1.

Plans call for $245M casino in downtown Lansing

LANSING, Mich. A $245 million American Indian casino in downtown Lansing could create about 2,200 jobs and help fund scholarships for area students, backers of the plan announced Monday. The Kewadin Lansing Casino would be built near the Lansing Center and owned by the Sault Ste. Marie Tribe of Chippewa Indians, the city and the tribe said. Mayor VirgBernero said it would improve the viability of the convention center and fund four-year college scholarships for Lansing School District students under what's being called the "Lansing Promise." The scholarship idea is modeled in part after The Kalamazoo Promise, an anonymously funded free tuition program for high school graduates of the Kalamazoo Public Schools that started with the class of 2006. Under the casino plan, Lansing would get about $6 million a year in revenue from the estimated $250 million a year the casino could bring in, officials said. The project calls for 1,500 permanent jobs and 700 construction jobs. "It will ... attract tens of thousands of tourists to the region and generate enough revenue to allow our city to send all of our school district graduates to college," Bernero said. David Hollister, a former Lansing mayor, will work on how to set up the scholarship program. "I can't think of a better way to put casino revenues to good use than to offer our graduates from the Lansing School District scholarships to attend college," Hollister said.

1. What are the externalities in your article?

2. Graph the market for casinos with your externalities.

3. If your group were a policy maker, what would you do with this information?

2. Neighboring towns join anti-casino protest Thursday

Mike McCarthy is worried one day he'll look into his backyard and see his children playing in the shadow of a resort casino. McCarthy lives just over the town line in South Walpole - directly behind land New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft and casino magnate Steve Wynn are eyeing to build a resort gaming destination, complete with hotel, convention center, restaurants and other amenities. What also concerns McCarthy is that he and his neighbors, by virtue of living in Walpole rather than Foxboro, will not have a say in whether the project moves forward. "We're right up against it, and we don't have a seat at the table," he said. Under recently approved state legislation, residents living in the host community of a proposed casino must approve the project at the ballot box, while there is no such provision requiring approval from neighboring communities. Morrier said they are concerned about issues like crime, traffic, bright lights and loud noises in their neighborhood, a once rural spot that has become increasingly developed. Jane Connolly said she has concerns that any construction on the site would affect the environment of the neighborhood, which saw flooding when parking lots were built in the area. Morrier and her neighbors said that, while they might not be able to vote on any proposals, they will do their best to educate friends and neighbors about the issue and the dangers a casino would pose for the entire area.

1. What are the externalities in your article?

2. Graph the market for casinos with your externalities.

3. If your group were a policy maker, what would you do with this information?

3. Video games - positive or negative externalities?

Not long ago video games such as Grand Theft Auto were being blamed for childhood obesity, reclusive children and an increase in violent crimes. These side effects were considered to be so harmful that some people felt certain games needed to be banned. It seems however that the general public has had a change of heart. 46% of a recent Times survey felt the reputation of the video game industry has improved due to one productthe Nintendo Wii. It produces many positive externalities such as reducing strain on healthcare, as an increasing number of people use games such as Wii Fit to develop an active and healthy lifestyle. Analysts even believe the console can improve family relationships as they get together to play games.

In a recent research study, adolescents played two different types of video games for 30 minutes. Teens that played the violent game (right) showed increased activity in the amygdala, which is involved in emotional arousal.

Can video games make kids more violent? A new study employing state-of-the-art brain-scanning technology says that the answer may be yes. Researchers at the Indiana University School of Medicine say that brain scans of kids who played a violent video game showed an increase in emotional arousal and a corresponding decrease of activity in brain areas involved in self-control, inhibition and attention. Does this mean that your teenager will feel an uncontrollable urge to go on a shooting rampage after playing Call of Duty? Vince Mathews, the principal investigator on the study, hesitates to make that leap. But he says he does think that the study should encourage parents to look more closely at the types of games their kids are playing. Based on our results, I think parents should be aware of the relationship between violent videogame playing and brain function.

1. What are the externalities in your article? 2. Graph the market for specific video games with your externalities.

3. If your group were a policy maker, what would you do with this information?

4. The truth about Hot dogs revisted

The meat would be shoveled into carts, and the man who did the shoveling would not trouble to lift out a rat even when he saw onethere were things that went into the sausage in comparison with which a poisoned rat was a tidbit (no big deal). There was no place for the men to wash their hands before they ate their dinner, and so they made a practice of washing them in the water that was to be ladled into the sausage. There were some jobs that it only paid to do once in a long time, and among these was the cleaning out of the waste barrels. Every spring they did it; and in the barrels would be dirt and rust and old nails and stale waterand cartload after cartload of it would be taken up and dumped into the hoppers with fresh meat, and sent out to the publics breakfast.
2010 - Upton Sinclair, The Jungle 1906

The typical beef frankfurter is made from cheeks, jowls, and bull meat, as well as cuts too tough to serve straight, trimmings from the butchering process, sometimes with corned beef and pastrami trimmings for flavor. They are seasoned with a secret mix of spices, and nitrites are added as preservatives (more on nitrites and nitrates later). Without much effort one can find hot dogs made from pork, turkey, chicken, and even, gawd forbid, soybeans. According to the USDA, the finished products must contain at least 15% muscle meat and meat byproduct and may not contain more than 30% fat, 10% water, 3.5% dry milk or cereal as a binder, and 2% isolated soy protein. They may contain pig snout, lips, heart, kidney, liver, and stomach, but these must be individually named in the ingredients statement on the label. Contrary to what you might have heard, crushed bones, eyeballs, and testicles are not allowed.
1. What are the externalities in your article?

2. Graph the market for hot dogs with your externalities.

3. Do you think the meat production market has been corrected? Does your group have any concerns about the current state of hot dogs?

5. UK's Prime minister Cameron favours minimum alcohol pricereport

Wed Dec 28, 2011 11:49am EST

Dec 28 (Reuters) - Prime Minister David Cameron has ordered officials to draw up plans to set a minimum price for alcohol to discourage excessive drinking, a British newspaper reported on Wednesday, although the government said no decision has been taken. The Daily Telegraph said the officials have been told to develop a scheme to prevent the sale of alcohol in shops in England at below 40 to 50 pence (63 to 79 U.S. cents) (per unit of alcohol). That could lead to sharp price rises, particularly for cider and some spirits. The Scottish government has already announced plans to set a minimum price to tackle alcohol abuse, which kills thousands of Britons each year. The British government could decide either to copy the Scottish proposals in England or to introduce a system of taxes based on the number of units of alcohol in a drink, the report said. Both options would cost drinkers an additional 700 million pounds ($1.1 billion) a year, with any extra tax revenue potentially going to the state-run Health care Service. The Daily Telegraph quoted a government source as saying Cameron was "keen on the minimum price", but said the Business Department had warned that forcing firms to charge a minimum price could be illegal under European Union law. It said the government would publish its alcohol strategy. "The evidence shows that minimum pricing will hardly affect the consumption of hazardous and harmful drinkers, but will hit the vast majority who drink responsibly and in moderation," Wolfe said in a statement. Britain's health cost watchdog urged the government last year to set a minimum price for alcohol and consider an advertising ban to reduce alcohol abuse.

A. Graph the governments plan to raise the minimum price of alcohol. Would it be effective?

B. Graph the governments plan to tax the production of alcoholic beverages. Is it effective?

C. Graph the governments plan to ban advertising from alcohol producers? Is it effective?

D. The business department argues that an increased price will hardly affect consumption of hazardous and harmful drinkers. How is this related to elasticity?