RS8: GDP

This blog post is my take on GDP, with the input of "What is GDP" by Planet Money, published on October 27, 2011 and "Why GDP per capita can start a bar fight”, by Planet Money, published on January 10, 2012.

I never knew what GDP was. It was during a class I was required to take last semester, a class which I hated so much I could never even remember the name of it, that I had first heard of this term. At first, I thought the professor was saying "GTP", and since I really didn't know what this meant, i thought to Google it. And obviously, since I had the wrong letters, Google showed me something totally irrelevant. It wasn’t until one fine day in my Macroeconomics class that I finally understood the meaning of the term “GDP”.

GDP, or gross domestic product, refers to the market value of all officially recognized final goods and services produced within a country in a given period. According to what I learned in class, and the video “What is GDP” by Planet Money, I learned that GDP is the output of all things made in the USA, only counting the final sale of goods and services to avoid double counting. The example shown in the video of a box of cornflakes was straight to the point. There are many intermediaries in the process of creating one box of cornflakes; there’s the farmer who planted and grew the corn, the transportation authority who transported the corn to the cornflakes factory, the actual process of making the cereal, and the makers of the box. Payment for goods and services were made along the way, but the final sale of the good, when a consumer buys the cereal from the grocery store is what is counted in the GDP.

According to the article “why GDP per capita can start a bar fight” also by Planet Money. The GDP per capita is sometimes used to measure a countries standard of living. Some may say that the U.S. has a preferable economy compared to Europe, and others disagree saying that the per capita doesn’t measure a person’s happiness. The U.S. may have the higher GDP rate, but so much is spent in the way of things that don’t make much difference. As much as 17% of US spending goes into health care yet our country ranks behind every West European country when it comes to life expectancy. Every country in Western Europe has less inequality than the United States and get as much as 4-6 weeks paid time off. They are much happier, and much healthier than we are.

So who cares if our GDP is larger than theirs?
I'm moving to Italy.

RS7: If a man speaks in the forest and there are no women around to hear is he still wrong?

Yes, he is. He opened his mouth.

And on to the subject of this weeks blog post!

This blog post is my take on "Ken Robinson Says Schools Kill Creativity", released by TED in June 2006.

I completely agree with everything that Robinson says. He states how as children grow older, adults in their lives, adults whom they trust and think the world of, cause children to go off the path they want to follow, if not consciously then sub concsiously.

Take for example the story about the little girl who was brought in to see a specialist with her mother because she couldn't sit still. The specialist told the mother that the little girl was a dancer, not sick, and recommended dancing lessons. The little girl grew up to become a dancer for the Royal Ballet, and founded her own dance company and a multi-millionaire. And someone else might have put her on some medication that caused her to "calm down".

Children these days are up against so much. With constant developments in psychology, children are diagnosed with and are medicated for ADD, ADHD, and many other learning disabilities at such young ages just because they are "different".

When a child says they want to major in something like music or art, they are turned away from those choices by parents and even educators who tell them they have no future in that field. That it's not as respectable in comparing a Masters in Music to a Masters in Mechanical Engineering. That's not fair at all. Children don't have any other way of knowing things, from learning different things, than from their own family or teachers. They don't know the difference between being a doctor or a dancer. All they know is what they like, what makes them happy. And children know what they want because they are always happy. Maybe we should take a cue from them instead of vice versa. Maybe we should start to follow what makes us happy, instead of what's socially acceptable.

RS6: Personality Sorter

Personality test results
Ta-dah, your personality type is ISFJ!

Introverted (I) 68%     Extraverted (E) 32%
Sensing (S) 73%         Intuitive (N) 27%
Feeling (F) 90%          Thinking (T) 10%
Judging (J) 91%          Perceiving (P) 9%

Guardian, Protector (ISFJ):

We are lucky that protectors make up as much as ten percent the population, because their primary interest is in the safety and security of those they care about - their family, their circle of friends, their students, their patients, their boss, their fellow-workers, or their employees. Protectors have an extraordinary sense of loyalty and responsibility in their makeup, and seem fulfilled in the degree they can shield others from the dirt and dangers of the world. Speculating and experimenting do not intrigue Protectors, who prefer to make do with time-honored and time-tested products and procedures rather than change to new. At work Protectors are seldom happy in situations where the rules are constantly changing, or where long-established ways of doing things are not respected. For their part, Protectors value tradition, both in the culture and in their family. Protectors believe deeply in the stability of social ranking conferred by birth, titles, offices, and credentials. And they cherish family history and enjoy caring for family property, from houses to heirlooms.


Wanting to be of service to others, Protectors find great satisfaction in assisting the downtrodden, and can deal with disability and neediness in others better than any other type. They are not as outgoing and talkative as the Provider Guardians [ESFJs], and their shyness is often misjudged as stiffness, even coldness, when in truth Protectors are warm-hearted and sympathetic, giving happily of themselves to those in need.


Their reserve ought really to be seen as an expression of their sincerity and seriousness of purpose. The most diligent of all the types, Protectors are willing to work long, hard hours quietly doing all the thankless jobs that others manage to avoid. Protectors are quite happy working alone; in fact, in positions of authority they may try to do everything themselves rather than direct others to get the job done. Thoroughness and frugality are also virtues for them. When Protectors undertake a task, they will complete it if humanly possible. They also know better than any other type the value of a dollar, and they abhor the squandering or misuse of money. To save, to put something aside against an unpredictable future, to prepare for emergencies-these are actions near and dear to the Protector's heart. For all these reasons, Protectors are frequently overworked, just as they are frequently misunderstood and undervalued. Their contributions, and also their economies, are often taken for granted, and they rarely get the gratitude they deserve.

RS5: Inside the Meltdown

This blogpost is my take on "Inside the Meltdown", released by PBC On February 17, 2009.

As a high school senior, I did not really understand much about this thing they called “a recession” in the news. I knew about the stock market crash in 1929 and the Great Depression of the 30’s and how it impacted this country from countless lessons in history class throughout the years, but no way could something like that be happening in 2008. But it was true, the stock market was crashing again, and the economy was going down, and the country was in economic turmoil.

According to the video, the whole thing started from a rumor that Bear Sterns didn’t have enough money and was going to go bankrupt. Upon investigation, Bear Sterns had proved that they did have enough money, but it didn’t matter now, because the story was out. People started to sell they’re Bear Sterns stocks, and according to credit default contracts, every other big company was connected to Bear Sterns. IF Bear sterns went down, every other financial company was going to go down with it. So in attempts to restore the balance, the government gave money to J.P.Morgan Bank, who in turn lent that money to Bear Sterns.

Another company, Lehman brothers, along with Fannie May and Freddie Mac, was giving housing loans out to unqualified buyers. When the buyers couldn’t pay their mortgages, the banks took the houses back, as an attempt to gain their money back. But because of the slow economy, no one was able to afford to buy a home, and so Lehman Brothers started to lose their capital.

Its just such a surprise for me that a rumor could start something so severe. In this world where everyone knows that liars and schemers are at large always, how can we let a rumor take down our entire economy so low that the government had to step in because the nation was in danger of losing its economy! Once the government s involved, nothing stays as a private business. The banks all became part of the government, having to follow the rules and regulations the government puts on them instead of running their businesses as they please. How can one rumor put a country like the United States go into economic crisis?

 I’m not sure how I feel about the government being a part in this either. I understand that they had to step in to help Bear Sterns because of its connection to the rest of Wall Street, but did it really have to be so involved in other companies? What if they had just sat back and allowed what was happening to happen and see where it took us. But there would have been backlash anyways, no matter what choice the government made. The economy is slowly making its way up, maybe this was the right choice to make, for the government to step in and buy stocks to help even out the scales.

RS4: moneymoneymoney

This blogpost is my take on “The Friday Podcast: A Former Lobbyist Tells All”, published by Planet Money on January 27, 2012.

The main point of this podcast was that Jimmy Williams, a former member of the National Associations of Realtors and former lobbyist, is trying to take the money out of politics. For example, when someone is running for senate or congress or especially for president, a great deal of money is spent in regards to their campaign. It was just announced today actually, that Donald Trump, a well-known American businessman billionaire, will be endorsing nominee Mitt Romney in the 2012 Presidential race. Obviously, Trump’s endorsement comes with his money, and along with all of his other endorsers, how much money does someone running for office really need?

Especially in this economy, where there is still a high rate of unemployment and a lot of people who are struggling after the stock market crash of 2008, how is the general public supposed to feel about all this money going into something so trivial as endorsements for someone wanting to be president? All it really should be about it what everyone’s ideas, opinions, and plans for the future of the county are. Not fliers, television commercials, press conferences, etc. Focus on the important things; like unemployment rates, health insurance, the public school system, national debt, poverty levels and crime rates. In the end, the hundreds of thousands of dollars you spend in fliers, signs and billboards are only going to be thrown away.

RS3: My Learning Style

The results of Sabrina's learning inventory are:

 

Visual/Nonverbal 23 Visual/Verbal 30 Auditory 34 Kinesthetic 21

 

Your primary learning style is:

The Auditory/ Verbal Learning Style

You learn best when information is presented auditory in an oral language format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from listening to lecture and participating in group discussions. You also benefit from obtaining information from audio tape. When trying to remember something, you can often "hear" the way someone told you the information, or the way you previously repeated it out loud. You learn best when interacting with others in a listening/speaking exchange .