Got Fish?

Ignorance is destructive. Failing to pursue education about any subject is detrimental to the progression of society. While we continue on with our lives, creatures in all of the world’s oceans and seas are dying, species are being depleted and this is all because of what humans do by overfishing and illegal hunting. Through proper education, awareness of the harm humans are causing to various sea creatures can be brought to the mainstream, and thus proper actions that will ensure that these animals will be taken care of will happen. Ignorance and total indoctrination without questioning can be seen in all areas of life, including literature. In “The Trial” by Franz Kafka and “Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri, ignorance and complacency is rampant, and that transfers to real life as well, and the consequences are right in front of our eyes, in the oceans.

Failing to realize what is going on right in front of us has dire consequences, and Joseph K. learned that at the end of “The Trial” by Franz Kafka. Joseph K. does not once, at any point in the novel, attempt to even find out how or why he was in the position he had found himself in one morning. Kafka demonstrates to the reader numerous times throughout his novel that being ignorant causes major issues, and ultimately results in the death of Joseph K. Belatedly, Joseph K. begins to wonder “Who was it? A friend? A good man? Someone who sympathized? Someone who wanted to help? Was it one person only? Or was it mankind?” (Kafka 228). This demonstrates the sheer ignorance Joseph K. had throughout the novel, so consumed with his indignant innocence that he failed to once question why he was in this situation. Why do we become so consumed with their day to day lives that we choose to ignore what’s right in front of our eyes? Humans have a tendency remain ignorant until it is far too late, and for the 100 million sharks each year that are slaughtered for their fins, this is certainly the case (SSCS). Many people do not know, and are not aware of the impacts that shark finning has on the fragile ecosystem of the ocean. Many sharks are tossed right back into the ocean as their fins are removed, being left to bleed out or to be eaten by other sharks and fish (SSCS). Every single year, over 8,000 tons of shark fins are processed each year (SSCS). The fins make up a small percentage of the shark’s total body weight, so a staggering number of sharks are thrown back into the ocean without fins. Shark finning in illegal and considered very much inhumane, but those who consume shark fin soup are part of the problem. Many people are ignorant of how that bowl of steaming soup in front of them comes to be, and by educating people on the processes involved with creating shark fin soup, the demand will decrease, thus putting a stop to shark finning.

Wild Aid, an environmental organization, published a report in 2014 stating that there was a “82% decline in sales reported by shark fin vendors in Guangzhou, China and a decrease in prices over the last 2 years” (Wildaid 2). Much of this decline can be attributed to a commercial by Yao Ming, a famous Chinese basketball player. In this PSA by Wildaid, Yao Ming uses his influence as a famous person to spread awareness of what the process behind shark finning involves. It shows a crowded restaurant, with aquariums surrounding the customers. A voiceover begins to state facts about shark finning, and a shark with its fins cut off is in the tank. The people in the restaurant push their bowls of soup away. An unnamed wholesaler, for shark fins in Guangzhou, China, said that “Yao Ming’s commercial impact single-handedly smashed my business”.  Many wholesalers and retail traders are now seeing the negative impacts of shark finning, if solely based on their businesses alone. By educating people on the atrocious act of shark finning, we can start to save one of the most vital and equalizing creatures in our beautiful oceans.

Sharks grow very slowly, and because of their slow rate of growth and reproduction, they are very likely to go extinct because of shark finning. According to an article by Caty Fairclough of the Smithsonian Institute, “Many fishermen prefer to practice shark finning instead of bringing whole sharks to the market because the fins are far more valuable than the rest of the body, sometimes selling for as much as $500 a pound”. Shark fin soup is a highly sought after dish, symbolizing wealth and power over what is known as the scariest predator in the sea. The smooth hammerhead shark and the scalloped hammerhead shark are the two species that are already endangered, and “between 1.3 and 2.7 million of these sharks are killed every year in the shark fin trade” (Fairclough). It has been estimated that some shark populations have decreased by 60-70% due solely to shark finning.

Another aspect of illegal hunting involves whaling. Whaling is a more well-known occurrence, thanks to Animal Planet’s show, Whale Wars, featuring Sea Shepherd Conservation Society, and their fleet of boats. In 1986, a ban on hunting whales for commercial profit was put in place, and despite this ban, over 50,000 whales have been killed since. Since this ban is based solely on “commercial profit”, countries like Japan say they are hunting whales for “research purposes”, in order to jump through the required hoops. However, because of the ban put in place, whaling has dropped significantly, but unfortunately, it still occurs. Japan, Norway, Iceland and Aboriginal Subsistence Whaling communities “kill around 2,000 whales a year-mainly fin, minke, Bryde’s, sei, humpback, and sperm whales” (WDC 3). One of the weapons used to kill these whales, grenade harpoons, involves a sustained and torturous death for the whales. While whale might be an essential part of Aboriginal diet, there is little to no excuse for developed counties like Norway, Iceland and Japan to be continuing the slaughter of whales. Whales, like sharks, have a slow reproduction rate, mainly due to their size and scarce populations. Also due to their sheer size alone, there is no humane way to kill these creatures. Since so many people are educated on why whaling is a problem, it will be much easier to put a stop to whaling,

Just as ignorance is commonly seen in “The Trial” by Franz Kafka, it is also seen in “Hell-Heaven” by Jhumpa Lahiri. Usha, the narrator of this story, speaks a lot about Pranab Kaku, a man whom she considers her uncle, despite there being no blood relation. Both Pranab Kaku and Usha’s parents come from Calcutta, and by indoctrination in the culture of their home country, they all met through acquaintances. Pranab Kaku became a constant presence at the household of the narrator, and the narrator is aware that her mother fell in love with Pranab Kaku, who was, by all accounts, far more educated and progressive than the average Bengali of the time period. The people around Pranab Kaku were very shocked by his choice of woman, he picked an American. None of their acquaintances or friends agreed with this arrangement, and Usha’s mother had quite a lot to say about it. She says “In a few weeks, the fun will be over and she will leave him” (Lahiri 626). This ignorance is proven wrong, for Pranab Kaku and Deborah stay together for much longer than that. They are ignorant of the fact that happiness can be found outside of the common expectations, and disagree with his choice simply because Deborah was not of Indian descent. This ignorance is rampant, and by refusing to see the other side of the coin, we will be unable to solve any problems in the future. Overfishing is a big issue in today’s world, the higher the population is, the higher the demand for the tasty fresh seafood we’ve all come to know and love. Many people are unaware of the impact that overfishing has, and the depletion that it causes.

Overfishing is a widespread issue in society today, and many people choose to remain unaware of the effect that it has on the biodiversity of the world’s oceans. There are many people throughout the world that depend on fishing as a main part of their income, and while the higher consumption rates of seafood are helping their businesses flourish, it is also taking a toll on the species that are being fished. According to Pristine Seas, an organization through National Geographic, Atlantic cod and herring and California’s sardines were harvested to the brink of extinction by the mid-1900s. There was a study that was published in the journal, Science, that predicted the collapse of all of the world’s fisheries by 2048, which is certainly in the lifetime of many people who are alive today (Seas). Humans have this idea in their minds of the ocean being so huge, so plentiful, that no matter what we do there will always be fish in the sea. Scientists have been concerned about the state of the population of various species for quite some time now. Harvesting is occurring at such a rate that the fish can’t reproduce fast enough. In 1989, 90 million tons of fish were harvested from the ocean, a staggering number that has not been seen since (Seas). Species such as Chilean sea bass, Bluefin tuna and orange roughy, and their accompanying fisheries, have collapsed. It has been estimated that the number of large fish in the ocean has reduced to just 10% of the pre-industrial population. In order to achieve this pre-industrial number, we must educate people on the alternative sources of food and how the mass consumption of fish is hurting the world’s oceans.

According to WWF, “more than 85% of the world’s fisheries have been pushed to or beyond their biological limits and are in need of strict management plans to restore them” (WWF). Most of the people involved in fishing are aware of these consequences, and yet continue to pursue this career, as many cultures around the world depend on supplying fish to the world. As much as the WWF and others would like to regulate fishing, at least 20% of the world’s catch are a result of illegal fishing. However, despite fishing helping various coastal economies, overfishing and illegal fishing with likely result in those economies collapsing, once the oceans have reached their limit. Fish are a main source of sustenance for many people around the world, and continued overfishing will terminate a regular food source for many different people around the world.

The depletion of many different species can come as a shock to most people, and FAO estimate says that over 70% of the species of fish in the ocean that are consumed by people are drastically depleted. Many economies around the world are seeing a decline in the value of various fish stocks, and this will only get worse over time if the ignorance of the state of the ocean continues to exist. However, despite there being troves of evidence pointing to the extinction of many different species, there are still some who question the reliability of these estimates, and there were a few scientists that came out against the various reports and studies that have been done. Ray Hilborn is a fisheries scientist at the University of Washington, and he believes that these estimates are false. He said, “the Georges Bank haddock stock, which is bigger now than it has been in the last 40 years” is not, in fact, one of the various fishing stocks that are believed to be struggling (Hutchinson). The number of people who are convinced that this is not a problem are few and far between.

Fish is a very nutrient rich and protein rich food that many people all over the world rely upon in order to get the protein that they need to survive. According to the FAO, “over 100 million tons of fish are consumed each year”(Kourous). Many cultures depend on fishing as their livelihood to provide for their families and their communities. If various sanctions were put upon commercial fishing, it may make it hard for some of this people to provide the funds that their families need in order to get the proper care and education, as well as fulfilling their needs. The FAO estimates that nearly 200 million people rely on fishing and the accompanying fish trade in order to survive, and “the volume share of developing countries in fishery exports represents just over half, about 55 percent, of the total” (Kourous). Unfortunately, sanctions on fish trade can drastically reduce the income of people in developing and poor countries, adding to the struggle that they already live with day in and day out. The Maldives are some of the top consumers of fish today, reports have estimated that they consumed roughly 160kg of fish per capita in 2010. (Helgi). The people of Maldives heavily rely on fish as a source of protein, simply because fish is readily available, and easily accessible for them.

Not only do some people believe that overfishing is in fact a farce, there are also risks to the proposed solution to overfishing, which is aquaculture. Aquaculture is the process of raising fish for farming and integrating them with wild fish offshore. According to Endangered Oceans, there have been “problems with the transfer of sea lice from salmon farms to wild salmon” (Upton), as well as other way around, and in 2003 there was an outbreak of infectious hematopoietic necrosis which came from the wild population of salmon in British Columbia, and thus affected the farming population of salmon as well. Not only do diseases pose a risk to wild populations, genetic mutations and anomalies also pose a risk. Because aquaculture facilities are offshore, and around other types of fish, there is potential for the spread of genetic mutations that will occur from interbred fish in hatcheries. Genetically modified fish also pose a risk to wild populations, as they can grow bigger and stronger in a shorter time, compared to their wild counterparts. There are also some concerns that offshore farming can be risky for other types of marine life as well, with the potential of sea turtles and other type of marine life tangling in the netting that will separate the farmed fish from the rest of the ocean. Several solutions have been brought to the forefront, and scientists are currently working on developing the best and most humane options for the rest of the ocean.  Open ocean facilities could potentially harm some known endangered animals, such as the North Atlantic right whale during their migration. In spite of all these potential problems, scientists are looking to avoid them and working harder to develop a humane and reasonable approach to these issues.

By spreading awareness through education, we can begin to show people what is going on outside of their daily lives. While shark fin soup may not be popular here in the United States, it is extremely popular in China. If more of these people were educated about the horrors that sharks have to endure for the sake of their soup, then demand for that soup would decrease. As a whole, we all need to be aware of the consequences our actions are having on the marine life we neglect to care about, and until the last fish dies, we won’t realize what we have done, unless we educate and act now. If this continues on, our children and grandchildren might not be able to hear the beautiful song of various whales, or be able to see the pure evolutionary prowess of the various species of sharks that are in our ocean. Sharks are a big contributor to keeping the ocean balanced, and without them, the ocean will be unequal. As awareness and education spreads, we may be able to put a stop to what is now threatening the delicate balance of our life sustaining oceans.

 

 

 

 

Works Cited

Helgi Library. 2010. 17 April 2016.

Hutchinson, Jim. “The Threat Posed by Overfishing is Exaggerated.” Endangered Oceans (2009).

Kafka, Franz. The Trial. New York: Schocken Books, 1968. Print.

Kourous, George. FAO.org. 7 June 2005. 17 April 2016.

Lahiri, Jhumpa. “Hell-Heaven.” Abcarian, Richard, Marvin Klotz and Samuel Cohen. Literature: The Human Experience. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2013. 622-636. Print.

Seas, Pristine. “Overfishing.” 2014. National Geographic. Web. 30 March 2016.

Society, Sea Shepherd Conservation. Shark Finning. n.d. 30 March 2016.

Upton, Harold F., and Buck, Eugene, H. “Offshore Fish Farming Offers Both Environmental Risks and Benefits.” Endangered Oceans (2010).

WDC. “Whaling.” 2015. WDC. 30 March 2016.

Whitcraft, S.,Hofford, A.,O’Malley, P.,Jaiteh, M.,Knights, P. and V. Evidence of Declines of Shark Fin Trade China. San Francisco: Wildaid, 2014.

WWF. “Overfishing Threats.” 2014. WWF. 30 March 2016.

Taxation & Tax Reform

Introduction:

On December 16^th, 1773 the Sons of Liberty boarded the ships of the East India Company and proceeded to destroy an entire shipment of tea, in response to the Tea Act of May 10^th, 1773. This act of defiance eventually led to the end of “taxation without representation”, paving the way for years to come. It was deemed then that the British Parliament taxing the colonies was unfair and unnecessary, prompting the Conciliatory Resolution to be passed by the British Parliament in 1775, ending taxes for the colonies that provided defense and preservation of the imperial forces. However, the tax on tea didn’t end until 1778, when the Taxation of the Colonies Act was passed. The argument over taxes has been a part of American history since the very beginning, and continues to be one of the hottest topics of discussion amongst Americans and our politicians. While taxes may have started out simple, like the Tea Act and the Stamp Tax, the tax system has grown more complex throughout the years. The only thing that has remained the same is that people do not like having their money taken away by a government, be it a foreign or domestic.

America’s Turmoil Over Taxes-CBS:

Taxes are complicated. Who has time to read a 65,000-page book? The worst part is, it gets more complex every year. Because of this, there tends to be a lot of outrage when it comes to taxes. The fortunate denizens of America think they pay too much, so they find shortcuts and loopholes to avoid it, or hire someone to do it for them. The less fortunate find it easy to point the finger and blame their predicament on the rich business owners and large conglomerates. There is a vast array of different types of jobs in the United States, each one of them paying money in exchange for work. The idea of work has changed throughout the course of American history, so the need for different types of taxes at different rates has arisen. In addition to the concept of work changing, so has the idea of human entitlement. The complexity of taxes seems to be directly correlated with the rise of social programs like Social Security and Medicare. Social Security was the one to carve a path to more social programs down the road. The more entitlement programs we have, the more money we need to pay for those programs.. The revenue required for these programs is generated by collecting taxes from every American on a payroll or otherwise working in some way. The more entitlement programs we have, the more complex the tax code gets.

The government issues a handy chart each year so people can be outraged by it:

Tax Rate	Single	Married Filing Jointly	Married Filing Separately	Head of Household
10%	Up to $9,275	Up to $18,550	Up to $9,275	Up to $13,250
15%	$9,276-$37,650	$18,551 to $75,300	$9,276 to $37,650	$13,251 to $50,400
25%	$37,651 to $91,150	$75,301 to $151,900	$37,651 to $75,950	$50,401 to $130,150
28%	$91,151 to $190,150	$151,901 to $231,450	$75,951 to $115,725	$130,151 to $210,800
33%	$190,151 to $413,350	$231,451 to $413,350	$115,726 to $206,675	$210,801 to $413,350
35%	$413,351 to $415,050	$413,351 to $466,950	$206,676 to $233,475	$413,351 to $441,000
39.6%	$415,051 or more	$466,951 or more	$233,476 or more	$441,001 or more

That looks awful. 39.6% of $415,051 is a whopping $164,360.20 of that person’s income for the year. Except it’s not. The system is so much more complicated than that. It’s a progressive tax system, so as the chart says, a single person is taxed 10% on the first $9,275 of their income, then the next bracket comes into effect for the $9,276-$37,650, and so on. The gradually increasing taxes in different income brackets largely complicates the tax code for the general populace. This is a bad chart for explaining how the tax system works in the United States, because it is not as it seems. This chart does not include personal exemptions, child credits, donations or any of the other things a person can do in order to lower their effective tax rate. The marginal tax rate may seem outrageous and astonishing at first, but delving deeper into the workings of the tax system can be enlightening. This just barely scratches the surface of the tax code, which in the year of the video, over 500 new pieces were added onto the already extensive book of rules and regulations.

 

The American population is divided on their view of taxes and who should be paying the most. There was a time that the richest in America were paying 94% tax on their income. That has significantly dropped, but the cost of living and inflation has called for that. $400,000 was considered significantly more money in 1946 than it is today. However, as mentioned before, the effective tax rate people are likely paying is significantly lower than the 39.6% marginal tax rate. An issue that was touched upon in the video was that the wealthy have the ability to hire accountants and tax lawyers in order to make the most out of filing their yearly taxes. There are numerous other less than honorable ways of avoiding taxes, and the elites have certainly found their ways of doing just that. So what is really fair anyways? There is a very likely possibility that if taxes on the rich are raised, they will continue to evolve and search for more ways to pay less taxes, thereby increasing their wealth. The middle class and lower are then left to shoulder the burden of taxes, creating discord amongst the classes. Modern day class warfare is now taking to social media and deriding the thoughts and beliefs of others in order to cater to your group of friends. It’s easy to point the finger, to blame, to hate and to be envious of others, rather than trying to understand their standpoint. Liberal and conservative media alike point the finger and blame and accuse, be it against the rich jerks who live extravagantly while the McDonald’s worker toils or against the “welfare queens” that live easy lives of free money and housing off the backs of the hard workers.

11 Tax Charts-The Atlantic:

In 1946, the tax rate for the top percent of Americans was 94%. The gap between the richest and the poorest tax rates has shrunk considerably in the last 70 years or so. The chart below describes the tax rates from 1960-2004, effectively showing that the crevasse between the top tax rate and the lowest tax rate has shrunk to little more than a crack. The lowest tax rate has also decreased, going from 14.1% to 9.4%. However, this rate of change is much smaller than the gap for the top percent of Americans. If the lowest tax bracket decreased the same amount that the top tax bracket did, there wouldn’t be a tax bracket there anymore. Perhaps taking the burden off of the more fortunate citizens has created a larger burden upon the less fortunate. The chart below helps to be able to visualize the gap and its changing appearance throughout the years:

However, an interesting thing to keep in mind when considering this chart is this:

This is a chart compares how much income the different percentages of Americans earn in relation to how much taxes they pay. The top 1% pays the most taxes in relation to their income, despite their share of the income being less than that of the 60-80% range. However, there are a lot more people in the 60-80% category than there is in the top 1%. So it is natural to assume that because there are more people in that group, there is more money being earned, but it is less per person so their share of federal taxes would be less than their share of the income and less than that of the top 1%.

Clinton vs. Trump Tax Plans-Market Watch:

This election cycle has been a rollercoaster from the start. Social media involvement is at an all-time high, and information is being spread faster than anyone could have imagined it would. It seems at time that people are more concerned with whatever contemptable thing Hillary Clinton or Donald Trump have both done in the past than they are with what they are saying and doing now. It does not matter at this point, they have been nominated by their parties to run for President. The only way around it now is to vote for a third party. The tax plans and other sayings of both of these people is very important to be aware of because right now, it is hard to tell who will become President.

The Trump Tax Plan	The Clinton Tax Plan
Lower rates and less brackets ·         12%, 25%, 33% instead of current rates and number of brackets	Higher capital gain tax ·         Sliding scale of rates, short term higher than now ·         Top rate would be 43.4%
Child care expense deductions	Buffett Rule ·         Millionaires shouldn’t pay less than their secretaries
Capping write-offs for individuals	“Fair share surcharge” ·         Additional tax on people who make more than $5 million a year (4%)
Cut corporate tax to 15% from 35% ·         Would also eliminate overseas profits tax deferrals	Options for higher income individuals to pay more to Social Security
Repeal Obamacare	Cap write-offs for upper income
Cap on business deductions	Reduce exemption on estate tax to $3.5 million
	Caregiver credit for up to $6000

There are not many similarities between the two. The only slight similarity is capping write-offs. Trump’s tax plan would simplify some things. It would significantly reduce the number of tax brackets, making it easier for the average person to determine what they’re paying. It would also have some benefits that are designed to help those who have children, as they are already a financial burden on a lot of people. He believes that by repealing Obamacare, it will decrease the tax burden for most people, but it would also make it more difficult for lower income people to obtain healthcare. Hillary Clinton on the other hand, plans to increase the tax on wealthier Americans, mainly by imposing the “fair share surcharge”, which she hopes will make it so that the wealthy are paying enough taxes in comparison to their income. Clinton’s tax plan is far more liberal than Trump’s, especially as far as adding a 20% caregiver credit up to $6,000, which would take some financial burden off those who are caring for their family members in their own home. She is aligning with the Democratic mantra of higher taxes for the rich.

 

There are a few major issues with both of these tax plans. Looking back at history, cutting taxes has not always been beneficial to the United States. When Bush took office, Bill Clinton had left him with a budget surplus. Bush’s tax cuts tore through that surplus and launched into a deficit by the end of Bush’s tenure as President. Numerous other factors may have contributed to the loss of the surplus, including the war in the Middle East. Obama has, since he took office, halted the tax cuts of the super wealthy, while cutting taxes for the Middle Class and small business owners. What has become apparent in the last few years is that the ultra-wealthy will be able to find a way around paying high taxes, thanks to loopholes in the law and code that are put in place by the Congress. Raising taxes for the wealthy will surely result in a freshly driven desire to avoid paying the higher taxes. Closing loopholes would be a start, but it’s hard to do that when the politicians use the same loopholes.

Tax Ideology-Bruce Bartlett:

One of the biggest issues we have encountered as a country is a disconnection from being aware of what our taxes are actually spent on. Many people believe the majority of our taxes are going towards helping some lazy piece of garbage be able to stay at home and collect welfare, or being spent on helping countries who have never or will never be able to help us back. Few people are aware of what the actual breakdown of taxes are and where they go after they are collected by the government. Here is a handy chart that aids in visualizing this aspect:

 

The Social Security aspect of our budget is increasing in size every year. Our medical advances have made it possible for people to live much longer than when was expected when Social Security was born. Our ability to maintain this trend is dwindling rapidly. Soon, we will be scrambling for a solution to the problem we have been facing for quite some time now. Drastic measures will need to be taken in order to fix this problem. People love to have these programs, but they essentially believe that they should be provided by the government at little to no cost to them. Unfortunately, money is exchanged for goods and services, so in order to maintain the benefits programs and other essential programs highlighted in the above chart, someone has to pay for it. The politicians are not going to take a pay cut to pay for your medical bills, or veterans benefits. They are not going to take a pay cut in order for you to have somewhere to live and have food on the table. Essentially, it is up to us as a society to come together and help each other out by contributing to the tax system. People are blissfully ignorant of where there taxes go, and when they want their taxes cut, that money typically gets pulled from areas like Education and Transportation. Cutting the defense budget isn’t going to help either, everyone wants a strong military they can be confident in to protect us. It’s apparent that raising taxes again on the wealthy will only increase their ability to get around it, and for anyone to do it, it could very well become political suicide, much like George H.W. Bush experienced during his tenure as President. He did what the country needed him to do, but earned him the reputation of going against his word. People only see as far as their taxes being increased, they do not look beyond that, into the reasons why their taxes are increasing.

7 Tax Reform Plans-Kiplinger:

1. Flat tax
   1. 19% for first 2 years, 17% for the rest
      1. This would affect wages, retirement and unemployment
   2. Exemptions
      1. Interest, dividends, social security, capital gains
         1. The issue here is that all of these things generate a lot of revenue, especially capital gains
      2. Large standard deductions
         1. This would aid people who have lower incomes by drastically reducing the amount of tax burden they take on, especially when they make less than $50,000 a year.
         2. A large credit would also be given for children as well
            1. This helps everyone across the board, not just low income people
         3. Reduce number of brackets and rates
            1. Essentially the same idea as Trump
               1. By lowering the rates and reducing the number of brackets it makes the tax system less complicated
            2. Capital gains
               1. Capital gains would no longer have special treatment over regular income
            3. Raise incentive to donate by adding a 12% credit for donations over 2% of income
         4. Pick your tax
            1. Enables people to choose between current tax rate and the flat tax rate
               1. Would enable certain people to get a lower tax rate, but people may take advantage of that system
            2. “Fair tax”
               29. 9% tax on all goods and services
                   1. Huge tax, especially when coupled with individual state sales tax
               30. Eliminate all other federal taxes
                   1. Hard to tell whether this will be beneficial as most people don’t pay anywhere near 30% in taxes.
               31. VAT
                   1. A little tax added at every stage of production/processing
                      1. Would likely end up becoming a burden on consumers because companies would charge more to maximize profits
                   2. National sales tax
                      6. 5% on everything
                         1. Increase revenue to pay for programs
                      7. Maintain current tax system
                         1. The national sales tax would increase revenue but would be likely to decrease spending in the economy due to people paying more money, on top of the state sales taxes many people already have to pay
                      8. End tax system
                         1. Repeal all taxes
                            1. Attempt to find a solution in meantime

Some of these are downright nutty. Completely ending the tax system would result in a barely cobbled together tax code that would surely benefit the most powerful Washington Lobbyists. A humongous national sales tax would cripple the economy with people refusing to buy things in order to fund the economy. While companies like Walmart make a lot of money, they also bring jobs and other revenue into the area they are in, when you take away consumers, people are going to lose their jobs because the Walton’s won’t sell one of their vacation homes to make sure some random employee can keep their job. A smaller national sales tax of 6.5% would be more reasonable, however it is still risking loss of commercial revenue, albeit less likely to occur. This would certainly supplement the tax revenue, but coupling that with current local taxes would prove hard to convince people that it’s a good idea. Of these, the flat tax seems most favorable, aiding the lower income people in getting a bigger and better tax break that is crucial for them. It wouldn’t help the wealthy nearly as much as it does now, because it would eliminate a lot of the options wealthy people have to avoid paying a high effective tax.

Conclusion:

It is obvious that the tax system is a complex system that most people aren’t interested in enough to delve any deeper into. If people became more educated about the tax system and how it works, they may be more inclined to find a solution to the problem we are currently facing. In a perfect world, everyone would dutifully pay their taxes and not complain about their money being taken away and distributed to someone else. However, due to the basic flaw in humans, greed is something that is very real. Greed and entitlement together are what is slowly devouring our nation’s economy, and lax political spending is only adding to the problem. Without drastic measures like closing loopholes and raising tax rates, we are only doomed to fall further into debt, making it harder each year to pull ourselves out. It is evident that something must be done, but getting people to agree and capitulate is the largest issue that faces the solution today.

Analysis of “Birdsong”-Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie

Living life and working in a city means there is a constant hustle and bustle. Cities are full of diversity, good people and bad people. Life never completely stops in a city, there are no sleepy moments. Everyone is always trying to go somewhere, sell something, and trying to make their ends meet, whether it be in an honorable way or not. A city is like a machine, every part of it is essential, working together, directly or otherwise, to keep the community moving smoothly. But as people become so caught up with their individual lives, they start to lose focus of what it really means to be a community. Chiamanda Ngozi Adichie captures the essence of city life, and the accompanying citizenship, in her story, “Birdsong”. She uses conflict, flashbacks, and mood to tell a complex story about a love affair, its negative and positive effects on the narrator, as well as the narrator’s contempt for what Lagos, Nigeria is evolving into. Gone are the days in which people genuinely care about each other, and Adichie portrays this in a beautiful and complicated manner.

We all know what a city is like. The strange smells, dubious stains on the roads and sidewalks, the tall buildings reaching up towards the clouds. A modern day city is packed with people, all consumed with their destination. Lagos, Nigeria is not unlike most modern day cities, it is bustling, full of life and diversity. As with most cities, Lagos is growing. When a city grows, more people will flock there in order to work and live. The narrator, who remains unnamed throughout the story, displays her derision for the city by saying, “consumed as I went by how relentlessly unpretty Lagos was, with houses sprouting up unplanned like weeds.” (Adichie 883). She is able to see that this city is becoming overrun by people, and, in her eyes, this is directly proportionate to the beauty of Lagos. Beauty is a hard thing to find in a city, where buildings replace trees, and trash cans replace flowers. Nature is displaced by the constant rumble of traffic, peaceful nights are but a distant dream.

In addition to a city’s grim beauty, there is crime. There are dishonest people who are looking to take advantage of others in order to gain whatever slight upper hand they can.  The apathetic outlook of the narrator is apparent when she is speaking to her lover about what life is like for her, outside of the cozy little nest they built on Victoria Island. She speaks of “rituals of distrust” (Adichie 882), knowing that her lover can’t relate. She explains to him that she must “watch the fuel gauge” when she buys gas, “to make sure the attendant hasn’t tampered with it”. She asks if he knows she must do this, and goes on to tell him that there is no room for making friends, for everyone is too concerned with themselves. She believes that people are far too selfish to even begin to build a sense of community and camaraderie with each other. Chief Seattle, a member of the Duwamish tribe in the Pacific Northwest, shares a similar idea of a city as the narrator. He said, “Like a man who has been dying for many days, a man in your city is numb to the stench.” People begin to lose sight of what their city is becoming, and cease to care that people are being taken advantage of.

Generally speaking, it is near impossible to consistently agree with someone. People come from all different walks of life, and each person has their own set of morals to go along with it. While the narrator is aware that the affair is bad for her, she is young and decides to go through with it anyways. Her friend, Chikwado expresses her discontent for the narrator’s decision by telling her, “Have fun, oh as long as your spirit accepts it, but as for me, I cannot spread my legs for a married man.” (Adichie 874). I believe that this is Chikwado’s way of saying that she is better than the narrator, mixed with a little bit of jealousy. She doesn’t identify with the narrator, and they happen to only be friends by circumstance. They both work together, and both attended the same school. They became friends by convenience. This furthers the knowledge of the narrator on how people don’t make time for each other. They make friends based on what is easy, not for what it is worth. As cities grow, the less people seem to value the idea of friendship and community.

Adichie uses flashbacks as a way of telling two stories at once, one of which is thirteen month long affair the narrator has with her lover, and the other being that of the woman who is staring at her from the inside of her vehicle. The narrator fantasizes about the woman driver being her lover’s wife, for she feels like the woman wants to say something to her. As the story progresses, you find that certain memories from the narrator’s affair sticks out more to her than others. There is vivid detail in some parts, namely her time with her lover. She recalls in detail how beautiful her lover’s house was, and the accompanying landscape. There were no strange smells, there were flowers and birds. She remembers the smell of the tissues her lover used to wipe his glasses. She remembers talking with him, learning about each other and their similarities. This shows the effect that the affair had on the narrator, she fell in love with him. She was jealous of his wife, and she spoke of wishing to throw his wedding ring to the magpies. Her life before him was dull, and while they were together her life became vibrant.

Living life isn’t about paying taxes, going to work, going home, and going to bed. In order to truly experience life, one must search for vibrancy, things that will give their life meaning. When people lose the desire to search for something to make their life more beautiful, is when they become disenchanted. When they lose sight of the things that make their life worth living, is when they die inside. When someone dies inside, they no longer care about the world around them. This lack of caring leads to lack of participation in society, as well as the community. The disinterest in the world, the “it’s not happening to me so I don’t care” attitude is evident in this story. In order to become part of a community, one must find similarities to others, rather than building a wall around oneself. By building that wall, one is prohibiting anyone from being able to make a connection, and that lack of connection is what is destroying the world.

Big Pharmanomics

Preface

The purpose of this report is to be an eye-opening and thought-provoking experience. The effects that Big Pharma has on the American people and the United States economy are multi-dimensional and subversive. Many people are suffering all over the United States, and continue to suffer at the hands of Big Pharma. Some things need to be changed about that aspect of our healthcare system, with rising costs vastly destabilizing many Americans. The very idea that the sick and unwell of America are being taken advantage of in order to deepen the pockets of corporate giants should be abhorrent, but many are unaware unless they or someone that is important to them has been affected by Big Pharma and our expensive healthcare system. In 2010, I lost my grandmother to cancer. Many of the supplies and services that came with dying from cancer wasn’t covered by the insurance my grandparents had. For a long time, my grandmother suffered from COPD prior to being diagnosed with cancer, and required an oxygen machine. The only tanks that were covered by insurance were the large, heavy green ones that my grandmother was too weak to drag around by herself, and they were also not allowed on airplanes. My grandfather paid out of pocket for both the smaller, aircraft approved oxygen machine as well as a large one for home that would make it so my grandmother could still get up and walk around the house, as it came with a long hose. For years I watched as my grandmother’s health failed her, first when she had 3 hip replacements, after one of the original ones deteriorated, to developing COPD, to when she was diagnosed with breast cancer in the early 2000’s, to having a mastectomy, to then, after telling her doctors she believed the cancer had come back for over a year, and having them tell her everything was fine, that it wasn’t possible, to her being unable to get out of bed, too sick to function. They said 6 to 8 months, she passed away at home at 68-years-old on November 17^th, 2010 at 10:30 P.M., just 3 weeks after their original estimate. My father, my mother, my grandfather and I surrounding her bed in the parlor of my grandparents’ home. I was 17, about to turn 18 and had just lost my mother’s grandmother a few short weeks prior. My grandmother on my mother’s side was an alcoholic. I also watched how our mental health care system failed my grandmother, suffering from bipolar disorder. The mental health care system in this country is getting better, but the taboo subject of being diagnosed with a mental disorder is far too great for any real progress to be made. The stigma associated with bipolar disorder was alone enough to drive my grandmother away from getting real help, to drowning in a bottle that held no end but also no answers. Her skin was jaundiced, her memory non-existent, basic functions completely out of her control by the time she ended up in the hospital. Three days later, she passed away on October 31^st, 2010. We tried hard to get her to see her problem, but the alcohol was only the surface. Reform is needed, but finding a way to do so without disrupting the system and creating even more unfairness is difficult at best. President Obama made an attempt at cleaning up our healthcare system, but unfortunately it was executed in a less than efficient way. In order to possibly think of a solution, one must delve into the shadows that is the Big Pharma system.

Introduction

The purpose of this report is to clearly identify and explain the various reasons why Big Pharma and our healthcare system needs serious reform. The very idea of people making millions off the backs of the sick and dying of America is an abhorrent and distressing thing.

The Beginnings of Big Pharma

Pfizer. AstraZeneca. Novartis. Johnson & Johnson. Gilead Sciences. Merck & Co. GlaxoSmithKline. Chances are, all of us have taken a medication by one of these companies at some point in time. Those are some of the largest pharmaceutical companies in the United States, each bringing in well into the millions, and into the billions at times. Pfizer, one of the most well-known names in pharmacy, began humbly in 1849, founded by two cousins, Charles Pfizer and Charles F. Erhart in New York City. They originally produced chemicals, but in 1950 they discovered Terramycin, or oxytetracycline, a drug used to treat bacterial infections, which at that time in the United States was killing many people. As Pfizer continued the grow, they made more acquisitions, one of the largest being that of Wyeth, which at one point were the manufacturers of the popular household medicines, Advil and Robitussin. The Wyeth acquisition launched Pfizer into being number one in the world of pharmaceutical companies. A list of subsidiaries of Pfizer is far too long to put into a report, but it is extensive. Many of these companies all started in a similar fashion, beginning small and eventually acquiring massive amounts of wealth throughout the years.

How Big Pharma Affects America

Big pharma brings cures to many people in the United States. Without it, average, everyday people would be unable to go to work, suffering from crippling depression. Veterans suffering from PTSD and anxiety disorders as a result of war are also being treated with the various drugs produced by these big pharmaceutical companies. The cancer research that these companies do helps thousands of Americans every day get better and beat cancer. However, despite these drugs being created and manufactured in order to aid the lives of many, there are numerous negative effects that the healthcare system and big pharma have on the people of America.

The Opioid Epidemic

John is a contractor. John falls off a ladder while working. He hurts his back, requiring surgery. The surgery recovery is painful, and John’s doctor prescribes him OxyContin. John takes the OxyContin, as directed, until one day he finds that the dose is no longer high enough. He goes to his doctor, who readily writes a prescription to raise the dose of OxyContin. Rinse and repeat for every other patient that walks in the door complaining of pain from an accident or some other kind of incident, and then hundreds of doctors with loose prescription pads are hooking thousands of patients on opiates. The street price of a prescription opiate is astronomically high, so many of those whose doctor’s cut their supply, were turning to buying it illegally off the street. The lesser refined and far more dangerous version of the common prescription opiates known as heroin started to get more popular. It was far cheaper and those addicted could get far more heroin for their money, and get far higher. Fentanyl comes into play a few years later, making OxyContin look like child’s play. My grandmother who passed away from cancer was on Fentanyl patches. Gloves were needed to administer the Fentanyl patches, the drug so potent and easily absorbed into the skin that even the slightest touch with a finger can end with Fentanyl in the blood stream of the person putting the patch on. As the abuse cycle continues, illicit drug dealers and manufacturers begin to cash in on Fentanyl, mixing it with their heroin in order to keep their customers coming back. As time went on, heroin began to spread from the isolated pockets of people who were hurt during accidents, to all different demographics. At this point in time, the average heroin addict is a young, white male in his 20’s. Most of the United States is still punishing those who are addicted to heroin, rather than treating them for the illness they so clearly have. Many states are severely lacking in rehabilitation facilities that are affordable to the average addict, with Lowell itself having only a small number of beds, disproportionate to the number of addicts in the city.

This chart details the rise of opiate related overdose deaths in the United States. This information is from 2001-2013. In 2015, heroin overdoses rose 23%, bringing the total to higher than gun homicides, and deaths from Fentanyl rose 73% (Tribune). This is now becoming an epidemic that’s hitting every corner of the country, the Midwest being the area in which it all started.

 

One of the largest issues with combating the opioid crisis is educating people so that way they understand a little bit more about the disease. It’s not unlike alcoholism, where you can lead a horse to water but you can’t make it drink. However, many addicts are willing and hoping to get treatment, but fail to do so for fear of the repercussions associated with getting help. In addition to that, the average cost of an inpatient rehabilitation facility is $30,000. Some insurance companies will cover some of the cost, but many people are left with a large bill. Outpatient treatment ranges in cost depending on the type of treatment being received. Outpatient rehabs are usually around $5,000 for three months. Methadone treatment is around $4,700 a year. While the cost of rehabilitation treatment is nowhere near the total cost of a drug addiction, it is hard for an addict to come up with the self-control and that kind of money to pay for those services out of pocket. Many heroin addicts become so immersed in their disease, becoming unable to work, so the likelihood of them having insurance decreases, as does the likelihood of them being able to afford treatment. The imprisonment method is obviously not working, as they turn back to heroin as soon as they get out.

What a lot of people are unaware of is how the really came to be a problem in the United States. In the early to mid-nineties, Purdue Pharma began manufacturing OxyContin, which included a time release mechanism that they swore would ward off opiate abuse. They claimed that it would make it less addictive, and that those who took it for pain wouldn’t have to worry about becoming addicted. This also enabled Purdue Pharma to market to people outside of the original target market, cancer patients. They were now able to advertise to the general populace. They also claimed that one dose of OxyContin would treat pain symptoms for 12 hours, and unheard of length of time for the typical pain medications of that era. Because heroin and OxyContin are so similar in chemical terms, the withdrawal affects were very much the same.

The Endless Cycle

Treating the symptoms rather than the cause seems to be a big player in the healthcare system, with doctors prescribing 10.7 million prescriptions for Cymbalta alone monthly between July 2013 and June 2014 (Hrenrchir). Cymbalta is the most common antidepressant prescribed in the United States. While depression is a result of chemical imbalances in the brain, many general physicians with little experience in the complexities of psychiatric care prescribing medication to people who many not necessarily need it, or need that medication in particular. Psychiatric care is a difficult area for many people to understand, and receiving treatment from a specialist may be out of the question for some people. Specialists often cost much more money than a regular doctor, and oftentimes, for insurance purposes, involves getting a referral. Quality psychiatric care is lacking in the United States, with doctors all over preferring the treat the symptoms, which results in more symptoms, to “fix” the problem. Any commercial for a drug on TV includes an auctioneer style read-off of the common side effects associated with the drug being advertised. Many of these side effects are harmless but a nuisance, so more drugs are prescribed in order to combat the symptoms from the other drug.

Polypharmacy

Polypharmacy is the practice of a patient being prescribed numerous medications in order to treat the symptoms of a problem they are having. It is most prevalent in those 65 years and older, however it is starting to occur at an increasing rate for younger people. In 1993, one woman, named Alessandra Rain, found herself having difficulty sleeping. She went to her doctor, and was prescribed a sleeping medication. She felt at first that the medication was working, that she was finally able to live a normal life again. A short time later, more symptoms began to pop up. She developed lung infections and bronchitis, which her doctor prescribed her an antibiotic for. As time went on, more symptoms started to occur, and before she knew it, she was taking 6 different types of medications. After some time, she developed seizures and was prescribed an anti-seizure medication by a different specialist. After a car accident and all of these other health problems, Alessandra Rain, once active and healthy, found herself unhealthy and unable to perform basic tasks. She talks of how her whole day was filled with pills and shots (CNN). By the time she finally made it to see a psychiatrist, she was taking 12 different kinds of medications, costing her over $900 a month. Rain felt herself getting sick of her quality of life, and in 2003 quit all of her medications cold turkey. She started a company called Point of Return, which educates people on prescription medications and their affects, as well as helps people learn how to come off of highly-addictive medications. At the end of it all, Alessandra Rain discovered she had a vitamin B12 deficiency that caused her insomnia. Because polypharmacy is typically associated with decreased mobility, decreased quality of life and decreased cognition and those who are 65 and older, it is often difficult to differentiate between someone suffering from polypharmacy, or someone just getting older.

 

The Costs of Cancer

The obvious costs of cancer are what the spectator sees. Hair loss, emaciation, skin lesions, and all the other side effects that come with receiving treatment for cancer. However, for those inside the situation, the families suffering are battling that, in addition to a dying loved one, on top of the financial aspect of treating cancer. In 2015, Bristol-Meyers Squibb released a new treatment for the deadly skin cancer, melanoma. It would cost $141,000 for the first 12 weeks of treatment, and $256,000 for a year of treatment (Elkins). Other types of cancer treatment can run the patient over $300,000 a year, which does not include doctor or hospital fees (Llamas). Cancer treatments also come with side effects, warranting more medications to be prescribed to people who are already suffering enough.

Big Pharma Pricing

The myth that pharmaceuticals cost a lot of money to make isn’t false, but why the pharmaceuticals cost a lot of money to make isn’t what it seems.

Pharma Bro

Martin Shkreli first catapulted into notoriety in 2015, when his former company, Turing, jacked the price of popular AIDS medication, Daraprim, from $13.50 to $750 after securing the manufacturing license for the drug. Known by this point as “America’s Most Hated Man” or “Pharma Bro”, the 33-year-old was then indicted for securities fraud. Shortly thereafter, he resigned as CEO of Turing Pharmaceuticals, a company which he himself founded after also co-founding both MSMB Capital Management and Retrophin, a biotechnology firm. However, this price hike on this AIDS medication was not the first time Martin Shkreli dabbled in making money off the backs of the sick, in 2013, Retrophin acquired the rights to Thiola, a drug used to treat cystinuria. As a result of the acquisition, Retrophin raised the price of the drug from $1.50 to $30 a pill, and those affected by cystinuria have to take up to 30 pills a day. In a move that merely flaunted the riches he has received, he purchased the only copy of “Once Upon a Time in Shaolin” by Wu-Tang Clan for $2 million. A blatant flaunt of the money he made off of selling drugs to the American people.

Lobbying

The pharmaceutical industry has spent a collective total of $186,215,719 on lobbying. The Medicare Prescription Drug Improvement and Modernization Act of 2003 was a reason for the American people to be upset, but many went unaware. This act was extremely beneficial to big pharma in the sense that the act would prohibit the government from being able to interfere with the drug prices by making it impossible for them to negotiate prices. Pfizer made over $2 million in campaign contributions to both Republicans and Democrats in 2015-2016. Exoxemis Inc., a biopharmaceutical company located in Arkansas donated over $3.5 million dollars to the Conservative campaign. The 21^st Century Cure Act, which was heavily lobbied on by Big Pharma in 2014, would mean that the FDA would require less random controlled trials before a drug would hit the market. It instead, would allow researchers to focus more on observational trials and “clinical experience”, resulting in fewer types of people being reached. It is important to test as many people as possible when it comes to creating and distributing a new drug, and by cutting the amount of time and research dedicated to a new drug, the more likely there is for something bad to happen to the people who are prescribed that medication. Medications can and will affect every person differently, and that is why the typical prescription comes with a large leaflet dedicated to just adverse reactions you may have while taking that medication. The worst part about that is, it only lists the most common ones. For a full list of side effects, one must ask their pharmacist or find the information online.

Profits

It’s safe to say big pharma makes a lot of money, with Pfizer alone achieving a 43% profit margin in 2013 (BBC). Some drugs that are manufactured by these large companies, particularly cancer medications, can run over $100,000 for a full treatment. The manufacturing aspect is miniscule compared to the cost of research and development.

 

Company	Total Revenue (in billions)	R&D Spending (in billions)	Sales & Marketing (in billions)	Profit (in billions)	Profit Margin
Johnson & Johnson	71.3	8.2	17.5	13.8	19%
Pfizer	51.6	6.6	11.4	22.0	43%
Merck	44.0	7.5	9.5	4.4	10%
Eli Lilly	23.1	5.5	5.7	4.7	20%
AbbVie	18.8	2.9	4.3	4.1	22%

A wide profit margin such as Pfizer’s astounding 43% is enough suggest that Big Pharma as a whole is doing quite well as an industry, even in the tough economic times of late.

Solutions

Are there really any solutions to this problem? People are always going to get sick, so there will always be a need for medication. I think that ending lobbying in Washington, D.C. would be truly beneficial to the situation, because it would mean that the politicians aren’t being driven by money to establish laws and acts in favor of Big Pharma. However, taking the money out of politics is literally impossible, without any sort of major upset that certainly isn’t going to happen anytime in the near future. Caps on pricing could help, but that would lead to bigger government, which is something that many people are trying to avoid. We are obviously in a situation where we can’t rely on the goodness of someone’s heart, as the various examples of companies drastically raising the prices of a medication that is very essential to the well-being of those who need it. Stricter patent laws could offer a solution, by closing loopholes and not allowing patents to be extended under any circumstance. Pharmaceutical companies often have a team of lawyers at their disposal to do all the work regarding extending the life of a valuable patent.

Conclusion

Big Pharma is a huge entity. A small glimpse into the world of Big Pharma is all that can be achieved in 9 pages. Such a large entity is a complicated one, with many layers of functionalities. At what point does simple profit off of a business turns into profiteering? How much money should those in Big Pharma really expect to make off of people who are sick? The pharmaceutical giants are not limited to just the United States, but are occurring in nearly every other developed country in the world. The pharmaceutical companies certainly help many people in the world and in the United States, but there are also numerous cases, as I mentioned, in which Big Pharma isn’t benefiting humanity. Without being too restrictive of businesses, it’s difficult to surmise a solution to the problem that is the pharmaceutical and healthcare industry.

Works Cited

Anderson, Richard. “Pharmaceutical Industry Gets High on Fat Profits.” BBC News. BBC, 06 Nov. 2014. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

Armstrong, David. “A Major Drug Maker Derailed a Plan to Limit OxyContin Prescriptions Early in the Opioid Epidemic.” Business Insider. Business Insider, 26 Oct. 2016. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

“Big Pharma Manufacturers – Drug & Device Companies; Lawsuits & Facts.” DrugWatch. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Eban, Katherin. “OxyContin: Purdue Pharma’s Painful Medicine.” Fortune. N.p., 28 July 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

“Economic Impact of Cancer.” Economic Impact of Cancer. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Elkins, Chris. “How Much Cancer Costs.” DrugWatch. N.p., 07 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Gupta, Sanjay, Dr. “Unintended Consequences: Why Pain Killer Addicts Turn to Heroin.” CNN. Cable News Network, 2 June 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Karimi, Faith. “Opioids and Overdoses: 4 Things to Know.” CNN. Cable News Network, 28 Apr. 2016. Web. 10 Dec. 2016.

Kukreja, Sanjay, Gurvinder Kalra, Nilesh Shah, and Amresh Shrivastava. “Polypharmacy In Psychiatry: A Review.” Mens Sana Monographs. Medknow Publications & Media Pvt Ltd, 2013. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Nicks, Denver. “How Big Pharma Makes Billions on Cancer Drugs That Are Thrown Away.” Time. Time, 1 Mar. 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

“Pharmaceutical/Health Products.” Opensecrets. Center for Responsive Politics, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

“Prescription Opioid Overdose Data.” Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 21 June 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Rice, Sabriya. “Are You Taking Too Many Meds?” CNN. Cable News Network, 31 May 2011. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Ryan, Harriet, Scott Glover, and Lisa Girion. “”You Want A Description of Hell?” OxyContin’s 12-Hour Problem.” Los Angeles Times. Los Angeles Times, 5 May 2016. Web. 21 Dec. 2016.

“The Complicated World of Cancer Care Economics.” ASCO Annual Meeting. N.p., 29 Oct. 2015. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.Swanson, Anna. “Big Pharmaceutical Companies Are Spending Far More on Marketing than Research.” The Washington Post. WP Company, 11 Feb. 2016. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.Volkow, Nora D. “America’s Addiction to Opioids: Heroin and Prescription Drug Abuse.” National Institute on Drug Abuse (NIDA). N.p., 14 May 2014. Web. 13 Dec. 2016.

Government Spending, Taxes & Debt

Introduction:

The economy is a complex, multi-faceted specimen that is constantly changing. Things that might have worked twenty years ago might no longer work in today’s economy. The inability to adapt to the ever-changing economic environment will continue to detriment the nation. Unfortunately, high-handed political maneuvers are often the driving force behind budget reform and bills that are introduced to the House and Senate.

Everyone Has a Motive:

In Frontline: Ten Trillion and Counting, Forrest Sawyer presents an interesting perspective on the economic situation that the United States is still facing today. George W. Bush witness first-hand his father’s failure of reelection, and resolved that he would not face the same glaring defeat. Much of George H.W. Bush’s failure was credited to him going against the Republican party’s rationale of always finding ways to cut taxes. Cutting taxes left people happy. They had more money in their pockets, all while still being able to reap the benefits of having entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Unfortunately, as the deficit grew larger, our 41^st president found that he was facing a difficult dilemma; continue cutting taxes and face the dire consequences of a growing deficit, or go against the fundamental core of his party by raising taxes in order to put a cap on the deficit. Many people fail to realize the effects beyond what is seen directly. It’s hard to visualize where the money taken from your paycheck is going, besides the obviousness of it not being in your bank account. A large and influential government such as the United States needs far more assets to be successful than what the average American realizes. While at first, it may seem as if fixing the economy is as simple as cutting spending and limiting entitlement programs, many politicians find themselves gridlocked between what would be considered political suicide and political success. Some examples of this include:

 

President George H.W. Bush	§  Cuts taxes, knows it will gain votes from senior population §  Finds deficit too big, raises taxes §  Loses election to Bill Clinton due to shafting the Republican Party
President Bill Clinton	§  Notoriously high taxes §  4 consecutive years of surpluses §  Democratic party agenda of expanding public programs in order to gain votes from a different subset of the population
President George W. Bush	§  Realized father’s mistake §  Refused outright to stop cutting taxes, even when told multiple times by Paul O’Neil, Treasury Secretary §  By ceasing the tax cuts, he would lose at a second election §  Pulled political maneuvers around the 60/40 rule by enacting the reconciliation rule which allowed for only 51 required votes §  Vice President Dick Cheney also broke a 50/50 tie to move Bush’s budget cuts forward §  Inherited the first budget surplus in 30 years from Bill Clinton §  Added Medicare Part D, increasing the benefits that the elderly receive from the federal government at the age of 65
President Barack Obama	§  Determined to change the way the economy is §  Inherited frozen economy §  Obama’s response to the recession was to introduce a stimulus package §  Package would cost $787 billion §  Was used to create jobs in infrastructure, education, health and energy §  Appeased the democratic mood of the country after the hardships of before §  Obama pushed through healthcare reform, with the intent of lowering the cost of healthcare overall, in an attempt to balance the long term effects of rising healthcare costs

While it may be difficult for some, realizing that nearly all of our Presidents have had some sort of political motive to drive them to create and live by the strictly set rules of their designated party. As soon as a president does something slightly askew from what is considered “normal” by his party standards, they are committing political suicide. George H.W. Bush listened to his advisors, and acted accordingly in order to curb the deficit. His party reacted strongly, many voicing that they felt “betrayed” by his actions, an opinion which was also shared by the majority of his voter base. Republicans tend to appeal to the older generation of people, those who staunchly believe that the government owes them for all the hard work they’ve put in over the years, and want that repayment in the form of entitlement programs like Social Security and Medicare, which strictly benefit the elderly. By going against the party’s “rules” he lost voters.

While Republicans are noted for appealing to the older generation of Americans, Democrats do the opposite. Democrats appeal to the younger generation, by pushing health care reform, higher taxes to pay for alternative social programs such as covering the cost of college tuition, and other special interest programs dedicated to gaining votes from the younger, more liberal population. Many college graduates in the mid-2000’s, and even now, were finding it difficult to find a job in the rough economic environment. By spending an upwards of $3.5 trillion on the highest budget plan to-date, Obama was able to create jobs and bring the unemployment rate down. However, this is an artificial sense of security, due to the increasing debt we now face to ourselves and overseas. It is suspected that our debt will reach an upwards of $23 trillion by 2019, just a few short years away. The next president, regardless of their party, is apt to face an economic environment much different than the one we face today. While the long term effects of Obama’s healthcare reform and stimulus package remain to be seen, the short term outcomes seem to have helped in some ways.

It’s Not That Simple:

Americans have a tendency to oversimplify things, much talk is heard of what so-and-so would do if they were president. We might pretend that we know exactly what could fix the economy, but in reality, it is far more complicated that what is first assumed. It might be easy to say pulling troops from our overseas locations will save money in the long run, but the biggest issue that we face in regards to our troops is the inability to care for them once they’re brought back to the United States. In addition to that, it would cost large amounts of money to even bring any of the equipment back we have overseas. We already have an issue taking care of our veterans, the suicide rate of veterans alone speaks volumes. According to a new VA study, 20 veterans commit suicide each day[1]. The VA has a long and disturbing history of failing to provide adequate care for the men and women who have risked their lives for our freedom. In 2007, documents released to CNN showed that top officials of the VA received large bonuses while there was a backlog of numerous benefits cases[2]. There have been many more reports of veterans not receiving the care they deserve, whether it be due to funds being disproportionately used or lack of decent care. Nine residents who went to a Dayton, Ohio dental clinic contracted hepatitis[3]. Obviously there is an issue here, and it is unclear whether it is bad management, regulations or funding.

It is easy to say that lowering taxes would save everyone money, but the issue is, that at this point in time, we can’t afford to cut taxes. We owe far too much debt to ourselves and to other countries. We are reaping what we have sowed, generations of careless spending and appeasing the masses in order to win an election has taken its toll on us. It is also easy to say that cutting spending in other areas, like entitlement programs, will help us combat the debt we face. However, we as Americans have been promised those rights. To take away those rights, would drastically affect how Americans view the government. We want these lovely entitlement programs, but don’t want to have to pay for them. In order to continue to receive the entitlements, we must come to the realization that the government isn’t a bottomless pit of money.

I.O.U.S.A:

It’s 1789, the United States is at its beginnings. The Civil War brought us to the brink of bankruptcy. Those in power at the time knew they needed to act quickly in order to curb the growing debt. Debt is not a new phenomenon to the United States, it’s just that it’s a lot more money. In 1789, we didn’t have Social Security, food stamps, Medicare and Medicaid. Deficits and surpluses have been a part of American history since the beginning. In 1913, Americans saw the introduction of the income tax and the Federal Reserve. This was introduced to fund the increasing social programs, and the increasing national debt. World War II soaked up 44% of our GDP of the time, and people were buying bonds from the government in order to help fund the war. World War II came and went, bringing about the rise of the economy and the end of the Great Depression. Things were great in America for a while, or so the older generation will say. The 80’s brought about “supply-side” economics and “Reaganomics”, conservativism was taking control and bringing lower taxes with it. The Laffer Curve is a theory that suggests that lower tax rates will eventually bring about more tax revenue, however, this theory was and still is hotly debated as even being feasible in any way. The debt has continued to grow exponentially, with each party along the way trying to find a way to dig the economy out of the hole that it is in. Unfortunately, it has gotten to the point that the recovery will certainly be uncomfortable for everyone involved in the situation. By continuing to appease the conservative voters, Republican leaders will continue to cut taxes and defunding “unnecessary” programs. On the flip side, Democratic leaders will continue to appease their voters by promising things will simply cannot afford.

 

Conclusion:

The United States of America is heading for trouble. We are riding a dangerous cart down a steep mountain with no working brakes. The hurtful truth is that unless we consider raising taxes, generating more revenue for the country by bringing back manufacturing and creating our own goods, we are going to continue to speed towards ruin. This bleak outlook is unfortunately becoming reality. It is hard to see which direction our country will go on, especially with the impending election. In a perfect world, everyone would wake up tomorrow morning and decide that they don’t mind so much of their money being used to help us out of debt. But in all actuality, the average American doesn’t believe that they should help the government out of debt. We think the government owes us these things, but are disconnected from how these things are paid for. You wouldn’t expect to walk into a Dunkin’ Donuts and get a free coffee just because you’re a citizen of the United States. America is a business, much like Dunkin’ Donuts, and in order to keep that business running, we must put money into it. By generating more tax revenue from the American people, as well as eliminating possibilities for tax dodging, we might be able to pull ourselves out of it. We are just as responsible for this debt as the politicians are, as we are the ones who screamed and cried for the various programs that the government has introduced over the years.

[1] “New VA study finds 20 veterans commit suicide each day” MilitaryTimes. 7 July 2016. http://www.militarytimes.com.

[2] “The VA’s troubled history” CNN Politics. 30 May 2014. http://www.cnn.com.

[3] This was due to the technician not washing his hands and not changing his gloves between patients.

Jobs, Careers & The Future of Work

Introduction:

As of recently, I have joined the ranks of the numerous unemployed people in the United States. I was working at Subway and I had found out from the owner that he had decided to close the restaurant. He let all of his employees know less than two weeks before the date the store was set to close. There isn’t a whole lot to describe about Subway and being a Sandwich Artist. The only new skill I really took from Subway was being able to make a 12” sandwich in under a minute (providing that it’s not toasted), and being able to chop vegetables at an accelerated rate. I’m in the Business Administration transfer program, and intend on transferring to UMass Lowell when the time comes. At that point, I intend on gaining a Master’s degree in Accounting. After I have obtained my education goals, I plan to pursue a career as a Certified Public Accountant, or if I can get my foot in the door as a forensic accountant. In order to be successful as a CPA or a forensic accountant, I must have excellent critical thinking skills, in addition to having problem solving skills. It is recommended to receive at least a Bachelor’s degree in Accounting. I believe that logic is also an essential part of having a successful career as an accountant. Proficiency in the various software required for the job is also essential.

America’s Dysfunctional Relationship with Work – Mike Rowe:

Mike Rowe often has a lot to say on the subject of work. He has been in many different fields throughout his time exploring different types of work in the United States. As he said, he is not an expert in any of the fields, but has a pretty good idea of what it takes to do those jobs every day. Mike Rowe brought up some interesting points in his video such as:

• People are getting lazier every year
• He thinks we, as a country are screwed
• We don’t consider who does the labor-intensive jobs

Less and less people every year want to enter to labor-intensive fields such as plumbing or electrical work. It seems to be that as time goes on, people are entering colleges to learn the cushy office-type jobs, rather than spending a few years going to a trade school. This doesn’t necessarily mean people are lazier, but rather forget that these jobs still need to be done, in light of the newer, fancier career options that are added each year. He even pointed out in the video, and to Congress that there at 200,000 jobs in the manufacturing field that can’t be filled. This in itself brings him and many other people to the conclusion that we are screwed. He also says there are 450,000 jobs in trade, skills and transportation that aren’t being filled either. The main point here that Mike Rowe is trying to get across is that no matter how much our society advances technologically, we’re still going to need electricians, manufacturers, and numerous other types of skilled people who can do those “dirty” jobs. Over time the image of these people have become skewed. Many people view them as unintelligent, or low class. The popular opinion of plumbers, as Mike Rowe pointed out, is a messy fat guy with his butt crack hanging out. In all actuality, they’re normal, everyday people that come through in a pinch for the rest of us. Regardless of how normal, everyday people view the plumbers and the laborers of the United States, we’re still going to continue to need them.

 

The Hidden Costs of the Sharing (Gig) Economy – Vonetta Logan:

The gig economy is a fairly new development. Businesses like Uber, Airbnb and Lyft are all parts of the gig economy. Some of the pros of the gig economy include:

• Flexible schedules
• Quick money
• Modernized “traditional” fields

I’ve personally ridden with Uber a few times, and found that it was a very “on-demand” type of job. The first time I rode Uber was in Boston, on the night of a pretty major concert at Fenway over the summer. Needless to say, there were literally tons of different Uber cars out and about, waiting to be called. For densely populated areas like Boston, Uber is an amazing thing. Gone are the days in which you have to flag a taxi down, and fumble with cash when it comes time to pay them. The people who work in these fields are able to work whenever they want, making it easier to balance work and personal life. Most of these other gig economy type jobs are also very flexible, working around you and your schedule. You can deliver groceries. You can give people rides. You can even open your home to complete strangers and allow them to stay there for a fee. For Uber and Lyft drivers, depending on the area they work out of, make lots of money in just a few short hours. I’ve heard from numerous people that they can clear $500-$1000 in a single weekend just driving people around Boston. Uber and Lyft, along with Airbnb and Instacart, are modernizing more traditional fields. They’re making it easier for everyday people to get what they want. Instead of having to call and wait for a taxi, you can have an Uber driver with ratings and a description of their car and license plate sent right to your phone to optimize safety. Instead of having to pay a large sum of money to rent a swanky hotel room, you can crash at some random person’s house, pretty much on demand. Instead of paying your local grocery store to deliver your groceries, you can have some other person do it for a much lower fee.

While the easy, quick money and flexibility will be enough for many people, there are also numerous downsides to the gig economy. Some of the cons of the gig economy include:

• Lowering the need for taxi drivers and hotels
• Drivers aren’t compensated for wear and tear
• Often doesn’t include health insurance
• Taxes aren’t paid on payroll

All of these things should be alarming to most people. Gigs like Uber and Lyft are taking money almost literally from taxi drivers pockets. There is much animosity between taxi drivers and Lyft and Uber drivers. They are competing in a rat race that will surely end in one of those becoming nonexistent. Airbnb seems to have a similar idea as a hostel, you pay less money for easy accommodations, and that’s about where their similarities end. Allowing a random stranger into your home, is generally not a great idea. As mentioned in the video, people have trashed someone’s house on a few different occasions. The cost of an Airbnb rental severely undercuts the cost of a traditional hotel, but there are many more risks associated with allowing random people to come into your home.

Most of these positions have nothing in place when it comes to protecting your health and wellness. As they are all considered independent contractors, these companies don’t offer and aren’t required to offer health insurance for their employees. In addition to that, the wear and tear on homes and vehicles is paid for solely by the person who is operating the Airbnb residence or Uber/Lyft vehicle. This responsibility is falling on the workers, and many aren’t happy about it. Many of these benefits would apply if these people were regular payroll employees.

Another major issue with these types of jobs is that payroll taxes aren’t being paid by the “employers”. Each of these companies are multibillion dollar corporations that aren’t paying payroll taxes. They also dodge the whole universal healthcare thing by having the majority of their employees registered as independent contractors. According to the video, California is losing out in $230 million dollars in payroll and social security taxes due to Uber’s classification of their employees as independent contractors.

 

Being an Entrepreneur – Mark Cuban:

Being an entrepreneur is not easy. It involves many failures for just a few, if any, absolute successes. Mark Cuban offers some interesting advice. Some of his advice includes:

• Keep trying, don’t give up
• Be aware of the past
• Never take it easy
• Believe in yourself

Cuban’s advice can apply to nearly every situation one will find themselves in when trying to improve themselves and their life. My dad always told me that I would never find out what could happen if I didn’t try. It is important to keep pushing forward because success will never happen if one remains stationary. Being aware of history is also vastly important to nearly every situation. Being able to spot errors and mistakes through time will help people succeed in their endeavors. This is sound advice for most situations insofar that history repeats itself. Despite our swiftly changing surroundings, humans aren’t changing at the same rate. When it comes to work and trying to improve, taking it easy is detrimental. Mark Cuban lets the watcher know that while it is not always going to be easy, it is essential to keep pushing the hardest. He believes that in order to succeed, believing in yourself is key.

 

Automation and Robots – Humans Need Not Apply:

Technology, at first, slowly started to change the nature of work. It started out with simple machines, and progressed from there to full-on automation within a few short years. Instead of needing hundreds of people to produce a single car, you now need only a few, more skilled workers to monitor a machine to make sure it does what it’s supposed to do. It’s incredible to think of how the older generation of people see this advancement. I’m only 23 and I remember having “dial-up” internet, and praying you don’t get a phone call in the meantime. This time, might be different, however, because instead of simply aiding humans, robots are starting to replace humans. Sometimes, it’s because machine error occurs far less frequently than humans, but can also be because of other demands. The cost of having employees is greater now than it has ever been, and that is driving many companies to explore other options when it comes to supplying the demand. Automated pizza makers and cash registers have already made an appearance. In my experience, human cashier error occurs far more than automated cashier error.

 

The Evolution of Technology and the Next Singularity – Jason Silva:

As pointed out, if technology advances at the same rate that it has in the last 100 years, we could very well reach a point of singularity, so to speak, in our world. The trends have shown an exponential increase in the advancement of technology and it can be almost worrying at times. I think that it is very possible to reach those levels of advancement that he talked about, it only makes sense to believe that there are new technologies that are going to be born from other new ones we have no idea about yet. In a way, it’s terrifying. It’s already hard enough to tell real from fake, never mind once that reality truly sets in. I’m sure one day, my grandchild will sit on my lap too, just like I did with my grandfather, and ask all kinds of questions about what it was like without the new technologies we will surely have by then. However, there are still many things standing in the way of these achievements. Our planet’s ability to keep up with these changes isn’t up to par. In the means of advancement, we are currently wreaking havoc on the environment. While there are some advancements in solar power and electric vehicles, people aren’t educated about solar and electric power. In order to keep moving forward, change has to happen. We can’t keep taxing the planet as it is, and unfortunately, oil is the “easy” alternative. It’s “cheap”. Oil wasn’t cheap when we were paying $3.75 for a gallon of gas a few years ago. I believe that in order to progress as a society we must learn about all the alternatives that are available to provide for a cleaner future for everyone.

 

Conclusion:

I feel that this entire experience has been eye-opening in a few different ways. I found out more about technology and more about the world. It is important to always be educated and aware of what is going on in the world, as well as making sure to keep yourself pushing forward. This whole essay has directed me in a few different directions, starting out with traditional careers and how they’re disappearing, all the way to unimaginable levels of technology. It is important to keep up to date with the current technological advances, and to always consider them in when thinking of your future. Each of these things could affect me in some way, especially with the advancement of computers. I’m not going to be an accountant for quite a few more years, so in the meantime someone could invent a computer that would do literally everything that an accountant can do, and probably more. They already have computer software to make filing taxes easy enough for the Average Joe to be able to do. It’s important to be considerate of the future and how quickly, and easily it can change.

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