State in '08!

After our football game vs. GBS, Coach Davies said to our team, "Even though we had a tough loss today, you have a clean slate in the playoffs. Lets go out there and win our next game!" Our teams record is 5-4, and we are matched up against Lane Tech, a city school power house, who has an 8-1 record. I always try to be optimistic, but to be honest with you, this game is going to be a battle. We are going to have to work for every yard and every tackle. It will be a great game to watch.

I opened up the Sunday news this morning and saw the bracket for the 8A playoffs. I quickly looked for my team and it said "#14 Winnetka (New Trier) (5-4) at #3 Chicago (Lane) (8-1)." Always being an optimist, I know that we can beat any team in the state even if they are the #3 seed and we are the #14 seed. More pragmatic people would say that Lane Tech is going to put a beating on the Trevians. With the odds against our team, we are going to prepare the most we ever have to be the Cinderella story in this years playoffs. If we beat Lane Tech, then we could run into our arch nemesis, #7 seeded Loyola. Pragmatists would say it would be unbelievable if we won two games in the playoffs, but I know we have the desire and ability to win it all. The Trevians will not go down without a battle!

It is always very important to stay optimistic when you are on a sports team. If you think you are going to loose, you most likely will. But, if you believe that your team will win, you push yourself to your limits to accomplish your goal. Being optimistic is not only important in sports, but important in life. If you have any dreams, you better be optimistic because if your not, you probably will not work your hardest to make your dreams a reality. This reminds me of how the "Americans" wanted freedom form Britain. They fought in one of the bloodiest wars ever so that they could make their dream of freedom and liberty a reality.

Dependence on Foreign Oil? Not in 10 years!

Now, I am not an election enthusiast who would not miss one second of the debates. But, when I do have some free time, I will sit down on the couch and watch my Tivo'ed programs. I scrolled down the list of recorded programs and I noticed the last debate was recorded. While watching it, I saw many idealistic and pragmatic approaches to our countries problems. One thing that both McCain and Obama had a similar pragmatic approach toward, is how to rid our country of dependence on foreign oil.
The question asked was, how much do think you can reduce foreign oil imports during your first term? When the candidates responded to the question, they both answered with a similar time frame in which they can escape dependency on foreign oil. McCain believes that he can escape dependency on foreign oil in 7 to 8 years while Obama believes it would take 10 years. Now, these approaches are very pragmatic and tangible. Usually, presidential candidates like to give idealistic answers, but on this topic they both answered with a realistic answer. I think this issue is extremely important and to give an empty promise would do no good. Also, Americans realize that it will take a long time to rid our dependency of foreign oil, so it could only hurt a candidates campaign to say they can solve the problem in a time frame such as 4 years. As an American (who will eventually vote), it is much more helpful to hear realistic answers on a candidates approach than idealistic answers. It's helpful because then you actually know how the candidate will deal with the issue instead of an empty promise that will never be fulfilled. This debate was very interesting that showed a lot about both candidates.

+936, NO WAY!

I was intrigued by an article that said "Stocks Soar 11 Percent" because I am used to seeing "down 600 points" or something of that sort. The Dow Industrial went up 936 points today which is the "biggest gain in the American stock market since the 1930s". Now, we all know about the $700 billion bailout plan, but I am sure some of us were waiting for some results. Well, now they have shown, in record highs. Many stock buyers were pessimistic of the market and did not want to invest. They were afraid that if they bought, their stocks would only go down. Over the weekend, the stock buyers began to realize that this was a very good time to buy and it could only get better. Today when the market opened, stock buyers bought many shares and that is the reason for the the massive increase of points in the Dow. 'Ryan Larson, head equity trader at Voyageur Asset Management in Chicago. “The key thing to take away from this is the key pieces of this puzzle, of this fix, are beginning to appear.”' This article uses pathos when they explain the high position Ryan Larson has which gives the notion that what he is saying is true. So, from what he says, the economy is only going to get better and America is on the road to recovery.

This incident is so interesting because this huge jump in points also happened during the road to recovery during the Great Depression. Now, the Great Depression is obviously worse than the situation we are in, but it gives me hope and optimism for the future. I am very excited to see how the markets react tomorrow after such a massive increase of points. Ryan Larson does say,"In this process you’re going to have up days, with five-plus percentage swings, and you’re going to see down days, five-plus percentage swings." If the market goes down a little tomorrow, I will not be surprised, but I am more optimistic about our future because of the record gain today. America is on the road to economic recovery.

Give Me My $250,000!!!

We put our hands in and cheered, "North Shore Community Bank, FDIC Insured!" I remember those days in 4th grade playing baseball. Hitting home runs, tagging people out at home plate, and pitching scoreless innings was what our team was all about. While reminiscing, I began to ask myself, what does FDIC insured mean?Where did FDIC insured come from?
Franklin D. Roosevelt came into the depression with the attitude of change. He was going to reform our economy so that we would leave the perilous time behind and begin to prosper. F.D.R. set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation so that when people deposited their money into banks that are FDIC insured, they were guaranteed a certain amount of money back if that bank failed. This corporation was created because many Americans lost all of their money when banks failed during the depression. We all know that our economy right now is in the dumps and people have started to compare these times to the depression. Legislatures are trying to prevent history from occurring again by approving the Bailout Plan. Within this Bailout Plan the FDIC will guarantee $250,000 instead of the previous $100,000. Since people are guaranteed more money, they will be less likely to go on a "bank run", which will result in banks still having money to function. This economic situation today is extremely similar to the times in the 1920's. But now I ask a question, will our country be able to bounce back from the economic peril?
America is one of the best countries in the world, and as always, we will rebound and become prosperous again. With the election ahead, we have to consider who will help our economy prosper most. Will it be Obama or McCain? I hope that whoever obtains the presidency will act similar to F.D.R, who helped our economy get back on the track towards global supremacy.