Opportunities
- Student Loan Crisis (Economic Trend)
- I found this opportunity in the CNN money section.
- http://money.cnn.com/2016/05/24/pf/college/student-loan-letter/index.html?iid=hp-stack-dom
- I believe an opportunity may exist because sending students letters and making them aware of debts incurred may encourage students to not finish school or as it states seek jobs and turn down loans. This would create opportunities for financial counselors and entrepreneurs who want to balance the need for working and taking out loans. Perhaps their is a middle ground.
- Customers would include students and financial lenders. Employers may become customers as well as they will have an interest in keeping prospective employees in school.
- I think it is a relatively easy opportunity to exploit because students, lenders, and employees all have a stake in more people graduating college. By students becoming more aware of the financial obligations may discourage students. Increasing students' knowledge of the financial gains from attaining a degree would counteract the initial debts incurred. There is opportunity for various fields to exploit here.
- I see this opportunity because I know the difficulties of taking out loans, repaying them, not graduating, working full-time while attending school full-time (my current situation). There is opportunity for people to educate students to stay the course because not graduating and still having to pay back loans will be more devastating as most likely the income will be lower without a degree.
- Million Dollar Homes Taking Over (Economic Trend)
- I found this article in the Huffington Post.
- http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/cities-million-dollar-homes_us_573d7480e4b0646cbeec2bc6?utm_hp_ref=business
- I believe an opportunity may exist because in certain areas buying a starter home could become unaffordable and obsolete. This would increases the number of people who rent which would be an opportunity to own rental properties. It would cause people to borrow more money which would increase profits at lending institutions.
- Customers would include anyone considering purchasing a new home or renting. This trend would effectively decide for the prospective buyer/renter.
- I think it is relatively moderate opportunity to exploit. If anyone has the financial means or credit now then they are able to purchase future rental properties today.
- I see this opportunity because people won't be able to afford million dollar homes. With this increase in housing prices, all housing prices will most likely increase, eliminating some prospective buyers. This will force people to rent or borrow more money which increases profits at lending institutions as well. I think this is part of the typical cycle that occurs of what goes up (housing bubble) must come down (recession) and then back up again (current times).
- Louisiana Marijuana Tax (Regulatory Change)
- I found this opportunity in The Times Picayune.
- http://infoweb.newsbank.com/resources/doc/nb/news/15D0B27C321DA6A0?p=AWNB
- I believe an opportunity may exist because of the tax implications increasing revenue for the state similar to revenue increases in other states. With these projections it would force the state to legalize marijuana. An array of opportunities such as growing and distributing would arise from legalization. Also opportunities for scientists who could narrow their focus as to the last usage of marijuana for companies who would like to ensure their employees are not smoking while at work.
- Customers would include people with medical problems, advocates of marijuana, people looking to party or just engage in its use and people who are curious but do not want to suffer legal ramifications.
- I think it is relatively easy opportunity to exploit because of the copious amounts of illegal use currently being exhibited across the U.S. Through legalization it would open a vast array of opportunities for people currently unemployed or who have an entrepreneurial spirit and want to get into this field.
- I see this opportunity because I see the amount of people who currently smoke and distribute marijuana illegally. Although I am not an advocate for mind altering drugs, I can see how many people are an advocate for it and how many people currently take risks now.
- Louisiana Cigarette Tax (Regulatory Change)
- I found this opportunity on wdsu.com.
- http://www.wdsu.com/news/local-news/new-orleans/louisiana-senate-passes-cigarette-tax-increase-goes-into-effect-april-1/38358404
- I believe an opportunity may exist because increasing taxes on cigarettes should in theory reduce the total number of cigarettes sold. By forcing customers to pay more for cigarettes it may inspire some people to seek help in quitting smoking completely or using alternative means such as vaporizers. There would be opportunities to sell more vaporizers and for people who want to help people stop smoking completely.
- Customers would include those who want to quit smoking and need a little extra push to do so.
- I think it is a relatively difficult opportunity to exploit as this is one of desire and addiction. People may forego spending money in other areas to pay the extra cost for cigarettes.
- I see this opportunity because I know people who would like to quit smoking or who have recently quit smoking. Paying the extra money could be the difference between no one quitting and some people quitting. It would be a good opportunity for those in the field who help people quit to use this new measure as an added push to get more people to quit smoking.
Brian,
ReplyDeleteI agree with your first opportunity 100%. I was scared of going back to school because of he whole "massive debt" crisis. But, once I educated myself about it, I was not as scared and I felt like I could tackle the issue. I think there should be some like company that specializes in student loan advice. I worked full-time as well when I was at Santa Fe College, I know the struggle. As students, we are given advisors, but they are very busy people and I know my advisor speaks with like 1000 students, too many. I think we should have a mentor to guide us and lead us through our 4 years os education. Having something like that would even inspire me to continue on with my education. I love all the opportunities, but as usual, this one reached out to me!
hey brian! the Louisiana cigarette tax creates so much opportunity for people to quit smoking or at least slowly begin to smoke less and less. Having that extra tax on cigarettes that smokers have to pay can truly make a difference in the amount of people that quit smoking in Louisiana this year. This one also hits close to home as a relative of mine died from smoking because she developed lung cancer, so even by implementing this task there could be a small decrease in the number of people impacted by lung cancer each year.
ReplyDeleteBrian,
ReplyDeleteI find the prohibition of marijuana to be one of the dumbest policies that we currently employ as a nation. The evidence of what occurs when you make a readily available product illegal from our prohibition of alcohol should be all that is needed for a reasonable person. In that model, gangsters like Al Capone made millions and the government kept almost no one from obtaining alcohol. Currently, foreign drugs cartels get rich from bring marijuana into the country while we have a 17 trillion dollar deficit. Instead, would it not make more sense to have American farmers growing a crop, which can then be sold and taxed? Another thing to think about is the enormous amount of people in prison for nonviolent, drug related crimes. That is more tax money saved by not incarcerating people for a victim-less 'crime'. Hopefully this will be a moot point in a few years, as the cartels are already beginning to feel the sting of legal cannabis.
Hey Brian, first off all of your opportunities are super interesting! The one that really caught my attention was the student loan crisis. I think we can all agree the thought of having to start paying back our loans 6 months after we graduate is a little scary. Most of us after 6 months will not even have jobs yet let alone know exactly what we want to do with our degree. If I were to known the different ways I could avoid taking out loans when I first started out school it would have helped me out a lot more. I really enjoyed reading your opportunities and can't wait to read how testing the hypothesis went!
ReplyDeletehttp://gabby0451.blogspot.com