Mental Health Break

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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.