Ohio McDonald's gives voting advice in paychecks

In this article, Julie Carr Smyth reports about a handful of McDonald's employees that received handbills in their paychecks suggesting they vote for Republican candidates. "If the right people are elected we will be able to continue with raises and benefits at or above our present levels," the insert said. "If others are elected we will not." Because this act violates Ohio election laws, this incident has been the source of much discussion. Many have said that the insert was clearly meant to intimidate the voters at the risk of their jobs, raises, and benefits and it is illegal to influence the opinions of voters, especially with the voting date only 4 days away. Canton franchisee Paul Siegfried has publicly apologized and said that it was not his intention to offend anyone. This mistake on the part of Siegfried is a good example of a violation of a social regulation. He crossed the line that separates what is acceptable when it comes to voting and freedom of choice.

-Victoire Iradukunda

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/39918181/ns/politics/

Solar Power Projects Face Potential Hurdles

The United States is finally starting to develop its first large-scale solar energy plants, beginning with the $2 billion Ivanpah project. This plant is the first of nine solar farms slated to begin construction before the end of the year. These projects have been made possible by billions of dollars in federal grants and loan guarantees, and will generate enough electricity to power three million homes.

The problem is that these grants and loan guarantees expire in about a year. With the midterm elections and a round of spending cuts so close, energy experts are worried that these projects will gain momentum, and then without more government incentives the solar energy trend will taper off again.

This situation demonstrates that while tools of government action, like grants and loan guarantees, are effective in starting projects, there needs to be continuity in their efforts or the projects will eventually be abandoned. We can only hope that the "green revolution" among American citizens will cause grassroots support for these projects that draws government attention.

-Stephanie Doctrow

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/29/business/energy-environment/29solar.html?ref=us

As College Fees Climb, Aid Does Too

According to College Boards annual reports the average in-state student pays $16,140 per year for tuition and room and board at a public university. Looking at the numbers in this article tuition prices have raised for every type of university, from community colleges to private universities. The good news is that financial aid is rapidly increasing to keep up with this increase in tuition. In 2009-2010 students got $28 billion in Pell grants, which is $10 billion more than last year. There has to be something done to keep tuition prices from rising every year because it’s just not feasible that the government is going to be able to continue having an increase of $10 billion every year for Pell grants.
Matt Rister
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/education/28college.html?_r=1&ref=us

Texting Bans Add Risk to Roads

This article discusses how bans against texting while driving may actually increase road crashes instead of reducing them. In states where this ban has been imposed, research found that people were lowering their phones while texting to evade police, thus taking their eyes further from the road for a longer time. This is a type of social regulation as we discussed in class since it puts a restriction on a private action that threatens safety. The characteristics of this regulation are that it’s the responsiblility of citizens not to text and drive, police officers are used to enforce this in some states where the ban has taken place, and for those who deviate from the rule a ticket is issued and a fine imposed.

http://www.usatoday.com/tech/wireless/2010-09-28-1Atextingbans28_ST_N.htm

-Kelly Neary

College tuition costs climbing again this fall

College tuition costs shot up again this fall, and students and their families are leaning more on the federal government to make higher education more affordable in tough economic times, according to two reports issued Thursday. When adjusted for inflation, the tuition increases this fall amount to 6.6 percent at public four-year colleges and 3.2 percent at private ones, according to the College Board. Many students are finding relief in expanded federal aid, including tax credits, veterans' benefits and a record expansion of the Pell Grant program for low-income students. In 2009-10, 7.7 million students received $28.2 billion in Pell Grants - an increase of almost $10 billion from the year before, according to a companion College Board report, "Trends in Student Aid."

For now, government subsidies and aid from schools are helping hold down net tuition and fees — the actual cost students pay when grants and tax breaks are factored in. Experts’ caution that federal aid can only do so much and that even higher tuition is likely unless state appropriations rebound or colleges drastically cut costs.

Posted by: Ziying Yuan

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702303443904575578651983962836.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

End the War on Pot

Nicholas Kristof from the New York Times writes a great op-ed on the need to legalize pot.  This is an issue that is getting the most notice at the state level with California being the leader because their vote coming up soon on whether or not to make it more legal.  Kristof lists some great evidence for legalizing pot with stats like California spending more on incarceration than schooling and the 18 billion dollars saved in taxes from legalizing. Also, minorities are disproportionally arrested for having pot.  Other countries like Portugal who have legalized all drugs have not had the problems like exorbitant drug use as predicted.  Legalize it!

Posted by: Mark Brady

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/28/opinion/28kristof.html?src=ISMR_HP_LO_MST_FB

Economy for Sale

Recently Mark J. Kamstra of York University and Robert J. Shiller of Yale proposed a new way of investing in the US government. This new method is essentially like buying a share of the economy. This would give the government another way to gain capital and stimulate growth. This uses a sort of voucher policy tool. The interesting aspect of this is (not mentioned in the article) is that if this sort of investment into the economy starts picking up, then more pressure will likely be put on the government to start thoroughly auditing it's institutions and making the information public. This type of transparency would greatly improved the efficiency and overall legitimacy of the program and the US government.

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/buying-shares-in-the-u-s-economy/?ref=business