Chapter 3

http://www2.news.gov.bc.ca/news_releases_2005-2009/2007EDU0006-000026.htm

This article is about the new tutoring service the Provincial Government of BC is offering to students through the internet. This service, named LearnNow BC, is a new, innovative way, which the government is using to reach out to the BC students and improve their education. LearnNow BC at www.learnnowbc.gov.bc.ca.was first introduced in October 2006 as it offered tutoring services to all students taking Math 10 and Science 10. Now, it has expanded to other subjects including Social Studies 11. Students acquire help from a number of options, such as 1-on-1 chat rooms with tutors, “live” workshops with teachers, and or practice quizzes. LearnNow also provides online courses to students.

Observing this move in economic terms shows us some of the ways the government is trying to improve the quality of education. For a long number of decades, tutoring has always been a privatized service. It gives students more help than they needed on the subjects that they need help on. However, it is up to the parents to pay for this help. Not every family has the money to support their child this way due to the distribution of income. Thus, the government will pressure the “right” privatized side of tutors to improve their services and create some negative third party effects towards them. For example, they may have to reduce prices of their services since students can now get it for free if they wish, which means some of these companies might have to layoff employees to take the loss of business. Also, they might have to spend more money on marketing to convince students that their service is far more superior to the online service to justify the payment of this good. Either way, this is good news to the consumers with the increase in competition in the market.

By offering education this way, the government gives more opportunities to all students who wish to learn. The online courses offered by LearnNow is a perfect example why education should be handled by the government as it is in a lot of ways an unmet good, and why they are more efficient at providing this service than private companies. Only the government is able to provide a service that can be accessed by everyone equally. Even in rural areas, students are able to follow the same curriculum as students in the city. No child will be excluded due to financial reasons and no one will uphold an advantage of a better, costlier school.

All this has no effect on me whatsoever. I’m already in grade 12 and am graduating in less than 6 months. I could care less if the government offered even more services to students. They don’t even offer tutoring for grade 12 courses yet! However, I would have appreciated it if I was given this kind of benefit a few years back, as I could have gotten more help on my courses. Obviously, there are more students like me that need the extra help to keep up with their courses, so I give thumbs up to the government for finally reaching out to us students and putting more of those tax dollars to good use.

Above all, it shows how much power the government has on even the free market system. Either through regulations, taxes, or crown corporations, the government has what it takes to change the entire landscape of how a business should be run. Also, I truly feel that Canada is one of the better countries at handling tax dollars. At least we don’t spend billions of dollars in war like some other country…

Chapter 2

http://world.honda.com/news/2006/4060108FCX/

This is an article about the new fuel cell vehicle (FCV) that Honda is planning to produce in the near future. The FCX is a sedan that uses hydrogen as fuel, which closely resembles the Honda Civic. Compared to fossil fuels, hydrogen is completely pollution free and offers total comfort for our ozone. Basically, the fuel cell engine takes oxygen and hydrogen, and uses them to create electricity and water, so the only damage it would make in our habitat will be streaks of water on our roads. One key point is that due to the removal of the huge chunky combustion engines, fuel cell cars can be much smaller or much roomier inside. Lastly, Honda is planning to introduce the Home Energy Station, which is a home energy station that supplies fuel cell electricity to both vehicles and home.

Economically, I think this is great news, due to the fact that we're using up fossil fuels quite rapidly. Gasoline, in my opinion, is very much an inelastic product right now, as 99.9% of cars use it. However, the supply is going lower and lower each month, thus jacking up the prices very quick. If it was plotted into a supply and demand curve, you will see that prices will keep on rising as supply decrease and demand increase. This is why companies like Honda are pushing research on new technologies and alternatives. If more innovative ideas like fuel cell come up in the future, gas would change from an inelastic product to a more elastic product. This means, the demand and quantity exchange of gas would change dramatically in any change in price.

Another important point is that switching to fuel cell would solve a lot of energy problems. Because of the abundance of hydrogen and oxygen in our atmosphere, its supply is almost infinite. Not to mention how clean our air would become with the reduction of greenhouse gases. According to the article, the Home Energy Station would cut energy costs by as much as 50%. It means BC Hydro no longer have to disrupt the ecosystems of rivers with their hydroelectric power stations. It is a big step forward towards a cleaner environment.

On the other hand, the changing of technology could effect the economy of a lot of countries that depend on the export of fossil fuels, especially those in the middle east. This change would hurt both the market of fossil fuels, and the market of conventional automobiles. Eventually, if fuel cell prevails, the demand for nowadays cars and oil will go down, and their quantity exchange will join them. Furthermore, manufacturers will continue to shift the supply curve to the left and make room for FCVs until gasoline cars no longer exist. It will be like betamax all over again...

As I have said before in my other blog, technologies like these deserve our support as they would greatly decrease the effects of our pollution on the environment. Global warming is a growing threat towards society and it would be until something is done to reverse the damages. You know... like The Day After Tomorrow. Do you really want to migrate to Mexico?