bringin' home the bacon

As jobs become scarcer, people are getting a little anxious. The stock market reached 10,000 points this past week. This is about where it was before it dropped. I heard reported on the news this week that reaching 10,000 on the way up was a lot more fun than when we hit it on the way down. Now just looking at a picture this feels great. We have recovered. We reached where we were pre-stock crash. The only problem is we are here post-crash. We may have recovered financially but I think it will be a while until we really start feeling the effects. I think just as the affects of the crash were late in coming, I think the relief and the affects of the recovery will be just as late if not much later. This however is no comfort, as many people continue to feel the effects. Jobs are basically obsolete, houses are not selling, and loans are a practical luxury. To some of us the crash has not really affected us. You might even think that is already over. You don’t really feel like it has hit you. I know I feel like that sometimes. Then I have to remember to look around. I bet every single person can think of at least one person who has been affected. I know I can. Think of someone who has either lost their job, taken a pay cut, lost most of their hours, or who have been moved to part time. People are searching frantically for jobs. Unemployment benefits are reduced and finding money to take care of expenses is a hassle. This is an especially difficult time with the swine flu going around. If you don’t have an income it is hard to pay medical bills, especially if you need some sort of anti-viral medication. Another major factor is that the holiday season is coming up and if you don’t see a future income I can understand how it would be easy not to see a happy future holiday season.

thinkopoly...

What is a monopoly? A monopoly is a company that has the entire control over a certain product, brand, market, area, or even another company. Like one of our favorite games- Monopoly, where the whole idea of the game is to gain control of ALL the other properties.

Monopolies are the basis of America. We live off monopolies. Think about it. We have McDonalds, Wal-Mart, Pepsico®, and Mars®. We think we get all sorts of different brands. We think we are drinking Gatorade, but did you know Gatorade is owned by Quaker Oats? and did you know that Quaker oats is owned by Pepsico? Bet not. The charts at the bottom of the post are helpful in understanding a few of the huge companies in our nation. Now so far I've only stated a fact: that our country has a lot of monopolies. To elaborate on that point I have to say that it can be a good or a bad thing. A good thing is that it is better for the economy, in I some ways. Its great that we can have a huge multi billion dollar company that can help employ people and enable people to have a huge source of money flowing through the economy. The bad thing for the economy is that it monopolizes all the business. It is much harder for an upstart company to gain a market and clientele when it is all going to the monopoly. It is also bad for the consumer because this means that the product is totally controlled by the company, meaning the consumer has to pay pretty much whatever the company charges. They might also not get the kind a service or quality they want if all they get is what's available. As Americans you would think that there would be less monopolies. More monopolies = less choice. That is something that Americans hate. To us, the more choice the better.