Safety Coming at a Higher Price

Last month a new security screening process was adopted at airports. The new full body scanners produce an x-ray picture of passengers full bodies. Many travelers feel strongly against having their naked outlines projected for all to see. Don't worry, there is another option: a full body pat down similar to what a suspected criminal would receive from the police that is far from gentle. Passengers have cried in protest that they are being sexually harassed and two pilots even filed a lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security saying that their fourth amendments had been violated. The New York Times reports:

“For Fourth Amendment purposes, you can’t touch somebody like this unless you’re checking them into a jail or you’ve got reasonable suspicion that they’ve got a gun,” said John Wesley Hall, a criminal defense lawyer who specializes in search and seizure law.
“Here there is no reasonable suspicion,” he said. “It’s the pure act of getting on a plane.”

Passengers obviously want to feel safe when they travel, especially after 9/11, but many argue that the new full body scanners are crossing a line. While it is not doubt important that we keep air travel as safe as possible, there has to be a more comfortable way to ensure passengers that their flight will be completed safely. With the old system, there had been a few instances of explosive devices making it onto airplanes but experts point out that the new machined only detect metal, not plastic. Furthermore, there is a health risk involved with the X-Ray technology. Overall, many have concluded that the scanners only provide a false sense of security. If a change is not made, we will see many more law-suits and complaints arise in the near future.

Obama/ G.O.P. Showdown

Obama has decided to confront Senate Republicans about arms control. This will be his first real test of power now that he has to contend with republicans. Winning will prove his strength while losing will only reinforce the view that he has become weakened. The N.Y. Times reports that

The White House has only one Republican supporter, Senator Richard G. Lugar of Indiana. A survey of 14 other Senate Republicans who were considered possible supporters found none who were willing to publicly back the treaty. Ten of them said they were undecided or were waiting for the same assurances as Mr. Kyl, and four did not respond, suggesting that approval may depend on changing Mr. Kyl’s mind.

This test marks the beginning of the final two years of Obama's presidency. Whether he succeeds or not, the outcome will only show that having differing parties in the senate and in the white house does not create a more balanced government, but rather creates chaos and arguments. 

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Marijuana Related Domain Names Selling Like Hotcakes

As voting time approaches for Californians, one of the most interesting topics is that of Prop 19, concerning the legalization of marijuana. With many citizens strongly believing it will pass, many people are taking measures to get prepared. Domain names concerning marijuana are now being bought like crazy because, assuming prop 19 passes, they will then be able to be sold for huge profits. The N.Y. Times reports on this issue:

Still, Mr. Berkens thinks marijuana domains could be a good investment; he sees the political momentum moving toward legalization and decriminalization. “We own gaymarriage.com,” said Mr. Berkens, who is also president of Worldwide Media, a company that owns some 75,000 domains, 57 of them marijuana related. “That’s another one of these politically charged hot topics, heavily dependent on politics.”

 This is an incredibly good idea, but only if prop 19 passes. Many of the buyers of these domain names expect to be able to sell them for up to 5,000 dollars. If marijuana is legalized in California, it will bring in tons of money in taxes, create jobs, and possibly lower drug related crime. No matter what happens, it will be very interesting to see how this whole issue plays out.

Trade Gap Between U.S. and China Widens

In August, the United States trade deficit widened to the highest point on record, a whopping $46.3 billion. As the gap widens between China and the U.S., concerns rise about China's dominance in the global economy. In order to stabilize the deficit, U.S. citizens are encouraged to purchase U.S. made goods. In order to accomplish this, U.S. goods are going to have to become more appealing to consumers.

Recent slowdowns in job and output growth have weighed on economic forecasts for the remainder of 2010. On Thursday, first-time claims for unemployment insurance provided the latest sign of a weak labor market, reaching 462,000 in the week of Oct. 9, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week, the Labor Department said. Economists had expected the number to go down, by 4,000.

America has become somewhat lazy in terms of producing quality goods that are in demand. The U.S. promotes capitalism but unfortunately does not follow much of its own advice. Capitalism depends on competition, but American producers have fallen behind and are letting producers such as China rush past us. If there is to be any hope of repaying our debt to China, it is necessary for the U.S. to take big steps towards improving sales of U.S. products without imposing dangerous tariffs on Chinese goods.

Forclosure Mess Could Cost Billions

When it was discovered that banks had been foreclosing homes by getting the foreclosures signed by robo-signers who signed without reading a single word, nobody expected everything to turn out completely fine. Just how damaging will this incident be overall? Investors also wondered so they decided to calculate the cost of the whole mess.

“I don’t see how it can be cleared up in a short period of time,” said Richard X. Bove, an analyst with Rochdale Securities. “The moratorium won’t last that long but the problem will last at least four or five years, maybe a decade.” In the short term, he said, “it could easily cost $1.5 billion per quarter.”

While in a recession, it seems that this is not exactly an effective way to recover. As I mentioned earlier, greed is a force that is steadily corrupting our economy. Big companies pursue wealth by any means necessary while the middle class suffers the consequences. Hopefully this incident will send a message to banks and other big companies that it is important to abide by regulations.

Foreclosure Freeze Frenzy

Due to the recession, the number of foreclosures is much greater than usual. In Maine, one woman's house was foreclosed, but instead of leaving quietly, she filed a case with a non-profit legal group. When a retired lawyer reviewed her file, he immediately noticed that something was not right. He later discovered that many banks have been issuing foreclosures without reviewing them at all. GMAC, the fourth largest mortgage lender in the U.S. is now forbidden to foreclose houses in the 23 states that require review first. The N.Y. Times reports on this incident:

The tragedy of foreclosure is that some homeowners may be able to stay where they are if their lenders are more interested in modification than eviction. Without a job, Mrs. Bradbury is not one of them. Her family, including her 14-year-old daughter and 16-year-old son, lives on welfare and food stamps.

 Our economy is slowly transitioning from one that celebrates free choice and opportunity to one that hails greed as a positive quality. Instead of working with struggling families to help them succeed, banks would rather make a profit. It is this attitude that leads to such incidents as this foreclosure pandemonium. While I feel strongly that capitalism is beneficial and necessary for our country, there also need to be regulations enforced on companies.

Mental Health Break

What Political Party Are You?

The Quiz

The following are your scores. They are based on a gradual range of 0 to 12. For instance, a Conservative/Progressive score of 3 and 0 will both yield a result of social conservative, yet 0 would be an extreme conservative and 3 a moderate conservative

Conservative/Progressive score: 6
You are a social moderate. You think the progressive movement is overall well meaning, but sometimes it goes too far. On issues like abortion and affirmative action, you see the negatives of both extremes on the issue. You probably value religion, but at the same time you think it should still stay separate from the government

Capitalist Purist/Social Capitalist score: 4
You are a Moderate Capitalist. You support an economy that is by and large a free market, but has public programs to help people who can't help themselves or need a little help. Pretty much you believe in the American economy how it currently is.

Libertarian/Authoritarian score: 4
You're a Moderate. You think that we all have certain inalienable rights that must be protected, but that sometimes laws need to be made to protect the majority's lives or quality of lives. You might think that the 2nd amendment isn't necessary anymore because letting everyone a gun is extremely dangerous to the community. You might also be against illegal drug use or public pornography because of its possible harmful effects to society.

Pacifist/Militarist score: 5
You're a Moderate. You think that in very rare occasions, the United States should invade a country in order to make the world better by spreading democracy or ending a tyrants rule. You also think that defense is very important, and we shouldn't lower the defense budget. You think that, while the Iraq War probably was a mistake, that we can make the world a better place by sticking with it and spreading democracy in the middle east.

Overall, you would most likely fit into the category of Republican

The Road to Escaping Oil Dependency

In America, oil is one of the substances in highest demand today. However, this is a limited resource that is steadily dwindling. In the future, one of two things has to happen. Either America needs to start a new trend in bike riding, or it needs to break its dependence on oil. Seeing as America is infatuated with motorized vehicles, the latter has to occur. Matthew L. Wald of the New York Times discusses a new proposition to increase the allowed amount of ethanol in gasoline to 15 percent.

Preliminary testing had found that e15 was safe for 2007 models or newer, which use about a third of the gasoline consumed in the United States. A decision about the ethanol limits in cars made from the 2001 to 2006 model years could be made next month. “For other model years and other types of vehicles, we will need more time to gather and assess the necessary data,” she said.

While this is a great first step away from dependency on oil, there are still many problems with this solution. Ethanol still uses vast quantities of natural gas and releases carbon into the atmosphere. While it is true that we need to be moving away from oil as a source of fuel, the solution needs to be a greener, more efficient one. If not, America's bike sales are about to increase.

Does the "Trickle Down" Method Trickle Enough?

One economic strategy is the "trickle down" method, in which when given vast amounts of money, big companies will spend and let the benefits trickle down to the common person. In theory, this method should work, right?

The proponents of the Bush-era tax cuts say that letting tax cuts for the highest earners lapse would be a serious setback for the economy because those taxpayers represent a big share of consumer spending. If they don't step up their spending, the argument goes, the recovery will stall, and the rest of us will suffer too.

However, when big businesses, such as banks, only use federal funds, such as those from TARP, to increase their own salaries, there is nothing to trickle down. The issue today is that capitalism has run rampant unregulated for too long. There are no rules to prevent companies from doing this, and so they continue to do it. In order for our economy to make a recovery, the amount of greed among big businesses needs to drastically decline.

Dangerous Loans Were Ignored by Raters

In 2008, the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression began to unfold. People bought houses on loans and attempted to sell them before their loan debts skyrocketed but this idea only led to thousands of loans not being payed back. The New York Times reports that officials in charge of assessing the risk of these loans ignored proof that the loans were dangerous.

The commission, a bipartisan Congressional panel, has been holding hearings on the origins of the financial crisis. D. Keith Johnson, a former president of Clayton Holdings, a company that analyzed mortgage pools for the Wall Street firms that sold them, told the commission on Thursday that almost half the mortgages Clayton sampled from the beginning of 2006 through June 2007 failed to meet crucial quality benchmarks that banks had promised to investors.

Capitalism is undoubtedly a great system. Survival of the fittest is the most successful way to breed competitive, quality businesses, but when regulations are bypassed, it almost always results in chaos.

Chinese Impose Tariff on U.S. Poultry

China has one of the fastest growing economies, which is one reason why the U.S. is so dependent on China for loans. However, China recently imposed a tariff on U.S. poultry.

The tariffs are another example of China’s willingness to use its economic leverage when it feels it is being challenged. An official at one of Japan’s top traders in rare earth minerals said on Monday that there appeared to be no resumption in shipments to Japan, a result of a still-simmering dispute over Japan’s arrest of a Chinese fishing boat captain. The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said traders were watching closely to see whether Chinese customs would start letting shipments through again. “China’s rising assertiveness on the international economic stage reflects its growing economic might and the self-confidence of its leadership, but is tempered by the realization that it faces many challenges in terms of its own development,” said Eswar S. Prasad, an economics professor at Cornell.

China's economy is very powerful and many see this as an act of retaliation after the U.S. implemented a tariff on Chinese tires. Despite the fact that Chinese officials have denied this, it still shows that China is in a real position of power due to its economic leverage.

The World is Flat

Columbus was wrong, it seems that the world is indeed flat, although not in the physical manner. The world is flat in the way that Thomas L. Friedman argues. The birth of the internet along with other contributing factors has led the world to become flatter in terms of class. The middle class all over the world is growing, making the world a more even playing field. When people in the U.S. make calls to customer service from many big companies, these calls are directed to India. This is because many jobs have been outsourced to countries where labor is cheaper and without the hinderence of unions or minimum wage. This in turn causes the middle class of those countries, in this case India, to grow dramatically. A much larger number of people then have disposable income. The economy of India is now growing very quickly.

Indian leaders have said they would like to push the economy’s growth rate up to 9 percent — a pace it achieved a couple of years ago — and eventually to 10 percent. India needs faster growth to alleviate poverty and increase job opportunities for a young population; about half the Indian people are 25 or younger.

Despite India's impressive rate of economic growth, many experts wonder if India will be able to sustain it. India is classified as a developing country still and lacks a stable infrastructure. India wants to reach a growth rate of up to 10 percent, but this will be very difficult unless it invests more in its infrastructure. The Indian stock market is also at its highest point in two years. Whether India can maintain its rate of growth or not, the fact still remains that the world is flattening and the U.S. will not be able to keep its status as the ideal economy without making some changes.

Limited Resources are Becoming... Limited

Have you been planning on going on a diet? Pretty soon, you may not have a choice. One of the topics of Thomas L. Friedman's Hot, Flat, and Crowded  is the increasing population of the world. Just 50 years ago the entire population was around 3 billion people. Today, it is more than double that. Furthermore, scientists predict that in 2050 the world population will be roughly at 9.2 billion. What happens when a steadily increasing population meets a steadily dwindling supply of resources? Do we really want to find out? Mark Bittman of the New York Times has this to say about Julian Cribb's new book The Coming Famine:

Like many other experts, he argues that we have passed the peak of oil production, and it’s all downhill from now on. He then presents evidence that we have passed the peaks for water, fertilizer and land, and that we will all soon be made painfully aware that we have passed it for food, as wealthy nations experience shortages and rising prices, and poorer ones starve.

This is a truly scary concept that one day, there simply will not be enough resources in the world to support the growing population. It is crucial to the survival of the human race that we do not get to that point. The only way to achieve this goal is to change our habits. The main problem is not the rise in population, but the over consumption that has become daily life for many people. After WWII, a scientific revolution occurred in which many new farming technologies were discovered. Cribb concludes that with the proper funding, another such revolution could occur. Even more important however, is that people quit their bad habits of over consumption. Combining these two things could just be the answer to one of the world's most pressing problems.

A Breath of Fresh Air

Thomas Friedman calls for a green revolution in America. In Hong Kong, a comical ad promotes the same idea.

No wonder. Pollution is a perpetual bane in Hong Kong — because of both roadside pollution and fumes produced by factories across the border, in mainland Chinese cities like Shenzhen. The Clean Air Network estimates that the city’s air is three times more polluted than New York’s and more than twice as bad as London’s.

The commercial advertises "Fresh Air", a canister that allows citizens of Hong Kong to "breath as the rest of the world does". Airing just before Autumn, a season where pollution skyrockets, this ad came just in time. Most people don't even realize the repercussions of their pollution and how big of an impact they have on the environment. In Hot, Flat, and Crowded, Friedman provides a stat which saying that while driving a car, one throws a one pound bag of trash out the window every mile. People don't realize this occurs because it is not something people do consciously or even something we can see. Instead, the trash is in the form of carbon dioxide released to the air. This is a sobering thought, one that calls into question the American way of living without a thought to what will become of us in the future. Every action has its reaction and this ad makes people realize that.

Energy: Less is More

In Friedman's book, he calls for a "code green", a green revolution. In San Francisco, scientists propose a different strategy than conservation.

 SAN FRANCISCO — Energy efficiency is a way to meet the world’s growing energy needs, just like building more power plants — except that it costs less, emits no carbon dioxide or radiation, and does not rely on scarce resources in potentially hostile places.

Instead of asking people to make do with less, they are suggesting that cities become more efficient, for example, using already existing technologies such as LED lights in streetlamps. Scientists predict that in the year 2020, America could consume 30 percent less energy. By 2050, 88 percent less electricity could be used. This is exactly the revolution that Friedman calls for.

Banks Turn to Greener Lending

In Thomas L. Friedman's Hot, Flat and Crowded, the idea of global warming and limited resources is analyzed. Friedman explains that the world is becoming overheated due to global warming, flat because of the rapid growth of the middle class, and crowded due to overpopulation.

Still, banking analysts and others suggest that heated debate over climate change, water quality and other environmental considerations is forcing lenders to take a much harder — and often uncomfortable — look at where they extend credit, and to whom.

It seems many companies are now becoming aware of the repercussions of their actions. For example, Wells Fargo recently stated that it is reducing its involvement with companies engaged in mountaintop removal mining, a practice which dumps a significant amount of carbon dioxide into the air. While this method of mining is still increasing, it is comforting to know that at least many banks are withdrawing their support.