Category Archives: Economic Issues

Is Being Rich Always A Good Thing?

April 1, 2019 815917 Leave a comment

Is being rich always really a good thing? By Jamie Kaine and Avery Jones

Rich becoming lazy and showing little interest in trying to solve Rome’s problems was an issue way back when, but when looking at today’s economy, you see a very similar issue.

Is a 5% donation too big for billionaires?

How many times have you said “I’ll just do it later?” Almost everyone, right?

Well, billionaires think the same way. They think that all of these issues needing help, and problems needing solutions, will still be there in 10 or even 20 years. This doesn’t push them to donate large amounts towards all of these issues, because they can “just do it later,” right? Or can they?

Are billionaires becoming “bothered” by charities?

The answer to that question is no, the rich are the ones bothering the charities.

Being asked to do something after you finish what you are doing is something that no one enjoys, but this happens on a day to day basis. From teachers asking you to do a paper after your test, to your mom telling you to do your chores after your homework. The rich feel the same.

They are asked to donate money to charities that need the help, but say they’re “too busy or bothered” to do anything at all. Though it is their money and they are not requires to, it is a great thing to do since they have so much wealth and are earning more and more everyday. But sometimes, they don’t see it that way.

Rich don’t donate due to their “values not aligning”

Finding an organization that believes in all the same things you do, is against all the things you are against, and supports all the things you support, can be very challenging sometimes. People with more money are often very particular about where their hard earned cash is going.

Say there’s a charity that gives 85% of donations towards a foundation you believe in, and keeps the other 15%, a lot of people see this and do not think twice. But often times, people with more wealth feel that 100% of all donations should go towards the foundation they choose, and if they don’t, oftentimes, they will not donate a lot of money towards that foundation.

Finding a charity you fully support and where donations go directly to the foundation can be rare, people with wealth are even more specific with where their money is really going.

It does not take long to figure out what things you like and don’t like, after that it’s just a matter of what charity will make the most of your money, but most don’t even take the time to think about what they do or do not like.

Will rich go broke after donating small portions to charity?

This is a silly question that most billionaires fear and most people with regular incomes laugh at simply because, this will not happen.

If you had $10 and you gave away $5, then yes, you could fear the thought of losing the rest of your money easily. But if you have $72 billion, and are making even more everyday and won’t even give $10 of that away, that may be an issue.

5% of one billion dollars is fifty million. That sure does seem like a lot, but if you think about it, that is only 5% of their wealth, they still have literal millions left. And even less than that, 0.1% of one billion is one million.

0.1%!!!!!!!

But when you have 100 dollars and spend 10 and see that how much you have is no longer three digits, you may panic. There are so many millionaires and billionaires that fear that number of digits going down, that it really never does.

Many of the wealthy with millions or even billions are scared of giving even the slightest bit of money away from the fear of losing it all and going broke, which is crazy and not at all a rational fear

Economic Issues

How the wealthy people is affecting our U.S. today

April 1, 2019 arlyn Leave a comment

by: Arlyn Vega and Keo Martinez

Have you ever noticed how the wealthy people in the us have been affecting us in a negative way? Well… its time to start opening your eyes on how they affect our world today. It seems like nowadays the less fortunate are trying to make an impact in our world and the wealthy grew to be more apathetic and lazy.

It says that an average person spends 10% of their life actually doing their job.

Do you ever wonder what the other 90% are doing instead of their jobs? The average person spends 13 years and two months at work, according to one analysis from HuffPost Australia. People have grown to become lazy where they get easily distracted for example phones and friends.

People have been focused in their own lives that work started to become much less of a priority and more like daily chore.

It seems like their jobs have become less enjoyable so they’ve grown to become lazy.

The less amount you work the same amount of money you still get?

Back then if you put in enough effort in your job you could get paid more or earn a good amount of money on your paycheck. Nowadays, People have been lacking on their jobs and put a minimum amount of effort and still earn a bunch of money.

Wealthy people put a lot of effort in work including the poor but the amount of effort they put in can be very sad. I say that the bosses should start opening their eyes and see how low can be.

Can being wealthy change how you are?

“Wealthy people experience more positive emotions when focused on themselves, new research suggests. Or to put it another way; being rich makes you self-centered and selfish. As the old adage goes, money can’t buy you happiness but it seems that it does have an zimpact on what brings you joy.” Wealthy have been selfish nowadays and not so careful with their money so it looks like. Looks like they are not exactly model citizens.

Have you started noticing how they use their money especially anyone famous on social media. They use their money on useless stuff in my opinion.

As wealthy they can be instead of spending their money on stuff they don’t need instead, they can spend it more on things that are necessary.

The wealthy have grown to be apathetic towards the US today. The more wealthy they be the more sluggish they start to get.

Researches and sources

Economic Issues, Political Issues, Social Issues

Is the U.S.Following In the Footsteps of Rome?

April 1, 2019 Cherise Leave a comment

By: Cherise Woodfolk and Nicole Feipel

Improving Our Country vs. Working for the Money?

In our world, more money equals more opportunities.

It’s the key to worlds others don’t have access to, you just have to pay your way through.

To be a politician it would be extremely helpful to have loads of money to spend on your campaign. How many people in our world today do their jobs just for the money?

I was surprised by the amount of people that don’t like their jobs yet go to them everyday just so they could pay the bills. According to The Washington Post “only 13 percent of people worldwide actually like going to work, 63 percent are “ not engaged” – or are simply unmotivated and unlikely to exert extra- while the remaining 24 percent are “actively disengaged” or truly unhappy or unproductive”.

A politician is someone who contributes in how the country is run. He/she is normally part of a political party which is a group that shares similar beliefs. Politicians have an influence on what laws may get passed. While also doing their jobs they may be pursuing personal interests, to increase the amount of money they recieve and doing everything they can to stay in that position of power.

U.S. Complications vs. Rome’s Issues

Here are some of the many reasons why Rome’s Roman empire fell.

The first problem was that overtime Rome’s citizens felt no duty or connection to the Roman Empire.

During the time of the Pax- Romana many romans were not interested in helping or improving the Roman Empire. Emperors became infamous in ruling authority because they would waste money on unnecessary stuff.

When comparing Rome to the U.S. there are definitely some things that the U.S may spend money on that one may call trival. For instance, Trump’s wall. Some may argue this is a good decision made by the government., while others may say it’s completely uncalled for.

The United States spending budget for the military is slowly increasing every year to 700 billion dollars.

Back to Rome. Rome suffered due to their Public Health complications. Many of the wealthy romans brought water to their home without using aqueducts. The wealthy romans used pipes to bring their water to their homes, lead pipes which caused lead poisoning and many wealthy romans died because of this. Some deaths occured Coliseum.

Since loads of romans were placed in the arena of the Coliseum, diseases were spread quite easily because people passes to diseases on to each other just by coming in contact with one another.

America’s Public Health is completely different, but much better. The United States struggles with drug addiction, mental health, and helping global health, though there are solutions and help available for most of the U.S’s problems.

The last obstacle Rome faced was their military spending. Rome spent loads of money on their military to defend their borders and block the barbarians attacks. Due to this the military spending left few resources for vital activities. For example maintaining and keeping the roads and aqueducts in good quality.

Americans military spending also quite large but for good reason. The accounted military spending is a little more than 50%. The exact number is 589.5 billion dollars.

Comparing the 2, the U.S. does spend a lot on the military, but we also have enough money to pay for other expenses which Rome failed to do.

Is the U.S. Next?

This is what you’ve all been waiting for, the big question of whether or not the U.S. will end the way Rome did. The answer is . . . no the U.S. will not end the same way Rome did. Why you may ask? Well based on the 2 other head titles you’ve read, show just how different the two are, and for good reason I may add. Where Rome failed the U.S. is flourishing.

By: Cherise Woodfolk and Nicole Feipel

Economic Issues

Why America Is NOT The Next Roman Empire

April 1, 2019 816948 Leave a comment

By: Tyler Lin, Anthony Tran

Today in class we were learning about the economy in Rome.

That lead my partner and I to wonder if the United States of America has the same issues that the Roman Empire had.

Rome’s economy was a big reason as to why the empire eventually fell, but will that be a reason America could possibly fall?… just as Rome did.

We are here to tell you that AMERICA IS NOT like Rome. Here is why.

America Is NOT The Next Roman Empire.

A big part of the fall in Rome is due to the the economic difference between the rich and the poor. The patricians(upper class) were getting more rich while the plebeians(lower class) where becoming more poor.

Furthermore, the middle in Rome was not in good condition because they were crashing into the ground;in other words they were becoming more independent.

Another reason the economic difference was a factor in the down fall of Rome was because the plebeians were not happy that the patricians had more land then them and that they were making more money; in turn this would lead into a civil war between the classes. Finally the economy in Rome was declining.

The Rich Get Richer

Looking at the economic difference between the rich and poor in the US we can get a better understanding if the US is becoming more like Rome. We would know if the economic is like the Roman Empire.

The top 1% Americans make a average of $250,000 a year; on the other hand the bottom 50% combine makes less than the top 1%.

The top 1% of American are taxed 24.7% in a study done in 2014; in the same study people making around $75,00 are taxed 19.7%.

In another study people making $19,000 a year- pay around 11% of income taxes. Which makes up the bottom 10%.

According into “financial samurai” the top 1% work less hours than people making $20,00. However they get paid more, get more benefits, and have more personal time. On the other hand people making $20,000 work upward of 100 hours a week.

Investigator states, “The middle class makes around $40,500 and $122,000 a year”

The middle class is also taxed around 20%.

Which means that people that are in the middle class system and make about $60,000 a year have to pay $12,000 of tax that same year.

The Hard Fact

With all this said it is our belief that the U.S. is not like Rome economical, because their economy is for stable and constant. We believe this because of the laws set in place to make the system fair and equal, also people that make more money tend to work harder earlier on and later in life they are repaid with more money and less work hours.

On the other hand people that work longer typically wasted most of their early life and were not benefited later in life. Which means that people that work longer is typically people that aren’t as wealthy as people that work shorter days and shorter weeks. People that used their time in there earlier years are more likely to have a better job.

Economic Issues, Political Issues

How Rome Fell & Is America Following it’s Footsteps?

April 1, 2019 1012515 Leave a comment

By: Edward, Scotty

Political unrest

There were many reasons for the fall of the Roman Empire. The ones being covered on this site are Government difficulties, Roman inflation, and the size of the empire.

Government difficulties

The man nation was divided into two parts eastern and western Rome. Since they weren’t united and the nation was too wide to be governed by two people it was vulnerable to invasion by barbary nomadic tribes.

The western tribe had more problems then the east so it was taken over first. Apart from the invasions, they had a number of other problems.

Deceptive generals corrupted the society. The gap between rich and poor was too great making many citizens go crazy out of jealousy. The rich people were not interested in solving these problems and did not put their money into these flaws.

Roman inflation

The roman economy suffered from inflation. Once romans stopped conquering new lands, gold

flow decreased. Even though gold flow decreased, gold was spent by romans to pay for luxury items.

Meaning there was less gold to use in coins. As the amount of gold decreased, the coins became less valuable. Because there was less gold, merchants were forced to raise prices on goods they sold.

Roman empire size

The Roman empire was too big because there were too many citizens and too much land. It could no longer remain a republic. No single empire could rule over everything Rome had. It was split in two and did stay stay for a couple more years but the divide meant that they needed to split power.

Rome wasn’t as powerful as it was in its prime which made it easier to attack. Eventually nomadic Barbarians invaded Rome when it was already suffering from the problems mentioned.

In conclusion, Rome had a rise and fall but that’s obvious. So will America have a rise and fall?

Economic Issues, Social Issues

Are the Poor Taxed More?

April 1, 2019 1012810 Leave a comment

Names: Mia Baltimore and Anna Lewczyk

Are the Poor Taxed More?

Have you ever wondered why someone else’s taxes are much less or much more than yours…

Overtaxing has been a growing issue in the United States that many Americans suffer from, and it does not help Americans are also being overworked and underpaid….

The richest people in the United States aren’t treated fairly with the amount that they pay with taxes. It’s unfair because many people work minimum wage jobs and they struggle to pay their bills and taxes. People with the highest income, don’t have to worry because they pay less in percentage than the poor and middle class Americans

How Much do Low Income Households Pay?

Most of the poor are paid less than $19,000 a year and 11% of that paycheck goes to state and local governments. Meaning if you make $19,000 you pay $2,090 in taxes.

America is known to be the most overworked country and America was #16 in the world’s highest income tax rate list in 2017. Alaska one of the most overworked states with 41.6 hours per week while New York is the highest taxed state in 2018 with a total of 13.04%.

Differences and Similarities?

Well, Rome’s citizens did not pay taxes so the country could not pay for their army. Unless America’s government is in debt, our army is being paid for. The differences add up but many other issues are the same too. There were ten main reasons why Rome fell, but the United States could not face some of these problems now. Starvation and disease was one of the reasons Rome fell, but unless a new virus emerged, our medical professionals would have it covered. Another reason that Rome fell was because of tribes taking over. While it is still possible, there is an unlikely chance that tribes would take over the whole country when we have advanced military weapons and officials.

Is America Becoming Rome?

As unbelievable as it might seem America is suffering from many of the same issues Rome suffered from hundreds of years ago. But overtaxing wasn’t the reason why Rome fell, Rome also had social and political problems that played a role in its downfall, but there is also a possibility that America could experience these same problems later on so is America becoming the new Rome?

Our Thoughts

Although America is facing many problems Rome had faced hundreds of years ago we do not believe America is the new Rome, When Rome fell it was a completely different time but now we have more advanced technology. There is way more that goes into a country falling nowadays then back in 476. The country could fall if many factors lined up such as wars, economic issues, and if our military did not care to fight anymore. The country could also fall due to environmental issues as well, but governmental issues are more probable. So in conclusion, we do not believe that America is gonna fall like Rome.

Roman America