30th Birthday since IOUSA

 As of now, about half way through my senior year of high school we are 16 trillion dollars in debt. Just three years ago in 2009 our country was 6 trillion dollars in debt. Within 3 years we have more then doubled our debt here. So what do I think life and our economy will be in 2024.... well as of now, not so good. If our country decides to make the budget cuts starting in 2014, that's good for our country in a way because that means we are making the effort to pay off the debt but that isn't good for people in my generation because they will cut the cost of medicare and retirement, so that means that when i no longer have to work i will not get those extra benefits for retirement which could effect my life when that time comes. When I reach the age thirty I hope to have a great career where I can raise my family and send them off to college, but I don't even know if that will be likely anymore.
  One thing our country needs right now is a leader who can change this and help our debt and the people at the same time, and it will take a strong leader to be able to accomplish such an extreme task. Our choice for electing Bush made our debt sky-rocket. And then the re-election of Obama, seems like not such a great idea either since the time that he was in office he doubled the debt. I am not yet 18 yet but I know that by the time that I am thirty I will make sure I keep up with the economy and know which leader will provide the needs for the people to help our country become more stable instead of hanging on a thread. I want to be able to send my kids to college and let them live the life that I have, but how do we do that when we are soo far from comfort? Just depends on the direction our country takes and what changes our president will make to help us.

Health Care Reform

Health Care Reform

The Health Care Reform, also known as Obamacare, has got citizens all across America worried about how this new system might affect them. Especially after the 2012 elections when Obama was re-elected as the President of the United States over Mitt Romney. As Romney announced during the debates he told America that he was going to make changes to the system to hopefully gain more power for the elections. But Obama took the lead and now there is no turning back from the Obamacare system. Is Obamacare really as bad as everyone is saying, or is it just rumors that are being spread across America about how taxes will be dramatically raised and people will now be forced to go on a health care system. Well the truth is, it really all depends on your standpoint. How old you are, if you are married, if you have health care or not, or your social status, rich, poor, or middle class.

First off, it is true that Obamacare will be making sure that everyone has health care insurance (Roy Avik).  And it makes a big difference to the people who don’t already have it. Some people may say its worthless, and don’t want to pay the extra money through the year because they believe they don’t get sick or injured often. Well in 2011 the average amount a single person had paid for for health insurance, per month, would be around 183 dollars (PR Newswire). (More if you have more people in your family). Those people who pay already could get regular check ups to stay healthy and if they break a bone or get sick, they would be safe at the hospital and not expect such high priced bills. At Kaiser Permanente I would go to the doctors to get a check up, and the upfront cost, or the bill that could be sent to your house would be a total of five dollars. Well if my family was uninsured and my father didn’t get the great opportunity of having insurance through his work it would cost a lot more. It’s said that most hospitals don’t call it a check up if you are uninsured. Basically what they do is you come in you pay 125 dollars for the exam and then 200 dollars plus for the lab work. And to me a regular check up is an important aspect to make sure your diet is healthy and that you get your regular shots so that you are not bound in the hospital from some crazy disease.So just right there is 325 dollars, around two months paid of insurance that you refused to get.(PR Newswire). So in a way Obama’s choice “health wise” for making sure that everyone has the correct insurance is a great idea.

Now lets talk about the classes, how does it affect you if you are considered “rich”, “poor”, or just the regular middle classed man and how your age can also come into play. Well if you have more money and considered rich there are many obstacles that you could have dodged in order to not pay for your insurance. But those obstacles are now undodgeable. Obamacare is reinforcing that a small percentage of your income is now directly going to help pay for the new system that is taking place in 2014 (Tulsa World) As for the middle class, there will be changes noticeable and some pretty unnoticeable ones as well. If you are already paying for insurance and have been then you are used to the amount you have to take out of your paychecks in order to stay insured. Well, the price will be raised, but hardly enough for you to notice much of a change. The amount that will be taken out of your pocket than from before will be about 0.9 percent (Tulsa World). It is understandable how you may be frustrated from both points, and its agreeable that you should have the choice to whether or not you get to pay for you insurance. But now that this new act is coming to place it’s better to become more understanding. On the positive side for younger people, up until the age of 26 you are able to stay on your parents health care insurance, and to prevent unwanted pregnancies the new system is slowly having hospitals give out free birth control to people who are insured (Investor's Business Daily). And as for the poor you yourself are in a better place then you might believe. Although you will be forced to have insurance, you will be eligible to get medicare, which will be saving a lot of people from such high expenses.

This brings me to talk about medicare. Medicare has been around since the late 1960’s and is meant to help pay for insurance for the the elder that are above the age of 65 or with people with disabilities. Something new has been found though. Researchers have found that the people that get medicare the most are actually the wealthy people in our country (Investor's Business Daily). Which generally makes sense considering that they are making more money, and because of the fiscal cliff coming soon this next year people clearly believe that reducing the amount of expenses for medicare is to make the wealthier pay more. Make sense? Well, maybe so. Now in 2013, all of the elders are from the “boomer” generation making medicare expenses shoot through the roof. In a way it makes you think though, what is Obama going to do now? Obamacare is forcing everyone to go out there and get health insurance, no matter how bad you refuse to pay, they will find a way. But is this going to hurt us more? What truly is the reason why SO many people are frustrated with this new Obamacare? Is it because of the debt we are in? Is it because Obama truly does care about the people that don’t have health care might get hurt or sick and be in desperate need? Or should it just be someone's own personal choice?

Here are some more facts on the outcome that 2013 has coming for us. Obama is going to try to force a lot of tax cuts in order to fix the debt that we are in right now. And so far it is known that obamacare is the largest tax increase in history. Obamacare has twenty one distinct tax increases were around twelve of them are hitting single americans that make less than 200,000 or married citizens that make less than 250,000 a year (Washington Post). There will also be an increase of itemized tax deductions for medical expenses. Currently that deduction for medical expenses is 7.5 percent, but starting this new year it will increase to 10 percent. The medicare payroll tax will increase to 3.8 percent this next year leaving the Health Flexible Spending Accounts to $2,500 per year (Washington Post). So with all these crazy increases coming at us this next year makes me even go a little cross eyed.

          Overall it seems to me that Obamacare will affect you differently depending on your own standpoint in the economy and your life, and depending on how much money you make each year, the age you are, or even if you are married or not. Debates and talks are still going on throughout the white house to what will be finalized and what still needs to be talked upon. But overall there will be an increase in taxes for the rich the poor, and mostly the middle class. It is also one hundred percent certain that Obamacare will be enforced on everyone no matter who you are. That can be applied to you by doing it yourself if you do not already have it, or having the state come and make you do it through them. Either way you will be put on some sort of plan. Although things seem to be all over the place, it’s mostly because of what our country is experiencing with in a whole. With the fiscal cliff coming soon, no one knows exactly what to expect with all the budget cuts the president will have to enforce.The economy needs help and one of the only ways it will be paid for is to make us pay more taxes. Whether that be through the groceries you buy at the supermarket or the the medical expenses you will be enforced to pay soon, it is going to happen.

Work Cited

Work Cited.

"Another Threat To ObamaCare." Investor's Business Daily 27 Nov. 2012: A12. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

"Fallin rejects health-care exchange." Tulsa World [Tulsa, OK] 20 Nov. 2012. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012

"Health Care Reform." Gale Student Resources in Context. Detroit: Gale, 2012. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

Roy, Avik. "Redeeming Obamacare: how to introduce the Affordable Care Act to free markets." National Review 3 Dec. 2012: 39. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

"Transparency on Health Care Costs Enhanced in Virginia." PR Newswire 13 Nov. 2012. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

Williams, Juan. "The Spent Rage Against Obamacare." Washington Post 28 Sept. 2012. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

Fiscal Cliffffffffffff

PayROLLLL tax Holiday: So if I were to explain this to someone from my school i would keep it as simple as it appears to be. Baisically the Payroll tax holiday is when the government takes a certain percentage of money out of your pay check. This money was used to help you pay for the things that you need, like gas and food or rent. But now that gas prices have risen the question is to continue this payroll holiday or not, because people are wondering how much they are actually benifiting from it now.

Sequester: The sequester is started with the BCA (Budget Control Act). The act was made to cut the cost of certain things like the defense spending or medicaid to save the money that we are in debt with. The goal is to have 1.2 trillion dollars by the time 2021 starts. The act begins on January 1 2013. And an estimated amount of the budget cuts that we will be having in the year of 2013 is around 109 billion dollars.

AMT: It stands for Alternative Minimum Tax. Its baiscially another part of taxes that people will have to pay to make sure that the people who have very high income pay their taxes instead of using special tax benifits to pay little or no taxes. But now it is hitting the regular person who pays their normal taxes every year like they are supposed to but now they have to pay that extra tax money.

My Manifesto, yo!

     To start off I will talk about taxes. I am working two jobs right now and i know how much it sucks to see how much money they take out of your pay check that goes towards taxes. I think that our taxes should be used for education, safety, military, health and other needed things in America. What I don't think is that it should be given to people who are unemployed. In some cases it makes sense but i have heard stories of people who are using their unemployment money to pay for their college, while they are living somewhere. I don't think it is fair that this man gets to use that money for that purpose when he is capable of getting a job like any other citizen is. Also I know someone who quit their job because they were pregnant and she is receiving unemployment money when she doesn't even need it, it was her choice to to choose. So I don't want the money that i work hard for to be given to people who choose to be lazy and not go out and get a job, or for people who might of stretched the truth a bit to receive extra money that they don't even need.

     I'm also concerned about the health care. I have heard that now people are having to pay more money for health care for the people that don't have it. It just goes along with the unemployment money. I believe that people should work for what they deserve. If you want health care and money and to be employed then you cannot sit around at home and just get it from all the people that work their asses off for it. For the people that are working multiple jobs in order to just survive because they are gettting their paychecks cut for people the people that don't try as hard. If someone is worried about if they get sick, or hurt, or need to go to the hospital for an important reason then they should work for that, not others.

    But in order to solve all of these problems the government needs to figure out to get more jobs out there. It's hard for some people to get jobs and it seems like they are being limited, i dont know why this is caused, but i am assuming that one of the reasons has to be because of the minimum wage being raised. They plan on raising it again this upcoming year and it can be worry some. How much more money will i really be making? Or will my hours be getting cut because companies are unable to provide that much money for their employees? Also i think that people will be getting laid off again. Money doesn't grow on trees. And it is still rare to live off of a minimum wage job.

SUPPLYYY

Headlines!!

News Headlines.

Complimentary Demand: "FREE 50 dollar itunes card given away with a purchase of the new Ipad2"

Substitute Demand: "Gas Prices raised to 9 dollars a gallon, time to switch to Hybrids?" 

Elastic Demand:" Non-soda drinkers stalk up on rootbeer with INSANE cheap prices"

Inelastic Demand:"Milk Prices take a jump, yet consumers still crave for it"

150 word description going off of the inelastic demand. MINI ARTICLE

    Across the country invesigators have found out that many of the farmers are not treating their animals the way they should be. Feeding them food that makes the milk intoxicated and poisoning it causing consumers to get very ill. Investigators still don't know why exactly this is happening but it has caused a huge jump at the grocrie stores! From the average cost of milk at 2.50 a gallon milk now costs 8.50. Although it has taken a 6 dollar jump the amount of milk being sold has only slightly decrease. That just brings us  to the point of how much people need this in their every day lives. Milk is taken part of the economic world of being an Inelastic Demand. This means the the price of milk could either drop or become high and the product will still be sold in the same range of numbers. Do you ever wonder how far someone would pay for something they need though?? If invesigators can't find the problem milk may slowly rise to an unreasonable price. Will consumers still purchase their daily dose though? Only time will tell.

Demand Wrap UP

Elastic/Inelastic Demand Finale!

      One of the aspects of demand that I seem to be able to relate to the most is Elastic and Inelastic Demand. Inelastic Demand is when there is an item that you would purchase mostly depending on the price. If the price is too high you may choose not to buy it because it is usually an item that you don't necessarily need. Unlike the other demand which is Elastic Demand. Elastic Demand is when the price can either go sky high or stay low and cheap but you will still purchase the item because it is a necessity, or an item that you need to have whether its on a daily basis or just a regular purchase.
      A time when I was a part of the elastic Demand is when I purchase gas. Gas prices are changing all of the time, and it has been doing that for a very long time. No matter how expensive or how cheap the gas may be I know that I will be buying it. That is because it is something that I need! I need the gas to get to school or get to work, or go hang out with a friend or help drive my sibblings' around to the sports or activities I need. Although there may be substitutions, such as riding the bus or walking or maybe even riding my bike, my first choice will always be to buy gas. Every paycheck i will always set aside money just for that, and sometimes I even set aside extra money just because I know that gas prices change all the time. But that also doesn't mean that i will buy more if the gas is cheap, it's more of a "hurray" if that just happens to be so.
      A time when I used inelastic demand is nearly all the time! Most of the things that I purchase are normally determined on the price. If the price is too high I won't buy it. Examples of that may be certain kinds of food, or clothing, movies, activities, ect. Last time this occurred to me was when I was going to go get some coffee. I usually go to Dutch Bro's because their prices are reasonable. But instead I decided to go to Starbucks. When I got there I decided to just go to Dutch Bro's anyways because I didn't feel like spending 5 dollars on the coffee.
    My question is, is there ever a point where most people will stop buying the Elastic items because of too high of prices, even though it is an item that they need?
     

Elastic/Inelastic Diagrams

DEMAND

Blog #2

        A time in life when i had an opportunity cost was when I had to make a quick decision to purchase an item. At the time I was saving for my car and it was up in the air if I would be able to have enough money in the end to pay it off. The reason this came up was when I was browsing on the internet and I noticed that my favorite band, Atmosphere, was coming to Portland. I then had to make the last minute decision to either purchase the tickets for me and my friend to go to the concert and risk the fact that I could pay off my car, or I could play it the safe way and make sure that I saved the money so that when my car payment was payed off I would still have enough money, and maybe even some extra.
       Well, because I have never been to a concert, and it just happened to be that they were coming around the same time my car had to be payed off I made the impulsive decision to buy the tickets. The reason I did this was because there was only 22 tickets left and I felt as if I didn't have enough time to "think" about the situation. There for my opportunity cost was that I could purchase the tickets and risk the fact that I may not have enough money in the end for my car because I didn't put it in my savings, OR I could have saved the money in my bank account and know that I won't be 100 plus dollars short in the end. My question would have been, what if I didn't make the decision to buy the tickets and decided to save the money? Would my opportunity cost change? Or would I have regret the decision in the end?

Blog #3

        The market system overall seems to be working well, I like the way that everyone can be involved in it even if they don't imagine so. Just purchasing something on a daily basis makes the market grow in one aspect to one company that will determine the strengths and weaknesses of how they are doing. I like how the market economy answers the "WHAT, HOW, and FOR WHOM" questions. Baisically determining that we have a say in what is going on by what we buy and how much money we put in to it.
       Another thing that I admire about the market economy is how it can easily revolve and change to what is changing with the enviornment, the style, or whatever it might be that is a concern or new interest. But mostly I like how it provides freedom to everyone. After a certain amount of time the people can choose whether they want to continue going to school and go to college or a trade school, or they can begin to pursue in a career if they are ready for that next step, or if they really want they can continue to live at home and do whatever they were doing to begin with and just not move forward. But either way it is the individual that gets to decide that, unlike other economies where people are forced to do whatever a, for example, "higher" person says or tells them to do.
       There are also disadvantages of having a market economy such as, when a business can no longer provide for the people or their employees know the employees are left to go out about themselves to find another career to support themselves and possibly a family. Also a market economy can't provide some basic needs for the society because they may be too young or old or maybe even too sick. And there is always the possibility of a market economy may failing.
      So my question is, What would happen if the Market Economy fails?