Oh The Credit.

The year is finally winding down. I am very happy for that. We have learned a lot in the past few weeks of finance and education in economics. Specifically, this week was a whirlwind of exciting credit cards and hearing stories of bad credit and it was all kind of scary, I'm not gonna lie. You have to have good credit to basically be able to pay for anything over a long period of time that cost bug bucks. If you miss payments for any reason your score drops like THAT. Credit cards can be very helpful, but they can also hurt you a lot. We ended up finding out about different forms of credit, such as open-ended and closed-ended, and places where you can get credit, such as a credit bureau or a private lender. BUT NEVER GO TO TITLE LOAN PLACES. THEY ARE EVIL. But moving on, we helped out a friend to get a TV and pay for it over time and we didn't get paid this week or have any bills that I remember... so I guess that equals out to be okay. Hopefully, If we did have any bills, they are not on my credit card, because I don't want my credit report to say that I missed a payment! I have to keep my score in top shape for as long as I can :)

Budgets: What when how... to save YOU money!

WIth all of the items for sale in the world, it can be hard to keep a handle on your money! It always seems like the world is just throwing out bigger and better things to purchase. So, how would someone be able to become financially stable in a world like this? Well, first off, a financially stable person is someone who makes enough money or saves enough money to fulfill their wants and needs. There are many tactics that can be used to be sure that you have money in your savings. First, whenever you get paid, you must be sure to PAY YOURSELF FIRST. This means taking a percentage of your payment and immediately putting it into savings. We learned that generally, the more closets a household has, the greater their household debt! This is amazingly true to me, thinking about the people that I know. We learned a lot of interesting things this week in Econ, and I hope that we continue on to learn more!

The Switch to Personal Finance

Wow, Spring Break went by way too fast. It seems like we just got out and then the next day, we were back in school! With the restart of classes, our Econ class took the turn to personal finance. On Monday, we started some notes about money and what is does. We made up some islands and drew on them. I was absent on Tuesday, but I heard we set up our bank accounts and got all situated in the Bank of Nettie. I set mine up on Wednesday when I returned, and then went and purchased a chocolate peanut butter bunny for $5.00. It was totally worth it! After doing so, we all got our first bill for the electric company and had to pay around $45. We wrote out our checks and learned what information was important. We mailed out our bills and then took some more notes on the Fed and the ways that banks supply money. I realized this week the idea of money. Like.... I had always known what is was, but I never realized how basically unimportant it would be without the backing of the nation. I am just excited to delve deeper into the information that we are learning about now.

Business Cycles and STUFF

What a great week we have had! The weather has been fantastic and you know what that means... great economy. Just kidding, that's not a sure sign of a good economy, so don't quote me on that one. But we have gone through a lot of valuable information this week. We packed our lessons full of information about business forms and the business cycle. I thought that the business cycle was one of the most interesting things! I never realized that a business or even the economy always moves in the predictable pattern! Like, I knew it did but I didn't know. I don't know how to describe it. But it makes sense that it always raises and then goes back down and that if it lasts for too long, then there's a depression. I found it very interesting to learn about the reasons behind the Great Depression too. I have never really known the reasons behind the Great Depression and as a soon to be "adult," it is my responsibility to know the reasons why bad things happened so that I can help to prevent them from happening again. It is all just about knowledge and understanding of the economy.

Wonderful Week of Economics

When I first heard the word "monopoly" this week, I thought that we were just gonna play the game! I mean, I had heard about those back-in-the-day people who ran huge oil or steamboat industries who were considered "monopolies," but I never knew it was considered an economic term! This week it was very interesting to learn that monopolies and types of economies can differ. I mean I knew they could, but I had no clue that there was a perfect economy, which is used to model an economy. There can never be a perfect economy, but we can get close! Like beef and agriculture and stuff! Competition allows the best possible product for the best possible price. People won't go to a product that sucks or is too high in price. Monopolistic competition is what I think is the ideal competition because it allows people to choose and change their products. There are not many restrictions to enter or exit the market. Oligopoly is strange to me.. the only way I can think of it is thinking of the cereal company idea. There are only 4 major and some small companies trying, but they will probably not succeed or get bought out by the bigger companies. I don't like how limited this is to other businesses to enter this market. Finally, the big kahoona, the monopoly! (DUH DUH DUUUUH). This is a crazy idea where there is only ONE seller with a product that is differentiated, but there are no similar substitutes. This is terrible in my mind. In addition, we learned about natural monopolies, government monopolies, technological monopolies, and geographical monopolies where they all have aspects that makes them the only ones to provide a good or service in the form of a monopoly. The world of economics can get a little crazy, but hey! That's what I'm here for: to clear it up a little more. I hope it got a little clearer!

The Dish on Supply

This wonderful March week, we delved into the topic of supply! The crazy thing is is that you would think there is a huge difference between supply and demand, when in reality, they are similar in the opposite way... okay, that might sound confusing, but it makes sense! I mean think about it: Demand is from the consumer's point of view while supply is from the producer. Consumer and producer go together just as demand and supply go together. Simple! Moving on, we did cool things like supply schedules, we drew some, and we got to draw some awesome scooters! I mean, I do think that our Armani scooter was the best, but hey. We really sold it :) The 10 questions were interesting when I made them, and I think that it really helped me to study for exams next week. I enjoyed this week and the discussions of supply with all the different cost, margins, and all that cool stuff. It took me a while to memorize the different things (i.e. variable + fixed = total cost and total revenue - total cost = profit). Filling in all the charts was so confusing at the start and then after doing 20935 of them, I think I got it! I am really prepared for this midterm, I feel like. Hopefully my grade will reflect it! Good luck, my fellow classmates! :)

Demand, Elastic, Quantity... Confusing? Maybe a Little.

This week we actually had a whole week of school! It was surprising. We got to finish up our ad campaign for wednesday's class. My group ended up winning, which was awesome :) I enjoyed making these and thought that they were a good experience in order to fully understand the way that the major 6 factors of demand change the quantity demanded of certain products. For our ads, the increase in demand meant increase in tourism and visitors, even residents. We wrote our essay reflecting on our ads and I think that I explained myself pretty thoroughly. Aside from the projects, we continued to look at different elastic and inelastic products in the market and how when the price changes, the demand either changes widely (elastic-- like a rubber band that stretches) or changes minimally (like a stiff rubber band that breaks and is old that no one likes). The demand curves and schedules were put into practice many of times to find out how price affects the quantity demanded. We also practiced the equation to figure out elasticity, which at first was a little intimidating, but I think we all got the swing of it. I am feeling a little anxious for the quiz today, because I sometimes get terms confused, especially when it comes to "quantity demanded" or just demand in general... like something just doesn't click for me in there kind of. But I think I can get it down by the time third block comes around on Friday! Good luck to everyone on the quiz!

Slow Week, But Fun!

This week was awesome, relaxing, refreshing... every good word made in the dictionary! Monday AND Tuesday we didn't have school, and we got to enjoy the snow/ice storm. Just kidding, I hate snow and ice. But when we returned on Wednesday, we covered some notes and we went over demand curves, demand schedule, and the law of diminishing marginal utility. All of these were tied in together and they made a lot more sense once they were put into perspective with examples. The way that the quantity demanded of a certain material and the price vary is interesting and is described in the law of diminishing marginal utility. I found it quite fun! Even though Mrs. Weser doesn't like Ramen... Sad :( But yeah and then Thursday, we just had a short quiz which I am pretty sure I aced! We went over some more notes that we were assigned to view over the snow break and those were pretty simple. We discussed the different things that can effect demand. Overall, it was a great week. I am excited to continue with the advertisements that we have just started. GO WESERVILLE!

This Week's Activities. Government Spending and Such Stuff

This week was actually really interesting. We delved deeper into the circular flow chart that  out American economy is based on (modified free market). In this, the government collects taxes and spends them and gives subsidies and creates infastructure.... the government does ALOT. There are different types of spending that the government performs that I didn't even know existed! I thought that all spending is necessary, or mandatory spending. I didn't know that discretionary spending was a thing. And I found out more about Medicaid and Medicare, which always seemed like just this cloud of something far away in the distance of my mind that I knew was a topic of political discussion, but I never really knew what it did or for who. I mean, I personally learned a lot this week in Econ and I really hope that I got a great grade on my test so that 3rd block can get milk and cookies!! Let's go 3rd block!! WHOOHOO

America's "Sweet Tooth" is Loosing Its Luster!

Forget Valentine's Day, the American people are disregarding chocolate like crazy! American jobs that make candy have been on the decline over a number of years now. Upon reading, I found out that Americans consume only 5.5 pounds of cocoa beans a year.... like.. . what the heck?! I definitely thought we ate WAY more than that. I think I probably eat 5.5 pounds in a month. But as reporter Annalyn Kurtz from CNN News delves deeper into the decreasing job industry, she gets a statement from Hester Jeon, an IBISWorld analyst who specializes in covering food retailers and producers, and he states, "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." But one of the main questions still presses: Why is this happening in the first place? There are two broader trends that are portraying themselves, and those are the fact technology is eliminating human labor and producers have shifted some work overseas. Companies, such as Hershey's (the biggest American producer of chocolate) invested $300 million in new machinery that would make chocolate 24/7. There were a lot of people who were trained to control and oversee the machinery, but they do not need as many people to wrap and do the jobs of the machines. Some of the factories, such as one in California, have shut down and moved across boarders or seas, like to Mexico. This is a definite loss of American jobs! I mean, I love chocolate AND I love American ingenuity, and I think that the people should be given the chance to pick up the slack and make the money they deserve. America was build off the toil and labor of men and women in this nation, not the oil and iron of machines to do all the work. Sure they can probably increase product efficiency in the market, but they can never outdo the hand-made quality of real items, especially the chocolate that we all know and love. For a few more figures, leaders in chocolate productions, and other information, go to:

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

This week was a WHIRLWIND of events and lessons! I mean, we covered stuff from circular flow charts in market economies to the behind the scenes of McDonald's cooperation, and let me tell you... I didn't know McDonald's was such a try-hard back in 2007 (no offense intended if you are reading this, major owner of McDonald's, I still love your fries!). One of the main topics of discussion this week for us was incentives. This is why people basically do what they do and make choices, economically speaking. If you cut the grass for $20 at your house, then you have just undergone the incentive of $20! Simple stuff right? Well it gets a little more complicated: Theres this whole flow chart with a thousand arrows that shows how resources are moved according to profit... but just because it gets more complicated does not mean that it is not easy to understand! So say you are selling something good like wheat. You are a nice farmer just trying to sell your wheat to people. Where do you go?! You sell your resources to the factor market. From there, businesses can buy that to make their products, like bread. So the money goes to you from the business, and they get their resource. Basic buy and sell, right? THEN the companies make their bread and this goes into the product market, where another "individual" or household (Even you, the nice farmer) can go and buy that bread! In this way, a free enterprise economy. Money, resources, and business all flow in this way. It just happens, ya know? People want and other people can give. It's life! I mean I think it is pretty simple and basically the way that things just happen! But I hope I made it a little clearer for yall. 

Connecti-CUT... More Like Connecti-ADD!

So, it is easy to say that there's A LOT of action in the economy happening-- I mean, people are always coming up with new ideas and plans for the future-- but, a story that stuck out to me is the idea of a higher minimum wage in Connecticut. As of today, Washington state is the state with the highest minimum wage in the country with a whopping $9.32 an hour. Governor Dannel Malloy wants to have the minimum wage of $10.10 in effect by the year 2017. Over the years until then, he plans to try to get it to build up (DON'T WORRY! I thought he was just going to jump right in with a dramatic change, too!). This idea is bouncing around the government officials and in Congress, and as reporter Chris Isidore from CNN puts it in his article, "Connecticut Gov. Proposes $10.10 Minimum Wage**," "'Connecticut is more likely to pass the increase than the U.S. Congress, since both houses of the General Assembly are controlled by Democrats.'" If you ask me, this is a far fetched assumption, but hey! I'm not one who likes to judge ('<') 

I do know that I think the idea of raising minimum wage means well, but when applied to the real world, it would create less jobs and the employers would cut back on more to be able to pay their workers. After all of this cycle is through and through, the producers would just need to raise the prices on their products in order to get the money they want and need. We would be back in the same issue of prices too high for products, even though workers are receiving more pay. It's definitely a dog eat dog world out there! 

** Article published on February 5, 2014
http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/05/news/economy/connecticut-minimum-wage/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

Basically... Here's the Lay-down.

WHOOHOO. Are ya'll ready for the biggest, best, most radical blog experience? It's time for economics to be simplified not multiplied, understood not disregarded, and honored by all for the AMAZING things that it accomplishes! Economics is not as hard as it seems and basically boils down to simple opinions and facts that run the world, because without economics.... 

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^^^ You can't see what I wrote. WHICH means it's nothing! AND THAT'S the world without economics. So let's take the time to take it step by step and really understand What's Poppin' This Week!