Herbalife International is a  global international company that sells weight loss and skin care products. In the podcast it was explained that Bill Ackman was saying that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme which is considered a pyramid if participants obtain their monetary benefits primarily form recruitment rather than the sale of goods and services to consumers. Bill Ackman placed a 1 million dollar bet against Herbalife saying "Herbalife is a verbal scheme". After Bill made that comment Herbalife plunged 20%.

The reason why I believe that Herbalife is a scheme is because of the points that were made in the podcast that made sense. Herbalife is a big company but I have never heard of any brands by them. Formula 1 is something that is sold by Herbalife but has never been heard up and does the same thing as slim fast but slim fast is a popular brand name. Also, the numbers look odd. The company spends nothing on advertising and they don't sell there product in stores they are sold exclusively out of homes of people. 

Maryanne is in charge of Will Frado who is a independent distributor for Herbalife, so every time Will sells something for the company he has to go threw Maryanne who then gets part of the money of the sale. Basically the way people make the money is by recruiting sales people because then everyone works off everyone for the sale. Avon is a multilevel marketing company for example. What is illegal in this process is if people are selling Herbalife to people who don't actually want to drink the product. so those people who are buying the product but don't actually use is are just buying it to become a distributor to make the money.

Bill Ackman said that he spent well over a million dollars to put Herbalife into shortage. Bill Ackman is the man who said that Herbalife was a pyramid scheme. Either you can short the stock or you can buy the stock and how great it is.


 If Ackman is right the Herbalife company that reports roughly $4 billion in annual sales and a network of 3.2 million salespeople in 87 countries, could be shut down by the Federal Trade Commission.




 For years Herbalife has been referred to as nothing but a pyramid scheme. Because of the pyramid scheme the scandal involving Herbalife products and the number of people being ripped off by Herbalife ment that the company built up the worst reputations of all the multi-level marketing companies. So many people have failed to make money as a Herbalife distributor that most people refuse to get involved, let alone purchase Herbalife products.

I AM A GENIUS

    



1. The main point of this article is that genius in itself does not create great works or accomplishment on a grade scale. It accepts that people are born with enriched abilities that vary from person to person. It does not suggest that if you work really hard you can achieve being a genius it simple says that those who achieved great things did so by increasing their natural abilities through hard work that it didn’t simply land in their laps due to their “gift”. The findings did surprise me because its true that many people want to win but don’t want to work hard to win. It’s not going to be handed to you no matter how smart you are.

2.     2.The author’s view of talent is that its something you have to work for something. Its not handed to you. His view on talent changed throughout his life because when he was younger his mother had told him that he was a genius so he ran with the idea, but later on in life he realized that he might have to out work other or else his writing would count for little. He also said at the end of the article “…how smart you are doesn’t mean jack, and that you have to work demonically regardless”, meaning you have to put in time to get what you want.

3.      3. Basically the characteristics are that success isn’t going to be handed to you no matter what your innate talents are. The characteristics that I found were in this article that were more important than innate talent are hand-eye coordination, perspiration, inspiration, supportive environments, and important mentors.

4.    4.  Steve Hawking views those who boast about their IQs as being losers.

5.    5.  I think the author said that hard work could either encourage you or overwhelm you because it simply true. Either you make up your mind to work hard for something that you really want and can deal with the work that’s comes with getting what you want, or you could be scared off by the amount of work that comes with getting what you want and dismiss the whole idea of success to being with.

6.    6.  I think you assigned this reading because you are trying to show us that anyone can become a genius. Your not born with it, you don’t naturally have it, but you have to want it. And in order to want something you have to work hard to get it, and that what all of us in the class should do. Work hard to get where we want to be.

      I would love to be a genius. most people wish they WERE a genius but according to David Dobbs people aren't just born a genius, they have to work at it just like athletes have to work hard to become professional athletes. If you want to become something you have to put in the effort, or train for it, or time in becoming what you want. Hard work isn't everything though. A supportive environment and supportive people can help pave the way towards your success. Studies have shown that all high achievers have had some source of a mentor in there life to help guide them in the right direction. One study that Dobbs mentioned, involved music students at New York's elite Julliard School and winners of the high school level Westinghouse Science Talent Search. It was found that the Julliard students realized they had full potential when they had one-on-one relationships with their mentors. But most of the Westinghouse winners went on to college without finding mentors to help them through there talent and as a result, only half of them ended up going through with science, and only few of them actually got distinction. So the environment really does play a big role in becoming a genius. You  cant become something over night everybody has to work for what they want. Take Olympic athletes for example they train for years to become where they want to be. with the help of supportive people and environments and the time and effort that you put in to get what you want out then you are a genius. That's why i consider myself a genius because i have put in alot of time to be where i am now with a lot of help from a lot of people. :)

Coca-Cola

From 1885 til 1950 coca-cola was a nickle. For 70 years the coca-cola did not increase in price. other things around coke like gas, television, butter, corn, cars, etc the price grew.

Daniel Levey became very intrigued when he was visiting the coca-cola museum and being an economist wondered about the nickle coke and how is never rose in price. Andrew Young said that the price never changed in an attempt to attract customers but noticed that flavored fountain drinks like grape soda etc went up to as much as 10 cents. By May 8 1886 Atlanta was the first sale of coca-cola.

By 1899 two lawyers went to the president of the coca-cola company and asked to bottle coke. Instead they got a fixed price on the coke syrup at 90 cents a gallon. The problem was that bottled coke took off.

If coke were to increase is wouldn't go towards coke it goes towards the bottlers. Another reason why the price in coke was kept down was because of advertising. 5¢ was the main focus of the ads and was prominently featured.

One way that people could make money off of coca-cola instead of raising the price was to give out smaller glasses to people who were getting coke from the fountain, or use less syrup in the mix.
In 1921 sugar started to rise and the company started to loose money. But coke stayed at a nickle.

One reason why coke didn't change the price in coke was because of its advertising campaign and how long it would take to paint over the buildings that had 5¢ coke on the side of it, coca-cola trays,etc.

Another great invention that helped out the coca-cola business was the vending machine. The most important reason why the price of coca-cola stayed at a nickle was because the machine only took one coin and that was a nickle.

Single coined plan was introduced as an idea that might help the coca-cola business to get more money for each bottle of coke that they sol but doing it threw the vending machines. The plan was that every 9th bottle that came out of the machine was an empty bottle so that people would have to put in another nickle to get another bottle of coke this time a full one. Basically is was an extra 5.62 cents that consumers were paying. Eventually in 1946 vending machines gave change.

 The one and only thing that made coca-cola go up in price was inflation. When ingredients to make the product go up the price of the product has to go up.  1959 was the last nickle coke to be sold. 



At the end of the podcast they talked about how all prices give us that same feeling when they increase. That statement really made me think about it and think of how true it is. prices shouldn't chance and with that feeling is a psychological component that makes us think that way. Companies know this so instead of increasing the price of products companies will shrink a product and raise the price. For example, fewer potato chips in bags, instead of a pint of ice cream they give you 15 ounces etc.
Nickle cokes price was the longest constant in history but wasn't really a bad thing.

The song of the Summer

While I was listening to this podcast I was really interested in how much money went in to making songs that didn't even end up being a hit song. In the podcast when they were talking the competition with songs Rihanna song "Umbrella" was a number one hit. Then two years ago in 2009 "I gotta a feeling" by Black Eyed Peas was the number one hit of the summer. Then after that was "California Girls" by Katy Perry. But the one song that this pod casts really focused on was "Man Down" by Rhianna.

What suprised me is how much work, effort, time, money, patients, etc. goes into making one song and thats not even making it a hit song. In the podcast they explaied the writing camps which is a camp usually for two weeks where they bring in the best producers and writers to help with the making of this song. Usually the cost per day is around $2,000-$2,500 and maybe there would be 10 rooms which need to be occupied for two weeks.

In the writing camps how its done is that there are song writers and producers in the studio and they play beats that they think would be good for the song without lyrics and once they have one they come up with a melody first by humming something that they think would be worth it. What surprised me was that Rihanna still has no part in this or knows whats going on. In the podcast they said it took 12-13 minutes to put the song together which in total was 200 grand. They made the whole album in two weeks.

So, $200,000 divided by 11 singles on the track equals $18,000. But that $18,000 is only for the fancy dinners and rooms within the writing camps. Its another $15,000 for the writer and $20,000 for the music so in total now its $53,000 for "Man Down" so far and still there is no Rihanna.

Another thing that i found interesting was that when Rihanna is introduced to the song and she is in the studio actually singing it its like a party. there could be 30-40 people in the room with strobe lights, incessant burning, and even doves. But the person who put this all together was the vocal producer which costs $10-15,000.

Then the song has to get mixed and mastered which is another 10K. This whole producing activity is so much money to not even know if it is going to be published or not which is shocking to me. So far the total is $78,000 to have a song but not a hit. The next thing that is important for the song is its radio play which can be scandalous sometimes. Many people have paid the radio an amount of money to play the song on radio as its number one hit but now it has become illegal to pay someone to put the music on the radio.Why? Because it can be considered fraud and pay for play is deception. If a radio station does take money to play a song you are suppose to announce that you got donated the money to play the song or something like that.


The grand total all together is 1.25 million dollars to make a hit and a music video. But a shocking fact that I did not know before listening to this podcast was that "Man Down" was not a hit on the radio and that the song did not sell that well. The only reason why it sold was because the song was on the album and 1.3 million copies of the album sold.

                           

                                Adele is moving in and is becoming the top radio hits so far.

Katy Perry

On the top 40, Katy Perry has made a record for being number one five times off one album since Michale Jackson's record. Katy Perry now is the perfect experiment for an economist, if you cant make money off of her then you are in bad shape basically. A question that was asked to the record label was if they had made a profit and there response was, " I believe so, yes". the reason why the record label answered like this was because for 1. the record industry is very secretive, 2. because its complicated on how these records are making money off a superstar like that.

Katy Perry sold 2 million albums and 204 million individual songs. So on iTunes at 99 cents a song if you do the math that's 44 million dollars in songs made. But what i learned from this podcast was that not all the money goes to the record label. Apple takes about 30% of the 99 cents from the song, 15% goes to the royalty of Katy Perry, and 30 cents goes to the song writers. So the record label is left with 25 cents on the dollar from the 99 cent song. The EMI invested alot of money to make a good record if you think about it.

There are two expenses that people need to worry about in making a record. The first one is the album itself and how much did it cost to record teenage dream for instance. Well from the pod casts research they found out that it took 1.5 million up to 2 million dollars to make the song. The reason why this song was so expensive was because for one Snoop Dog was in the song and hes pricey and second the production. Another expense is the radio. A hit song is not a hit song until the radio. 92.3 said that they play Katy Perry's song up to 19 times a day. The labels spend a lot of money on independent promoters who are the people who sell the songs to the radios.

The problem with this is that Katy Perry is a huge hit and the record label only made 8 million off of her. The reason why they didn't make that much is because this whole summer Katy Perry toured all summer and the record label doesn't get any of that money, also when the song plays 19 times on the raido the record label doesn't get any of that money either. The profit of an Artist has record sales, publishing, and touring revenue, and merchandise revenue. But with today's internet its the opposite revenue structure.

The label record came up with a deal called the 360 deal which is how to get a piece of all these record deals basically a little piece of everything the artist does. Music sales is the least significant of what the record labels do.

This podcast made me look at Katy Perry differently from what i heard. In the podcast they said that she probably has a good lawyer and that's why she didn't agree to the 360 deal because she didn't want to split up her money. Another thing that i didn't like was when they said that she doesn't even really write her lyrics, she has a song writer.

The three major music labels that are left are 1. Universal music group 2. Warner and 3. Sony which should be known as promotional conglomerates around artists.

Planet $$

Planet $$

     When i was listening to this podcast the one thing that really stood out to me was how competitive Asia is with America, when this how time i thought that America was competing with Asia to develop things that quickly as they do. Taylor Swift is an American product right now. she is producing music that is spreading worldwide so quickly and as of now her song "Never ever getting back together" has been number one numerous times. Well not as a surprise, other countries want there song to be number one.

     The Korean video Gangnam style by PSY on youtube has over 4,267,799 views. Korea has been perparing for this moment for 20 years in hopes to have a great competition with America. 

Korea has a major economic growth. They export cars, cellphones, etc. In the podcast they said that it wouldn't be obvious it if you were driving a KIA car and talking on a Samsung phone. America used to lead the world in making cars but we don't anymore. China does.

The girl from the Podcast said that she went to 92Q #92 to visit the DJ and the DJ put on the top 40 songs and the most requested song was Gangnam Style. But it didn't surprise me when i heard that, but what did surprise me was the America took 100 years to create pop dominance while Korea took 20 years to create the same thing.

There were three lessons of American Cultural History and how Koreans did it.  The first is that music can me manufactured. they said that the first pop song ever came out 150 years ago which was "Oh Suzanna"which came out in 1847 by Steven Foster, which i thought was funny because i still remember that song. Music back then was more of an art that anything they wanted to make money off of it. But in Korea in 1992 its own version of Tin Pan Alley came out by Lee Son Mon, its income was spent on music specifically pop hits. In the mid 90s HOT (highfive of teenagers) the boy band was created.

Lesson two was about how America took off when they took control of the distribution system. Records, radios, and the jukebox saved the mucis industry. When i heard this i was shocked because they continued to talk about how the jukebox demanded records so people had to buy records of there favorite music to play on the jukebox. In korea though pop music always came with an image. The Big Bang Band was the most popular band with the greatest image. So while America was build on the radio, Korea was build on television. When people wanted to find out some new music they would watch television which was a competitive advantage for them.

Lesson three talked about how to combine industrial products, hits at hand in a little package. So how they did that was to make CD's. Having CD's you could ship them anywhere in the world because of how small and light they were. The American boy band NYSC sold 2 million copies in one week when they first came out. While in Korea YouTube was where everything went. Everyone was online, everyone had a phone and everyone was watching videos. Korea knew in order to get an audience we have to go on YouTube. Since Korea depended so much on YouTube they started to notice that other countries were watching there videos and soon realized that that's where they needed to tour were those countries that were viewing there videos the most.

If people listen to our pop stars they are more likely to buy the clothes they wear, the drinks they drink, the jewelry they wear, etc. So the country with quality bleeds electronics. Gangnam Style in the end is an indication of aspiration.

Legalize it!

 I found this podcast to be very interesting in the fact that marijuana is such a huge issue in mostly California and other states. Fourteen states have adopted marijuana laws. But in California marijuana is its largest cash crop. Marijuana is a significant industry believe it or not. In LA there are 1000 stores that have marijuana that you can buy but there are people who want to shut down the stores because they dont think marijuana should be legal. Right around the corner from Connecticut, New Jersey is fourteenth state where medical marijuana is legal. 

The two men who were doing this podcast asked an libertarian to come in and talk about the illegal and legal crack that is going on. His name is Jeffery Miron who is an Harvard journalist and is talking about weed, which kind of shocked me, but ill take it. One question that the guys had for Miron was how much would marijuana cost if you were to legalize it? Miron said that if we legal drugs they will get really cheap. When he said that it really shocked me because i thought that if it was legalized then more people would want to buy it so the dealers would raise the prices, but that was just the opposite. Miron said why would the price go up... all your doing is planting a tree, a weed plant.

There are two sides to this argument. Both sides make the argument that drugs will become cheaper if people legalize it. If you make drugs yours self then the cost of the drug will decrease a lot. thousands. The people who want to legalize marijuana say if pot is cheaper more people will end up using it. Exactly so make it cheaper!

Miron said that if you bring the prices for marijuana down then it will not go down 1000 times. 

Miron also made a good point that compare marijuana to actual legal things like coffee for insistence. So retail coffee compared to farm priced coffee will be more expensive than the farm coffee, which kind of made me think why? Well Miron said that retail coffee costs more because of transportation, insurance cost, distribution, advertisement, ect. 

The mark up between illegal drugs and legal retail things is that illegal drugs have a higher mark up for example, cocaine is 2-5 times more expensive than in an legal mark. Heroin is 15-20 times more expensive. whereas coffee is only a benchmark. Miron says that the price would decrease but not as much as people say. 

            1. Drug enforcements aren't as good as you think they are in making the drugs cost. Tons of people out there are wanting to make a profit just like in anything you sell. 

           2. If people are bringing in heroin for example illegally people wont have to pay taxes so they will be saving money in the end.

Another ecnomic argument is that we should legalize marijuana because it will make government money. Or save money on law enforcement and put a tax on it. The government could raise up to 1.3 billion dollars if marjiana was legal but Miron says that thats false. he did the math and he said that it would be 1/10 of that. we would only make 100 million. 

In end i believe that people should be able to do what they want if their not hurting other people. So after listening to this i believe marijuana should be legal.