Credit Card Stranglehold

Next time you go out shopping, look at the front door, or near the credit card machine and see what types of credit cards the store takes. There is about a 99% chance that the company takes Visa and/or Mastercard. And there is a bill that will hit the Senate floor that will attempt to overhaul the credit card world. One of the things that store owners hope will be in the bill is the ability to negotiate fees with credit cards. Because when you use a credit card, the store must pay a fee. Small per transaction, sure, but overall, it cost companies $48 billion last year. A hefty sum indeed. Some people argue that Visa and Mastercard operate a dual monopoly (is that a contradiction?). Because if you do not take Visa and/or Mastercard, you will likely lose business. Most stores also take American Express or Discover card, but nearly all stores take V & MC. Card issuers claim that there is no monopoly and that new payment methods such as Paypal enter the market everyday, increasing competetion. But let's be honest, store owners are slow and reluctant to change, especially when new payment methods are not likely to have a strong, vocal backing. The solution: pass the bill in the Senate that allows store owners to renegotiate with credit card companies the fees that are levied against the stores.

E.g. Libel

Alaina Lamb is a blog post stealing midget woman. Her eyes are as black as the devil's cauldron. Her fake weave hairdo looks like a rabid raccoon had died and then got ran over on her head. Her arms look like twigs from a tree, an old, moldy, gnarled tree. Her fashion sense is dangerously sparse at best, scandolously out of dress code at worst. Hint hint Mrs. Lundstrom, check Alaina for dress code infractions. she glares at people constantly, either because she has some sort of degenerative eye disease, or she is just can't stand to see how evil she really is. Don't even get me started on her personality. She steals little girls and boys lunch money daily and then pushes them into the dirt outside the courtyard. After that, she spreads slanderous rumors about the older children she can't bully. She must do this because her parents don't care about her or her future. And let's face it, neither does she. She hasn't made any effort in any of her classes and her presence on the social scene is as low as her grades. STOP! I was just kidding ;) . That was an example of libel. It is not considered slander because it is written. Don't do it! It could cost you a lawsuit that goes all the way up to the Supreme Court.

The Age of the Stalker

So as I have been suggested to do, I am writing about stalkers. Mainly, how the Internet has aided in stalking people. Not in the criminal sense(although I do stalk Ms. Lamb...ha ha ha....), but in the sense that you try to find out everything about a person. This may sound cool for people you just met, if you want to find out information about them, but it borders on creepiness when you attempt to know everything about people you know already. Or if you stalk someone you like to see if they're in another relationship. Or if you try to be friends with someone just by knowing all their favorite TV shows and music. Just examples. Facebook (the link is probably blocked on school computers) has allowed for the stalking to run rampant. People who innocently post that their favorite band is Death Cab for Cutie and the All-American Rejects run the risk of being barraged by friend requests from people they don't know because of their musical taste. Or people who say that their favorite show is "Bones" run the risk of creepy kids who want to be forensic anthropolgists asking to be their friends so they can use their skeleton for their ninth grade science project. Crrepy indeed. I will sound like a parent, when I say this, but always be careful when putting seemingly innocent information out on Facebook, or the Internet in general. Creepers run wild!

Minimum Wage

I work for nearly minimum wage- $7/hour - when the minimum wage is $6.45/hr. In July, the minimum wage goes up to $7.55 an hour, and my manager will probably just round that amount up to $8 an hour. I'm pretty excited about my $1/hr raise, even though I will be leaving soon, but minimum wage is not exactly the best thing for an ailing economy. First, it creates a gap between the amount of employment demanded and the supply of employment. This gap is referred to as UNEMPLOYMENT! Run and scream everyone! No, calm down. But minimum wage serves a price floor, which means the "price" of employment must sit at or above this floor. Price floors (and ceilings, such as rent control) create a gap between supply and demand. The main purpose of minimum wage, I think, is to appease constituents. Employers must raise prices or fire employees in order to keep costs low, and since prices are difficult and unpopular to rise, employees must be let go. Sorry, oh large and all-powerful government, but your attempt to raise the quality of life actually just gets people fired.

Final Project

First off, I did not choose this music per se. The original music was "Mr. Roboto" but that is copyrighted, thus, I had to change songs. Second, I know this project does not completely match what I said I was going to do, but I explain that later in the video. Enjoy!

Swine Flu?

Everyone has been glued to the television by the recent swine flu scare, but I have been wondering whether this illness is being blown out of proprotion. I know that it has killed many people in Mexico, but in America, I believe that there is little to worry about. It was discovered a few days ago that this strand of influenza lacks an amino acid group that would make it more virile. That means that it is not as potent as we once believed. The scare originally began because the flu can be spread through human contact, but how is that any different that seasonal influenza. I don't think that just becuase Mexico lacks a medical system that can quickly serve all of its citizens, that Americans should freak out and shut down schools. Shutting down schools only leads to people gathering together to use their extra free time. I saw on the news that parents of students whose school was closed organized a baseball game, thus nullifying the effect of shutting down school for a week. Only one American citizen has died and that women had underlying medical issues. And I am not the only one who believes that this is being blown out of proportion. 77% of listeners of a popular morning radio show believe that this flu is being blown out of proportion.

Week 13: College Board is Evil!

As AP season approaches, I am preparing for the imminent death that is AP Testing. If you don't know, College Board creates a new AP test every year, for every new subject. And they charge you $86 per test. Oh, and they also write SAT tests every year, and administer them about 6 times per year, for about $40 a pop. Thus, it is nearly impossible to avoid paying College Board money. A college-bound student must take either the ACT or the SAT and many schools require SAT Subject Tests, also a product of College Board. And then, companies such as the Princeton Review and Barrons, write books that supposedly help students pass the SAT or AP tests, and those cost about $20-$40 a piece. All in all, the cost of just getting into college can climb into the thousands of dollars, even before tuition and application fees are assessed. According to their website, College Board is a non-profit organization. However, this article shows that College Board's annual net profits are about $62 million dollars. This begs the question, where does that money go? Do CEOs receive benefits that are written off as "salaries"? Do new, lavish buildings get credited as "overhead"? I wonder.... Hopefully, College Board will attempt a grasp at morality and try to make getting into college more affordable!