GM in trouble?

Initiative response to following article: http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2010/04/23/gm-hot-water-ftc-truth-advertising/

GM is finally repaying their government loans, which is a good thing, but Americans and politicians are saying its not so much on the good side.  GM owed the government some $8.1 BILLION.  The fact that they are repaying this should be a good sign.  It would normally show that GM is having at least a normal profit right and that the government is getting money back that could be spent in other places.  But, the people of america do not see it like this.  They were first disappointed that the government gave GM a second chance, but now they are just mad that GM is repaying the loans.

Why would they be mad if GM is repaying their loans.  The company GM is repaying their government loans by using bailout money.  This bailout money comes from other loans that GM will one day have to pay off.  The company is in fact not making normal profit and is still losing costs, because the costs are much higher than that of the revenue.

Not only is GM still in debt and can’t make the money it needs to survive for long, they are also in trouble for advertising.  Recently commercials are saying that GM has paid off all of its loans.  While the company did pay off its government loans, they are paying it with money from other loans that they need to pay off.  The company might be looking at facing legal trouble if investigations show that the commercials were misleading and misguiding.  This may cause even more financial or political issues for GM.

Overall, GM is not in a good public eye at the moment.

Earth Day, Printless Day

April 20th was earth day.  So, the Canadian Academy high school decided to have a print free day.  No students were allowed to print paper in hopes of reducing paper usage and thus helping the environment.

Instead of using paper, students and teachers used technology to get through the day.  While I understand the reasoning for this, I tend to wonder if one day with out printing actually does help.

The technology we use -desktops, laptops, cell phones, etc.- takes a lot to produce and create.  From the assembly line to transportation, all of the production uses energy.  This can release waste into the environment that is causing global warming.  Now, I would have to do an excessive amount of research to find out if this is true or not, but think about it: if we were to stop using technology and go back to the paper and pencil for a day, how much energy could we save.

Our high school has 193 desktop computers in the main building.  If we were to turn all of these off for a day, imagine the energy we could save.  The high school also has a numerous amount of laptops.  If they were left off and not charged for a day, then surely the school could save energy.  Maybe this is unreasonable, but it seems as if saving energy could help the environment just as much if not more than saving paper.  With paper, at least the trees can be replanted.

Best Economy in the World: Netherlands

For our project we compared the economies of the US, Sweden and the Netherlands.  We used stability, standard of living and innovation to decide which one has the best economy.

We divided the work by having each person work on 1 economical aspect. We each researched on our owns, then came together to pull all of the information together.  We worked well together, and I think we presented our ideas well, so I believe we did well on this project. I made the powerpoint, Abby made a video, and Kelly did a monologue.  It all came together nicely I think.

Here is the introduction video clip.