In regards to SOAPS tone, the speaker of this political cartoon is most likely someone who is up to date in regards to politics. The occasion was that President Donald Trump’s gave his State of the Union speech during his address in the House chamber. The audience is anyone who is able to recognize the contention between the two leaders and, more broadly, among members of both political parties. The purpose is to demonstrate the amount of uproar that the public created as a result of Pelosi’s actions and how many found it disrespectful. Finally, the subject of this cartoon is House Speaker Nancy Pelosi tore a copy of President Donald Trump’s State of the Union speech right after he concluded it. Besides this, I think that the creator was very effective in making parallel structures between Pelosi and Trump with them both ripping up important documents but the only one that matters and gets any repercussions is Pelosi. As for me, while I understand that it may have been inappropriate for Pelosi to rip the speech at that time, I also believe that there is a double standard that allows Donald Trump to do a lot without anyone batting an eyelash but as soon as Pelosi does something, the entire world has an opinion on it.

This past Thursday, I went to a Mathnasium event that was hosted at Wheaton Public Library. Their event consisted of math related games for the students to play, and if they won then they would get a prize. Drinks and refreshments were provided for the kids and the main purpose of the event was to gain exposure for Mathnasium. Mathnasium is a math driven tutoring center that is located in both Glen Ellyn and Carol Stream. They aim at helping and teaching kids through individualized learning plans that are designed to make them succeed. I am currently an instructor at Mathnasium and that is how I found out about the event and it was the primary reason why I attended. However, I was not there as a worker on that specific day; rather, I went to just support Mathnasium and my coworkers. Overall, the experience was enjoyable for everyone and the kids who did attend with their parents had a lot of fun with the games. There was also a raffle going on that the parents could enter to win their child a free month at the center which was very popular amongst the adults cause often times parents wants to get their kids help outside of school, but they are unsure of how Mathnasium works and so the free month brings them clarity. Besides that, I just stayed at the event for a little bit and played some games with the kids there. That day it was snowing/raining really hard so the roads were a horrible mess which definitely decreased the turnout but nonetheless the students and I both had loads of fun and they went home with lots of prizes and cookies. 

Should all internships be paid?

Internships, in recent years, have almost become a right of passage for any newly college graduate looking to take their next step. Very few entry level jobs hire individuals without some form of prior experience and with the job market becoming so competitive, it is crucial to partake in some form of practice. This is where internships come in. While some them are paid, many believe that an intern serves the purpose of shadowing the most seasoned employees a company has to offer and to participate in a multitude of activities and projects with tangible outcomes that will undoubtedly benefit the student’s career growth and allow them to project their abilities in their future job. Although this sounds very beneficial, after conducting some preliminary research, I was able to find how unpaid internships perpetuate inequality through favoring the privileged who can afford to make no money on top of exploiting workers, taking jobs from would be entry-level employees, and perhaps most importantly, break longstanding labor laws. A stringent six-part test laid out by the Labor Department in 2010 made it clear that employers must pass all of the criteria if they want to have unpaid interns on staff. One of the requirements is that the position be “similar to training which would be given in an educational environment.” I think that’s where the school credit trend comes from and how employers try to mask what their internship programs entail. More important are much more difficult to satisfy requirements like the employer “derives no immediate advantage” from the intern’s work, and “the intern does not displace regular employees”. After evaluating all this information, I feel like many post college graduates get sucked into participating in internships to avoid the shame of failing to find a job. Therefore, companies abuse this power, and many, in fact, require their interns to show proof of graduating from college and expect them to do work that entry-level employees do.

Citation:

“Fact Sheet #71: Internship Programs Under The Fair Labor Standards Act”. U.S. Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division, US Wage and Hour Division, 2018, http://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WHD/legacy/files/whdfs71.pdf

What is the leading cause of America’s exponentially growing drug prices in comparison to other countries around the world?

Currently, America pays the most amount of money for its prescription drugs and just this past New Year, drug prices were hiked up an at average rate 6.3% which is 3x the rate of inflation. This is terrifying to consider as almost half of America takes some form of prescription drugs. I was drawn to this topic due to its prevalence within today’s society. American’s are struggling to make ends meet because of the financial strain their life-saving medicine is putting them under. What’s even more alarming is that America is alone in this struggle; other countries are able to keep their drug prices low and maintain a profit so the question that naturally arises is what is America doing that spikes drug prices to a point where they are categorized as a luxury rather than a necessity? I initially was introduced to this topic through watching an episode of Patriot Act that delved into the issue and tried to pinpoint the root cause of the problem. After being genuinely interested, I researched a little more on the topic and found that it really comes to drug patents. Drug patents have historically only been used for new drugs so they can be covered under patent protection, which means that only the pharmaceutical company that holds the patent is allowed to manufacture the drug, market it and eventually make a profit from it. Unlike in other countries, US law states that patents can be extended so long as changes are made to the drugs. Now, the law states that only changes have to be made not improvements. They don’t have to prove it’s better, they just have to prove that it’s not worse(Patriot Act). Drug companies are using this loophole to their advantage and it was reported that in the last decade alone, 78% of drugs that received patents were for existing drugs. Our government doesn’t cap drug prices so these drug companies have complete control of their medicine, making it completely legal to sell a drug for hundreds of dollars. Now, drug companies do admit that drug pricing has gotten out of control, they just don’t think they’re part of the problem. They love blaming Pharmacy Benefit Managers or PBM’s. If you’ve ever gone to a pharmacy, they usually tell you how much a drug cost and how much your insurance is paying. PBM’s negotiated that price and take a lot of heat for being the middlemen. When people pay for medicine through an insurance company, these PBM’s will require some form of copayment, 80% of which they keep for profit making them a target for a lot of hate by the public. What’s even more alarming is that Congress has the power to break patents in an emergency. They’ve never done it, but in the past the threat of breaking patents has forced drug companies to lower prices. Drug pricing, especially insulin, has gotten so out of control that many are upset that no legal action is taking place to counteract these absurd prices. All of this back and forth bickering between drug companies, PBM’s, Congress and insurance companies causes us to focus more so on the fighting and not on the repercussions on their decisions. So these four love pointing fingers at each other cause if we can’t figure out who to blame, they all keep making money.

Citation:

Patriot Act. “Drug Pricing”. Netflix, commentary by Hassan Minhaj, 17 Feb. 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7LgT4_jkLA.

How has the introduction of gene editing to create ‘designer’ babies influenced the sperm donor industry?

Initially when delving into possible research topics, I wanted to avoid doing something that was ethically controversial and gene editing practically screams controversial. However, I found a way to make my topic more focused so that it honed in on the causation of the two ideas presented. I was particularly intrigued by this topic because often times with such revolutionary findings we fail to realize the real life implications that come with it. With gene editing and the sperm donor industry loosely revolving around the same idea, I wanted to explore how the allure of designer babies would evolve or regress sperm donors. Through using online research databases such as JSTOR, I was able to sift through information on sperm donors and gene editing. One notable piece of information is that donor sperm is in short supply so qualifying donors are needed more than ever (Hargreave 613). I personally was not aware of the decline of sperm donors and therefore am led to believe that if individuals and/or families could manipulate the child after conception, then the lack of sperm donors would not matter as much and even cause an influx in earnings. Despite this, I am fully aware that I have only grazed the surface of this and therefore am still undecided as to where I stand on the topic in question. 

Citation:

Hargreave, T. B. “Artificial Insemination By Donor”. British Medical Journal, vol. 291, no. 6496, 2015, pp. 613–614. JSTOR, http://www.jstor.org/stable/29520464.