Page 4 January 30, 2014 One Man’s Opinion Another Man’s Opinion By Brian Simon “In 1992, 66 percent of youngsters The Grim Reaper sat on a rock, dressed in participated in the economy, but by 2012 black, his hood hiding his face. He held his that had fallen to 54.9 percent. What’s more, scythe in one hand and rested his chin on the economists project that between 2012 and cup of his other hand. But his head drooped. 2022, they will fall another 5.3 percent. A passerby stared and inquired, “Wazzup, “In short, they can’t afford to carry a Reaper? Why so sad?” disproportionate share of society’s medical “Death vigils are sad,” The Reaper replied, costs and most importantly, because they “The stone tablets have said Obamacare will are healthier, don’t need insurance as badly. fail, so I’m waiting for it to happen. Wish Obamacare’s relying on this slim reed defies we could just get on with it and write its rational expectations. epitaph already.” “The second reason Obamacare will fail is “Geeze, that’s pretty pessimistic, Reaper. Why even more basic: Why will anyone buy medical did the stone tablets reach that conclusion?” insurance in advance of need if it will always “Well, we’ve been deluged with all the be available when he needs it? As Americans’ peripheral stuff about computer errors, lack average incomes fall, should people spend of personal information security, lack of precious dollars every month in premiums communication between the government and when they’re healthy if that same insurance insurance companies, lack of a coordination plan would still be available when they’re sick? among the various branches of government…all The provision prohibiting exclusions due to that stuff. But that all misses the point. The preexisting conditions makes waiting to buy reason the plan will fail is because at its heart, insurance a rational choice. One insurance it’s irrational. executive compared insuring a sick person to “Consider this: Seniors require more selling a fire insurance policy to someone whose medical services than Medicare can afford, house is already on fire. It’s compassionate, so Obamacare needs 40 percent of enrollees but irrational. to come from healthy youngsters under the “So the two fundamental issues are: First, age of 34 to balance out the costly seniors. is it sensical for anyone to spend months or Unfortunately, youngsters constitute only years paying premiums when he isn’t sick; 25 percent of the population. So they must or alternatively, wait to enroll later when he subscribe in disproportionate numbers for is sick? Second, should the very viability of Obamacare to survive. Obamacare be predicated on young, healthy “They’re unlikely to do so because many people spending their cash-strapped dollars in young folks are already covered by parental numbers disproportionate to their percentage policies. Furthermore, being young, they of the population? If the answer to either issue are poorly compensated, have the highest is no, then we should just bury Obamacare, unemployment rate, carry the highest personal throw a few wilted flowers on the dirt and debt primarily from college loans, and have move on.” With that, the Grim Reaper swung the fewest assets to protect. his scythe in an arc and walked off. • Raising the Minimum Wage is Not the End of the World By Cristian Vasquez For several months the issue of raising the minimum wage rate has been discussed in the media and among the political leaders we have “So with the cost of living going up every year, why cant the minimum wage rate do the same?” out in put in office. While in Congress is yet to determine if they will approve a raise in the wage, several states have taken it upon themselves to begin the process. In California the proposal is to boost the minimum wage to as much as $12, which is getting support and opposition. I will make no secret of the fact that I firmly believe in workers’ right to earn a decent wage to support themselves and their families. In my humble opinion, many careers and average jobs don’t pay nearly enough based on what the employee has to deal with on a daily basis. However, when talking about the minimum wage we are referring to a person’s ability to earn a paycheck that will provide a decent living. The truth is that the state’s current $8 an hour rate is nowhere near enough of a wage for anyone in California to provide themselves with a decent living. For those of who have worked for the minimum wage at some point, not all of these work sites make it a priority to provide their employees with a 40-hour work week, making it even more difficult to survive on such a low hourly rate. Even in the best-case-scenario where an employee earning minimum wage actually works a 40-hour work week, that means that they are going to receive a paycheck worth $320, before taxes. I will admit that these are people who earn such wages, work hard and make ends meet. Yet, that doesn’t mean that they should not earn more for their hard work. We must be mindful that the minimum wage rate stays the same for many years and it is not until a few politicians make enough noise and gain enough support to bump up the rate. Yet, the cost of living goes up every year. Last week I went to buy milk and realized that I was paying almost $7 for two gallons. That means my monthly milk expense will now be $21 and will probably go up by the end of the year. So with the cost of living going up every year, why cant the minimum wage rate do the same? We can’t expect consumers to keep up with the cost of every-day expenses if they do not earn the wages to do so. Adjusting the minimum wage is not only fair but it is necessary. For anyone who has ever worked a minimum-wage paying job, and for everyone who currently earns that rate, we all know the bittersweet feeling of payday. Getting paid is great but the reminder of how little the wage is quickly kills the excitement of payday. At $12 an hour the minimum wage will actually make things easier for many people living paycheck to paycheck. • Looking Up Rosetta Wakes Up from Deep Space Hibernation By Bob Eklund January 20, 2014: It was a fairytale ending to a tense chapter in the story of the Rosetta space mission, as the European Space Agency (ESA) heard from its distant spacecraft for the first time in 31 months. Launched in 2004, Rosetta is chasing down Comet 67P/ Churyumov-Gerasimenko, where it will become the first space mission to rendezvous with a comet, the first to attempt a landing on a comet’s surface and the first to follow a comet as it swings around the Sun. Operating on solar energy alone, Rosetta was placed into a deep space slumber in June 2011 as it cruised out to a distance of nearly 800 million km from the warmth of the Sun, beyond the orbit of Jupiter. Now, as Rosetta’s orbit has brought it back to within only 673 million km from the Sun, there is enough solar energy to power the spacecraft fully again. Rosetta Calls Home Thus on January 20, still about nine million km from the comet, Rosetta’s preprogrammed internal alarm clock woke up the spacecraft. After warming up its key navigation instruments, coming out of a stabilizing spin and aiming its main radio antenna at Earth, Rosetta sent a signal to let mission operators know it had survived the most distant part of its journey. The signal was received by both NASA’s Goldstone and Canberra ground stations during the first window of opportunity the spacecraft had to communicate with Earth, and the successful wake-up was announced via the @ESA_Rosetta Twitter account that tweeted, “Hello, World!” Comets are considered the primitive building blocks of the Solar System and likely helped to seed Earth with water and perhaps even the ingredients for life. “All other comet missions have been flybys, capturing fleeting moments in the life of these icy treasure chests,” says Matt Taylor, ESA’s Rosetta project scientist. “With Rosetta, we will track the evolution of a comet on a daily basis and for over a year, giving us a unique insight into a comet’s behavior.” After rendezvous this August, Rosetta will start with two months of mapping of the comet’s surface and will also measure the comet’s gravity, mass and shape, as well as assess its gaseous, dust-laden atmosphere, or coma. Using these data, scientists will choose a landing site for the mission’s 100 kg Philae probe. The landing is currently scheduled for November 11 and will be the first time that a landing on a comet has ever been attempted. In fact, given the almost negligible gravity of the comet’s four km-wide nucleus, Philae will have to use ice screws and harpoons to stop it from rebounding back into space after touchdown. Among its wide range of scientific measurements, Philae will send back a panorama of its surroundings, as well as very high-resolution pictures of the surface. It will also perform an on-the-spot analysis of the composition of the ices and organic material, including drilling down to 23 cm below the surface and feeding samples to Philae’s onboard laboratory for analysis. The focus of the mission will then move to the escort phase, during which Rosetta will stay alongside the comet as it moves closer to the Sun, monitoring the ever-changing conditions on the surface as the comet warms up and its ices vaporize. The comet will reach its closest distance to the Sun in August 2015, at about 185 million km, roughly between the orbits of Earth and Mars. Rosetta will follow the comet throughout the remainder of 2015 as it heads away from the Sun. •
Lawndale 01_30_14
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