Working

This week in the wonderful class known as Personal Finance, we completed two activities on the computer about identity fraud and taxes and insurance.  These were both fascinating things to learn about!  The identity fraud one was very interesting!  The assignment discussed how we can avoid it and the steps to take in case it has happened.  We all really think this can't happen to us when in reality it can.  This is a very serious problem that can ruin your life for many to come.  It can really harm you bank account, job and personal life.  These people basically steal your lives.  Do whatever you can to avoid this from happening to you!  I really enjoy doing these modules because they show real life situations, information and solution from everything to taxes to insurance to renting and owning to financing in a higher education.  This information will help me so much in college and career!  What do you guys think?

Going Through Changes

This week in Personal Finance, our lovely teacher decided to change a few things.  She is still lecturing but in a very unique way!  We are learning about credit and financing.  She is showing us people who are struggling with money but continue to purchase very expensive items.  For example, we helped a guy decide what was the best way to purchase a new T.V.  Sadly, he must pay about $99 every month for the next 5 years.  He might have made the right choice but it definitely costs him.  On this power point, it does have some more scenarios but in the "thought bubbles" lists facts such as benefits and costs of credit cards, reading the fine print of the credit card contract etc.  I really like this new power point.  It gives real life examples that a lot of people experience and even smart ways to avoid going into debt or something illegal.  We saw that this guy had a friend named "Broke Billy" (correct me if I am wrong) who kept giving advice such as "steal one..I mean borrow".  The man made a smart decision to not listen to this advice.  I really enjoy this power point because it is easy to understand, gives facts and is so much fun to actually "help" these people in these situation.  What did you all think?

Saving with Scrubs

This week in the wonderful class of economics we touched on a very important topic for everyone: budget.  Everyone should have one but many people in this country do not because they feel as if they do not need one.  We watched a video starring Scrubs star Donald Faison who taught us that even if you have a good career and make money, it is important that you still have a budget.  We witnessed different people living 3 different lives who believe the right idea is to have a budget.  One person was from a famous music group and even though they were pretty popular, she told us that it is always best to keep a budget.  Another person was in $30,000 worth of debt.  Crazy!  She talked about how she should have started a budget and kept a closer eye on what she was spending, plus she has to work even twice as hard to get out of debt.  The other person bought a television worth $2000 but spent less money on his furniture and talks about how he lives on a budget.  For him it is difficult but he knows he is saving himself from money troubles and stress.  The video also talked about how it is better to use cash instead of a credit card because you can actually see how much money you are spending and only have a limit amount in your wallet.  The video was really interesting and definitely helped me to understand why it is so important to keep a budget.    

Not so lucky penny?

This week, we returned from spring break and began a very fun and interesting class: Personal Finance!  Yay!  Our lovely teacher, Mrs. Weser, started off this very fun week with a power point on money, what it is, its characteristics and the function of it.  Our thought question was "What is money?"  I don't know about you, but before the power-point I had a very tough time trying to find the words to use to describe exactly what it was.  I always thought of it as just green paper we use in order to purchase items but in reality money is "any good that is widely accepted for the purposes of exchange and in the repayments of debts."  We even watched a video on how a man was able to get a house by trading a bunch of items but started off with a paper clip.  Crazy right?!  Today, everyone opened their own bank accounts in Weserville and received checkbooks!  How exciting!  This activity will help us learn how to write a check and manage our bank accounts carefully.  I honestly cannot wait to get started!  The most interesting part of this week for me was learning about how the penny may actually be costing everyone more money.  I love picking up pennies that are faced up because then I'll have good luck but in reality do pennies cause us bad luck?            

New Studying Method

This week in the wonderful class of Economics, we learned about GDP and what it takes to figure it out!  Doing the math is easy!  The formula is C+I+G+X, which stand for consumption, investments, government spending and next exports.  We also learned about recession and depression, four stages of the business cycle, the different ownership of a business.  Our lovely teacher also discovered a very unique yet effective way to prepare for our test!  She put the letters A,B,C,D in different areas of the room and she would ask us a multiple choice question, read the choices and we would have to walk to the letter we felt was the answer!  How much fun was that???  I thought it was so much fun!  A great way to help us prepare for the test and not just reading the questions and asking what we think the answer is!  I really think we should do this more often because it is a great way to make everyone move and such a fun way to study!  I really thought moving around the room helped us all remember the answer to the question!  I hope we do this more often!

PepsiCo

This was probably one of my favorite lessons in the wonderful class of Economics!  We discussed the differences of monopoly, oligopoly, perfect competition and monopolistic competition.  We talked about the number of buyers and sellers, the types of products, control of prices and freedom to enter or exit for each of these and found out the most competitive is perfect competition with monopoly being the least competitive.  I did not fully understand what a monopoly was until we watched a video on Pepsi Co!  In this video, we discovered that Pepsi Co is not only in charge of the second most popular soft drink but also owns large brand names, including Frito Lay and Quaker!  It was really fascinating to learn that all of my favorite snack and breakfast foods are all owned by the same company!  A monopoly is defined as only having one seller and controls the prices and Pepsi Co is a perfect example of this!  We also learned that in different countries the same company produces the same product but in different flavors, for example, the curry flavored Lays chips!  I was so happy to watch this video and really learn what exactly a monopoly was and how it worked and this really helped me understand it.  Because it had to do with food, something we all know and love so very dearly, it really made it exciting and interesting and easy to focus on!  If anyone asked what a monopoly was I would definitely show them this video to have a full understanding of this type of competition!  What a fun lesson!      

The Rock!

This week in the wonderful world known as Economics class, we split up into groups and created our very own motorized scooter!  My lovely partners and I came up with a very interesting scooter that will certainly make an impression on people.  We call it the Rock!  It has a rocket engine, parachute (just in case you go off a cliff or something), a snow plow so you do not have to just sit at home wishing someone would come and plow your street because now you can do it!  It can also carry your oxygen tank and even has a cup holder!  Who wouldn't want this?  I mean yes it is about $30,000 but it would be such a great investment!  You would not regret it!  I would highly recommend this product but for people over the age of 16, for safety reasons.  Kids should not use it!  Doing this project we learned about setting up all the different prices and profits that would work best for everyone.  We decided that it would cost about $20,000 to make and we could make a $10,000 profit if we charge it for $30,000.  Also, we learned how when creating a brand new product, all of the workers must agree on the various ideas and changes in order to create something that everyone would agree on and would sell well.  I really enjoyed this project and a big thank you to my wonderful partners!  These projects really teach us the lesson that we are learning in Economics that week and help everyone to understand the lesson in such an easy and fun way and also teaches the values of teamwork!  I think more classes should do projects such as these ones we are doing!  

Come on Down!

In the wonderful class of Economics, we did something unique and so much fun!  We were assigned into different groups and were asked to create a radio commercial, TV commercial, and newspaper ad of Weserville in order to attract tourism.  Also through doing this project, we were able to learn about demand and the 6 factors that can change it.  The factors are income, market size, consumer tastes, consumer expectation, substitute goods, and complementary goods.  I really believed everyone did a fantastic job with their campaigns.  My favorite was the commercial that we chose from Group 5.  I thought out of all the videos, it was the one that looked like an actual commercial.  The music was perfect, the voice over was great, overall it was just fantastic!  Congrats to the group for getting chosen!  I thought this was such a brilliant idea!  Weserville is such a tiny town that lives off of its small businesses.  Also, the population is incredibly small.  Bringing in more people will definitely improve the life style of the town.    Doing this activity I think really help understand the factors, demand and what it takes to make a great ad campaign.  Also, we really learned that in order to make the campaign come together, it is a group effort and each member must contribute.  I really think we should do more projects like this, as in making videos because it is fun, everyone must participate somehow, and learn economics in such a fun way!                          

Demand!

This week in the wonderful world of economics, we have been discussing a very interesting and important topic: demand!  Demand is the ability and desire to pay.  We went even further and talked about the law of demand, the demand curve and schedule.  Law of demand is when the price goes up, quantity of demand will go down and when the price goes down, the quantity of demand will go up.  This information is shown on the demand curve, which will always slope downward.  Our wonderful teacher showed us how to read and use the demand curve.  We used graph paper and drew the vertices that represented price (y) and quantity (x).  She had us use real world examples, such as purchasing video games or cats, to see how as the price decreases, the quantity of demand increases.  During the snow days as I watched the videos and read the notes, I did not understand what I was reading.  Using these real world examples were very helpful and helped me understand how to read and use the demand curve!  Using the demand curve is very beneficial for companies keeping track of their products and customer satisfaction.                          
    

Not the Homeless!

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/26/pf/homeless-scam/index.html?iid=H_PF_News

In this fascinating read, you will discover that not only the rich and middle class are targeted for money scams but the homeless are also!  How horrible!  The article talks about how people will pay a homeless person to take out cell phone contracts and get subsidized phones, and these cost about $100 for a phone that is worth $600 or more.  Once the person gets the phone, they leave the homeless person alone and sell the phone to someone else online or on the streets.  The homeless person receives hardly any profit.  They actually continue to be in debt because the phone is in their name so all of the bills end up being in their name and when they fail to pay, credit is destroyed.  This is absolutely horrible!  I have never heard of such a cold, heartless scam before.  This is basically kicking these people while they are down.  These people already have so much heartbreak in their life.  They need someone in their life to actually get them off the streets and into a safe place.  These people in charge of the scams should feel nothing but shame.  It seems like in the beginning they are trying to help them by getting them a phone so they can contact family or loved ones to let them stay but in the end they just end up pulling the rug from underneath them.  Not only does this hurt the person, but also the phone companies.  The people making the phones for the regular price are not receiving their fair profit.  The sales will decrease, then the company can face shutdown or bankruptcy.  In the end, it appears as if no one wins from this scam.  I definitely think this article should be read and used to educate people that anyone could be the next victim of a identity scam.     

Walmart

This week in my wonderful Economics class, we have been discussing WALMART!  We have been discussing the positives and negatives of this store.  We have learned that Walmart is one of the most successful chain stores in the world and is run by the Walton family.  We also have learned many disapproving actions Walmart has done, including causing many small businesses to close, take up a lot of space and never ending expanding.  I always shop at Walmart every weekend so learning about the horrible things about Walmart  made me think twice about it.  It really made me think of all the small businesses it was responsible for closing and how there always seems to be another Walmart not to far from it.  The activity we did today in class was deciding whether or not Weserville needs a Walmart.  I was surprised and happy when the decision  to get one was approved!  I really do think it will  do great things for Weserville.  Even if people are just passing through, they can look at the Walmart and remember if they are ever in this area again they can go there.  Also, many people, like myself included, lost their job due to Walmart.  As a mother of 3, who is only renting her house and having to have my mother in law live with me, a Walmart will be very convenient for me.  I can pick up my groceries, kids and mother in laws medicine, and other necessities at one place!  Thanks to the low prices, I do not have to worry about getting another job so soon.  Hopefully I will be able to get a job at Walmart so I can even get more discounts!  I think it does great business for Weserville too!  It might close down the mini mart but Walmart is bigger and able to attract more people.  Plus, our neighbors from the other town can come and shop here too!  I think it is a win-win situation from everyone's point of view.  Even the mini mart workers have a new job!          

Book Store!

This week in the wonderful class known as Economics was filled with many fun activities, including watching a film on McDonald's and how it became the most popular fast food choice, deciding what business is right for Weserville (etc.) but we now understand businesses would not be here if it was not for two very important things known as incentives and the circular flow model.  An incentive is something that motivates a particular course of action, it is also a benefit offered to encourage people to act in a specific way.  Incentives are very important to think of while running a business.  They are what motivates people to get the job done.  For example, in order to get good grades, I must work hard.  The good grades would be my incentive.  In a business, it is important to think of the things that will benefit not only the person running the company but also the workers (etc.).  The circular flow model helps us understand how a business works by showing us where the money goes and the factors important to run the business.  To fully understand these concepts, we had to decide what business would be good for the Weserville and create a list of incentives for everyone involved and our own businesses circular flow model.  The group I worked in decided that Weserville needs a bookstore.  A bookstore is very important for everyone!  Many people in Weserville are unemployed and do not have college degrees.  Well, in order to work at a bookstore, you do not need a college degree, just show your love and passion for books!  Our collection would include many classic historical novels, mathematical books, every kind of book for each individual!  When someone reads a lot, they tend to become more articulate and increase their knowledge of the world.  Weserville could become even more smart from the book store!  Also, we would have a little coffee shop area so you can come in and read and relax for as long as you want!  Countless incentives from this little business!  It would be a splendiferous choice to choose this business!    

6 February, 2014 Marx and Smith

Camille Gross



Reflective Blog

This week in class we discussed Karl Marx and Adam Smith.  We did a very fun activity where two people had to act as Marx or Adam and what they would be like if they ever met.  We also had to think about what they would do to fix the economy in other countries and in Weserville.  Doing this activity really helped to understand the brilliant minds of Marx and Smith, the numerous ways to help damaged economies, and understand the differences between market and command economies.  They were both very intellectual men but with very different feelings about the economy and it was so fascinating to learn about there views.  The activity was very helpful in understanding their reasoning behind their views.

Reading about both of Marx and Smith's views, I would have to agree more with Smith.  I approve more of a market economy because producers and consumers are the ones who really should be making their own decisions.  Producers are the ones who are making the item and they should be allowed to choose who they want or do not want to sell it to.  We live in a market economy and we are very use to living like this with so  much freedom and it is very hard to understand what it is like in a command economy when we do not even know what that experience is like.  It is hard to imagine living without the freedom to choose who to sell products to and having someone make all the huge decisions for you.            

Hello Old Sport

Hello Olivia. How are you?