Friday, January 25, 2019

Identifying Opportunities in Economic & Regulatory Trends

The Complexity of Taxes in 2019

This year, the IRS has revamped their way of filing taxes and how it will affect different tax brackets. I learned about this when I began to think about filing my taxes. I was able to read up on this in multiple publications. The IRS decided to rid of multiple different tax forms and simplify into one. They have also ramped up deduction costs in many different areas of the tax returns. This opportunity rises for many joint households, adults with children, and the elderly. If they file correctly and swiftly they will be able to maximize their chances of receiving the max amount from their returns. Some people can exploit this easily, some may come by it more difficult. I saw this opportunity arise because of my parents, I would love for them to be able to get back as much as they possibly can. As well as my grandparents.

Federal Raising of Property Interest Rates

The interest rates have been climbing on property rates which means a more secure housing market. My friend and I were talking, who is a real estate agent, about how this is happening. This is a telltale sign for investors to eat up as much property as they can. This allows them to have easier resale because of better approval rates on mortgages or loans. Any future homeowner or investor will benefit from this exploit of this property takeover. This can be possibly difficult for consumers with lower tier credit and rough credit history. This happened to appeal to me because I have a few friends who are looking to become homeowners in the near future.

Cities Pushing for Plastic Bans

I was recently reading about how Gainesville is planning to completely rid the city of plastic by 2040. This was in the Gainesville Sun not too long ago. This will benefit not only the residents of Gainesville but the planet. We can all help to exploit this trend by doing our own parts and using re-usable bags and refusing plastic straws. This is something that can be easily done and would just take repetition to make it a habit. This appealed to me because I love to be a part of making this world a more habitable and cleaner place.

Pollution Problems

There is a growing problem with pollution because of environmental regulation cutbacks. This was in a recent article in the NY Times that my buddy studying at New York Law School told me about. We have always had a recurring problem with pollution, but this has been on the rise since recently regulatory changes. Anyone in big city areas and heavily industrialized areas have been affected the most. This would be a very difficult opportunity to exploit because of the mass scale of this problem. This drew me in because of how damaging this is on the earth and we all need to take small steps to help this problem.

5A Identifying Local Opportunities

Here's one way to stop living paycheck to paycheck

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1712811927B008C0

This article highlights ways to help save money from check to check, while still being able to spend money on necessities. It gives a glimpse into a book that is written about budgeting and touches briefly on not spending money on unnecessary things and saving towards important things.

This article highlights incomes being affected by the government shutdown.

In this article, mainly federal workers are who are being affected.

Girl, 10, critically injured in ATV crash

https://infoweb.newsbank.com/apps/news/openurl?ctx_ver=z39.88-2004&rft_id=info%3Asid/infoweb.newsbank.com&svc_dat=WORLDNEWS&req_dat=0D0CB57BE7FF6D8A&rft_val_format=info%3Aofi/fmt%3Akev%3Amtx%3Actx&rft_dat=document_id%3Anews%252F1711D6039A0C2AC8

This article is stating how a 10 year old girl was injured in a ATV "All Terrain Vehicle" accident. It gives the essence of the accident and what happened.

This article highlights the problem that a child as young as 10 was allowed to operate a motor vehicle with a high chance of tipping points.

The youth are affected because of injury, pedestrians are affected because they have to worry about underage children operating motor vehicles.

The plastic ban: Gainesville will be 100 percent waste free by 2040

https://www.alligator.org/news/the-plastic-ban-gainesville-will-be-percent-waste-free-by/article_4be9d1d4-1aec-11e9-9b28-dfc39205fdd9.html

This story outlines how Gainesville plans to rid its plastic waste completely by 2040. This highlights Gainesville progressive take to become a great example for cities around.

This article articulates the problem with having a unreasonable amount of waste that cant be broken down by nature for 100's of years. It needs to be dealt with.

This particular problem affects Gainesville residents directly, as well as every and any human on earth if we dont radicate this problem.

Sheriff: Need for 911 operators continues

This article is about a 911 Operator who was on the force for 22 years. This article highlights the needs for nore applicants for the job position.

The problem here is that people, as time goes on, do not want to be a 911 Operator. They would rather work in a prison or a detention center.

The people directly affected by this are police officers and firefighters. They need to make sure they have an adequate amount of operators so they are able to be assisted properly in emergency situations.

Recall is expanded for heart, blood-pressure and kidney drug over possible carcinogen

This article is about the unfortunate recall for a heart, blood pressure, and kidney prescription.

The probem here is that so many people have already taken this prescription and it could have had deadly side effects. These things should not have been able to make it out of quality control.

The people affected by this problem are whoever needed this medicine to live a better life.

Friday, January 18, 2019

Entrepreneurship Story 3A

My Father is a huge influence in my life. He has a strong work ethic and drive. When he was in his 20's he created a contracting company. He has owned and operated this company for over 30 years. He is always the first one on the job and always the last one to leave. He practically built his company from the ground up and is now one of the top premier builders in Palm Beach. It was always a pleasure to be able to work for him and I hope to eventually take over his company.

I chose to take this course to better my abilities and knowledge in the workforce and using my skills correctly. I believe this class will be a great lesson for me and it will be something I can use every day.

Thursday, January 17, 2019

Bug List Assignment 2A

1. Driving around Gainesville terrifies me. Students on scooters everywhere that act like they don’t care to live.

WHY? Students are coming to college for the first time and have never driven scooters before.

2. The pollen in Gainesville drives my sinuses crazy.

WHY? I am from South Florida by the ocean, so the pollen does not settle like it does in Gainesville.

3. I hate that I have to refill my tires more often in the spring time up in Gainesville because of the weather.

WHY? The cold air shrinks the tires and allows air to escape

4. Gainesville’s traffic is really bad, and it drives my blood pressure through the roof.

WHY? Gainesville’s infrastructure did not plan on the overflow of students.

5. It bugs me when I buy an XL t shirt and it shrinks down to a large size.

WHY? Because I am too lazy to air dry

6. It bugs me that I have to vacuum my house every other day because of my dog’s hair.

WHY? They are a heavy shedding breed, but I love them with all my heart

7. It bugs me that my Electricity bill is so high every month.

WHY? My A/C unit is from the 70’s so I believe it works harder

8. It bugs me that I have to pay for trash bags to throw trash into that end up getting thrown into the trash

WHY? There is no other way to keep trash in a compact form but still bugs me

9. It bugs me that there is no right turn on red on university and 13^th.

WHY? This is in place for the safety of students, but they still use it on Saturdays and Sundays

10. It bugs me that there are only 2 cashiers working at big stores and 18 unopen lanes

WHY? There might be too much overhead to pay more workers

11. It bugs me that I have to use hairspray to tame the frizz

WHY? I have short trimmed hair but curly when long

12. It bugs me that Netflix charges $15 a month and all you get is one streaming app when Hulu gives you 3

WHY? I am brand loyal to Netflix and this might be something they capitalize on

13. It bugs me that people try to finance boats at my job knowing they have terrible credit

WHY? People think banks want them to take on more loans to get a better standing

14. It bugs me when I am the only one up early in the morning on the weekends

WHY? I work 9-5 through the week so I have an internal clock to wake up early

15. It bugs me that I have to go to an orthodontist again after having braces when I was younger

WHY? I neglected using my retainer and my bite shifted

16. It bugs me when I have to constantly fill my car up with gas

WHY? After having aftermarket work done, my cars MPG dropped way down

17. It bugs me that we still have daylight savings and it messes up sleep schedule

WHY? This is an outdated farming technique that should be dealt with

18. It bugs me that even on overcast days, I get a sunburn

WHY? This is due to reflection of UV rays in water molecules, I should wear more sunscreen

19. It bugs me that a weather reporter can report rain all day, and not one raindrop falls

WHY? Weather can shift dramatically in an instant

20. It bugs me that I pay Cox a good amount of money for internet and sometimes its so terrible

WHY? Their service just isn’t a top of the line communication

REFLECTION:

This was extremely fluid at first and then I hit a wall. Thinking of things that bug me is tough, but also thinking of why is even more challenging. This was a good insight for me to understand what I let bother me.

Friday, January 11, 2019

Hello Everyone!

Hello There,

This is my first blog post! I would like to introduce myself, My name is Blake Janssen and I am a senior at the University of Florida.