post grad

I am currently majoring in Economics and Communication, I choose these majors because of my interesting in communications and economics because I believe I will be at an advantage when it comes time to find a job. My ultimate goal to get an MBA so I believe economics is a great background to have. My oldest sibling was an economics major with a mathematics minor from the UIC and got a job with JP Morgan Chase. She became one of my main motivations to become an econ major because I believe I could follow in her foot step. I learned from my sister the importance of having a good GPA and good work experiences. The reason behind having a great GPA is to be given the opportunity to even be considered for a position. Without that great GPA it becomes hard for one to be given an opportunity to prove themselves.

            So far my GPA is not as great as it needs to be, that is one thing hindering me from applying for jobs because I believe the employee is going to have a lot of strong competitors. I believe without a doubt I would be a great candidate for any position because of my experiences, without a good GPA though, I am unable to prove myself. My last 2 semesters on campus have been geared towards getting excellent grades so I can be able to bring my GPA to where it needs to be. My biggest fear is graduating college and being ideal, that would be a very devastating situation. I also come from a family for people who graduate college with job offers so I cannot let my parents down and go back home idea, they have greater expectations for me. I believe it is my responsibility to make sure I have the GPA required regardless of what situation might be taking place in my life. I have failed at making that happen but luckily I have 2 more semesters to do better. 

illinibucks

The concept of distributing illinibucks to each student on the University of Illinois campus will drastically change the dynamics of how affairs are handled on campus. Depending on the value put on these illinibucks, it could either make the lives of students on campus efficient or inefficient; students will decide exactly what to use their illinibucks for. In every students award letter on campus, there are different categories such as tuition, room & board (if applicable), health insurances, bus service, others, etc.; and there different categories have their respective costs. The idea of ilinibucks can help students opt out of some of these categories; students will begin to use it for what they want instead of certain fixed cost they could not opt out of initially.

If the university of Illinois decide to implement these illinibucks, students would be able to use it for Mckinley visits, the career center, Krannert Art Musuem, Advising, Counseling, SORF, the gym, etc. Students will decide on what to use their illinibucks for based on their needs. It will give students some kind of independence. Additionally, the idea of illinibucks will give students the ability to surpass students in certain areas be it academically or socially. If the administered price for illinibucks is high, the demand for illinibucks will be high because student will use it for only important things. The university gets to control how the “market” is functioning because they set these prices high for a reason. The idea of illinibucks will be more efficient because the illinibucks is of a very important value. However it can cause some unfair situations because students will go to extremes to get the right amount of illinibucks. Students will start buying illinibucks with their money if need be. If the price is set low, the idea of the illinibucks will be very inefficient, students might use illinibucks practically anything on campus.

I would use my illinibucks for a meal plan, books, the career center, the gym, advisor visits, getting into events, etc. The price has to be set at the right price for this to be possible though, if not problems will arise. The university has to thoroughly think this idea through, the different activities on campus have to cost a reasonable price but the fix price of the illinibucks has to be reasonable. I am not in support of the illinibucks for the Illinois campus just yet. I believe before we ever think about adopting this system, the university should observe how well the system has worked on very large universities first.

Teams

Remember of the Titan is a movie about a football team; the setting of the story was during the horrible times of racial segregation in the United States. Schools were finally being desegregated and so therefore blacks and whites had to be in the same school, classes, sports team etc. That idea did not sit right with a lot of the whites; they did not believe it to was acceptable to share the same classroom with African Americans. Regardless of people feelings, the desegregation happened and because of that, the football teams had to also be combined.

Combining both football teams became a huge problem for the community because parents had their kids in those schools and did not feel safe with blacks going to school with their white kids. The school hired a black football coach who turned the fate of that football team around. The black coach was aware of the racial tension but he did not care, he was determined to get his football players to the championship. In the readings it states that it is important that individuals in that organization are given specific roles that will be held accountable for. That way work gets done efficiently. That is exactly what the coach did, the football team left for camp for about a month. During camp, he separated the whole team based on what position you played, and that is how they functioned. The running backs only ate with the running back, only practiced with running backs, they did everything together as a unit so everyone team mate came get to know each other. Also he gave them a task of getting to know every single individual on the team and at least 3 facts about them, and they had to run a lot of miles a day until the whole team got to meet every team member. This focused the player to put their differences aside and work together; they could no longer bare the punishment. About 2 weeks into camp, the whites and the blacks worked perfectly together, friendships were beginning to be formed. As a result the team became very strong and very prepared for the season

That season, the team won its first championship and it was all because of the good structure he new coach brought to the team. He put aside any racial problems going on, his main focus was to lead the team to success. He treated everyone fairly, assigned specific roles, he structured and restructured and in so doing, led the team to a great championship win.

Opportunities

America is considered the land of opportunity especially to African’s in the third world country.  To have a family member or a friend in the United States is considered to be one of the biggest blessings that could happen to an individual or to a family, people view it as an opportunity to better the lives of individuals. People are no aware of the hardship in trying to achieve financial stability being an immigrant and also do not understand the cost of living in the United States. Being that in most countries income taxes, state taxes and federal taxes are no included in any of the good or services provided; styles of living in Africa and in the United States are very different.

I have an uncle who through illegal means years ago, got the opportunity to come into the United States to help provide a better life for his family as well as his self. Illegal means meaning, he used someone else identity who was a United States citizen to get into the United States. Doing those times, it was very common practice amongst Africans who were desperate to get into the land of opportunity; also, security was not very tight during those times. Prior to the tragic 9/11 incidents, getting into the United States illegally was very easy. Once in the United States, my uncle began to work several jobs to make ends meet and also to put himself through school. He eventually got a job with a local bank in New York and was making a decent amount of money to send money back home to help take care of his family. He was eventually becoming financially stable to be able to go back to his home country of Ghana to help support his family and also give back. One thing however was hindering his possibilities of going back home, he was not a permanent resident or citizen of America. That meant ones he left the United States, he might not be able to come back into the United States.

Through his struggles of finding a guaranteed return to the United States, he met an African American who took interest in him and was willing to marry him so he would automatically become a citizen. He refuses the offer because the young lady is not a Muslim and also that he wanted to actually be married to someone he saw a future with; based on his religious beliefs. Eventually he gets frustrated and goes back home to see his family. His name is Mohammed, one of the most common Muslim names known, and right after he goes back to Ghana without any “paper” the tragic 9/11 incident occurred. That tragic lead to a drastic increase of security at the airports and embassy; going into the United States was practically impossible for a long time. His name also did not help the situation, and due to this, he was stuck in Ghana.  He was under the impression he was vacationing in Ghana thus left all his belongings and priced possessions. As a result of not having the proper documentation, my uncle was back to the life he was running away from all along.

The sudden change in lifestyle and career caused my Uncle to go into a serious depression because he was not ready for what had occurred to him. He had finally worked his way up to a comfortable position just to lose everything again. He was warned by many not to leave the United States with the proper documentation but he refused to pay heed. Till this day, he often reminisces on the situation and wished he had taken a separate approach to the situation. He is greatly affected by his poor decisions years back because he was supposed to help put his entire family in a comfortable position but he believes he let him down.  

Organizations.

During my freshman year, I joined an RSO, NBMBAA (NATIONAL BLACK MBA ASSOCIATION. The organization was established to help minority student who are interested in getting an MBA one day with anything they will need before they even graduate. The members of the organization also get to participate in the nation wide annual NBMBAA conference. The sole purpose of these conference to help students network and get to know minorities from all walks of life who want to purse the same thing. The organization here at this university has a graduate and an undergraduate chapter, usually these 2 chapters work separately and do no interact what so ever unless we have joined event. This is because, the undergrad chapter has a different curriculum/pace it follows however due to the decline in membership in the undergrad chapter.

This changed was in discussion before I because an Illini, the beginning of my sophomore year is when the organizations actually merged in hopes of saving the NBMBAA chapter here and still be able to receive sponsorship and financial support. The association provides the chapter here funds to be able to get food for every general assembly meeting and also funds for these specific conferences. The merging of the two organization was a turning point in the history of the chapter on the u of I campus. The graduate chapter helped better prepare the students.

The organization merging caused most undergrad student to be more serious, because they are not being lead by a mate but rather an older person who has being through what the students are aspiring to do one day. The structure of the chapters changed completely because now both chapters have to ensure that the undergrad students are gaining every knowledge and skill needed and also the grad students are not being bored with things they have seen or dealt with for some time.  The graduate students embraced the undergraduate students; some graduate students took some mentees from the undergrad chapter. The change in the dynamics of the organization helped the organization for the better because the meeting were more organized, students get to network with people they would have been gotten the chance to meet, students are also gaining various career opportunities with the grad chapter members.

For as long as the 2 chapters merged, the Illinois chapter of NBMBAA has improved tremendously, students have expressed their satisfaction with the way the new chapter is operating. Former member who left the group because they seem to not be gaining anything from the org have heard about the new improvements and changed made and have rejoined. The idea of merging the organizations before seemed like it would cause problems and a lot of inconveniences for both the grad and undergrad students. This turned out to be the best decision and should have been done years ago.

About Robert Giffen Econ 490

              Sir Robert Giffen is a famous Scottish economist, writer of finance and statistician born in 1837.  He was educated in at a local village school.  In his early days, his brother and himself wrote articles and poems for the local newspaper.  Giffen is most well known for the economic phenomenon the Giffen Good. Giffen Good. A good where higher price causes an increase in demand, the increase in demand is due to the income effect of the higher price outweighing the substitution effect. In the real world, it is very rare that the situation will occur but it has happened before during the 1845-1851 Irish Potato Famine.

             Sir Giffen’s gained his reputation mainly on his work in “official statistics” Giffen’s reputation rests mainly on his work in “official statistics,” a field which had been pioneered by G. R. Porter. Giffen was largely responsible for the first attempts to collect figures relating to the wages of manual laborers and for setting up the Bureau of Labour Statistics. Giffen was also among the earliest to analyze the workings of the quantity theory of money, and the role played by the rate of interest, within an economy possessing a banking system.

             Sir Robert Giffen had a substantial influence in Economics and Finance in Great Britain. During his life he was the Head of the Statistics Department for the Board of Trade, President of the Royal Statistical Society, and an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He was assistant editor for the popular magazine The Economist. He published extensively regarding several topics in economics and public finance including Essays on Finance 1879 & 1884 and The Growth of Capital 1890.  He was also knighted under the Order of the Bath.
            I did not know about sir Robert Giffen prior to this class but I have the upmost respect for his because of his resume. He has been amongst one of the influence economists that have helped a better understanding of the economic system.

http://www.bloomsbury.com/us/the-collected-works-of-robert-giffen-9781855063761/
http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/02/business/as-investors-search-for-yield-credit-standards-decline.html?_r=0