Blog Number Ten

VACATIONS!! Who doesn’t like to go on a vacation? All kinds of places with all sorts of things to do. Seems great to get out and experience these rare pleasures of relaxation, fun, and excitement. What most do not realize is that all of these vacation spots like to take advantage of us tourist. When we visit these places the rental rates are outrages, souvenirs are almost unbelievable and lets not mention food and gas. Think about it. If you have ever been on vacation then you know that all these things are price gouged. This almost takes away from the simple reasons that we even go on vacation in the first place. Some ways to save some money when going on vacation are to plan your trip plenty of time ahead. By doing this you can have room for error if you just so happen to run into a problem with booking, which brings me to my next tip. Booking  your trip with a website such as Orbitz, Kayake, and Expedia will help to find some of the best places to stay at with the lowest rates in order to save you money. Money you could spend on something on the trip while you’re there. Another tip that will help you out is to plan your how many miles round trip you will be traveling, if you will be driving. This will give you a ballpark estimate on how much you will be spending there and back in gas. This is so you don’t over spend while you are on vacation and can make it home with no troubles such as running out of gas. Vacations are always great, just be sure know what your limits are and plan everything out.   

Blog Number Nine

Tobacco, something that was once thought to be good for you. Where does it stand now? The tobacco industry is still very large as it has always been.  According to Cha Cha.com 17.4 billion packs of cigarettes were sold in the year 2007. Numbers continue to rise and awareness is now stronger than ever. How is it that the tobacco industry can produce such hazardous products but still continue to rise in sales as well as production? Tobacco companies are now required to print labels on their products telling of the hazards that their products have and the risks that they have for its use. We know more about cancer that these products cause and that these products are getting worse every year. There is now a type of dip that its juice can be swallowed.  Not only is the risk of mouth cancer increased but they juice of the tobacco is being put into the users stomach, thus causing a bigger problem. Possible cancer in the throat as well as the stomach. Since we Americans know about these risks why do we keep taking them? Why do we continues to help companies sell us products that we know are bad for our health? If you are on one these products, either  smoke or smokeless. Get yourself off for your own health sake. Set a better example for our next and upcoming generations so that they can live in a better world with a better environment than what we have now. If you don’t get completely off, then try and limit your consumption. Think of our future generations.

Blog Number Eight

How many of you like to wear name brand clothes? If you do then I’m pretty sure that you’re willing to pay for those name brand clothes. Companies like Hollister, American Eagle, Aeropostale, Abercrombie and Fitch, Ralph Lauren Polo etc. They all take advantage of their customers. Although you may not realize it, most likely you are being taken advantage of. These name brand clothes we wear and love to express ourselves with don’t really cost all that much to make. However when we walk out of these stores after a small stop n shop, our wallets and bank accounts are hurting pretty badly. According to Brandeis Labor Coalition the average worker gets paid anywhere from 0.9-0.16 cents per shirt in a foreign factory. How much do we spend in the store for the company’s retail price? An average of 15-25 dollars per shirt. According to a friend of mine who had recently shopped at American Eagle for some summer clothes, They walked out of the store with two shorts and two shirts with a total retail price of $120 dollars. If you think about how much it cost for the company to make those four items compared to how much we buy them for, don’t you think that we are being taken advantage of? In reality we have no choice but to pay these prices. No matter where we shop at the same thing is happening all over the United States. Wal-Mart, Target, Kohl’s, and the name brand stores listed above all have the same thing in common, some may have better deals than other, but in reality we are still being taken advantage of. What can we do about it? Absolutely nothing at all.

Blog number seven



sober.companion.robtencerpr.com. Web. 2011



One industry that most people never think about affecting the world that we live in are escort services. Escort services are basically legalized prostitutions and in some cases ran illegally. The only difference between an escort service and any other form of prostitution is that it is more "upscale" and legalized. As you may know prostitution is illegal but for some reason laws are passed and rules are changed for some of these services to become legal. How can this be when essentially the same thing is happening either way. According to buzzle.com escort services are mostly legal in the United States because the legislatures recognize the industry as part of the adult entertainment industry. Such things that they offer are massages, or personal nights of intimacy. Things of this sort are considered legal whereas anything other than that would be illegal prostitution. Such laws are passed like zoning laws to help keep exploitation confined as far as the adult entertainment world goes. Mostly it’s how the individual state views the subject according to any laws that they may have according to the business. Some people view it as wrong some think that it is okay. Some services do use the laws of escort services to get around the illegal prostitution laws that are so strictly enforced. Like any other thing it is abused and that sets it apart from all other things. In my opinion when escort services do not abuse the laws and stick to the intimate massages and fun, clean, good times for adults then they are perfectly okay to have around. It’s when people abuse these things that they get out of control and looked down upon.

Blog Number Five





technorati.com. Web. 2011



Do you own a home or are thinking of owning a home? Well it’s good to have your own place and to be independent. But unless you have plenty of money and are well off already how are you going to pay for that home? Most people have to get an approval from the bank or from a loan agency. Which is a good thing, you can own the home that you want and pay the bank or loan agency back with monthly installments. However what most people do not realize and what the banks and loan agencies fail to tell you is that the money that they are so generously loaning out has to be paid back with interest.  Most of the time the interest you end up paying back is more than the actual loan you took out in the first place, which makes the monthly installments almost impossible to pay off in the expected time. These agencies and banks do this in order to make a profit for themselves. while they are busy with their huge profit money the average middle class American not only has to worry about if they'll have a job at the end of each and every day but have to worry about if they'll have enough money to make that monthly payment. They have to worry about losing their dream home. Of course these loan companies don’t care whether or not you lose your home they are only happy about the profit that they are making off of you and your monthly payments plus all the interest you are giving right back to them. So if you are looking forward to buying a home and are planning on taking out a loan to get it, be sure to do your homework and get a loan from an agency that has clarified fine print and low interest payments.







accuriz.wordpress.com. Web. 2011



Blog Number Six



utahwintercross.com. Web. 2011



There is one corporation that many do not think about that has a HUGE impact on not only America but on the world itself. That is the beer corporations. Most people have a certain beer that fits their individual taste. There are too many beer companies to even try and start to count. Beer slogans are seen all over, on billboards, t-shirts, television, game stadiums, etc. Beer is both a good and bad thing to have around. Beer is actually good for some parts of being healthy if drank in moderations. However beer is high in calories. Beer is not only good and bad for us but it defines us individually, like where we came from and our backgrounds. There are beers from different parts of the world. For example Fosters is a beer from Australia, Mother Ship is an organic beer from Germany (which i do not advise anyone to EVER try), and of course there are varieties of American beer such as Budweiser (my favorite) and Bud Light. Many people drink beer according to their background and where they were raised around. Germans like dark beer and most German beer is dark beer. Beer is also associated with some religions like Catholicism, and Judaism which are the most common. Beer companies are associated with annual things like the Super bowl where Budweiser and Bud light commercials are expected every year. The negative aspect on beer is that if not drank with responsibility there can be consequences. Some of these consequences consist of alcohol poisoning, damaged liver, wrecking a motorized vehicle, and even death. My main point here is that beer can explain a lot about a person. Like where were from, and how we were raised. Beer can say many things about a person everything from our background to our religion. What’s your beer?



photobucket.com. Web. 2011



Blog Number Four



mchenrycountyblog.com. Web. 2011



Money Swindling Corporations. We love to hate these kinds of operations. Especially when that company promotes good but turns around and used tax payer money for themselves. For example, say a corporations promotes sales for a certain product and advertises that some of the profit will go toward something good such as helping a cause in a foreign country. However what we don’t see if that they are really using the money to give themselves bonuses and to redecorate their big fancy corner offices. Its things like this that i firmly believe is what’s partly wrong with America today. Big CEO's swindling money when they are the last people who need a bonus. The worst part is that they are actually are getting away with it. The most that ever happens is that they lose their job and on rare occasions only have to pay back a fraction of what they basically stole in the first place. So they get to walk away with full bank accounts and are ready for a vacation while tax payers are left trying to make ends meet. There should be in my opinion, stricter laws about corporations who swindle money and harsher punishment. Also there are the corporations who receive money from the government for the bailout but are not forced to pay the money back. Some companies never needed the money in the first place they just simply use the government to their advantage and walk away with millions of dollars who in return the tax payers end up having to make up for the losses. So tax paying American citizens need to step up and try to press the goverment for stricter laws regarding swindling corporations and a much more harsh punishment on the people who violate those laws. A close eye is needed on the companies and corporations so that losses are kept at a minimum for the tax payers, the workforce of America.



nogw.com. Web. 2011



Blog Number Three



eideard.wordpress.com Web. 2011



The continuation on the discussion of corporations. As you can see from my last two blogs that there are good things that can be said about corporations as well as bad things. What i would like to get at now are the bias opinions that people put on all corporations according to some events that have taken place with other corporations. For instance, in the case of the corporation that I currently read about in the New York Times about a company who used diseal fuel as a part of a mixture in the drilling for natural gas. The fuel was leaking into fresh water systmes and caused a concern for safe water to drink from. Things like this from just a single corporation can make all others in the same work area look bad as well. This could cause people to think that all corporations are just out to make money and dont really care who they hurt or what they damage in the process. Although true in more cases than actually realized, this is not true for all corporations. This could also be viewed in the vice versa. Say a corporation who gives away lots of money or things to charities. People see the good things that come from these companies and want to buy from them in order to "help the cause". One example is companies who take "donations" to help other organizations who need funding and support to keep their campaighn alive and running. They put out change dishes, offer discounts, take donations, etc. Saying its all for a "good cause". But do we really know where these donations we give actually go to? Like i said before not all corporations are bad or do these kinds of things. Such as the Ronald McDonald Foundation which helps the St. Jude research facilities. Corporations have been known to decieve and use things like this just to make a quick, easy, and tax free dollar. Just another thing to consider thinking about. Do your reasearch before doing your next good deed, make sure its actually going to the right place.

Blog Number Two



hardydiesel.com Web. 2011



Most people think that corporations are bad. And i did talk about and touch base on some of the bad things about corporations in my last blog. But I would like to point out some good things about corporations as well. For Example, one of my favorites is John Deere. The John Deere corporation has come a long way since the 1800's. Not only have they come a long way as a business and corporation but they have helped farmers around the world to come a long way. Because of constant new and improving technology farmers are better able to improve crop yeilds, cut planting costs, save on fuel, and increase the amount of production.  Farming is now only one of many things that the John Deere corporation produces products for. They now also make equipment for timber companies, lawn and garden, construction, quarries, mining, ect.  John Deere has revolutionized the way that America does things from Farming to cutting our grass.  Not only America but is now spreading throughout the world for farming and timer cutting around the world. Because of the hard work, dedication, and reasearch done at the John Deere corporation we can now farm cheaper and produce more for our economy. Although a huge corporation and a powerful one at that they have done and created such things that have changed everyday life for most people, especially being here in the South where most of this takes place. So i would like to personally say thank you to the John Deere Corporation.

corporations, what do think of them? How do you feel about them? Do you think their good for the economy or bad? Are they helping consumers or middle class americans or simply just hurting them? For startes corporations are very good at what they do. That is why they are what they are. Basically getting the gerneral public interested in their products. True enough that some of these products that we buy from these corporations may be useful in our everyday lives and may make our lives easier on a day to day basis. However, what these corporations do to make their business grow and prosper is to first off, have their products made overseas at an extremly cheap rate. Then those products are shipped back to the united states where we, the consumers, buy them. But are we just buying a product that makes our lives better? No, we are over priced products that these corporations are making almost pure profit off of. They make merchandice for barley cents on the dollar and sell it to use for more than quadruple the amount it costs them to have it made. Not only are we paying more for less, we are having our jobs striped from us and they are being given to the lowest paid country. But of course its a win win for the corporations. This is what is taking a toll on our economy. We have less jobs, therefore less people are working, which leads to higher unemployment rates. We are in a recession already because of other events going on with the country. while the corporations spend thousands on decorating their offices and buying luxery homes and cars. Corporations will jack prices up on products then on certain times of the year drop the prices slightly to make the consumer think that they are getting a good deal on their products.  All in all corporations are not good for our economy or for the consumer. It is Americas monster.