"Sick Around the World" was a great video which talked about the different health care systems in Britain, Japan, Germany, Taiwan, and Switzerland. All of these health care systems we learned about have very different health care systems. Take the UK for example; the UK's Health Care services are completely funded by taxes which is very different than the services in the US. I thought the health care services in Japan are very interested. In Japan, people go to the doctor, use more drugs, and spend more days in hospitals compared to civilians in the United States but Japan spends about half as much money on health care per capita than the United States. Everyone in Japan buys health insurance either through a community plan or through an employer and unlike health care systems in the US, they cannot turn anyone away if they have previous health issues.

Too The Max

I already saw the movie Maxed Out, so the second time around i was able to pay more attention to the facts that the movies represented and less of the stories.  I was amazed by some of the debt that people acquire when they are in college.  it also sickened me when i heard how credit card companies and colleges basically work hand in hand to trap people into debt at a very young age. Its incredible how subliminal the credit card companies are when they target a young demographic, they have tactics to seem more appealing.  It would be interesting to see a database of all the people who fell for the debt trap, and what majors they took.  I feel as if someone who was majoring in economics wouldn't be as vulnerable to these tactics considering they would know the outcome.  Also it just goes to show the value of scholarships.  Debt after college seems almost impossible to get rid of on top of the credit cards debt that they already have existing.  Now if youre a college athlete with a full ride you graduate college with little to know debt.  That is a gift, the ability to be debt free. WOW

Thanks Alanna!

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Maxed Out

This isn't the first time I've seen this documentary... nor do I think it will be my last. There really is so much to say about how ridiculous the laws are that allow credit card companies to become predators not only to college age students, but adults as well. It's incredibly sad that people take their own lives over something like debt, it should never happen. I think this movie should be a part of everyone's curriculum, because there is no way to stress enough the importance of having this information. To know that this could just as easily happen to you, it's an important lesson.

Maxed Out with little thought

After watching the film Maxed Out, I tried to think of who was most to blame for the massive debt in our nation. Was it the banks preying on unknowing college students, the people who wished to live more lavish lifestyles than they could afford, those forced into bankruptcy only to re-enter the cycle? Many of the messages conveyed in the movie stuck out to me and it struck me how twisted it is for our country to make money off of others debts: "debt buying is one of the fastest growing industries on Wall Street. Banks purposefully hire employees who have worked in the retail business so that they can lure potential clients in with glamorous offers and money upfront (without looking into the small print).
However our society does need to be smarter than falling for every credit card pushed in front of us. Many gather debt by losing track of their purchases or spending to lavishly. I recently read an article from the Wall Street Journal having to do with the average price of prom these days and I could not believe proms can cost anywhere from a couple hundred to a couple thousand dollars. Here is an article from the Denver Post about the average cost of a prom. This is one great example of how young teens and parents recklessly spend for one night. Before spending so much on a dress or new pair of shoes, we need to think about the repercussions of spending.

I am really glad we got to watch this movie in Econ because although I already knew the the troubles that are associated with credit cards and college students it was very beneficial to hear real life stories from the students in the video. Our whole economics class is going off to school next year so I think it was very important for us to see how easy it is to fall into debt when credit card companies are targeting young students. Colleges often benefit when college students purchase credit cards so the schools do not often teach the students about the risk of falling into debt. High Schools are not paid to promote credit cards which is why it is easier to teach the horrors of debt to high school students rather than college students.
Even though I was really glad to hear the risks before going off to college, the video did not really address any stories of people who do not end up in debt. There are a ton of college students who do end up in debt but there are just as many students who do not.

Maxed Out

I thought this documentary applied greatly to our class. Many of the sob-stories were about college students who were bamboozled into buying credit cards without realizing how credit cards actually function. Thankfully, I know the risks involved with owning credit cards, and while many people run into trouble, as exhibited by the film, I think that there are many benefits to credit cards that the documentary does not bring up. For example, as Chapter 25 in Economics by Example explains, credit cards allow consumers to buy things with money that they may not have at that specific moment. These purchases fuel the economy and allow people to buy more because it is rare, when people buy a car, that they have all of the money needed to buy the car at that specific moment in time. However, it is possible that buy the end of the month, when they need to pay their credit card bills, they will have the money.