March Madness

     In the article, "College Basketball's Real Billion-Dollar Winners" written March 20, 2014 by Chris Isidore, he talks about the money involved in March Madness. Isidore says that it is not likely that someone will win the Warren Buffet-backed $1 billion dollar prize. But there will still be "big-dollar" winners. Men's college basketball produces $1.4 billion in revenue and the winners will be the ones splitting this money. For example, the University of Louisville has the richest basketball program in the country. This men's team alone had a revenue of $42.4 million, which produces a $26.7 million profit. The largest part of the revenue comes from the 14 year broadcast contract between NCAA and CBS. Out of all this profit made college athletes are wondering why they aren't being payed. 

     It doesn't surprise me that colleges make this much money off of sports like basketball and football. But most college players are offered scholarships to play sports, so I don't think it's necessary to pay them. I agree, that is a lot of money but it can be used to provide scholarships for future athletes. March Madness helps many colleges make more money and it increases ticket sales. 

    

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/20/news/companies/ncaa-dollars/index.html?iid=SF_BN_Lead

Toughest Job Market for Teens

     In the article on CNN, "Teens Face Toughest Job Market on Record" by Annalyn Kurtz written on March 14 she discusses how employment has lowered for teens and people in their early 20's. Kurtz says, only 26% of teens from ages 16-19 had a job in 2011 and this is down from 45% in 2000. This is the lowest rate since after World War II era. In some areas fewer than 1 of 6 teens are employed. In the top 100 metro areas 1.8 million teens are looking for a job or want a job but aren't looking. In my opinion, it is not only underemployment that is an issue but teens are either too busy with school and sports or are too lazy to get a job. So many teenagers today rely on their parents, so they think getting a job is not necessary. These situations could be a huge contributions to low employment. But businesses are also struggling and not hiring as many people. This will most likely effect future job opportunities for this generation.  

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/14/news/economy/youth-employment/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead

States Will not Wait for Congress to Raise Minimum Wage

      In the article "States Not Waiting for Congress to Raise Minimum Wage" by Emily Jane Fox and published March 6, 2014 explains President Obama's State of the Union address about minimum wage. President Obama encouraged mayors, governors, and state legislators to stop waiting on congress to raise minimum wage and take action. Many states have already begun discussing this and most have decided on a minimum wage of $9.50 or more. I think this is a great idea and will benefit all employees working on minimum wage. This is especially helpful to people who can only get a minimum wage job. But it could also have negative effects like some businesses having to fire people in order to pay employees. Also the decision the President made without congress could have a negative effect on the trust of congress.  

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/06/news/economy/minimum-wage-states/index.html?iid=SF_PF_River