Drug Dealing, Moms; Life as we know it

This chapter of the book really got me hooked. The previous two chapters were interesting but not quite eye opening or appalling as this one was. They seem to get progressively better. 

I quite enjoyed the comparison between drug running gangs and companies in most capitalistic societies. The breakdown of the gang fully resembled a normal company with the rank in file of the gang being the everyday worker who did not really get much say in the company, the street soldiers who are the local bosses and the leader being the regional supervisor. The hierarchy of power was exactly how I picture any company in the United States or the world works. I thought it was interesting saying how young white kids in suburbia imitate black drug dealers in the ghetto while the drug dealers imitate the white kids dads' in their business methods. The way the author showed the lineage between the three made me laugh at its truth. 

I couldn't believe how systematically gang organizations ran. It was very interesting to learn that no matter what type of business dealings, people in an organization conform to a certain type of operation in order to become efficient and successful. The people at the top of the organization or company benefits from most of the labor and profit the company makes by doing the least work. Management rules supreme among men. A leader will always be respected and people will accept poorer conditions if they like their leader or are willing to follow him. I liked the whole business dealing side of things in this chapter and the story of the graduate student being part of the crack gang was really cool I think. 

I was surprised that they let him go in the beginning and let him come back and ask all the questions and all that he did. It really helped to look into the world of drug running and being in a gang. I was flabbergasted to hear that the foot soldiers only worked for $3.30 an hour while the leader make upwards of 100k to 500k depending on which level they reside. 

I am very excited for the next chapter and cannot wait to read what topic is dicussed next. I really like this book now. This chapter was by far the most interesting thing I have read all semester for this class. 

-bluey

FREAKanomics chap 1. SUMO TEACHERS ATTACK!!!!!!!!!

This reading was interesting, that is to say it has been much better than the past ones however I believe the following chapters will be better.

The opening of the reading was very interesting with the Israeli day care. It is astounding that people can feel not guilty when they leave their kids past the time they were supposed to come pick them up. I guess its not really a disappointment to the kids because they're just at day care for another twenty minutes but its more of a burden for the day care. Still though that is just the characteristic of a neglectful parent, I know ideally a parent would like to be on time to see their kid and I know that many parents are late, but as the author explained the study I was even more suprised.

The parents didn't care when they had to pay a fine of three dollars to pick up their kids late, more parents came later! It was also done over a few week period which means that the parent wasnt just very busy that week, it was on purpose. They subconciously or conciously didn't care if they were twenty or more minutes late to pick up their kids from day care. Thats ridiculous really. If I was working at the day care I would be angry. I don't know if they are getting paid overtime for waiting for all the kids to get picked up but my guess is that they're not. The parents just think that when they drop the kids at day care they don't have to care what happens. That is not the case, the kids are still theirs and they cannot alleviate all responsibility and pass it on to the staff. It was an intriguing study and a very good study to start the chapter with. The next topic of cheating and teachers with the standardized tests didn't interest me though. It made me think of third grade when we had to take these sort of tests and I just wondered if our teacher did anything like what was said in the book. The bagel man story was very interesting however.

A story was presented near the end of the chapter about a man who wanted to cure world hunger but ended up working for the U.S. Navy in D.C. He started bringing bagels to work and ended up quitting his job and pursued his bagel making full time. I was verryyyy suprised to find that he made the same amount of money selling bagels as he did before...I guess when they say the government doesn't pay well they're not kidding ;).

The man's new business was also a test of human morality and principles. There was no customer interaction in which the person taking a bagel encountered the man selling the bagels, therefore there was no one to cheat physically. There was however the conciense of the people taking the bagels. Some people did not pay, but the economist turned bagel man accounted this on oversight, which I thought was wishful but a good way to think. I was very amazed that he got 95% return though, I didn't expect that many people to pay for the bagels, I figured more people would steal the bagels.

I do not think people are moral, they can be, however the vast majority of people will cheat and steal if they get the chance; this study however showed differently.

The chapter got me thinking about alot of things and I am interested to see what will come in the next chapter.

-bluey