GLOBAL EFFECTS

Toyota ™  

 The earthquake and tsunami in Japan hit home in a big way. Toyota, the Japan based car company has been forced to cut production by half due to the devastating effects of the earthquake. The majority of the company’s parts are built in Japan then shipped out to its manufactures around the globe. Less parts means less cars the manufactures in America can produce. Because of that fact Toyota plants have decided to make their workweek shorter giving their employees a four-day weekend. With only being open three days a week the plants still only work at half production to stretch the resources they have left.

All of this equals one thing for those employees, less money in their paychecks. Many are being forced into getting second jobs to subsidize their income until the plant is back at full capacity. Although few are being faced with the tough reality that there are not many jobs out there to be had; especially for those individuals with no more than a high school diploma. When jobs like these are taking away or stripped to the bare bone our overall economy can suffer. The small towns in which most of these plants are take the brunt of the hit but it trickles over to everyone. With fewer cars being made Toyota dealerships have fewer products to sell. To lesion the blow to their bottom line they must raise prices forcing you to pay more for that shiny new car this summer.

This goes to show how intertwined our economy is with those of others all over the world. When a country we do business with is suffering its in our best interests to see them out of the rough times not only to get them back on their feet but to protect our own citizens. So next time someone asks you “why are we helping that country when we have our own problems” tell them this story and say, “So we don’t have more problems.”  

Works Cited
Bunkley, Nick. "Toyota Plans to Reduce Production for 6 Weeks." New York Times. 19 Apr. 2011. Web. 19 Apr. 2011. <http://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/20/business/global/20auto.html?ref=business>.

ADVERTISEMENT

Copyright 2011

Advertisement, the thing that is impossible to escape from. These days you can’t rent a movie, check your email, get on a plane, or drive to work with out being bombarded by advertisements. They’re all over the place. I even got on Facebook the other day and saw one in between two wall posts! Now I’m youst to advertisements along both sides of the screen but place one between my conversations is completely ridicules. 

            In 2010 companies spent over $26 billion dollars on trying to get us in their stores and buying their products (Vega). I for one would be okay with them cutting back on the advertisement, letting me enjoy my clean web pages and roads with a few less signs in exchange for cutting back their prices. I don’t know about you but I find it hard to fill up my gas tank and still have money to go out to eat. I defiantly don’t have the money to keep up with all the new “in” toys that are constantly on TV.

            I find it perplexing though sometimes when a restaurant spends so much money on TV adds and having the tallest sign on the street and forget the things that really count. Like the Taco Bell in my hometown looks like a really nice fast food restaurant from the outside but the inside is a disaster at best. Everything is covered with a layer of grime and all the workers look like they’ve never seen a bar of soap. All I’m saying is lower the price or improve your products instead of marketing the same stuff to me in a new way. 

GLOBAL COMMUNITY SERVICE

Photo by Matthew Jones
All Rights Reserved 

The International Missions Board otherwise known as IMB is with out a doubt the most well known religious based nonprofit. IMB is an entity of the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation’s largest evangelical denomination, claiming more than 40,000 churches with nearly 16 million members (About IMB par. 3). IMB currently has over 5,000 full time missionaries also known as field personnel across the globe. These field personnel are placed on all six major continents.

            They are actively involved in not only bettering the physical lives of millions of people but also attempting to better the spiritual lives of these individuals. They do this through taking food, clean water, medical supplies, and the love of Jesus with them. When an IMB missionary is placed in a country they are usually there until retirement age and sometimes even afterwards.

            What really sets the International Missions Board apart from other nonprofits is that they send 100% of donations directly into the field (How Missions Is Funded). These funds are used in the aid of food supplies, health crisis’s, human trafficking, human rights, and the spreading of the gospel. To put some perspective on how incredibly it is for the International Missions Board to be able to boast about putting 100% of donations into action over seas, the American Red Cross can only afford to use 90% on projects (BBB Financial sec).   The other 10% is divided between advertisement and administrative cost. Now in my opinion the American Red Cross is the most recognizable nonprofit ever, who is able to make a difference in millions of lives across the planet. So for IMB to out do them on this one effect is no easy task.

THE WORLD WE LIVE IN

(AP Photo/Kyodo News)

            Because of the horrendous catastrophe that occurred towards the end of last week I have decided to switch gears a little bit and show the more positive side of our world. If by chance you live in a cave atop some far off mountain and have no clue of what I’m talking about here is a little background. Last Friday an astonishing 9.0 earthquake struck just off the northern coast of Japan causing a large tsunami to strike the island resulting in the deaths of more than 4000 people with that number expected to rise (CNN). There are also over 2200 people still missing or reported injured (CNN).

            Whenever something like this happens it always seems to remind us of what is truly important and allows us to put things in perspective. It is truly heartwarming to see how the entire world has begun to rally around Japan sending their support in forms of teams or money. After only four days donors just in America have raised over $47,000,000 in relief funds (Preston). I love how no matter what is going on in the world when something this devastating happens everyone forgets about their petty problems and asks themselves what can I do to help.

            I know it is so easy to only see the bad in whatever is around you but I think it is necessary to go out and look for the good as well. Because you always hear about the guy who got robbed at gunpoint but never about the person who freely gave.

Citation

Preston, Caroline, and Nicole Wallace. "Donors Give More than $47-Million for Japan Relief Efforts - News - The Chronicle of Philanthropy- Connecting the Nonprofit World with News, Jobs, and Ideas." The Chronicle of Philanthropy. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://philanthropy.com/article/Donors-Give-More-than/126747/.

"Japan Quake Tsunami." This Just In - CNN.com Blogs. Web. 16 Mar. 2011. http://news.blogs.cnn.com/2011/03/16/japan-quake-live-blog-death-toll-expected-to-rise-as-crews-reach-more-areas/. 

MY TRIP TO OUR GREAT CAPITAL

            Well last week was a lot of fun. I had a great opportunity to travel to Washington DC and meet with all the Arkansas Congressmen. I traveled there with Arkansas Surgical Hospital to talk about the Health Care Reform Bill and ways to improve it. The target objective was to have act 6001 repealed from law. This act severely limits the growth of all physician owned hospitals. In fact if your hospital was primarily physician owned and not built with all its medical licenses by the time this bill was passed you can no longer open your hospital.

            Although any physician owned hospitals that were built by this deadline can continue to operate they can no longer add operating rooms or patient beds. Keeping a business from being able to grow only leaves one direction for them to go, down. Our group took that trip in to hopes of having that act repealed and being able to run this hospital like any other, with the freedom to grow and expand to meet new demands. 

            As far as we can tell there was no real justification for this act to be passed. Arkansas Surgical Hospital is in the top 1% in the nation for overall surgical care, orthopedic surgery, and in patient safety. They have also received the Patient Satisfaction Award for Overall Hospital Care in 2011. This all adds up to being one of the best hospitals in its field of care. When presented with this information most of the Congressmen were flabbergasted.

            It is my firm belief that restricting who can own a business when they have done nothing to suggest dangerous behavior is a clear violation of the United States Constitution. My hope is that the men and women we have placed in control will recognize their mistake and take quick action to correct it.  

GENEROSITY

Photo by Matthew Jones
All rights Reserved

Last summer I had an amazing opportunity! I was able to travel to Malindi Kenya on a two-week mission trip. It was without a doubt the most incredible thing I have every done in my short 19 years of life. The team I was apart of had one thing in mind “help others.”

After getting off the airplane that we had been on for 17 hours our first concern was taking showers. Once we had done that and recovered from our jet lag we went hard to work. Our first stop on our two-week adventure was in a small village named Sanguaia. The people of this village were the most kind and giving people you could ever hope to meet. While we were there to build their church they took it upon themselves to keep us comfortable.

Every day after we had done our mornings work on the church they brought us lunch. Unlike you or I, when they give food to another person it is more than just being generous. When they gave us lunch they gave us their meal. This absolutely blew my mind when I found out that we were eating their food! It wasn’t like we didn’t have the means to bring our own lunch if we needed to but these people would not allow that. In their culture they were not allowed to accept such a gift from us without giving something in return.

These people were unlike any I have ever met in the United States. Willing to give up their food because we were willing to build them a church. When was the last time anyone in our culture was willing to give up something without expecting a larger return for there efforts? We are one big corporation always looking out for our own interests. 

SHOW ME THE MONEY

No Rights Reserved

Normally I like to stay away from controversial issues such as politics and money but there is something I have to say. Republicans need to sit down and shut up when it comes to extending the Bush tax cuts. Now don’t get me wrong, if I had to choose between Democrats or Republicans I would most likely be a Republican. There is just something wrong in my mind though when I think that during this time of economic turmoil our government will be handing out large tax cuts to the richest people in our country.  

            The United States deficit is at $14,000,000,000,000 and growing by billions every month. We cannot afford to continue on this path. If we allow the tax cuts to be given out again it will cost us another $36,000,000,000. I don’t know about you but I don’t feel like footing the bill just so someone else can afford to upgrade from the 800 foot yacht to the 1500 foot yacht.

            Now I also understand the trickle down effect and how a lot of research proves it works a good amount of the time. I just don’t believe anyone below the upper middle class line can afford to wait another 2 to 6 years for the benefits to finally rich them. This is not the time to keep doing what we always have done. This is the time for action. This is the time to get our house in order and get rid of the massive debt handing above our shoulders. Because if we don’t start doing that soon the string that is holding it up will collapse on top of us.  

WHERE IS YOUR KNOWLEDGE COMING FROM

No Rights Reserved

Can you tell me what the most widely viewed type of corporation in our country is today? Given a little thought you might have come up with news corporations. At some point in most adult’s morning routine they turn on the television to see the news for a few minutes before rushing off to work. While at work some probably have favorite news websites they like to check. Then when they get home from a hard day at work they turn the television back on to see what the next day has in store for them.

Even teenagers are becoming more engulfed by the vast amount of news available to them. Chances are if you have a teenager or are one you most likely have some type of news app on your smart phone. Whether it be the New York Times app or the Weather Channel app. Even networs have begun to tailor news shows for younger audiences. Like the Colbert Report on comedy central that provides real world knowledge about politics and economics in a much more entertaining fashion.

Today as Americans we have hundreds of television networks, thousands of newspapers, and millions of websites that we can draw our information from and not all of them are credible sources. Yet some more naïve people believe if you are allowed to air it or print it then information must be factual. Truth be told no matter how unbiased someone claims to be everyone has an opinion. This is why it’s so important to gain your knowledge from multiple credited sources; but in the end it is you that must see through the curtain of fluff news providers throw at you and decide what you think about a specific issue or topic. 

A World with Choices

This is my freshman year in college and went ahead and decided to get KPED out of the way. Which if you don’t know is the equivalent to high school PE/Health.  Currently my class is focusing on the PE aspect a lot more than the health side. This class has been good for me so far because I really haven’t worked out any since I played football in high school. The class has also gotten me to think a lot more about what I put into my body. One of the first things we learned is that the old saying “what you put into your body is what you will get out of it” is really a true statement.

But if you are a college student or every have been one you know that we don’t exactly have the time to eat right and often don’t even have access to a place to cook a proper meal. So in between the rush of classes and time at the library we run by the student center to pick up a cheeseburger or a fried chicken sandwich. Even at night when we have time to go out and eat we are on such a strict budget that often we can’t afford to eat a sensible meal. With all the fast food chains knowing students would like to eat healthier but just can’t it is surprising to me that there really is only one healthy fast food restaurant, Sub-way.

If I was opening a fast food restaurant and knew my only competition would be one other store I would choose to bring more variety to the healthy side of fast food. I would open a restaurant that students could afford, where I would have a virtual monopoly and where students could begin to wean of their grease addictions. But hey, I’m just some kid and there is some adult out there thinking “I can make an extra buck by doing things quick and easy.”

NO WORK & ALL FOOD MAKES FOR ONE FAT WOMAN

At 8:00 this morning I was seating in my car driving to campus for my first class of the day. I had chosen to grab an extra 30 minutes of sleep as usually so I was unable to eat breakfast before leaving my house. So I grabbed a breakfast bar and a cup of milk on my way out the dour. I turned on my radio to listen to the Heather and DC show on Alice like every morning. Today the topic was dieting and one of the things brought up on the show was how a woman had decided to sue McDonalds for $5,000,000 claiming the fast food chain had made her fat. So here I was eating my nutria-grain bar thinking to myself “I need to stop eating this and go pick up a McDouble because I could use a little extra money for tuition.”

Now how ridicules is it that this woman had decided to sue McDonalds because she chose to throw back a few to many Quarter Pounders? Is it McDonalds fault that she decided to not workout? Is it McDonalds fault that this woman is apparently incapable of choosing healthier foods that don’t contain excessive amounts of grease and fat? Absolutely not! Now have we as a society told corporations like McDonalds that we care more about taste than health? Probably, but we still can control what we put into our own bodies.

People like this woman are a perfect example of how far we as a nation have fallen. Where you want the world placed on a silver platter but don’t want to do anymore work than absolutely necessary and if something goes wrong blame the other guy. We were once much better than that! In the coming years we will have to remember where we came from if we wish to remain the super power that we are.