Flash Forward

Today is finally my 30th birthday. Reflecting back to when I was in high school, the economic condition has altered a lot and changed for the better. Back then, in the year of 2012, the economy was facing a dangerous situation of the fiscal debt and the national debt was totaling $16 trillion. Due to the adverse situation, the government had implemented many changes such as, increasing tax rates on the wealthy, creating many spending cuts and deleting unnecessary programs/organisation. America has also pulled out of any involvement with war and stopped foreign labor with China, creating new businesses here in the states and to increase employment rate. There were many opposition, but it was one of the only good ways to fix the problem. 

As a result of the solution, the social classes have altered and citizens are close to the same standard of living.  The middle class is still of the majority. There's more booming businesses here in the states, employment rate is up and people are having a decent budget of living. More businesses in the states have persuaded other countries to initiate more businesses here and also trade, creating better foreign relations. National debt still exists but it is now down to $5 trillion. Creating a balanced budget is a struggle but the government is creating more programs to help. 

How can we become more aware about our economic stability in the future? Are there more solutions to the debt problem other than increasing tax rates and more spending cuts?

The Impact of Guest Workers in an Economy

The Impact of Guest Workers in an Economy

Jennie Shen 3A

With the new coming of age as modern civilization starts to make rapid progress towards advancement, many countries will try to look for shortcuts in the increasing need to heighten market demands and achieve the goal of becoming the most prosperous and successful country. America tries to fulfill this goal by uprooting a system of employing guest workers, a foreign laborer working temporarily in an industrialized country, in the states. Right now, as the nation is facing economic turmoil, falling in debt and the danger of a fiscal cliff, the government is trying their best to look for many alternative ways to provide and improve the current economic system. In order to boost the economy back to standard levels, America is striving for ways to hire and implement a guest worker system to supplement and provide for the economy and to reinforce that guest workers can make a positive impact on society.

When taken in context, many citizens have the perception that guest workers or foreign workers are those that work in the agricultural field, working in hard labor under harsh conditions and receiving low pay. Undoubtedly, that information is true, but there is also another side to the story. According to UE international, the foreign working system has been implemented a hundred years ago between 1900 and 1920. During that time, Mexican workers were recruited to work for mines, railroads, construction and agriculture in the U.S. It was a desperate time for industrial labor but also a time of new vision in the labor movement, for the U.S. was trying to achieve international solidarity. The Industrial Workers of the World or IWW was an international union group, hoping to unite all workers of any class or race and to abolish the wage system in order to create equality among all workers. It was a way to create better foreign relations with other countries, a new age of peace and acceptance.

Currently, requests to hire foreign workers are on the rise because of one reason, “foreign specialty workers,” who are highly skilled workers that are capable of applying for specialty occupations due to a minimum of a bachelor’s degree. The regulation requires the worker to have a highly specialized knowledge in a subject such as architecture, engineering, mathematics, physical sciences, medicine etc. These workers are employed through the H-1B visa, a temporary visa allowing employers the liberties to hire non-immigrant workers (Ernst, George). The duration of their stay can range from three years and extendable to six years, sometimes also possible to opt for a green card and become permanent residents if they have an approved I-140 immigrant petition. The employment of these foreign workers will help improve economic state, such as improving education, sciences and innovation. It also provides additional staffing when certain occupations are low on duty. It’s a safety precaution for the economy.

Each fiscal year, there is an annual cap of 65,000 H-1B visas available because the government has to keep a safe limit in how many foreign workers enter in and out of the country. It’s a way to keep track and the cap is to impose the amount of jobs needed and are available. In previous years such as 2009, the cap was never reached because of a significant decrease in demand, studies show that it might be a result of the impact of the recession which continued to 2011 (Ernst, George). Despite the low rates, current trends demonstrate that as of May 18 of this year, there has been a substantial increase in the number of H-1B petitions documented at the US Citizenship & Immigration Services. The numbers have doubled compared to the year 2010, clearing pre-recession levels. The growth reflects that the economy is improving, becoming globally competitive once again because filing an H-1B visa takes both time and money, something a weak economy will not be able to provide because of a lack of monetary resources to support a cause. The process of filing an H-1B petition is not simple, the legal government costs in sponsoring a foreign worker are expensive and the handling of paperwork takes both time and effort (Ernst, George).  As this process continues, there is hope that employers are feeling more confident in hiring more guest workers and becoming more productive as employers strive to improve economic conditions and exert the effort needed to benefit for the common good. Another reasoning behind an improving market is that many of these “specialty workers” are employed to work for computer-related occupations. This increase in activity represents the country’s continual of being innovative and the demand to to be competitively strong in terms of technology and business.

Another aspect that the guest workers help the economy is by providing aid for the agricultural system. The current trend for now is that farm owners need Hispanic workers at a cheap rate to sustain the agriculture industry. The guest worker program are able to provide that resource and supply workers to help (Rousmaniere). However, the cost of hiring cheap labor are noticeably high and farmers are having trouble affording it, and as a result, farms will eventually have to shut down due to the inability to maintain itself. This would impose a threat on the economy because many of these immigrant workers legal or illegal make up roughly 1.8 million of the nation’s farmworkers. They are the work force that provide agricultural resources for the nation, without them, the industry would not be able to survive, claims Rousseau from the fox News article. The employment of cheap farmhands has other benefits such as saving the industry up to $9 billion in annual production, according to the American Farm Bureau Federation (Rousmaniere). The immigrants prove to be a strong workforce that not only provides but also sustain economic stability.

As a nation, America is still maintaining as one of the top industrial country of having the biggest technological advancement. This is a representation that the wealth and spirit of the country has not subsided, that it still has the adequate resources to advance and function. According to the resources, the employment of guest workers are essential in sustaining and improving the economy. America has proven that employment of guest workers can provide many benefits for the health of a society because they are the key workforce that helps generate growth, allowing the economy to thrive.



WORKS CITED

Ernst, George. "Requests to hire foreign workers on rise." Arkansas Business 4 June 2012: 17.

Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

"Forced Labor on American Shores." New York Times 9 July 2012: A18(L). Gale Student

Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

“Linking with Foreign Workers.” UE International. n.d. Web. 17. Dec. 2012.

Rousmaniere, Peter. “Economic impact of a guest worker program on American agriculture.” Working Immigrants 12 April, 2006. Web. 17 Dec. 2012.

"Residency/Green Cards/Naturalization." Gale Encyclopedia of Everyday Law. Ed. Jeffrey Wilson.

2nd ed. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 2006. 967-971. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 27 Nov. 2012.

Vergara, A. "Hahamovitch, Cindy. No man's land: Jamaican guestworkers in America and the

global history of deportable labor." CHOICE: Current Reviews for Academic Libraries Mar. 2012: 1335. Gale Student Resources In Context. Web. 29 Nov. 2012.

Fiscal Cliff

The fiscal cliff is a plan that implements $500 billion tax increases and acrosstheboard  spending cuts by Jan 1. 2013 if Democrats and Republicans can't reach an alternative deficit-reduction deal. If the fiscal cliff does happen, then taxes would rise for every taxpayer and businesses. The government would cut finance towards many federal programs such as military and education. This is a major issue because the sudden deficit-reduction is too soon for a weak and poor economy that is still trying to gradually climb it's way back up.
Many people are worried because this new turn of plan can affect the economy dramatically such as cuts for social programs, defense, health care and other industries which depend on the federal spending and if cuts are made, then there would be major job losses which then in turn would increase the unemployment rate.
With such high debts resting on our country, the government is doing everything it can to make for the increase in debt limit which results in tremendous increase in tax and spending cuts for every citizens. As of right now, the fiscal cliff is only a temporary plan but if the Democrats and Republicans can't reach a general consensus then the fiscal cliff is really going to be in effect and the economy might take a very hard downturn.

My Manifesto, yo!

In my opinion the people should be the ones ruling and governing their country, hence, Democracy, just like the United States. Although democracy is pretty effective there are still some flaws. In general, I often find that the needs of the people are not met because everyone is so different and this is a struggle because the ultimate decision to create reforms and laws are left to the government. The senators are the authorities who can implement our ideas, not the people itself and then in the end, it's up to the president to either agree or disagree with such ideas. This type of system is kind of defective because political parties are often biased in their point of view but overall the world has to work this way because it's impossible to please everyone.
Taxes should be collected by federal but because of the different social classes in the country, I think the percentage taxed among everyone should be the same in regards to their income. So in this way, there is equality in terms of fairness. For example, the wealthier should pay more than those of the poor because how    can the poor climb their way back up in the economy if they are heavily taxed to the point that they don't have enough to live on.To me that's extremely unfair.
In a fair economy, I think everyone should be allowed the same benefits, therefore health care, education, social services should be free for everyone because right now it's difficult for the poor or unemployed to afford these benefits. This way, everyone would be happier and healthier. The health of the people= health of the country.
I think the infrastructure system funded by taxes is a fair system because it's something that needs to be constant throughout our lives. It needs to be maintained so that the society and economy can function as a whole. We all depend on roads, sewers, mass transits etc. to operate so it's a completely fair system if a fraction of our income is subtracted for these services, I think it's a worthy sacrifice.
A nation's security is important but as for now, I think we're spending way too much on the military system and drowning deeper in debt. America has always upheld a position of authority, being the most powerful country and in this way, we try to be involved in everything, helping devastated country when they're in crisis or involving ourselves in wars that could be avoided. I think it's great that we're generous but it's not beneficial when we're not well equipped or in lack of resources or money to support the cause, it only makes our nation weaker. I think we have to focus on helping ourselves before helping others. It's fine to spend a lot on emergency services because many of these people risk their lives in order to make our lives safer.
Question: What would happen, if the people of North Korea are privileged to have the access to social media? Are they brainwashed to the point, where they will find the ideas corruptive or would they be able to convert to our ways? Is there any hope for this communist madness to end, or are they forever stuck in this world of oppression?

Minimum Wage

Although I understand that many people are suffering from unemployment and poverty right now, I think minimum wage should stay the same. If increase, only by a little. Yes, by increasing minimum wage, workers would gain more money and have a slight alteration in their lifestyle but if increased by too much, employers would no longer feel the need to hire more workers because that is taking money out of their own pockets and with less money to work with, they don't have the motivation of expending more money to hire and pay even more workers. Instead, they might take the easier route of cutting workers and even replacing them with technology in order to save money which is not the right approach for the economy. I think the best choice is to stabilize the current minimum wage and promote more small businesses and future business leaders to create more jobs and generating a greater workforce for the unemployed suffering right now.
Would the economy be able to provide and work with a minimum wage of $10.00? What would need to change in order for this concept to work?

Price Floors

Price Floors should also not be implemented because it won't have any benefits for our economy. If the price floor is below then nothing will change because the market price is already set above, therefore it is ineffective but when the price floor is placed above the market economy price then suppliers can now work with a higher price and possibly gain more profits. But when this is altered, consumers will likely drop or even drop out of the market because the price is now higher than what was offered before. Also, when the price rises, suppliers will also have to increase the amount of supply which is unreasonable when there is less demand for the product, overall creating a surplus which is not needed.
What is the point of having the price floor be below the market price?

Price Ceilings

In my opinion, I don't think that the government should include price ceilings into our market economy because it is not very reliable or effective and overall it has too many consequences.
It is fine when the price ceiling is set above the market price because then nothing would be affected but when it is below, suppliers are forced to lower their charge on the product compared to the original market price. As a result, some suppliers are forced to drop out of the market because they can no longer make the profits they had before. When the prices drop, demand will rise which creates a shortage in the economy. This will create more problems if the government does not initiate relief programs so that supply can meet demand. Shortages can also create discrimination among consumers.
There are also some conception that with the drop in price, quality will drop as well which would not be good for the consumers. Also, when the demand is not met, consumers will have to turn to black markets in order to receive the product that they want.
Overall, implementing price ceilings into our system would be far too risky therefore it is better that we don't have one. The free market equilibrium price may also alter and change from time to time and it would too much of a hassle to have to change the price ceiling along with it.
America does not seem to benefit from the price ceiling system but which kind of economy or what country out there would benefit from having a price ceiling?

Supply Wrap Up

Complements

The definition of a complement in economics is when one item shares a beneficial relationship with another. So if the price of a good goes up then the sales for the complement will fall because they are related.

For example, for breakfast I really like to eat cereal. If we run out of milk, then we would go to the store to get more because milk is a complement with cereal and usually one wouldn't eat just cereal alone. There are also instances when we don't have time to go to the store and would have to wait, when that happens, I would avoid the meal itself because it's in our lifestyle to pair the two together so when they're not available, we would usually just skip it. The reason for this type of relationship is because Milk and Cereal is an enlastic  demand, there are no substitutes for it so even when the price of milk goes up, the sale for cereal will continue because they are complements with one another.

Question: 

This leads to me wonder that although milk and cereal are complements, they are a little bit different from other complements because they have an inelastic effect so unlike the definition, when the price of milk goes up, the sales for cereal WILL NOT fall because the products have an inelastic demand. Does this type of relationship occur with other complements as well? or does it depend?

Demand Wrap Up

Inelastic vs Elastic Demand

Demand Headlines

Complementary
"Salmonella outbreak! peanut butter and jelly makes consumers go nuts  "

Substitute
"Huge mob breakout; Nike goes bankrupt as Adidas swoosh in business"

Elastic
" Coca Cola sinks in business, polar bears finds new home with Pepsi"

Inelastic
" Tooth Brush goes up to $7, customers still brush by with a smile"

http://media.photobucket.com/image/recent/photomama/toothbrush.jpg

During the years of 2014-2015, the United States have been suffering from an economic crisis, such as people out of jobs and skyrocket prices, it is hard for anyone to make amends. But even through these downturn of events, customers still manages to brighten with a cheerful smile everyday through nothing but the magical use of a toothbrush. When received with such news,  news reporters nationwide reacted with skepticism, " How could people in such harsh economic conditions have the courage to spare a single toothbrush for $7? Aren't there other cheaper alternatives to this problem?" The answer is no.
When we interrogated Amy Smith, a health specialist at OSU, she responded " the answer is simple, we need toothbrush to survive, it is a necessity that cannot be replaced, like that of the toilet. The habit of brushing our teeth is not only sanitary but also good in maintaining a healthy body" She then leads us to her lab and explains project WT (whiter teeth) which was funded by the government in finding better alternative ways for cleaning our teeth. During her research, Amy tested 3 items, 1) bubble gum 2) tooth pick and 3) napkins and the end result was not so effective compared to the tool of the toothbrush. First, although bubble gums could eliminate bad breath, it does not make up for the fact that it can't clean teeth but destroy teeth for that typical bubble gums are sugary and is a main culprit for cavities. Test tool number two the tooth pick did not go as planned either. Even though it's good for cleaning the nitty gritty in between teeths, it's still impossible to cover the entire base of our teeth using such small and skinny object. Finally, the napkin which was ineffective because again, it's hard to use and another, it's hard to reach cracks. Overall, the lesson here is, we NEED toothbrushes. It's better to suffer the consequences now then to face more or even harsher and costly ones in the future, so pay up and brush up! and keep that smile on!

Demand

Demand Schedule

http://scrapetv.com/News/News%20Pages/Everyone%20Else/images-8/fiji-water.jpg

Market Economy

Some of the benefits of a Market Economy is that the consumers get to control the market because it is based on our needs, the supply and demand, so majority of the time, customers like me would be able to get what I want with a reasonable price. Another good thing about the Market Economy is that there is little interference from the government because the entrepreneurs are the ones controlling the system, people who can make the decisions. The downside to a Market Economy is that not everyone can get the same benefits such as health care, insurance, universal education etc. In other words, people with lower income has less benefits from this type of economy.
On a personal level, I have friends right now who are trying to find a job but they can't because the market is so competitive since businesses are more interested in adults who have more experience. Another factor is the poor economy, resulting in a large amount of unemployed workers because the market is not producing enough new jobs to keep up with the pace and demands of the our society.
Although the market may have some disadvantages, it's still very effective. For example, when I go shopping,  the stores will always provide/produce enough goods for the customers and depending on the demand they can control the prices, so when something is out of season/style, the price will be reduced which is very fulfilling for those who don't want to spend as much.
With the poor economy right now, will there ever be a way for the government to incorporate more benefits into the market system? Such as providing more services (health care) for everyone or is it impossible?

Opportunity Cost

       At the age of 7 when I was in 2nd grade our whole family had to move from Taiwan to the US due to my dad's job. At the time I was still young and didn't realize how big of an impact it would make on my life. Of course, my dad had already made preparations for either decisions of whether to stay in Taiwan or to go to America. We had to weigh the benefits for both and ultimately made the decision of coming here.
       The reason for coming here were mostly for my brother and I's benefits which was better education, better life, more opportunities and the chance to explore a new language, culture and life. He made the decision towards giving us a brighter future and for him a stable job and income. As I think about it now, I do not regret his decision because it opened up my life to an array of possibilities. The chance to study here has made me more knowledgeable and a better person.
       However, the opportunity cost for this decision still lingers in my mind from time to time such as, what if I had stayed in Taiwan? If I had stayed in Taiwan, I wouldn't have to leave my family and wouldn't have to make any adjustments towards my lifestyle. No money would have to be wasted towards the life in America ( air fare, house, cars, luxuries). I wouldn't have to learn another new language and struggle towards making new friends and education would continue and I could be perfecting my mandarin. Finally, the cheaper life in Taiwan could be saving my parents lots of money. As I look at it now, my question is, what if I had stayed in Taiwan? What would my life be like and would I be as successful as I am now?
   

Scarcity

One major asset that is very scarce in my life is time. As a student taking full IB I am very busy with rigorous course work from the advance classes that I have to take. Whenever I get home, I find myself spending hours upon hours on homework and rarely have the free time to pursue my interests or socialize with friends.
It is also scarce in the sense that I might not have enough time for my priorities such as

• homework
• sleep
• meals

This image is a representation of time because the warping feeling represents how time is slipping away showing that it is a scarcity.