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Hidden cost of unions

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  A labor union or trade union is an organized group of workers who unite to make decisions about conditions affecting their work. Labor unions strive to bring economic justice to the workplace and social justice to our nation.  “Labor unions bring economic justice to the workplace”, a quaint idea that seems to present labor unions as the last line of defense against ever the greedy capitalist ideas of the elite in America. The truth is that unions often act as monopolies in labor, a group of workers banding together to artificially increase the price of their employment, which economists coin as a cartel. By restricting the supply of labor available, they can win higher wages and better benefits for union members, at the cost of non-unionized workers. This eliminates the total number of employment opportunities available or forces nonunion workers to work for worse pay. The rise in the cost of labor, also forces the final price of the good to increase, raising the cost of living for
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Great Gatsby Fanfiction (Swimming AU)

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  "Tom," I inquired, "what did you say to Wilson that afternoon?" He stared at me without a word and I knew I had guessed right about those missing hours. I started to turn away but he took a step after me and grabbed my arm. "I told him the truth," he said. [A more truthful retelling of what happened between Tom, Wilson, and Gatsby. Except everyone is a swimmer and Wilson is better at swimming than everyone thinks.] Full of righteous conviction, Wilson forced his way past Tom’s butler, bellowing, “Tom, you dirty little cheat, I know you here. Come out and face me like a man!”  “Sir, please don’t go upstairs. As I told you before, Master Tom left for the country approximately an hour ago. "Any grievance you have with him, you may leave with me, and I shall notify him of it as soon as I can," Tom’s butler called out as Wilson made his way to the stairs.  “You can save your breath for someone who’ll believe those lies of yours. I’ve wised up more t
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A Tale of 2 Lanes

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     One of the biggest themes that Fitzgerald uses to drive the plot in The Great Gatsby is the division between old and new money during the 1920s. He represents the division between the classier, almost aristocratic, old money and the eager and gaudy, new money through the water between the East and West Egg. The physical division between the eggs is as much an obstacle to Gatsby as the division between classes to his end goal of Daisy. When thinking about what type of message this was designed to convey to the reader, it immediately reminded me of something that happened to me about 2 years after I started competitive swimming.      Lane 1, or the Senior group was the penultimate of Lifetime swimming, that’s where Coach Mike would spend most of his attention and where the fastest swimmers would be. Even though I was already considered one of the veterans of the team, and I was swimming at the same times as the Senior group, I saw Senior as the key to all my wildest swimming dreams.
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The "Golden Age" of Swimming

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     Looking at the 1920s as a decade, it's often called the “golden age” of America, where economic prosperity seemed to abound. Innovations began to transform American life, and women began to gain various rights, putting them on more equal footing with men. Culture began to develop, and Jazz music and silent films began to take America by storm. However, beneath this golden veneer, the ugly reality of income inequality, exploitation of workers, and immorality swelled. This “valley of ash” was eventually exposed, in 1929, when the Stock Market crashed, and America entered the Great Depression. This would completely upend the economic prosperity that America had enjoyed so freely prior, and cause the transgressions of the previous decade to be revealed. The Speedo LZR Racer tech suit being revealed Although in completely separate circles, a similar story emerges for swimming during the 2000s. Companies like Speedo, Adidas, and TYR, greedy for more sales, looked for ways to creat
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Romantic Hero's: Luke Skywalker

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     One of the vocab words that jumped out at me this week, was the idea of a “romantic hero”. An archetype where the main character blazes their path, relying on their feeling and intuition over the better judgment of themselves and others. The best representation of this archetype is in Star Wars, specifically Luke Skywalker. Luke Skywalker starts as this bright-eyed farm boy, seeking an escape from his outer rim world, unaware of all the struggles between tyranny and liberty throughout the rest of the galaxy. The iconic shot of him looking out into the setting sun of Tatooine showcases the emergence of many traits of romantic heroes, an innate sense of duty, and going to the norm of society around them. Luke looks off into the distance, longing for adventure As the movie progresses, so does Luke, meeting Obi-Wan, the old sage who mentors the young Jedi and begins to guide him on this epic journey of realizing his true purpose in the larger galaxy. He learns to wield the Force a
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A Limited View on Price Controls

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     Henry David Thoreau opens his essay on civil disobedience with the aphorism, “That government is best which governs least” and asserts the importance of a limited government that allows the people to decide what's best for them. Whether this statement is true politically is often a topic of debate, economically, however, this statement could not be more final. In most cases, the producers and consumers determine the most efficient equilibrium price and quantity of any good without government intervention. This economic truth is soon cast away by politicians, hoping to increase their own political clout, by placing price ceilings on goods and preventing the mechanisms of the economy to self-regulate. Placing a price ceiling on a good and expecting the price of a good to decrease without adverse effects is similar to declaring cancer illegal and expecting that all cancer patients become cured the next day. When polled, economists largely agree that rent control negatively impact
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Awareness In Water

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 David Foster Wallace’s speech, “This is Water”, advocates for an awareness of our consciousness and perspective in day-to-day life. He claims that avoiding our “self-centric” nature and focusing on more positive alternatives keeps us grounded and allows us to master our thinking. When reading this speech for the first time I drew immediate parallels to my journey as a swimmer. The time consuming nature of the sport and the consistent repetition of spending 2 hours a day staring at the black line at the bottom of the pool, reinforces the “day in, day out” mentality. My coach would impart various sayings to us as well, unlike Wallace however, my coach takes joy in being the older fish. The most impactful adage that my coach has said, and relates closest to Wallace's awareness, is to stay in your lane.  When he first said it to me as a starting swimmer, it was probably to avoid me constantly messing around with others or being too rowdy in the pool, just “stay in my own lane” and do
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