Combating the rising cost of food

This is an article about the G-8 summit in Japan finding a way to combat the rising cost of food.

http://news.moneycentral.msn.com/provider/providerarticle.aspx?feed=AP&date=20080601&id=8711108

The competion for resources has caused the less desirable choice for producers to increase in price. Since producers (farmers) can get a better price for thier product (grain) by selling it to fuel producers instead of public consumers they sell more of it to fuel producers. This scarcity causes food prices for consumers to increase.

The G-8 summit would like to find some way to make it more desirable to sell corn to consumers and cause a drop in food prices. It could possibly be through mandating where their supplies go to or giving tax breaks or subsidies. Whatever the G-8 summit decides on their actions could have a huge impact on the global economy.

Well, the AP test is done and we're all so happy to know that we don't have to worry any more right? Wrong...we still have to worry about economics every day.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/CollegeAndFamily/CutCollegeCosts/SimpleWaysToMakeCollegeCheaper.aspx

Here is an article about saving money while going to college. We all know that it's an investment but just how much is it going to cost us to go to the university of our choice. And for those of us who have to pay for it ourselves how can we make it a little less expensive?

Economics in Sweeny Todd

I'm sure this title got some people's attention (Marty) but I really just got the brilliant idea to show economics through the example of Sweeny Todd. As anyone who's seen the movie Sweeny Todd knows, the main characters (Ms. Lovett and Sweeny Todd) kill patrons of the baber shop and then bake them into pies in the meat pie shop. I see this killing of patrons as an increase in the supply of meat. Since human meat has a different taste, Ms. Lovett no longer makes "The Worst Pies in London" and an increase in demand is caused. Now I know that Sweeny Todd is not a typical "economic topic" but I thought it applied in this instance.

The oppertunity cost of extra-curriculars

With play opening on May 1st (you should all come see it...hopefully it will be amazing) and that being the last day to get deposits back, I find myself wondering if the stress and time constrants of extra-curriculars are really worth it? For the next two weeks I have play rehearsal or a performance almost every night but I still have to do all of the work for my AP classes. Some believe that the purpose of extra-curriculars isn't to enjoy being with your peers and develop social skills; it's to put them on a resume for college or scholarships. The oppertunity cost of participating in extra-curriculars is a lose of time to study or work. While most of us will get scholarships to college, we still have a lot to pay for. A hidden benefit of extra-curriculars however, is developing time managment skills and creating a "well rounded" candidate for colleges and scholarship committes to look at. Usually people do extra-curriculars because they find them interesting or relate to a topic they want to study or work in; occasionally their are a Paris Geller (Gilmore Girls reference) who only do things to put them on their resumes. Extra-curriculars are wonderful and fulfilling. Just remember the next time you're on a bus coming back from a match or complaining about the long practices...you had a choice to have more independent time and you chose to participate in this activity instead.

Credit cards and Obese America

So, I was looking for an article to blog about and I just had to pick this one. It asks the question, is the convience of using a credit card at fast food restaurants making America even more fat?

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Banking/CreditCardSmarts/CreditCardsCanMakeYouFat.aspx

In consumer math we're discussing the "evils" of credit cards and how much they can mess up your finacial success. True, for big perchases credit cards are convient but if you don't pay them off you can end up paying more than whatever you "saved" by using your plastic. The article deals with the externality of credit card use at fast food restaurants. Using plastic instead of cash is convient (yes...I'm guilty of this) but it could be a lingering factor in the correlation between the easy of access to fattening food and the level of obesidy in America.

Is Being Broke "Normal"?

Here is an article that asks the question, "Is being broke normal?" http://www.bankrate.com/msn/news/Financial_Literacy/debt_management/Dave_Ramsey_on_debt_a1.asp?caret=87e.

The author of this commentary makes some good points about our nation being saturated in debt. By the time students graduate high school they're already in debts and it doesn't get better from there. Our generation is being set up to continue the revolving door of debt. But what will come of a generation of debt?

If we don't stop our continuingly growing debt we will create an unstable economic environment. Overspending will lead to a loss of usable principle.

To stop this cycle we need to start doing a better job of 1) budgetting, 2) establishing our needs, and 3) develop better strategies to get out of debt. If we as a generation can do better at managing money then we should have a better economic market and we "better off" overall.

Will the cost of college get even higher?

When logging on today a story popped up about college students in Illinois holding a memorial for their fallen students and proffesor. I didn't read the story but it did make me think about something. I'm wondering if all the sudden violence in college campuses will cause tuition to get even higher so that campuses can pay for more security measures? We all know that after Columbine happened, all high schools went on high alert and security measures were increased. Now, with more "exciting" happenings in college campuses one has to wonder will the cost of tuition increase to "make us safer"? We all know that college is already outragiously expensive (we've all looked into the costs) and with the need for increased security will us students be paying even more? And just in case anyone is wondering, no, I still havn't decided where I'm going next year yet.

Why diamonds are so expensive

This week we've been discussing supply, demand, and equilibrium. I was going to Janesville with my mom to pick out flooring for my room and a diamond commercial came on. So we began discussing how big a 1/10 of a karate diamond was (they had mentioned it in the commercial) and y they were so expensive. We discussed how since diamond are regulated (as far as how many are released at one time). So this regulation of supply (and the fact that making actually diamonds is a long process) allows jewelers to set diamond prices so high. If diamonds were easier to supply (man made diamonds) the equilibrium price would drop. So, now that you are thinking about diamonds as more than shiny little rocks I think I'm done explaining why diamonds are so expensive.

Picking a College

Alright, most of us are going through the process of picking what college to go to (at least most people who take AP classes take them for the college credit). You look at the "incentives" of each campus. Everything from the size of the student body, the size of the campus, what the college is known for, and (one of the biggest factors) cost of attendence. Different things are considered incentives to different people (beauty/incentives is/are in the eye of the beholder). If all incentives were the same then getting into college wouldn't be as competative and deciding on one college wouldn't be this important. Incentives drive us to increase our human capital, and going to college is becoming the most popular way to increase ones human capital. The simple concept of an incentive is used everyday and it drives almost every decision we make.