Should NCAA Athletes be Paid?

Should NCAA Athletes Be Paid?
Jake Schlicht

The question “Should NCAA athletes be paid?” has been one of the most talked about topic in the collegiate world of sports for over the last 10 years. There are multiple different opinions on the debate between both sides. With it still being illegal to recieve any sort of money from college schools, other than scholarship money, there have been multiple different cases where outside parties try to bring the top recruits for sports like football, and basketball, by paying them money to go to their school.

The first factor that people should look into is, what is the NCAA? The National College Athletes Association, is an organization that promotes a wide range in college sports across the US. There are different divisions within the NCAA, such as D1, D2, and D3. These divisions range from colleges that have different amount of people in them. D1 are the big colleges that bring in the most revenue for college sports. Last year in 2016/2017, the NCAA brought in over 1.4 billion dollars in revenue across all sports. But the athlete that are bringing in the fans, getting watched to play the game on TV is getting none of that money.

There has been a recent FBI scandal within some division 1 basketball schools, including top programs such as: Duke, Kentucky, Louisville, North Carolina, ect. These schools have been caught with tampering with recruits, and giving them illegal benefits to try and pursue them to come and play basketball at their schools. You would think a few 100$ for a dinner would not affect anything when the NCAA is bringing in around 1.4 billion a year, but they certainly believe it does. Take an example of Miles Bridges, a star sophomore playing at the University of Michigan State. His name was brought into the recent FBI allegation saying that there was records of his mother receiving 400$ from the Michigan State Spartans, and with him being a top 10 draft prospect going into next year's NBA draft, he wisely solved the problem by donating 40$ to charity. I don’t know how that solved the issue but it did. 

With so much money brought in by these collegiate athletes, you would think that they would be able to receive some sort of the revenue when people come to watch them play, or buy merchandise that represents them. There is even a problem with selling jerseys with the collegiate players names on the back of the jersey, just because of the fact that they cant recieve any of the profit.

There have been many outspoken athletes where they shared their opinion about whether or not NCAA athletes should be paid. One of those being an ex Wisconsin Badgers Basketball player Nigel Hayes, who is currently playing for the Toronto Raptors. Nigel had multiple different occasions where he expressed that the booming business known as the NCAA was keeping all the money for themselves, and not expressing any interest to help the broke collegiate athletes that were bringing in revenue for them. If you think about it, the NCAA basically gives athletes around $80,000 in a 4 year time period in scholarship money, which does not even bring in the factor of if the player goes pro or not. This $80,000 dollars in scholarship money only covers the academic part of the college, and does not bring in any food, or transportation outside of the athletic department. For a broke college athlete who came from a rough neighborhood with no job because they are doing athletics for the majority of the time, how does a $1,400,000,000 dollar industry each year not give the heart and sole of their business no money? That question may never be answered.



Works Cited
Berkowitz, Steve. “NCAA Incurred $1.4 Billion in Expenses in 2016.” USA Today, Gannett Satellite Information Network, 8 Mar. 2017, www.usatoday.com/story/sports/college/2017/03/07/ncaa-incurred-14-billion-in-expenses-in-2016/98856520/.
“College Athletes Should Be Paid by bradmiller1116 - Infogram.” Infogram: Create Infographics, Reports and Maps, infogram.com/college-athletes-should-be-paid-1g6qo2qgzrvkp78.
Fuller, Marcus. “Statement Games: College Basketball Likely Will Launch a New Round of Athlete Protests.” Star Tribune, Star Tribune, 10 Nov. 2016, www.startribune.com/college-basketball-likely-will-launch-a-new-round-of-athlete-protests/400578231/.
“Why the NCAA Made Miles Bridges Pay $40 to Charity.” Land of 10, 27 Feb. 2018, www.landof10.com/michigan-state/michigan-state-basketball-miles-bridges-ncaa-40-dollars-charity.

Kwik Trip Take Over

Kwik Trip Take Over
Riley Solomon

In the Pewaukee area we have 4 out of the 380 Kwik Trips in Wisconsin alone.  That is crazy to me that in one city there is basically a Kwik Trip on every street. This is forcing other gas stations to file for bankruptcy or to just accept that Kwik Trip is dominating the gas station industry and let them buy out their station. Kwik Trip took ownership of 34 PDQs in the last month and is starting to remodel them.

Donald P. Zietlow is the President and CEO of Kwik Trip and employs 12,000 people in the Wisconsin. One reason why Kwik Trip is favored over other gas stations is because they have a high standard for their customer service. Every time you enter the door you will get a enthusiastic “hello welcome to Kwik Trip” and every time you leave you get a “Thanks for coming see you next time”. Comments like that make the customers what to come back and associate Kwik Trip with positivity and are more inclined to return. Not only is the Kwik Trip atmosphere pleasing to the guests but to the workers too. Past employees have left comments on the Indeed site saying, “KwikTrip Inc. values their co-workers as much as they do their guests. Which if you've ever visited your local KwikTrip you would know that it is indeed a great amount” and “working at Kwik Trip was great and it was also busy every day. The people were great and I was sad to leave! The guests are usually friendly and like to hang around and chat”. Kwik Trip provided a positive experience to both the customer and worker which makes the gas station more appealing.

Kwik Trip has recently announced that they will be starting projects totaling up to $300 million in La Crosse which is where their headquarters is located. These projects will create 300 new jobs if they meet the goal of 40 to 50 new stores annually. The money will be used for the “construction of a $113 million 200,000-square-foot bread and bun production facility and the renovation of its existing bakery for sweet goods production. Other projects include improvements to the dairy manufacturing facility, kitchen operations and transportation fleet” (Wisconsin State Journal). Governor Scott Walker stands by the construction saying “Kwik Trip has already shown a strong commitment to our state, and that commitment is being solidified with this expansion” (Wisconsin State Journal). Kwik Trip is trying to rise above the normal standard of gas stations and give the consumers a better experience.
The take over of Kwik Trip will benefit Wisconsin because it is creating more job opportunities and it is bettering our gas station experiences by supplying better quality items and good service. Also because the more Kwik trips that pop up the less the other gas stations will be able to survive will reduce competition.


Works Cited
Adams, Barry, and Wisconsin State Journal. “Kwik Trip Announces $300 Million Worth of Projects in La Crosse.” Madison.com, 23 Nov. 2017. N.p. 26 Mar. 2018.
Indeed. “Kwik Trip.” N.d. N.p. 26 Mar. 2018.
“Johnson Outdoors : Casey's, Kwik Trip, Apartments among New Developments | 4-Traders.” 4-Traders.com | Stock Exchange Quotes| Company News, 6 Jan. 2018. N.p. 26 Mar. 2018.
Mac, Allison, et al. “Top Rated Gas Station Convenience Store in Each U.S. State. N.p. 26 Mar. 2018

Opioid Crisis

Maggie Spankowski

Drugs Are Bad
Recently in the news there has been talk about an opioid crisis in America. According to drugabuse.gov, there were an estimated 64,000 drug related deaths in America in 2016, and death rate relating to drugs has almost doubled in the last decade. However the number of deaths is just a small portion of drug abusers actively using illegal drugs in America. So, it’s not surprising that the growing use of drugs in America is costing the economy billions in healthcare, treatment programs, and labor loss.
The biggest expense as a result of the opioid crisis is in the healthcare industry. According to georgiadrugdetox.com, “In 2011, a study by Pain Medicine found that an estimated twenty-five billion dollars had been spent in health-care costs related to opioid abuse -- considering the 1000% rise in insurance claims for opioid abuse treatment since then, you can bet that it’s a lot more now…. Insurance companies commonly value a single human life at five million dollars. If we multiply that five million by a conservative estimate of twenty to thirty thousand opioid related deaths a year then we can see that the opioid abuse is costing the economy an additional hundred to a hundred fifty billion dollars a year.” Not only does the use of opioids effect those directly using them, but it also costs the average, non-drug using citizen billions of dollars.
Similarly, according to georgiedrugdetox.com, “In 2011 an estimated $5.1 billion dollars had been spent by the criminal-justice-system in combating the opioid epidemic-- a huge sum that doesn’t take into account the last six years of rising opioid abuse.” This money went towards rehab programs, the creation of drug-task forces, and strengthening other resource to help people quit their drug habits. If we wouldn’t be experiencing this opioid crisis, that money could’ve gone to other important aspects of the criminal justice system such as bettering education for law enforcement, or increasing wages for employees.
In addition to a hefty healthcare cost, increasing rates of drug use also has the potential to damage local and state economies. According to fiscaltimes.com, “The labor force participation rate, the number of people working or actively looking for work, has fallen since the Great Recession and has stagnated near 63 percent for the last four years, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. This stagnation comes despite monthly job reports, such as the one due Friday, showing a steady pace of job creation and a decline in unemployment” (Cheng). A possible explanation for this is the increasing severity of the opioid crisis. As the use of drugs increases, employers are finding it more and more difficult to find employees, as they are either not able to pass drug tests, or are unreliable as a result of their drug habit. This can cause companies to be short-staffed and possible cause them to downsize or close because of lack of employees.
In conclusion, not only are drugs bad for people’s health and wellbeing, but they are also bad for the economy, costing it billions of dollars. In the last decade the amount of opioid addicted people has skyrocketed, and continues to cause thousands of deaths every year. As a result of this, the three largest expenses of the opioid outbreak are healthcare, the criminal justice system, and labor forces which amounts to billions of dollars spent to combat that increasing drug use. 



Sources:

“How The Opioid Epidemic Affects the Economy.” Georgia Drug Detox, 3 Oct. 2017, georgiadrugdetox.com/resources/opioid-epidemic-affects-economy/.

How the Opioid Crisis Is Damaging the US Economy.” The Fiscal Times, www.thefiscaltimes.com/2017/07/06/How-Opioid-Crisis-Damaging-US-Economy.

National Institute on Drug Abuse. “Overdose Death Rates.” NIDA, 15 Sept. 2017, www.drugabuse.gov/related-topics/trends-statistics/overdose-death-rate

Demand of Peeps

Charlene Hecht


With the Easter holiday right around the corner, stores have been supplying many of our favorite easter treats. From Reese’s chocolate eggs to peeps, stores are willing to supply these many candies, as they know that there is such a high demand for them at this time of year. However, much of the candy that is currently on the market as Easter candy, usually ends up sticking around in its normal form throughout the year. Unfortunately, Peeps don’t quite work this way, and are most often gone by the end of the Easter holiday. This in itself is one of the reasons as to why peeps do so well in the market at this time of year. Because of this, it limits the amount of peeps that can be supplied in these stores, and therefore creating scarcity.


Consumer tastes also has an effect on the demand of these peeps as well. Oftentimes when a person thinks of Easter, they think of candy as an important component to this holiday. While it’s easy to think that this is simply because of our culture, it actually is all due to advertisements. Because these candy companies put out advertisements for these different festive candies, people have come to believe that it’s important to buy candy for Easter.

Another reason there may be such a high demand for peeps around this time of year, is because in a way, peeps have a monopoly on this product. Sure, technically in terms of candy, this is a monopolistic competition, as there are many different companies out there creating different kinds of candy to sell to the public. However, peeps are a fairly unique type of candy, that no one else as of yet has tried to mimic to sell for their own company. Therefore, there is a high demand to buy this specific brand, because there really are no direct substitutes for this type of candy.

This year in particular, Peeps has added a whole new reason for there to be a high demand for peeps. For this Easter holiday, they’ve added eight new flavors for consumers to try, three of which they’ve left as mystery flavors. With this new addition, there will be an increase in demand for this item this Easter, once again due to consumer tastes and advertisements. With the new item being sold, there will be more people that will want to buy it to try, which will increase the demand for this Easter treat.


Works Cited
Vicar, Nathan. “Peeps Launches New Flavors.” 99.5 WYCD, WYCD, 18 Mar. 2018, wycd.radio.com/2018/02/21/peeps-launches-new-flavors.
Korosec, Kirsten. “Peeps Is Releasing 8 New Flavors-But Only a Few Retailers Will Sell Them.” Fortune, 26 Feb. 2018, fortune.com/2018/02/26/peeps-new-flavors-easter/.

The Economics of March Madness

The Economics of March Madness
Written by Hannah A.

The end of March means nothing to some people, but for college basketball fans it signifies the ending of March Madness. With the Final Four approaching, this tournament has impacted the economy in many ways and will only generate more money moving into the final rounds.

Every year, millions of people around the world create brackets, betting on which powerhouse teams are going to lead the tournament. Whether you spend hours researching teams, pick the winners based on which mascot you like better, or scramble to put together a bracket at the last second because you forgot, almost everyone is in it for the same reason: to win money. In the 2017
NCAA tournament, an estimated $10.4 billion was wagered legally, an increase of roughly $1.2 billion since the previous years tournament. Another $10.1 billion is bet illegally, totaling roughly $20.5 billion a year being wagered on these games, with the average bet on a bracket being anywhere between $20 and $50. Even though the odds of getting a perfect bracket are 1 in 9.2 quintillion, multiple people still fill out multiple brackets in order to strengthen their odds of winning their pools (“March Madness”).

It is without a doubt that this year has been one of the wildest tournaments since it started in 1939. This year was the first time ever a 1 seed beaten 16 seed, and there have been countless of other major upsets that have made this tournament so interesting to watch. TV companies such as CBS paid “$19.6 billion for basketball tournament broadcast rights by CBS/Turner to NCAA for 2011 through 2032” (Schwartz), and another $1 billion is made in ad revenue. This is good for the NCAA as they are receiving a lot of money, and it is also very good for companies that are paying for ads because even though they are paying millions to get their brand on TV in the form of a 30 second commercial, this is great for their brand recognition due to the 80.7 million people that watched the tournament in 2015. With numbers that high three years ago, the numbers now will be even higher.

There is a huge opportunity cost when it comes to watching March Madness as well. During the initial rounds, most of the games are aired during the day, so people with full time jobs or who are in school aren’t able to watch these. However, people have found ways to get updates on their phones or stream the games to their computers. It is estimated that this year, there will be $6.8 billion of corporate losses because of distracted and unproductive workers watching the games. This is bad for the companies because they are losing a lot of possible revenue and profit that could have been easily made if it weren’t for the games.

March Madness has proven to have positive and negative effects on the economy whether it be the large amount of money cities are making when hosting the games or the billions lost to distracted workers and busted brackets. However, while some are benefited negatively in the economy, we can all agree that we are benefited positively because of the pure excitement and entertainment college basketball gives viewers all over the world for the month long period that comes only once a year.

Sources

Athlon Sports. “Economic and Social Impact of March Madness
(Infographic).”AthlonSports.com,
athlonsports.com/college-basketball/march-madness-numbers-economic-social-impact.

“March Madness Stats & Facts.” WalletHub,
wallethub.com/blog/march-madness-statistics/11016/.

Schwartz, Elaine, and Econlife Team. “March Madness Money Facts and the NCAA, the Teams,
the Viewers.” Econlife, 19 Mar. 2017, econlife.com/2017/03/march-madness-money/.

Foreign Aid Dependency

Foreign Aid Dependency
Emily Willis

The United States and many other wealthy countries tend to be very generous in their efforts to help developing countries. Through foreign aid, we attempt to stimulate and expand their economies. However, even though we funnel money into nations across the globe, many of the citizens are faced with poverty and horrendous living conditions. This is seen best in African nations, who receive a large portion of foreign aid and still make up some of the poorest countries worldwide. While it’s often debated, the problem with foreign monetary aid is that it forms strong dependence on the aid and doesn’t always go to the countries, and the people, who need it most.

Red countries receive US foreign aid.

The idea of foreign aid first started in the 1960s, yet as it continued to grow (particularly through the 1990s), GDP decreased and the standards of living were drastically low. Most donor countries give “official development aid” which includes grants, loans, and debt relief. These methods essentially put more money into a country’s economic system. In terms of the circular flow model, a leak (or extra input) is created, meaning that governments don’t need to tax their citizens as much as usual due to the extra income. This sounds good, but it undermines the policies needed for effective governance. Without taxes, citizens don’t necessarily feel the need to keep their governments in check, increasing the risk of corruption. As more aid is given to corrupt governments, the wealth inequality grows larger and impoverished people become stuck in the vicious cycle. This is furthered in countries with rich natural resources. Often called the “natural resource curse”,  it causes a tremendous wealth gap as aid is poured into industries for precious metals, coal, and oil. The money directly benefits those who hold the resources, while citizens and workers are left behind.



Take Liberia for example, a resource-rich nation that has been ravaged by civil war and infectious disease. In 2015, Liberia was receiving about $765 million in official development aid, 73% of its gross national income (Glencorse). In spite of all this, an estimated 84% of Liberians live below the poverty line, and the nation is ranked 182 of 187 countries on the Human Development Index (HDI). This is caused by a lack of accountability and transparency as to what the money is actually going towards. In most cases, aid is given for short-term results rather than sustainability. This means that instead of investment, the money funds supplies such as food, water, and tools. During a famine in a country like Liberia though, food is one of the worst things to provide. Food aid lowers the cost of food, making it harder for local farmers to compete with such low prices. The demand for locally grown food goes down, causing the supply to fall with it, thereby increasing the dependency on foreign food aid. While people are being fed at that specific time, it’s clearly not sustainable--the agriculture sector is shrinking, not expanding.

The prevalence of foreign aid in these African nations is hurting them in the long-run, not helping. While these countries may benefit from some limited foreign intervention, simply giving them money is not the way to go. Foreign governments who give aid should be focusing their resources on sustainable investments for that country, as well as holding the country accountable for where that money is truly going.

Works Cited

Chester, Penelope. “Liberia and Aid Dependency.” UN Dispatch, 4 June 2010, www.undispatch.com/liberia-and-aid-dependency/.

“Misplaced Charity.” The Economist, The Economist Newspaper, 11 June 2016, www.economist.com/news/international/21700323-development-aid-best-spent-poor-well-governed-countries-isnt-where-it.

Swanson, Ana. “Why Trying to Help Poor Countries Might Actually Hurt Them.” The Washington Post, WP Company, 13 Oct. 2015, www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/13/why-trying-to-help-poor-countries-might-actually-hurt-them/?utm_term=.c158dfd9f027.

“Why Foreign Aid Fails – and How to Really Help Africa.” The Spectator, 27 Jan. 2014, www.spectator.co.uk/2014/01/why-aid-fails/.

The Economic Importance of Spring Break

The Economic Importance of Spring Break
Written by: Madison Sterling

With spring break approaching this week, many families are looking to flee Wisconsin for a change of scenery. College students all around the country are also looking to go to tropical locations with friends during March and April, increasing the demand for flights, hotels, and restaurants. Without these spring break travelers, gross domestic product in vacation cities and countries would not be as high as they are.

Beach towns, such as Panama City, face some opportunity costs dealing with the amount of beaches that become overcrowded, pollution, and the vast amounts of heavy drinkers, which can lead to some minor crime. According to Bob Warren, executive director of the Bay County Tourist Development Council, “Spring break is controversial because it’s about young people who want to have a good time. There are people down here who don’t necessarily approve, but I don’t think many Florida communities would want to turn down generating $170 million in the month of March.” The amount of revenue generated from spring breakers overrules the minor inconveniences the city faces. The money spent on spring break is also a great indication as to how our economy is doing because when there’s more money transferring from student’s and vacationer’s bank accounts into liquid cash at restaurants and entertainment, there is a flow of money that helps to boost the economy.

Tourism in Mexico is also extremely important with 8.9% of its GDP coming from tourism alone. 29.2% of Mexico’s GDP also came from transportation services, 24.8% from restaurants and bars, 12.7% from hotels and lodging, 12.3% from commerce, 11.4% from handicrafts, and the remaining 9.6% from miscellaneous activities (fluxcapacitator39). These numbers show just how important tourism is for Mexico’s economy, which correlates to how important these numbers stay up for employment rates. According to howmuch.net, “most of the countries that are most reliant on their tourism industry for GDP are poor or have a relatively small population and therefore economy.” So looking at the map below it’s shown that Mexico and other vacation country’s business cycles heavily rely on tourism.


Without the heavy amounts of tourism in these select countries, gross domestic product would be much lower without the spring break season.


Overall, the spring break season plays a crucial role in gross domestic product and our economy as a whole.

Works Cited

Jones, Roland. “Sea, Sun, Sand... and Revenue.” NBCNews.com, NBCUniversal News Group,
8 Mar. 2004, www.nbcnews.com/id/4428577/ns/business-us_business/t/sea-sun-sand-revenue/#.WrPG6WrwbIV.

fluxcapacitor39. “How Does Tourism Affect Mexico's Economy.” Storify, 2018 Storify, 2012,
www.storify.com/fluxcapacitor39/how-does-tourism-affect-mexico-s-economy.

Raul. “Which Countries Are Most Dependent on the Travel Industry?” HowMuch, HowMuch, 26
Apr. 2017, https://howmuch.net/articles/travel-tourism-economy-2017