What I learned today- 9/21/12

I read the article "11 Years After 9/11, Afghanistan Still Matters"  We all remember 9/11, My generation grew up with that as the huge attack on the united states.  We have all seen people affected by it in this country, not just from the day itself, but from all the after events.  It has lead to war for 11 years and troops have been lost, family members, loved ones, everyone has been affected somehow.  But when we think about that day, we don't think about the people in Afghanistan.  I really like the fact that this article takes a look at the other side of this war too.  A lot of the people in Afghanistan didn't know what was going on 9/11 or why the USA were now coming into their countries.  Our economy was affected by the war, but Afganistan was also affected by it, at least we didn't have to deal with a war in the United States. 

Another point that this article covers is the debate on the war during elections.  A lot of people here are tired of the war and believe that it only has a negative effect on our economy.  I personally believe the same thing.  This war has been going on for too long and we need to focus more on our economy and getting the country out of this recession.

Blog #3

Our economy is a great way to satisfy everyone, but it creates competition to survive.  Some people such as the elderly or children cant survive on their own, there are also the people that just cant survive in the market economy.  To succeed you must be willing to work for it and sacrifice some time to do it.  This system has a lot of potential to succeed, but it fails when people aren't willing to work to survive.

A great advantage to this economic system is that everyone has a right to own something and contribute.  Our rights are very important to us as a nation and this allows us to be free. Compared to socialism, we can grow and expand way faster.  Socialism can be great to start out with, but eventually their will be a ton of people under the government and it could go bankrupt.

Overall, I believe that a market economy can be the best for a nation in the long run. It allows people to compete and grow as a business.  Production gets more advanced and people solve their own problems in the world.  We have a problem of using too much fossil fuels right now, but in the future we could be using a different source for energy.

I wonder how we're going to solve that problem as it gets closer and closer all the time. 

Opportunity Cost

I have had many opportunities in my life, and for every opportunity, I had to make a choice.  For every choice that I made I had an opportunity cost.  The last big opportunity that I had was going to visit my dad.  But at the time I was employed and still looking for another job.  I didn't want to risk going to Utah and miss a job opportunity because I couldn't come in for an interview.

I called my dad and talked to him for awhile about it and asked what his plans were for that week and if it was worth flying down there.  I also had just put in a resume at Papa Murphy's because a friend told me that they're hiring.  The manager had also talked to me a lot when I came in to submit it, which made me think that they are really considering me for the job. I talked to my Mom about it and she made me realize that I probably won't get another chance to fly to Utah for awhile so I got a ticket.

The day that I flew to Utah I was nervous that I would get a call all day.  I got off the plane and my dad picked me up so I hadn't thought about it for awhile. The day was going pretty well and I was visiting all my family members, when all of the sudden my phone started ringing.  I looked down thinking it would be my Mom asking if I made it there ok or a friend asking to hangout, but it was an unknown number. I answered and it was the owner of Papa Murphy's offering me a job interview.  Luckily he was reasonable and I got the interview the day I got home.  It could have been a very big opportunity cost for me. I wonder how large business executives handle large opportunity costs?

Scarcity, yo

Jobs are very hard to get in this economy. There are a lot of people looking for jobs right now and it creates a lot of competition.  It took me 5 months to get an interview and get hired.