0629 Should the government reform the subway in Boston?

Governor Schwarzenegger said,“ we have already laid the groundwork for high-speed rail in California and with a boost from our federal partners, nearly 40 million Californians and millions of travelers from around the world will be able to experience the reality of America’s first high-speed rail system.” While California government has planned to build a high-speed rail to improve its transportation, Boston authority is still using the slow, old, and unreliable subway system. Based on three reasons, I strongly recommended that Boston government has to reform the subway.

First of all, a slow subway system will limit the development of a city. Once the city has a faster subway system, the commuters will be able to save time, so that they will have more time to improve their lives. They could spend more time on their work out, family, or friends instead of time on the traffic. With a faster subway system, commuters are more willing to live in the suburban areas, where the price of the houses is cheaper, the houses are bigger. Instead of sticking in the traffic to downtown, commuters can take subway as a matter of fact it is a faster transportation.

In addition, everyone has noticed that Boston desperately needs a more reliable subway system after some serious subway accidents happened in the past few years. According to the investigations, some accidents resulted from the human errors, which can be prevented by the advanced technology for the subway systems. By installing safety deceives will increase people’s confidence on the subway system. Take Taiwan as an example, it has a more than one hundred history in Taiwanese rail system, and it has more than five major accidents every year, and people lost confidence of it. About eight years age, Taiwanese government made this rail institution to install the safety devices. After the installation was finished, the accidents rate has dropped sharply.

Finally, the reform bill is not a problem. It is difficult for government to spend a lot of money to reform transportation, especially in the period of economic crisis. However, there are several ways to solve this problem. Government can use BOT (Build-Operate-Transfer) form to alleviate the government finance. Around the world, there were many successful examples of transportation constructions which used BOT form. Moreover, if the subway system has become faster and more reliable, fare increases will be accepted by Boston citizens.

In conclusion, it is necessary to reform the subway in Boston. The improvement of transportation will help the city develop and make subway more reliable. Moreover, the finance of this construction has the way to solve, so the Boston government should reform subway as soon as possible. As the former Taiwanese president, Chiang Ching-kuo said, “If we do not do it today, we will regret tomorrow.”

0628 The different education styles between Taiwan and the US

I took a business mathematics class over the past two weekends. That is the first time that I took mathematics class in the United States. Before I came to the United States, my friend told me the mathematics class of business master is not difficult because its level was the same as the level of my high school. I had not believed what my friend said until I took the business mathematics class. After taking this class, I suddenly knew why I had to learn mathematics, even though the mathematics is not difficult for me. Then I started to think the difference of mathematics education between Taiwan and the US.

First of all, the mathematics education in Taiwan emphasized the solution skills, but the mathematics education in the US emphasized the applications. For example, when I learned linear function in the high school, I just memorized the formula and did a lot of assignments. Nevertheless, I learned the same material in the US, but the professor taught us not only how to calculate but also how to apply to the business. I also knew the meaning of numbers which we got from the linear function. Second, the mathematics education in Taiwan concentrated on results; the mathematics education in the US concentrated on processes. For instance, my high school teacher gave us the score only when we got the exact answer even if the process was current. In the US, the professor told us we can get part of full scores if we had current process but did not get right answers.

Some people said the mathematics education in Taiwan was successful. In my opinion, it was not successful, because the education made students have perfect mathematic skills, but they did not know how to put mathematics in use.

0626 podcast: Bernanke

This podcast mentioned that Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, be questioned the merger of the Bank of America and the Merrill Lynch. Some lawmakers thought that Bernanke gave the pressure to the Bank of America to merge the Merrill Lynch, but Bernanke denied it. The most interesting thing is that the Republican lawmakers criticized Bernanke, who belongs to Republican Party, but the Democrats tried to defend Bernanke. Nowadays the investigation is proceeding, and they tried to find the truth by the e-mails and the documents.

In many countries, this kind of situations happened frequently, especially those immature politics countries. The politics is not only the meaning of dealing with public stuff, but also the balance of power and negotiation of advantage. For example, building a subway is an advantage for the public, but some groups tried to stop government to constructing the subway because they did not get some benefit for this transportation construction, such as the reimbursement of noise, the exemption of and tax, or the subsidy of traffic damage. Therefore, government has two ways to solve this problem. First, discussing with those groups, government find the greatest public interest. The new program is not the best of this construction but the one which most people get the benefit. Even though this solution takes a lot of time, it is the way to show the democracy. Second, government can choose the best of this construction, but government will force those groups muted. This solution is often adopted by the communist countries.

0624 Could memory be a good business?

Recently my Taiwanese friends told me there was a famous TV series which was talking about the1960s' life style in Taiwan. Many people was addicted to watch this TV series, especially those people who have experienced in the decade, because this TV series let them recall their memories. One day I called a phone to my mother, and she said she also watched this TV series and loved it. My mother said that in the TV series there was much furniture which she had used in her childhood, the neighborhood was friendly, and the whole village was like a whole family. However, the old style life is totally disappeared nowadays. Those people whose generations are same as my mother missed the simple life in 1960s. Finally, the TV series not only got the highest audience rating in prime time but also successfully made its soundtrack best-selling. This popularity let me think if happy memory could become a business or not.

My answer was positive. I knew some theme restaurants, which was built in the style of the middle of twentieth century. Most people enjoyed having dinner in the restaurants because some people went there to miss their childhoods' lives, and some people want to know the lives of their parents' childhood through the restaurants. Moreover, there was a trend which was in old fashion style. For example, someone used matches instead of lighters. Some teenagers wore the clothes in the style of 1960s. This consumer behavior shows people will purchase stuff which can made them to miss their childhoods' lives, so selling the memorable stuff is a worthy business.

0623 Podcast: Decrease credit lines for small business

The small business owners are more difficult to use credit cards on their businesses than before because the credit card companies cut down the credit lines. Most small business owners used credit cards to pay the operation costs or purchase the inventory. I have never heard this way to make business in my country, but I think it is a good way to make business for small business after I got this information. First, Credit cards have high credit lines, so once the small business need money to pay bills or buy inventory, those money can be used. Second, credit cards are like very short-term loans, and it is more convenient to get money than apply for loans, so small business owners can borrow money without complicated applications. Finally, the credit cards have a function of “deferred payment.” Deferred payment is a payment which consumers do not pay immediately and pay later. Consumers do not pay any interest in this period, usually within 30 days or 69 days.

However, because of the bad economy and the legislation of credit cards, the credit cards started to cut down the credit lines not only on the problem card holders also the small business owners. According to the podcast, Andrew Martin said that the delinquency of small business was higher than that of general consumers, so this was why the card companies also declined the small businesses’ credit lines. In my opinion, the card companies did not wrong, because they have to control the risk under this terrible economy situation. It is time for the small business owners to find another way to increase their liquidity or hold the cash.

0621 Reading: $1m deal will open Tall Ships to public

This news was written by Donovan Slack on June 17, 2009. The news described that the Boston government agreed with the Tall Ship festival this week. In April, the Boston mayor insisted not to hold this festival this year because government wanted Sail Boston organizer to prepay the security costs, but the organizer did not have any plan to do it. Why did the government and the event’s organizer not have a consensus? According to the news, the argument was rooted in the event in 2000. The festival increased government’s security costs, but the organizer of the festival did not feedback benefits to Boston. In my opinion, it seems the organizer stole from the public benefits.

I think that some institutes, except the non-profit institutes, want to hold a convention or festival in cities, and they have to pay some money back to cities. It is reasonable to pay the cities when they use the cities’ resources to make profits. How much money those institutes have to pay is a dispute. In my opinion, there are two ways to decide the price. First, the government can set up price depending on the population of festivals. If more people take part into festivals, government will assign more police officers or manpower on this festival. Second, government can charge the fee by incomes of festivals. Like income taxes, the fee can bring benefits to cities, and the cities’ government can secure those festivals. Once the government supports those festivals, more people or tourists will come. The local economy will boost, and the festivals will make cities have unique images. Those two ways can create win-win situations between the government and festivals’ organizers.

0618 Taiwan High Speed Railway Corporation

This week I learned what a noncurrent asset is in my accounting class. Noncurrent asset is an asset that is not sold or converted to cash within one year, such as land, equipment, or buildings. I know the accumulated depreciation is one part of the noncurrent asset, and there are two main ways to calculate the annual depreciation. One way is straight-line depreciation, and the other way is accelerated depreciation. My accounting professor told me that the ways of calculation of annual depreciation will affect the income statement.

After finishing class, I read the news which mentioned that the Taiwan High Speed Railway Corporation, which has a BOT contract with Taiwanese government, had a financial crisis. The news also pointed out the annual depreciation and the interest expense resulted in the financial crisis. I wanted to know why the reporter made this consequence, so I found the financial statement of this company and analyzed it. In 2008 fiscal year, this company’s income was 23 billion dollars (NTD), and its depreciation expense was 19 billion dollars, and its interest expense was 17.5 billion dollars. In this situation, the company had three ways to improve its financial position: increasing income, decreasing interest expense, or changing calculation method of depreciation. First, because of the economic crisis, it is impossible to boost income twice in this year. Second, the company tried to negotiate the interest rate with those banks which loaned to it, but the interest rate was as low as the banks can do. Finally, the company explained that the straight-line depreciation was not exact, because the buildings can have been used for 100 years, but in the BOT contract those buildings’ lives are 35 years. Therefore, the accumulated depreciation has to offset in 35 years, and it makes high annual depreciation expense.

Nowadays, the company has tried to find out the solution of this financial position or it probably will face the bankruptcy. According to the contract, once the company is bankrupt, our government will buy this company. At that time, it will cause a huge impact on the national treasury.

0617 I am getting tired to find an apartment.

As far as I know, the price in Boston is the third high in the U.S., especially the house rental. Indeed, I told many friends who stayed in other states in the U.S. my rent, and they were surprised at the high rent. That was the reason I felt difficult to find a reasonable rent of apartments. In the two weeks, I and my friend have seen more than ten apartments, but we did not like anyone, because of the distance, price, space of rooms, or environment.

In the beginning, I went to a realty agency, and the agent just showed the apartments with extremely high rent. The rent and broker fee were not negotiable. Even though the location was wonderful and the apartments were gorgeous, we cannot afford the rent. Then, I focused the affordable rent and the acceptable distance, and we visited some apartments who were held by another agent. We found the room space in those apartments is too small. We realized that if we wanted to live near campus, we had to raise our budgets, or if we wanted to live in a gorgeous and cheap apartment, we had to live in the suburb. Finally, we decided to add our budget to live near campus, because time cannot be bought, and we did not want to take time to commute.

Nowadays, we still have searched the apartment we wanted while we were drowned by the assignments, tests, and textbooks. We hoped we can finish this bothering stuff in this week, because we will have one more course in this weekend and next weekend, and I will have less time to find new apartment.

0616 presentation

There has been a controversial issue that downloading music without paying on the Internet is illegal. I think it is a little wrong for the people who downloaded music on the Internet without paying, because they just have a part of responsibility for this action. The conservative record companies and people who uploaded music are also responsible for illegally downloading music.

First of all, people who uploaded music on the Internet are more responsible for this illegal action than people who downloaded music. Most of people uploaded music to their websites to attract more visitors, so that they can earn money from the advertisements through the music. It means that they improperly used music to make profits. If they do not illegally put music on the Internet, people will not have sources to download music.

In addition, it is not wrong for people to download music on the Internet to use without making profit, because they did not infringe the creators’ right and did not decrease the profits they can make. Furthermore, free downloading songs probably can increase the creators’ profits. In other words, once the music becomes famous through the Internet, music creators can create value of music via the concerts, TV dramas, advertisements, or movies.

Finally, some of record companies have some responsibilities for the illegal downloads, because of their conservative attitude. When the technology has progressed, media have also changed, so the record companies have to change their ways of sales. For example, nowadays, most people do not listen to music by compact discs, but by MP3 players. However, the conservative record companies still sell music through compact discs, so it makes easier for people to download music into their mp3 players on the internet than to buy a compact disc. Furthermore, some people just wanted one song in the album, but the record companies did not sell singular songs, so people have no choice to search and download the song on the Internet.

In conclusion, I think people downloading music are not the only role to be responsible for this action, because the conservative companies and the people unloading music are the main causes of the illegal music download.

0613 My students will graduate.

In July, many schools in Taiwan were hold graduation ceremonies because it was the time for graduation. Before I came to the US, I had been a teacher for three years. In the second year of my teaching career, I was a teacher of a fourth grade class, and there were 32 students in the class. Actually, it was my first time to manage a class by myself, so I was a little nervous in the beginning. The time passed by, I was getting better in teaching and did not feel nervous. However, after teaching them one year, I had to leave them and took the military service. In those years, I still have kept touch with them. Recently, some of them told me they will graduate from their elementary school in June, and asked me to take part into their graduation ceremony. Unfortunately, the date of their graduation ceremony is at June nineteenth, so it is impossible for me to go back Taiwan to congratulate them in person.

I thought that even though I cannot participate in their graduation ceremony, I might do something to congratulate them. Thus, I planned to write postcards to them as their graduated gifts. Two weeks ago, I bought almost twenty postcards and started to collect their addresses. When I wrote the cards one by one, I realized that there is a Chinese proverb, “good teachers are good friends.” I was their teacher before, but now I seems be their friends although they still call me teacher Chou. I finally finished writing all cards and mailed cards to them last week. Yesterday, one of the students I mailed cards to left message to tell me he has already gotten the card. I am glad they got my cards, and I also hoped those cards can make their lives better when they finished their first stage education in the learning lives.

0611 Today's business

In this podcast, Jeff Sommer and Stephen Labaton discussed the compensation of the executives whose companies received the federal government's bailout. The Obama administration wanted to restrict executives’ pay at those companies because they got the hefty money coming from government’s bailout, and the companies still had financial problems. It was really unfair. Therefore, a lawyer, Kenneth R. Feinberg, was assigned to supervise the compensation of the executives at those companies by the Treasury Department. There are seven companies whose executives’ compensation will directly be controlled by government until these companies pay back the money which government supported. Five of the seven companies are the American International Group, Citibank, Chrysler, General Motors, and Bank of America. At the same time, the US government also tried to make a law to supervise the executives’ salaries and bonus. Currently, Feinberg did not have criteria to judge whether the compensation is overpaid or not, but those seven companies will submit the pay packages of the executives in sixty days once new rule will practice.

In my opinion, government has to set up an institute which can help shareholders to watch over the executives’ pay. The executives earn the money which belongs to every shareholder, so their pays have to relate to the companies’ earnings. However, some companies did not earn the money, but their executives still receive high salaries and bonus, and shareholders cannot make any decision on the compensation of companies’ executives. Therefore, government can play a role which helps shareholders to watch their money for “stealing” by executives’ compensation.

0609 I am appreciated someone helped me

Last week, my bicycle was stolen, and I tried to find my bicycle back, so I posted all the details about my stolen bicycle on the craigslist website, such as the time my bike was stolen, the place I locked my bike, and the distinguishing features of my bike. After one day I posted this notice, I got the email about my stolen bike, and I thought I was so lucky that someone found it. Good thing never comes fast. The people who wrote email to me recommended I had to be more descriptive than that, because the bike I described is like seventy percent of the bikes in Boston, so I tried to search the pictures of every accessory and my bike on the Internet. Finally, I found all the pictures I needed, and then I rewrote a

As each day went by, I had not gotten emails about my bike. When I was disappointed in this result and prepared to buy another used bicycle, I got an email about my bike and I felt hopeful at the time. After reading the email, I realized this person who wrote this email to me did not find my bike, but he wanted to give me his bike which he has not used for a long time. At the moment, I understood there are many people who like to help strangers who need help. Thus, I replied to him I needed this bike, and he was also glad I can have it. In order to appreciate him, I wrote a thank card to him. In the card, I told him that his action made me changed a lot, because he made me know helping people is indispensible in this world. I also promised him if I do not need this bike in the future, I will do the same thing as he did, giving this bike to someone who will need it.

0608 Podcast: Apple Worldwide Developers Conference

This podcast discussed the Apple worldwide developers conference, WWDC in short, which is going to be held in San Francisco. In this conference, Apple will show new generation iPhone, which is going to compete with a new smartphone, Palm Pre. Many people talked about which one is better. Brad, a NYTimes reporter, said both phones have pieces of hard wares, but iPhone can download thousands of softwares to use. Those softwares can help iPhone users to play games, play chess with friends, or read email easily. However, Palm Pre just starts this process, but it will be a threat of Apple Company. The users of iPhone did not feel satisfied with Apple Company, and they hope Apple can keep maintaining iPhone’s hardware, so there is why Apple will launch new iPhone. New iPhone has many new functions. For example, it can record video and connect another handset through Bluetooth. Those functions will attract more people to use iPhone.

In the Palm Pre, it has multi-touch technique which Apple Company owns. However, Palm does not worry about it because iPhone has some hardware which Palm Company owns. No matter what patent problems they have, consumers will be the last winners because we can use high-tech, convenient, and humanized smartphones the two companies created.

In my opinion, Apple still have a lot of problems to solve on iPhone. First of all, the battery replacement should be implemented, even though some companies created portable battery for iPhone, but it still inconvenient. Second, the iTunes, which is the interface of iPhone or iPod touch, is hard to use and makes computer work slowly, so Apple should fix those two problems

0607 Obama lays out health overhaul

In this article, the author described that President Obama lays out health overhaul. Obama said that it was the time to have a new public health insurance and have health reform because the current healthcare system was broken. Therefore, he wrote letter to key senators what he wanted to do in healthcare reform. First, he will cut back the budget from Medicare and Medicaid. Second, he proposed that the two main government’s healthcare programs will aid the poor, elderly, and disabled.

It was mentioned that someone did not support this program in this article. Republicans saw this program as private insurers’ fatal threat. However, President Obama pointed out this program will make healthcare market more competitive and keep insurance companies honest. Senator Chris Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said there were five versions of the public plans in the healthcare committee meetings, and he also hoped for a bipartisan package, even though some Republicans probably did not accept a public health insurance option.

In my opinion, I supported Obama’s healthcare program because my country has the same public health insurance as the one Obama wanted to have. First of all, the public health insurance can get the government’s healthcare budget to help those people who cannot afford the expensive private insurance. Second, government is a nonprofit organization, so the public insurance set up by government will reduce the insurance fee as possible as it can be. Finally, citizens have the right to supervise the public insurance. Once people can supervise the public insurance, the expense of the public insurance will be controlled. In conclusion, there is a good chance for the USA to have a health public insurance.

0603 Boston is not a city to own a bicycle

There was a wonderful weather in Boston today, so many people chose bicycles as their transportation tools. I also made this decision – riding my bicycle to class. When I finished class and came out of the classroom, my bicycle had disappeared.

I remembered that I just bought this used bicycle from the craigslist last Friday, and it cost me 130 dollars. The bicycle was just used six months, and it looked like brand new and in a good condition. The seller also gave me a lock, front light, and back light. I thought it was worthy, and then I decided to buy it. After I bought, I could not wait to ride it, and this bicycle made me feel free. In those five days, I used my bicycle to go many places. I rode it to the Charles River to row a canoe, and I also rode it to my friends’ apartment to help them move to their new apartment. Yesterday, I went to MET501 course by this bicycle, and it was not stolen. However, I thought it is safe to put my bicycle in BU, so I rode bicycle to my accounting class. When I went out the building and walked to the place where I put my bicycle, I felt something wrong because I discovered the place I parked my bicycle at had no bicycle. At the time, I was shocked and stayed there for a while. I can believe that my bicycle disappeared, including the lock. Finally, I had only one way to home, and that was walking.

Six days and eight hours, that is the time I owned the bicycle. Now I still cannot believe it is easy to be stolen bicycles for bicycles owners in Boston, this kind and friendly city. If I cannot find my bicycle back, I will buy another one, because it is comfortable to ride bicycle in Boston. After I get new bike, I will use 3 locks to lock my bicycle because it is not enough to secure my bicycle by one lock.

0602 Rowing Canoe On The Charles River

Last Sunday, I decided to make a trip with my friends. When I was thinking what kind of activities was the best one, I realized I had never rowed a canoe on the Charles River since I came to Boston last September, so I called my friends and told that I planned to go to the Charles River and rented a canoe to row.

When I arrived the riverside of the Charles River, there was a boat rental. The weather is sunny, so it was just a day to do this activity. Before we rented a canoe, we had to answer the quizzes about how to handle emergencies on a canoe. For example, when the weather started to lighten, we should find a shelter immediately until it stopped lightening. Moreover, we had to know that what were the direction and the way we should follow or stay. After finishing those quizzes and wearing life jackets, we got a large canoe and some paddles. There were seven people on one canoe, so we needed a leader to conduct this team to make this canoe on the right way. It was no doubt that I was the leader. After we rowed the canoe on the Charles River 30 minutes, the weather was not sunny anymore, and it became cloudy and windy. Bad weather is the trial for the leader of this team. Unfortunately, I was not a perfect leader to manage to row canoe on the right way, so our canoe sailed as an S-type way. Finally, we came back the dock after struggling to row the canoe.

While we walked to home, it was raining heavily. No one knew it was going to rain on that day, so all of us did not bring umbrella. Therefore, we just stayed under a big tree to wait to stop raining. It was lucky for us because we merely waited 20 minutes. A proverb is said,” misfortunes never come singly.” The weather became cold and windy when the rain stopped. We just wore T-shirts and shorts which were a little wet because of the rain. In conclusion, this trip made me knew that Boston weather is changing fast.

0601 comments for today's business

Today's Business discussed the General Motors (GM). The financial situation of GM has been reported for a long while by newspapers. In the beginning, GM wanted the US government to bailout itself, but the US government want to do it only under condition of GM reconstructed. After a few months, GM faced bankruptcy at June 1st, but GM also got the money from government to reconstruct after its bankruptcy. In the future, GM will make itself smaller than now.

This bankruptcy of GM will reshuffle the motor industries of the world. Some motor companies will buy the subsidiaries from those motor companies which have financial problems. Moreover, the manufactories of motor parts are also impacted by GM's bankruptcy. When GM starts to reconstruct, it will close some factories and downsize, and it means the sales will slump. The demand of car parts will decrease, too. Then it probably will bring another bankruptcy of manufactories of motor parts.