Howdy guys, I’ve been meaning to resume posting for quite some time now. Unfortunately, school and other things have consumed most of my time, and I never have the energy to simply sit down and write anymore. Fortunately, I have been forced to document thoughts due to my Creative Design class; however, it will not announce the URL until the assignment is completed. Until then, hold your breath!
Gig’em!
I wrote this blog post for the Young Conservatives of Texas at Texas A&M blog, and I thought I would share it here as well. Enjoy:
Competition is beautiful. With initial thought, you might think differently, but competition is really where efficiency meets elegance. Picture a soccer game of twelve-year-olds in a regional championship game. Whoever wins will not receive any media recognition. They will not move onto a state championship because there is none. They will not even receive any money. All they will receive is a measly 5-inch trophy. Despite the lack of awards, the kids play their hearts out and finally a winner is decided. Now, backtrack over the previous few months preceding this game. Each team put in hours on hours of sweat, grass stains, and sprints to get to where they were at the regional championship. Even though there was only one final winner, both teams benefited. Both rose to a level of skill that surpassed others, just as the other teams in the league did the same to surpass other teams. Moreover, the spectators, who have not had to labor like the soccer players have, benefit as well by watching one amazing soccer game. Now, anyone who does not agree with such a prospect should perhaps consider acquiring some common sense. Needless to say, many people who would agree with the above text will without hesitation totally disagree with the following.
And that is that competition in the marketplace is also where efficiency meets elegance. Still agree? Good. But consider this. Because of the very nature of competition, most, if not all, of common and accepted tax and regulation within the United States economy imposed on by the national government should be abolished. Ah yes, now you disagree. Let me explain. Nothing works better for ALL parties in an economy than true free market competition. Competition allows both the consumer and producer to benefit. Take televisions, for example. LCD TV prices have dropped dramatically since their introduction to the marketplace. In fact, according to WitsView’s 1Q09 LCD TV retail price survey, mainstream LCD TV prices have dropped 7.5% over the last quarter. The dramatic drop is not due to some government agency imposing a mandate that TV manufacturers reduce their prices or else. Quite the contrary, competition is all to blame. There are at least a dozen mainstream TV manufacturers out there all trying to get you, the consumer, to buy their TV. What do they have to do to convince you? They improve their picture quality, increase the number of features, increase the size, decrease the size, improve the form factor, and of course, reduce prices. They all do this because they must. They simply cannot survive if they don’t, and time and time again, we see companies that don’t compete well against other companies, whether the reasons lay behind inferior products or inferior prices, and with due time, we never see the companies again (Circuit City ring any bells?). This is the essence and the beauty of competition. We all benefit. The company with the best TV will get the most business, and in turn, the most profit, while we will get the best TV with the best price, and as soon as the other companies come out with better TVs, they will also see the benefits.
Now I turn to oil companies. Those nasty, greedy, selfish oil companies. When we were constantly hearing about the record taxes they were paying, oh wait, I mean the record profits they were earning, I could have thrown up. All I heard was how the oil companies needed to be taxed more and needed tougher regulation. First of all, what is wrong with a business making money? Oh, right, right, because it’s money we can’t have. But besides that, and bear with me here, what if we actually reduced the taxes that the oil companies have to pay and reduced the regulations that they must abide to. And I don’t mean just a little, I mean big time. Just imagine if the oil companies’ taxes were slashed by 75% and regulations were cut drastically. Uhh… they’d earn even more profit, and we’d lose even more money…. WRONG! Oil companies, just with all companies, are looking for business. Right now, they can only invest so much to improving their product and the efficiency at which they produce their product because they must pay an outrageous corporate tax. With more money to invest, imagine what, for example, gasoline prices would look like? Do you really think that the companies would continue to keep their prices high, even though they would have lower tax rates? Just think if that were the case. One oil company would realize that more people will buy their gasoline if they simply lowered their prices under the competing companies’ prices. All of a sudden, the other companies that chose to keep their prices high would realize that they should lower theirs as well if they want people to keep buying their gasoline. Suddenly, what you would have is a domino effect where all the oil companies would continue to strive to make their prices as low as possible (through increased efficiency in the refining process, shipping, etc.) in order to convince you to buy their gasoline. Again, every single person involved benefits.
This same concept can be applied to anything and everything that exists in the economy, from pencils to credit cards to health insurance. As long as there is competition, companies will continue to improve their products or services and make profit while the consumer will continue to sit back and enjoy the benefits. The problem continues on with a tremendous and ridiculous corporate tax rate that discourages competition, as well as erroneous regulations set by bureaucrats over companies that only want to provide the best product for their consumers. All you have to do is look at countless examples where competition has benefited everybody, like the computer market, internet market, cosmetic market, food market, retail market, sports merchandise market, automobile market, insurance market, furniture market… I could go on and on. Every single one of those examples contain the most powerful and self-regulating forcethat powers our economy and benefits everyone involved–competition.
Competitively,
Samuel Congiundi ‘12
This past weekend, I was reunited with my past, with experiences that always filled my soul with adventure and patience. This past weekend reminded me of the places I’ve gone, the people I’ve met, and the things I’ve learned. Things like respect, diversity. Definitely diversity. I’ve met some pretty crazy people, but no matter how many tattoos they might have, how low they’ve sagged their pants, or how high their pants have been pulled up for that matter, I’ve learned that every single one of them have been the nicest and most down-to-earth people. I don’t know what it is about these places I’ve been, but these experiences unite us with all the same thing in common. Called chess, I’ve had the richest experiences because of it. It’s brought me across the country, and this past weekend, after over a year of inactivity, I played in a major chess tournament. ”I missed this place,” I thought in my mind as I walked past over a hundred eager chess players, seven-year-olds and eighty-year-olds alike, sitting across from each other with a board of unity between them. I’d love to pick up where I left off, to start the chess machine that I once aspired to be, studying for hours and never feeling a drop of boredom, being filled with the inspiration to win games, to gain rating points, and be all that I can be in a game that, to me, is more about being a game. I’d love to be that fifth grader that immediately fell in love with chess, but unfortunately, school and work do not allow the time. One day, though. One day I will start back up and finish what I started. Oh, I’ll do it… because to me, chess has been, currently is, and will always be… life.
Today is our last day in town until we depart for California for two weeks. We’ll be hittin’ up L.A. for a few days, then drivin’ up the coast to San Francisco, then drivin’ back down to catch a plane back home. For two weeks, I’ll have a totally new place at my fingertips to explore. When my dad first told me about this now highly anticipated vacation, the first thing that popped into my mind was the new opportunity I would have to do something I’ve been wanting to do for a good while now, a little dream of mine, if you will. Camcorder in hand, it’ll finally be time to create that video I’ve always thought about. After all, opportunity will meet the camera with beautiful scenery, deep images, busy streets, classy restaurants, and the countless experiences that my family and I will endure. Having it all on tape will give me an outstanding base for what will hopefully be a very impressive family video. We will indeed see, but until then, wish us well on our much needed family vacation.
So, as every one of my blog-readers know by now, I have been working for Office Depot over the summer. As my first job that that federal and state government have been aware of, I’ve now begun on a much-dreaded journey that will only undoubtedly become worse–paying taxes. When I received my first pay check, I was shocked to find out that the number written on the check was quite different than what I had calculated for my pay. Oh wait, there was no mix up. I had just forgotten to subtract taxes out of my estimate, and let me tell you, as a “poor college student,” every dollar counts. By now, I could have bought an iPod or computer monitor (two things I’ve been wanting to buy for a while now) with the amount of tax that has been withheld from my paychecks. Granted, taxes are necessary. I realize that. But this much? Since I am not completely financially independent yet, it is not a burden, but I think about the future. I think about those average starting salaries for chemical engineers. I was so excited to hear that I would be earning around $70,000/year straight out of college, but wait, subtract around $20,000 from that… that’s what I’ll really be getting. What a drag. I could buy two decent cars with $20,000. It gets worse. With what’s going on in the federal government, I can only look forward to even higher taxes for programs that will never benefit me (or 90% of the other Americans). In fact, the latest tax burden that will most likely get through Congress might even cost me a job in the future. My point? There are many, but let me just say that things would be so much simpler and more efficient if people didn’t have to pay so many taxes. I know that I for sure would not be doubtful about my economic future if I knew I would be able to keep more of my hard-earned cash. But Sam, that tax money goes to help people in need. Oh really? You might think that, but…… Plus, did I give anyone permission to redistribute mine? But that’s all a topic for another day.
So Sam… what’s been going on lately? Oh I don’t know, I’ve been working my ass off and making tons of commission as well. The only thing that’s really been on my mind lately is how much I want to go back to school. I miss Aggieland terribly, and I miss the aura of school work surrounding me every day. There was something about this past year that just made me feel like I was where I belonged. It was like a high, and I could feel the emptiness as soon as I left for the summer. I miss that place. I miss classes. I miss going to the Memorial Student Center at 3:00 A.M. to study for physics (although I won’t actually miss MasteringPhysics). I miss practically everything about Texas A&M, and I’m already eager to go back. Working at Office Depot has been fun, but there’s nothing like studying my butt off and looking down at an exam a week later with an A written on it. That’s my kind of job.
Sam | 
10 17th, 2009| 