In the modern day and age, pollution is a major problem. Almost every day we hear about greenhouse gasses and smog, so how can we fix this and other related problems? As it turns out, there is a very simple solution to the issue, and that is private property. with private property, there would be incentive to not pollute. People could sue big factories for property invasion via air and soil pollution. This would provide a major incentive to invest in air scrubbers and cleaner methods of production. Additionally, there is the issue of paper versus plastic (in packaging). If dump cites could charge based on what is being dumped, people would voluntarily choose paper wrapped items over those wrapped in plastic. This is because the dump cite owners would keep getting sued for dumping plastic, and would therefore charge more to dump that materiel in the first place. Consumers would think when buying items at the store, “I should get the paper wrapped item because the disposable wrapping costs less to recycle.” Product manufacturers using plastic as packaging would get a decrease in sales revenue and have to eventually switch over to paper packaging, or at least decrease the quantity of plastic packaging that they use. Think about a public forest that is home to lots of deer. If privately owned, you would kill only the deer that you need and leave the majority to reproduce so that there will be more in following years. However, if publicly owned, these same woods would be entirely devoid of any and all game after the first couple of hunting seasons. This is because if you preserve some deer for the next season, some idiot is going to come hunting tomorrow and kill everything in sight, making it more profitable to simply kill whatever you can now.

The rise of health care costs began during World War II. Because of the large quantity of men drafted into the army to fight the war, employees were hard to come by. Normally, when employees are needed, potential employers will raise wages to attract them. However, this was war time, and the government had temporarily created restrictions, it was now illegal to raise wages. But how do employers attract potential employees without raising wages? The answer is simple, employers must offer something other than money with which to pay their employees. Something like healthcare. Once the employees had been hired, health care offered other benefits too. Health care was not taxable. An employer could pay $10,000 for an employee’s health care, or $10,000 in regular old money, which after state and federal taxes, turns into $7000. With the health care route, that is not only more money that benefits the employee, but is also one less thing that they need to worry about. However, because people were no longer paying for health care out of their pockets, they had no desire or need to shop around for the lowest prices. Their employers could not look into how the money was being spent, because that sort of thing is private. In addition, the American Medical Association stunted the growth of the medical industry. They severely limited the amount of professional doctors by only having a total of 19 certified medical schools. They also restricted the amount of hospitals across the US. Every time a hospital was planned to be built, the existing hospitals were given a poll on whether they thought there needed to be another hospital nearby. Naturally, the existing hospitals did not want any competition. Additionally, the US government created mandates that health care would cover x, y, and z, regardless of whether people wanted that coverage. Out of state insurance was also banned, causing a massive decrease in competition. Then, the affordable care act was passed. It required that health care be available regardless of pre existing conditions and that premiums not vary as much as they should, which is how health insurance companies ensure that nobody goes bankrupt.

Not all workers benefit from labor unions. Labor unions were created to help the workers, but sometimes fail to do so. Without labor unions, America was able to bring the work day down to eight hours, whereas in Europe, unions failed to do this first. This is because unions abruptly begin to enforce policies. if a worker is too poor to only work eight hours a week, he must find some other work. The concept is the same with wages. If unions suddenly say that employers must now pay employees at least ten dollars above minimum wage, the employer may not be making enough money to have any employees. Since the boss must now pay more money to his employees than he is making, the boss will go out of business and the employees will no longer have any wages whatsoever.

There are several common misconceptions about racial discrimination. The first is that discrimination causes poverty. There is no way that this is true because there are too many counter examples. These include the Chinese in Southeast Asia, the Italians in Argentina, the Armenians, the Jews, etc. During WWII, American citizens of Japanese decent were placed in concentration camps, yet they were earning 1/3 more income per household by 1969. Another unfounded claim states that statistical disparities prove racial discrimination. Statistics that “prove” this are not actually comparing like people. The numbers are showing that apples and pineapples are not the same thing. These statistics do not compare people of different races in the same economic situation, with the same geographic distribution, and with the same education. If those numbers were compared, then there would be practically no differences at all. Lastly, people foolishly believe that politics are the key to end racial discrimination. As proven by the Chinese, Germans, and Jews, politics have nothing to do with discrimination. All of these groups avoided politics like the plague, yet every one of them prospered (as a whole). Meanwhile, the Irish came over to the US and dove into politics. They failed to do well until they withdrew from politics. These are a few of the more common misconceptions about racial discrimination.

What are the fallacies of public goods?

Public goods are not always good. These goods are things built for the collective and do not cost more for each additional person. Public goods are also not exclusive. Regardless of whether you had paid for it, it is practically impossible to prevent anybody from using it. Most people do not want to pay for it because it is free. The claim for government production of public goods is that because there will be little funding for it, there will be less of it produced. However, there is no way for the government to be able to tell how much of any public goods are actually wanted.

Favorite business opportunity

For business class this week, I was presented with an additional four job opportunities. I decided that I am most interested by illustration. For this job, I would draw pictures for a living. When people think of illustrator, they think of somebody who draws pictures for books. This is one way that someone can be an illustrator. There are, however, other ways to illustrate. Graphic artists are technically illustrators. Illustrators can draw pictures for inventors, so that people can picture the concept. My favorite way to illustrate is to simply draw something, on paper.

Nowadays, the government takes our money and just gives it away to other people. When people see things like free healthcare, it is not actually free because we pay for it with our taxes. Government makes money via taxes, which come from us, the US citizens. The reality is that the government steals extra from us to pay for someone else’s healthcare, food, electricity, etc. This is not right. What this does is reinforce the idea that we do not have to work, can do sloppy jobs, or remain unemployed forever because the government pays for most of our utilities anyways. The government is not actually paying these, we are. We have the right of association, meaning that we can do business with whomever we wish and exclude anyone. We get to decide whether to purchase somebody else’s utilities, which a vast majority would not do. Therefore, it is unlawful to redistribute wealth.

For the essay at the end of this week’s business 2 classes, we were given the assignment of describing our preferred business opportunity. I chose app development. As an app developer, I would be able to write programs to help or entertain people. Program writing is different than writing an essay. You use a computer language instead of English. There are actually many different computer languages, including python, java, and c. Each language works slightly different from all the  others. In writing the app, many people will team up and complete different portions of the product. There are basically two types of apps that can be written, helpful and entertaining. Helpful apps have useful functions, like maps or calendars. Entertaining apps are usually games. These have been designed to be addictive so that people will waste their money on them.

In the religion of Buddhism, the teachings of the Buddha include the Eightfold Noble Path. This is a series of steps and practices that a Buddhist can follow to move them out of the never ending cycle of rebirth and to nirvana. These eight steps are divided into three categories, wisdom, morality, and mental discipline. Under the first of the categories, wisdom, are the first two steps, Right Views and Right Intent. A Buddhist is supposed to view the world with compassion. In the second category, morality, come the next three practices, Right Speech, Right Conduct, and Right Livelihood. A Buddhist should act and speak thoughtfully and devote his (or her) life towards improving the world. Following the second category is mental discipline along with the last three steps, Right Effort, Right Mindfulness, and Right Concentration. A Buddhist must know how to clear and calm the mind and create detachment.

Bitcoin is an online phenomenon. Bitcoin is a program that acts like a currency. The program allows people to earn, trade, and sell these digital coins. The program only allows for a maximum of 21 million to exist. But how to get a Bitcoin? They can be earned by reviewing a portion of the exchange log. In the real world, whenever a business has any exchanges, they must record it for review by a third party at a later date to ensure against fraud. In Bitcoin, there is no third party, outside of the system. Fellow Bitcoin owners can read the exchange log, as it is public. This is called mining.