Friday's Class

This past week's thought and writing class was quite the learning experience. We learned about certain methods of storytelling and characterization through a movie called "Carrie." In the movie, Carrie is a socially awkward misfit that is tortured by all the "normal" children. The movie is quite thought provoking because it forces us to choose the lesser of evils. What the kids did to Carrie was certainly unjust, but what Carrie did to all those kids at the prom may have been more unjust. Was it? Would she have done it had those kids not committed such an injustice in the first place? Or maybe the mom is the ultimate wrongdoer. Had she not raised Carrie to be such a recluse and out of touch with the outer world, maybe Carrie would not have reacted in such a way. But were the mom's intentions good? If they were, does it matter? An unjust act is an unjust act, independent of intentions. (Some people see murder as justified, but does that make it so?)

Alibaba

Last Friday, "China's Amazon" finally went public. The E-Commerce giant known as "Alibaba" opened for trading at sixty eight dollars a share, and closed it's first trading day at ninety two dollars and seventy three cents. For those of you that don't know what Alibaba does, Alibaba is an online marketplace, specializing in wholesale industrial equipment. Businesses can buy from other businesses, (and quite large purchases, I must add) right there on Alibaba, without ever seeing a firm representative. Multi-million dollar transactions take place on Alibaba every day.

To put in my two cents about the stock: BUY SHARES NOW! China's construction industry is going to see a boom in the next few years as they modernize around their big cities. Guess where the best place to buy steel and wood in bulk is? Get them while they are only ninety two dollars a piece.

Cultural Baggage

I found the short story "Cultural Baggage" to be quite satirical, and quite interesting. The reason I believe the story to be in some way satire is because the woman responds to her friends request for information about her cultural roots with none, and then goes on to explain the rich heritage of the culture of "none." The satire comes full circle when, at the very end, the author says: "My chest swelled with pride, as I know my mother's would, to know that the race of "none" marches on with pride. She makes fun of her own response to saying her race could be described as "none," but to show the deep roots of the race of none, or the race which has no race.

Equal Pay for Equal Work Laws, and the harm they cause.

With all the talk in the news about equal pay for equal work laws, I feel it necessary to share my view. Amidst all of the talk from the left saying that the right is launching a "war on women," I seek to respond to such accusations by saying it is the Liberals, the advocates of equal pay laws, that are launching this war. The left is essentially defeating the purpose of equal pay laws, by having equal pay laws; let me explain.
Let us first ask a question: What is the point of equal pay for equal work laws? I think it is fair to say that the reason for an equal pay law is to stifle the sexist boss. One of the main reasons for having this law is to stop employers from being sexist; from selecting a man to do a job simply because he likes working with men better, even though the woman is just as qualified, or even slightly more qualified. The other (obvious) goal is to get the women that do get hired the same wage as their male counterparts. Fair objectives, I don't object to the idea whatsoever, but most people look at this issue in terms of the cause (the cause is good), and not the actual effect it has (which is where we need to be looking). With an equal pay for equal work law, a given employer bears no cost for being sexist, whereas right now, without the law, he does. If "If Boss Man Jim" has to choose between two resumes, he is presumably going to pick the most qualified employee. So, let us look at a scenario. "Boss Man Jim" needs a new accountant on the team. He receives several applications, but two stand out from the crowd; the resume from John, and the one from Jennifer. Both John and Jennifer went to Stanford, they both have a BA in accounting, both graduated with a 3.9 GPA, both interned at the same company for the same time and got similar reviews, but Jennifer, in addition, was on the board of Stanford's accounting club. Jennifer is ever so slightly placed ahead of Jim in terms of experience. Now, "Boss Man" can hire Jim for $100,000 a year, or Jennifer for $80,000 a year (because that is the rate she charges). If "Boss Man" is smart, even if he is sexist, he will hire Jennifer. She costs less and is slightly more qualified to do the job. So if "Boss Man" is sexist, he must go against all logic and hire a slightly less qualified employee, AND pay him an additional $20,000. Here is where things get interesting. If we do have equal pay for equal work laws, "Boss Man" HAS to pay Jennifer the same as John. Now, if "Boss Man" is a sexist employer, he bears no cost to be sexist and doesn't have to defy logic to hire John. His reasoning goes like this: "Well I could pay John $100,000 to work here, or I could pay Jennifer $100,000 to work here... Seeing as how I bear no cost, I might as well select John, I like working with men better."
The cumulative effect of Equal Pay laws is to keep women out of new professions. We should instead let the free markets run their course. If women's skills are proven to be equal or higher in a certain field they will be paid the same or even more. Two great examples of that are nursing and therapy. We have to get a sense of proportion. Under oppressive circumstances (and it is unfortunate that it was this way) women have not been in the workforce that long. It takes time to develop these skills. I Believe that women ARE equal to men. I believe they have the exact same capacity to lead a company just as good as a man or better if they have the drive to do it. This is exactly why I will fight equal pay laws. I will fight these equal pay laws because I wish to see equal pay for equal work.

Friday's Class

I believe one of the best ways to learn is to read and discuss. Too many teachers today send students off on reading assignments, memorize what they read, and take a test on it. Very few still do open discussions. I think this is a crime. It robs students of the ability to get multiple perspectives on a reading. Fortunately, I do not have to criticize "Thought and Writing" as a class in which this horrible injustice takes place. I learned a lot on Friday, and it was thanks to the open discussions. One of the best things I got out of that class was a new perspective on life in 1959. The description the author gave of the man's experience on the day Billy Holiday died said a lot. We were able to dissect the reading and figure out who the man was, where he came from, what his motives were, the way he thought, where he worked, and his general attitude. It is quite interesting that we can infer so much from a simple, well written poem.

Introduction

Hello, my name is Jackson Pacific and I am a student of economics here at WMU. I really enjoy studying economics, and it is not only my future profession, but it has become a hobby. Aside from that, in my free time I enjoy running, weightlifting, and watching Netflix. My favorite movie, without a doubt, is "Dead Poets Society."