Tag: Economy

Part 173- Money

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Economics , , , , , , , ,
Part 173- Money

 Guess what Ireland’s famous for. Apple. Yeah, no seriously. I’m not joking. Up until like last Thursday I was sure Ireland was mainly known for it’s landscape and Irish whiskey and shamrocks. We’re adding Apple to the list now. Apple’s main headquarters are in Cupertino, California. Which now explains why I have Cupertino’s time zone on my phone despite it not being on the list. (The dots finally have connected.) Anyways, the main focus is on Apple’s other headquarters. The European headquarters.

Apple’s European headquarters are located  in Holly Hill, Co Cork in Ireland. I assure you there is something very important regarding why Apple chose to have it’s headquarters there, but before I explain, let’s go over basics. 

  • Shell Companies
  • Money Laundering
  • Cayman Islands/Swiss Accounts
  • Tax Avoidance
  • Panama Papers
So, shell companies. They are similar to what they sound like as they ARE shells of companies. They are pretty much like an empty shell. 
There’s nothing inside. It’s a firm with no current business activity or significant assets. Shell companies aren’t necessary illegal, but are sometimes used illegitimately for  reasons such as disguising business ownership from law enforcement or the public. But legitimately, they can be used to store a company’s money it’s raising before it launches, or for security reasons such as working in an unsafe region or country. 
When used illegitimately, shell companies are usually used during money laundering. Money laundering is pretty much just “laundering” money made through criminal activity like drug trafficking or terrorist funding,  in order to make it look clean. This money is, well, dirty, so so it needs to be laundered before it can actually be used. This is to make sure the money can be used effectively, and so there is no suspicion when using it. There are three parts in money laundering: placement, layering, and integration. The first, placement, comes from the need to deposit the money in legitimate financial institutions. The only way to do so is if it comes from legitimate sources, so often a business owned by the criminal organization is used. For example, a restaurant may inflate the receipts to funnel illegal cash through the restaurant and into the restaurant’s bank account. The next is layering. Layering consists of concealing the money through a series of transactions. This is to make it difficult to trace the original source. Layering is often done through chain-hopping which is the act of converting one cryptocurrency into another moving from one blockchain to another, mixing/tumbling which is the act of blending various transactions across several exchanges, or cycling. (More can be found at these links: complyadvantage.com and linkurious.com)
Not only that, shell companies can be used for tax avoidance. Tax avoidance is an action taken to lessen tax liability and maximize after-tax income. Simply put, finding a way to avoid paying taxes in a legal manner.  The best way to do so is setting up a shell company in a tax haven. 

What’s a tax haven? 

Before I explain let me interrupt. Happy New Year and Merry late Christmas. I actually spent my Christmas overseas and visited the Cayman Islands. We took a tour and had a lot of fun on our trip. In fact, on the tour we learned a lot of interesting facts about the islands, including one very important thing. The Cayman Islands have no income or withholding tax imposed on the individual. So like if something is $10, that’s all you have to pay. Literally. That makes the Cayman Islands a tax haven. Since no taxes are imposed, shell companies are commonly set up in the Cayman Islands to reduce tax bills and just get out of paying taxes legally. Another example includes Hong Kong, Switzerland, Panama, and even Ireland. See where I’m getting to? 
Ireland has a low tax rate of 12.5% , making it one of the lowest tax paying countries compared to the U.S. with a 35% rate. This is a reason why Apple long many other companies such as Google have shifted headquarters there. According to BBC, Apple created an avoidance structure that “helped it reduce it’s tax rate on profits outside the US to the extent that its foreign tax payments rarely amounted to more than 5% of its foreign profits.” In some years it’s dipped below 2%, and one Irish Apple Company had a tax rate for one year of 0.005% . For Apple, if tax haven benefits were not used, it would have owed the U.S. government $65.4 billion in taxes. However, this is about to change as Ireland announced in October 2021 that it will change it’s tax rate to 15% in 2024 (originally 2023). 
This entire process of tax avoidance is not new. It’s been around for a while. In 2016 11.5 million legal documents-called the Panama Papers- were leaked, containing personal financial information about many wealthy individuals and public officials. It exposed a network of 214,000 tax havens involving these officials and entities from 200 nations. Although most of the documents showed no illegal or inappropriate behavior, some of the shell companies set up by the firm from which the documents were leaked, were revealed to have been used for illegal purposes such as tax evasion and fraud. Hence, shell companies can be interpreted as illegal and used illegitimately. 
People with huge companies like Nike or Apple often do this for many reasons. One could be for greed. With so much money one would want to keep it to themselves. Not only that, with so much money they would have to pay higher taxes. Arguments against this include, “using the same amount of road someone making less than them uses”. Why should they pay more when they use the same services as others? As a result, they’ll try to pay lower taxes or even get out of it completely. Such methods as we’ve discussed include tax havens and shell companies. 
Why should we care about this? Well for starters, they aren’t paying their taxes. As I’ve mentioned before, taxes are essential to providing us benefits such as public school dunking, building roads, and other public services. Everyone pays a fair share of their income that they worked hard for these taxes and yet these big companies who have more wealth decide to reduce their amount simply because they want their money to themselves. If that’s so then why don’t we also keep our money to ourselves? Taxes take away a huge portion and we could easily use that money for so many other things instead. It’s simply not fair. If they can “escape” paying the tax in full amount, they why not us? Then what would happen? Would we be able to experience the luxuries of maintained, smooth roads, or having public education or other services? Most likely not. We need to pay our taxes, no matter how much money you make. It’s to benefit us and make our lives better. 
Sources + More Reading:
:. (2019, July 23). AML – Shell companies, front companies and the misuse of real estate. Finextra Research. https://www.finextra.com/blogposting/17537/aml—shell-companies-front-companies-and-the-misuse-of-real-estate

Anti money laundering (AML). (2005, July 21). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/a/aml.asp

Corporate Finance Institute. (2022, November 8). Tax haven. https://corporatefinanceinstitute.com/resources/economics/what-is-tax-haven/

GB, J. (2017, November 7). Where does Apple Pay taxes? Medium. https://medium.com/@javiergb_com/where-does-apple-pay-taxes-5a09955abd92

List of the world’s most notorious tax havens. (n.d.). Worlddata.info. https://www.worlddata.info/tax-havens.php

Lyons, K. (2021, October 7). Ireland’s status as tax haven for tech firms like Google, Facebook, and Apple is ending. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2021/10/7/22715229/ireland-status-tax-haven-google-facebook-apple

Money laundering: What it is and how to prevent it. (2003, November 24). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/moneylaundering.asp

Paradise Papers reporting team. (2017, November 6). Paradise papers: Apple’s secret tax bolthole revealed. BBC News. https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-41889787

Shell corporations: Everything you need to know. (n.d.). Business Intelligence Platform – Data on 13+ Million Companies – Red Flag Alert. https://www.redflagalert.com/articles/risk/shell-corporations-everything-you-need-to-know

Tax avoidance is a legal way to limit taxes; Tax evasion is not. (2007, May 10). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/tax_avoidance.asp

Tax brackets and federal income tax rates: 2022-2023. (2018, January 24). NerdWallet. https://www.nerdwallet.com/article/taxes/federal-income-tax-brackets#:~:text=There%20are%20seven%20federal%20tax,taxable%20income%20and%20filing%20status

Tax evasion. (2003, November 24). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/taxevasion.asp

What is a shell company (Shell Corporation)? – SmartAsset blog. (2022, September 27). SmartAsset. https://smartasset.com/investing/what-is-a-shell-company#:~:text=A%20shell%20company%20is%20a,customers%20with%20products%20or%20services

What is a shell Corporation? How it’s used, examples and legality. (2003, November 26). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/shellcorporation.asp#:~:text=A%20shell%20corporation%20is%20a,law%20enforcement%20or%20the%20public

Part 172- Cryptocurrency and CBDC

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Economics, Science and Technology , , ,
Part 172- Cryptocurrency and CBDC

Cryptocurrency. We’ve probably all heard about it by now. Bitcoin….and bitcoin…and yeah…That’s all I really know (knew) about it. That was before I got a WONDERFUL- emphasize wonderful- opportunity to take some time off and actually learn something about it. And really, it wasn’t that bad. So let me enlighten you a little about cryptocurrency, how it really works, and how it relates to Central Bank Digital Currencies. (CBDC).

So let’s start with the basics. What exactly is cryptocurrency? Well, for starters, cryptocurrency is “a digital payment system that doesn’t rely on banks”, or a third-party, “to verify transactions.” In short, it’s a digital currency that is an alternative form of payment by using encryption algorithms. (We’ll get into more of that later.)

Cryptocurrency is created through something called mining. No, not like mining for gold. (Although it would be funny.) But really, mining is “the process of validating cryptocurrency transactions and creating new units of cryptocurrency”. It uses powerful computer hardware and software to-drumroll please- solve complex math problems. Yep. Cryptocurrency is literally made from solving complex math problems. Using powerful computer hardware and software, of course.

But really this is more complex. You see, cryptocurrencies use blockchain technology. A blockchain is a distributed database or ledger that is shared among the nodes of a computer network. Think of it as a ledger, or even a database. As a database, a blockchain stores information electronically in digital format. It’s a form of a public ledger, which is “a series of blocks on which transaction details are recorded after suitable authentication and verification by the designated network participants.” (It’s best known for their crucial role in cryptocurrency systems, for maintaining a secure and decentralized record of transactions.

Compared to a typical database, a blockchain structures its data into blocks which are strung together, rather than into tables. This structure makes an irreversible timeline of data when implemented in a decentralized nature. As a block is filled it finalizes and becomes part of this timeline.

So why would cryptocurrency be made? What was the main purpose? Anything made is often to make something easier. We always innovate something new to make what we’re already working with easier, faster, and simpler.
Well, for starters it was to engage in financial transactions without exclusively relying on banks or governments. When we usually partake in transactions, a third-party, such as a bank, is used to do so.
Whenever we perform transactions, our money doesn’t immediately get transferred to the other person. For transactions from different banks, it can take one to five days. Why does this happen? Well, it’s excessive to continuously pay a transaction to another bank in small amounts. If I make a transaction of $10 dollars to another person, someone else could be making a transaction of $50 to another. Instead of continuously processing transactions in amounts like this, something called the Delta of Transactions takes place. This process happens over a periodic basis.
So let’s say I make a transaction of $30 to someone at another bank, and someone at that bank needs to pay a transaction of $10 to someone at mine. Instead of updating a don performing every transaction, the banks will wait until the end of the day, and transfer the net amount to each other. In this case, since the other bank will ‘gain’ $30 and ‘lose’ $10, my bank will transfer $20 to the other bank. That is the net amount.

What cryptocurrency does is take out this step. Because we rely on the bank or a third-party to deliver the transaction, this Delta of Transactions process takes place, and our payment gets transferred after a while. But with cryptocurrency, it happens immediately. The thing with cryptocurrency is that your money stays with you. Compared to all your money being with the bank, you have your money. So whenever you want to process a transaction, it happens immediately because you’re doing it yourself. The only problem is that, if your money is with you, you could lose all of it. Cryptocurrency needs a cryptocurrency wallet. It’s something that stores the public and/or private keys for cryptocurrency transactions. Basically like a vault or a bank account. It holds the keys and allows you to access your coins. Because it’s with you, if you lose that ‘wallet” you end up losing all your money. If you have money stored in the bank, if you lose your wallet, you would still have money, and not have lost all of it.
However, there are certain situations where cryptocurrency is actually beneficial. Let’s take the Bahamas for example. The Bahamas consists of 70 scattered islands, and it can take over half a day to simply reach the bank. As a result, the Bahamas established a style of cryptocurrency called Sand Dollar to make money easily accessible.

So I mentioned CBDC at the very beginning. CBDC (Central Bank Digital Currency) is digital currency issued by a central bank, rather than a commercial bank. While CBDCs are controlled by a central bank, cryptocurrencies are almost always decentralized, meaning they cannot be regulated by a single authority.
CBDCs are pegged to the value of a country’s fiat currency. This fiat currency is issued and regulated by a nation’s monetary authority or central bank. ( Such as the US Treasury) In the US along with many other countries, many people do not have access to financial services. The main goal of CBDC is to “provide businesses and consumers with privacy transferability, convenience, accessibility, and financial security.” It would also reduce the risks of using digital currencies in their current form. Cryptocurrencies are highly volatile and have a constantly fluctuating value. This can cause severe financial stress in many households and affect the overall stability of an economy. Bitcoin was made anonymously. Despite being believed to be made by a pseudonym group, nobody knows who created it. That being said, they can do whatever they want with Bitcoin. Who knows if they choose to make Bitcoin valued at a high price or suddenly drop it really low. To prevent this but still provide digital currency, governments are starting to create CBDCs.

digitalasset.com
So lastly why would this be important. Well for starters, everything in this world has to do with money. There’s nothing free in this world. The world revolves around money. You go to school to get a job to earn money. You need money to get food, get a house, and perform the basic functions to live. As technology develops, cryptocurrency or even digital currency would become widely used like regular currency. We need to learn how it’s used and the benefits of disadvantages to using it so that we’re prepared in the future. If I get a job and my boss asks if I could be paid in cryptocurrency or CBDC, I need to understand what happens when I use it. Although it’s not as useful now, we would eventually get to a point in time where it would be. This would eventually become a way of payment, and we need to understand how it works. It’s our money after all.
References + Resources:
The basics about cryptocurrency. (n.d.). Go Oswego | SUNY Oswego. https://www.oswego.edu/cts/basics-about-cryptocurrency 

Blockchain & distributed Ledger technology (DLT). (2018, May 8). World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/financialsector/brief/blockchain-dlt#:~:text=Distributed%20ledgers%20use%20independent%20computers,in%20an%20append%20only%20mode

Can RBI’s digital rupee initiative help INDIA beat the USA’s SWIFT network dominance? (2022, November 5). YouTube. https://youtu.be/07yMvq5WxAs

Cryptocurrency explained with pros and cons for investment. (2013, July 29). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/cryptocurrency.asp#:~:text=A%20blockchain%20is%20a%20digitally,use%20with%20cryptocurrencies%20and%20NFTs

Cryptocurrency vs CBDC vs digital money: What’s the difference? (2022, October 8). Business Today. https://www.businesstoday.in/latest/economy/story/cryptocurrency-vs-cbdc-vs-digital-money-whats-the-difference-349323-2022-10-08

Fiat money: What it is, how it works, example, pros & cons. (2003, November 20). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/f/fiatmoney.asp

What is a Central Bank digital currency (CBDC)? (2018, September 6). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/central-bank-digital-currency-cbdc.asp

What is cryptocurrency and how does it work? (2022, February 9). www.kaspersky.com. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/what-is-cryptocurrency

What is data encryption? (2022, March 30). www.kaspersky.com. https://www.kaspersky.com/resource-center/definitions/encryption

Blockchain facts: What is it, how it works, and how it can be used. (2014, June 13). Investopedia. https://www.investopedia.com/terms/b/blockchain.asp

 
‘FTX has been hacked’: Crypto disaster worsens as exchange sees mysterious outflows exceeding $600M. (2022, November 14). CoinDesk: Bitcoin, Ethereum, Crypto News and Price Data. https://www.coindesk.com/business/2022/11/12/ftx-crypto-wallets-see-mysterious-late-night-outflows-totalling-more-than-380m/
How are cryptocurrencies created? (2022, May 5). GeeksforGeeks. https://www.geeksforgeeks.org/how-are-cryptocurrencies-created/

Part 171- U.S. as a superpower

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Economics, Politics and Geopolitics
Part 171- U.S. as a superpower

Hey guys, so I’m back. We’re skipping the cutesy, simple posts of high school to economics. Why? Because I got dragged into the inescapable pit of it. (…) Anyways, moving on. 

America. It’s a great country. (Speaking from a biased American point of view) But to be clear, it’s a very powerful country. America is the world’s most dominant economic and military power. When mentioned, it’s naturally accepted. We don’t really take time to question how such a nation ended up at the top. We don’t stop and think about the factors that made it so, and so that’s why I want to take time to briefly explain not just how America became the strongest country in the world, but also how American currency became the most powerful. (To be clear, American currency is the main topic. It was just awkward talking about a small topic so I’m adding everything else in.) So let’s talk.

Our two leading questions are this: “How did America become the most powerful country in the world?” And, “How did the United States make the US Dollar the most powerful currency in the world?”

How did America become the most powerful country in the world?

So the United States wasn’t always a very powerful country. They were very fragile, having won independence that “was a war away from being lost”. From 1783-1898, they were a fledgling power, concerned with expanding its borders from the Atlantic to Pacific Coast to fulfil the belief of Manifest Destiny- that God had ordained for the U.S. to expand its territory and control the whole continent. But over the course of time, things began to change.

The Idea of Manifest Destiny

The first factor was a shift from an agrarian economy to an industrialized one during an Industrial Revolution in the late 1800s. This switch led to allowing the U.S. to make the necessary equipment to become a superpower. Within this time period, one major war took place, the Spanish-American War. The Spanish-American War was victorious for Americans against the crumbling Spanish Empire. In this, not only did it make for Puerto Rico and distant islands of Guam and Philippines colonies, but also allowed for America to project its power abroad through a colonial empire. From 1898-1945, America would set its sights on Asia and the Caribbean, cement its alliance with Britain and France through World Wars, and eventually, lead to America having the largest economy in the world and become the largest industrial producer.

So now let’s dig deeper. After World War II, the United States came out, unquestionably, as a superpower. Seen in both WWI and WWII, America acted as war merchants first, and then war participants. While the other countries and empires were dedicating their resources and manpower towards the war, America used its capital and manpower to instead, become the “major supplier of cotton, wheat, brass, rubber, automobile and machinery, and thousands of other goods”. This resulted in America facing one of the greatest economic booms in the world. This was seen in WWII as well, with the only participation seen when Pearl Harbor was bombed. From making so much money out of these two wars, America came out having 75% of the world’s monetary gold after WWII. Other countries were not only economically devastated, but also in ruins from the war, leaving America unscathed. Not only that, at the end of WWII after the atom bomb dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, it was undoubted the United States was indeed on another level. Emerging from the war, both America and the Soviet Union were seen as superpowers, both with very different ideas for the future.

After WWII, America set up a network of bases across the planet to allow itself to project it’s power worldwide. The Soviet Union, who wanted to spread communism, would quickly challenge this superpower. In retaliation, America would station soldiers in Japan and Europe to prevent the spread. This period of geopolitical tension between the two nations is known as the Cold War. They had open yet restricted fighting. There was no direct war, as both had access to nuclear weapons. Thus called the ‘Cold War’.

Source: {history.com}

So now that we’ve established that, let’s talk about how the US Dollar became so powerful.

After WWII, 44 countries met in “Bretton Woods’ in July 1944 with the principal goals of creating an efficient foreign exchange system, preventing competitive devaluations of currencies, and promoting international economic growth.” (investopedia.com) As a result, they made the Breton Woods Agreement. Once implemented, its provisions called for the U.S. dollar to be pegged to the value of gold, and for all other currencies in the system to be pegged to the US dollar’s value. This agreement led to minimized international currency exchange rate volatility which helped international trade relations, more stability in foreign currency exchange, and currency stabilization for trade of goods and services as well as financing.

Source: {britannica.com}

This would help in situations where two countries look towards trading with each other, even if they didn’t trust each other. Think School provides an example as such, where Indonesia and Pakistan trade with each other. If Pakistan gives Indonesia 1 million dollars, Indonesia could easily trade that in with the U.S. for the equal amount of gold. However, if this was done in Pakistani Rupees, and let’s say 10,000 PKR= 1 gm gold, Pakistan could print more money and change it to 20,000 PKR= 1 gm gold. This could lead to a collapse in Indonesia’s value of trade. In order to prevent this, the transaction could be done in US dollars, making for the U.S. to guarantee the amount of dollars in gold. 

This Agreement also served as the creation of two major organizations today. The World Bank,and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). Due to the ruins and devastation faced by countries in the war, they desperately needed funds and loans to build their country back up. So with the U.S. provided funds, the World Bank provided numerous long-term loans to countries to get them back on track. The IMF serves as a way to keep track of the global economy, assess policy makers, and lend money to countries in economic crisis.
This Agreement sealed the importance of the U.S. Dollar, and gave the Dollar its first wave of dominance.

So that was a brief explanation as to how America became a superpower. It took time, patience, and the use of some clever tactics. The result of this being the position and level to which it is at today. So, thanks for reading, and have a great day. 

Part 139 – The Invisible Hand

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Law and Justice , ,

Hello! Today’s topic is on the Invisible Hand. I was meant to post this last week but it wasn’t completely finished so I’m posting it this week. (This post will kind of be in a research paper format, but this is my first time writing a research paper, so it won’t be the best paper.) Anyways, here it is! 

The Invisible Hand. 

 Similar to the name, the invisible hand is a metaphor for the unseen forces that move the free market economy or, the government. While it may be seen as interference, it actually is bringing order. The invisible hand is part of laissez-faire, meaning let us do it, approach to the market. Even though markets can succeed by themselves, they need to be nudged to work best. This nudge comes from none other than the Invisible Hand. Here’s an example: Let’s say a business was hiring. People would present themselves and say they would work for $10 an hour. Well, to get the job instead of that guy, another would say they would work for $8 an hour, and so on. Soon, the government steps in and says we shouldn’t be working for less. So, they put in a minimum wage. The minimum wage is the lowest amount a person can work for. It gives a limitation on how low wages can be, so people aren’t working for less, but for more. The Invisible Hand nudged people in the right direction so that they could work their best. Not only that, the Invisible Hand protects us, consumers, through acts and policies. For example, antitrust laws. Antitrust laws are developed by the government to protect consumers from predatory business practices and ensure fair competition. The practices include predatory acts to achieve and maintain a monopoly or price-fixing conspiracies. A common example is United States v. AT&T. Alexander Graham Bell invented the telephone in 1876, which started the foundation of the company that would soon become AT&T, American Telephone, and Telegraph. As the company began establishing a network of subsidiaries in the United States and Canada, it held a phone service monopoly. Since it was the only phone service, it could raise prices and sales freely. After all, what other company could they turn to if they disagreed with AT&T? In 1982, U.S. regulators broke up the company into 7 individual Bell companies. Now, not one, but multiple companies can compete with each other, bringing orders to the market. More examples of these acts and policies include the Equal Employment Opportunity ( EEO) or the Credit Card Protection (CCP). The EEO protects consumers/people from being discriminated against by race, color, religion, sex ( including pregnancy, transgender status, and sexual orientation), national origin, age, disability, or genetic info. This act applies to hiring, firing, promotions, harassment, training, wages, and benefits. So, consumers cannot be discriminated against during any work situation. Let’s use a real-world scenario to see how the Invisible Hand would protect consumers. Let’s say there is a gay couple, and they want to get their marriage certificate. Let’s say there’s only one person who can issue these marriage certificates or is the only one there. What would happen if they decide not to because gay marriage is against their religion? The EEO says that employees cannot be discriminated against by religion during any work situation, so what would happen? They would get fired for not doing their job. They are working for the government to issue these marriage certificates. They aren’t doing it, but are acting as the government. It is their job to do that. They can be fired because they are not doing their job. The Invisible Hand doesn’t just protect consumers. They also protect businesses through similar acts such as the Paycheck Protection Plan ( PPP) or T.A.R.P ( Troubled Asset Relief Program). The PPP is a loan designed to provide a “direct incentive for small businesses to keep their workers on the payroll.” Finally, the Invisible Hand helps make taxes fair and efficient. Consider the term, Equality Among Equals. The most favored tax system is the progressive tax. This system claims that higher salaries enable affluent people to pay higher taxes, and lessens the tax burden of the poor. How does this relate to Equality among Equals? Well, equals of the same salaries will pay equal tax. So, millionaires will pay the same tax as other millionaires and people with slightly less salaries will pay the same tax as people with the same salary range as them. The Invisible Hand truly is what brings the market to order. It is everywhere and helps everyone, both businesses, and consumers in similar yet different ways. I have to say, for my first research paper, it went pretty okay. The first time I tried it I stressed out and spent such a long time on it, but now, I had a slightly easier time. Anyway, see you in the next post. Bye!

Part 82- ( Statistics Galore – not really)

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic, Politics , , , ,

So, today we have a very, INTERESTING, blog for you. This one is about statistics, one of my least favorite things in the world because it is BORING. But, I guess I have to do so anyway, so yeah….. Let’s get on with it. 

So, this post is called, ” Social issues are top of mind.” This is about the protests. About polls from Texans on the protest. A few examples are, supporting black lives matter, removing confederate statues, renaming military bases, and etc. Today, we’re just going to discuss, not all, only a few, of these numbers and polls and data and talk about what it means, or I’m just writing what it means to me and y’all are reading my opinions and thoughts. Anyway, let’s get on with it. So, the first poll was on “Support Black Lives Matter.” In case you don’t know, George Floyd, a black man, was killed after saying a numerous amount of times that he can’t breathe, while a white officer pinned him down with his knee to Mr. Floyd’s neck. This has sparked outrage all over the world, especially in the U.S., creating protest, that I think are still going on. This happened in May, so it has been at least 1 month and a half. So, it is polled as Republicans, Democrats, and Individuals, but we’re just going to look at the overall. ( this is out of 1,909 adults- though the overall total says 1,859) So, 29% think that the protest has made them more likely to support teh goals of BLM, 33% say no change and 37% say it’s less likely. In my opinion, I would have to go with the less likely. I mean, I believe, especially when it first started, that these protests were extremely wild. Burning police stations and looting shops, rioting, and vandalism, that isn’t helping with this other than causing destruction across your own city. I’m not saying that black lives don’t matter, I believe that all lives matter, only that the protests haven’t made me likely to support the goals of the BLM movement. Next one.
Deploying U.S. military at protests. 22% say that they strongly support this, 18% support it, 22% NEITHER supports nor opposes it, 13% oppose it, and 25% strongly oppose it. I mean, this is a bit of a hard one. These protests did- or still are- get out of hand and went as far as burning a Wendy’s after another black man was killed in it’s drive-through, but is it really necessary?? I know right now that due to COVID, there might have been some military action called off- maybe- but do we really need this. I mean, these are soldiers trained and prepared for wars and battles and attacks, and we’re going to deploy them for protests? Then again, teh police have tried as much as they can to settle the protesters down, which has not been going well. So, I have to say, I’m with that 22% who NEITHER oppose nor oppose it. 
Defunding the police. 12% strongly support this, 15% support it, 26% neither oppose nor support it, 18% oppose it, and 30% strongly oppose it. Well, why should we defund the police? Is this because of a murderous act, and something similar happening 2x in other states? I understand how bad it is, that this officer killed George Floyd, but why, why, why, should we defund the police. Think about before this happened. The police have stood for us, protected us, helped us every day. They risk their lives for us and do their best to uphold the law. When you think about it, in human nature, killing is not part of us. It was in the heat of the moment of what happened. If the officer heard teh rage and panic in George Floyd’s voice, maybe this wouldn’t have happened. But still, it was not right to do that. Not right at all. I am NOT on STRONGLY OPPOSE, but rather, only on, OPPOSE. It’s not something I fully agree with or have all my opinion set on, but that doesn’t mean that I think we should defund the police. What happens after this, after the protests might be over or when CORONA is over. Are we left without a justice system, a team of people to help us, and try to support and follow the law? What happens if that becomes our future?
So, these were only a few of the polls recorded in the paper. I’m merely giving my opinion and thought about it, and I hope you also have an opinion. Write tomorrow, BYE!

Part 81- Legally vs. Ethically

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Law and Justice, Life during Pandemic ,

HI!! I have some important news before we begin our discussion on legally vs. ethically. My blog posts will be updated to different titles. They will no longer be Life of 12 years old- Coronavirus Lockdown- Part  __ but instead will have correct or more relevant titles. They will still be part of the Coronavirus log, but not titled it. So, without any hesitation, let us start our blog!!! 

Now, this blog will also refer back to my other post on foreign students. It will refer to my opinion and President Trump’s opinion, and several other examples that aren’t related to that blog but are to this topic. 
Let’s start with what these two words mean. Legal ( to shorten down legally) is what is set forth in government laws, or has some accordance with the law. Ethics is more about right and wrong in behavior, and in general. There are three different options. To be legally right and ethically right, to be legally right and ethically wrong, and legally wrong and ethically right. To make this more into perspective, we’re going to look at President Trump’s decision for sending students back to their home country.  Just a little while ago, President Trump declared that he wanted all foreign students to go back to their home country. Where he stands, as president, he is allowed to do that. He can come up with that idea, say it, declare it, etc. So, he is legally right, because he is allowed to do that, but ethically, wrong. It wasn’t the right thing to do. These students have come into a brand new country, foreign to THEM, in culture, language, style, etiquette, and so much more. There was a post in today’s newspaper. “Foreign students fear deportation.” ( Here is the link to the post. I couldn’t find the one on the website, but instead found it here.) It says, ” …We already paid so much money just to go to school here. We’re already having to pay two to three times the normal tuition just to do this, and now that things are “inconvenient”, they’re just going to send us all home.” This was said by 24-year-old, Indonesian Jadha Gunawan. This is true. Usually, college fees and tuitions are more expensive for foreign students than those who are citizens of that country. I’m not sure if it everywhere else as well, but I know that it is like that here in the U.S. If a student of the U.S. or citizen of it, were to pay $100 for the college, the foreign studnets would have to pay possibly $150. It’s really expensive, as well as the flight here, which would also cost more. Maybe, some of these students come from families with not a lot of money. This has already put so much onto them. It’s like their money was wasted because of this. So, in this case, President Trump would have been ethically wrong in his decision.
I have to say, he wasn’t the only one wrong in that. I also said that that should happen- but only because I thought it would help them more. This was before legal and ethics were put into my mind. After that, I thought of this in a different way. Though I thought differently, it made me wonder, would my opinion instead be ethically right than wrong? I wanted this to happen because I thought it would help teh students. It would be terrible if they got infected. Some of them might have come alone, and may not realize they have the virus. The U.S. would be blamed for this, by the students’ country, and who knows. Maybe that country wouldn’t ket those students to go back. After what happened, it’s like, who can trust them to take care of our people? I didn’t want that to happen. So, then again, would it be ethically right, or still wrong?
Let’s look at another example. This one is legally wrong and ethically right. In some stories, like fairytales, or just stories, or even real life, there has been this particular part. Where a husband breaks into a shop to get medicine for his sick wife at night. Now, you might be, why, did, you DO THAT? Breaking into a shop and stealing is not a good idea. It is not. But, you have to also understand the reason why. Would you also do that if your wife or family member or loved one were sick or needed help? That was what the man was doing. He knew he would get in trouble, but he had a good reason why he did it. Legally, he was wrong for breaking into the shop, but ethically, right, because he just helped someone. 
In my opinion, I believe that we should all aim for being legally and ethically right. It’s right on both sides, not just one. Even if you can’t, choose the one you believe is the right one. Like the man getting medicine for his wife. Though it was breaking a law, he helped his wife get better. Think about that. 
All right, I hope you have hopefully learned quite a lot form this post like I did, and start making choices based on this. I hope you all are well. BYE!!!!!
 

Part 78- ICE, foreign students, and opinions

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Law and Justice, Life during Pandemic, Social Responsibilities ,

Hello! Today’s post is actually on another news story from today. This is about Foreign students facing a ban.  And this is in school.  ICE says that they must leave the U.S. if colleges move classes online. 

President Trump has insisted that schools and colleges return to in-person-instruction as soon as possible. “After this guideline was released, President Trump repeated on Twitter that schools must reopen this fall, adding that Democrats want to keep schools closed for political reasons, not for health reasons.” The main point here is that international students must take at least some of their classes in person, and new visas will not be issued to students or programs that are entirely online. This means that they will be sent back to their original country. Now, you may think that this may not be fair, but President Trump has a valid point when he issued this. If these students get sick, then they will have to be treated by the U.S. ” Of particular concern is a stipulation saying students won’t be exempt from the rules even if an outbreak forces their schools online during the fall term. It’s unclear what would happen if a student ended up in that scenario but faced travel restrictions from their home country.” I didn’t fully understand this, but I have managed to understand enough. What I think they are saying, is that they aren’t free form the rules even if an outbreak forces their schools online. I am not sure what it exactly means, but I do understand that it would be challenging to know or figure out what would happen if a student did end up in this scenario but has restrictions from their home country on traveling.  What “scenario”? The one mentioned above? 
Anyway, it would also be bad if this happened because, what if a student ahs coronavirus, but shows no symptoms. They would go back to their country and possibly spread the virus further, and maybe it is a mutated version that is possibly not in that country. Plus a lot of the students who go to the colleges are foreign, and if they lose those foreign students, then they would lose a lot. ( Money and such to keep the school running)  Though, I am not entirely sure how this would happen- losing money/ students. 
In MY opinion, I think that the foreign students be sent back to their country. WHY? Because them in the U.S. makes it the United States’ responsibility for them and if they get infected, the U.>S would be the ones in trouble. But, before they do go- hopefully, this will happen no matter what- they have their temperatures checked, and be tested for COVID before leaving. If they are positive then they should be kept in teh U.S. so there is no risk spreading it further into their home country. Once they get back to their home country, let them continue their classes. Though, question, if they are supposed to take some classes in person- like President Trump requested-  and they are back in their country, away from the U.S., then would that be a problem? Would something happen like they wouldn’t be able to continue their classes? If so, then I think they should probably stay in teh U.S. and continue classes from there.
Anyway, I hope I have given a fair opinion on this, and that you have learned something new like I did. I hope everyone stays safe, healthy, and strong. BYE!

Part 73- The news relates to me, hopefully

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic, Me and My Family , ,

You know what sucks the most in life, having an Indian dad. You know where I’m going with this. yup, dad has become once again, the most annoying person on the planet.  So, I was going to finish up a different post that I didn’t get to publish as my post for today, BUT, my plans have changed so, let’s get on with this. 

What I have read in the news that relates to me: 
Pretty much the only thing I can see or can find that relates to me is about the COVID cases. I probably do not have COVID, but to have more caution as cases may start to rise is relates to me. ( First, before continuing, please note that I am just figuring out what to do with this topic that just came up as I write this) 
Fauci: 100,000 cases daily possible is what I chose. Dr. Fauci from teh government’s top infectious- disease specialist says/ warns that teh U.S. could soon start to have 100,000 new Coronavirus cases a day “if this does not turn around”. He says that it would be a surge that would be more than twice as many as the record and three times as many as the peak of the original surge this spring. This means, that what’s coming next is going to me 2x as more than what happened this spring. There have been a lot of images of Americans gathering in bars or other crowds which is foreshadowing a greater surge in infections. I’m guessing that this is because more than half of them probably aren’t wearing masks. I mean, it doesn’t relate to me that much, but it does. It means that I have to be more careful, which I don’t really think is possible;le. To be honest, I pretty much do NOTHING in my house as I continue to wish for this pandemic to be over. I only go outside for morning walks, and otherwise, I don’t go far. But, that means that my parents, who go out, have to be more careful. I knwo that they are, with gloves, and masks and full-on hand sanitizing whenever they really need to or when they are in contact. Yes they do all this, but who knows, the virus could infect them even when they think they were protected enough. The world is changing by this. And it’s not in a good way. 
Is this only in the U.S. or is it going to be everywhere? Probably just in the U.S. Another thing, President Trump has said that he wants to reduce teh testing so there are fewer cases. First, less testing does not mean that teh cases will be fewer, but that the number of cases that are known about will be fewer. Second, I don’t think that’s a good idea. Yes, this is getting out of hand wildly, but it will probably is much worse if there is less testing. Fewer people can get hospitalized quickly and can actually know whether they have COVID or not. I don’t even know where we are on teh number of cases for the U.S. I stopped looking/ checking the numbers. All I know or think I know is that the numbers for cases have been going up, up, up. And they have not been getting better that much lately. 
Ok, I really have to go. I really need to finish something up, which is going to be trouble for me if I don’t do. Ok, signing off, bye! 

Life of 12 year old- Coronavirus lockdown- Part 50

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic , ,

We are 50 parts in. Congrats!!!! So, I didn’t write yesterday but before we continued our discussion I wanted to give a quick update on things. There is a curfew set in downtown areas across America because of the protests, I have finished my book- The Alchemyst- after reading it forever- which is so unlike me, and, my good friend got me a late birthday present which was so unnecessary!!!! It was really sweet of her. So I’m actually getting 2 presents, one came yesterday, and it is adorable. It is 3 pens, all with seal faces and in different colors, and fine-tipped- meaning they are great at writing notes and doing borders of artwork!  Anyway, let’s continue. I know I said that I was going to continue to write about George Floyd, but dad has talked to me about not writing about what I feel on the topics I’m writing on. Such as deficit, or National Debt. I don’t write what I feel or think. So, I guess that is what I am writing about.

So, to be honest, I don’t think I’ve understood a whole lot about deficit. I do think that it is sad. To not be able to earn more than you can spend is sad. Without saving, like I gave an example on, people might only have less food than they can eat. They might go to bed starving, or they might not have food for the next few days. I mean, I really feel bad for them. It’s quite upsetting that people have to go to bed without food or something and to think, kids may also go through this. It’s just really upsetting. Especially at this time- during corona- oh, it’s terrible! 
Now, when we go to National Debt, I’m not sure. See, taxpayers have to pay a tax, but the tax looks awfully high by the time I’m going to be able to pay my taxes. Is the U.S. actually saving money and cutting off spending on unnecessary things to lower the debt??????? Not as I’m aware. The National debt actually makes me angry. ( Well, for the U.S. National Debt) I mean, lately, President Trump has increased more than 21% since he took over the presidency. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or not, but according to thebalance, President Trump has promised to eliminate our national debt in 8 years, but he has increased it instead. So, what has he done so much that has made this happen?? Now, with the debt rising higher and higher, the tax also rises. Just, can’t a president try to eliminate most of the tax. I mean, President Trump said he would, and he gave ways he would, but has he tried them, or has he done them??????? The only reason why taxpayers are giving taxes to the government is that the debt is rising higher, and the government is not saving that much!!!!!!! So, I guess, national debt makes me angry. Angry? I guess. 
OK, I wrote later than expected, yeesh, so I need to wrap up. This was such a short and maybe lame blog but it at least got my thoughts out. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy. Bye!!!!!!

Life of a 12 year old- Coronavirus Lockdown- Part 49

Rovija Khapre 0 Comment Life during Pandemic , ,

So, there was one specific piece of news that has stuck out and is recent news. There is this man, George Floyd, and he um, he was murdered by a police officer who had pinned him down on the ground, with his knee to George Floyd’s neck. Even while George Floyd was saying that he couldn’t breathe, the officer continued to pin him down and actually killed him. This particular topic is going to be a long one as it includes quite a lot of information and research, so that is why I am going to talk about one part of this topic, and that is the killing. Now, what picture is on the news is one that is taken from a witness who was videoing, and usually, videos aren’t the full story or details about something. Witnesses only see what has happened then, so that could mean that the witnesses had sawn only the officer pining George Floyd down. They might have not seen what might have really happened. But, this is what happened according to the news. From The Denver Post, people have been outraged and are protesting on his death. I am not entirely sure on what George Floyd was doing that made the officers handcuff and pin him. But, I do know that the people of Minnesota, the state where George Floyd lived and was killed, have gone as far as looting, breaking into stores, raiding, riots, and even police stations and other buildings were burned or torched to the ground according to CNN, and NBC NEWS. Now, I understand why everyone is extremely upset and wants justice for this act. because, even though George Floyd was saying he can’t breathe, the officers continued pinning him down. Yes, that was very wrong, but think of this. Maybe thousands of cops are shot each year by criminals or people who are breaking the law and these innocent officers are doing their own job. Maybe Mr. Floyd was threatening to do that or not allowing arrest, and that caused the officers to calmly do their jobs that they would have done if this were to happen. But, this brings us to the point, pinning someone down on their neck, and not moving the knee or pinning object to some other place when the victim is repeatedly pleading and saying that they can’t breathe and letting them die, is NOT THE BEST ACTION AND NOT OKAY. IT IS VERY WRONG AND THE WORST WAY TO PIN SOMEONE. 

Okay, so we have finished part one of this. The next part relates to maybe the reason why Mr. Floyd was arrested. I hope everyone has a Fabulous Friday and a lovely weekend!!!!!