Blogging deadline has come and gone

The deadline for blogs to count toward your grade was 9:00am April 24, 2005. You are welcome to continue blogging, but no points will be awarded for those posted after the above deadline.

Can UNC Survive

Can the UNC men's team survive losing it's top six scorers? They lost 4 to the draft and 2 to graduation. How will UNC recover from this loss. Their seventh leading scoring only averaged 3.7 points per game.
And what happened to these guys wanting to stay in school. Marvin Williams could have skipped college but he said he wanted to play college ball. He wanted to go to UNC. So much for wanting to play college ball. Yeah he played one year but he acted like he was going to stay longer.
Who will make the biggest impact? Felton, May, and Williams stock only went up these year while McCants dropped considerably. Honestly I believe Williams will be the best NBA player. There are many point guards in the NBA that can do what Felton does. May is a tweener. Not big enough for center not fast enough for power forward. McCants has the NBA attitude but he will just be average. Williams has the body like KG.
So where does this put Roy Williams and the UNC?

Reality TV Makes It Tough for Miss America

The craze of reality television has caused the ratings for the Miss America pageant to drastically decrease. The pageant has been completely dropped by two networks and is currently without representation by a network for the first time in history. Some analysts feel that viewers are so intrigued by reality shows that the Miss America pageant has become stale and out of date. Fear Factor has created a new form of the Miss America pageant where the contestants are asked to perform different tasks based on the show. Fear Factor Miss USA has received more viewers than the original Miss America. Miss America officials have began researching a new way to establish more viewers, which may include revamping the pageant.

Reality television has become the new trend for television shows and has been a difficult rival to compete with. Hopefully, the Miss America pageant will not have to stoop to this level in order to stay on the air.

Domestic Box Office down for 9th Straight Week

Overall business for the motion picture industry was down for the nineth straight week. The week's biggest opener, The Interpreter, debuted with a fairly strong $22.8 million. The other new release, A Lot Like Love, opened with a somewhat disappointing $7.7 million.

For nearly two months, the box office has trailed behind last year's impressive numbers. Last year, The Passion of the Christ proved to be the spark that brought movie goers out in very large numbers. This year, no film has had that same effect. While the new releases like Sin City and Sahara haven't been total busts, they haven't brought in the money like studios hoped they would.

The movie industry is limping into the summer season, the busiest and most profitable time of the year. The industry has been holding its collective breath, waiting for the film that will put the year back in a good light. The summer has quite a few offerings: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Kingdom of Heaven, Stars Wars Episode II: Revenge of the Sith, Batman Begins, Fantastic Four, and more. Certainly, the industry hopes a few of these movies will cause fans to flock to the theaters. If not, this year could go down in history as one of the poorer years at the movies.

No Bonus for American Airlines exec

Gerard Arpey, the chairman and chief executive officer of American Airlines mad $518,837 last year, with no bonus. American Airlines said that Arpey voluntarily declined a pay increase. Beginning May 1, Arpey, other American Airline execs and non-union employees will get a 1.5 percent salary increase.

This is the latest example of top airline executives not enjoying the high salaries and major bonuses that they once had. The entire airline industry has suffered greatly since 9/11, and continue to do so. We are currently in the midst of the worst ever financial downturn in airline history. This latest example shows that not only the regular workers are feeling the effects, but the top level management as well.

Jobless claims plummet

While the economy is on a downward spiral, there seems to be a positive...Or at least appears to be one at this moment. The unemployment rate has reported to been decreasing, falling under the 300,000 mark for the second time in almost three years. What do you think is contributing to this decrease? Do you think it is a result to Bush's policies to decrease unemployment or something else? More importantly do you see this trend continuing, and how long must it continue before the Bush administration get credit? Does he deserve any?

I saw this one coming!

"Under existing tax rates and reasonable assumptions about other spending...Projections make clear that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years," Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee. Greenspan continues to recognize these deficits and enormous about of government spenders might lead to stagnation or worse! The government in my opinion needs to get a grip on this before it gets worse. But I must say that I saw this one coming. An increase in national defense and other government programs have increase the government deficit to unbelievable high levels. There must be an economic policy put in place to control this tremendous problem. What would you suggest the government should do to get this economic plague under control?

KFC: Back in the Fryer

After 14 years of trying to downplay the image of greasy, fried chicken, KFC is returning to its roots. It recently opened a new restaurant in its hometown of Louisville, Kentucky, called "Kentucky Fried Chicken," instead of the "KFC" that is found on almost all the restuarants today.

KFC's sales have been negative or flat for over 16 straight months. It is still recovering from a failed attempt last year to promote healthier food in its restaurants. Sales in recent months have slightly improved, however, in part due to its new 99 cent Snacker chicken sandwich (which is amazing, by the way).

The new Kentucky Fried Chicken in Louisville is also equipped with a free digital jukebox, low set tables, and features a younger image of the founder, Colonel Sanders. This model will be used on 50 other restaurants, being remodeled in this new image. Kentucky Fried Chicken hopes to capitalize on its recent increase in sales.

It seems that after a relatively long period of weak sales and marginal profits, Kentucky Fried Chicken is moving in the right direction. Hopefully it can continue to ride this wave of success as it attempts to revitalize its image.

Medtronic settles patent fight

This is an interesting debate going on. How do you feel about patents and would you agree that this story and Medtronic is creating a medical monopoly? After this deal is settled a transfer of ownership to Medtronic of all inventions related to the diagnosis and treatment of the spine will be mandatory. My main concern is this limits what is avaliable to the consumer and will continue to keep prices inflated. What do you think about medical patents and how this settlement has been handled?

Free Agency

In class we talked about free agency and how in a bidding war, it is the second highest bidder that determines the players' salary. This article talks about how the Cowboys signed Darian Barnes from free agency. Barnes was signed to a one year contract for $655,000. Assuming that this price is above the league minimum, we can guess that $655,000 was a little bit higher than the revenue the second highest bidder expected to receive from signing Barnes. The Cowboys were obviously the only team that expected to receive a revenue greater than this price, which is why they signed him. To read the article, go to http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/wire?section=nfl&id=2041978

Gay Rights?

According to ABC news, Microsoft would rather focus on their business rather than support the gay rights bill. I thought this was business as usual, and that business always comes first before supporting a gay rights bill. Evidently, some people are upset by this. I don't know, seems confusing and mixed up to me. What do you think? Business as usual, or support the gays?

Talk about pressure....

9.75 BILLION dollars is what Verizon wireless has to come up with, or better, in order to win the bidding discression they have been going with Qwest. This will allow either company to take over MCI, which would respectively pull in much more profit. Verizon is currently at the 7.5 Billion bidding cost. They have 5 business days to produce a new proposal.

What do you think, do you think these costs are sky rocketing too high for Verizon, or will they come back with a higher bid? Will it really benefit them as much as they hope if they do take over MCI?

oil prices... not so high??

According to ABC news, the cost of gasoline really isn't as high as we see it from the outside. Along with inflation and the rising costs of everything else, on the pricing scale, oil is still "cheap". ABC reports that up until a year ago.. they were "giving the stuff away". Is oil really as cheap as they say it is, or have prices started reaching a high that many may not be able to attend to?

puchase or not?

assume you just have 50,000 dollars in your hand. you are thinking about buying a house. there is a 100,000 one for sale. it is really a nice house and you know you love it so much. will you buy it?

there are more and more company offer "low-interest" loan for car, house, ETC. If you are in the above situation, what will you do? you may put the 50,000 into bank, and wait. you may get 100,000 some years later; you may put these money into stock market, you can win but you abosolutely can loss; Or you may apply a "low interest rate" loan for the house. you can get the house immediately. but if someday, you lose your job. you don't have more money to pay for the monthly bill. What can you do at that time?

think about it.

How safe is not safe enough??

According to Fox News:
Congress is about to make America less safe. The president shouldn’t stand for it.
The answer may be for George W. Bush to do something he’s never done before: Tell Congress he will veto the homeland-security appropriations bill. Apparently, they may decide the 13,997 projects (totaling $27.3 billion) identified by the Citizens Against Government Waste in its 2005 Congressional Pig Book aren’t enough. If it ends the moratorium on earmarks for the 2006 appropriations bill, Congress would open the door to ever more pork barrel spending — just as the 9/11 Commission warned against.
Do you really think these spendings will take away from homeland security?

do you want to be a free-rider?

In last Friday econ211 class, we discussed the "free-rider" phenomenon. do you want to be a free rider in the market?on one hand, being a free rider can earn more money and get rich. But in the other hand, as a free rider, you may be blamed by your competitor or partner, and may be you will self-accusation sometimes. It make your life more burden but less happiness. So what do you think? Be a free rider or not?

are you eligible??

According to fox news, small business owners, especially females, have trouble obtaining loans, when they actually need them. The average size of a loan is 10,500. However, Congress is trying to pass a program where small businesses, or new businesses are able to take out a load of 35,000, allowing them more support in order to succeed. If I were in the small business owners shoes, I would be loving this. It makes it a lot easier to profit when the base funds are there. Do you think it will lead business owners to fall harder, or start stronger?

Your Tax Dollars

According to Fox News:
Apparently, the Washington, D.C. mayor’s office and city council are still deliberating over a sponsor name for the new home of the Nationals. In Indianapolis, plans for a new football stadium for the Indianapolis Colts are just getting off the ground. That stadium too would presumably need a name.
As officials for both city's go fishing for corporate sponsors, I think I have a better idea:
Why not name either or both stadiums "Taxpayers’ Field?"
Now, I realize Washington, D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams and the city council may not be eager to draw more attention to the publicly-financed portion of the stadium deal, particularly after having to twist so many arms to get it passed--especially now that we’ve learned the complex will cost some $46 million more than originally projected.

So what do you think.. do you think your personal tax dollars are supporting things you yourself agree with??

All Systems Go for Time Warner Cable Upgrade

With the planned takeover of most of the bankrupt Adelphia Communications and asset swaps with Comcast Corp., Time Warner Cable hopes to bring the performance of the newly acquired cable systems up to its standards. It seems that Time Warner is trying to buy up all that is possible to be able to run the majority of the cable systems and company. After reading this article would you still say that there is perfect competition in the cable industry or are certain companies trying to get to the level of a monopoly?

'Star Wars' Fans Flock to Indy Convention

"Nearly 30 years after the debut of "Star Wars," the force is stronger than ever. More than 30,000 "Star Wars" fans from as far away as Japan have gathered in Indianapolis for the four-day "Celebration III," the largest official "Star Wars" convention ever held," starts the article about Star Wars. This movie has been around for many decades and people love it and will continue to love it. With the new Star Wars movie on the brink of release, there is a great anticipation on how much this movie will actually make. Will it be one the biggest box office hits and make a ridiculous amount of money, or just be another movie?

49ers Make Utah Quarterback No. 1 Pick

With the first pick in the NFL draft today, Alex Smith went to the 49ers. While all the other picks after him contained many good players as well, being the number one pick means big money. He will be under a microscope from now until the end of the football season in January. During this time he will become very known to the public and will rack up many endorsements and contracts. Are we giving too much attention to professional athletes and too much money?

Apple Protested over E-Waste

Many people feel that Apple is careless with their waste dispoal. There is a growing amount of people that have the same feeling about the situation and are starting to stand together to be heard. Do you think this could affect revenue and profits if this issue continues to be unsolved?

Sun Updates Java Enterprise Software

According to Sun, the Java ES product already has nearly 360 customers representing nearly 420,000 seats worldwide. The new version includes a great deal of new functionality, including Sun's new Java System Identity Manager, a software technology designed to help developers protect sensitive data and reduce the costs of creating identity-management systems. With this new upgrade of their software, how many more consumers will they pull in?

Who wants a quicky

Sin city (Las Vegas) is known for gambling and prostitution, even though selling skin is illegal in city limits. So why is prostitution so frowned upon in other parts of America? Is this a victim-less crime, or does it contribute to the moral downfall of society which will send us all straight to hell? How does religion play into this occupation, and how do politics. Is it possible that prostitution has remained illegal to provide jobs for officers which would otherwise serve no purpose? We have all seen cops where one officer dresses up like a street walker and they bust suspected johns, does this actually have any social benifit, or is it just a bunch of guys playing dressup?

US analysts expect significant rise in Chrysler Group profits

Many U.S. analyst feel that Chrysler is going to be very successful in the near future. This comes as a huge surprise for them to predict this with the rise of gasoline and all. Maybe the such high prices of gas isn't affecting the economy as much as people think especially if car sales are on the rise. What do you think about the article and the situation of gas?

Venerable VCR Holding Tough, But Will Give Way To New Tech

Many are feeling that VCR's are finally coming to the end of their journey. They have been on the market for many years, but with technology advancing with such items as DVD's and TiVo, VCR's are catching the back burner. The article states that "the VCR, introduced three decades ago, has proved resilient. Most people who record TV shows use VCRs." Now they can use TiVo to do all the things the VCR could do and more. Do you think VCR's are finally done?

Mega Farms good or bad

In a time of coporate giants such as Walmart and Microsoft are Mega Farms being picked on. A mega farm is a farm which specializes in a certain aspect of producing a food product such as corn, chickens, or hogs. These farms are often family owned and target of much criticism. Economic pressures have helped spawn these mega farms which produce products at a fraction of the cost of regular farms. The question is, is the lowered cost and increased supply worth the enviromental cost of operating these large enterprises. Like many other mass producing ventures, these farms produce large amounts of waste and byproducts which are potentially harmful to the environment. Can these farms be regulated by the government, or should they be allowed to operate at will? Are these farms actually benifical to the public, or does the damage to the environment make them impracticle. Can taxes on manure disposal act to balance the cost, or will these taxes kill the industry?

Blogs Will Change Your Business

Blogs have become a major trend and everyone is doing them. This articles touches bases of how they are everywhere around us and there is no escaping them. The article says "they're simply the most explosive outbreak in the information world since the Internet itself." How do you feel about blogs in general? Do you feel that it has changed the way information is provided on the internet?

Modernization of developing nations

We have all heard of the increasing modernization in nations such as China, but how does this modernization really affect the people of that nation. Is this another example of a few wealthy citizens increasing their holdings, or does the industrialization of third world countries really benifit the population as a whole. Also US corporations play a major part in this modernization, is it possible that this goes to increase the gap between the haves and the have nots, or is this spread of commerce equally benificial to all members of US society in the form of direct monetary benifits or long term benifits such as increases in employment and median income?

Exchange Deals Show Market Opportunities

There was a surprising announcement made by officials at the New York Stock Exchange that they have plans to merge with a smaller electronic rival and go public. Many people feel that the reason for this is that the global market is a booming business, and it's about to get bigger. How would you respond to the actions by the Exchange? Will this increase the chances for people to get involved with stocks?

E U and green laws

The European Union has enacted laws which require international suppliers to take back packaging materials for products delivered to European nations. How has this increased cost effected the supply of goods to these European nations? Is the social benifit for the nations equal to the increase in marginal cost for the suppliers, or is this policy causing a dead wieght loss for suppliers.

Dollar slips on concern about US economy

It seems that the U.S. dollar is still lingering according to this article. It says "The single European currency rose to 1.3061 dollars in early European trading, from 1.3050 late on Thursday in New York. The dollar fell to 106.38 yen against 106.90 on Thursday." Do you think this is something to be concerned about for the future of our economy?

Costco Warns; Stock Falls

The high prices of gas have seemed to hurt and affect everything in the world. Costco has seen their stock fall tremendously as of yet because of the prices of gasoline oil. According to the article, "The largest U.S. warehouse club operator said profit margins were lower than expected, principally from the gasoline stations it operates at many of its 334 U.S. stores." Do you think the high prices of oil will eventually put many businesses out of business for good?

Gap Inc. Names New Store Concept

The Gap is opening a new chain of stores to reach the needs and demands of women 35 years and older. "Gap's first new chain in a decade — aims to appeal to boomer women, who grew up with Gap, but with whom the store "lost touch," said Paul Pressler, president and chief executive. How do you feel about the Gap trying to reach more consumers into buying their products?

Public and Private Goods

Public goods allow all to benefit and private goods are just that, private. With the use of public goods comes those who will not be paying for them but will still enjoy them. These free-riders can be a drain on society. What do you think is better: public or private goods? Do you have any suggestions on how to remover free-riders from the market?

AIDS Watch petitions against drug price hikes

Abbott, the maker of a unique AIDS drug called Norvir, recently raised the price of the drug by about 400 percent.Students from Yale AIDS Watch who oppose Abbott's altering the prices of certain medications are pressuring the company and mobilizing support for the cause with a campus-wide petition.

The drug market is not a perfect competitive market. Unlike other consumer goods, drug price is pretty inelastic. Consumers do not shop for best deals. They just take what the doctors order. And doctors have little incentive to be price concsious. Morover, because of patents, few competing brands existing to force lower prices. It is the govonment that should alter the patent laws to prevent this monoply pricing practice.

Mergers and Monopolies

Mergers are a common business practice. They are used to mutally benefit the parties involved. They sometimes take place when a business has gone into financial trouble and has no other choice. These mergers can lead to large conglomerations that are on the verge of monopoly. Do you feel that mergers are positive economic solution? Why or why not?

High oil price cause high inflation?

The president of the Cleveland Federal Reserve Bank said that even the recent oil price increased greatly, the “inflation expectations have stayed well anchored.” She made “a distinction between how much of the pickup has been as a result of energy prices and how much has been translated into permanent inflation.” He also made a conclusion that there might be a quiet inflation in the future, because the high oil prices decrease people’s willingness to buy other goods and services.

I think this is very interesting, other goods and services’ low prices due to low demand crosses out the high inflation. It seems like the market can adjust itself, so can we say that we don’t need to worry about high oil price will cause high inflation?

Burning DVD's Illegally

I was just wandering why there is always so much hype about people burning music off the internet, and nobody is saying anything about burning DVD's. I, personally, have not burned any DVD's off the internet, but I know people who have. Why aren't these major movie producers fighting this. I think that burning these DVD's is just as bad as burning music off the internet. What does everyone else think?

Online Poker

One of the newest crazes in internet gambling is online poker. Personally I play poker here at Marietta on a regular basis, and sometimes when people are not around to play, I get online and play. I know the ups and downs of online poker, trust me. I think that gambling on the internet is a bit shaky though. There are hacks that people can get to see the cards in other's hands and the cards on the board before they are even out. I have stopped playing online because this could very well be true. What does everyone think about throwing money away on online poker? Is it worth the risk?

Wal-Mart: April sales seen flat to up 2%

Wal-mart is expecting March profits to be slightly under the forecasts. The profit of each stock may be about a penny below the average analysis prediction. Sales for food were more substantial than sale for general merchandise Wal-mart is doing better in sales along the East coast then on the West. The factors that may have contributed to Wal-marts decline in sales are poor weather and high gas prices.

One of the most significant and dynamic elements of the American economy is the gas prices. Oil effects transportation and inflation, which cause the cost of producing to increase. and then consumer’s willingness to buy to decrease. Gasoline is such a precious commodity that the raising prices on gasoline do not effect consumer consumption of gasoline, however, the gas prices in turn effect people’s consumption of other commodities. If the poor weather has curbed sales for Wal-mart, then Wal-mart should be persistent with their spring sales until the weather breaks and spring fever hits the consumers.

Korean Leaders Meet to Restart Nuke Talks

South Korean Prime Minister Lee Hae-Chan and North Korea's No. 2 man, Kim Yong Nam, met at an Asian-African summit in Jakarta, said Jacob Tobing, Indonesia's ambassador to South Korea. It was the second meeting at the summit between the two leaders, who addressed such key issues as attempts to persuade the North to return to six-party talks aimed at getting Pyongyang to suspend its nuclear program. At the conference Lee Hai-chan and Kim Yong Nam spoke about the issue concerning the current status of the nuclear arms program. This first meeting was to re-establish inter-Korean dialogue and to exchange views on the six party talks. Although the six party talks may not resume for some time, this is a good first step in international relations. Do you think if this interaction between the North and South continues it might help economic conditions in Asia by increasing FDI?

The New PSP

The new rave in the world of music and gaming is Sony's PSP. It has the capability of playing your personal music, or playing games. I think that for $250, I could buy a lot more things that I would actually need. Is a PSP worth $250 of your hard earned dollars? Especially when the games that are needed for it are different than the normal play station, so you have to go out and buy all new games. Personally I think this product is nice, but for the money, I do not think it is worth it. What do you think?

Rising Tobacco Prices

With the rising prices of all types of tobacco, many consumers are switching to foreign made cigarettes. Why are the prices of tobacco products rising, and how much farther are they going to rise? If foreign companies are shipping their cigarettes to the United States to be sold for less, will smokeless tobacco companies in foreign countries send their product over to be sold as well?. Everyone knows that smoking is bad for them, but with the rising prices of cigarettes, why aren't more people quitting, instead of buying foreign, off brand, cigarettes?

Online Businesses

Personal online businesses have been popping up all over the place, and I was wandering what everyone thought about them. One of my close friends actually just quit his job, and is starting his own online business. Some people say that there is money in online businesses and it is the way to go to make money. Is starting an online business worth the risk of quitting your full time job? If so, why, and what sort of benefits can come from starting a personal online business.

MC Summer School vs. Community College

I know a lot of people including myself have thought about taking one or two courses during the summer to possibly get ahead. I am staying on campus over the summer and had planned on taking courses here at MC for somewhere around $270 per credit hour. Of course I thought this amount was crazy, but I was just going to deal with it. However, I heard that the community college in Marietta (Washington State Comm. Coll. www.wscc.edu) has classes for $67 per credit hour. Certain classes transfer equally if planned out. Is it really worth it to stay here and take classes? How many of you are taking classes at a community college at home??

IBM stock holders

first quarter results on Monday and is expected to post a profit of 90 cents a share. But only a week ago, analysts were expecting $1.04.
What explains this sudden drop?
Take a deep, Big Blue breath. Business didn't just fall off a cliff. The reason that analysts now expect profits to be lower is because IBM announced on April 5 that, starting in the first quarter, it would include the cost of stock options it grants to employees in its earnings reports.
Investors should get used to seeing lower reported profits in general. Thanks to an accounting rule change, all companies will need to start expensing options.

Do you think these projections are fair, or should they be calculated differently.

Securing our Borders

On a recent showing of the T.V. show The O'Reilly Factor, Bill O'Reilly spoke with Jorge Ramos author of the book “Dying to Cross: The Worst Immigrant Tragedy in American History”. The subject of this show was about the vulnerability of the border between Mexico and the United States. More than 1000 illegal immigrants cross the border each day. As of right now the U.S does not have legislation mandating that the border be secured. Ramos stated that “this country needs more immigrants, to control inflation, which is a big problem right now, to pay for the Social Security of the rapidly aging population, to take the jobs that Americans do not want to take. And quite frankly to maintain the expansion, economic expansion of the United States as a super power.” Do you agree or disagree? Or do you believe that we should militarize our borders?

Bankrupt Airlines

Bankrupt United Airlines reached an agreement with U.S. pension insurers Friday to terminate four employee retirement plans which are underfunded by nearly $10 billion, the government said.

This being said, Those working on airlines, including pilots, flight attendants, mechanics and ground workers and other employees will be given a sort of pension pay for an airline that went bankrupt. I don't see this as a problem, unless these people don't go out and look for new jobs. Free riders makes me sick, and its one of my biggest pet peeves. If you were in this situation, what would you do?

Real Estate Costs.. Too High??

According to CNN.com, real estate agents are charging too much for their services and commision. However, I think that the prices are fine. When you think about it, your real estate is one of the most important financial opportunities in your life. You live there, sleep there, eat there, create a home and family there.. to me, its an important thing, and the charges are reasonable. The fees are soemthing I'd be willing to pay, What about you?

Gas prices fuel increase in public transit use

High gasoline prices are turning some drivers into riders, say public transit authorities in several states. It’s a trend that Joe Calabrese, general manager of the Greater Cleveland Regional Transit Authority, expects to continue as long as a gallon of gas remains about $2. It’s the same story for the South Florida Regional Transportation Authority, which operates 72 miles of rail lines between Miami and West Palm Beach, mostly serving business comuters and students. While declining unemployment has increased the use of public transportation in Denver, the Denver Regional Transportation District is confident that gas prices have influenced the recent uptick, also more passengers have been using its bus and rail lines for the past year with 5 percent increases in December, January and February, spokesman Scott Reed said.

MCI embraces Qwest's $9.75B Takeover bid

MCI embraced a $9.75 billion takeover bid from Qwest on Saturday, finally succumbing to pressure to scrap its lower-priced deal with Verizon. Verizon Communications Inc. now has five business days to respond with an improved proposal or possibly walk away the loser after a nearly three-month bidding war. MCI Inc. said its board of directors, after shunning three prior bids from Qwest Communications Inc., had determined that the latest offer was superior to the long-distance phone company's $7.5 billion agreement with Verizon. Verizon and Qwest have been battling for MCI since late January, when their mutual rival SBC Communications Inc. reached a deal to acquire long-distance carrier AT&T Corp. for $16 billion. Based in Ashburn, Va., MCI has been hit hard by competition and a bankruptcy brought on by the WorldCom scandal, but still possesses a valuable customer base and national fiber-optic network.

Armstrong Looking Weak in Tour De Georgia

Professional cyclist Lance Armstrong is one of the best cyclists in history. This year his new sponser Discovery Channel has invested a lot of money in him to win his seventh Tour De France. Currently Lance is racing in the Tour De Georgia. Lance hasn't had very good results so far. Many are saying that he is off track in training and won't be able to make it up in time to win the Tour de France. His sponser Discovery Channel is probably worrying about how he will do. If Lance cannot win the Tour de Georgia how can we expect a win in France? Do you think it was the right choice in spending all that money to put their name on Lance Armstrong?

Google's Stock Soars to New High

Google is a major internet search engine who's stock is now trading at $215. Only eight months ago Google sold its first public share for $85, the price of the stock has increased significantly over a short period of time. What is reasoning for the intense optimism that is being experienced in the investors putting their money in the Google company? Why is Yahoo (another major search engine) currently trading at at small $34 in comparison to Google's $215 per share? This optimism is not shared by all. Some say that Google is too dependent on search based advertising and that if the sector weakens the stock will fall dramatically. What do you think?

Many teens carrying credit, debit cards -- and carrying balances

Turning 18 I got a checking account and I applied for a credit card. I got the checking and saving account but I did not get the credit card. A few months later I have two cards a visa and an american express card and I feel like I am in control of my spending. I am on the cards by myself with no co-signers like my parents. In this article I found out that kids as young as 13 are getting credit cards in their name with their parents backing them up. I think this is crazy and should not be done. Kids do not know how credit can ruin there life.

People in the News: Some bet! We know Kutcher is not shy

The movie "A Lot Like Love" topped the box office this weekend. I think a lot has to do with the actor Ashton Kutcher. Ashton is becoming a big hit and the movies he stars in are usually hits as well. With this growing demand for Ashton, more and more money is being spent on his entertainment. This is good for the industry, but what about our pockets?

Apple to ship "Tiger" system April 29

Apple the maker of the iPod and iTunes is coming out with a new operating system called Tiger which will be released on the 29th. The new version is more user friendly with a faster search feature that searches similar to google searches the internet. On Friday the 29th all Apple stores will be giving away prizes to people who are in the store at six p.m. This will bring new people into the stores to have them try out the new operating system that is supposed to be one of the best operating systems on the market.

Roger Ebert Gets Star on Walk of Fame

Roger Ebert has found his way to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. This doesn't surprise me because I would say the majority of people know who he is. I know I watch the movies that look good to me, but always hear others talking about the reviews. I wonder how many people read his reviews and actually go by what they say. Also, does this play a big role in the amount of tickets and movies sold?

Google Continues its Winning Streak

Google is the largest search engine on the internet, and has gained $1.03 per share since last year. I am surprised how long it took google to finally go on the New York Stock Exchange. The reason why they are making so much money is because of the advertisements from companies that have there link on the right side of the screen on the result page. Since google has the most traffic from the entire search engines can are charging high prices to have a spot on the top of the result page. I love google and if I had an online business I would defiantly advertise on google, it would bring in a lot of traffic to my site. I know that I click on the sponsor very often.

Jets' stadium approval likely to wait

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver says it's unlikely a key state panel will give final approval to a West Side stadium in Manhattan before Olympics officials decide who will host the 2012 Games. Republican Governor George Pataki, Democrat Silver and Republican Senate majority leader Bruno head the Public Authorities Control Board, which must approve the stadium. The Metropolitan Transportation Authority, which owns the West Side land, has already agreed to a plan under which the New York Jets would pay $250 million to build the stadium, with the city and state adding $600 million total. Olympics officials have said New York must have plans for a stadium in place to have a shot at hosting the 2012 Games. Moscow, London, Paris and Madrid are the other finalists.

Putting finger on real crime

A woman was arrested for carrying out a hoax and suing Wendy's for a severed finger being in her bowl of chili. This cost Wendy's 3.23 million dollars in lost business due to the number of customers that stayed away. I feel, with this drop in demand, Wendy's should now be able to sue her for the money they lost or at least a portion of it. How do you feel about this?

More foreigners investing in American real estate

There's a new group of buyers in the U.S. real estate market: foreigners. A weak dollar and relatively low mortgage rates have turned houses and other real property into the investment of choice for a growing number of people from other countries. Some see real estate as a better way to earn money than stocks or other securities, while others are interested in using the properties themselves.

Saudis said to plan energy boost

Saudi Arabia, facing mounting pressure from the U.S. and others to step up output of oil and gas amid a surge in prices, plans to more than double its investment in energy development to $50 billion in the next five years from the previous five-year period, Friday's Wall Street Journal reported. Ali Naimi, Saudi Arabia's oil minister, also said the kingdom had tossed aside its production cap set by the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries and is willing to sell its customers every barrel of oil they want, up to its current capacity of 11 million barrels a day. The planned increase in investment, Mr. Naimi said, would boost the kingdom's oil-pumping capacity to 12.5 million barrels a day by 2009, a target Mr. Naimi had previously disclosed. Saudi Arabia also has said it was studying longer-term plans for capacity increases to about 15 million barrels a day.

Bush to raise oil concerns with Saudis

U.S. President George W. Bush said Tuesday he will raise concerns about the effects of high energy costs on the global economy when he meets next week with Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah. Bush told CNBC's Ron Insana in an interview"I'm going to explain to him that, you know ... high-price crude oil will hurt the international economy."The president said he plans to ask the Saudi prince whether it is possible for his country to step up oil production.

Jobless claims plummet

People filing for initial jobless claims fell below 300,000 for the second time since October 2000, after the biggest single weekly drop in more than three years, the government said Thursday.
The Labor Department said that 296,000 people filed for unemployment benefits in the week ended April 16, down by 36,000 from previous week's revised number of 332,000.

It’s a Mistake to Sell South Korea Short

“The economy in South Korea is growing at a 5% rate, a rate in which the U.S. or Japan can only dream of” says William Pesek Jr. With a decent growth rate, why is it that foreign investors are weary of investing in South Korea? After two years of falling in the economy of South Korea, investors may be somewhat apprehensive about investing their money into an uncertain market. But now it seems that South Korea is ready to be back at the top of the list of Asia’s most vibrant economies. In order to do this they will need to concentrate on issues such as job creation. South Korean needs to brainstorm on new knowledge-based industries to get the upper hand in the world economy. Also currently they are utilizing only half of their labor pool because of the lack of women in the workplace, which lowers the quality of job applicants and restrains the economies potential growth rate. What are your thoughts on the South Korean economy?

New Treatment

In the journal “Science,” researchers from Seattle’s Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center reported an experiment they performed in which mice were forced into hibernation and then revived with no apparent ill effects. They used a small amount of hydrogen sulfide gas to force the mice into a state of hibernation for six hours. Once the gas was inhaled by the mice their body temperature plummeted from the normal 98 degrees down to 59 degrees and their respiration slowed. Their normal cellular activity slowed to almost a standstill, thus reducing the need for oxygen. Once the six hours were up, fresh air was given to the mice to revive them and testing uncovered no differences in behavior or functional ability between the treated and non-treated test subjects. Should they study on larger animals? If this proves to work then it might help preserve organs. I think they should continue there research because this might lead to better health care for people. A new treatment might lead to a way to reduce some of the high health care costs. What do you think?

U.S. lets contraceptive sponge Return!

For those Seinfeld fans, you probably remember the sponge episode. The contraceptive sponge was removed from the market not because it wasn't effective but because American Home Product the company that was making it did not fix the deficiencies in their factory. Now a new company will be releasing the product again because it is still being sold in Canada and on the internet. Is this a good thing or should women use birth control pills, shots, etc..

Alcohol Testing at high school dances.

This high school mentioned in this article has seen postive results with a decline in alcolhol consumption after beginning tests at the dances. They were having so many problems that no teachers even wanted to chaperone because of the number of drunks ranting and raving around. I never really experienced this at my school but that was mainly probably because of the area and I'm sure there are much worse occasions than this. I hope other schools come up with methods such as this to help prevent bad situations.

Teens Pop Parents' Prescription Pills

Teenagers are beginning to increase their abuse of prescription drugs, especially painkillers. One reason this is happening is because they are easy to obtain. Most teens are raiding their parents' medicine cabinets and finding exactly what they are looking for without having to pay or search the black market for them. What else could contribute to this increase in the popularity of pill popping?

US Air Confirms Talks with America West

Us Airways has been really close to filling for bankruptcy and is trying to cut costs by outsourcing and having their employees retire early. But now Us Air is talking with South West to merge together and be able to sell ticket on each other flights and share profits. However since 9/11 Us Air has been in the negative and only staying up because they are covering their variable costs. Wall Street does not believe that this merge will see much to no profit because South West's share has been in the negative and their shares were at $4.27 on Friday. If they do happen to merge this will benefit the Marietta market because flights to and from the Parkersburg and Marietta airport will be cheaper. Since South West mainly flies on the western half of the United States, the reason for the merge on their behalf is to have more control in the east. Will this merge help an endangered airline or put both in the dark?

Yahoo, Google look to new outlets

Yahoo and Google are planning to increase their advertising on other networks such as the television and mobile phones. Both have already seen an increase in demand for their internet searches as a result of this extra publicity. Do you think this will continue to boost demand or at some point balance back to the competitive market area? Are other search engines going to benefit from Yahoo and Google’s advertising or are they going to be left in the dust if they do not start doing the same thing?

Remembering Pat Tillman

A year ago this week, NFL player Pat Tillman was killed in action in the Middle East. He left the Cardinals to serve in the army for three years. His death came as a shock to everyone who knew him. When controversy arose as to the cause of his death, the US government changed the story to make it sound like he died bravely. His family had the case re-opened to find out what actually happened. After months of investigating, it was determined he was killed by friendly fire. What do you think should be done about the cover up story? Should someone be penalized for this action?

Greenspan warns of rising deficits

Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan warned Thursday that unless lawmakers come to grips with spiraling deficits, the U.S. economy was at risk of stagnation "or worse." "Under existing tax rates and reasonable assumptions about other spending...projections make clear that the federal budget is on an unsustainable path, in which large deficits result in rising interest rates and ever-growing interest payments that augment deficits in future years," Greenspan told the Senate Budget Committee. He said that while the economy was "doing well," the danger was that deficits would keep rising as a percentage of total national output. "Unless that trend is reversed, at some point these deficits would cause the economy to stagnate or worse."

Fewer high schoolers use Ecstasy

"Ecstasy was the "it" drug among teens and young adults for a few years beginning in the late 90's: a feel-good, dance-all-night stimulant that was a driving force behind rave parties that featured pulsating, melody-free music."
After its peak in 2001, it is just not the drug of choice anymore. Many teens and young adults fear using ecstasy due to its effects that result in brain damage or even death.
Last year, 57.7% of high school seniors (up 33.8% in 1997) stated that just using 'X' once would harm them. Although the decrease of 'X' can be viewed as a good thing, teens and young adults have turned their focus to cheaper more readily available drugs (such as OxyCotin and Vicodin). Teens find that prescription drugs are less harmful than ecstasy and other street drugs (heroin and cocaine). Young adults and teens have easy access to prescription drugs. They either rip off their parents medicine cabinet or place an order for illegal prescription drugs over the Internet. "This week, agents with the DEA and other agencies broke up an alleged drug ring that is accused of illegally selling more than 2.5 million pills a month via the Internet."
Now, instead of going to raves, "trail mixing" parties are the way to go. A "Trail Mixing" party consists of teens mixing pills in a bowl and then randomly handing them out.
Since the use of Ecstasy has declined over the passed few years, do you feel that the "trail mixing" stage will decrease as well?

Attention Graduates...

Unemployment claims fell by 36,000 to just under 300,000 in the week ended April 16. This marked the second week that jobless claims fell below 300,000 since the week ended Oct. 21, 2000.

What does this mean? Well, before 2001 the United States saw a four year hiring boom where jobless claims were at a weekly average of 309,000.

Though economists don't lean too heavily on jobless claims as an indicator of labor market strength, it seems like the market may be falling back into the trend seen before 2001 which could mean a slight increase in hiring opportunities.

the environment

today again. the environment was concerned by experts. is our developing really help ourselves or not? is there a betterway, but not costly?

Violin sold at auction for $2 million

we value it high, and people in auction would make it higher? this is for the highest buyer value in the demand, this is the top. but is this the best way to deal with violin, can the value of violin really be shown in the buyer's hand?

City Hall OT cost decried

where have our test gone? here is anther sample of abused test. do thhe goverment need to post all the use of our money or not? is that necessary or good for the running of country? why yes or not?

Stagflation?!?!

Investors have been doing a lot of worrying lately as they witness a steady rise in prices coupled with a slowing economy.

Inflation has been going up and has now reached a point where the Fed has begun to show concern. Escalating prices for oil and other commodities has put heavy pressure on all other prices throughout the economy. This shown by the rate at which consumer prices rose in March; double that of previous forecasts and highest in almost three years. To counter higher inflationary rates, the Fed has already raised its federal funds rate.

However, higher rates could slow economic growth. There are signs that the economy is slowing. For example, retail sales fell in March and the trade deficit hit a record in February. This rise in inflation/prices coupled with a slow or stagnant economy seems to forecast stagflation; or does it?

Recent data has shown that even though oil prices have risen (indicating inflation), personal consumption inflation has remained pretty reasonable. Others argue that rising inflation rates are usually accompanied by strong growth which gives little reason to be afraid.

The problem is that if the Fed quits raising interest rates to fight the inflation rates, the market might experience extremely high inflation which will further slow the economy. If they Fed keeps raising interest rates, it may not only affect inflation, but also the real estate market; a market shown to have great effect on the growth of the economy. Additionally, oil prices show little sign of a decrease in the summer months ahead which will hurt consumer spending even further.

It almost looks as if we might be in a 'stalemate;' the game's not over but we have no moves left to make. A sharp decline in oil prices could prove to be the hand that helps us out of this economic hole we're digging.

sing on your cell phone

As well as the plane tech, cell phone is one used in our life alot too. but do you change your sell phone alot? will this tech affective in long run or short run? or either?...

saver plane

new technology provide a new condition of transpotation-- the air is safer for us. how this whould change our choise in demand? raise. is new tech always work in this way? do you have other examples?

people like to collect with out select

people buy things involved from star war mo matter what they are . I think this is not a good evidance since the value was changed and we shouldn't do this. what's the harm of this in your opinion?

Buffet

Warren Buffett was questioned because he was considered have. onnection with federal and state probes into the insurance company. I don't see the bad points through this, anybody does?

Police Handcuff 5-Year-Old After Tantrum

A 5-year old student at Fairmount Park Elementary School in St. Petersburg, FL, is handcuffed by police officers after an extended tantrum.
A 5-year old threw a fit and did not want to clean up a mess that she had made inside of the classroom. Her teacher and assistant principal tried to calm the little girl down and get her to clean up the mess that she had made.
Eventually, the girl did start to clean up but refused to leave the classroom. This led to an outrage from the child, causing her to rip papers from the wall and refuse the request made by the assistant principal (to stay seated).
Shortly after, the police arrive, put the girl in hand cuffs and take her away.
What is your reaction to this? Do you think that this girl's actions needed police intervention?

Globle wrong doing.

There are alot globle choise which were wrong. here is one example. consider it seriously, if you were the one who take on action, do you really wanna choose the wrong way like this? why

Wal-Mart

In this blog the unfair labor practice of Walmart was talked alot already, here is the newest discuss of it. does it strongthen your thought on this issue?

E-mails 'hurt IQ more than pot'

According to a survey carried out by TNS Research and commissioned by Hewlett Packard, workers distracted by phone calls, e-mails and text messages suffer a greater loss of IQ than a person smoking marijuana, a British study shows.

The survey of 1,100 Britons showed:

Almost two out three people check their electronic messages out of office hours and when on holiday

Half of all workers respond to an e-mail within 60 minutes of receiving one

One in five will break off from a business or social engagement to respond to a message.

Nine out of 10 people thought colleagues who answered messages during face-to-face meetings were rude, while three out of 10 believed it was not only acceptable, but a sign of diligence and efficiency.

The article states that the constant interruptions reduce productivity and leave people feeling tired and lethargic.

If this is true, what should we do? Should we limit ourselves on the computer, should we limit the work load individuals are faced with, should we take more breaks during the day, or should we just sit at home and smoke pot?

Wendy's Finger - Where do we draw the line?

On March 22, Anna Ayala found a finger in a cup of Wendy's chili. I don't know about you but something like that would traumatize me for life and I don't know if I would ever be able to go back to Wendy's, let alone order chili again. While finding the finger would affect my decision to eat at Wendy's again, her finding the finger affected many people in the Bay area and their decision to eat at Wendy's. After the finger was found, Wendy's attendace dropped significantly and many people had to be fired due to the lack of customers. Now, this would be a horrible experience for anyone, but recently it has been found that it wasn't really a bad experience at all for Anna, in fact it would have been one of the best things she's ever done, if she hadn't been caught. Anna Ayala was recntly arrested for planting the finger in her chili so she could reap the benfits of a law suit. this brings me back to my original question, where do we draw the line? How far are Americans willing to go to try and make some money? Here is woman who potentially ruined the reputation of Wendy's, at least in the Bay area, and got many people fired from their jobs in the process due to the affect of her claim. That's not too mention how hard jobs are to come by right now anyway. Anna did not care about any of that, just the money she could potentially receive if she had gotten away with her little stunt. Now she is facing an attempted grand larceny charge and could face a hefty punishment. Is it worth it? How far are people willing to go try and score the big money? What ever happened to earning it yourself?

Woman charged with finger-in-Wendy's-chili hoax

A woman who said she found a human finger in her bowl of Wendy's chili has been arrested and charged with attempted grand theft. It turns out that she is the one who planted the finger. The woman, Anna Ayala, costs Wendy's approxiamely $2.5 million in sales. Sales at some Wendy's outlets in northern California are reported to be down as much as 50 percent since the incident, and many employees have had to work reduced hours as a result. If convicted, Ayala could spend six years and two months in jail. Do you think this is a fair punishment?

High Gas Prices!!

With gas prices as high as they are, and all the controversy going on in the Middle East, should Americans be concerned with higher gas prices, and even more the lack of oil in the future? While many people believe gas prices will eventually fall, this still doesn't help our oil situation. Experts predict that there will still be a large oil supply 500 years from now. So what the concern? About half of the oil left in the world is over seas, and hasn't been tapped. If it is not our oil, then we will be forced to pay high prices for it, especially as it begins to diminish. What should the United States do?

Oil or Wildlife?

Oil or Wildlife? That seems to be the questions we must ask ourselves. With the passing of a new bill that will allow drilling for oil in Alaska's Arctic National Wildlife Refuge we should be conncered with the affects that this drilling will have on the arctic wildlife. Envirmomentalists fear that the new oil equipment and the affects of drilling will have a harmful affect on the area's polar bears, caribou, migrating birds and other wildlife. Is gaining more oil worth risking the lives of a good deal of our arctic wildlife? As stated in the linked article, "Opponents argued the oil wouldn't be available for a decade and even then at levels that would not significantly affect oil prices or imports." If this is true then why take the chance of destroying something beautiful and serene to possibly help with our oil prices. If this drilling takes place, President Bush would stand to make a hefty amount of money from the new oil. Whether it is a sufficient amount to affect our oil prices, there will be enough to make our countries leaders a much weathier group of people. I'm not saying that the money they stand to make is their only reason for wanting this bill to pass but I am questioning what the motives are and if it is worth it?

Porn stars should expect disrespect

Frats and porn..... What a mix? If woman decide to have sex for money should that be wrong or sexist? Many believe it is sexist to women because they are made to do thing that seem degrading. But if she is willfully engaging in the activity is it demeaning? Porn is basically prostitution in a nicer way. Instead of people selling themselves on the streets they are being paid to have sex with one another and be taped. Many college students have these secret professions on the side and many don't find out about it. But is it degrading? If the two are willfully doing it and enjoying it, is it wrong. There is a HUGE market for adult movies and the pay is very good. But are women used and abused when it comes to this industry? You decide..

Makeups, hidden chemicals

When i was a little kid, my mom told me that the reascon why i was born with healthy enough body can be greatly contrubuted to her "clean" face. She told me that she never used makeups during pregnancy, which will induce a abnormal infant. She said because of excessive lead makeups contain, a lot of actresses in China have idiot children, such as qin yi( a famous actress in China) and wang ji.
The article following illustrate more detail about the negative effects of makeups

The trade-off of drinking coffee: coffee drinking may cause Rheumatoid Arthritis

Remember, we have talked about the benefit of drinking coffee in ECON 394 class. A table showed that the people who regularly drink coffee have much lower chance of having liver cancer. However, the article following tells us the disadvantage of drinking coffee.

4/20 sparks debate for annual CU celebration

At the University of Colorado-Boulder, students gathered on Ferrand Field to smoke marijuana. This is crazy... The school didn't do anything about it and the local police were around to make sure nothing went out of control. I am in shock, I wish our school did something like that... Just kidding. I am happy with Do Dah Day, which was for the most part very simialar. I am just surprised because marijuana is illegal and alcohol is not. Do you agree with CU to allow this type of celebration? It is not like marijuana is helping their economy. I don't know how they are in Colorado but in Florida smoking marijuana is very illegal and one can get arrested for doing it, even on 4/20.

Wal-Mart Shooting

A loaded pellet gun was on the shelves of a Wal-Mart in Richland Town Centre. It is a good thing that is was only a pellet gun and not a shotgun. The women was shot by her friend, what a nice friend right. I have a few questions? Why was there a gun on the shelves and second WHY WAS IT LOADED? I have nothing against guns my family has two in the house, and we practice gun safety and there are no kid wondering around. At our Wal-Mart the toy section is right next to the hunting section, any kid could have walked up to the pellet gun and have really hurt themself or another person. I know it is just a pellet gun, but imagine it could have been a load rifle. The manager at the Wal-Mart did not comment, because they knew they messd up. When are they going to learn??? Why do so many people shop there is they mess up so much?

Breathalyzer Tests: Entry "Fee" For High School Dances

A high school in Boston, Westwood High, is now doing alcohol breathalyzer tests before students enter school dances and other events. They have experienced drinking problems such as quarrels, dramas, and alcohol poisoning problems and some students have even been taken to the hospital. Some students feel that it is a violation of privacy to be tested at the door, while others feel that it would be better to test the kids before they leave to drive home. Another idea was to only test the kids who show signs of drinking such as slurred speech, or chewing gum to hide the odor. Is drinking becoming more of a problem in high schools? What are your thoughts on the breathalyzer tests? Is it a violation of privacy to test students or is it just a way to protect the school and the students?

Record summer gas prices coming

US drivers will face record-high gasoline prices this summer, averaging roughly 20 percent higher than last year at $2.28 a gallon, according to an Energy Department survey released.
But while the increase price of gasoline will cost consumers billions in higher prices for everything from groceries to air travel and may encourage growing interest in fuel-efficient alternatives to big sport usefulness vehicles, few industry analysts expect it to dampen Americans' desire for summertime travel.
'But somebody said that 'I don't think we're at a point where people are going to start curtailing discretionary miles," ''As long as the economy isn't really weak, people are going to keep driving."
The bigger impact of gas prices is harder to see immediately. But it will be on overall consumer spending. Rising gas prices will help to slow the growth of consumer spending, which drives two-thirds of the US economy -- to 3.4 percent this year, from 3.8 percent in 2004.
This is an important event that influences many drivers, how do you think about this?

Who are losers?

The movement of anti-Japan in China is very heated. “The Chinese are angry about several issues: a new Japanese textbook that critics say glosses over World War II atrocities; Japan's bid to win a permanent seat in the UN Security Council, and the Japanese prime minister's visits to a shrine that honors war criminals.” The political tension was spread to the business filed. The most damaged field is tourism. More than 5,500 travelers who planed to travel China in April and May have canceled their plans so far. “The benchmark Nikkei Stock Average plunged 3.8 percent Monday to end at its lowest point since Dec. 16.” In the mainland of China, people refuse to buy Japanese products. An honorary professor of China studies at Yokohama City University said that Japanese Business may experience risk under such situation.
Although China and Japan had an unpleasant history, the relationship is getting better after China opened her door to the world. There is a lot of cooperation between these two countries now that China is Japan’s first trading partner. A lot of Japanese products were very popular in China, such as electricity commodities and cars. By looking at many counties’ economic reforms, we discovered that almost all of the countries, regardless of their political systems, moved to open economy. Being either an exporter or importer will make a county better off. Anti-Japanese products or trade cutting will cause both China and Japan great losses (What is your opinion about this?). If the tension keeps for a long time, I think this may even affect global economy. Economy should not be a victim of politics. I think both countries need be calm and create a healthy, cooperative environment.

House Approves 12 Billion Dollar Energy Package

The house approved a 12 Billion dollar energy bill backed by the White House that contains incentives to increase production of crude oil, natural gas, coal, nuclear and other uses. This bill is going to allow there to be drilling in Alaska's arctice National Wildlife Refuge. Will this bill help to lower gas prices? Gas prices are getting too high these days. I think the government is hoping as prices will drop so that high travel costs won't effect summer vacations. If people are traveling in the summer they won't be spending money. The government hopes that this bill will lower gas prices and help the economy. In the long run I don't know if it is wise to invade the National Wildlife Refuge. Do you think this bill will create any significant changes in energy prices?

New Attendance Mark for NBA

This season the NBA had an average of 17,314 this year, the highest in league history. The record was set in the 1995-1996 season. What has the NBA done this season to break attendance records? Is the rise players coming to the NBA straight from high school helping increase intrest? There are many different factors that the NBA could look at.

A Time When Less Was Indeed More

In my last blog, I was talking about that the Medicare now is in crisis, and there is a new pay-for-performance experiment program just started. Today I read another article about Medicare and the high healthcare spending. Basically, it talks about the inefficiency of Medicare and its way too high costs.

In this article, it gives an example Mr. Hentschel, who is 80 years old and suffering from congestive heart failure, as well as a bulging artery in his abdomen that could burst at any time and an enlarged prostate. When he was in a community hospital in Orlando, he was suggested to do different tests such as a chest X-ray or a CT scan, or procedures like moving his prostate and operating on the aneurysm by different specialists. However, he did not choose to do any of those; and now he stays medically stable.

Therefore, here brought out the problem, is Medicare really efficiency? Does it worth that much money? The article also says that Medicare is a federal program, but medical practice can vary wildly from region to region. Studies found that patients who have more office visits, hospitalizations and operations did not, on average, do better. At the same time, treatments that are known to be effective are often neglected.

In addition, patients get proven treatments only half the time. One of the study’s researchers, Dr. Steven Asch of the RAND Corporation and the Los Angeles Veterans Affairs health care system says that only a quarter of the adults with diabetes had three blood-sugar tests over a two-year period and just 45 percent of heart-attack patients received a beta blocker that can significantly reduce the risk of death.

There are many evidences say that Medicare should be improved. I think so too. The cost is high, but there a big proportion of patients do not receive relevant treatment or at least not the effective treatments. On the other hand, I think this article also shows that people do not trust Medicare such as Mr. Hentschel; even he had such big problems as well as that many surgery offers from professional specialists. I still think Medicare should be improved by put the quality and efficiency as primary consideration.

Moon landing a hoax?

On February 15th Fox aired a television show over the controversy of landing on the moon. People argued on the show that NASA's technology in the 1960's wasn's up to date for a moon landing. In order for the United States to get ahead they filmed the moon landing in a movie studio. Lance Armstrong's footsteps, the moon buggy rides, etc were all fake. Some evidence says that the stars were missing in background of photos taken, the American flag was waving when there is no air on the moon, and that there was no blast crator under the rocket. It also stated that the heat and radiation was too much for what the astronauts were protected for. Area 51 was the area said to have the "moon landing" filmed.
In defense, NASA states that setting a camera with the proper exposure for a glaring spacesuit would naturally render background stars to faint to see. It was also stated that the astronauts were waving the American flag back and forth to better penetrate the lunar soil. Many astronauts can talk of their experiance and they even brought back moon rocks.
So, do you think we landed on the moon or was it all a big joke?

NFL Draft

The NFL draft is coming up Saturday. What teams are going to have the upperhand in picking? What collegiate superstars are going to picked early? How are the picks going to affect the 2005-2006 season?

A bonus for health, payable to the doctor

Big amount of health care cost is a big problem not only in United States, but also all over the world. Now, Medicare is in crisis that it’s facing soaring costs and questions about what all that money is buying. The costs are soaring, one of the reason is because by sometimes unnecessary or inappropriate procedures. There was a quiet revolution taking place in Medicare, which could set a new standard for the way medicine is practiced in this country.

This program is primarily a pay-for-performance approach, like carmakers and fast-food restaurants giving employees financial incentives to meet goals for quality. Hopefully, this program could help the Medicare crisis.

The article says that many doctors and hospitals are paid to do more by seeing more patients, performing more tests, conducting more procedures without regarding to quality or results under current system. However, this Medicare experiment is meant to change all that.

The article also says that by the end of this year, more than 600,000 Medicare recipients will be in test programs that pay doctors and hospitals bonuses for achieving better results. The Marshfield Clinic in Wisconsin participated in a three-year program for doctors began on April 1.

In this test experiment, physicians will receive bonuses if they measurably improve care for patients with common chronic diseases, including congestive heart failure, coronary disease, diabetes and high blood pressure. Also, to qualify for the bonuses, the doctors must also provide preventive services like vaccines and cancer screening, and they must save Medicare money by keeping patients out of the hospital and eliminating unnecessary procedures.

I think this pay-for-performance program looks good. In medical care, quality is a very important fact; but due to limitation of the costs, the quality and the performances of physicians are not as good as they should be. If this program works well, I think the health outcome would be better and also the unnecessary medical costs might decline, which would lead less health care costs.

Depressed? New York City Screens for People at Risk

Have you ever thought about that one day you might go to doctors to check if you are at risk for depression as a routine part of primary care, such like a blood pressure test or cholesterol reading? Now, in New York City, doctors have begun to use a simple questionnaire to check if a patient is at risk for depression.

Earlier in 2003, an expert panel convened by President Bush recommended expanding mental health screening, and Congress budgeted $20 million in supporting money for state pilot programs for this year. Also, there were several states including populous states like Florida and Illinois, have already begun to investigate large-scale screening plans. They also investigated the scores of schools and other youth centers throughout the country have used instruments to test youngsters for suicide risk. On the other hand, some politicians and advocates for patients argue that it is over diagnosis and unnecessary treatment for testing people broadly for mental conditions.

In New York, however, no federal money is being used for the program. Also, the test is only being given to the adults. Additionally, instead of using a formal diagnosis, it just has nine questions about mood and behavior to answer. The high score would lead a doctor to recommend more process to clinical screening.

Dr. Lloyd I. Sederer, who heads the mental health division of the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene said they hope this can become a standard practice and can be widely use for other doctors around the country. He also said that a similar screening test could be developed for adolescents and that if the testing of adults gained acceptance, it would be easier for doctors to use a screening procedure for patients of any age.

Now, Health officials in New York City are working with the Health and Hospitals Corporation to put their screening program into effect. So far, only about a dozen primary-care physicians are using the test, which was developed using research from the RAND Corporation. However, once every primary-care physician in the city hospital system using the test, the program could soon involve millions of patients.

The data shows that 16 percent of Americans, which is 46 million people, are suffering from depression at some point. Also, depression costs the nation $44 billion a year in lost work and disability, even more than heart disease. Psychiatrists and other proponents desire the new program of mental health screening. They argue that millions of people with serious mental disorders never get help, and this program would definitely work very well.

In contrast, opponents say that depression is not always easy for primary-care doctors to recognize, even in people who seek help, and they argue that a screening score of any kind could needlessly confuse or worry patients.

In my opinion, this new program would probably increase a large number of the health care spending; however, people need this. Nowadays, high pressures, hard work, competition in all areas do make more and more people depressed. Depression is becoming a big problem for people all over the world. So people and the society need to care about depression. I think this new program is good, and it should be used widely as a routine part of primary care. Heath is not only physical anymore, mental health is very important for people living in modern times.

High Costs for Health Insurance

It’s unfortunate to see American college students remain covered under their parents’ plans or without any coverage at all because of the high costs of health insurance. Twenty-nine percent of 42 million people across the country that remain without any form of health insurance are between the ages of 18 and 24 years. When choosing to avoid an insurance plan, a person is at risk for financial devastation. Not to mention, if an uninsured student were to become seriously ill while in college the student would have the extra responsibility of paying the hospital and doctor bills, which this could also lead to credit problems, forcing students to leave school to pay for these expenses. Most colleges still do not require health insurance because they feel it puts unnecessary barriers in front of students who wish to attend there. This year Ball State University’s Health Center was visited by 27,950 students and of those visits, students with no health insurance paid out-of-pocket for prescriptions and other lab tests because it’s not covered by the center’s flat fee. Would it be beneficial for both the school and students to pool a health plan and become self-insuring for the everyday common malady?

High Costs for Health Insurance

It’s unfortunate to see American college students remain covered under their parents’ plans or without any coverage at all because of the high costs of health insurance. Twenty-nine percent of 42 million people across the country that remain without any form of health insurance are between the ages of 18 and 24 years. When choosing to avoid an insurance plan, a person is at risk for financial devastation. Not to mention, if an uninsured student were to become seriously ill while in college the student would have the extra responsibility of paying the hospital and doctor bills, which this could also lead to credit problems, forcing students to leave school to pay for these expenses. Most colleges still do not require health insurance because they feel it puts unnecessary barriers in front of students who wish to attend there. This year Ball State University’s Health Center was visited by 27,950 students and of those visits, students with no health insurance paid out-of-pocket for prescriptions and other lab tests because it’s not covered by the center’s flat fee. Would it be beneficial for both the school and students to pool a health plan and become self-insuring for the everyday common malady?

Perks for Being a Doctor

According to Dr. Arnold Kassanoff, a doctor could receive a free diner any night for listening to a sales pitch from a drug company. The gifts are normally small, such as bags, pens, and meals for graduating medical school students, but some doctors practicing in the field of medicine for a while are lucky enough to get a paid vacation. What are the drug companies looking for in return? Drug companies want physicians to prescribe the company’s drug to their patients. Recently, the American Medical Association and U.S. drug manufacturers agreed to cut back on the extravagant gifts offered to doctors, although those were just words. Doctors are beginning to wonder about the long-term effect on his/her practice because of the gifts they are receiving from all these drug companies. In the United States, there are 88,000 drug salespeople for the 600,000 practicing doctors. According to Dr. Jerome Kasserir, the sales people are responsible for the increase in health care costs. The drug companies are always pushing new drugs and the most expensive drugs. Should the government step in and set-up some regulations against allowing drug companies to persuade doctors to use there drugs by offering them gifts? One doctor practicing medicine for 40 years, says that he is worried about the educaton the pharmaceutical manufacturers provide them.

US Air, America West Hint at a Deal

Despite executives at America West and US Airways refusing to confirm any rumors, it has been reported that the a merger may occur between the low-cost carrier America West, and the bankrupt US Air.

This is an interesting development, because historically, a profitable airline merging with a bankrupt one has not been a wise business move. America West has recently posted small earnings, while US Airways has lost a great deal of money.

America West's stock dropped 7 percent as news of the merger grew. Executives of America West have claimed that they believe a merger between themselves and another airline is inevitable. It is very possible that this merger may not occur, as many obstacles have to be overcome before it is pulled off. Memories of the failed merger between US Airways and United Airlines come to mind.

This merger could potentially hurt America West, but executives at US Airways seem to believe it may save (or at least greatly help) their airline. If the two airlines did merge, they would form a national low-cost carrier that could rival Southwest Airlines.

Gallup Poll: Property Tax is most unfair

A recent Gallup poll asked the question, "Of all the taxes you pay at the federal, state, and local level, which one do you perceive to be most unfair?" A majority of responses found that local property tax is the worst.

This is true for several reasons. First, because a neighborhood with appreciating home prices will in turn, cause property tax to increase. Secondly, as federal and state aid to local governments and schools dwindled between 2002 and 2004, local property tax increased.

Most people would perceive property tax to be most unfair because increases come in sharp jumps, not in slow drips like income and sales tax.

This poll is very interesting, because as college students, property tax is probably not something we pay much attention to. However, in the next few years, we may ourselves have to deal with this tax, and it sounds like we'll probably agree that it isn't very fair.

ebay Posts Higher Profits

After a very slow start in 2005, ebay has boosted its sales in an impressive manner. While the growth has been better than many Wall Street analysts expected, the company still has a long way to go before it proves the latests growth was not a short term occurence. Ebay faced a great deal of criticism when it implemented a price increase in seller fees, which angered many loyal customers, many of whom threatened to boycott the auction giant.

Ebay executives painted a bright future for the company. They point to expansive growth opportunities in international markets. While this may be true, many analysts still doubt ebay has much growth potential left.

In the coming months, it will be very interesting to see if ebay continues this unexpected growth spurt or if they drop back to less impressive numbers, as much of Wall Street expects. The future of the world's largest auction could be decided by the reveues of the next year or so.

Prescription Drugs

Many people are starting to worry about the advertisement of prescription drugs today, people like Senator Jim Geraghty. This article that I found was based on things that he believed. Are perscription drugs being advertised correctly? According to Jim Geraghty, he says that they are not and that commercials often look past or brush over the side affects associated with the drug or the side effects of taking other drugs with this drug. Along with Senator Tom Harkin, Geraghty purposed an amendmant that would cause advertisers to have equal amounts of time informing about the drug's side affects. In a FDA survey 7 out of 10 said that patients were often confused about the risks and benefits of a particular drug. Doctors also stated that they could handle these situations. What do you think? Should there be more informative time given in a commercial about a drug's side effects?

New Pope

Live from Rome, the announcement of the new Pope.

It has been announced that Cardinal Joseph Ratzinger of Germany has been appointed the new Pope. He has chosen the name of Pope Benedict XVI.

This is indeed an important day in history and a turning point for the Catholic Church. I don't know much about the Catholic Church, but many have stated that the chosen name often carries heavy significance as far as his views and direction during his time as Pope. Some have also discussed possible controversy arising from the chosen name seeing that Pope Benedict XV was one of anti-modernist views.

Just wondering what some people here on campus think of today's happenings and what they feel is the meaning behind the chosen name. How do they feel about a 78 year-old German Cardinal being elected Pope?

Hope I die before I get old...

...so goes the famous lyric from The Who's My Generation.

I was one of about 1200 or so people in attendance last night at a rock concert by Paul Westerberg. Westerberg, for you youngsters, was the frontman for the Replacements, a seminal punk/alternative band that came out of Minneapolis during the early 1980s. Along with Husker Du and Soul Asylum, they took over the mantle of American punk rock from the likes of the Ramones and Television, before yielding to the Seattle-based grunge movement a'la Nirvana and Pearl Jam.

Last night's show was at the Newport Music Hall in Columbus. It's a pretty decent place to see such shows...it's dark, dank, and they serve a good variety of legal beverages. What struck me about the show and the crowd was the average age of those in attendance. Westerberg is now 45 years old (same as me!) and the crowd was clearly in the same age range. There were a few younger fans there, but most were old punkers and folkers like myself. The security team didn't have much to worry about with the aged crowd and thus, were able to keep a tight lid on outrageous behavior (only one body surfer was able to do his shtick and only a brief whiff of illegal herbs permeated the area in front of the stage where I was located) . Overall, Westerberg's performance was typical: hard-rockin', a few muffed lyrics, and loads of fun.

This all got me to wondering about the business of rock-n-roll today. With the concern over lost music sales due to illegal MP3 downloads and an aging music audience, it seems that touring has become the lifeblood of a band's existence today. The grandfathers of rock-n-roll, the Rolling Stones, most of whom are in their early 60s, still tour and regularly are one of the top draws on the circuit. How long can these guys last? Makes me wonder if someday I'll see Paul Westerberg and Bob Mould strumming their guitars on a Carnival Cruise.

Pay to Snitch? A Kid's Dream!

Because of all of the recent school shootings, high schools have really ramped up their efforts to try to curb the violence before it happens. The problem is though, there's this eternal stigma associated with being the 'snitch'. The good thing is though, Gen X is supposedly very materialistic, so with the right incentives, perhaps people would be willing to give up the friends and snitch.

Many schools, and Georgia being one of the first to implement such a system, are offering monetary rewards for information regarding guns, drugs, or general violation of school rules, such as graffiti. Now, for $10 a guy isn't going to give up his 'boy', but for a bit more, he might be inclined to. (And I use guy generally, no offense to the girls)

My favorite quote from this article: "'This year, we've given out $1,100,' he says. 'For $100, they'll turn their mothers in.' "

Riding Losing It's Marginal Benefit

For somewhat of fun topic, I ran into the press conference of Lance Armstrong announcing his retirement from cycling after the 2005 Tour de France, win or lose. With such a competitive spirit and an inspiration to millions (LIVE STRONG!), how did he weight such a decision. Perhaps like everything, there's a declining marginal benefit. After breaking the all time winning record, perhaps the sweet smell of victory isn't as strong for Lance anymore as he'd like to focus more on his kids and of course...... Sheryl.

I'd like to look at this situation graphically with utility measured vertically and as a function of wins. As you keep winning, you get hungrier for it and it consumes you. But, at a point, the benefit reaches a maximum and utility decreases with each additional win. The decrease in utility could stem from time away from family, lack of incentive, or the aging process.

What's your opinion?

Bye Bye MNF?

"Cause Monday Night Football kicks off tonight!" Perhaps that might be the last time we hear that familiar phrase as ESPN seeks to acquire MNF from ABC (that's a lot of acronyms I know). How do you value the NFL? Can you measure it by salaries, revenue earned, marketing deals? Perhaps not, and what about the immeasurable human appreciation for guys going at each other every Monday Night for a pigskin? (Don't get me wrong, I'm one of the people glued to the TV) But truly, how can one even make a bid to televise the NFL?

It's estimated in the article that ESPN will pay the NFL 1 BILLION dollars a year for eight years, and this only covers the regular season games!! It's almost like bidding for the Olympics, how do you quantitize the costs and benefits?

What do you think could explain the high bid and the exact number?

The article notes that ESPN can really outbid ABC because ESPN has the power to charge higher distribution prices to its subscribers whereas ABC's only revenues are derived from advertising.

A Turn of the Tides?

The events that have taken place in China over the past two weeks have many far reaching implications. In case you were not aware, tens of thousands of Chinese citizens violently protested against Japanese citizens and interests in China. The reasons for these demonstrations are numerous but they will not be explained here because they are not the focus of this blog. Nor will the economic implications be explained if Japan embargos China, its biggest trading partner. The focus of this blog is on two possible implications of the Chinese citizens’ actions.

One possible result of these protests is that foreign investors could become more cautious of investing money in China. It is widely known that the ever-expanding direct foreign investment in China is the main cause for the continued economic explosion taking place there. If foreign investment slows, it could be possible that China once again becomes a “sleeping giant.”

A second possible implication of these protests is that glasnost is catching up with perestroika. Despite the rapid economic reforms that have taken place in China, political reforms have purposely lagged behind. Demonstrations are still illegal in China, and the fact that these protests took place could be evidence that the people are once again calling for democracy.

Could China ever again be the “sleeping giant,” or is she forever awake to “shake the world?”

Though calls for democracy in China have failed in the past, is now the time for reform?
http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/04/17/china.japan/index.html

Greenspan: More credit is a good thing

The implementation of credit in American society has stimulated economic growth. Credit cards and installment loans are accessible by almost anyone in the country, Therefore, there should be some mandatory education about how to use credit cards wisely. Greenespan advocated the popular use of credit and credit education as well as the concept that the policy makers should remain flexible, in order to adjust to an ever static world market.

The advance of credit makes it easier for people to buy things. It can also help lower interest rates for some and raise interest rates for others. Credit gives mortgage companies a good indication on how high to set the interest rate for a specific person. Now that credit cards have entered the main stream, the scope of credit becomes more and more of an indication to where a mortgage company should set the interest rate for a particular individual. There is also a chain reaction that helps stimulate the economy. In economy it is called multiplier effect, which means an increase in one person’s income will cause other people’s income increase, so the national income can increase greatly.

Drillling for Oil in Alaska - Efficient?

Everyone knows the high prices of gasoline in the US right now and as the prices reach almost record highs, President Bush as well as GOP lawmakers said opening the refuge would help hold down costs and reduce U.S. reliance on imported oil. Opponents disputed that and said drilling would mar the environment and provide little benefit. While both sides have decent points, which option would be more efficient and economical, more politically correct, and overall the best decision? What do you think?

Income gap

When people think of America, they think of the “American Dream.” America was always considered the place where normal poor or middle-class people could make themselves extraordinarily rich. Growing up we are taught that any thing is possible in America, as long as you are dedicated and willing to work for the success you desire. Is this dream still alive? The dramatic widening of the income gap between rich and poor has long been atop many economists and policymakers heads. One article I found revealed that “the top 1 percent of American families… now own as much as the bottom 95 percent combined.” This is the highest income gap among developed nations. There is no doubt that possibilities still exist to transform oneself from poor to rich, yet it seems as though these possibilities are becoming less frequent. The magnitude and trends of income inequality throughout the developed capitalist world remind me of Marx’s writings. The capitalist class is becoming less numerous but super rich while the proletariat class is growing larger. What does Marx see as the necessary outcome of such a struggle? Do you agree that we are headed for this outcome? Or, does income inequality not necessarily lead to resentment among the working class?

http://money.cnn.com/2005/04/07/pf/getrich_0505/index.htm?cnn=yes

Lack of private means

Over the past several years I can remember reading about half a dozen articles dealing with major problems in the airline industry. After 9/11, the airlines were hit hard with massive reductions in ticket sales. Soon it became apparent that some of the airlines, USAir for example, were on the verge of bankruptcy and the US government was quick to react with huge bailout funds. Recently I found out that the airlines were already in trouble before 9/11, and had that tragic event not occurred, bankruptcy would have still been on the horizon. Considering the seemingly inherent problems with the airline industry, I wonder if the it would better function as a public enterprise? What do you think? Throughout the world, many nations have state-owned airlines, could it work in the US?

A precursor of more problems to come can be found at:

Gas Prices Keep Rising

As the gas prices continue to rise and are currently at $2.67 per gallon for Unleaded, people are turning to hybrid engine cars. These cars currently get 55 miles per gallon. The hybrid cars are now in high demand and Japan is working to mass produce them. Some people who currently own these hybrid cars are trying to sell the cars for more than they paid for them to make a profit. One man posted his car on the internet for $37,000 ($10,000 more than he paid). So far he has had many offers and people seem to be willing to pay any price to save money on gas prices in the long run. What do you think about the rising gas prices? Do you think that these hybrid engine cars will slowly take over or gas guzzling cars that we have today? Would you be willing to pay a lot of money for a hybrid engine car?

Why Young Adults Leave Ohio?

Recently in the The Marcolian magazine said that, " Between the census of 1990 and 2000, the population of young people in Ohio, ages 18-24, fell from 9.6 to 7.5 percent. This is an unusual trend because the country's population of young adults increased over two percent." And Sam Hilden, a 2004 Warren High School graduate, plans to move away from his hometown. "I want to be in a larger metropolis with more diversity, more job, more culture, less closed-mindedness," Hilden said.
It seems like many people think that bigger cities with many big companies will offer more choices and more jobs for them. But I am thinking, if you open your companies where they are needed and where you can get a lower cost like land, labors ... then a smaller city will be a nice choice. And many companies now seem to do this way, so there will have more chances for your job in a small city as in a big city.
So what reasons you suggest why young people leave Ohio?

ROBO DOC:When We Thought Technology Couldn't Go Any Further

There has been a new invention to eliminate the injuries and deaths to all doctors working on the front lines during war. Doctors and scientists have created a Trauma Pod called Robo Doc. This machine, costing 12 million dollars, allows doctors to no longer be physically needed at war. When a soldier gets injured, the robot will detect them falling to the ground, drive over to the soldier. They will pick the body up and place inside the machine. Here, various Dr's over 100 miles away from the battle site, will use satellites and computers to view what is going on inside the robot. The Dr's will then access the situation, and by joysticks and other machines, they will tell the robot what to do and how to operate on the human. The robot will be able to incert IV's, chest tubes, clean airways, make incisions, and other medical performances. The only problems are that if there is 1 second of delay from the computer to the satellite, it could create life threatening problems to the soldier. How would you feel if you were a soldier and you knew that if you were injured, you would have a robot working on you? Is this a good idea and is it worth 12 million dollars? What do you think?

government birth controls

The government is now saying that a pharmacist can refuse to refill a woman's perscription for birth control, if he feels it is against his moral or religious beliefs. I however, do not agree. I feel that a woman has the same right to prevent pregnancy as a man does. By using birth control, abortions may be avoided, along with other controversies. What do you think.. is this fair?

Rudolph Pleads Guilty To Bomb Attacks

Eric Rudolph, the Olympic Games bomber, pleaded guilty to the attacks and to abortion clinics and gay night clubs. Yesterday the defense released what they are calling a "manifesto" in which Rudolph gives the reasoning behind his actions. Among his reasons were that he hated the government for letting abortion go on. He called the government's dealing with abortion a "holocaust". He also said the reason why he set those bombs off during the Olympic Games was to "embarrass the government in the eyes of the world for its abominable sanctioning of abortion on demand." He apologized to the famile of the civilians injured and killed claiming that he meant to kill government personel such as police and individuals of that type of occupation. Rudolph claims to be a Catholic by faith. Would you consider a person like this someone who attacked the lives of many a religious man? Do you think he is just crazy? And what do you think about him pleading his guilt in order to save his own life since his guilty pleas save him from the death penalty?

Tax Deadline Looms

For those of you who do not know tomorrow is the deadline to file your income tax returns. Over the course of February until tomorrow you can file your taxes and get your returns from the taxes you overpaid to the government. Among the techniques you can use to file your taxes are: over the phone, electronically or via email, and the old fashioned way of postage mail. This day is a big day for many people. I know Major League Baseball has people who file taxes at their home games on these days in order to get people their money. I find this kind of amusing considering that 1) my taxes are done, and 2) people have a little over two months to file. My questions are, how many people file on the last day? Have you filed your taxes yet? and What happens to the unclaimed money?