20% - December

Progress has been slow. I decided to start drawing the insides of the device when inspiration struck. "Gears!" I sketched out a couple ideas based around gears and tossed more around in my head. In order to feed the zip tie around the wire and pipe, the gears could spin the spool of zip ties. A lever on the handle could spin the gears.

I didn't come across any obstacles because I didn't put in enough time to.

I will consider my project a success when I have a tangible device in my hand that accomplishes what I want it to. It will be successful if my dad can use it on a job and it saves him time.

An added bonus would be mass producing it, selling it, and becoming a bajillionaire.

Final- Schools

Communistic schools educate for the greater good of the country, whereas capitalistic schools educate for individualistic gain. Socialistic fall somewhere in between.

Communistic schools are very strict in the sense that there are no choices for the students. The curriculum is set for each level at each school and the students are placed on a track based on what they are good at.  For example, if a kid is great with medical stuff, his classes will all be medical based and chosen for him. He wouldn't have the option to take art as well. This is different for socialistic and capitalistic schools. Children have the options to take what they want.

Funding for the schools vary across the board. Each communistic school of the same type will receive the same amount of funding and all schools receive whatever funding they need. The government completely funds the schools.
   In a socialistic society, there are public and and private schools. The public schools are partly funded by the federal government and the private schools are privately funded.
   In a capitalistic society, there isn't any government funding. If you want to go to school you have to pay for it. The private schools that can come up with money and provide a good education to keep people coming will continue. The terrible schools will fail.

Raising minimum wage to $15

We should not raise minimum wage to $15. It will cause more harm than benefits. People who are working jobs that pay minimum wage are often young and inexperienced. "And many who make minimum wage are unskilled, he said. If they can't be hired for less than $9.80 an hour, then they might not get a job that "would allow them to develop the skills they desperately need."' (Brian Baugus) Businesses can't afford to pay those types of positions that much money. In order to pay that much more "...businesses will have to offset the financial hit by taking on more work themselves and "may be less able to invest in future job growth," Wagner said." They will also have to cut workers' hours and have layoffs. From the perspective of a small business, this could be detrimental. The entire business could go under if they only have a few employees. "An employer who has 20 employees making minimum wage will see a $10,000 annual increase in wage costs for every 25 cents the minimum pay is raised, according to the Employment Policies Institute. According to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce website, small businesses are least able to absorb the thousands of dollars in additional labor costs that a minimum wage increase creates. Some solutions that small businesses can employ include reducing staff or cutting costs in other areas such as marketing.

Corporations, on the other hand, could benefit as a whole but the employees would suffer. They could easily cut jobs, replace them with technology, and those jobs would never come back. "What would you do? If you said a), Congratulations! You are a very nice person. Unfortunately, your restaurant will soon go bankrupt, everybody will lose their jobs, and you will lose your life savings. Why did that happen to a great person like you? Because in order to pay the higher wages, you had to increase prices. And when you increased prices, all of your customers started going to a nearby restaurant that elected to get more efficient instead of raising prices. With no customers, you went broke. Sorry!....Unfortunately for the low-skilled workers (bussers and dish-washers), the most vulnerable workers, they all lost their jobs. And to kick them while they’re down, they are the ones who will have the hardest time finding new jobs since they have few skills, and the fact that they can’t legally make less that $20/hour makes it even harder still for them to find jobs."

Minimum wage also only affects a relatively small group of people - "Gary Wagner, an economics professor at Old Dominion University, points out that the vast majority of workers make above minimum wage. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 73.9 million American workers above the age of 16 were paid hourly, and among those, 1.7 million earned $7.25 an hour, while 2.2 million made below."

"The minimum wage covers a huge number of workers, but not that many people actually earn minimum wage," he said." Because of the low number of people, different options should be explored to address the poverty issue. 

http://insidebiz.com/news/raising-minimum-wage-has-downside
http://smallbusiness.chron.com/raising-minimum-wages-hurts-us-employers-11744.html
http://www.forbes.com/sites/quora/2013/02/20/why-shouldnt-we-increase-the-minimum-wage-to-20hour/

Trades, stocks, dividends, and catalysts 2.0

Stocks are shares of a company that you can invest in. As the company does well, the stock price increases and you make money. The amount depends on the difference between the price you bought the stock for and what it has risen to. It works the same way if the company doesn't do as well except you lose money.

A trade is the buying of a stock for a short amount of time. It's to make money quicker. Trades are often bought before a catalyst occurs and sold after.

Dividends are an amount of money a company can choose to pay their stockholders per share. It can be quarterly, annually, ect.

Catalysts are some sort of event that will dictate how the stocks of a company do. If it's a good catalyst, the stock prices can jump. If it's bad, it can fall. Either way it's a substantial amount.

I think I have a basic understanding of what each one is.

Lemonade Game

The cost of one cup is 12 cents.
The variables include the weather and the mood of people passing by.
The constants are  the price of the lemons, sugar, cups, and ice cubes.
The perishables include lemons, sugar, and ice cubes.
From this game, I learned that my lemonade stand as a small child was most likely not profitable, at all. Also, apparently people walk around and buy lemonade even when it's raining. Actually making a profit selling lemonade is possible, but making a sustainable amount isn't possible.

20% project update November

I'll be honest, finding time to work on this project is difficult. Progress has been slow. I did begin a little research into some basic mechanics and I've realized that it's going to take a large amount of time to find what I'm looking for.
I plan on putting a dent in my research and working to understand what I need to in order to complete my drawings this thanksgiving break. Part of my research will involve talking with my dad and I believe he can help me with my drawings. The drawings of what the device will look like should be done, at least a rough drawing, this break.
Throughout December, I can fine tune the drawings of the outer parts of the device as continue my research. Talking to several other adults will be necessary for me to understand the inner workings of what I want to do.
There is no way I will have a tangible device by the end of the semester. I would like to have the understanding of  basic mechanics and how I can apply those to what I want to do. If I got the basic rough ideas for all of the parts necessary for the drawings I could talk to professionals to help develop the drawings into something usable. That would all probably run through the rest of the year.

Salary

Gross- $250,000
Net- $154,535.50

No state income tax.

Federal income tax for my bracket is 33%. After taking that out I have $167,500.

Social security is 6.2% and Medicare is 1.54%. (The additional .09% is supposed to be added.) Combined that comes to 7.74% and once that is taken out I'm left with $154,535.50.

Fed Income
.33*$250,000 = $82,500
$250,000 - $82,500 = $167,500

SS and Medicare
.0774* $167,500 = $12,964.50
$167,500- $12,964.50 = $154,535.50

tax-brackets.org
tax-rates.org

20% Project- October

I did not accomplish my entire goal for October. I did talk to each teacher that I planned to as well as another, Mr. Lensegrav. All of the teachers are willing to help me complete my project. I didn't accomplish the drawing of my tool. After talking to Mr. Ursay, I realized how in-depth and complicated the drawings need to be. In order to move forward I need to complete multiple drawings and in order to do that, I need to research quite a few different aspects.

My goal for this next month is much more realistic. I would like to have the drawing process started, which means I would have most of my research done.

Blackjack

I walked into the classroom and Mr. Kapptie handed me a stack of poker chips. Everyone was crowded around one of the half circle tables with their own stack of chips. The bell rang, Mr. Kapptie gave a few basic rules of Blackjack, and started the first round. I played every round but the very last because that was for the people who had a chance to win it. I played 1-3 chips each round. I enjoyed this activity because I actually knew how to play and it was amusing to watch others who didn't. I didn't end up with four stacks of chips but didn't lose everything.

Stock Portfolio

I bought three shares of Microsoft as an investment or a trade. They have a $0.23 quarterly dividend. Looking at a graph of their history, they've had a relative increase over the past year. There was a sharp jump and a couple dollars fall during the summer but since then have continued to rise. I believe their stock will continue to rise throughout the holiday seasons. After the new year, if it has reached a 15% increase, I will sell, therefore making it a trade. If not, but it the stock is still doing well, I will continue and it will be an investment.

I bought two shares of Apple as an investment. They have a $3.05 quarterly dividend. Over the past five years, they have had a constant increase. Over the past 1-2 year(s) it has been up and down, but I believe the stock will continue to increase in the future. Apple isn't a company that is going anywhere. People will continue to buy iPhones and iPads. As schools integrate more technology into their education, there is the possibility of iPads being a part of the integration. The goal for this investment would probably be %15. If the stock reached that, I would consider selling one of my stocks.

Trade vs Investments

Trades are stocks that you buy when they are low, believing that the next catalyst will cause the stock to jump, and then you sell. They are very short-term.

Investments are stocks that you buy for the long term. More research goes into the choice. Of course, you buy when it's low. Instead of  selling just because the stock is high, you let your investment continue to make you money and ride out the ups and downs.

Dividends are basically payments from a company to their shareholders. The money comes from the company's profits and can be given in several different ways at different times. The money can be deposited into the shareholder's accounts or they can be paid through shares. The company can have a set time when the shareholders are paid and/or they can give special payments, which are just payments given at a different time than normal.

Stock increases are good for both trades and investments. With a trade, you wait until you think the stock has reached its highest point and then you sell. With an investment that you want to continue with, you get to enjoy that your stock is making you money.

When stock decreases happen, a trader has two options. They can buy if they think the stock will turn around soon. If it is their stock that is decreasing substantially and not turning around, they would probably sell to avoid losing more money. Investers have three options. If it is their stock that is decreasing, they can either ride the drop out or if they deem it a bad investment, they could sell. If they want to invest in a company, stocks decreasing could be a good time to invest.

A catalyst is something large that will cause stocks to either increase or decrease substantially. A trader would buy stock before a good catalyst and sell after. If they were predicting it would be a bad catalyst, they could sell before it occurred. An investor would typically ride the catalyst out.

Short selling is done when a trader believes that certain stock is going to drop. They borrow shares from a broker and sell them. When the price of that stock drops, they buy it back and return it to the broker. Their profit comes from the difference in market price.

Candy Stock Trade

   I rounded the corner to enter Mr. Kapptie's classroom and was met with a group of my classmates standing around his door. They had their backpacks lined up against the wall and with every new person that joined the group, Mr. Kapptie instructed them to set their backpacks down and take off sweatshirts/jackets. He had a ruffled appearance: his hair in slight disarray, slightly sweaty, and an excited energy. He continued to repeat his instructions until the bell rang and then he gave us a new set. Basically, everything was fair game until you claimed a spot and then theft wasn't allowed. He made a comparison at some point to throwing us in a pool; we would either sink or swim and then told the group to split into two. One group would stay at that door and the other would move down to the other entrance to his classroom. We shifted into position and he told us not to enter until he had both doors open and said we could. On his command, my group jostled into the doorway and as I glanced down the hallway, I noticed the other group was doing the same.
    We were met with darkness and constant noise. Various types of candy littered the floor and I heard several classmates voicing their confusion. We all only hesitated a few seconds before grabbing candy off the floor. Once my hands were full I asked Mr. Kapptie if we could claim spots yet and he either didn't hear me or ignored my question. I decided that I was going to and set my candy down on a desk and continued to grab candy. As I moved around on my hands and knees, I noticed my classmates doing the same. I glanced around the room and noticed projections and laptops set up with some sort of video playing that created loud, hectic noise.  I had no idea what was happening on the other side of the room. All of the candy was gathered up within in a couple minutes and my classmates and I stood by our piles, waiting for the next instructions.
    I brought my pile over to a table where Delaney and Megan had their stashes set up. My attention was pulled to the white boards on the far side of the room. Mr. Kapptie said there would be announcements every two minutes but that was all of the instruction given. On the whiteboards, he had listed each type of candy and numbers underneath. I realized that we were in the midst of a mock stock exchange and the videos that had been continuously playing were of stock exchanges. The numbers underneath the types of candy were their stock prices. I didn't see any trading for the first little bit. It seemed like we had all gathered around the white boards and were just watching Mr. Kapptie change the stock prices.
    Throughout the entire class period, Mr. Kapptie made announcements concerning the candy companies. They included the tootsie pops coming out with a new product, two companies combining, and one companies stock splitting.
    I didn't trade or buy much. My pile was relatively small, except for my tootsie pops. I had over thirty of those. Very few people were willing to sell when it was good to buy and buy when it was good to sell. For the most part, I went back and forth from the boards to the table with my stash and just observed the people and the stock prices. Mr. Kapptie came up and told me that two companies were going to merge. A couple people approached me and I sold a few pieces and rejected a couple others. I approached a couple people, made a few trades, and was also rejected.
    At the end of the period, Mr. Kapptie "closed the market" and wrote the final prices for each stock. The company that had split was worth the most. We totaled up how much we had made; I had around $3300. We didn't have very much time to talk about the activity. Mr. Kapptie asked how many of us thought that the stock split was bad and one word to describe the activity. No one could have the same word. We out the candy in one bag and the money and hints in another. We were allowed a single piece of candy and then the bell rang.

20% Project- September

This past month, I have chosen my project: an infloor heating tool. It will make tying down pipe and then cutting the zip ties much easier. The device will feed the zip tie around the pipe and wire, cinch it, and then cut off the extra length of zip tie. I have the device mentally created and planned out on paper the general idea of what I want. I have talked to Mrs. LaPlante about the programming required and have received confirmation that she can help me.

For this next month, I plan to accomplish several things. Talking to Mr. Meyer about the fabrication of my device is first on the list. Once I do that, I will contact Mr. Ursay to see if there is a CAD student who could help draw up the plans for my device. If there isn't, hopefully Mr. Ursay himself would be willing to help. The final thing I would like to have accomplished is the actual drawing of my device.

What I Plan To Do After High School

My plan for my future includes college, without a doubt. I haven't narrowed down what I want to be yet, so that makes picking a college rather difficult. Unless I am attending an Ivy League school, I would prefer to stay in the Western or Midwest region of the country. I would love to have a career in psychology, forensics, science, and personal/physical trainer. I could even combine several of those: being a professional athlete's counselor and physical therapist. Paying for whatever I decide to go to college for will require multiple scholarships. I will work to help lessen the cost, especially for my education past the typical four years. My uncle has set up a scholarship fund based on my grades as well.

I would like to live in Chicago until I decided to raise a family. Other options include Denver or if I love the town I go to college in, I wouldn't be opposed to staying there for awhile. Rent for Chicago apartments ranges from $1700-1900. Rent for Denver apartments range from $990-1200.

The car I want the most is a custom built 2013 GMC Sierra 3500HD Crew Cab, Standard Box, Single Rear Wheel Denali 4WD, Sonoma Red Metallic. This would cost $69,076. If I live in Chicago, I probably wouldn't have a car. If I live in Denver I would love a custom built 2014 Camaro ZL1 Convertible in Blue Ray Metallic. This would cost around $60,155.

http://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-chicago-rent-trends/
http://www.rentjungle.com/average-rent-in-denver-rent-trends/
http://www.chevrolet.com/camaro-zl1-convertible.html
http://www.gmc.com/2013-sierra-3500hd-denali-pickup-truck/build-your-own.html

Through my research, I have realized that whatever I decide to do, I better be very good at what I do and climb the ranks to be able to afford my housing and car choices.