Another way to show how valid Blogs are as a way to communicate in society today is shown in the following article. It talks about how “Bloggers” have been issued press credentials to the conventions this fall and given the same access as all other media. The link is to a CBSNews.com article talking about it, and what Blogs are.
Alright, here's one to get the ball rolling, so I'll just spit a comment out here. Overtime, I'm sure we're all familiar with the concept. Well, on August 23rd the qualifiers for overtime were changed. Essentially, the overall effect will be to make more employees eligible for overtime pay. But, is this a catch 22? With those that make over $100k a year being exempt from overtime, will the effect be negative with worker productivity going down because there is less of an incentive to climb the corporate ladder?And if employers are forced to pay more overtime, will job growth be stunted? I believe job growth in the areas that are expemt from overtime will slow, but grow in the covered areas grow. In the eyes of an employeer, it might be cheaper to cut the hours of one employee and hire another, therefore not having to pay overtime to either. Or possibly this will force even more jobs overseas.What do you guys think? Make the employee happy or force the employer to make cutbacks in other areas?
*****This is a re-post, set up correctly this time after dabbling in it the first time around*****
We all know about social security, and if you have ever worked or are working now, then at some point you have paid into it. With the budget deficit reaching toward all time highs not seen since the stagflation era of the mid 1980's, decisions must be made.
One proposed solution would be to cut the social security benefits, therefore raising the retirement age. While at the present moment the retirement age stands at 65, is the human body really capable of working past that age if need be? People are living longer and longer with all of the new medical technology and prodecures being developed; i.e. once the baby boomers hit retirement age, there will be a huge strain put on the economy in many different areas, most of all healthcare. Are we, as a nation, ready or prepared to handle this influx?
If social security is to be cut, where does the line get drawn? Am I, as a 20 y/o worker who has been paying into it for 3 years already, to be exempt from it in the future? If cuts are to be made then it needs to happen soon that way people can start a new route of planning for retirement. While the older generations relied solely on social security checks, the baby boomers and generation x has started to see the dwindling funds of social security and started their own retirement plans. It is not uncommon now, and statistics say, that the average adult has 3.2 IRA accounts.
The question I pose is this. Will cutting social security benefits help the deficit driven economy at all, or is it a short way out? In an election year this will be a hot topic. Maybe with cuts on the horizon programs like AARP will see an increase in membership and therefore with more capital be able to provide better coverage and programs. Will the cuts force retirement planning and care to the private sector?
*As with Tom, you can see where my interest lies.
There are short falls in social security? Say it ain't so!
The idea of something like social security is a great one, but it must not become a burden on the work force. If the government could in some way just invest the money that is paid in by each individual so that it can earn interest the system could work more effectively.
My father is about to retire and he told me that when he does the return on his "inestment" in social security would be roughly 5%. While this is a higher intrest than most banks will pay for a savings account, if the money was put into a mutual fund that only earns average returns it would be more along the lines of 10% intrest.
So why is it that the government can't manage the same return on the money?
Now that the wells that have been produced for years are starting to become depleted there needs to be a new way to find new locations to drill for oil. Seismic testing has been used to find oil for years but that technology has about reached its upper limits. Now electromagnetics is supposed to be the next big thing. Since the deposits are not as abundant as before and the wells being drilled in deep water have cost up to $70 million, finding the reserves and being able to determine if they are worth the expense of drilling is becoming more important.
PS. I am obviously a petro major.
As government bureaucracies go, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) seems to be pretty typical: bloated missions (International Space Station), outdated equipment (Space Shuttle), and questionable priorities (manned mission to Mars). Why not introduce real reform into NASA a'la the X Prize? The X Prize is
a $10 million prize to jump-start the space tourism industry through competition among the most talented entrepreneurs and rocket experts in the world. Following in the footsteps of over 100 aviation prizes offered between 1905 and 1935 that created today’s multibillion dollar air transport industry, the ANSARI X PRIZE will be awarded to the team that designs the first private spaceship that successfully launches three humans to a sub-orbital altitude of 100 km on two consecutive flights within two weeks. All teams must be privately financed.
Do you recall Charles Lindbergh's flight across the Atlantic Ocean back in 1927? That was, in part, motivated by a $25,000 prize offered to the first nonstop flight from New York to Paris.
Could other government agencies be transformed along the lines of the X Prize? Michael Kremer of Harvard has suggested that a similar prize might be effective in stimulating pharmaceutical companies to develop new treatments for malaria and tuberculosis. To some extent, the whole idea of school vouchers as a means to spur innovation in the public school system is right up the same alley.
Weblogging presents an opportunity to express yourself so that the whole world can see what you're thinking--and have an opportunity to comment on your views. During the course of the semester, you must make one original post of interest to other students, and two comments on another student’s post to achieve a “C” grade on this component. More posts and comments will earn you a higher grade. Posts and comments will be graded on relevance to the class, as well as grammar, spelling, and sentence structure. Each original post must include a weblink to your source of inspiration or some pertinent website that illustrates your argument. Refer to the course syllabus for more details.
As an example of the type of blogging I'm looking for, check out the links to some popular economics blogs on the right hand side of this page. My favorite blog is Marginal Revolution (though they don't allow comments by readers).
