Trump's Economy

Trump’s Economy
William Seif

Governments hold vital assets needed to sustain any healthy economy. There isn’t any successful countries without laws, and regulations that support a “free market”-meaning prices are decided by suppliers. However, these aren’t truly “free” but somewhere in the middle because without government interference monopoly’s and other negative influences on the economic infrastructure. That’s why it’s important to keep up with politics because representative can propose bills that can benefit the economy. Recently, Trump has established a new tax plan which will affect the economy in that it’ll send it in a expansionary motion.

   This graph depicts the effect of Trump’s plan made on the economy. Programs like Obama-Care has also bid cut, and demolished which adds more to the federal budget. These economic decisions are beneficial because they’ll lead to interest rates lowering. This aids with small business, and the working class by making it easier to take out loans. The actions of Trump’s party boosted his support but these were reversed by bad press about recent scandals. Also, decisions made with foreign relations have increase the tension in middle east causing friction that’ll result in conflict. These can lead to economic downfall into a trough in where consumers have less money, and employers are forced to cut people leading to increase in unemployment. Lastly, Trump Tax plan is good for the economy while his other decisions aren’t as good.

The Harmful Effects of Yang's Universal Basic Income

The Harmful Effects of Yang’s Universal Basic Income
Matt Wildman

Recently a newcomer to the political scene, Andrew Yang, has announced that he will be running in the 2020 presidential campaign on the democratic platform. While a new candidate is relatively boring news, Yang’s entire campaign rests on his idea to “implement a Universal Basic Income, ‘the Freedom Dividend,’ of $1,000/month, $12,000 a year for every American adult between 18 and 64”(The Freedom Dividend). Universal Basic Income, referred to as UBI from here on out, isn’t a particularly new idea. But it has been gaining some traction within particularly left leaning groups because of recent advances in automation.

Yang’s believes that implementing UBI is necessary because according to him automation will upset America’s economy by displacing enough workers to cause either a significant depression or at the very least more poverty. Here’s the catch that Yang likes to brush over though, a conservative estimate of the number of eligible citizens is 201,945,890(U.S. Census Bureau). Which means that the cost of implementing his UBI is about 202 billion usd a month or $2.43 trillion annually. That number is over half the total U.S. federal budget last year and more than four times the annual military spending. To put that into perspective, if the U.S. Government were to cut all subsidies and spending in: Medicare and Health, Military, Food and Agriculture, Education,Transportation, Science and Environmental efforts then there would be just enough money to implement UBI, assuming there was still a country left to give it to and no government overhead.

So something's got to give obviously, and that “thing” is that Yang proposes a 10% VAT in order to cover about a third of the UBI costs. He has yet to state how he will get the rest of the money. For those that don’t know, VAT stands for value added tax and functions essentially the same as a sales tax, but with the producer paying the tax instead of the consumer. The effects of such a tax are quite simple, prices of goods and services affected will go up in price by about 10%, or more accurately, the supply graph in a supply and demand graph will shift upwards resulting in a new equilibrium price that in this case will be about 10% higher.


Value added taxes are dangerous for several reasons. First of all, they are hidden from consumers. If you or I went to buy gas there is no way for us to know whether the government is taking 5% of our purchase or 20% despite still having to pay that amount of money. Secondly, VAT is regressive since it is a consumption based tax meaning that you are hurt more the poorer you are. Considering that this tax is supposed to fund a program to help poor people that seems a bit backwards to me. Additionally, taxes beyond a certain level have been proven to reduce economic growth(Gale) which means that the quality of life overall will not increase as quickly as it has in past, potentially leading actually worse conditions for Americans even with an extra $1000 in their pocket every month. Unfortunately the economic effects of a rise in taxation as extreme as this one is unstudied, but they will for sure be harmful to the economy.

Yang hopes that the economic benefits of automation and more spending money for low income groups will offset the tax burden, but even optimistic economists are quite uncertain about the effects of UBI since the trials in Canada and Scotland are under a year old and the trial by the Finnish government only targeted unemployed citizens There are a couple of other problems theorized to be inherent to UBI that I haven’t mentioned yet. For one, the inflation of prices for staple goods and services such as food and housing is likely to increase as an increase in disposable income could shift the demand curve to the right. Unemployment would also decrease significantly since UBI is a disincentive to work. This unemployment means we produce less as a country, meaning we have less money, making UBI even harder to pay for.

Finally consider immigration problems. What will certainly happen if the U.S. were to start giving all people “free” money? We become an immigration hotspot for everyone, which means that the smart and productive potential immigrants are less likely to get in and we will be flooded with immigrants that provide no value. Additionally, the increased taxes will cause companies and people capable of moving away to do that. Without the rich paying the taxes the government would have to increase taxes more, causing more people to move away, eventually ending up with a situation like Chicago; and let me tell you, the U.S. does not want to emulate Chicago.


Works Cited
“File:TaxWithTax.svg.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:TaxWithTax.svg.
Gale, William G., and Andrew A. Samwick. “Effects of Income Tax Changes on Economic Growth.” Brookings, Brookings, 8 Aug. 2016, www.brookings.edu/research/effects-of-income-tax-changes-on-economic-growth/.
“The Freedom Dividend.” Andrew Yang for President, Andrew Yang, www.yang2020.com/policies/the-freedom-dividend/.
“U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts: UNITED STATES.” Census Bureau QuickFacts, 2018, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/US/PST045217.

Do Professional Sports really affect the economy?

Do professional sports really affect the United States economy?

May 2018 by Alex Clementi, Pewaukee High school Junior

What would result if professional sports and the sport industry discontinued all leagues and competition? How would the economy be impacted if this world of competition was destroyed?

Despite popular belief, the sports industry a major contributor to the United States economy and contributes to the employment rate immensely.  “The sports industry as a whole brings roughly $14.3 billion in earnings a year”(Burrow). The counted $14.3 billon does not even include the  indirect economic gain caused by various sporting events for example, Super Bowl Sunday which is the second largest food sale day in the country, right behind Thanksgiving. “The industry also contributes 456,000 jobs with an average salary of $39,000 per job”(Burrow). With these towering numbers of sales throughout each sports season, a loss of professional sports would send the United States into an economic hole. The thousands of jobs created due to these large sports events such as, security, food vendors and event planners. Not only are thousands of jobs created through professional sports, but millions of tourist dollars are brought in every year to cities around the United States. For example, “In 2010, the New York City Marathon boosted the city’s economy to the tune of $340 million.

Bob Nightengale of USA Today reported that the Chicago Cubs generate $600 million annually for the state of Illinois”(Depta).  Without these professional sports  and live events the United States economy would be set to decline and thousands of people would be out of their jobs. Local businesses would also lose money because with these large events fans are bound to buy souvenirs and products from these local companies. Overall, professional sports are way more than an overpaid athlete throwing a ball, it is an economic powerhouse that the United States continues to benefit from again and again. 


Works Cited
Burrow, Gwen. “Not Just a Game: The Impact of Sports on U.S. Economy.” Emsi, 9 June 2017, www.economicmodeling.com/2013/07/09/not-just-a-game-the-impact-of-sports-on-u-s-economy/.
Depta, Laura. “12 Ways Sports Make a Positive Impact.” Bleacher Report, Bleacher Report, 12 Apr. 2017, bleacherreport.com/articles/2347988-12-ways-sports-make-a-positiveimpact#slide0.

Shortage of Nurses

Shortage of Nurses
Abby Fox

Whenever you go to the hospital, you taken care of by the nurses long before you meet with the doctor. They give you shots at your doctors office, they check up on you and make sure you are okay, and many argue that they are the backbone of the healthcare system. During the past few years, the healthcare system has been in crisis mode trying to fill the open slots in their offices and hospitals; and with the high job growth projection it should be easy to fill the slots.

The cause for such a shortage is because the age of the nurses. Many are apart of the baby boom generation and they are now starting to retire. The reason that this is such an issue is because they are retiring in the masses and there aren’t enough applicants and graduates to fill the spots; yet colleges are still turning away perfectly good applicants who are more than qualified. Since there are so many professionals retiring all around the same time, that is why it is such a job crisis. According to CNN Money, there are about 3 million nurses around the country and by 2022, there needs to be 1 million more. Colleges cannot have all of hopefuls applying to nursing school because there aren’t enough teachers to teach them.

The supply and demand for nurses is so great due to the rise of the population and the job growth rate of 40% in the coming years. The reason so many people gravitate towards nursing is because of the scheduling and they get to help people. In the graph, it shows the supply and demand curve for nursing. It explains that by 2020, there will be a shortage of over 800,000 RN’s across the country. This along with NP’s and other specialty nurses, the growth rate will continue and the demand will try to be met.

All in all, there are more nurse openings then there are nurses which can cause issues down the line when it comes to employment rates and job openings. Luckily, there are more and more colleges that are opening nursing schools and giving more opportunities for the roles to be filled in the hospitals and the offices. 


Works Cited
America, In. “Amid US Nursing Shortage, Colleges Reject Thousands of Applicants.” CNNMoney, Cable News Network, money.cnn.com/2018/04/30/news/economy/nursing-school-rejections/index.html.
“Nursing Shortage Will Continue to Pinch Hospital Margins.” Modern Healthcare, www.modernhealthcare.com/article/20180307/NEWS/180309921.

The Avengers: Infinity War’s Effect on Marvel’s Success

The Avengers: Infinity War’s Effect on Marvel’s Success
Lauren Wroblewski

Recently, Avengers: Infinity War has been spreading through theaters across the world. Fans have been waiting years for this movie to arrive and finally, the time has come. It was known that the theaters would be filled on opening night, and its budget recieved $106 million Friday, April 27. As people continue to visit the theaters to see the Avengers in action, Marvel’s budget continues to increase. As Marvel continues to grow, the demand for merchandise will increase and supply will decrease. Due to their high grossing films, merchandise has been a huge hit in every store. Children want toys of their favorite hero and fans would want apparel and collectibles. As the popularity of Infinity War increases, products will keep up their prices until it dies down, which causes elasticity. The Law of Demand states that consumers will buy more of a good when its price is lower and less when the price is higher, so when the popularity of the movie decreases in time, prices will decrease and consumers will buy more of that product. This will still benefit Marvel greatly since their franchise is so large and they’re still releasing movies.

Photo: https://wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=857340

Marvel started off in financial ruin, and as stated by Mark Savage, “The comic book market crashed in 1993, thanks to a glut of underwhelming titles, and a crisis of confidence amongst collectors. Sales dropped by 70 per cent and Marvel was left heavily in debt. Shares that had been worth $35.75 in 1993 dropped to $2.38 in just three years” (Savage). This caused cyclical unemployment due to the market crash and since sales dropped, supply dropped. The demand for comic books wasn’t as popular, so there wasn’t much income coming in to the Marvel industry. After a while of fighting through the financial ruin, Marvel required the funding they needed to start their franchise with a character that wasn’t licensed anywhere else -- Iron Man. Iron Man was their first movie as an independent company, and it was a huge hit. This started their rise for success as they continued to create more and more movies. Each movie built up on their company, which helped create the funding they needed to continue creating fantastic movies. They were able to use the technology they wanted and needed to gradually build up to Avengers: Infinity War.

Photo (make bigger in blogger): http://www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32379661

As fans continue to support Marvel’s upcoming movies, the company’s income will keep increasing for more years to come. Since Deadpool 2 is soon to release in three weeks, the company is doing great on their continuation of the franchise. Their budget has been a huge help in creating popular, successful movies and it has created more jobs in the long run. This helps decrease the unemployment rates by creating opening positions for each film for actors, cameramen, makeup crews, tech crews, and more. Avengers: Infinity War is so far, one of the biggest Marvel hits yet due to the movie’s crossovers, but we will hope to see more from the Avengers.


Video:
http://video.foxbusiness.com/v/5777230368001/?#sp=show-clips

Works Cited
“‘Avengers: Infinity War’ Already Breaking Records.” Fox Business, Fox Business, 27 Apr. 2018, video.foxbusiness.com/v/5777230368001/#sp=show-clips.
“Avengers: Infinity War 5k Retina Ultra HD Wallpaper and Background Image | 8400x4299 | ID:857340.” Wallpaper Abyss, wall.alphacoders.com/big.php?i=857340.
Mendelson, Scott. “Box Office: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Superhero Fatigues To Record $106M Friday.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 28 Apr. 2018, www.forbes.com/sites/scottmendelson/2018/04/28/box-office-avengers-infinity-war-superhero-fatigues-to-record-106m-friday/#20d626e0774c.
Nyren, Erin. “Box Office: 'Avengers: Infinity War' Sails to $240 Million-Plus Opening Weekend.” Variety, 28 Apr. 2018, variety.com/2018/film/box-office/avengers-infinity-war-box-office-opening-weekend-1202791140/.
Savage, Mark. “Marvel Avenged: From Financial Ruin to the Biggest Film Franchise in History.” BBC News, BBC, 23 Apr. 2015, www.bbc.com/news/entertainment-arts-32379661.
Tartaglione, Nancy. “'Avengers: Infinity War's $630M Global Bow Sets All-Time Record – International Box Office.” Deadline, 29 Apr. 2018, deadline.com/2018/04/avengers-infinity-war-worldwide-opening-record-all-time-international-box-office-1202378926/.

Universal Studios

Universal Studios
Lisa Rittmeyer

When is comes to winter or the summer, many people go on vacation. One place that many people enjoy traveling to is Universal Studios. Universal Studios is a huge theme park owned by Comcast Corporation. It is the second largest company in the United States with an annual revenue of 3.3 billion US dollars.



In the first quarter of 2018, Universal Studios’ earnings increased about 25%, to 495 million US dollars. Because of the new attractions being continuously implemented, the company has higher per capita spending. Since the economy is improving, consumers can spend their income on elastic goods or services, like Universal Studios.

By adding more attractions, Universal Studios receives more revenue because they meet the consumers’ tastes in demand and the supply in demand. By meeting the consumers’ tastes in demand, the company sometimes replaces an attraction to extend an attraction that is more popular throughout the country. One example of attractions being replaced with others was the extension of the Harry Potter section in Orlando, Florida. In July of 2014, Universal replaced the Jaws section with Diagon Alley. 
Universal makes most of their revenue from their Harry Potter attraction. They continuously upgrade and update this section of the park because they want to implement more rides, merchandise stores, and restaurants to appeal a vast majority of their consumers. An example of how their Harry Potter attraction increases the revenue was in the second quarter in 2017, in Hollywood, California, there was a 60% increase in attendance of this attraction.

Depending on how popular the attractions are in each year, determines the price of the tickets. When more consumers attend, the price of the tickets increases and the amount of tickets increase, while when less consumers attend, the price of the tickets decreases. To keep up with the supply in demand, Universal continues to implement new rides and attractions to make consumers more willing to pay high prices for tickets. One attraction that will gain more profit is the new Fast and Furious: Supercharged; which will be implemented sometime this year in Orlando, Florida. Because the Fast and Furious is such a popular franchise, more customers will want to visit the Fast and Furious section.



There are many hotels and restaurants nearby the theme parks, which improves the economy. In Hollywood, California, these nearby businesses have provided around 2,600 jobs in 2016. Due to all of the job creations, people who are currently experiencing frictional, structural, and seasonal unemployment can be hired to continue to produce income. As time goes on, more hotels and restaurants are being constructed because Universal continues to become more and more popular each year. Between the rides, merchandise, and the food; inflation increases because tourists continue to spend lots of money while at Universal. By continuously meeting their consumer expectations, Universal continues to remain as one of the best theme parks known in the United States. Universal Studios is a rare, expensive, treat that most middle-class citizens usually experience at least once in a lifetime.

Works Cited:
Brigate, Ricky. “From Jaws to Diagon Alley – Tributes to the classic Universal Orlando ride hide in new Harry Potter land”. Inside the Magic, 23 Jun. 2014, https://insidethemagic.net/2014/06/from-jaws-to-diagon-alley-tributes-to-the-classic-universal-orlando-ride-hide-in-new-harry-potter-land/.
Holmes, Jamie. “Universal Studios Adding Major new Attractions to its Orlando Theme Park”. WFTV9: ABC, 11 Apr. 2018, https://www.wftv.com/news/local/universal-studios-adding-major-new-attractions-to-its-orlando-theme-park/730208844.
Kondolojy, Amanda. “The 6 New Attractions Coming Soon to Universal Orlando Resort
”. Theme Park Tourist, 28 Sep, 2017, https://www.themeparktourist.com/news/20170928/33242/7-new-rides-coming-universal-orlando-resort-5-years.
Martin, Hugo. “Big investments in Potter world and other attractions will pay off for the Southland economy”. Los Angeles Times, 10 Apr. 2016, http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-theme-park-economy-20160410-story.html.
“North American Box Office Revenue of Universal from 2000 to 2017 (in million U.S. dollars)”. The Statistics Portal, 2017, https://www.statista.com/statistics/187335/box-office-revenue-of-universal-in-north-america-since-2000/.
“Parks - Statistics & Facts: Amusement & Theme Parks”. The Statistics Portal, 2017, https://www.statista.com/topics/1525/parks/.
Pedicini, Sandra. “Universal Parks and Resorts' Theme-park Revenue Increases”. Orlando Sentinel, 27 Apr. 2017, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/os-comcast-earnings-20170426-story.html.
Russon, Gabrielle. “Universal: Theme Park Revenue Grows 15 percent”. Orlando Sentinel, 25 Apr, 2018, http://www.orlandosentinel.com/business/tourism/os-comcast-universal-earnings-2018-story.html.

The Economics of Fortnite

The Economics of Fortnite
Damon Bates

Almost everyone has played and or has heard of the FTP(Free To Play) powerhouse, Fortnite. It's a game that has taken over the gaming world by storm and has no plans of stopping. The thing that makes Fortnite special over other games is not its premise but how in a culture dominated by $60 games Fortnite is completely free and is on almost every mainstream console to date. Well how does Fortnite makes its money and how much are they making?

The success Fortnite is seeing is quite comparable to the success of free games like Candy Crush and Pokemon, who make their money from ads and in-game transactions rather than a upfront base cost. This opens up a much larger for revenue for companies and Fortnite knows exactly how to play this system. They use a chip system similar to casinos where instead of using money your using chips which is really money but you are less cautious with your “chips” then you are with your physical money. V-Bucks or their system of chips can be bought at prices from $10.00, $24.99, $59.99 or $99.99. Each amount gets you a certain amount of chips you can use to buy cosmetics and emotes and cool stuff to show off in game

Skins which are most popular among players cost between $10-$20 in real money. All of this is optional but they purposely make basic skins and emotes bland and not flashy or eye-catching so that people will buy these skins or emotes to spice up their game or show off. If they have each player just buy 3 skins they can make the same as selling a game at full price and people don't realize this because they are spending V-Bucks instead of real money.

You can see this apparently become true when you see Fortnite in February grossed $126 million and surpassed their competition PUBG who made $110 million selling their game for $35. Aswell Fortnite’s system is outperforming mobile super powers like Candy Crush and Clash of Clans.


With the success of Fortnite microtransactions you can bet too see games to start following in their footsteps. I mean who wouldn’t because if it is done right then games have chances of making millions more and making fans even happier.