I am a bit of a conservative and had pre existing woes regarding the patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. However, empirical data does not lie. From the “Some Facts About the PPACA” essay i learned allot. I had not previously realized allot of the positive benefits Obamacare has yielded. such as the reduction in the re-admission rate, and that per person hospital spending has reduced. I still have copious issues regarding the PPACA and i will have to admit my knowledge on the act has been a bit partisan. Although, learning the results of Obamacare from a new perspective has shed light on the subject and has gotten me intreated into learning everything i can about the patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. Regardless if it is good or bad.

The “Healthcare and Intergenerational Issues” essay was particularly interesting in the explanation of Asymmetrical and/or incomplete information goods such as healthcare, and the reliance we all have on doctors to diagnose help treat and prescribe medicine for us. Before reading this essay i never really considered a doctor to be defined in such a way. It seems almost ominous to have that much reliance and assumed trust for a service. In terms of the explanation of goods and the process of creating and selling goods this essay has excellent contextual examples.

After reading the “Gapminder and Myths” essay and keynote i was really intrigued about global statistics. I was very surprised about some of the results so i went online to find out more. After searching for a while i came across a website which a link is listed below. This website is very very informative and has a copious amount of different statistics ranging from the economy to health, population and even tourism. Roughly every statistic has an explanation and an interactive map of the world. I strongly recommend paying this site a visit and looking through a few of the topics. It seems all the data is very well sourced

http://world-statistics.org/index.php

The “Can the Poor be Trusted” essay was a little eye-opening. I personally did not realize there was a no strings attached monetary stimulus package. More or less that it has been implemented in 45 countries and has helped 110 million families. Personally the question of can the poor be trusted in a no strings attached cash grant my answer would have been no. I knew the plan would be effective but not to such a high degree. Coming from a family that lives paycheck to paycheck a stimulus package like this would have been a blessing. But i could also see without oversight a large portion of the money would end up in a blackmarket. Reading through this article i could begin to realize how a monetary policy like this one would impact a countries economy. Im not a fan of handouts but after realizing this i am sold on the concept. Now i am curious as to how a policy like this would effect America. Would it mean more cashflow and a healthier economy? Or would it end up as government debt?

The “Bottom Billion” was a particularly interesting essay. I always new there was a distinction between poverty in an industrialized nation and poverty in the rest of the world. However the characterization used in this essay was what was truly fascinating. The difference between relative and absolute poverty was really interesting. I am tempted to buy and read the book after reading this. I found the section about the different traps that a country can fall into to receive reciprocal debt and instability to be very eyeopening.

The madison reading was very interesting. one thing that i found that was extremely surprising was the sheer tonnage of gold and silver that the Spanish empire was shipping. From what i could grasp from the reading the Spanish empire was the first true global trade parter. using the mass amounts of silver and gold to fund its trade with china and the rest of Asia to get silks and spices. Comparatively America is what Spain was in the sixteenth century. This reading got me thinking and looking into modern day commodity trading and how OPEC is trying to put a freeze on there oil to drive up prices.

The essay of “the new second world” was very refreshing for me because it rehashed and re familiarized some of the things i learned in high school. The information about BRIC and the Emerging markets was very interesting. however the passage about Goldman Sachs arguing over the idea of the emerging markets gaining a foothold and actually surpassing current industrialized nations was very worrisome. It got me thinking and researching the subject and how America as the worlds dominant economic force needs to get out of this economic stagnation. Even though it is easier to have a large growth rate when you are industrializing vs being industrialized. I think American needs to invest more in research and development, and education in general to compete with the rest of the world.

I found the essay; “Development, imperialism and debt bombs” was extremely fascinating. The debt traps of loans for third world nations was extremely eye opening. the example of the fake nation of lukistan was surprising but summed up the situation perfectly. the idea of how there currency is deflated while there percentage of government debt skyrockets to an unrealistic rate puts them into a debt trap that allows them to spend less money on governmental services is a crazy reality i was not previously aware of. Makes me think about how many countries current and failed states where something like this has happened.