Sound Economics

As of today, 90% of U.S. retirees rely on the social security system as a major source of income during their retirements (Social Security Administration). However, future retirees are facing a crisis as the collective pool of money has shrunk significantly, leading many to doubt the long-term viability of social security. To explain this trend, it’s important to understand the fundamentals of our current social security system. The social security system works as two dynamic pools of money that every tax paying American contributes to automatically through our current tax system during the course of their professional life. Everytime payment Continue reading Is the Social Security System Failing?→

3D printers have helped change the manufacturing process by allowing individuals to innovate at home at lower costs and without the need for big factories or hundreds of thousands of dollars. You can make almost anything with a 3D printer as long as you have some sort of software to design the product, some filament, and a 3D printer. There isn’t even that much time needed for a print, with the average lasting less than 24 hrs. You don’t need to have a business to use a 3D printer, you can buy a pretty good one for a couple hundred Continue reading How 3D printing is changing manufacturing→

Climate inequality is one of the many harms that will come with climate change. Climate inequality is the phenomenon that climate change will disproportionately harm low and middle-income countries. Countries in the Global South are at a geographical disadvantage when it comes to climate change, these countries are often closer to sea level and warmer. This subjects the Global South to harsher effects of increased temperature and rising sea level, as well as the onslaught of natural disasters that is to come. The Global South is not well equipped for these effects. The infrastructure and economies of many of these Continue reading Climate Inequality→

     Charter Schools are tuition-free schools independent of their respective school district that receive government funding.  Only about 6% of students across the US attend charter schools and students are generally selected through a random lottery. They are given the freedom to specialize in an academic subject, like language or arts, but are still held accountable for state education standards. They help broaden families’ options, especially low-income, those who live in poor public school districts, or non-native speakers. Charter schools opening in communities lacking a good public school help bring a lot of economic activity. The school is able to Continue reading A Quick Introduction to Charter Schools→

The 2008 financial crisis caused Lehman Brothers, the fourth-largest investment bank in the United States, to declare bankruptcy. There was the largest bank failure since the Great Recession of 2008 and the second largest in the U.S. history on March 10, 2023. Silicon Valley Bank (SVB, the 16th largest bank), suddenly announced its bankruptcy, 48 hours after its assets could not repay its debts. Its collapse causes panic in the financial technology industry across the United States. According to SVB’s main service targets are technology start-ups in Silicon Valley, this moment is like the “Lehman moment of the technology industry”. Continue reading Quick Glance: Fed Rate Hike and SVB Collapse→

Over this winter transfer window, Chelsea FC has broken history in the transfer market. Throughout this window, the club has gone from signing major marquee signings to splashing significant cash on utility players. Two of the most notable signings came from the young Ukrainian player of the year, Mudryk. The flashy argentine Enzo Fernandez, who ended this year winning the world cups young player of the year, is a pivotal piece of the success Argentina experienced in winning the World Cup. Accumulatively, Chelsea football club has now spent a lucrative amount of 600 million dollars within the last year. This Continue reading The Chelsea Corruption:what goes on in financial fair play?→

This Monday, I had a debate with a friend about an interesting topic. Now it’s 2023, are you one of the wired earphone users or a Bluetooth headphone fan? The attracting point is that with the advancement of wireless headset technology, the convenience it brings to daily users is gradually occupying the sales market of wired earphones. But clearly, the two are still not perfect substitutes for each other. At least in 2022, we still have 10 unavoidable considerations of reasons for wired headphones, especially for avid music lovers and professionals who are seeking for sound quality. The simplest touch, Continue reading Earphones: Wired or Wireless→

In my last post, I discussed how harmful the fast fashion industry is to the environment, even though it is very affordable. When looking for more environmentally friendly options I found that sustainable brands and thrifting are the most popular alternatives to fast fashion. Sustainable clothing brands are great alternatives to shopping fast fashion because they use environmentally friendly methods of production. This means that the actual material the clothing is made out of is environmentally friendly, the labor is humane, and the packing methods are sustainable. Shopping for sustainable brands is a great option for those who can afford Continue reading Alternatives to Fast Fashion→

In the upcoming weeks, Disney is facing one of the biggest challenges to them since the beginning of COVID. Throughout the last couple of weeks, Disney has been going back and forth with the Disney world Employees to find a reasonable contract proposal that works for both parties. The challenge for Disney is the majority of these employees within the company are unionized, meaning that the workers within the corporation have organized and collaborated on pushing an agenda of improving the condition of their workplace and quality of treatment towards them. This union within Disney worlds workforce is around 45,000 Continue reading Disney: analyzing the externalities→

Exactly one year ago today, Russia initiated its attack on Ukraine, instigating a large-scale international dispute that has resulted in nearly 200,000 casualties and millions of Ukrainians being displaced from their homes (Cooper, et al., 2023). It should be noted that both of these figures are estimates as it is notoriously difficult to accurately predict casualties and displacement in conflict zones. In response, economic sanctions were issued against Russia, effectively removing them from the western hemisphere’s oil and tech markets. These sanctions have had a devastating impact on Russia’s oil market as a result. Their crude oil exports are estimated Continue reading How the Russia-Ukraine Conflict has Impacted the World’s Petroleum Markets→