What is happening in your article? If there is government involvement, what are the costs and benefits? If there isn't, what are the costs and benefits? What do you think, do the costs outweigh the benefits or do the benefits outweigh the costs?
Click on one the following articles: salt, college,or cab ride.
What is happening in your article? If there is government involvement, what are the costs and benefits? If there isn't, what are the costs and benefits? What do you think, do the costs outweigh the benefits or do the benefits outweigh the costs?
25 Comments
Verenicce
3/4/2014 09:29:39 am
In the article “Let Us Pay Your College Tuition” Cris Valerio describes the new plans that the states of Oregon and Tennessee are proposing to get more college graduates in their states. Tennessee proposed a plan called the “Tennessee Promise”. In this plan students will get free tuition for two years in a community or technical school. The government will pay off the tuition by taxing lottery tickets. On the other hand Organ has the “ Pay it Forward” plan. In this plan the students will pay no tuition upfront but then later after their graduation they will pay off their debt based on their income. Most of the economist intervened in this article agree that these two plans have flaws that need to be worked out. For instance the Organ plan does not work well in the long run because it is just putting the students in future debt. The benefits of the plan proposed by the state of Tennessee is that students will be able to attend a community college or technical school tuition free for two years. The cost of this plan is that lottery tickets, which are mostly bought by low income residents, will be more expensive. In the Organ plan the benefits are that students do not have to pay tuition upfront but the cost is that the students can possibly be loaded up with debt in the future. I personally believe that the cost outweigh the benefits. I believe the intention is good but the methods are not. For instance in the Tennessee plan the costs of the tuition will just reduce the demand for the lottery tickets. The low income residents will be the ones getting hurt by the plan. In the Organ plan the students don't deserve to end up in debt just because they wanted to expand their education. Since part of their income will be taken away they will probably not do much spending in the future to help the economy.
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Josie Wheeler
3/5/2014 12:41:57 pm
This year New Jersey was faced with so many storms that they ran out of the salt used to melt the ice and snow on the roads. The article "An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage" depicts the struggles New Jersey went through to obtain 40,000 pounds of salt from Searsport, Maine. The 40,000 pounds of salts was originally planed to be shipped by a ship constructed in the Marshall Islands. But, because of the Jones Act of 1920 New Jersey was not allowed to use this ship. The Jones act stated that to bring supplies from one US port to another the ship must be American built, with an American crew, with American flags flying. Since the ship New Jersey planed to use was not built in the united they could not use it. Instead they had to use a smaller ship that could only carry 9,500 pounds of supplies. Because of the government interference of the Jones act, New Jersey had to make multiple trips with the smaller ship, along with pay more, and wait longer for the salts. The costs of the Jones act is that all the ships used within the US must be American made, which increases the demand for American made ship. For New Jersey though, the costs were extreme, they had to pay for excessive boat loads of salt to compensate for the excessive salt the ship could not haul. The benefits though of the Jones Act is that more Americans are employed on ships and the ship career, since all ships and crewmen are American and the ships are American made. In my opinion the Jones Act benefits out weigh the costs. I believe this because I believe the Jones Act is helping to support Americans and American made objects, such as the ships. I believe if you are going to pay for something (the ships) you mine as well pay for something made in your own country, not from another place. Therefore, in my opinion. the benefits outweigh the costs, greatly.
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Ruthie Sager
3/6/2014 05:03:01 am
Tennessee is one of the most uneducated states in the US. Everyone wants to get a quality education, but it isn't always affordable. Not everyone can pay so much money to send their children to universities, public or private. In the article, "Let Us Pay Your College", Chris Valerio mentions two different programs in two different states whose goal is to send more people to college than before. One of the programs is called "Tennessee Promise". The "Tennessee Promise" purposes two years of free tuition to students going to a community college or technical school. The idea is to make Tennessee's education level go up and not be on the bottom of the totem pole anymore. The more people who they can send to college, the more people they will have educated in their state, simple as that. The only requirement to get on the promise is based on grade and community service. To be able to pay the $34 million to send all these students to college, lottery tickets are the answer for the program. Across the country, Oregon has a different approach to get more people educated. "Pay It Forward" is their method, students go into college right away without paying a tuition fee but over the course of they agree to pay a small percentage of their income for a fixed number of years after college. These are ideas for problem solving but its the same as paying a tuition fee. The idea of charging the students later on would not make a huge difference. The cost to the 'Pay It Forward' program is that someone could go get the education they wanted, but if they are in school for say two years, then by two years they will of needed to pay the school tuition fee back. People won't be able to pay their school fees that quickly if they aren't able to in the beginning. The benefit is that one could get an education and there would be more educated citizens. "The cost to the "Tennessee Promise" is that if the state isn't able to sell enough lottery tickets or make enough profit off of the ticket sales, then they will have to do budget cuts and it could turn into another fiasco where hundreds or thousands could be loosing their jobs and taxes will start rising higher and higher. The benefit is that the amount of educated citizens will go up way higher than they have been in a long time. In my opinion, the idea is great but the execution of the plans aren't what they states had in mind I don't think. It would be great if college could be affordable to more families but it's not and these plans aren't making it any easier although it seems like it could. If the states want more of their citizens to become educated and go to school, then they should lower the school tuition fees instead, making it more affordable to the average American families.
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Peeka Zimmerman
3/8/2014 02:51:28 pm
Planet Money discusses a recently developed cell phone app called Uber and the effect it is having on city dwellers in times of high demand. Zoe Chase explores the costs and benefits of having prices based on demand in the episode entitled "Why Paying $192 Dollars For A 5-Mile Cab Ride May Be Rational." Chase hears the story of a man, named Jacob, that was charged four times the usual amount to travel ten miles in a taxi as his wife was in labor. It seems as though Jacob was a victim to the rational thinking of the cab driver in recognizing that Jacob would have payed anything to reach the hospital. Recognizing the opportunity to charge more for transportation based on need is the main objective of Uber; to charge four to nine times more money based on demand. "Surge pricing," or charging more in specific areas of high demand, is increasing prices rapidly- one woman paid $192 for a five mile trip at an average speed of five miles per hour! The argument for Uber is that "surge pricing" signals other cab drivers to come to the same area to make more money, which in turn evens out supply and demand and lowers prices. Trying to catch this surge is keeping the playing field on a continuous cycle of more efficient drivers. If someone needs a cab driver and is willing to pay more than the average price, Uber will be there. Rather than wasting time, people benefit from quick service and no money is left on the table. Places, such as The Home Depot, try to maintain a relationship with their customers, therefore, charging people more money base on need would be risky. Big businesses shying away from such tactics is promising to the future long-term investment in apps similar to Uber. The government is not intervening, making it evident that Uber can shift prices with ease. This is a justified and honest way of making money- cab drivers will benefit, as they will desire to be worthy benefactors of a higher salary, while pedestrians will recover lost time. The rational benefits outweigh the costs of bitter customers that are unaware of well-intended motives. In busy cities, people should realize that spending money on reaching a destination is part of sharing wealth and trusting other people to make fair adjustments in service charges.
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Carlotta Sainato
3/9/2014 01:12:49 am
In Cris Valerio’s article, “Let Us Pay Your College Tuition,” Valerio examines two plans from two different states, Tennessee and Oregon, that are geared towards relieving financial obstacles for students wishing to attend college. Both proposals, to economists, do not seem to promise particularly beneficial or successful results. However, the fact that the time and discussions of legislators are being directed towards easing student loans is a promising factor.
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Carlos Reyes
3/9/2014 05:15:51 am
In "An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage" by Zoe Chance in the article New Jersey had ran out of salt after that the state officials found salt in Seaport,Maine they also has bought the salt but they had problems getting it in back to New Jersey. There's a law where if somebody is trying to bring something by the U.S port the ship would have to be all Americanized with American people on the ship and if it wasn't they would't allow the ship in the port. I think the costs overweight's the benefits first the people who went to buy the salt and get it in the New Jersey the people didn't know about the Jones Act that only American ship could in the U.S port making them go back and move all the salt to a ship that will be able to go in. Then the State Officials only want the salt to melt the snow so they can have a road to drive on what else could they do with it the Jones Act just made more difficult for the people to get the salt in New Jersey.
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Cooper Rockwood
3/9/2014 07:11:35 am
In the Article "An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage", New Jersey faced problems when they almost ran out of the salt they use to melt the ice on the road during the winter. While they were low on salt supply, they found 40,000 pounds of salt for sale in Searsport, Maine. They also found an empty ship big enough to bring all the salt back to New Jersey. Because of an old law called the Jones Act, the ship wouldn't be allowed to bring the salt to New Jersey. To move something from an American Port to another, it has to be an American ship, with an American crew, flying an American flag. This is not an American ship, so it doesn't meet the requirements. There is government intervention, because the government is preventing this ship from transporting the salt. The benefits are more American jobs, and national security. The costs are time, money, another ship, and all the effects of the lack of salt in New Jersey. The costs strongly outweigh the benefits, which is why the Jones Act in this case is not beneficial in any way towards the movement of salt from Maine to New Jersey.
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Verenice Portales
3/9/2014 09:41:59 am
The article “An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage” by Zoe Chace, talks about how this year because of all the snow New Jersey almost ran out of salt. The state found a solution when they bought 40,000 tons of salt from Maine. But ended up running into a problem when they couldn't use the ship from Marshall Islands to transport the salt, because of an old American law called the Jones Act. The law states that if you're transporting within the U.S. then you use a U.S. ship, with American crew. In the end, they had to use a U.S. ship that could only carry 9,500 tons, so it took New Jersey a few weeks to get the salt. This costs places like Hawaii more money because they need to import many of the products to the island. Not to mention if the ship is too small, like in the case of New Jersey with a 9,500 ton ship and 40,000 tons of salt. On the other hand, the benefits are that American ships and crew get to keep their jobs. There are more jobs for the people and it helps keep these ships in use. These ships can help for safety as well. In case there is fleets to be needed, these ships would be active to be used. In my opinion, I think the benefits outway the cost. Yes, people pay more, but it helps maintain people with jobs and these ships active in case of an emergency.
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Julia Torres(:
3/9/2014 10:23:51 am
The article "An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage" tells about how New Jersey nearly ran out of salt that was used to melt snow and ice on the roads. However, 40,000 tons of rock salt was fore sale in Searsport, Maine. New Jersey bought the salt, but had issues finding transportation. To get the salt over to New Jersey, they needed an American-built ship with an American flag and crew according to the Jones Act. The ship in Maine was from the Marshall Islands, so it could not work. The New Jersey Department of Transportation found a ship, but it can only carry 9,500 tons at a time, making it longer to get all of the salt over to New Jersey. The Jones Act is an issue for others places, such as Hawaii, who has to pay higher costs to get supplies by ship. Defenders say the act is good for jobs and it's a national security issue. The costs of this act would be the time, money, and finding other ships to transport goods. The benefits would be Americans keeping their jobs and national security. I believe that the costs outweigh the benefits because people have to pay more money to get their supplies and it could take longer for them to pay the money or they would not be able to pay for it at all.
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Jonathan Sanchez
3/9/2014 12:04:32 pm
"Lets us pay your College tuition" by Chris Valerio is about Oregon and Tennessee and how their college graduation rates are so low that they're thinking of new way to make a higher education more affordable for everyone across the board. The ways in which each state wants to go at their goal are completely different from each other. Oregon has thought of a way in which students don't pay tuition when they first enter college. Instead, students complete their college education and once they have a job, a portion of their income goes towards paying back their education. Tennessee wants to make up to 2 years of community college free, the only prerequisites would be grade and community service oriented. The education, a cool $34 million a year, was to be paid for from lottery tickets. There doesn't seem to be any government involvement yet, the cost is there isn't any regulation to what schools can charge for an education. The benefit is sooner or later there will be an agreement on what will happen, but the way I see it, if they want to affect education right away, there should be some more government aid.
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Selene Robledo
3/9/2014 01:11:59 pm
In the article "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition" Cris Valerio explains two plans that two different states, Tennessee and Oregon, are planning on doing to help relieve financial obstacles for students that wish to continue their education. The "Tennessee Promise" purposes two years of free tuition to students going to a community college or technical school. Oregons "Pay It Forward" will allow students to not pay any tuition upfront but then later after their graduation they will pay off their debt based on their income.
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Jason Varozza
3/9/2014 02:11:08 pm
In the article "An old law, a snowy winter, and a modern day salt storage" New Jersey has had one of the biggest winters it's had for a long time. There's been so much snow that they ran out of salt used to melt ice on the roads. As luck has it, in Main they had 40,000 tons of salt for sale. The only problem they had was transporting the salt from Main to New Jersey. The only ship capable of hauling that much weight was from the Marshall Islands and under the jones act only American ships flying an American flag can transport good from one American port to another. The government is very involved with the this mode of shipping. The benefits with the Jones act is that it keeps jobs in America, but the costs of it are very high. Especially in Hawaii that transports a lot of goods back and forth from the main land and they need to use American ships which are more expressive. I believe that the costs outweigh the benefits in this situation.
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Vanessa Ramirez
3/9/2014 03:02:32 pm
In the article, "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition," author Cris Valerio explains two plans put forward by Tennessee and Oregon in order to gain more college graduates; the plans are referred to as the "Tennessee Promise" and "Pay it Forward." As for the Tennessee plan, the propose free tuition for two years of community college or technical school and they plan to pay for this through lottery ticket sales. The cost to this would that it would potentially place a burden on those who most commonly buy lotto tickets, the middle and lower class. The benefits are that this could very possibly raise college graduates rate in the state of Tennessee, therefore leading to a higher percentage in educated people. It provides more opportunity for those who cannot afford to pay for a post secondary education. In my eyes, the costs and benefits are almost equal, but I do believe that the benefits outweigh the costs because if it were to work, there would be much more of an educated population in the state of Tennessee. In Oregon, their plan is very different than that of in Tennessee. Their plan is to install a payment plan following college that would be withdrawn from their income. The costs to this are that it is not much different than the way that it already is, most college payments are made post college and it could simply lead to the equal amount of debt that is usually dealt with following college. The benefits could include though that upfront, you are burden free and not required to pay for anything. In this plan, I believe that the costs outweigh the benefits. The plan is not much different from the way that paying for college generally works. The amount of debt would generally be the same. It may just cause for students to underestimate costs and then be overwhelmed with payments following college.
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Jennifer Sanchez
3/9/2014 03:13:04 pm
In the article, "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition" by Cris Valerio the new ways of funding or helping fund student's college education are discussed in both Oregon and Tennessee. In Tennessee they came up with the "Tennessee Promise" which is proposing to pay for a students 2 years of community college or technical school. The only requirements the student would have in order to obtain this money are grade and community service oriented. The the million dollar question was posed, how is this all paid for? Well the answer is lottery tickets. In this case the government is involved because in order to obtain this money there are taxes. The costs of this plan are that the taxes will be raised. However, the benefit of having this plan is that students will have a greater opportunity for a college education because within those two years they can be saving money to pay for the following years as well as the fact that their community services will benefit that same community that is paying the taxes. In this case I do believe that the cost does out way the benefit because is seems like a good plan. In Oregon, they have come up with a different plan, "Pay It Forward," which is a plan that states that students wont pay tuition upfront, rather they will pay small insurance percentage of their income for a fixed amount of years after college. This plan would be similar to that of social security because it is becomes an income-based repayment plan. Critics like Wolff argue that this plan is no different then the current system for graduate students, they are debts that students are stuck with after graduating. In this case the government is also involves because the students would then be paying them them money once they graduate. I think that in this case it is hard to decide whether the costs do out weigh the benefits or the other way around because it depends on each person. This could be a good plan for those who need assisting their finances, but it could be useless for those who don't need help managing their finances.
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Patty Zepeda
3/9/2014 03:37:40 pm
In the article "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition" Cris Valerio explains two plans for two different states that want to help their students meet their financial need and go ahead with their education , Tennessee and Oregon. With Tennessee having a low rate of students actually attend college they have plan that will give students opportunity to attend a two-year community college or a technical school,The only requirements are grade and community-service oriented they plan on paying this by the sales of lottery tickets, because they are planning on raising the taxes to be able to go ahead with the Tennessee promise for their students.On the other hand we have Oregon with their "Pay It Forward" plan which will help students start school for free but later they will have to pay it off. So they will still be in debt, but later in their life. In my opinion both of theses are going to hurting some people but helping students reach their goal I think the Tennessee promise would be more beneficial for students. But if they are really worried about who is going to pay for all this and about students being in debt why not just lower to college tuition fees for all students have it be more economic for working students who want to be successful.
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Sergio Saldana
3/9/2014 04:32:58 pm
In this article "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition" Cris Valerio explains two plans that want to help college kids. "Tennessee Promise" wants to help educated student by letting them go to college for a 2 year no pay plan. The purpose by this is that it will rise the percentage rate of students going to college their. Tennessee has one of the lowest percentage rates and by doing this it will help them getting a good word out their. The only requirement to get on the promise is based on grades and community service. To be able to pay the 34 million to send all these kids to college, lottery tickets are the answer for the program. While Oregon has a other solution called '' Pay it Forward". What this does is allows students to go college also for free but over time they will have to pay some back. So technically its not free! Lets say a student went their for 3 years they will have to pay that back. How are they supposed to pay it if they couldn't pay it in the beginning. So both programs a great and are giving kids more opportunity to go to college and learn. The only down fall is that not all or if any kids will have money to pay it back. They each have their problems to figure out and change sum things. I feel like they should just lower the coast of college so everybody could afford it, but we all know that wont happen because the US wants all the money they can get. So good plans they just need to change some of the requirements.
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Kacey Sargent
3/10/2014 12:34:53 pm
The article "Why Paying $192 For A 5-Mile Car Ride May Be Rational" posed an important question. It was whether cab companies charging more when people are in desperate need of the ride is taking advantage of vulnerable people, or good economics on their part. The article is mainly focusing on the company "Uber" which uses an iPhone app to get more customers. When there is a large demand for the cab they are able to jack up the prices to almost nine times the original amount. The cab driver can take 80% of their earnings that day, so many of the drivers want to work for long hours and also go to areas that are highly active with customers. The argument that the company makes is that it is a benefit to all parties involved mostly for the driver. A prime example of the surge of customers and price inflation is on December 14th where many people in NYC dress up in Santa costumes and get drunk. A driver recalls how the price for and Uber soared to 9 times the original amount. Many of the drivers feel bad about surge prices and apologize about it. Some people don't mind the price because they have the money and they don't have the time. They think that it is better to pay the surge price than to waste their time. For people that don't have the money to pay the surge price, they just close the app and choose not to take an Uber. Uber does have data and they know when people close the app so the always try to have an equilibrium in supply and demand, and depending on the situation they can increase their prices because they know that it will still be in that equilibrium. I think that as long as there is a high demand for the Uber and people are still willing to pay for the surge price than they should continue to try and increase profit. I think that 9 times the regular price is crazy and I would personally never pay that much for just a cab ride, there are people that would and if it raises the economy than go for it. I'm sure that once it starts to affect me personally, I would have drastically different views on the subject, but for now if it is doing more good than bad then by all means do it.
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Julie Williams-Reyes
3/10/2014 02:41:26 pm
In Cris Valerio's article, "Let Us Pay Your College Tuition", he discusses the issue of the number of students graduating from colleges these days, and whether its due to the fact of oppurtunity or most likely the price. He focuses on two very different states, Oregon and Tenessee. Tennesse has the lowest graduating rate in the country and many believe its due to the lack of money to pay for tuition. Both colleges proposed plans to help get the graduating numbers up. Tennesee has a plan where students do not have to pay the first two years of tuition at only a community college. To make up for the loss of money, they would use the lottery funds. The government is always involved when there is money, but particulary in this scenario they are because of the lottery. It effects taxes which the government regulates. The controversy is that they are using the lower class, but the lower class and middle class are already buying lottery tickets, there is no harm. There really isn't a cost, except the money from the lottery tickets could be used for other things beside education, and the government will have to find another way to pay for those. I think the benefits outweigh the costs because the number one goal is to raise the education rates, so in the outcome more people will have jobs, and won't fall into the lower class.
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Noah Simons
3/12/2014 12:57:49 pm
GOOF
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EDDIE R
3/13/2014 07:14:03 am
The ship New Jersey planed to use was not built in the united they could not use it. Instead they had to use a smaller ship that could only carry 9,500 pounds of supplies. Because of the government interference of the Jones act, New Jersey had to make multiple trips with the smaller ship, along with pay more, and wait longer for the salts. The costs of the Jones act is that all the ships used within the US must be American made, which increases the demand for American made ship. For New Jersey though, the costs were extreme, they had to pay for excessive boat loads of salt to compensate for the excessive salt the ship could not haul. The benefits though of the Jones Act is that more Americans are employed on ships and the ship career, since all ships and crewmen are American and the ships are American made. In my opinion the Jones Act benefits out weigh the costs. I believe this because I believe the Jones Act is helping to support Americans and American made objects, such as the ships. I believe if you are going to pay for something (the ships) you mine as well pay for something made in your own country, not from another place. Therefore, in my opinion. the benefits outweigh the costs
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Karina Velazquez
3/13/2014 08:04:46 am
(late so i will use my goof)
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Markley LaPointe
3/13/2014 01:05:23 pm
In the Article "An Old Law, A Snowy Winter, And A Modern-Day Salt Shortage", New Jersey faced the issue of loosing almost all of their salt they use to melt the ice on their roads and highways during the winter. with this lack of salt they looked to purchase more than 40,000 pounds of rock salt in Searsport, Maine. Due to the accent law called the Jones Act, where "if you want to bring something from one U.S. port to another, you have to use an American-built ship, flying an American flag, with a mostly American crew." this law invented in the 1600s prevented New Jersey from getting its salt for winter. The law created is unnecessary and idiotic, although I think the purpose of this law is to create American jobs creating more money for Americans to boost our countries economy. I believe the benefits out weighs the costs.
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Gabe T
3/19/2014 05:03:39 pm
Uber is allowing cab drivers to charge many times over the typical price to riders that are willing to or sometimes have to pay the price. Cab drivers use Uber to help them make four to nine times their typical profit per ride by charging anyone desperate to pay the price. Uber lets a rider get in touch with a driver near them and "gauging" the buyers. A prime example of the suppliers hiking up prices to meet demand; it cost extra, but the market stays in equilibrium.
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Gabe T
3/19/2014 05:15:07 pm
[Continued]
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11/26/2014 05:22:41 pm
I would like to introduce our Company (ExpoMughal International) as a leading Manufacturing and Export Company of all the kinds of Rocks Salt Products.(such as, Natural Salt Lamps, Shaped/crafted Salt Lamps, Candle Holders, Fire Bowls, Bath Chunks, Bath Soaps,Pen Holders,Paper Weights,Soap Treys, Ash treys,Animal Salt Lick, Salt Bricks, Eating Salt ,Road Salt ,etc.).
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