The Federal Reserve

In relation to the United States, the Federal Reserve is bad for many reasons. The Federal Reserve is the central banking system in the U.S. and is in charge of the monetary policy. Monetary Policy is one way that the government attempts to control and regulate the economy: by making and destroying the money supply and the rate at which it is distributed.The federal reserve controls inflation and deflation rates to regulate the economy. Initially, the Federal Reserve was thought of as a good and beneficial system, but in reality it is not. According to The Economic Collapse, "The Federal Reserve was created as a way to enslave the U.S. government with debt. The truth is that the U.S. government only goes into debt if it chooses to. Theoretically, one day that U.S. government could simply decide to print as many U.S. dollars as it wants and pay off all government debts. But under the current system that is not allowed." The Federal Reserve continuously increases the nation's debt by printing more and more money through monetary policy and then intern charge the government interests rates, which is why the government must raise and lower taxes. These policy's give the Federal Reserve unlimited control over the nation's money supply

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Unlike usual banks, the Federal Reserve is not audited. According to Policy.Mic, "Over $16,000,000,000,000.00 has been given in bailouts to banks and other corporations throughout the world from December 2007 – June 2010...This $16 trillion dollar figure surpasses both the national debt and the annual gross domestic product for the United States." and that "only $700 billion was supposedly given out to faltering banks and companies. However, Citigroup alone received $2.5 trillion" The Federal Reserve loans out money just to get interest on it from companies. It loans money that it does not have and raises the debt. With the constant printing of money through monetary policy and the staggered inflation rates, the Federal Reserve has significantly devalued our currency. In accordance to Freedomworker.org, "The more dollars we have in the circulation, the less the currency is worth. Our money supply has rapidly increased over the past century due to the Federal Reserve printing massive amounts of money like there is no tomorrow...Since the Federal Reserve came into existence in 1913, the dollar has lost over 95 percent of its value. Today’s dollar is worth less than a nickel compared to the pre-1913 dollar." Overall, the federal reserve is a detriment to our nation. It is corrupt and is not enumerated in our constitution and is therefor not a necessity. It causes more harm than it does good and is only hurting our nation.

The Underground Economy

The underground economy, which is also called the shadow system is, "a systen composed of those who can't find a full-time or regular job. Workers turn to anything that pays them under the table, with no income reported and no taxes paid"(Koba 1). The underground economy is both beneficial and detrimental to the economy.
The shadow economy benefits the economy as a whole because it is apart of consumer spending. Whether the money was recieved under the table, or through corporations, consumers are still using that money to buy goods, which overall helps and boost the economy(Koba 1). The underground economy is also beneficial because it helps citizens who might not have other wise gotten a job to receive employment under the table.
The underground economy is also detrimental to the economy. According to Marc Koba, "shadow economies are usually associated with illegal activities, such a drug dealing". The shadow economy, although it is not it's purpose, can be used as a segway to unlawful activities. Also, the underground economy hurts the economy by not providing sufficient taxes, "about $500 billion in taxes were lost last year because of unreported wages"(Koba 2). The shadow economy is also harmful because tax dollars would be lowered if there was no underground economy and shadow economy workers are at a higher risk for low salaries: "Taxes could be lower if the government where able to capture the underground economy instead of raising taxes on those currently paying the various income and payroll taxes...People who do these types of jobs run the risk of getting exploited with lower pay or not being paid at all"(Koba 3).
Overall, the underground economy has both positive and negative aspects to it. It creates consumer spending and helps people to get jobs, but also raises taxes and works with illegal activity.

Net Neutrality

Net neutrality is essencially keeping free speech on the internet for all viewers, publishers, and commenters. Google defines net neutrality as "the principle that Internet service providers should enable access to all content and applications regardless of the source, and without favoring or blocking particular products or websites." net neutrality is imporatant to consumers because it gives them more say on the internet and allows them to have free speech without being punished. Net neutrality are also important to corporations because corporations would not be able to copete with larger corporations if they had to pay for better services such as internet connections. No business has the ability to be the best forever. This is a natural cycle that could potentiall by upset without net netrality. 

The FCC controls neutrailty on the internet by attempting to control and regualate the information that is provided on it(www.money.cnn.com). The FCC wants to have the power to impose rules to regulate content and reclassify internet services according to newsmax.com. 

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Spoils vs. Merit System

 In Today's political economy, there is both the merit system and the spoils system. The spoils system can be defined as "the practice of filling appointive public offices with friends and supporters of the ruling political party"(dictionary.com). The merit system can also be defined by dictionary.com as "a system of policy whereby people are promoted or rewarded on the bias of the abolity and ashievment rather than the seniority, quotas, patronage, or the like." In history, there are many examples of both the spoils system and the merit system being used.


Andrew Jackson took office as President of the United States in March of 1829 after winning the election of 1828. Jackson wanted to defy the governmental policies of hiring federal employees by trying replacing them with people that were less qualified for the job and were rather closer friends of Jackson. The merit system was created to balance out the spoils system and was established, "to improve parts of the governmental work force previously staffed by the political patronage or spoils system, which allowed the political party in power the opportunity to reward party regular with government positions"(legal-dictionary.thefreedictionary.com).

The merit system began to unfold after the shooting to President Garfield. The purpose was the get the attention of the government and how the United States needed a reform in the government. Two years later in 1883 the Pendleton Service Act was created which, "set up the first civil service system for federal employees to guard against patrogange appointments"(www.smc.edu). 
In today's political economy, the spoils system is still in effect. According to www.shmoop.com, "Only about three percent of federal employees today are appointed by the president or highered outside of the formal merit-based process". Today, most businesses use their own criteria based standards for hiring employees and politicians still reward/bride campaign workers with governmental jobs for their support of their party. 

Can Your Phone Testify Against You?

“David Ridley was pulled over by San Diego police in 2009 because his car registration had expired. During the traffic stop, police found two loaded guns and on examining his smartphone discovered text messages and videos they associated with a local gang. The police arrested Riley and seized his phone”(14).  Later in the case it was discovered that the police found another set of text messages that let Ridley to be convicted of attempted murder. The police found messages that linked to a shooting that thus solved the case and Ridley being the murder.  Ridley was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison.

The Supreme Court unanimously favored Ridley’s case and ruled against the police. The court was able to rule against the police because of our fourth amendment right for the right to privacy. Without a warrant or Ridley’s permission, the court ruled that it was against his right to privacy for them to seize and search his phone.

This was a landmark case because, “the ruling, which was applauded by privacy advocates, is the latest example of how the courts are trying to apply the basic rights enshrined in the Constitution to life in the 21st century”(14). When the founding fathers originally wrote the fourth amendment, they intended it to be towards British soldiers and that they were not allowed to entire someone’s home without being authorized first. However, when soldiers were entering homes, they were in search for private documents, which can now be found on someone’s phone. Chief Justice Roberts stated, “The fact that technology now allows an individual to carry such information in his hand does not make the information any less worthy of the protection for which the Founders fought.”(15)

The Ridley Vs. California case was a case that highlighted our fourth amendment right and gave justice to David Ridley by allowing him is right to privacy, whether the right was intended to be for a home or a cell phone.

Two New York Police Officers Shot Dead

"Two New York City Police Officers Killed (Dec. 20): On Saturday afternoon, in Brooklyn, Ismaaiyl Brinsley walks up to the passenger window of a police car and shoots Officer Wenjian Liu and Officer Rafael Ramos in the head. Brinsley then runs into a nearby subway station and shoots himself. Before the incident, Brinsley vows through online posts to put "wings on pigs," in response to the recent killings of unarmed black men by white police officers. (Dec. 21): The death of the two officers only increases the tension of an already strained relationship between Mayor de Blasio and New York City police unions. Hours after Liu and Ramos are killed, Patrolmen's Benevolent Association President Patrick Lynch speaks to reporters outside the hospital where the two officers died. Lynch says, "There's blood on many hands tonight. Those that incited violence on the streets under the guise of protest that tried to tear down what New York City police officers did every day. We tried to warn it must not go on, it cannot be tolerated. That blood on the hands starts at City Hall in the office of the mayor." Officers turn their backs on de Blasio when he visits the hospital. (Dec. 26): A plane flies over New York City carrying this banner behind it: "De Blasio, Our Backs Have Turned to You." Former NYPD officer John Cardillo tweets a picture of the plane and writes that a group of retired and current officers paid for the banner. (Dec. 27): When Mayor de Blasio speaks at the funeral of Officer Ramos, officers can be seen outside the church turning their backs to the large screen broadcasting the service." 
The issue at hand here is both that the two officers were shot in rebalance to the black man that was shot by an officer, and that the Mayor of new york is not in support with the police department.I disagree with the actions of Ismaaiyl Brinsley and also with the actions of the Mayor. I do not think that the officers should have been shot for another's actions and I do not think that the Mayor should publicly go against the entire NYPD on such a controversial issue. The police department protects the city and all within it and whether the Mayor agrees with the incidents that took place i believe that they should at least defend their actions when it is in a time of need against the city.

Electoral College

The electoral college was created for two main reasons. When the founding fathers of the United States were creating our democracy, they feared a direct election of the Presidency and want to ensure that the President could not manipulate the people's view on him/her and that the election would be run fairly. The electoral college was also created as a compromise to ensure that smaller states had a say in the President and that the voting was not based solely on population and that each state would have at least three electoral votes.
I believe that the electoral college is fair because it does not allow a President to win by manipulating the votes. It is not based on popularity within the state but on what the representatives believes would make a good President for our nation. It is fair because it does not leave room for runoffs to occur and does not leave room for error within the votes. I agree with the electoral college system and think that is fairly represents our voting.