Post #10

This week I read an article titled "In Early Education, Obama Stirs Great Hope" by Sam Dillon. With the US education system declining rapidly over the last few years, it is good to see something that is hopeful from the Obama organization. He is proposing to give $10 billion dollars to the early education fund. This would greatly increase the country's ability to provide a solid education early on in a child's life. The current Head Start program is only $7 billion and covers about 900,000 kids. More than doubling the money given to this section of education would enormously change the setting of early education. If we are not able to provide young children with a good education from the start, they will have to be playing catch up for the rest of their childhood, and that will not help them as citizens of this country, or help us in our competition with the rest of the world, especially the Asian countries. We need to be able to plan for the future of this country, and invest in the kids that will be running this country in 30 years.

Post #9

This week I decided to read an article in the New York Times, about solar power. Now that the prices of electricity are rising, and the greater effects of global warming are looming on the horizon, many people are beginning to turn to using solar panels. With so many people needing solar panels installed on their house, now there are people who are needed to install them. This is in turn creating jobs for many people, and also greatly helping the environment. The setbacks that are preventing everyone from turning to solar panels, are the costs. A raw cost of about $60,000 is how much it costs to outfit a home. There are many rebates that states give to those people who do invest in this green technology, which end up driving the price down to about $20,000. This is a huge improvement, and definitely makes this a possibility for more people, but it is still pretty expensive. Hopefully, in the coming years, a new cheaper way to outfit homes with solar panels will come out, so we all can enjoy environmentally friendly electricity.

Post #8

This week I read an article in the New York Times about the Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, and the recent scandal he is involved in. Now that Barack Obama has won the presidency, his Senate seat will be open, and so, Rod was trying to auction it off, for political favors, or donations to his campaign for his reelection. I find this very interesting, because I lived in Illinois for 8 years, and I saw him be elected. Apparently, he had been involved in many scandals before, the authorities were just never able to get evidence against him. I think that it is sad that this happened to the governor of a state, but I also feel that he should be punished for the wrong things that he has done.

Post #7

This weekend I chose to read an article about the economic crisis, and how Best Buy is dealing with it. With Circuit City recently filing for chapter 11 bankruptcy, Best Buy has to be on their toes, and try and stay above the water until these economic hardships pass. One way that the author says that this can be done, has already happened, their success during the Black Friday sales. They also have to make sure that they keep their prices and products competitive with other chains, to make sure that they are at least staying with them, even if they can't beat them. I think that Best Buy will be able to succeed in these tough times, because they are a favorite and regular store for anyone that purchases gadgets, games, etc. They have always been my source of entertainment related paraphernalia, and they always will be, because they have the products I am looking for, and they are an extremely dependable store.

Post #6

This week I read an article in the New York Times about how the cost of college is rising at an alarming rate. This is even more dangerous now, because we are in a recession, and that causes the prices to seem higher than they are. There are also very dangerous trends that are continuing, such as the amount of people that have to borrow money has doubled in the last 10 years. I think that there needs to be a solution to this problem, because not only middle class or rich people should have the opportunity to go to college, but the less fortunate also. If we keep feeding this trend for more years to come, higher education will become a rare commodity, when we should be pushing for it to become a necessity in today's world, so that we can compete with other countries, and improve the lives of everyone in our country.