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Cryptocurrency’s conundrum is that businesses will not want to accept cryptocurrencies as a payment method until its value stabilizes (the price of cryptocurrencies routinely yo-yo by five percent per day). The value can only become more stable once people start using it to actually purchase goods and services. Instead, cryptocurrency prices are currently determined by speculators. In other words, cryptocurrency’s future transactional demand will only really increase once its present transactional demand increases since this is the only thing that will allow its value to be sufficiently stable for businesses to accept. Continue Reading

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The United States has been an economic powerhouse in the world since 1920, but has the implementation of taxes stymied its growth whatsoever? Congress recently reviewed tax policies, with extensive changes on the capital gains tax, a tax on assets that have accrued value over time when sold, regardless of when the gains had been accrued. The federal income tax does not tax all capital gains. For example, if a stock is purchased in 2010 at $100 and sold in 2020 at $150, the tax would be on the $50 accrued value in the current year. Economists believe that capital gains tax rates have resulted in economic prosperity and stability in the United States for nearly a century since 2016.Continue Reading

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The antagonistic relationship between the two nations began back in 1910 when Japan colonized South Korea. Japanese oppression pushed Korean men into forced labor, required every Korean to rename themselves in Japanese, and punished Koreans for speaking Korean. During WWII, Japanese occupation grew worse when Japan objectified Korean women as their “comfort women”—a translation of the Japanese ianfu, euphemistic for “prostitute”—under the name of soldier motivation. Innocent teenagers were taken away from their homes and raped by Japanese soldiers. Continue Reading

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As one of the most anticipated IPO’s of the year, DoorDash is set to go public in an exceptionally volatile market. The online food delivery platform has grown into a $12.6 billion dollar company in just seven years, with a dramatic increase from its $1.4 billion valuation in 2018. However, the success of its IPO stands in question due to changing investor sentiments concerning current market trends and recent struggles among competitors.Continue Reading

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The cacao bean, once thought a divine food by the Aztecs that imparted wisdom, is now considered by its farmers the curse of “brown gold.” The curse itself is easy to understand: manufacturers like Hershey’s and Nestlé must sell cheap chocolate to make a profit, and where else to cut costs but at the very bottom of this food chain? There, we find the cacao farmers of the Ivory Coast. These impoverished Ivorian farmers supply 40% of the world’s total supply of cacao beans alone. Despite playing such a dominant role in the global chocolate industry, the Ivory Coast benefits little from its position and does not have the leverage required to raise the prices of cacao exports to support its workers.Continue Reading

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Tax cuts are generally a very popular policy. As then Speaker of the House Paul Ryan and other proponents of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act argued, who doesn’t want their government to “giv[e] the people their money back”? President Donald Trump went even further, claiming that the “…huge tax cut will be rocket fuel for [the] economy” by creating new investment, raising workers’ wages and bonuses, and increasing growth. Continue Reading

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The economic and social impact of climate change has become increasingly evident in the past few years. According to the World Economic Forum, the four biggest risks facing the world are failing to adapt to climate change, human-made environmental damage, biodiversity and ecosystem loss, and natural disasters—all related to and caused by climate change. Continue Reading