Personal Finance was fairly easy this week. On Wednesday we worked on some questions about interest and many banking terms. We also made either videos or presentations for "Interest for Beginners". And today (Thursday), we worked on posters about the different kinds of insurance. My group had home insurance, and after that, we had to vote on which were the three most important. I voted for health, home, and car insurance. I said health was the most important because health is your number one priority, because homes and cars can easily be replaced, but health, on the other hand, must be taken care of.

This past week in personal finance, we continued with the Weserville money. We also started to learn about credit cards and how they work. We also got another paycheck, and luckily we haven't had to pay any bills yet. But I think we are going to pay some on Friday! We also had to research phones and their prices, because we are all getting phones. We had to compare three major phone companies, and choose the best phone and phone plan within our budget. I ended up choosing an iPhone 4s from Verizon, and under the 2 year contract, the phone only costed $0.99, and the monthly bill is about $85. I look forward to the rest of this Personal Finance term!

This past week in economics, we started Personal Finance half way through. We started off with one Weserville dollar and throughout the week we gained more money. We will be receiving salaries and getting more money by answering questions. I look forward to learning about personal finance and I also enjoyed watching the video on how money was made and how it is so unique.

In economics this past week, we learned all about Economic Activity. The GDP of other countries and what caused the Great Depression. I found it interesting when we watched the video about living on a dollar a day and it made me think about how I could not survive that in the world we live in now. It would be possible if you grew up like that and lived in a small area, like how the men in the videos traveled to Guatemala. We also have a test next Tuesday, and I wish everyone luck!

First blog of the second half of this semester! Wow, we're already 1/4 through the year. Well, first, last week we had our Economy exam, which I did very well on, and I'm really happy about it! It was challenging, but it made me feel good that I knew it all. This week we started competition. Weserville is also considering on getting a wal-mart! Throughout this week, the class was divided into two groups, a group that wants wal-mart in Weserville, and a group that does not want a wal-mart. It will be a big debate between the two sides, and I look forward to see what happens.

Last week of blogging before midterms! Wow, this semester is going by fast! We studied and practiced graphing supply. I honestly really enjoy doing graphing for supply and demand. Today was also the last day for stocks, and I finished in like 13th place. Haha. It was really fun being able to watch stocks, and buy and sell them. I think it was made 10 times better because of the government shut down. Now, if it was real life and my real money, I wouldn't have wanted the shut down to happen and to ruin my stocks. But because it's just a game, it was really cool to see the stocks fall because of the shut down, but then quickly raise. Also, I was impressed by Apple because when the new iPhone 5s and the 5c came out, AND the iOS 7, their stocks went sky high!
Well, last blog before mid terms. And I wish everyone luck on their tests! :D

This past week in economics, we studied elasticity of demand. We also got into groups of three or four (chosen by Mrs. Weser) for a tourism project. My group was Ray and Nick Z. We chose to advertise Pete and Joe's Pizza Palace and we came up with many creative things. We also learned how to calculate the percentage change in quantity demanded, the percentage change in price, and elasticity. It was easy to learn. The stocks in the beginning of the week dropped majorly, but by today (Thursday), they rose back up again.

This week, Economics was great, it was nice and quiet and nothing much but a few notes and group work. On Wednesday, the honors student's movie projects were due. Mine was about the life of free enterprise. We started talking about the "demand" side of "Supply and Demand". The class split into small groups and we made short advertisements of why someone should buy something from our chosen business. My group had a jingle about the bookstore's sale, three books for $10.

Economics is getting better every week, I'm learning new stuff (which is what I came here to do), and I get to work with things that I will eventually use later on in my life...stocks. We started working on our stock game, an accurate, up-to-date game that allows students like us, and adults to work with stocks. It doesn't deal with real money, so, if the markets crash, or if something happens, nothing will happen to us. Everyone is very into the game, and I am enjoying it as well. One of the stocks I bought was the Apple stocks. I bought the Apple stock Wednesday morning, right before the brand new iOS 7 came out. On Thursday, I checked the Apple stocks, and they shot up by a longrun. I know that it was due to the new iOS system, because everyone was talking about it and everyone was downloading it. It even took me several tries before it downloaded. I found it amazing how the stocks go up and down, and to actually watch it with my own eyes. It makes me wonder how the stocks will go around Christmas time!

This past week in Economics, the class studied and learned more about the Command Economy, Karl Marx, Adam Smith, and the Market Economy. The class paired up into groups of two, and we became Karl Marx and Adam Smith. The new Marx's and Smith's had a discussion, about Weserville's economy, other countries economies, and about the Market and Command economy itself. We also had a great feast with chips and dip, cookies, and sodas. The dialogues were very interesting to listen to and I enjoyed the project a lot.

This past week in Economics, we finished learning about the Production Possibilities Curve (PPC) and took a test on the PPC, the basics of Economics and the Factors of production. After the test, we started our next unit, with the types of Economy. Traditional, Command, and Market. I found it very interesting to see the huge differences between the types of Economies, and I find the Command Economy most interesting, because it is far more strict than what the US has. I am really looking forward to what we're learning in this unit.

The Town of Weserville

This past week we started working on Weserville. A small area withing a country in Pennsylvania, with approximately 1,705 people with an unemployment rate of 13.2%. Weserville is far away from stores, gas stations, and hospitals. The nearest store was about one hour away and the nearest hospital was about two hours away. My economy class represents 22 people from Weserville and we created families and had town elections. We split up into groups and were given a $10 million budget to build one thing on a piece of unused land, and we debated on which would benefit Weserville more.