Tag: Economics

Who do I want to be in 10 years?

by Chanel Rose, posted in About Me, Business Ethics, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee

Who do I want to be in 10 years?

In 10 years, or today if possibly, I would like to be a productive member of society. Not just holding down a 9 to 5 job, and paying my taxes. I want to contribute to the betterment of society. Unfortunately, I am young and an idealist, among so many other labels.

There are many jobs and careers that I understand CAN ASSIST in the betterment of society; however, those jobs I do not see in themselves as a benefit to society. That mentality is part of my upbring, and I am working on changing that. With that said, I can’t for my own well being, work in those fields.

In another age, I might have been a philosopher–if there were ever an age that a woman could be such. The future is such a wonderful and dreadful thing to envision. My dream career would be to shape that future. Which may be why economics, especially behavioral economics interests me so greatly. However, even that may not get me to where I want to go.

In 10 years, I would like to see our civilization to the point where fewer people where food and shelter insecure. It is heartbreaking to see so many homeless and working poor struggling to get by. As a humanitarian, I cannot sit by and allow this to be.

In between now and the end of my life, I would like to be part of the change in society that eliminates poverty. Is this realistic? In my wording most definitely not. However, there is no excuse as to why we all should not be working toward the increase standard of living of society as a whole–especially the disadvantaged, the disabled, the homeless, the poor, and the ALL of society.

Tips of Ending Poverty: #2 Reflect Productivity

by Chanel Rose, posted in Business Ethics, Economics, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee, Personal Finance

You don’t want to bust your a$$ making someone else rich while you go no where. Do not make others do that for you either.

Why do so many people want to or do start their own business? There are so many reasons why people want to own and/or run a business. Get rich. Make their own hours. Answer to no one, but themselves. Stick to The Man. All these reasons and more, can be summed up with the fact that they are tired of working all the time and getting nowhere real quick.

A rare few start a business because they have a new idea to take to market. We aren’t talking about those individuals.

It is awesome that people have the gumption to start their own business. It is great fuel for our economy. However, it is despicable that people are motivated to venture out on their own because they are not being properly compensated.

It has been a while since I have looked at the numbers, so bare with me on this. Off the top of my head, productivity has doubled since 1970-ish. Since then the average household income has stagnated.

To put it simply, pay your employees what they are worth–which isn’t always in line with what the market pays them.

Commentary: My thoughts on “Setting the Student Loan Record Straight: Why the Real Student Debt Crisis Lives in the For-Profits” by Maggie McGraph

by Chanel Rose, posted in Economics, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee

Commentary: My thoughts on “Setting the Student Loan Record Straight: Why the Real Student Debt Crisis Lives in the For-Profits” by Maggie McGraph

I am usually skeptical when anyone suggests they are lying to you! However, Maggie (a Forbes Staff member) actually presented statistics – and enough information about the statistics that you can look up the information yourself! First I would like to thank Maggie for writing a piece that was informative and not emotionally charged. Second, I would like to state that thanks to her article, I feel slightly (not much, but slightly nonetheless) better about our economic standing as a country.

It is nice to know that not all of my peers are drowning in student loan debt — though it is still sad that some are. It is nice to know that there are many of my peers who are able to achieve milestones such as homeownership.

This little tidbit of information is going in my back pocket as I perform more and more research about  today’s economic situation.

Now,  I would also like to point out that, although having a college education puts you in a better financial position, it doesn’t mean that we are not experiencing economic hardship (individual, collectively, or any other slice of pie). Yes, having a college education has the potential to put you in a higher income bracket. As a result, you may be more financially able to make big purchases than those in your age group who do not have a college education. I would suspect that this will always be the case.

College = “Nice” Job = Big Purchases

As I contemplate what the author wrote more and more, I wonder…. is she inadvertently pulling the wool over our eyes? She may not be doing it intentionally, but it seems like she has missed the bigger picture. OF COURSE A COLLEGE EDUCATION PUTS YOU IN A BETTER FINANCIAL POSITION THAN NOT HAVING ONE. She compares the purchasing power of a group divided by who has student loan debt and those who do not. That is where the bias and inaccuracy is located.

We all know that having a college education gets you more bucks and more bucks lets you buy things. However, compared to our parents and grandparents, we are delaying purchasing a home — as I recall from past readings. This is where I see the crisis.

Compared to generations past, we are less financially capable. This finding only demonstrates that a college education is still worth the ever growing price tag. I wonder though, if the cost of education and incomes continue to grow disproportionately as they have recently, how much longer will a college education be profitable?

What is Feudalism?

by Chanel Rose, posted in Business Ethics, Economics, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee
feu·dal·ism
ˈfyo͞odlˌizəm/
noun

historical
  1. the dominant social system in medieval Europe, in which the nobility held lands from the Crown in exchange for military service, and vassals were in turn tenants of the nobles, while the peasants (villeins or serfs) were obliged to live on their lord’s land and give him homage, labor, and a share of the produce, notionally in exchange for military protection.

Are we heading to a feudalistic society? Our rich keep getting richer and comparatively — and actually — our poor are getting poorer. I don’t want to live in a feudalistic society. Do you?

Some Economic Statistics for United States of America

by Chanel Rose, posted in Economics, My 2 Cents and Sadly No Coffee

Gross Domestic Product – GDP – (2013) — $16.77 trillion

Population (2013) — 316.5 million

GDP per capita (2013) $53,041.98

Median Wage (2012) — $26,695

Median Household Income — $50,500

66% of American earn less than $41,212

————————————————————————————————–

WTF! Two thirds of Americans earn about 77% of what they produce, but it is even worse than that. If you don’t know what “median” means, it is this:

denoting or relating to a value or quantity lying at the midpoint of a frequency distribution of observed values or quantities, such that there is an equal probability of falling above or below it.

Basically, there is an equal number of people earning less than $26,695 as there is how make more. So …. half of all Americans earn just over 50% of what they produce.

In 2014, the poverty level was set at $23,850 household income for a family of four. WTF!

How does this make sense to anyone? How does this not outrage more people? This is so …..

In America, we are expected to support ourselves. How is this possible with the state of our economy? It is so difficult for people to be self sustaining in our economy, and those who are more than capable of sustaining themselves plus others are unwilling to help.

Our poverty might be more favorable to another country’s poverty, but our poverty is still horrible. It is not right for someone to not know where their next meal will come from or not have a secure and safe place to rest. Just because it could be worse does not mean that it is tolerable.

Please Google the below terms to see the numbers yourself:
United States of America GDP
Average American Income
United States of America GDP per capita