Definition-rowanstudent

Posted on March 25, 2019 by rowanstudent2

Who Really Benefits?

This modern world is full of life-threatening illnesses and hopeless cures. Yet, there are methods to improve the quality of living, and straying away from bad health. Everyone is different. If you look at health as a scale of different types and levels of severity, you can maybe get a more clear picture of what I’m talking about. There are two main types, physical and mental, each affecting one another. You can say your physical health is stable, but mentally you are just not up to par. Doctors and therapists use treatments and techniques to aid such cases. Many people can benefit through simple practices such as therapy, but others need some serious medical attention if they are low on that health scale. What serious medical problem would need such attention? Most likely, you find your mind leaning towards incurable diseases like cancer or polio, and you are totally right. Those are the diseases that need that extra awareness. Physically, your body is shutting down. Mentally though, you decide how you feel. So, who actually benefits from these simple practices? To answer this, it all depends on a person’s mental health. They may have some acute, temporary physical abnormalities, but as long as they have the right mindset, they can be better in no time. It wouldn’t be possible without the help from one harmless deception method, the placebo. The psychological healing process is much more effective than physiological therapy when dealing with pain or discomfort prone disorders and symptoms.

The placebo effect has been around for many years, but with the use of deception and ignorance, people don’t even notice it. A placebo should cause “clinical improvement” according to the Journal of Neuroscience. Typically, this treatment is used for cases dealing with the psychological part of the body. People that benefit more from it usually have a sort of expectancy. They expect that whatever is inside this pill, will make their pain go away. When patients are unaware they are taking a placebo and believe they are taking “real” medicine, the placebo effect usually has a positive outcome. But what happens when they know it is a “fake” drug? Harvard Medical School Professor and Director of the Harvard-wide Program in Placebo Studies, Dr. Ted J. Kaptchuk did a study on people with irritable bowel syndrome (IBS). This is a condition that causes pain in the abdominal area and diarrhea or constipation. It is more a disorder than a disease because it’s not as severe. Half of the study is getting an “open-label” placebo, while the other gets no treatment at all. The results showed that there was a vast improvement with the placebo group’s symptoms even though they knew they were taking a placebo. This group also fell that their symptoms were lessened in severity and relief was much more prominent, which in turn improved the quality of life. So is it better for the patient to be given an “open-label” placebo or to not take one at all? Or is there a more beneficial effect on a patient who receives a placebo without their knowledge? According to the results of this study particularly, an “open-label” placebo gives patients a better benefit to their symptoms than ones who didn’t take anything at all. Keep in mind that this was a study for just IBS.

What happens when you give a placebo to a person with Parkinson’s disease? A disease that involves the central nervous system, motor functions and dopamine production. For this study, patients were given a placebo, but were told that it was an antiparkinsonian drug that would help with their movements. They were injected with a saline solution that had no confirmed effect. Neuronal activity in the subthalamic nucleus was recorded before and after the procedure. The people who felt an effect showed actual bursting activity of neurons in the body, while the non responsive group, didn’t show anything. Now this raises the question of does a placebo show psychological changes, which causes physiological relief? In other words, if a placebo is only supposed to be therapeutic, is it possible that a person’s mental abilities are strong enough to make themselves cured? Placebos may in fact just be dependent on each patient. The patient who has the desire to feel better will have more of a lasting effect than the one who doesn’t even when both take a placebo.

“It has been defined as the ‘positive physiological or psychological changes associated with the use of inert medications, sham procedures, or therapeutic symbols within a healthcare encounter'” according to Franklin G. Miller.

References:

https://journals.plos.org/plosmedicine/article?id=10.1371/journal.pmed.0020262

https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/placebo-can-work-even-know-placebo-201607079926

http://www.jneurosci.org/content/25/45/10390.short

https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0015591

Posted in Definition Categorical, Portfolio RowanStudent, rowanstudent | 1 Comment

Causal Argument–Daphne Blake

Posted on March 25, 2019 by daphneblake25

Polluting the Ocean Pollutes the Economy

The first image that enters the mind at the thought of the phrase “ocean pollution” probably isn’t a destroyed economy, but that’s exactly what the result will be. Everyday, millions of people litter the ground with plastic, paper, and metals that get transferred into the ocean or into massive areas of land. This process is what ultimately will lead to a destroyed economy. Initially, the first negative effect of ocean pollution will be the decreased population of sea animals due to the fact of microplastics being broken down from larger plastic materials. Microplastics are a bigger cause of the reduction of sea life because it’s harder to detect by sea animals. It may be easy for fish and other sea creatures to detect a two liter bottle or a large plastic bag, however, the material of plastic doesn’t ever fully break down back into the earth, it just reduces into smaller and smaller sizes. These are called “microplastics.” These microplastics become difficult to see, especially for hungry fish searching for something to eat. These fish that intake the pollution in the ocean get eaten by bigger fish and when these sea animals wash up on land, they have things like bottle caps and straws inside them that never fully got digested into their systems.

The average person might just shrug and wonder how the negative impacts on sea life has anything to do with them, let along lead to a destroyed economy, but the two are directly correlated. For one, seafood is a huge market. According to Worldwildlife, “Approximately three billion people in the world rely on both wild-caught and farmed seafood as their primary source of protein. As the largest traded food commodity in the world, seafood provides sustenance to billions of people worldwide.” There aren’t going to be anymore people consuming seafood if all the sea animals are either dead from ocean pollution or have hundreds of bits of plastic inside them. Ocean pollution serves as a direct hit to the seafood market which in turn hurts the economy due to the fact that all those people who were once redistributing their money into society will decrease because the seafood market will not exist anymore. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration states the extreme benefits that the fishing industry give to the economy. Not only did it generate over two-hundred billion dollars in sales, but it also creates 1.6 billion jobs. Without the fishing industry, not only will this be detrimental in economic matters, but the total unemployment line will increase. Both money and jobs will be lost. And these factors are at stake from the steady rise in ocean pollution.

The seafood market is an example of a direct correlation to how detrimental ocean pollution can be on the economy, but there are other examples that aren’t as blatant. The beach market is also a huge contributor to the economy. The beach is one of the most desired locations for vacations. The endless stretch of sand, the beautiful vast and relaxing waves, and the feeling of excitement and satisfaction as the two come together before one’s very own eyes. These year long dreams will be slowly diminished if ocean pollution stays at a steady increase. The National Geographic reports that “Every year, tens of thousands of people worldwide volunteer for the Sisyphean chore of picking up trash from beaches. The largest effort is conducted every September by the Ocean Conservancy, which in 30 years of cleanups has collected 300 million pounds and more than 350 types of items.” They go on to quote Nicholas Mallos, the leader of these cleanups who says,I have been on beaches in Hong Kong, Saint Helena in the South Atlantic, and Indonesia where you can watch plastics and debris in the barrel of each wave crash onto the beach. Literally, the trash starts getting replaced as soon as you pick it up.” According to the U.S Census Bureau’s Statistical Abstract of the United States 2012, Table 1240, 58.67 million people went to the beach in 2010. These numbers are going to drastically drop after the beaches become so filled with plastic that no one wants to visit them anymore. Again, the question may arise of how this affects the economy, well, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration points out how Tourism and recreation account for 72 percent of the ocean economy’s total employment and 31 percent of its GDP. These numbers prove how ocean pollution causes various harsh results for our world economically.

The beach and the seafood market both contribute greatly to the economy, but what about the costs of ocean pollution that the world may not have to pay right now, but in the future. Based on the current state of our planet, the future of mankind is at state, all due to ocean pollution. Planetaid.org presents the information that the ocean “provides over 70 percent  of the oxygen we breathe and over 97 percent of the world’s water supply.” But everyday the ocean is the unfortunate recipient of manmade pollution. The world is essentially destroying itself. Because of the road us humans are going down now, there are going to be a plethora of environmental costs the world is going to try to fix when it becomes close to too late. There are a lot of things humans hold as significant to life. People say tangible objects such as technology and clothes are essential to living, but when we don’t have a planet to live on, we’re really in deep water. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates how much it will cost to clean the oceans. They state that “At a cost of $5,000-20,000 per day, it would cost between $122 million and $489 million for the year. That’s a lot of money—and that’s only for boat time. It doesn’t include equipment or labor costs.” But that’s just the cost of it today, who knows the estimated costs in the future if people continue to pollute the ocean. Ocean pollution is a direct causal problem to a destroyed economy, from seafood to beaches to later on repairs. This is a serious detriment to the world’s finances, recreation, and most importantly, to our lives.

References

Worldwildlife

https://www.worldwildlife.org/industries/sustainable-seafood

National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration

https://www.noaa.gov/media-release/us-fishing-generated-more-than-200b-in-sales-in-2015-two-stocks-rebuilt-in-2016

https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/oceaneconomy.html

https://dev1.orr.noaa.gov/about/media/how-much-would-it-cost-clean-pacific-garbage-patches.html

National Geographic

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/10/greenpeace-beach-cleanup-report-highlights-ocean-plastic-problem/

Planet Aid

https://www.planetaid.org/blog/how-ocean-pollution-affects-humans

Posted in Causal Argument, daphneblake, Portfolio DaphneBlake | 1 Comment

Causal Argument—nousernamefound1

Posted on March 24, 2019 by nousernamefound1

High Cost of attending college 

The prohibitively high cost of attending college is causing enrollment to drop. It’s not just 4-year colleges that are showing drops in enrollment. Community colleges have been in a drought for almost 10 years now. In this era, relying on student aid or government aid is like waiting around for pigs to start flying. In other words, it’s not happening. Ashley Smith claims in “No Bottom Yet in 2-Year College Enrollments,” that “Community colleges are used to declining enrollments when the economy is strong, and unemployment is low. But some researchers are warning colleges that future declines are only expected to get worse amid cuts in state funding and more pressure on institutions to produce measurable outcomes.” The author expects the drought to never change because of the fact that we rely so much on student aid to get kids into school.  A director of strategic research at EAB stated that they absolutely need to be worried right now. This isn’t an issue that can be just pushed to the side. The problem has nothing to do with population. When colleges are losing over 50 percent of their students in the matriculation process, you are suspended to look within. When looking within you can see that a lot of students are deciding to not attend because of financial reasons. We can’t blame this all on the government though. The failure of schools to get kids to excel is a reason why the government is cutting back for community colleges. Ashley Smith claims in “No Bottom Yet in 2-Year College Enrollments”, that “EAB found that out of 100 students who apply to a two-year college, 56 are lost during onboarding, 23 drops out and just five are still enrolled after six years. Only nine of the 100 complete an associate degree and seven complete a bachelor’s degree.” The government will not waste their money trying to fund students when statistics show that they will just end up dropping out or even fail out. 

 Donna Desrochers and Steven Hurlburt stated that “2013 Across higher education, revenues per FTE student were higher in 2013 than a decade earlier, but only private institutions and public research universities had fully recovered revenue losses experienced since the 2008 recession.” That schools don’t care too much about the kids getting into the school because of the fact that they use tuition as a scapegoat to get out of financial trouble. Where does the money go? What are colleges buying? These are questions that constantly cross my mind as a student. A building doesn’t attract students that just want a degree. My conclusion would be investing in programs that will guarantee more students being successful in private or public institutions. This would attract more students because it will show that the school really cares about us and doesn’t just want our money. There are some shocking facts out there that will leave you shaking your head. Many say that colleges are expensive because of the fact that many of the institutions need more faculty members and they need to figure out how to pay them all. That dream house or dream car that you wanted for years can come to an end after noticing how much in debt you are in student loans. Hillary Hoffower in “College is more expensive than it’s ever been, and the 5 reasons why to suggest it’s only going to get worse,” claims that “At a four-year nonprofit private institution, tuition and room and board is $46,950, on average. Four-year public colleges charge an average of $20,770 a year for tuition, fees, and room and board. For out-of-state students, the total goes up to $36,420.” The numbers are ridiculous, we shouldn’t treat kids that want to better themselves like this. A lot of people miss out on this opportunity because of selfish institutions. 

Tuition doesn’t just damage the enrollment; it can also cause Demographic shifts. “Demographic shifts may be associated with changes in enrollment such as the growth of various subgroups or the population in general,” according to Nathan Lassila. 71 percent of students often use student loans to pay off school. That’s more than half, which makes me question the effort of colleges looking for a change. Lowering income students are still struggling until this day. In fact, a lot of them are paying more because they are not on the same rate as students that have a higher income. “However, there is a large gap in the ratio of low-income and higher-income students who enroll in post-secondary education,” according to Nathan Lassila. This is a fear for a lot of colleges, but still, they can’t seem to find a solution. If the numbers continue to grow you will see the majority of the higher income families participate in college more than the lower income families. The cost and fees are causing a lot of students to throw in the towel. Why continue to wait on student aid when they’re cutting back? Institutions need a better solution when attacking this problem. Colleges must first understand that a growing number of Americans live in poverty. Two would be that a lot of students are fighting for extra money, so when you try to do scholarships it doesn’t help the situation. It doesn’t help because institutions don’t give out enough scholarships for everybody. The amount of people struggling with the cost of attendance is way higher than the number of scholarships given out. They need to see that the cost scares a lot of students away. Nothing will change but the fact that enrollment will continue to decrease if they don’t take these baby steps. The institutions need to stop sitting around and waiting for a miracle to happen. Waiting around will do nothing but bring grey hairs. This is a serious issue that needs to be spoken on every day. There are too many jobs that require a lot of people to have higher education, but it seems like things will never change for the better for the students. 

Reference

Community college enrollment rates expected to keep falling. (2018, June 21). Retrieved March 24, 2019, from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2018/06/21/community-college-enrollment-rates-expected-keep-falling

Desrochers, D. M., & Hurlburt, S. (2016). Trends in College Spending: 2003-2013. Where Does the Money Come From?: Where Does It Go? What Does It Buy? Place of publication not identified: Distributed by ERIC Clearinghouse.

Hoffower, H. (2018, July 08). College is more expensive than it’s ever been, and the 5 reasons why suggest it’s only going to get worse. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/why-is-college-so-expensive-2018-4

Lassila, Nathan E. (2011) “Effects of Tuition Price, Grant Aid, and Institutional Revenue on Low-Income Student Enrollment,” Journal of Student Financial Aid: Vol. 41: Iss. 3, Article 2. Available at: http://publications.nasfaa.org/jsfa/vol41/iss3/2 

Posted in Causal Argument, nousernamefound, Portfolio NoUserNameFound | 1 Comment

Casual Argument– G90

Posted on March 24, 2019 by g903254

Income Inequality, Marxian Economics, and a UBI

When we look to combat income inequality and unemployment with essentially giving people free money we can see the lunacy that comes from that surface explanation. How can just giving people money fix income inequality and unemployment? With a UBI a government is setting a ‘negative income’ for those beneath a certain income line. Capitalists will ask how the government would pay for this and the only answer would be taxing the rich. This will make many people upset and I can understand why. Many people on the right will see any profits as those executives income, but Adam Smith’s Labor Theory of Value would say that the income made by the worker for the company is the material expense and compensation for the work put in. Many other philosophers would disagree however.

Philosophers such as Karl Marx or Edmund Burke would disagree. Edmund Burke would say that the actual value comes from the consumer rather than the labor itself and that the price of a good was the same as the value of the good, while Marx tried to flip Smith’s Labor Theory of Value on capitalists by trying to portray it as an exploitation of workers as the only way business owners could make a profit is to squeeze profit out any way they could. In Kapital, Marx believed that the only way for the worker to earn their true value was to seize the means of production from the capitalists. This line of thinking would lead to a communist society where workers earn their true value and all own the means of production allow for a freer society, however a UBI would not necessarily fall under this system. Within a capitalistic society a UBI would be implemented sort of as a compromise between these two ideologies. A UBI would give the workers more value when it came to the development of goods and decrease income inequality between the different economic classes, while the capitalists still own the means of production and still make a profit, however at a much lower rate and at a more equal rate to the income of the workers. Marx would argue that this would still be exploitative for the worker. The surplus labor value that the worker would make in a given day would still be more money in the pockets of the business owners rather than the workers themselves, but I see it differently.

I come from more of a capitalistic household with a majority of my family on the right wing. I, however, fall on more of the left wing and see things more democratically and see a UBI as the best of both worlds without doing much to change the economic landscape entirely. Capitalism has many problems and a UBI would be a better way to fix capitalism without a violent revolution. Any peaceful solution is preferred over a violent overthrow of the capitalist machine thought process today.

Now am I saying that a UBI is the one answer to fix the issues within capitalism itself? No, but it is certainly the first step to changing the base ideology of our economy. The exploitation of workers within our economy is a serious issue and this all amounts within the income inequality in the United States. It’s just that trying to get a UBI into action within the U.S to combat income inequality will be extremely difficult. Lobbying has held back the advancement of a UBI within the U.S by making donations to candidates campaign fund. This in turn promotes the ideals of whoever is paying the lobbyists which is most likely the top 1% and the top .1%. It would be highly unlikely, but the ban of lobbying and PAC’s within the U.S would help in the progress of more democratic ideals such as a UBI. Without the influence of the richest people in the U.S in our representatives ear’s we would find it much easier to get radical change completed.

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Causal-Chavanillo

Posted on March 24, 2019 by chavanillo

Sneakers that is part of the fashion in the world are a trend issue!

Fashion these days have been one of the most trended companies is the world. Specially sneakers. You know that almost every thing that comes with obsession theirs issues, Same thing happening with shoe wear. A big reason why this is happening is because of the internet web. Teens these days they post their persona life and identities specially on what is the fashion when it comes to shoes and clothes. Like in the article by Chittenden, Tara she talks about this ten girls that are obsesses with blogging. They post their identity and private life making them “good friends” for other people. This is an away teen would get feedback and play with another teen’s identity seeing on what they are doing right or wrong. So, basically, they are doing what other people want them to do for views and have people believe that you are leaving your best life. It’s so astonishing that teens will change their life style just to get people to talk to them or be the most famous on Instagram because if you are not then you are a “dork”.  This kind of blogging and web apps are the reason why sneakers are a huge controversy in this generation and the ones coming up next. Teens showing off their new shoes in the web for people could say his cool and get that compliment that every teen wants.

For teens the most important thing is how other people see us. We don’t even take a minute a realize what we really like and enjoy, and almost all the time we hide that to fulfill people’s eyes on what they want to see. Also, I believe this has been like this because is a way of teens to get out of depression, or when they feel alone. This is some of few reasons why online a blogging is a big trained in this world. There’re even teens who get depress or sad because they can’t afford those sneakers that will make them “fit” into the environment. I don’t believe that the fault is in the shoes in us the consumers who makes it that important that makes it become dangerous and with a lot of issues. The teen life is focus on a “visibility” fake world because is away teens connect with each other to feel part of a group. Think about the real problem here that is the obsession with sneakers. What is really the whole getting hype thing or like if it was gold that the one person that has it been the coolest one in the world while the other that doesn’t is the bad one and crazy one that doesn’t know fashion at all. You could compare this to everyday life. If you don’t have a job you are being already 20 years of old, you are a crazy lazy person that doesn’t want to do nothing. But, the whole point of this is that teens were the ones that started and began all this obsession of sneakers and the important of it in their minds.

Sneakers has become an identity of teens. What he or she wears defines who are they as a person an what they like to do. It’s so crazy how something or what you wear defines wo you are as a person. Children are taking peer pressure from the people around them because they get use to the liking of what they see t home and what is a trend now. So, they take in account the favorite things their peer love of a product and they take that with them. Meaning when they are looking for clothes or in this case sneakers their peers are the one influencing making then sneakers a big brand. The real issue is that anything that you do, or bye is what is around your peers. Is like the fraise “Dime con quien andas y te dire quien eres.” Meaning “Tell me who your friends are, and I’ll tell you who you are.” You will be influence on what is around you because that what you know. We always want the most known brand to buy. Teens have more Nike sneakers than any other brand because I more known and expensive. The problem here is that why teens are really making sneakers so important? What the unique thing about them that separates then from their brands or any other shoe wear? I believe is all on the consumer how important they make it because money is a great example. Money is valuable because we make it like that. If we really didn’t believe in money in cash that is paper it won’t have any value and Bolivia is the answer to this. Anything we put in our minds, like now instead of paper being money lets make stone money or a piece of unique fabric. A rubber money. The whole point of this is that what is trendy now is because we made it like that. We are the reason for everything that is happening in he world now and we are the only ones that could stop it. Experts had tried to eliminate the issues and dangerous circumstances happening because of sneakers and they say their still no answer or nothing that they can’t do, but I believe that we do have the answer but we never going to act on it because at the end of the day we are the only answer to stop this. We cause the issues and the problems and that is why sneakers are an issue. We made it trendy and famous and treated like if it was gold now the symbolize your personality and now is also considered dangerous to even put this kind of shoe wear. This addiction could really cause financial struggle especially for low income families because they don’t even know how to manage their own money. We always must ask ourselves questions because that’s the only way we could find what the truth is. Everything changes if we change.

Reference

Elliott, R., & Leonard, C. (2004). Peer pressure and poverty: Exploring fashion brands and consumption symbolism among children of the ‘British poor’. Journal of Consumer Behaviour,3(4), 347-359. doi:10.1002/cb.147
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Definition Argument– G90

Posted on March 24, 2019 by g903254

How shall we battle income inequality? According to Emmanuel Saez, of UC Berkeley, The top .1% took in as much as 188 times as the bottom 99%. This is a ghastly statistic that almost seems unbelievable. A large part of this income disparity has to do with automation. Cheaper labor equals larger profits. So when a corporation can find a way to cut costs they will. Whether that be lowering wages or turning to automation. This greed by corporations hurts workers within the private sector. Having to compete with machines by taking lowered or stifled wages make living comfortably extremely difficult and/or impossible.

According to the EPI (Economic Policy Institute) the incomes of the top .1% has gone up by 157% since 1979 while the bottom 90% has only grown by 22.2%. Which if just looking at the percentage for the bottom 90% looks great, however comparing it to the top .1% you can see just how outrageous it really is. In 1979 the average income for the bottom 90% was $29,608 while the top .1% earned $622,018. In 2017 on average the bottom 90% made $36,182 while the top .1% made $2,756,865. This ridiculous growth within nearly half a century has created more problems for the average U.S citizen.

When corporations find ways to cut costs through stifling wages creates a huge benefit for consumers. Lowered prices on goods and services allow for consumers to have a surplus of income. This is great from the consumer’s point of view, however from the worker’s point of view, the view from beneath the boot starts looking quite bleak. For the worker, stifled wages has made it quite difficult to live a comfortable life like the well off consumer.

Now A UBI (or a Universal Basic Income) would help redistribute the money from the very top to the very bottom. How does a UBI work? How a UBI works is that it gives every citizen within a country a certain amount of money for people under a certain wage line. This (in theory) would help those who are on the bottom survive and thrive in the ever growing economy. This extra income could be used for food, gas, public services, etc. This extra income would help those on the bottom more economically free to invest and better themselves while the job market changes. A UBI could be used to help put one through college or through a trade school. A UBI could be extremely useful for those on the bottom of the income ladder.

There are many ways to battle income inequality. Whether it be through a larger welfare state like the scandinavian countries or a UBI like Finland. Finland at this moment has a study on a UBI using a lottery and randomly selecting individuals to be apart of this trial. This trial has concluded and the results for the first year have been published. These results show that those who received the money have become less stressed, more confident in finding work, and healthier in life according to Finland’s Labour Institute for Economic Research.Now only the first half of the study has been published so nothing can be confirmed. With the second half of the research not being published until 2020 we have to look at what was published and the results aren’t the best results. Though they aren’t the worst results.

These findings show partially what was thought what a UBI would do. It did increase happiness. This could be for a multitude of reasons. It could be because they had a little more financial freedom, as in, they could pay bills they were worrying about, repay debts, eat healthier, etc. This is great in a democratic sense that these people were able to feel less hopeless and hopeful and confident for the future, but in a capitalistic sense it would be seen as a negative as the participants of the study’s job prospects didn’t really improve. According to Finland’s Labour Institute for Economic Research compared to the control group those who did receive money they worked on average .4 days more in 2017 and earned $24 less. This would show that nothing has changed in a capitalistic sense, but we also have to remember that this is just a one year chunk of a two year study. We won’t know until 2020 for the full results.

Now those who align their thinking among the right wing will say that income inequality isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Right wing ideology aligns itself among a hierarchy, while left wing ideology aligns itself among an egalitarian mode of thinking. Right wingers generally believe that billionaires are on top and those who are impoverished are on bottom is the correct way because of how hard those billionaires worked. However, this can easily be dismissed as those who have more money have a much easier time making money than those who have less. Fixing income inequality is scary for those on the right wing because those on the right wing tend to be richer, older, white men who would be affected by this. A UBI, no matter how scary it may be, does make it easier for those who are more impoverished and allow for more financial freedom to compound wealth. Although an egalitarian mode of thinking may clash with those who align their thinking to that of a capitalist mode of thinking it still is a benefit to fight income inequality because it would be beneficial to the market. From a simple supply and demand thinking we can see that if more people have more money to spend within a country’s market than the richest hoarding wealth then the market would be less active.

Fighting income inequality is a very difficult task within the United States. With many challenges to get past within the United States government we will be able to combat income inequality. A UBI would be the best way to do so as it would level the playing field and create a diverse market of an increased amount of consumers.

 

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Causal Essay: Nina

Posted on March 24, 2019 by nina525

When we speak on mental illnesses and strategies to either cope or help an individual, usually appointments of therapy treatments and medications are one of the very first thoughts. Hospital patients who are diagnosed as clinically depressed or extreme levels of anxiety are offered these option to help them through these times of hardships. Then there are patients who suffer from incurable diseases, such as polio and epilepsy, who depend on research and science to one day find a cure and get the help they need. Euthanasia, a practice that has been around as long as the seventeenth century. It has been an argument developed by doctors, state legislators and more for years to not be used as a method of treatment.

Already in the country of Belgium, laws of euthanasia were amended, authorizing doctors to take the life of any child, at any age, who makes the request to be euthanized. As for other places int he world, even with the exception of being terminally ill, euthanasia is not an option. For example in the case of 104 year old David Goodold, and Australian scientists last wish was to die. Due to reason that he was not terminally ill, but his wishes may be granted when he visits the End of LIfe clinic in Switzerland for voulantary euthanasia.

Not many see this as as problem because of his age and the fact that he understands his wishes, in fact many imply that “He has lived long enough to see everything”. Now, if we allow David Goodold to, someone who has no terminal or mental illness, to kill himself via voluntary euthanasia, what could this mean for those hundreds to thousands of other cases where individuals who suffer from depression would like to undergo euthanasia. To understand what the cause would be for allowing assisted suicides, we must acknowledge the other age groups.

Teen suicide is the third leading cause of death in youths between the ages 12 and 19. Up to twenty percent of teens suffer some sort of depression before the age of 24. For many options such as Interpersonal therapy (IPT) and Cognitive Behavior Therapy (CBT). To an extant, not all people can be saved by therapy and interpersonal counseling. Can euthanasia be an option? If a 104 year old can have his wished granted for assisted suicide, why can’t a teen?

If we allowed for assisted suicide in teen and young adults it will cause of number of mass suicide in teens because the option to die is available. This will occur because no one will look to the first alternative options of IPT and CBT when the outcome they want is at the tip of their fingers. Assisted suicide options are seen as “utilitarian” to allow assisted suicide because it respects the decisions and wished of dying or distress patients.

The slippery slope argument is that we want to respect the wishes of those who want to be assisted in their suicide but if we allow euthanasia for the elderly and not the youth, it wont be utilitarian to no respect their decisions. Yet to allow this can lead to mass assisted suicide in teens, young adults, and in elders.

Citation:

Lane, C. (2018, August 06). Children are being euthanized in Belgium. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/children-are-being-euthanized-in-belgium/2018/08/06/9473bac2-9988-11e8-b60b-1c897f17e185_story.html?utm_term=.9c9a393e9635

Dryden-Edwards, R. (n.d.). Teen Depression Facts, Treatment, Symptoms, Statistics & Tests. Retrieved from https://www.medicinenet.com/teen_depression/article.htm

Morrow, A. (n.d.). Why Do People Seek Physician-Assisted Suicide? Retrieved from https://www.verywellhealth.com/reasons-for-seeking-physician-assisted-suicide-1132378

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Causal Argument- pomegranate

Posted on March 24, 2019 by pomegranate4800

The Ethical Issues Regarding Mattress Stores and Money Laundering

The terms, “money laundering” and “mattress stores” don’t necessarily spark an interest for readers. However, once the meanings are explained and it is clear how they go hand in hand, it then leaves you with a jaw dropping type of realization. When driving past a mattress store, it is easy to notice the big signs covering the windows promoting a sale. Behind those signs, there is no one inside. People are left to question why there are so many stores if there is rarely anyone in there. This leaves many to wonder, how is there such high demand on mattress if it’s a purchase made once every decade. Many people know that if you have a lot of cash and you don’t want to put it in the bank, usually, you’d put it under a mattress for hiding or safe keepings. There have been many people who have explained why exactly they leave their money under a mattress. However, it’s easy to assume why mattress store owners do it. The assumption includes, they have been laundering money for years but they would not like to get caught doing it so the one place many people look, but is so obvious not to see, would be in the mattresses of a mattress store. It is steep, but it makes sense. The cause of these mattress stores having no one in them, but they continue to stay open, would be simply because they are money laundering scams.

                A recent article by Trent Hamm explains why he, Hamm himself, hides money underneath his own mattress at home. “I keep a small amount of twenties in my home as my ultimate emergency fund.” See, most people do hide their money in case of emergencies. However, then it is also easy to believe that if there is money in a mattress it is most likely just for emergencies and not money that is being laundered. Many examples in the article such as hurricane Katrina and many other storms which had wiped homes and towns away, along with power and heat and many other living necessities, were reasons to why keeping emergency money in your house would be found as unbeneficial, because it is ruined. However, you could find this as beneficial because you can use this money to leave and go find other shelter for these storms. The point here is that most people wouldn’t suggest that the mattresses in stores were not being used to hold money for emergencies, for they are being sold. In the back of laundry stores, there are empty rooms, with limited mattresses. This is why most times it takes a few days for your mattress to come to you. However, the ones they have the back are the ones easiest to assume that they have money being hidden in them. Once again, a stretch but it makes sense. They want to be as slick as possible so there is no way they can be caught doing this federal crime.

                Many people money launder because, well, it’s an efficient way to increase and keep your funds increased. There many effects and consequences, however. The biggest consequence would most likely be getting caught and potentially serving jail time. In an article by Julia Layton and Oisin Curran, they say “the global effects are staggering in social, economic, and security terms.” When money is successfully laundered, it does in fact mean that the criminal activity does pay off, according to a socio-cultural approach. The success encourages criminals to continue this illegal activity and spend profit without any consequence. There are many negative consequences to this however. These consequences, according to Layton and Curran include, “more fraud, more corporate embezzling, more drugs on the streets, more drug related crimes, law enforcement resources stretched beyond their means, and a general loss of morale on the part of legitimate business people who don’t break the law and don’t make nearly the profits that the criminals do.” It is almost unfair. They are working illegally to get their money. Once they find success there is a high chance they keep going, and once again, continue their criminal activity.

The economic effects are a little more confusing to understand. Countries that are in the process of being built often “bear the brunt of modern money laundering” due to the fact that the governments are still in process of “establishing regulations for their newly privatized financial sectors.” An example of this would be in the 90s, when banks from the developing Baltic states had gotten many deposits of “dirty money.” People continued to withdraw their own “clean” money with the fear of maybe losing it if the bank were to go under investigation. This would result in insurance being lost. As a result, the banks did end up collapsing. “Massive influxes of dirty cash into particular areas of the economy that are desirable to money launderers create false demand, and officials act on this new demand by adjusting economic policy.” This is jaw dropping. The words, “create false demand,” make so much sense when talking about mattress stores. The owners have enough money to keep the stores open, but end up having no customers because there shouldn’t be such high demand on mattresses, and there isn’t. It is a false demand, and it is easy to believe this, along with the fact that the owners are money launderers.

The local problems are easier to understand, and can affect people personally. Problems like this can relate to an include taxation, and “small- business competition.” When money is laundered, it is usually not taxed. This ultimately means that people who do not launder money, have to make up for the taxes that are not written off, make up the loss in tax revenue. Real, legit small business do not have the ability to compete with money laundering front businesses who can afford to sell a product for cheaper because they do not have the purpose to make a profit, their purpose is to simply clean the money. The amount of cash they have in these businesses is more than most so they might even have the ability to be able to sell a product below cost.

There are many consequences to money laundering, some in which cam affect people that have no business in money laundering. It is unfair to the people that don’t. However, this can open our eyes to the fact that many businesses can in fact be money laundering and we, as people who do not launder money, have to make up for it. Many of these reasons and consequences can all route back to mattress stores. They could just be one of the guiltiest businesses for a crime like this. The way they tie hand in hand, mattress stores and money laundering, is jaw dropping and eye opening.

References:

https://money.howstuffworks.com/money-laundering5.htm

https://www.thesimpledollar.com/why-i-keep-cash-under-my-mattress/

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Casual Argument- doorknob9

Posted on March 24, 2019 by doorknob9

A quarterbacks play is a vital component to the success of an American football team. And it shows. But just how much does a team need their quarterbacks play to be that good? The Los Angeles Rams are a perfect example of this. Their defense ended up in fifth in the league during the playoffs for total yards allowed per game by an opposing team with 335 total yards let up, and fourth in the league during the playoffs for total rushing yards allowed per game by an opposing team with 84 yards let up. They were also ranked seventh in the league during the playoffs for pass yards allowed with 251 yards per game. They didn’t need to rely on Goff exceeding expectations because their defense was able to hold off offenses from running or passing all over them, for the most part. Now let’s discuss Goff’s help on offense. Running back Todd Gurley led the league in rushing touchdowns, finding the end zone 17 times during the regular season, and placed third in total rushing yards with 1,251 yards. This allows the offense to open up the field and makes the defense worry about stacking the box, giving Goff a better opportunity to throw the ball. During the post season, back up running back CJ Anderson placed sixth in rushing yards per game with 63 yards and found the end zone twice throughout all of playoffs, the same amount of touchdowns lead back Todd Gurley had during the post season. Goff had a lot of help this post season from his defense, and even more help in the regular season thanks to Gurley. In regular season yards per game, the Rams had 2 out of the 3 top spots in yards per game with CJ Anderson at 149.5 yards and Todd Gurley at 89.4 yards per game.

We can look at statistics all day long, but more information to this argument proves numbers don’t matter.Worries about how Goff is expected to perform in the 2019 season are rising, and that is effecting how much he will be getting paid. In the article “Signing Jared Goff to an extension this offseason would be a mistake” on RamsWire by Cameron DaSilva posted on March 4th, 2019, DaSilva goes on to explain just how much the team gave up to acquire 1st overall pick Jared Goff during the 2016 draft. They coughed up two first-round picks, two second-round picks and two third-round picks to the Titans just to get their hands on him. But the question of the article is what should they do with him moving forward. That questions his play and value. Another reason for pushing off his extension is because they need to get cap room to re sign free agents in their defense, like pass rusher Dante Fowler Jr. DaSilva also explains how much of a drop off Goff had throughout the last 8 games, completing less than 60 percent of his passes and throwing more interceptions (8) than he had touchdowns (7). That is a great concern for a team, especially if they were considering giving him a pay day because of the way he performed earlier in the year. More reasoning as to why DaSilva doesn’t think Goff should get an extension to his contract is because the Rams have plenty of time to give him a payday at a later point and time; no reason to rush paying him when time is on their side.

In another article “If Jared Goff is their future, the Rams are running out of time” pulled from USA Today written by Steven Ruiz on December 17th, 2018, Ruiz explains how the Rams won’t win anything with Goff under center. Sean McVay, the Rams head coach, was quoted saying, “He’s got to make better decisions, especially when we end up falling out underneath the center on third-and-1. You know, sometimes the only play is to just eat it and take that sack.” This goes to show in crunch time McVay is questioning his own quarterback’s abilities. Ruiz also goes on to talk about just how lucky Goff is to be on this team. He says, “Goff has everything a quarterback could ask for — a great scheme, good receivers, a consistently productive running game and a tremendous offensive line — and we still aren’t quite sure if he’s good enough to lead this Rams team to a Super Bowl. That’s with him accounting for about 4% of the team’s cap. What’s going to happen when that number jumps up to 15%? His line won’t be nearly as good, the defense will give up a few more points and his receiving corps will take a hit, which has already seems to be having an effect on Goff.” This is exactly what will happen to the Rams. His current contract doesn’t make up for a ton of the teams cap space, which allows them to get other assets of the team they need to let Goff succeed. Right when they take away these other components of the team, he’s doomed. He needs a good offensive line to protect him, he needs a good defense to limit the other team from scoring, he needs a good running back to open up the field, and he needs good receivers to catch the ball and turn up field. Even with all of these things, he’s still being questioned if the team actually needs him. Not only that, but when these parts of the team he needs to flourish leave (if they give him the extension that is) then Goff will be carried no more. Everything will be on his shoulders and he won’t do as well as he is doing now.

Back to the numbers, how good were Goff’s pass catching options? Two of his receivers, Brandin Cooks and Robert Woods, ended up at the thirteenth and fourteenth ranked receiving yards leaders raking in 1200+ yards in the regular season. Woods had 86 receptions in the regular season and Cooks had 80 receptions, leaving them outside of the top fifteen in receptions yet inside the top 15 in total yards. That is very good efficiency. Goff had tons of help on practically every end of the spectrum.

References:

http://www.nfl.com/stats/categorystats?tabSeq=0&statisticCategory=PASSING&qualified=true&season=2018&seasonType=REG

DaSilva, C. (2019, March 4). Signing Jared Goff to an extension this offseason would be a mistake. Retrieved from https://theramswire.usatoday.com/2019/03/04/nfl-rams-jared-goff-contract-extension-offseason/

Ruiz, S. (2018, December 17). If Jared Goff is their future, the Rams are running out of time. Retrieved from https://ftw.usatoday.com/2018/12/nfl-rams-jared-goff-future-contract

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Strong Opening: Nina

Posted on March 23, 2019 by nina525
  • While patients with clinical depression or other mental disorders cannot be expected to make a rational request for assisted euthanization , individuals including children suffering from terminal diseases with no known cure are offered the option to be euthanized by a doctor. Does this mean doctors get to decide who’s life is worth living? Does a child have the understanding of euthanasia to make the choice for themselves? Should parents allow their children or a loved one to suffer from a disease as such?
  • When we were younger, we were told we couldn’t make big decisions because we were too young to understand whats right and the consequences of what we choose. But what if children are older than adults? Age does not determine when someone is an adult, so age should not determine who should make decisions. For example, if a six year old boy only has eight months to live, and a twenty five year old who is healthy and has no health risks will live for years, who is really the older person in this situation. In cases involving the option of euthanasia in children, many argue that children a too young to decide if they can no longer live from an incurable disease, but in this case death determines age.

 

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