have a higher marginal benefit than another? What about the opportunity cost of the process? Would he have to sacrifice some time of the regular season for a full recovery? Or maybe one way was more risky but allowed him to return sooner. Kobe had no other choice but to act like an economist the day everything went wrong last May.  I just can't wait to see my favorite player return, hopefully sooner rather than later.

Is GDP a Good Indicator of how the Economy is Doing?

I don't believe that GDP is a good indicator of how the economy is doing.  GDP does not take into account anything that is sold on the black market.  Although it may be illegal and I personally do not approve of it, selling things in the black market provides jobs for some that are not qualified or are not in a position to get a job that counts towards the GDP.  No matter how hard the government tries to eliminate the transactions that happen illegally, they will always happen.  The black market provides jobs and keeps money flowing, but does not count towards GDP.  It's almost impossible to count the black market, so GDP cannot count it accurately. Therefore, GDP cannot accurately measure the economy's success.

The Need for Greed

A topic in Econ this week was greed. Naturally, the question that arose was, "is greed a good thing or a bad thing?"  Over the years, I've noticed that I've become much more opinionated.  That's not really a good thing or a bad thing, it just kind of happened.  However, I'm having a tough time deciding if greed is good or bad. My initial instinct was that greed is definitely beneficial to society.  And in a lot of cases I still stand by that.  Without greed, there are no world leaders.  Without greed noone is being taken advantage of and being stepped on, which sounds like a good thing. But in a way, since no one is being taken advantage of, isn't everyone being taken advantage of? To prove this, let's go back to the Prehistoric Era.  A Tyrannosarus Rex was a breed of dinosaur that was strictly carnivorous.  But as a group, all T-Rex's decide that eating other dinosaurs is greedy because they are taking away the lives of others for their own good.  So all T-Rex's stop eating and die out, affecting the whole biosphere and causing all dinosaurs to die.  There's my theory on how the dinosaurs became extinct; because T-Rex's stopped being greedy.  In order to make it to the top, sometimes people must be greedy and do things they aren't proud of. It's a way of life. Hunt or be hunted.  With all this being said, there are certainly perks of greediness.  But too much of a good thing can be dangerous.  I believe that is is greed that has caused this technology-geared generation.  Kids want more, and they want more now.  When I was in elementary school, my friends and I were always playing basketball outside or making up games to play.  Nowadays, the parks look like something out of an old western film, with a tumbleweed passing through and no one to be seen. Everyone is too busy inside on some sort of technology. Second graders have cell phones and iPods. It kills me to say that, because I am way too young to sound like my dad or grandpa telling me how hard he had it as a kid.  But the greed and wants for tangible items at such an early age has destroyed the imagination of kids.  During any given passing period at Conant, you could be bumped into ten to twelve times by students wandering around with their heads down looking at their phones.  The greediness kicks in because everyone wants to feel popular: to have the most Facebook friends or the most followers on Twitter. Noone knows how to use their imagination effectively anymore.  The creativity in a student's mind is used to gain retweets and favorites on a post, it's not used for innovation or anything productive for that matter.  Maybe I'm wrong and I just have a skewed vision because it's just one school: monkey see monkey do.  Either way, the point is still evident.  Greed can either exploit one's potential, or greed can completely destroy it.

Washington Takes A Vacation

The government is indefinitely on break. Barack Obama is taking some time off and vacationing in the Bahamas. Every politician residing in Washington D.C. is currently drinking piña coladas with his or her feet up poolside at a five-star hotel, using the money that they are getting under the table while everyone else turns the other cheek.  Obviously, this is not true, but it might as well be.  The Sentate and House are unable to agree on a federal spending budget, and as soon as the deadline of 12:00 midnight on October 1st passed, the government shutdown was effective. No, that does not mean that the USA will break into a state of emergency, similar to that in the recent movie, "The Purge." For the most part, everything will function normally.  Cops will still be patrolling the streets and responding to emergency calls, security guards will continue to protect, and Congress will work on reaching an agreement.  However, non-essencial expenses, such as museums and transportation for college games between schools such as Navy and Army, will be cut.  That leaves the employees who work at these expendable locations unemployed for the time being, which is an obvious problem.  To me, the arguments between the Republicans (House) and Democrats (Senate) sound eerily similar to the ones I hear between girls in the hallways of James B. Conant High.  Both sides will refuse to admit that they are wrong, and it becomes a challenge of who can convince more people to hate the other side. No ground is gained, and in fact, the problems escalate, all communications cease and the only things that are exchanged are dirty looks. That being said, the conflict in Washington holds a little more significance than the very sophisticated bickering between the teenage females venting at their lockers to their friends.  The Democrats want to fund everything.  The Republicans are also in favor of funding everything with the exception of ObamaCare.  Maybe I'm not in any position to do all of this bashing on the parties of Washington, because my background political knowledge is very thin, almost to the point of embarrassing.  However, I know that an unnormal amount of stubbornness must be present for a politician to be successful, along with a very good poker face and very good lying abilities.  Therefore, I'm going to go ahead and guess that one of these parties knows that they are fighting a losing battle, but they are trying to bluff and save face by holding out in hopes of the other party caving.  Only time will tell with this, and for the sake of America, let's hope its sooner rather than later.

Spongebob's Supply and Demand

The topic of the week in Econ is supply and demand.  I can't think of a better example of supply and demand than in an episode of Spongebob Squarepants.  In this particular episode, Mr. Krabs, an economist if there ever was one, is having a yard sale.  He convinces Spongebob to buy a hat that holds soda cans and has straws connecting to the mouth for people that would like to drink their soda in a hands-free situation. Believing it is totally worthless, Mr. Krabs tells Spongebob that it once belonged to Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, and that "he was number 1!" Rumors surface that the hat is the last of its kind, and it is very valuable.  Someone offers one million dollars to Spongebob for the hat, but he declines because it belongs to Smitty.  Mr. Krabs is beside himself for selling such a rare and valuable hat.  However, the following day, a warehouse is discovered that contains dozens of the hat, and all of the sudden the price drops drastically and the hat is basically worthless.  The demand for the hat was high because the supply was thought to be low, so the price skyrocketed.  But once the supply increased, both the demand and price dropped drastically.

Syria and the President's Decision

A couple of weeks ago, President Barack Obama spoke on national television about the issues in Syria.  His take was clear; Obama does not want to get America involved, but he will if he believes it is called for.  When Mr. Obama said "America is not the world's policemen," he had my attention. I completely agree with this statement, but at the same time, he still leaves that overlooming promise that the USA will not hesitate to do the right thing.  The issues in Syria could potentially escalate into something worse if not handled correctly.  One motto that we have lived and died by is "America does not negotiate with terrorists."  Syria is and will be no exception.  Obama may not be the best president in history, but he has my support with when dealing with the Syrian government.

The NFL Season is Back

This past thursday, September 5th, 2013, marked the beginning of the NFL season. Between watching my favorite teams and managing my fantasy roster, I have very little free time on sundays.  Throughout the week, I am constantly looking at my fantasy football rosters (I currently manage four teams) to make sure I put myself in the best position to win.  Like any other fantasy owner, I'm always faced with decisions.  Just this week, I had to decide whether to start Robert Griffin III or Cam Newton. The Panthers were playing Seattle, one of the top defensive teams in the league.  Who do I value more at this point in time? Which quarterback's marginal benefit is greater? Weighing the pros and cons, I decided to go with RGIII, whose Redskins are playing a much weaker Eagles defense.  Cam Newton, sitting on my bench, only had 12 points, so as long as Griffin can produce more than that, this economic risk will have paid off for me.

Marginalism

This week, our first full week of senior year, we learned about some economic concepts in Mr. Stewart's 8th period class.  One of those concepts was marginalism.  You have the marginal benefits and marginal costs.  One has to decide before acting which is higher.  If the action results in a higher marginal benefit, then it is worth it.  On the contrary, if the marginal cost is higher than the benefit, then it would be obviously wise not to perform the action.  Sometimes, however, you may have invested in something while the marginal benefit was high and the cost was low, but as time passes, the marginal cost surpasses the marginal benefit.  Now there is a decision to be made.  Does one stay loyal to their investment or sacrifice their initial investment and drop out?  Many times, this happens in poker where you're dealt a good hand, but the river doesn't show the cards you were looking for. At this point I just bluff and hope for the best.