Developed Countries Versus Developing Countries

When I was in middle school, my teacher would call developing countries PINGs and developed countries PEDs. Since then, I have known the obvious differences between the two categories. However, I wanted to learn about the economic differences, and how they will change in the near future. Though America still has one of the largest GDP in the world, the GDP of India, Japan, and China are growing the fastest. This means that America is at the top, but it is likely that it will not stay there for long, depending on future progress. Through this research, I feel that the gap between the PINGs and PEDs will start to decrease as time passes by. Yet, there are still a numerous amount of other countries, such as Ethiopia and Libya, that are struggling to help their people and economy survive. Fortunately, many seem to think that conditions are getting much better. The literacy rate is growing, while the fertility rate is shrinking. Furthermore, there is a lot of trade between Africa and China, as well as a project, called Trade Africa, between America and Africa-- it's designed to help the currency and quality of life in many countries of Africa gain more value. Both of these things are helping Africa significantly. The economic future looks much better than the environmental future. 

World Economy and American Debt

There are not that many solutions to solving American debt. Honestly, most people are unsure of all the debt and more focused on decreasing the deficit. However, I did find more information on the economy of developing countries. There was an article in TIME that explained how the success of Alibaba foreshadows the success of the developing world. It even went on to say that people living in developed countries will most likely start to find jobs in developing countries like China and India (http://time.com/3401924/china-alibaba-ipo-world-business-trade-internet-economy/). Though this is a strong statement, I was not very surprised. The GDP (real) of United States and Japan is decreasing, while the GDP of places like China, India, and Bangladesh is increasing (http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/categories/32291). According to the CNN website, America's economy is growing nowhere near as fast as developing countries, particularly throughout the different parts of Asia. Although USA does not have the world's fastest growing economy, it does still have the largest economy, which the same website shows will not change for at least five years (http://money.cnn.com/news/economy/world_economies_gdp/). I also researched the reason for our debt. This became quite political, but one website clearly showed at what time the debt started to accumulate. It explained that if Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W Bush had correctly balanced their budgets, the debt would not have existed. In fact, it shows an alternate graph that shows how the debt would have been much lower if different paths were taken in the 1980s (http://zfacts.com/p/318.html). Of course, this website is highly biased, but it does give a reason.

Starting next week, I want to find the differences between developed and developing countries in fifty years. I need to see whether the economic and environmental gap between the two increases or decreases.

The Economy of the Future

This week, I was not able to do enough research, because I was in a trip for a school club. However, from the research I did after I returned, and from what I have learned so far from my AP Macroeconomics class, I have learned about what people expect the world to look like economically fifty years from now. Many sources indicate that the economy is getting better slowly and that we have successfully come out of a recession. However, many economists say (including my teacher) that this past recession is nothing compared to what we will have to deal with in the future. My economy teacher explained it to our class through the following story: “Pretend that we all are in a plane. Not only are we flying, but we are sitting in first class. Though we have the luxury of flying in style, the plane is actually headed directly downward, and we will crash and burn very soon.” I first laughed and took it lightly, but when he showed us the statistics, I realized the urgency of the problem that we were facing. At this moment, America is in a debt of $18 trillion (FRED). The worst part is that the yearly deficit in America has still not stopped, so the debt is growing. In order for us to rid ourselves with this huge problem, every person would have to give the government around $51,000(including the child just born now). The whole class had only one though after hearing this: how do we solve this problem in the future? There are many ways, but the simplest solution that we were told was to increase taxes. In fact, he said that he could see the next generation paying as much as 50% taxes in the near future.

            Next week, I hope to find new sources that give me more perspectives on the economy of the future, as well as new solutions to the huge debt America is in.

According to last week’s blog, my job this week was to find some solutions to what people could do to help this world become more sustainable. Thankfully, I did not have to research too much because I am taking AP Environmental Science. I have already learned so many ways that people are hurting this world and even more ways they could prevent it. For example, Dr. Tolmich, my teacher, has a huge problem with plastic water bottles. His claim is that not only is the excess plastic, which is essentially oil, polluting the environment, but it also causes people to waste their money buying it. The water inside the bottles is no cleaner than purified tap water, which can be found in the school’s water fountains. His solution is the reusable water bottle. Though some are also plastic, they will not be thrown away because people can keep using them.

            Basically, environmentalists want humans to just act more sustainably. They know that people will not suddenly stop using cars just because they pollute the air; they just want people to be smart about it, like carpooling or using a bicycle instead for short distances.  On the website 50waystohelp.com, I came across many other ways to help the world without being too out of the comfort zone we Americans enjoy for granted. Some that caught my attention were to turn off computers at night to save power and to use the internet and computers more to transfer, read, and write documents to save paper. Though this was truly inspiring, I did not understand the environmentalists’ approach. Why were they being so passive? I would be petitioning to only use electric cars in America or something. The reason why people are not really imperative about living in a way that does not harm the world at all is because most people think it’s impossible. For example, it is true that cars like the Nissan Leaf don’t require any petroleum; but the batteries needed to make these cars work are also terrible for the environment. We have become so dependent on nonrenewable resources that it is very difficult to get rid of them. So, environmentalists do the next best thing instead, and try reduce pollution instead of get rid of it.

            Next week I hope to learn of other aspects of the changing world in the future, perhaps politically or economically.