Free Is There Such A Word Essays - DraftRamon Milian Rodriguez

Free: Is there Such a Word? Today, no matter what you do, you need money to do it. Right? Right! Shop. Travel. Make a phone call. You even need to spend money in order to make money. Money is real. People seem to be under the assumption that information wants to be free and that by enabling people to learn and follow their own interests will benefit society as a whole. Well, we no longer believe in society as a whole. We believe in the economy as a whole - a black hole! Why should you be able to think things, and even learn things, without paying somebody for that privilege? Let's get to brass tacks, the bottom line. Money. Money is reality. You see this printed dollar bill. It' s far more real than topsoil, oxygen, the ozone layer or sunlight. You may say that this is just a piece of paper with some symbols on it, but that's sacrilege! This is the almighty dollar. Most of the dollars we worship are actually stored in cyberspace. Dollars are just digital ones and zeros in a network of computers, but that doesn' t mean they're only virtual reality, and basically one big fantasy. No, dollars are utterly and entirely real, far more real than anything as vague as the public interest. If you're not a commodity, you don't exist! Of course there are many elements of our lives that exist outside the money economy. There's a lot going on in our lives that's not-for-profit and that can't be denominated in dollars. "The best things in life are free," the old saying goes. Nice old saying. Gets a little older-sounding every day. Sounds about as old and mossy as the wedding vow "for richer for poorer," which in a modern environment is pretty likely to be for-richer-or poorer following our prenuptial agreement. Commercialization, a favourite buzzword of mine. It's a very powerful phenomenon. It's getting more powerful year by year. Now we all must ask ourselves is anything really free? Is there such a word and if so what is its true definition? Many would say "Yeah there are a lot of things out there in the world that are free." but are they really is the questions? Can you believe that Melville Dewey once said, "free as air, free as water, free as knowledge?" Free as knowledge? Let's get real, this is the modern world --- air and water no longer come cheap! Hey, you want breathable air, you better pay your air conditioner's power-bill. Free as water? If you've got sense you buy the bottled variety or pay for an ionic filter on your tap. And free as knowledge? Well, we don't know what "knowledge" is, but we can get you plenty of data, and as soon as we figure out how to download it straight into the skulls of students, we can put all the teachers into the breadline. Now getting back to the fact of the air really being free. Yes, air does indeed have no economic value. The supply of air is plentiful and certainly the use of air by one person does not prevent the use of it by someone else. But how about all the money that is going into making this planet "environmentally safe"? The thousands of dollars that are going into keeping the air clean due to the years and years of pollutants that mankind has been pumping into the it. That certainly is not free. We breath in this compound composed of oxygen, nitrogen, carbon dioxide and other insignificant gases and never in our minds does the question arise about the worth of this indispensable compound. If it wasn't for the four-eyed chemists in their white lab coats concocting new methods of cleaning the air in order to make it "breathable". Where would we be? Probably in the world filled with dust, radiation and skyrocketing amounts of carbon dioxide. All this valuable research and data doesn't come cheap. Every time you get your paycheck and you notice a couple of dollars missing and don't really think anything of it. Think about it. Air is not free. It does have an economic value even if it is "hidden." Once upon

A Path to Forgiveness Student Loans Professor Ramos Blog

A Path to Forgiveness Student Loans When I was younger I met a guy that was about 4 years older then me, his name was Johnathan. We called him Jonny for short. Jonny worked with me at a â€Å"dead end† job, I eventually befriended him and learned his story. Here is his story. Jonny came from a middle-class family in Redlands. He attended Cal State San Bernardino, where he had to get many student loans in order to attend classes every semester and get his degree. He graduated with a bachelor’s in English and $55,000 in debt. Jonny was a very smart guy, but he just could not find a job that would pay him more then the $14.00 an hour he was making now. So eventually his 6-month grace period ended, and he had to start paying his student loans back, soon he started to fall behind on his other financial responsibilities because he had to pay his student loans. He had to move back in with his parents, almost lost his car and in the end his credit score was hit very hard. This was 3 years before I met Jonny. Now at this point Jonny has given up with trying to get a good job and has become as alcoholic due to financial stress which led to depression. Is there really what we want the bright minds of our society to fall into if they can’t afford to pay back student loans? If we forgive student loans, real life tragedies like Jonny would never happen. Student loans are a blessing for many people who would not be able to afford to go to college. They provide financial backing for these people to go to college without having to constantly stress on the thought â€Å"will I have enough money to register for classes next semester?† Student loans come in two forms subsidized and unsubsidized. The former does not accrue interest while the student is attending school. The later does accrue intertest while the student is in school. â€Å"The average student loan debt after graduation is $37,000.† (Gang 4) Imagine yourself just graduating college, what a joyous day! Now you start to think â€Å"I have a degree but roughly $37,000.00 in debt I have to pay back.† I know what you’re thinking $37,000.00 doesn’t sound so bad, but don’t forget the interest which is anywhere from 1-20% on the original amount borrowed. So back to imagining yourself after you graduated, wouldn’t it be nice to only ha ve to pay back some or even none of your student loan? Well, there is, and these programs are known as student loan forgiveness programs to help you with getting rid of your student loans. So, let me show you why we should forgive student loans. As a society we all benefit from people going to college and getting degrees, education helps us move society into the future. Most people do not want to be in debt and student loan debt â€Å"is now the second largest debt balance after mortgage indebtedness.† (McCarthy 1) Overtime people have come up with â€Å"forgiveness programs† for student loans. There are multiple types of programs available. Most of them do not completely pay off your student loans but can cut them down drastically. These programs are a huge incentive for people who want to go to college but must rely on student loans. Let’s talk about the effect of debt, and not just the obvious that you owe money that you sometimes can not pay. Debt has many psychological effects on people. The effects include but are not limited to â€Å"depression and high stress levels† (Chou) These psychological effects can majorly impact college graduates, especially newly grads. Imagine trying to find a job while being stressed out about being many thousands of dollars in debt. It will distract you from being able to completely focus. Now imagine that your going to become a teacher, public servant, doctor or joining the military. If you are going into one of these fields, you can get most of your student loan dismissed. Most of these programs do however require you to work for a minimum amount of time or a make a minimum amount of payments. President Trump has already made changes to student loans and their forgiveness programs. Most of these changes are very beneficially for students, Trump feels that the government should not profit from student loans but does not completely agree with student loan forgiveness. Previously if a portion or all your student loan was â€Å"forgiven† then it would be considered taxable income. For example, when you went to go do your taxes if you made $60,000 from your job and you had $40,000 in student loan forgiven your taxable income would be $100,000. This could leave people with tax debt, what is the point of losing your student loan debt, just to gain tax debt? In the passed bill H.R-1 it states â€Å"(Sec. 11031) This section temporarily modifies the exclusion of student loan discharges from gross income to exclude from gross income certain discharges on account of the death or total and permanent disability of the student.† (U.S. Congress) Before this bill was passed if a student was permanently disabled the student would still owe his student loan debt. If a student were to die, his family would inherit their debt. This bill has eliminated permanently disabled or dead students owing their student loans. Another program that Trump improved to help with student loans is the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. This program has long been in place but was in danger of being thrown out. As a temporary measure Trump has extended the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program. â€Å"The Public Service Loan Forgiveness (PSLF) Program forgives the remaining balance on your Direct Loans after you have made 120 qualifying monthly payments under a qualifying repayment plan while working full-time for a qualifying employer.† (Public Student Loan Forgiveness) I have shown you many facts about student loans and the negative impacts they can have before and after college. It can cause extra stress on top of the already stressful life’s we have that can easily turn into depression as you seen in Johnny’s story. I feel that as a society we can forgive student loans because the people who graduate college are very important to our society. If we did not have higher education, we would be a society filled with unintellectual people. So maybe next time a bill or law comes our way to help forgiveness of student loans. Think about all the negative effects of student loans and vote to help forgive student loans. WORKS CITED Chou, Eileen Y., et al. â€Å"Economic Insecurity Increases Physical Pain.† Psychological Science, vol. 27, no. 4, Apr. 2016, pp. 443–454, doi:10.1177/0956797615625640. Gang, Liang. â€Å"Institutional Factors Influencing International Student Graduation Rates and Debt† 24 August 2018, https://etd.auburn.edu/handle/10415/6339. Accessed 28 October 2018. McCarthy, Irene N., and Benjamin Rue Silliman. â€Å"An Earned Student Loan Repayment Program: A Tax Policy Proposal.† Journal of Business Accounting, vol. 8, no. 1, Fall 2015, pp. 27–50. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bshAN=112921358site=ehost-live. â€Å"Public Student Loan Forgiveness† https://studentaid.ed.gov/sa/repay-loans/forgiveness-cancellation/public-service Accessed 28 October 2018. PR Newswire. â€Å"Subsidized Versus Unsubsidized Federal Student Loans What’s the Difference? Ameritech Financial Offers Clarity.† PR Newswire US, 9 May 2018. EBSCOhost, search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=truedb=bwhAN=201805090800PR.NEWS.USPR.NY90626site=ehost-live. United States Congress. â€Å"H.R.1 - 115th Congress (2017-2018)† 22 December, 2017 https://www.congress.gov/bill/115th-congress/house-bill/1

California Alcoholic Beverage Control Research Paper

California Alcoholic Beverage Control - Research Paper Example The fact limits the restaurant for both drink in the restaurant and take away drinks. Application of the liquor license is at the department that deals with alcohol and beverage control in Bay area (Califonia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 2014). During this period of application, the following has to be met by the applicant. Apply and get the sales and tax permit. The permit is obtained at the sales and tax division in California ( Sate of California, 2014). The registration can be done online on their website. The applicant then registers with Board of Equalization online on their website (Califonia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control, 2014). The next step is to obtain the Federal basic permit at the alcohol and tax bureau. The timeline to obtain the license varies depending on the number of the applicant and an average of 45 to 60 working days. In the restaurant business, have a premise and ensure the all the application requirements are met. Possible technicality includes the zoning by the local government might hinder the choice of the