Ethics on Wall Street

Reuters is reporting that the Securities and Exchange Commission is investigating the downgrade of the United States credit rating by Standards & Poors. The issue at hand is not whether or not the United States deserved the downgrade. Rather, the concern is that potentially there was a leak at S&P, which may have given some traders inside information causing unethical trading. According to the report, there isn't any clear evidence at this time whether or not any crimes were committed.

I understand that there are billions of dollars on the line when it comes to the stock market and that people typically do not become rich because they are frivolous with their money. However, I really think that crimes like insider trading should be treated with much more severe penalties. When our country is in a time of crisis and people do things for their own benefit at the expense of the rest of the citizens, it is nothing short of treason. Insider trading in this instance should be viewed as a betrayal of America and American citizens and punished accordingly. Time and again we see white collar criminals stealing from hardworking American people and receiving very light penalties. I really believe that if we made punishments more severe there would be a dramatic decrease in these types of activities.

This post was written in response to:

SEC Investigates S&P's Downgrade of U.S. Credit Rating: Report
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/08/12/us-sec-sp-idUSTRE77B0KW20110812?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

Holy Speed!

According to a recent feed from Aljazeera, the United States is working on creating a glider/bomber that can reach speeds over Mach 20. The feed contained a news video in which it was stated that the goal of the United States with this project was to be able to launch a strike anywhere in the world in less than one hour. Unfortunately, as they were testing this vehicle controllers lost contact with it shortly after it detached from its rocket launch system.

The advancement of technology never ceases to amaze me. It was just over 100 years ago that the first successful flights were conducted at Kitty Hawk. 64 years ago Chuck Yeager was the first pilot to ever reach Mach 1. Now we are looking at potentially flying something 20 times faster! I can't help but wonder where technology is headed. Is it inevitable that at some point our progress is going to have to peak or are we on a never-ending journey of continually outdoing ourselves. Today, technology moves so fast that we often are hesitant to purchase computers and cell phones because we know that something better is probably just weeks or months away. If we continue at this pace, the next great thing may only be hours away.

This post was written in response to:
Pentagon Loses Contact With Hypersonic Plane
http://english.aljazeera.net/news/americas/2011/08/201181202844313448.html

Its Not The Economy Stupid!

A recent feed from NPR writer Tom Gjelten covers the reality of the current global economic crisis. In the article he cites politics as the real driving force behind our current economic woes. He says that Standards & Poors claim that political polarization is the key problem with the future economic outlook in many of the world's major countries. This definitely seems to be the case here in the United States. Gjelten points to Spain as another example of where split opinions are keeping anything from being accomplished.

One of my favorite quotes is by Dale Carnegie. He said "when 2 partners always agree, one of them is not necessary." I believe that multiple perspective are critical to success in any situation. We certainly don't want our government to be run by a single party that has all of the power. However, we also don't want a government in which nothing can be accomplished due to the fact that common sense can never overcome political platforms. I understand that elections are important, but I think that American voters are intelligent enough to see when some compromise is absolutely necessary. Our politicians have continued to embarrass themselves on both sides of the isle throughout these entire proceedings. I know that tough decisions need to be made. I think that everyone would respect them, no matter the outcome, if our elected officials would just transparent about why they made these decisions.

This post was written in response to:

In Current Crisis, It's Not Just The Economy

by Tom Gjelten

http://www.npr.org/2011/08/11/139556112/in-current-crisis-its-not-just-the-economy?ft=1&f=1004

Standardized Test Scores

According to a recent feed from NPR, an Indonesian family is under attack from their neighbors after their son exposed a cheating scandal at the local school. The student claims that his teachers encouraged him to "leave the classroom during the test and stash copies of his answers in the bathroom...for his classmates to pick up." The school denies any cheating was being encouraged. However, they did report in the feed that Indonesia reported a 99% pass rate for all students on their high school entrance exams. Either that test is insanely easy or something is up.

Every time I hear of these incredible scores from overseas it makes me wonder what the reality is. Are they really testing every student? Are they reporting the results for all students? Is there any assistance for these kids or are they really just that superior to American students? I really doubt that any of this is a true picture of what is really going on. Every time I hear about standardized test results from China I simply stop listening. Their top kids may be capable of some amazing things, but so are ours.

I've had the opportunity to be an academic coach in different competitions and traveled to state events. I have seen first-hand just how amazing American students are and I would put them up against students from anywhere in the world in an academic competition.

This blog was written in response to the following feed:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/10/139393742/indonesian-family-pays-price-for-exposing-cheating?ft=1&f=1004

I Wish I Was A Country...Or A Huge Bank

A recent feed from NPR discusses the current economic situation in Italy and throughout the world. In the feed, the author states that Italy is proposing a possible constitutional amendment that requires the country run a balanced budget from year to year. After reading this it made me think about the total state of global economic affairs. Pretty much every industrialized nation has a huge debt, with no real prospect of ever paying it off.

Looking at my own finances, I can't help but think that I wish I could operate like that. If I took the same path as the United States I could live a very lavish lifestyle and my personal debt would double every ten years (or less). If people started to worry about my credit worthiness, I could simply promise that I would continue to overspend...just not quite as bad. If things ever get really bad I could always play the "I'm too big to fail card".

I know that this is absurd. However, I think its easier to make a mockery of this situation, than to really take a look at how frightening this could all be. I have never been a big believer in the whole "end of days 2012 theory", but a global financial catastrophe might steer me in that direction.

This blog was written in response to the following feed:
http://www.npr.org/2011/08/05/139033161/to-calm-markets-italy-pledges-a-balanced-budget?ft=1&f=1001
By: The Associated Press

Augmented Reality: Cool or Creepy?

Augmented reality has been used by advertisers and gamers in the past to put images of individuals in the action. However, a recent post on ReadWriteWeb discusses a possible new use for the technology. Using a webcam, you can shoot a picture of yourself and try clothes on your picture while shopping online.

Would this really be of use to anyone? I am not a big shopper, but there are few things that I can think of that I would rather do less than virtually try on clothing. It really seems like just another useless application of this technology. I would like to believe that something useful will one day come of augmented reality, but it may just be one of this things that is kind of cool, but may never pan out to really benefit us.

This post was written in response to the following feed:
Augmented Reality for Online Shopping
By: Sarah Perez

What Tech Is Really Necessary?

In a recent blog post on Edutopia, Mary Beth Hertz discusses the necessity of technology in today's educational setting. One aspect that I loved about her post was that she discusses what truly is necessary for students in their future. She mentions that tech tools and gadgets come and go and that these are not the critical element of student learning. In reality, it is much more important that students be able to navigate through multiple operating systems, be able to find quality information online, and be able evaluate online sources.

In today's constantly changing technology world, I couldn't agree with this more. The cutting edge tools of today will be obsolete in a few months or a year, so students need to be flexible. As long as we equip them with the basic tools to be able to work with multiple programs, they will be able to navigate their own way through new things that arise.

This post was written based on:

What Tech Tools Should Be Required Knowledge for Teachers?

http://www.edutopia.org/blog/technology-skills-required-knowledge-mary-beth-hertz?utm