Free Critical Thinking On Economics Part 2

- Why do polluters pollute? Consider various reasons for both individuals and businesses.
Pollution is putting contaminated materials in the environment. These materials contain dangerous chemicals, which affect the life of living things. Pollution is caused by individuals and organizations, which are involved in different activities. Such kind of activities, which causes pollution, are; mining, manufacturing, and farming. Most polluters pollute due to ignorance and others due to lack of the information about the effects of polluting the environment. Businesses have contributed a lot in the pollution of the environment. Some of them lack enough capital to purchase disposal materials for waste products. Other businesses ignore the measures put to control pollution and focus on their profit making activities forgetting the importance of a clean environment.
3. What are some of the costs of pollution control? Should we be willing to pay anything and sacrifice everything to eliminate all pollution?
Some of the pollution control costs are sewerage constructions, which are very expensive to construct, and maintain due to large amount of disposable wastes from factories and households especially in the urban areas. The second costs are incurred in cleaning of hazardous wastes, which require a lot of technology to handle. Individuals and businesses should be ready to pay these costs to have clean environment.
2. What is the direction of the trend in concentration in farming? How have government programs contributed to this trend.
There is tremendous evolution of farming since 20th century. There are farm structures, which have emerged which have made farming easy. Harvesting machines, which can be used to harvest in large farms, have enabled agricultural sectors to be the most growing sector of the government. Inventions of chemicals, which control pests and diseases, have given farmers hope to continue farming for the last one century. Government has contributed toward this by giving farmers grant to enable them obtain agricultural materials such as machines, seeds and fertilizers.
5. Do you believe that the government should be involved in agriculture? What kinds of policies would you suggest? Do you think that direct benefits to low income farmers might be a possible solution?
The government should fully be involved in the agriculture to ensure food security in the country especially during this time when there is economic crisis in the world. Policies such as supporting farmers with agricultural inputs will enable them meet the farming requirements and increase farm yield. These policies will enable low income farmers acquire fertilizers and seeds hence boosting agriculture in the country.
4. How does property tax funding of k-12 education create inequality? Consider your response in terms of both the tax rate and the tax base. What can be done to create greater equality?
Property tax funding of k-12 education create inequality due to huge differences in property values meaning some of the districts will not be able to contribute enough funds towards education. The tax rate used is different from one district to another. For example, Baldwin Park, had tax rate of $5.23 per $1000 of assessed values, which was different from Beverly Hills which had $2.34 per $1000 of the assessed values. This means some of the districts benefit more than others. Great equality can only be achieved if all the districts use the same tax rates.
6. What do you think of the "No Child Left behind Act", especially it's requirements that schools test their students annually? Do you think these tests are accurate indicators of school quality? Do you see any problems associated with the testing programs?
No Child Left Behind Act is a good act because both teachers and children have to work to achieve the set goal. This ensures uniformity in education sectors in the country. When students are tested annually, the government is able to standardize education from the outcome of the results announced. There is no problem with the policy because all students are treated the same academically.