Wijaya's Hub of Knowledge

Our mission is to tackle the gap of education among young people in the world. We strive to connect educated people from across the globe that have the wish to help other people with students in developing countries. Some activities will include personal finance, entrepreneurship and other real-life skills. We hope that this would unlock the potential among these students and give them better opportunities for their future career.

For most people, the question of education might seem complex. Which major should I take? Which university should I go to? Which organization should I join? These questions have come to our minds during our college life. But if you go to these developing countries, you would see that their question are simple yet profound. How do I write? How do I read? How do I pay my tuition? are among the many questions that they ask. I myself come from such developing countries and I have experienced the gap of education first hand.

Our organization is unique because it seeks to close the gap by connecting both worlds. We want to give the opportunity for people from rich countries to come and learn about culture, economy, and life. While they do that, we would also be able to provide children in need with the necessary exposure and education that they need. In an era of globalization, it is vital for people to understand each other and this hub is the perfect stage for that.

Wijaya's Hub of Knowledge is the pioneer in its field. We have the vision to increase cross-cultural collaboration that will impact everyone involved. We are enthusiastic to welcome people from different culture. We believe that this hub would be the key to educating students so that they will be able to unlock their potential. Opportunities are abound for people that want to learn and the Wijaya's Hub of Knowledge is the perfect place for that.

Part 1

From the quote, I believe of the notion that every man is equal. But the sad truth is that not all are truly equal in the sense that many of us are not given the same opportunities that others get. The simple fact of being born in another country or of another race makes us not equal in a sense. For a better world, I think the first step would be education.

Education creates awareness that the world is huge and yet we are all connected in some ways. It makes us aware of the fact that we are all lucky. We are lucky we could go to USC, we are lucky we could get a higher education, we are lucky that we have a place to stay and food to eat and a family to care about. Education gives us opportunities that many people are lacking. It gives us opportunities for a better job, better thinking, and a better government.

Indonesia

Hi, for this week random post I would like to talk about my country, Indonesia. It is a country in South East Asia (SEA) famous for its beaches and forest fires. If you are wondering where it is, just know that it is located between Singapore and Australia. It is the biggest Muslim country in the world and also the biggest economy in SEA. Some of you might be scared to go there with all these commotions about terrorism, but do not worry. Indonesia is a really diverse country with all the other religions acknowledged and religious harmony is emphasized by the government and religious bodies. In fact, there are many Islam sects and many of them are different city to city with extremism disallowed by the government.

Beside that, it is still a developing country. The GDP per capita is only $3,475 per year. That is only roughly 1/15th of the US GDP per capita. The minimum wage in major cities are in fact only about $200-300 per month. Although that might seems the case on stats, the truth is "shadow money" plays a big role in the economy. Grafts, kickbacks, and "under the table" deals are relatively common and therefore increase the livelihood of most citizens. It is weird but in fact many experts believed that was the reason it resisted the 2007 recession because most people do not pay tax on those deals.

Coagula 4/9/2016

Today's art show was named "Public Secrets" by Abel Alejandre. "Public Secrets" is a new painting series that deals with conspiracies, family secrets, and UFOs. Seemed like it was made using graphite like in the video in the class. It was all great and meticulous, I enjoyed the drawings. I like the caps but they are $250 each!!

 

Paul Mackay

The interview took off by talking about how people perceive economics and how it has changed . Mackay said that today's idea is to manage limited resources in a sensible and sustainable way so that it can fulfill humans needs. Then, they continue the talk to investments and finance. He said that a lot of values are not real value. It is virtual value because it does not require add-on values from other resources. For example, a farmland would be valuable if the farmer grow on it, but in a development project only the land is valuable without any add-on value. He also explains that money sometimes becomes stuck and there is no real creation of value anymore such as in the stock market. He believes in the idea to make the money become gift money, these are money that are invested for research in education, health, and social issues. This interview talks about what investments are and the idea of economics that are vital to the world.

A Window into Transparency

This chapter talks about how perception of money by society has changed. It talks about how financial relationships between entities differs between those in the same community and those that don't share the same affinity. In a community, money managers such as those involved in a bank or a hedge fund has additional attachments. When they talk about losing money, they also suffers personal loss. Their reputation, their own equity and their own relationships are at risk of losing. This means that they are more inclined to be careful or be more honest in their management of money.

On further discussion, it talks about how these community based relationships can be implemented in other sections. Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) is the example they used. CSA model is where a farmer adopts a community that conforms with his practices or values. Then he would determine how much food can be grown and how many families it can feed. The farmer then compute a budget for the farm with the community which will then be divided to come out at a price per share which will then be sold to the community.

I felt that what it discusses about is true to some extent. Banks have grown from small localized institutions to giants banks over the decades. It has lost personal connections to its customers but it has also given its customers a much larger reach. It is unthinkable for someone in another country to be able to safely travel to another country without cash in previous times. Community is important but the era of globalization has required banks and communities to adapt to include the whole world at the expense of personal relationships.

Chapter 14

Money has the power to buy material goods, but it is abstract and metaphorical.Bloom uses the labyrinth and the touchstone as a metaphor of how we understand money. The labyrinth "hosts a personal pilgrimage, the journey one takes reflectively". And the "touchstone is used to measure the quality and purity of gold". Both of which will combine at then end. It is a medium of exchange and a measure of value we used as we walked the world.

 The issue that Bloom highlights now is the fact that people just sees money as money. Not as a medium or as a representation of value. The common masses no longer realizes that the value of money is actually pegged to Gold. Value of money has become invisible, making people unable to perceive the importance of it and feel it.