Arizona's Discrimination will be their Downfall

The article I read was "Veto follows business backlash over Arizona anti-gay bill" by Blake Ellis and it was published on February 26, 2014.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/25/news/economy/arizona-anti-gay-bill/index.html?iid=H_BN_News

Upon reading the article, i was outraged to find that Arizona had issued a bill that would allow retailers to refuse service to any LGBT. The article showed how many Arizonians are also shocked by this announcement. Governor Brewer of Arizona says that she has not found any discrimination from the bill; however, people say otherwise. 

"When the legislature passes bills like this, it creates a reputation that Arizona is judgmental and unwelcoming," states a letter that more than 80 businesses sent to Gov. Brewer on Monday. "This will haunt our business community for decades to come." 

This could not be more true. Many feel that Arizona's discrimination has gone to far. Many businesses are refusing to work with Arizona, stating it would make their own reputations bad. It is conflicting with workers inside the state as well, who offer diversity in the workplace. Arizona is just recovering from the recession and this bill is making their economy suffer more and more. Many people,even including the Super Bowl Committee and Major League Baseball, has said that they will not work in or with Arizona until their veto this bill. 

My opinion is that Arizona needs to veto this bill. It is an insult to human dignity. They are allowing for discrimination to LGBT and not allowing them their basic human rights. It is not fair at all and people need to stop this injustice now. By having this bill, they are destroying their economy as well. No one wants to work with Arizona and be associated with them. I don't blame them. Arizona needs to get it together and fix their issues with people. They are hurting themselves and their economy. If no one wants to work in Arizona, then they will lose business and consumers. Their income will decline significantly. Overall, this bill is a shock and needs to be stopped.

Did Someone Say Chocolate????

http://economy.money.cnn.com/2014/02/13/chocolate-making-jobs-on-the-decline/

On 13 February 2014, Annalyn Kurtz wrote the article "Chocolate-making jobs on the decline." As the title clearly states, it described how there are fewer jobs in the chocolate-making business. Over the past 20 years, there has been a decrease in jobs. In 1990, about 54,000 Americans worked in this industry. Now there are only 38,000 left. Now, Americans consume about 5.5 pounds of cocoa beans a year still. So why are jobs decreasing if there is still more chocolate to be made??? Well, the answer to that question is that technology is eliminating jobs and producers are shifting work overseas. "Producers from Hershey to Nestlé to Mars, are increasingly relying on computers and robotics to create products more efficiently – they're relying less on physical labor," said Hester Jeon, an IBISWorld analyst who specializes in covering food retailers and producers. In fact in 2012, Hershey's invested $300 million in technology that would work for 24 hours straight. A highly automatized production line in one of its Pennsylvania facilities can make 70 million Hershey's Kisses a day. The company said it trained 700 employees to work with the new high-tech machinery. Now you may say, "Well they are giving some job opportunities still." But you would be wrong. Jobs are going abroad as well, making those back home lose their jobs. "When Hershey's closed down an Oakdale, Calif., facility in 2008, it moved production to a facility in Mexico. An estimated 600 Americans lost their jobs." 

I believe that people are depending too much on machines to do the work and this is one of the major causes of unemployment. We are slowly getting rid of one of the factors of production: labor. We replace it everyday in some way and soon humans will not even be needed anymore. This article is a perfect example of that, people need to allow others to work. Technology is good for improvement and can speed up production; however, if it is resulting in people losing their jobs, then it must be stopped. The economy will be effected good and bad by this. Good as it will speed along production and bad as it is resulting more in unemployment. Overall, we need to find a solution to comprehend this problem before it can get out of hand. 

Introducing the Apple TV

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/13/technology/apple-tv/index.html?source=cnn_bin

How to fix the Apple TV. That is the name of the article written by Adrian Covert on February 13, 2014. This article was about how Apple wants to expand its horizons and try to "take over the living room." They are interested in creating smart TVs, which would let them take over, dominantly, almost every technological market in the economy. They want to improve how users watch TV; however, every company that has done this has ultimately failed. Apple has not achieved their goal yet of dominating the market because of the fact that many already have HDTVs and that Apple is mostly good at music, not TV. They are two separate things completely and Apple is not going to be very successful.

In my opinion, Apple is a very strong and prosperous company. Many said that people would not buy Apple computers because they already owned a decent one; however, almost everyone nowadays has an Apple laptop. People will always be interested in the next top invention and with Apple being such a popular and well-known company, it's TVs will surely be welcomed into the market. There will still be more competition though and it is not known for certain whether Apple will make a good enough TV to begin with. Other businesses will be effected to if Apple does succeed. Apple will dominant everything really and there will not be that much competition anymore. Overall, I do believe that Apple can expand its horizons; however, it might damage the economy by doing so.

Reflecting On The Lives Of Adam Smith And Karl Marx

This week in my personal finance and economics class, we learned about Adam Smith and Karl Marx and their ideas on economics. We made a dialogue in our class with a partner in which we had to learn about these men and act out how we think they act if they ever meet and discuss their viewpoints on the world's differing economies. Now, Adam Smith and Karl Marx were two completely different men with completely different ideas; however, they both are the same in the way that they changed economics forever. Adam Smith believed in a free market economy and that people should follow their own self-interests. People are free to do what they want and can make their own choices. Karl Marx on the other hand believed in communism or a command market economy. In this economy, the government runs most of the businesses and everyone is equal and forced to have the same standing. This being said, during our differing dialogues in class, we described and came up with ideas that could be used in order to make our local town, Weserville, thrive. Almost everyone agreed that a mixed economy featuring Adam Smith's and Karl Marx's ideas would be needed for it to thrive.

My view on this topic is that it was very insightful in retrospect. Personally, it allowed me to understand a bit more on the differing economies and I was able to understand what type of economy Weserville would need in order to thrive and raise itself up into popularity. Overall, I believe that a mixed economy is the best economy that can be found in any place. I have learned this week that the best economies are not simply directed at one idea, but at a multitude. In order to make a difference, people must change and allow certain aspects to change as well. Command economies are generally seen as bad, but the government running public services can be seen as good! Also, a free market economy gives everyone the freedom to go after their own self-interests and not be held down. A mixed economy is the way to go in everything and I hope that Weserville decides to create one in the end.

I believe this topic can relate to what we are learning continuously in class as economies control the way a nation acts. The class is based upon life problems and the living in the world around the nation's economy. In the end of the day, by learning more about the economy, we can discover more about the way that we are currently living in the US and more about how we can change the world. Our economy effects everything and that is why this subject is so crucial. Everything else in class will be effected by out economy. Also, in the end, we get to understand how important the economy truly is and how much it impacts us.

Hullo Big Nose

Hello Camille. Lovely day isn't it? I find it splendiferous!