The Economizers

   Everyone always talks about how poor people that go on welfare dont want to work and dont want to become "unpoor". There are two reasons for this, they cant afford the health care costs and they probably would never be able to get out of the poor house. I know people say that a person that gets all the health care payed for will have a more risky life but I dont think thats true. I know when I was younger my mother was poor and I had the access card and doctors didnt want to take people with the access card so I never wanted to get hurt. Doctors, once they found out that you had the Access card started to treat you bad and also order things that were alot more expensive to get more money. Right before my card ran out my Dentist decided to tell me I had a cavity and preformed a ROOT CANAL on me! I wasnt told of this but he wanted the most money he could get before I left and then left me without the crown on my tooth and now I have no Dential insurance and I cant get it finish because it costs to much. This shows a Moral Hazard on my physicians part because even though I was recieving benifits I wasnt living any different. The doctor wanted more money so he ordered things that didnt need to get done just to get more money.

 

 

Nicole Shearer

As the seasons change throughout the year, business are put certain items on sale.  In September when kids are going back to school, stores put summer clothing on sale.  The reason for a sale on summer clothing going into the fall and winter, is so the business avoids a deadweight loss.  When the summer season is over, stores must try to clear out the summer merchandise to make room for fall clothing.  Whatever is left over from the season is then sent back to the company and the store is at a loss for what they send back.

Matt Cross

My friend had just recently recieved a credit card in which he was only supposed to use it incase of emergencies only.  I warned him that having a credit card is not always a good thing.  They become very addictive because you seem to think you are getting away with paying for things, but that is far from the truth.  So he began to use his credit card to buy clothing, video games, etc.  By the time he knew it, he was in a debt of over $300 and had no money to pay it off. 

Now on the other hand, he is expected to pay for his college tuition by taking out loans.  This would be a form of adverse selection which is a circumstance that arises on financial markets when borrowers who are the worst credit risks are the ones most likely to seek loans.  Now if I was a bank and he asked me for a loan and I saw that he was in debt with his credit card, I would tell him to try another bank.  As of right now, he has two jobs trying to pay off all the money he spent to buy things that he really didn't need at the time.

Chris Morrell

    Recently the nation has had its eye on the Terryi Schiavo case,  the women who had a chemical imbalance that stopped her heart and left her and gave her brain damage.  That happened in 1990 and she is still on feeding tubes and relying on machines to keep her alive.  The courts decided to remove her feeding tube, but congress passed the "Schiavo Bill" letting federal courts and not just state courts decide her fate.  However, this did not work since the supreme court didn't even hear the case. 
    Thie economics behind it are what I think is the driving force.  First it comes doen to medical insurance.  I think I heard that taxpayers are paying for her treatment right now.  I don't know if that is true or not but if it is it is not right.  The taxpayers shouldn't pay for anyones personal health car.  However, it causes her, her family, and her doctors to abuse the money they are given since it is plentiful and from a third party.  The family doesn't bear the weight of the costs so they can get as much care as possible.  Another thing is that if she is indeed getting money form taxpayers or even insurance it is a big drain on them since the doctors prognosis is that she will never get better.  It is not right to make other peopel pay for a hopless cause.
    I know this is a sad situation but this is just how I feel.

Golf is a sport where it is well known that being quiet on the golf course is proper ettiquete.  However there are negative externalities involved while playing a round.  Cell phones are one of the most negative externalities Golf has ever seen.  As a golfer, nothing annoys me more than a cell phone going off during my swing.  Some of the more prestigious facilities have even banned cell phones from their golf courses. 

Matt Cross

I have just recently signed up for a fantasy baseball league with all of my friends to get ready for the upcoming season.  It's something I like to do because it's fun and competetitive.  We have an online fantasy draft where you are able to select your own team.  Since I find this really enjoyable, I thought it would be fun to join 3 other leagues, but I found that my interest was decreasing each time I took part in another draft.  This would be an example of diminishing marginal utility because I became less interested in the drafts as they went along.  I saw myself taking some of the same guys I had on my other teams and it just wasn't as exciting for me anymore.  It would have been better off for me to just particiapte in one and leave it at that.  Next year I will take this approach.

Chris Morrell

     Just last week I went to the Nelly concert. After getting there I realized how far away I was and I barely could see anything. My ticket only fifteeen dollars so ofcourse I was going to go. I wish I was in the front row so I could see. Then I thought, the tickets would have been so much money. Many people after a certain point wont pay the price of something. Thats why there is only a limited amount of front row seats and of course they are more expensive. Not many people would pay that high price for that kind of sitting. This is an example of relatively inelastice. It states that a percent increase in price results in a smaller percent reducation in sales. Now think about it, if all the tickets were the same price we wouldnt have a problem but we would be upset at the people that got there first to get the closer seats. Although, tickets are never all the same prices and as the price of the tickets increase the amount of people that are willing to pay to go to the concert goes down.

 

Nicole Shearer

 

    MLB has recently been under a lot of heat due to their steriod policy and rumors of players using steroids.  After the strike that left the '94 season in ruins the MLB needed a way to bring the fans back, what better way than the home run.  Home runs started flying off the bat and the fans came back and the MLB exapnded.  Many people are now wondering if all those homeruns were due to the skills of the players or the performance enhancing drugs thay used.  The reason still remains to be seen but the economic benefits have already been seen.
    The players, as a result, are making more than ever and the economic growthe of the leage was astounding.  Market damand was at an all time high.  People were buying large amounts of consumption goods resulting in an increased profit.  The demand curve for tickets shifted to the right so the owners could increase the ticket price and make more money.  The products that were sold by the MLB also saw a shift to the right in the demand curve, thus increasing the price of the goods as well as profits for the MLB.  The players union, also known as a craft union, was very strong and kept steroids off the radar for a long tikme all the while raising players salaries due to the homerun.  However what is the oppurtunity cost for a player when his body is on the line just so he could make millions.  It comes down to death or money, but you can't enjoy your money while your dead.  The externalities placed on families and friends are also unfair.  Plus the shame that a player will have to live with if he is found out will be horrible.  Hopefully the MLB will resolve this problem and the palyers union will show thaey care about the health of their players

Corey Pichler

The other night I asked my roomate to get me a case of beer.  He asked me what I wanted and I told him "Molson ice, what else."  When he came back with the case he told me he had bad news, the distributor was out of molson ice.  I asked him what he got me instead and he told me natty ice.  This is a substitute good because the distributor was out of what I wanted and he had to choose something else.  At least he could have choosen something better than natty ice.

 

Matt Cross

Over break I was unfortuante enough to get a fine for running a red light.  I had to make a decision on whether or not to stop.  I had no time to decide on what to do.  Either I was going to have to slam on my brakes and stop for the light or I was going to have to speed up a little bit to make it through the light when it was still yellow.  This would be an example of an immediate-run because it was a decision I had to make without the benefit of any extra time.  Even though the light was yellow when I went through it, the cop thought otherwise.  Hopefully I'll get cut some slack in the future.

Chris Morrell