Minimum Wage Increase vs. Small Business

The creation of Minimum Wage started in 1938 by President Franklin D. Roosevelt during the Great Depression. At the time it was $0.25 an hour, now that wouldn't get you much in today's economy. Minimum wage in California is $10.50 an hour, and the goal is to progressively reach $15 an hour.  The reason for increased wages is for people to be able to "live on" their income, being that almost 3 million people with or below the minimum wage. Also to have less of a gap between lower and middle class workers. But what will happen to small business? 

As of right now minimum wage is $10.50  and hour in the state of California. California also has the 3rd highest percentage of people on welfare. With the increases its possible more people will get off welfare and get jobs. According to the Center for American Progress, if the minimum wage keeps increasing 3.5 million people will get off food stamps, thus saving us $46 billion over 10 years. Also this will help with the poverty rate. Take a second and think of a big business, Walmart, Apple, McDonalds, whatever. Think of the CEO and how much they make. For example, Doug McMillin, the CEO of Walmart makes $25.6 million a year. Now think of the average minimum wage employee, they make about $15,080 a year. With this increase that gap will get significantly lower.

As happy as the first paragraph sounded, there's two sides to every story. The Congressional Budget Office did a similar study to CAP and they concluded the increase of minimum wage would actually result in the loss of 500,000 jobs. Thus creating a ripple effect, raising poverty rates, increasing crime rates, etc. 60% of small business owners say their companies will shut down due to the increase, they cannot afford that high of wages. Thus putting teens and non experienced employees at risk. Who wants to hire someone that's inexperienced? Let alone pay a ton for them to not know what to do. Meldine Rodda, the manager of a local western store said, "Minimum wage was meant for teens, like you, not for someone to live off of". Minimum wage increases also increase the risk of more automated systems instead of employees. Why pay someone to do something if a robot can do it for free? With that could also decrease health benefits, putting a lot of people in danger.

Personally I do not agree with the increases. I'm a teenager working for a small business that may have to fire me and/or close their doors due to this increase. Many family business's have had to shut down because of these wages. Cotton, the owner of the store I work at, has owned his company 55 years and counting. He loves his business more than anything, if it closes he'd be so heartbroken. These increases affect more than employees, they affect families. My moms work gives health benefits, without those health benefits my mom and I wouldn't be able to afford doctors visits, eye appointments, orthodontist appointments, etc. That puts my family at risk, along with many others. These increases are honestly selfish, think of the families your putting in danger just so you can buy fancier car.

 Four reasons not to raise the minimum wage

Reasons to raise minimum wage

https://object.cato.org/sites/cato.org/files/four_reasons_not_to_raise_the_minimum_wage.pdf
http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-raise-minimum-wage-charts
http://minimum-wage.procon.org/
http://minimum-wage.procon.org/view.answers.php?questionID=002075
http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-raise-minimum-wage-charts
http://www.investopedia.com/ask/answers/052815/does-raising-minimum-wage-increase-inflation.asp

Ashes Ashes The Population Falls Down

Immigration. A word that we can't escape in today's news. Every time we turn our heads, walk around the street corner, or turn on the television, all you hear is immigration. People explode over whether refugees should be allowed over and whether illegals should be allowed to stay, but why? Are immigrants a threat to national security or does it help America stay afloat?

318.9 million people live in America. 11.7 million are immigrants. 10% of those being illegal. With 50,800 living in Texas and California alone. Granted these states are along the Mexican border. According to Donald Trump, "Mexico’s leaders have been taking advantage of the United States by using illegal immigration to export the crime and poverty in their own country". Even though, crime rates have significantly lowered in recent years.


CNN posted an article , about a woman named Guadalupe who lived in Arizona and got deported back to Mexico due to Trumps new immigration laws. She was told she was not targeted, however she committed a felony and had to leave. Guadalupe was quoted as saying, "The truth is I was there [in the United States] for my children. For a better future. To work for them. And I don't regret it, because I did it for love... I'm going to keep fighting so that they continue to study in their country, and so that their dreams become a reality". However, the Trumps new policy says, if you are an illegal immigrant and you commit a crime there is a chance of you getting deported. Many people, including Guadalupe's lawyer, say he's a racist and claiming he's doing this to separate families.

Another huge controversy is whether or not Muslim refugees should be allowed inside the united states. Donald Trump has already tried a No Muslim Rule, but that flew straight into the ground. Many are claiming it's unconstitutional and we were founded on immigration, while others believe America is being used by these refugees and immigrants. Chuck Schumer, a United States senator and a democrat, said "Tears are running down the cheeks of the Statue of Liberty tonight as a grand tradition of America, welcoming immigrants, that has existed since America was founded has been stomped upon..."  
Recently, Trump has sent out an abundance of tweets complaining about the decision of the judge that was against his travel ban. Saying, "Just cannot believe a judge would put our country in such peril. If something happens blame him and the court system. People are pouring in. Bad!" and that we're not getting the security we're entitled to. The defenition of a refugee is someone who needs to escape war. So America in a sense would be lending a helping hand to those in need. No harm done. However, former president Barack Obama wanted to help these refugees, without giving them any sort of background check. That's where there's harm done. Every other country puts their thoughts before anyone else's and America should put their safety in front of everyone elses. Now do I believe going about it like a pissed off teenager is appropriate? No. Think smart. And for all the snowflakes wanting to allow anyone into the country think to yourself, would I want them in my home? 

Asking for Divorce?

Recently in the class room we had a pretty heated debate about marrying young. It seemed that everyone had their own opinion about the topic. Some say marrying young has many benefits and it's what God called us to do while others were saying you have a life ahead of you and much more to worry about. Well, to be honest with you I don't have an opinion, after reading the article "Say Yes. What are you waiting For?" written by Mark Regnerus, I still have more questions than answers. The article gave three reasons why you should marry young: it doesn't lead to divorce, women become less attractive and it's easier if you're younger, education doesn't really matter. 

I, as much as everyone else, have met divorced couples, widows, couples, and many more. Some married young and have divorced while some married old and are still together. So I'm honestly quite baffled. For example, my parents married in their early 20's were married for a few years and got a divorce when I was a little over a year. My mother and my father both agree that my dad was extremely immature and both agreed they married to young. However, there's this couple at my church that have been married about 60 years, fell in love as teenagers and got married after 3 weeks of knowing each other. That sounds crazy that they're still together but it works. How my parents marriage didn't last and their's did? I have no idea. 

The article also talked about how it's harder to find a mate the older a woman gets (sorry for the language) but that's bullshit. There's another couple at my church, their names are Johnny and Shirley, that are well over 70 years old and they got married a few years ago, he thought she was beautiful and I'd have to agree. The age of a woman does not matter, if a girl is beautiful she's beautiful. No matter the age she can find a mate. Woman are naturally more mature and that is a gift to men from God. I apologize for my inner feminist so moving on. 

The third point the article gave I can see but don't necessarily agree with. I do believe you should finish college before you get married. Not because "you have your whole life ahead of you" or anything like that but I think you should achieve your goals before settling down. Your partner should be beside you every step of the way yes however it'd make you feel more empowered knowing you achieved your goals. You did it! It's my dream to get a college degree, because if I do then I will be the first person in my family to do so. I don't want a marriage holding me back from that. But at the same time if I get married I have the possibility of being the first person to not get a divorce. 

I can't say I need to time to think or need time to get to know each other because I know a couple that knew each other for 3 weeks and got married but I also have my parents. How do I know when it's the right time? How do I know if it's the right one? Will it get in the way of me getting to places I want to be? 

What will happen after the tax cuts?

Newest president, Donald Trump, has been the center of many controversies lately. Including his trade policy, his response to the riots, and his relationship with Russia. However, one thing no one seems to talk about is his tax cuts. Who will they benefit? How will it effect the debt? Trumps tax plan is expected to be the lowest cut in history. Claiming to be "for the working American". Based on Ronald Raegan's tax plan, Trump expects this to open up jobs and bring back big businesses. He wants to go to a 7 to 3 bracket. "He also wants to end taxes on capital gains and dividends for everyone making less than $50,000 a year." (The balance.com) 

It's no news to people when I say Donald Trump is rich. He's a business man and knows his way around taxes. So is his tax cut for people like him? Many studies have shown that his tax cuts will significantly lower for the higher payed worker. It is expected to lower 13.5% for the 1% of wealthy Americans. It is also expected to cut the corporate tax rate to 25% from 30%. Now all that sounds awesome except for when you remember that this all applies to 1% of the American population. So what will happen with the middle class? 

The middle class American will receive about a 2% decrease. That seems like nothing compared to the 13.5% cut that the higher class is getting. The Tax Policy Center was quoted as saying, "single parent families would see an increase of their income is between $20,000 to $200,000". Lower class will see a 10-12% increase! And may lose their Medicaid. Overtime this cut will take $1 trillion dollars from Medicaid and 20 million people will be booted off. This tax cut will benefit the ones that do not need it and hurt the ones that do. The rich will not spend fast enough to where the money will end up in the lower classes hands. As for entrepreneurs and small businesses they receive a benefit from the tax cut. 

How will all these cuts affect government spending? Well it won't really at all. If Trump does his tax cuts, builds a border wall as he has discussed, and funding, the debt may increase by $2 trillion dollars. Dan Holler, an economist, said "the federal government has a spending problem not a revenue problem". Which really applies to the Raegan presidency. However, according to Trumps plan he plans on spending less on Medicaid and using that money to go to the military. And using the the tax cut money to make the things he desires. No major jump of government spending. Trickle Down Economics theory is that the wealthy will spend spend spend and that money will trickle down to lower wage people. And if that happens we could see a dramatic difference with the national debt. 


Coming from a single parent home I was very skeptical about this, however, if everyone does their job in this system I do not see how it could be an issue. The Raegan and Bush years are years people cannot stop talking about. Their systems have been repeated and reused multiple times, so they must have done something right.

Trump and Trade

Trade is something we've all heard of. It's how we picture thanksgiving, it's what we do with Pokemon cards or candy. But little do people know of the big impact trading has on our economy. It grows, provides jobs and creates foreign policy. It's the basis of how everything starts. Now Donald Trump has some people scared because of his trading schemes. Will it help or hurt America?

Donald Trump and his trading plan has been the headline in the news for a couple of days. The reason being of the uncommonness of it. Starting with the withdrawal of the TransPacific Partnership. Being a controversy since the beginning it seems to spark people's interest even more. It's a trade deal with 11 other countries, including: Australia, Vietnam, Canada, and more. That planned to have free trade starting at Chile and ending with Japan. While if we withdrawal from this partnership its estimated we will gain about 25 million jobs. When Trump was talking about his withdrawal he was quoted as saying, "we must crack down on those nations that violate trade agreements and harm American workers in the process." 

North America Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) is another trade agreement set up between Canada, United States, and Mexico. On whitehouse.gov Trump talks about his plan to rewrite NAFTA. "President Trump is committed to renegotiating NAFTA. If our partners refuse a renegotiation that gives American workers a fair deal, then the President will give notice of the United States' intent to withdraw from NAFTA." While this trade has been going on since '94, the trade deals seem to only benefit Canada. The more we improve the more Canada gains. Which as we learned in class, is just how trade works. 

As I'm sure we all know, Trump is not the biggest fan of China and the Chinese government. The United States has had a trading system with China for years and has significantly increased since the Obama administration. So with the withdrawal of TransPacific and NAFTA what will happen with China? Well Trump has already declared he wants to label China as a "currency manipulator" in the commerce. And according to a paper written by David Autor, Trump may be right. Trade with China has cause more problems than it has solved. As it is believed China stole American property and violated many other trade laws. And if we stop this trade with China it's estimated to create some 2 million jobs. However, this will take a serious economic toll on China, being trade with us makes up around 1/5 of their economy. Making this critical for China to stay afloat.

I believe that we should stay in NAFTA. Trading systems benefit everyone but it's not going to be balanced. However, if the estimations are correct the withdrawal from TransPacific Partnership may not be all that bad. For China's sake, since we are such a big part of their economy I don't think trade will stop completely. Trump may rewrite some deals to where it's in our favour. 

Where Does it Go?

It comes to no surprise when I say America is in debt. In fact, that was a debate topic in the 2016 Presidential Debate. It proves to be a big problem and concerns many citizens. They pay all this money in taxes but they don't have a clue on where it goes. Most would say it goes to welfare or social security, but it goes to far more places. Places you wouldn't even think of. Also, how can we solve this national debt? The National Priorities Project, created an article called, "Federal Spending: Where Does the Money Go?". it goes into detail about the government spending and how much goes to where.

Another no-brainer is that America has quite the large budget, $3.8 trillion dollars to be exact, and as of right now America is roughly $19.5 trillion dollars in debt. How can we afford to spend that much? "The US Treasury divides all federal spending into three groups: mandatory spending, discretionary spending, and interest on debt." The first two categories make up almost all of the spending while the last makes up less than 15%.

The discretionary spending goes more towards the interest groups and as of 2015 the government spend $1.11 trillion dollars towards military, education, health, etc. All the charts below came from the article mentioned above:

Mandatory Spending goes more towards government stability programs and makes up 2/3 of the spending all together with $2.45 trillion dollars.

Federal Spending all together looks like this:

So now we know where the money goes, but how can we solve the national debt? Well starting with any kind of debt, you need to cut costs of your own. Now since this is the government we can't cut any and all spending, but you can sure limit. There's some (certainly not all) people that have been on welfare/unemployment for 5+ years. The original creation of welfare and unemployment was to create a stepping stone, not to create a living. Say you just lost your job and you're a single parent with 3 kids. Yes register for unemployment/welfare until you can get back on your feet. Do not sit there on your butt and just wait for your  monthly check. So for starters we should limit the people. We spend over $1.3 billion for people to sit on their butt, there's no excuse for those people to not be looking for employment and getting a steady income, not from tax payers.

Step two would be stop relying on other countries to keep our country afloat. This country is well over 18 years old, we should be on our own and independent. We owe trillions of dollars to China, Brazil, China, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, and that's just to name a few. Why is that so necessary?

The Debt Ceiling was originally created as a limit to how much America could borrow from other countries, smart right? Well it has been raised over 140 times since it's creation and over 12 times since 2000. The chart only goes to 2014, and the national debt has only grew. As stated earlier, the national debt is over $19 trillion. Making the Debt Ceiling increase with it.

It Seems Today That All You See is People Getting Offended Way to Easily

The very popular, hit TV show, Family Guy has stirred up many controversies since it's first showing in 1999. The show contains many gags and humorous jokes pointed at millions of different controversies from: religion, political stand-points, and moral conducts. But that's what they are, jokes. As an avid fan, and binge watcher of the show, I will admit sometimes the show takes things to far, however, some people overreact and take it far beyond what it needs to be. Leon Wolf's article, "Seth MacFarlane, 'Family Guy' and the cowardice of Hollywood" felt as though the adult cartoon takes to many jabs at Christianity.  

Now I do admit the show does make jokes about Christianity and as stated before may get out of hand sometimes. However, what the article failed to state is the show also picks on Jews, the Church of Scientology, and many others. There's a Jewish character in the show named Mort. The character is in many episodes and is portrayed in many stereotypical ways. There's no designated character that portrays the stereotypical Christian. 

The article praises South Park on their jokes about the Church of Scientology, writes about how no one jokes about Islam because of their violent ways, then proceeds to call Family Guy a cowardice move. Leo Wolf states in the article,"Christians don’t behead reporters or shoot up satire magazines when they lose. Cowardice, plain and simple, is the reason the world’s foremost satire artists have treated Islam like a genuinely holy thing, while treating Christianity as an object of casual scorn and mockery". Wouldn't making fun of another religion also be considered a cowardice? Or does it just apply when your religion takes a hit? I will admit I do get offended sometimes by the things they say but I know that it's a joke. The jokes I find funny may offend someone else, such as all the racist jokes included in the show. As for South Park, the show has even more controversial topics and displays them in a crass manner. 

If the man was really that offended, why wouldn't he write a letter to the family guy cast? Or call the editors? Christianity is picked on in these particular shows because they never do anything to stand up for themselves. Notice how the Church of Scientology complained to the creators of South Park and the character was erased. If someone was THAT offended do something to get the bit erased. The authors don't care about what they're making fun of, hence why they're targeted. The only way the will know it's taken to far is if someone says something. 

The article sates, "the business of satire is supposed to be irreverent, it is supposed to push boundaries". Well isn't that what the show is doing? The TV show pushes boundaries, Hollywood pushes boundaries. Whether it's in the direction you wanted it's being pushed and pushed even farther every year. Hollywood is the influential places. The world is obsessed with celebrities and the fast life. The only way to get it to stop is to stand up for what you believe in.