Raul A. Plata
Dean Patterson/Sierra Melcher
Comparative Government/British Literature
May 4 2014

                                                       My Manifesto

       My name is Raul Amilcar Plata Eslava. I was born in Bucaramanga and have been living there for 17 years. I am at the end of my time at Colegio Panamericano and wow its been such and awesome experience. In these 17 years I have been at Colegio Panamericano for roughly 15 years. In these years I have met awesome people that have change my life. During these years a lot of happy things have happened and some sad things too. However, I've learned from all of these and have become a better person everyday. In this paper you will read about the most important lessons I've learned at Colegio Panamericano, the moments that have change my life and my aspirations for the future that awaits me.

       I am sitting here remembering about everything that has been taught to me at Colegio Panamericano and it is hard for me to choose the most important lesson I've learned during all these years. However I have to give credit to Miss Ana. I remember in 9th grade when Miss Ana told us her "crazy" stories(they were crazy at that time) and making jokes about them. However, as years have passed I have learned that she is one of the wisest teachers at Colegio Panamericano. I have learned to be a better person with her stories. She has made me a better student by simple phrases like "don't study because you have to, study to learn something new and be wiser than yesterday". This has totally changed my behaviour as a student. I began studying the things i liked to learn something new. This can be seen as I was an awful student before 9th grade. After 9th grade there was a huge improvement in my grades in general, specially in math, physics and chemistry which are my favourite subjects. I have to thank Miss Ana because thanks to her I am passionate about the environment.

       In these 17 years a lot of moments have changed my life. I would say that these experiences have make me grow as a better person and made me the person I am today. One of the saddest experiences that I have lived in my life have make me grow as a person and made me value my family and mi friends. When my brother died it was a very sad experience to me. I lost someone I loved a lot and someone I admired. However, it showed me a lot of valuable things I used to ignore. First, it showed me how fragile life is. That made me reconsider my life to enjoy and see the good things in everything. "Don't wait around for life to happen to you. Find something that makes you happy. and do it. Because everything else is just background music" (Day 2: 5:00pm-6:00pm). This quote was said by in the t.v series 24 which is my all time favourite series and perfectly expresses how I feel about life. Second, it showed me the importance of my family and how a family must be together in the bad moments and in the good moments. My family was always together and I am taking this as an example of how I want my future family to be. Last but not least, the death of my brother showed me the real value of friends. While I was going through this moment I saw who my friends were and I learned the value of friendship. I am in gratitude with everyone that helped me go through this moment and I have to thank my friends that were with me in the good moments as well as in the bad moments.

       For the future I have a lot of goals that I want to accomplish before I die. I want to study Civil Engineering. This is my passion and I want to change the world with it. I want to construct buildings that are friendly with the environment. Cement is responsible for 5-10% of global greenhouse gas emissions(thank you senior project), why not making this impact lower by changing our cities and making them eco friendly. I know its too much to ask, but I really want to make important changes in the world and make it better than it was yesterday. Besides changing the world I want to be happy. I want to be happy with what I do in life. My teachers at Colegio Panamericano always told me "If you are happy with what you are doing, you won't have to work a single day of your life". I want this to be with me until I die. I want to be happy with what I'm doing. Just imagine it, doing what you like everyday and getting paid for it, sounds pretty awesome to me.

       There you have it, these are the lessons I learned at Colegio Panamericano, the moments that change my life and the goals that I have for the future. Maybe my goals are too much to ask but I will think about them everyday and try to make them possible. Hopefully I will achieve them and make others happy as I make myself happy.

                                                                          Works Cited

       "Day 2: 5:00pm-6:00pm". 24: Season 2. Writ. David Ehrman. Dir. Rodney Charters. Fox. 2003. Netflix.

The Light Bulb Conspiracy

This week we saw the movie "The light bulb conspiracy" in world history class. This movie talks about the history and the effect of planned obsolescence in our world. Before the first depression, light bulbs were made to last, however, this is not profitable for the economy. There's even a light bulb 100 years old that was made before planned obsolescence came in our way. Manufacturers made a cartel and began reducing the lifespan of lightbulbs. Nylon had the same fate as light bulbs. Nylon stockings were so strong they could tow cars, however, this meant women would buy only one pair of these. Manufacturers began producing weak nylon stockings forcing women to replace them quickly.

Time has passed and the effects of planned obsolescence are worse than we could ever imagine. By replacing and producing new products so quickly the environment has payed a high price. Resources are being depleted and there are no more places to save wastes. African countries are the ones that are receiving the wastes from countries like the US, England, Germany etc... Manufacturers tried to manipulate laws to support planned obsolescence. Since this wasn't possible, they just release newer products with something new to make the costumer feel like he really needs the new product.
Printers have chips that count the times you print a document. There's a limit of printings and when this limit is reached these stop working. We must reform our current economic system and develop one where the environment is protected by reducing the resources we use and making the minimum possible wastes or we will suffer the consequences.

Four Horsemen

The film "Four Horsemen" predicts the collapse of the American empire by looking at empires through history. In the movie, they recall at the stages of an empire and they state that the final stage of the empire is decadence. Currently they United States is in the decadence stage. Some characteristics of the decadence stage is the devaluation of the currency which is happening. They addiction to party and sex is more and more often. These are some of the aspects that are similar to other empires and that tells us which is the fate of the United States empire.

If the United States empire collapses this would have unimaginable consequences for us. The world economy would collapse. Some of the other consequences are uncertain. If the United States where to collapse in a violent way causing wars worldwide it would be tragic for all of us. Also one empire would have to take its place as it is shown through history. This new empire could benefit us or destroy us.

This fate must be contemplated because it will affect all of us. Also, contemplating the fall of the American empire makes us consider the flaws that our current system has. For example, our current economic system has multiple flaws. Capitalism benefits the few while going over the majority of the people. As the movie said "There's enough for everyone's need, but not enough for everyone's greed." We must find solutions to these problems if we want a long lasting economy and welfare for all of us.

Colombian Monetary System

The Colombian Monetary system is handled by El Banco De La Republica De Colombia(BRC). The BRC is a state entity with full independence from the government. They act with free will and they do what they think is most correct for the Colombian Economy. The BRC is in charge of releasing new money, controlling the amount of cash to the public and they supervise the banking system within the country. The only clients of the BRC are the banks within the country.

The Colombian Monetary system is not that different to the one present in the United States. Both of them no longer work on the gold standard. Both of these systems control the money of these countries and are in charge of the inflation within the country. However, they differ when we talk about ownership. The BRC is a 100% state entity with independence from the government. This is an unique exception mentioned in the Colombian constitution. The Federal Reserve is not owned by the US government. A portion of the Federal Reserve is owned by private entities. These private entities work for the privilege of a little portion while the BRC works for the good of the country. This may explain why the Colombian economy has been very stable during the last few years.

Fractional Reserve Banking System

The creation of money begins in the United Stated Government. The United States Government gives the Federal Reserve a document called "treasury bonds" that has an added monetary value. The Federal Reserves gives the U.S Government an amount of dollars equal to the value of the bonds. The US Government deposits this money in a bank and money is created. However, most of this transaction are digital. 97% Of the US money is digital while only 3% is in paper. This is how money is basically created. We can say money=debt because it was initially created by a debt the US Gov. has with the Federal Reserve.

This process occurs every time you deposit money or borrow money. For example, I deposit 100 dollars in a bank. This 100 dollars are given away to people that borrow money. That money now belongs to me and to the other people that borrowed it. This happens with every transaction that occurs. However, a bank can't only give 90% of the money it is given. They must keep 10% of the money as a deposit. More money is further created when a bank charges interests. Money wasn't initially created with this additional interest taken into account; however, it must be paid to banks. This process goes on and on and money is without control.

Sadly, this process will eventually collapse. Most of the money that exists is not really money. The majority is money in debt, which is promised to be paid. This system only works because we the people believe it works. Also, poverty and inflation built within this system. This makes this system inefficient and one day this system will collapse and a change will have to occur.

Palestine and the UN.

T

Are we closer of finally seeing a independent Palestinian state? Over the years, the territory of Palestine has been under control of Israel or at war against this. Palestine has tried for many years to be an independent state but Israel and the US have been against this. Palestinian president has threatened to go to the UN and demand for it. 


Over the last months there have been peace talks between Palestine and Israel. However, Israel is not releasing the prisoners that the have promised to release. Palestine is willing to go to the UN. This applies pressure to Israel and the US. In my mind, this will be a good starting point for Palestine to become and independent state. The more pressure they apply to the UN, the more they will have to do to help this territory. It is early to talk about an independent Palestinian state, but everything begins like this. If the UN intervenes in the "peace" discussion it will be a huge success for the Palestinian people and may be the beginning of an independent state.


Al Jazeera and Agencies. "Palestinian President Threatens to Go to UN." - Middle East. N.p., 1 Apr. 2014. Web. 01 Apr. 2014.

Food Inc, Economy and Race.

In world history, we have been watching different movies that approach some of the most discussed topics in our society. We saw the movie Food Inc and two documentaries that discuss race and economy. In the process of watching the documentaries we have been able to relate and understand the complexity of what the US government is doing and how this affects the whole world. The issues discussed in the movies are economic, racial and perhaps about the Industrialization  and the quality of food.

While watching Food Inc we were able to understand the complexity of the food system and how its changing all around the world. The US transformed the system to make it more efficient; however, this brought a lot of health and environmental issues. People get sick more often and soil is full of toxic chemicals. People who work in this industry are paid poorly and treated as machines. This is where race comes in. Usually the workers are illegal immigrants. Companies hire them and have full control since the constitutional rights don't apply to them. These workers are exploited and are usually sent to jail after a while. 

A country's economy is also linked to food production. The US has been promoting corn production. This is making farmers to feed cows corn while creating health risks to human. Food prices have changed to the public in an unhealthy way. Since corn is subsidised, sugar products are made from it and a coke is cheaper than a natural juice. Sugary foods dominate the market that vegetables are very expensive and only the rich people can afford it. People that have a low income are obligated to buy the cheap and unhealthy food. This is making the people obese and prone to sickness. Until this food pattern doesn't changes, more and more people will die.