Accounting test

Being a student who took accounting in high school, when I saw that it was part of my schedule for my first semester in college I thought it was going to be an easy A. After my first test unfortunately I was sadly mistaken, much like many of my fellow peers who also took accouting in high school. "The test was much more harder than I expected, I figured since I took accounting in high school I'd have a big advantage but I was mistaken," said my fellow classmate Max Dizon. Other students seemed to follow this trend such as my fellow peer Caroline McGaan who said, " I shouldve taken our professors advice and studied the recommened four hours." Even though many students are coming in with accounting experience we have all come to realize college is a different ball game and we must prepare and study just as hard as we would if we had zero accounting experience. Some students, such as Tom Barricelli, who took professors advice and studied for four hours had much of an easier time with the exam. When asked he said, "The four hours of studying was definitely worth it beacuse it prepared me extremely well for the test." This was reflected in his grade because Tom was one of the students to get a higher grade on the test in the class. Ive taken this first test as a learning experience and a chance to grow and do better next time. Instead of relying on knowledge I gained in high school, I will take my professors advice and study the recommended four hours before I take the test.     

By: Freddy Cepeda

NBA lockout:Whose to blame, Owners or Players?

For all my sports fans out there, the fall season is a special time. The MLB playoffs are in full swing (this year being quite the spectacle), the NFL starts up again with its loyal fanbase which keeps holy the Sabath and of course there is College Football. However, fall is also the time in which NBA training camps begin and we so passionately dissect our respective favorite team. This year, however, the NBA will not start at its normal time and may not start at all. as a result of probably the most disheartening word in professional sports, Lockout. 

On June 30th NBA owners and the players association met to discuss the expiring collective bargaining agreement. The current bargaining agreement had expired and the deadline for a new deal was mere hours away. A new deal was not reached and the lockout was made official. All indications were that the two sides would meet numerous times over the summer to work on a new deal. As the summer came to a close, a new deal was not reached and the two sides were "lightyears" apart. As of Monday, commissioner David Stern cancelled all pre-season games and the first 2 weeks of the regular season. So now that this has accumulated to a cancellation of games and ultimately a shortened season, we have no choice but to ask, whose to blame? Is it the owners fault for wanting to decrease salary expense and increase revenue or is it the players fault for being stagnant on their already inflated salaries revenue sharing percentage.

  

Owners want an understandable 50/50 revenue sharing plan while player unions are not willing to go less then 53%. The NBA generated an estimated $3.8 billion last year in revenue. 57% of that goes to players. The total salaries of NBA players combined for the 2010-2011 was $2.17 billion, which comes out to about $4.5 million per player.(485 players in the NBA) At the end of the day owners walk away with $1.63 billion in revenue which does not include operating expenses and luxury tax. NBA owners are not bringing in anywhere near the amount of money they should be making because after all owning a sports team is owning your own business and the purpose of business is to make a profit. So now with these two sides so far apart, us the fans, are left to suffer and ultimately sit and wait until a new deal can be reached. For the meantime, Lets go Globetrotters?

Daniel Soares

My views on the "Occupy Wall Street Movement"

I think the Occupy Wall Street movement should not surprise anyone. Nor should it surprise anyone that the movement has gained so much popularity and support. If anything, i'm surprised it hasn't happened sooner. From what i can understand, the entire movement is based on anger towards Wall Street, in that many ordinary, every day Americans believe that they were treated unfairly while the top firms and executives on Wall Street had been given a free pass. It's true that a lot of the problems we face today arguably resulted from a dysfunction in the financial sector, but Wall Street isn't the only one to blame for these bad economic times. The government's poor foresight and lack of regulation had just as much a part to play in causing the financial crisis and subsequent recession. There were also many parties and factors involved in causing the recession, but it can be argued that most of the blame should rest on Wall Street. What I have to ask myself is, are these protesters justified in their anger? To a certain extent, their anger is justifiable. The crisis caused by problems in the financial sector and its involvement in the housing markets had cost many Americans their jobs. Even though it was due to the excessively risky practices of these institutions that led to their own downfall, they were not the ones who suffered for it. The government intervened, and saved many of them from bankruptcy, even though some of them like Lehman Brothers did go bankrupt. While the whole situation seemed unfair,  i believe that many of the protesters are just protesting without fully understanding the role Wall Street had played. I think a lot of them are just protesting because they are just angry and need to pick someone to mount this anger against. On that note, i guess Wall Street does make the best candidate. What all of this reflects is this growing separation between the very rich, and the rest of us. As seen in the 2010 poverty report, we can see how the middle class in America is slowly disappearing and being slowly replaced by just a poor and rich class. If things don't get better soon, this class conflict will only increase until eventually something drastic will happen. What that may be, I can't say.    

Joseph Antony

The Apple of Our "i"

Death of Steve Jobs affects more than Apple.

Apple’s former CEO, Steve Jobs, recently passed from cancer complications. Consequently, the pressing question is, will Apple continue to supply the consumer with new and appealing products. Speculation of how Apple will recover as well as what they will do to keep the market involved has the media buzzing.

(Lanier Mason) “Many investors and consumers continue to ask the question of will Apple continue to be the big leaders in the technology market and I feel as if they certainly will be. Steve Jobs was in my opinion, the parent of Apple and I believe during his tenure as CEO he has done enough so that the company will continue to prosper without his presence.”

(Anthony Viray) “What people tend to not realize is that Steve Jobs left an incredible legacy behind. I believe that Apple producers will continue to stun the consumer market with advanced technological products. With all the spotlight, Apple cannot afford  to let the death of Steve Jobs deter them from continuing supremacy in their industry.”

Despite the early passing of a beloved family member, friend and modern innovator, Steve Jobs has truly left his mark on this age of technology for years to come.

A is for APPL

Steve Jobs, one of technology's greatest minds, saddly died fighting cancer not even a week ago.  His death comes at a time of economic struggles, and therefore, many are asking: what is to become of Apple?  How will it fair in the market now that the muse, the inspiration, of this great company is no longer with us?  What's Apple's next move?

These along with various other questions are circling around the minds of many and no one can be certain what the future holds for Apple.  However, recent research indicates that Jobs's passing will not effect Apple's market as much as expected.  Even though APPL stock closed in today's maket down 2.01%, it continues to survive.  People are still investing in Apple and with the release of the new iPhone 4S, prospects are high.  Over 200,000 people preordered the new iPhone 4S (clearly a number to go down in the record books) and the release of it will more than likely help to improve APPL's numbers.  As long as Tim Cook and Apple continues to live in Jobs's memory, creating and continuously innovating, Apple will thrive again.  Just like any other great company, Apple just needs to pick itself up, rub off the dust, and get back into it.  Every company has obstacles and falls it must deal with, but it is how they rebound from such hurdles that make them great! 

All we can really do is wait and see.  And expect great things from Apple in the coming months. God Bless Steve Jobs - he will be missed.

Eric Haslbauer and Lance Mason

Yahoo! open to selling?!?

Amid the news of Yahoo! removing CEO Carol Bartz, the Wall Street Journal cited 'people familiar with the matter' as stating Yahoo! is willing to sell to the right bidder.  As to what the 'right bidder' is, one can only guess.  In 2008, Microsft offered Yahoo! $44.6 billion but it flat out refused (Yahoo! was the top search engine at the time selling at $37 a share).  Three years later, Yahoo! is selling at $13 a share and only seems to be decreasing even more.  Now, finding the 'right bidder' will probably prove to be much harder than Yahoo! executives expect.  Of lately, Yahoo seems to be returning to Microsoft in hope of stirring some sort of agreement.  The two companies have agreed to have Microsoft's Bing search engine power Yahoo!'s search engine.  Although this seems somewhat insignificant, it is small compromises such as these that eventually can lead to the subsidizing of companies.  From an outside perspective, Yahoo! either needs to strategically reanalyze itself in hope of discovering new ways to grow, or find said 'right bidder'.  Personally, I see Yahoo! becoming a subsidiary of Microsoft in the next few years.

Eric Haslbauer

Opening Day: Both the best and the worst day of a Mets fans' year...