My stand on capital punishment

An eye for eye; perhaps the most well-known concept of punishment known to man. The concept can be traced back to the time of the ancient Babylon with the installment of the first laws created by King Hammurabi. From then on, for centuries this idea has been used to punish those who commit crimes. Some of history’s most heinous crimes were brought to justice by the use of torture or capital punishment; quartering, stoning to death, hanging, the use of the guillotine, etc. It is anecdotal evidence, taken from observing historical events, that this has been a fitting punishment for murders and serious crimes; but looking into the 20th century this idea is beginning to be frowned upon today by many people. Does killing someone who took the life of another really “cross out” what was done? Would you trust your government to take the life of others without taking the lives of those who are innocent?

Thirty-four of the fifty states in the United States use the death penalty, Texas and Virginia having the highest number of executions since 1976. The death penalty is used on those who commit serious murders or mass amount of murders, such as serial killings. Families of victims argue that this brings them peace of mind to know that their loved one’s killer has paid the ultimate price for their actions. Others argue that, though, this may bring peace of mind, this is not the answer and it’s not humane and/or moral. The anesthetics used for lethal injection are sodium thiopental, pancuronium promide, and potassium chloride; despite the fact sodium thiopental is used to induce unconsciousness, some still believe that if not enough is given the person may be awake and may experience pain until the 30 seconds after the potassium chloride is added to stop the heart. This would make it inhumane and against the constitution because it could be said that it would go under “cruel and unusual punishment”.

Sure, the concept of “an eye for an eye” makes sense but I argue that it does have flaws. Two wrongs do not make a right; killing someone for murder does not solve the issue or bring complete closure to it. If anything, the death penalty merely provides an escape for the murderer instead of spending their life in a prison suffering for what they’ve done. Keeping someone in prison without parole does cost the state a lot and means less open space in state prisons but, at the same time, lethal injections cost the state too. Either way our taxes are being paid towards both. Aside from that, let’s not forgot the possibility of being wrongfully accused and wrongfully executed. Wrongful accusation occurs frequently, maybe not as much anymore due to advances in technology, but it still happens. People are sometimes put in prison for something they’ve never done. Have you ever wondered how many people are wrongfully executed? It is hypothesized that eight inmates in the past have been wrongfully executed, while more than fifteen people on death row have been released after being proven innocent.

The Rising Issue of Raising Minimum Wage

            Within the past century we have seen our country grow into a more industrialized society; we no longer rely as much on agriculture as our mean for economic growth because we now have industries,  businesses, corporations, as well as world-wide trading policies. Within the past few decades or so, we have seen other countries, such as China, modernize at an alarming rate. This proof of a larger-scale picture Social Darwinism has shown us that we are slowly losing our title as world power, or at least having to share it with our competition. As a result, we are beginning to see a world-wide impact on prices of many natural resources that we have used the most, the most obvious one of these being gasoline. Many Americans complain that the price of gas is ridiculous and that our government should step in and set a price on gas; I disagree with this idea.

           As briefly mentioned above, the society around the world is changing at an alarming rate, many countries are following our path of becoming modernized and industrialized. Industrialization is a good thing, not just for our country but for others as well, but it also has its downside. With more jobs being introduced in those countries, more people are needing to commute to and from work, meaning more gasoline will begin to be used up world-wide than just the U.S. and many European countries using the majority of it. Gasoline is our main source of fuel for cars, while more efficient and newer means of fuel and power for cars is being introduced the technology isn't fully there to support it yet. There are estimated 6,904,994,001 world-wide at this very moment (and this number continues to increase)and 310,000,000 people in the U.S., and it's said that 388 million gallons of gas is used daily just in the U.S. That's a large amount supply of gas being consumed, it's no wonder the price of gas is increasing because the demand is increasing and the supply decreasing (slowly over time but much faster than before due to an increase of population and modernization).  It is this increase in demand that impacts gas prices; as things are demanded more, especially natural resources, the price goes up to ensure there will not be a shortage. Aside from supply and demand, Political issues, war, and natural disasters in countries that oil is obtained from can have even more of an effect on the price.

          It should also be reminded that the U.S. is a  mixed-economy but our roots derive from a Laissez-Faire  policy, the idea that the government shouldn't mess with the economy. Our government's job is to provide us with goods and services, as well as oversee things to ensure no laws are broken, but their job is not, and should not be, to completely control us, otherwise we would be considered a Capitalistic economy. The government should not interfere with gas prices because it's not their job, it is the companies' job to set prices and change them as needed, even if we don't agree with the price. If the government were to start controlling the price, over time it could be a problem if a drastic change needs to be made; the request for the price change would need to be sent to congress and be voted on, etc. It would take too long and is not something that needs to be done. The gas business is like any other business out there, it's effected by supply and demand as well as several other factors that are beyond the government's control.




Sources:
fueleconomy.gov. Accessed March 10, 2011. http://www.fueleconomy.gov/feg/gasprices/faq.shtml.
U.S. Energy Information Administration. Accessed March 10, 2011. http://tonto.eia.doe.gov/tools/faqs/faq.cfm?id=23&t=10.
U.S. Census Bureau. Accessed March 10, 2011. http://www.census.gov/main/www/popclock.html.
oilprices.com. Accessed March 10, 2011. http://oilprice.com/Energy/Gas-Prices/What-Affects-Gas-Prices.html.

The creation of Barbie.

      Since I'm taking an economics class, I figured eventually an assignment would come along that has to do with entrepreneurs and learning about them and their ideas and success. Sure enough, the assignment came along and we were given the option to choose an entrepreneur from a list to write about and reflect on. Being a girl, and having played with Barbie dolls up until I was 10 or so, I chose to research Ruth Handler.

       Ruth Handler was born Nov. 4, 1916 in Denver, Colorado. She was the youngest of 10 children in her family; born of Jacob Mosko and Ida Rubinstein who were Polish immigrants. She attended a public school and at nineteen she moved to Hollywood, California. She worked as a secretary for Paramount Studio but eventually moved back to Denver where she attended the University of Denver and married in Elliot Handler in 1938. Not too long after that, they moved back to California and formed their own company, with a business partner, called Elzac.

          Ruth Handler is most well known as the creator of the popular toy, Barbie. The idea came to her when her daughter, Barbara, was just reaching her pre-teen years, she noticed her daughter would play with paper dolls and give them roles of a grown woman. After a trip to Europe and coming across the Bild Lilli doll she decided she would redesign and recreate the doll for young girls to play with. She gave the doll the name Barbie, after her daughter. Despite her husband’s idea that it wouldn’t sell, she showed it off at a toy fair in New York and Barbie instantly became a hit.

          After reading a bit about Ruth Handler and the creation of Barbie I learned that if you have an idea and it seems like it will be successful, it’s definitely worth your time and efforts. Such a simple idea, in this case a doll for young girls to play with that was inspired by her daughter, became so successful that even 50 years later it’s still just as popular. Her husband and his business partner (they founded Mattel) told her that it wouldn’t sell but that didn’t stop her, she still went on to create it. It just goes to show that a simple idea and determination can go a long way.

   Now, aside from learning about her and how Barbie was created, in my lesson I learned that many successful entrepreneurs follow a simple acronym called HUNT. Hunt stands for Harness, Underestimate, Network, and Take; these are the steps taken that help people succeed with their ideas. With that being said, let's apply these with Ruth Handler. 

• Harness your vision: Handler's idea was simply to create a doll that was in the image of an adult woman that young girls could play with. The doll was to be made of plastic, rather than out of paper like the paper dolls her daughter had been playing with.
• Underestimate the roadblocks: I don't believe money and resource would've been much of an issue for her, considering her husband founded the toy company Mattel, but what may have been a roadblock was her husband's discouragement and figuring out how to actually create the doll. 
• Network: Her husband was most likely her big network, being the owner of Mattel, creating and selling the doll would not have been an issue for her.
• Take the first step: The first step she took at creating Barbie was most likely the coincidence the she came across the Bild Lilli doll while in Europe. The first step to introducing it was the Toy Fair in New York that she attended, if she had not attended it, Barbie may not be as successful as she is now.

Information regarding information on the research may be found below:

Wikipedia. Accessed February 4, 2011. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ruth_Handler.

Wepman, Denis. ANB. Accessed February 4, 2011. http://www.anb.org/articles/10/10-02288.html.

Woman Inventors. Accessed February 4, 2011. http://www.women-inventors.com/Ruth-Handler.asp.

What would I do with $25,000?

       If I had $25,000 I would save most of it in investments to try an increase the value of that money over time. My investment would be putting the money into a Certificate of Deposit (Low risk), investing in a bond (moderate risk), or investing in a mutual fund (moderate risk). Since two of the three investments are moderate-risk, the plan as whole would be at moderate risk. The benefit expected vary between each of the options above; for example, a bond’s benefit would be rate of return, the person loans the company money and in return they’re given a bond, over time that money is paid back to the person hopefully in a larger amount. Investing in a mutual fund would the similar idea as a bond, in the end, you’re hoping you will profit from the money you invested in those companies. As for a CD, the money is safe in a bank and has a better chance of making money rather than a traditional savings account.


       Now, I could put all the money into one investment but that wouldn't be wise; it would be a much wiser choice to divide the $25,000 between all three investments rather one. Let’s say you were to put all your money into a CD and you want to take money out eventually, it’s not a very easy process. Also, CD’s don’t guarantee you’ll make a lot of money of them, you’re not taking very much of a risk by just putting it all on there. On the other hand, putting all your money into a mutual fund is not smart either, if the companies aren’t doing too well or go bankrupt your money goes also. It’s better to put a little in each, save some money in a CD and then invest the rest in bonds and a mutual fund and hope the companies do well. Your goal is to increase your money or hope the value of the money increases but you also need to keep in mind the risks for the investment you chose.