Opinion

JENNIFER CALFAS

EDITOR IN CHIEF

AARICA MARSH 

and DEREK WOLFE 

EDITORIAL PAGE EDITORS

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MANAGING EDITOR

420 Maynard St. 

Ann Arbor, MI 48109

 tothedaily@michigandaily.com

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The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
4 — Tuesday, February 17, 2015

Claire Bryan, Regan Detwiler, Aarica Marsh, Victoria Noble, Michael 

Paul, Allison Raeck, Melissa Scholke, Michael Schramm, Matthew 

Seligman, Linh Vu, Mary Kate Winn, Jenny Wang, Derek Wolfe

EDITORIAL BOARD MEMBERS

M

y family’s household 
income is $250,000 
a year, but I promise 

you I am middle 
class. I live in a 
$2 million dollar 
house, but I prom-
ise you I am still 
middle class. It has 
one story, doesn’t 
have a pool or its 
own movie the-
ater. It is a modest 
three-bedroom, 
two-bath.

I 
understand 

how it sounds to 
dismiss $250,000. I do not discount 
that I am from a privileged family 
that can afford more than just the 
necessities. Many University stu-
dents are also from well-off back-
grounds. In Fall 2011, 63 percent of 
the class of 2015 reported a fam-
ily income of $100,000 or more. But 
wealth is a relative measure in some 
respects. Because of the high cost of 
living in Palo Alto, I grew up middle 
class and I have found that my views 
on money sometimes differ drasti-
cally from those of in-state students.

The median value of a house in 

Ann Arbor is $274,400, and Ann 
Arbor is considered an expensive 
area of Michigan in which to live. 
On the few occasions I cross Main 
Street and enter “real Ann Arbor,” I 
am taken aback by the size of these 
houses. Most are two stories with a 
basement and attic and have large 
front and back yards. The average 
house price in Palo Alto is $2.3 mil-
lion and none are two stories. If you 
want a two-story house, you better 
have another million to spend. To 
put it simply, my house in Ann Arbor 
is bigger than my house at home.

Housing prices aren’t the only 

discrepancy. A 64-ounce fishbowl 
at Good Time Charley’s costs about 
the same as an 8-ounce Long Island 
anywhere in the Bay Area.

So even though I have money, 

I don’t relate to a lot of people 
here who do. California money is 
earned and spent in a very differ-
ent way than a lot of the wealthy 
families in the Midwest or other 
parts of the country. It’s almost 
Gatsby-like. Cali-
fornia 
money 

is 
new 
money, 

held by software 
nerds. They don’t 
dress in suits but 
in bad dad jeans 
and fanny packs. 
Money elsewhere 
in 
the 
country 

usually 
means 

suits and ties and 
generations 
of 

family holdings.

There are, of course, the insanely 

wealthy in California. Los Altos 
Hills, an area neighboring Palo 
Alto, is an example. Average home 
prices are around $4 million. These 
are the houses with pools, movie 
theaters and multiple BMWs and 
Teslas in the garage. But even in 
Los Altos Hills, I notice a sub-
tle difference in the way wealth 
 

is displayed.

Money is not used as a status 

symbol in the Bay Area, because just 
living in the Silicon Valley proves 
you can afford it. I never knew 
the brands of my friends’ clothes 
before I moved to Michigan. Before 
I came to Michigan, the only brand 
I knew of and also owned was The 
North Face. I didn’t care where 
they got their clothes or how much 

they spent and neither did they. We 
found clothes that fit our personal 
style everywhere from Nordstrom 
 

to Goodwill.

Once at Michigan I was accosted 

with the clothing I was supposed 
to know and be impressed by: Pata-
gonia, Lululemon, Hunters, Tori 
Burch and much more. If I com-
ment on someone’s outfit, they tell 
me who designed it. I wasn’t used 
to the pride people had in their 

clothes. 
My 

friends 
in 

Michigan 
have 
worked 

at 
minimum-

wage jobs for 
months, 
sav-

ing up to buy 
that one special 
item. I respect 
that 
kind 
of 

delayed gratifi-
cation, even if I 

do not fully understand the appeal 
of the specific reward.

Instead of expensive clothing, 

shoes and watches, the people I 
know from California spend money 
on travels and experiences. Music 
festivals and exotic destinations are 
at the top of their and my wish lists. 
My friend has a saying: “I would 
rather travel in rags than stay at 
home in Versace.

Out-of-staters are known to have 

money — how else could we afford 
the $50,000 tuition costs? But mid-
dle class is a varied group of people. 
What is deemed important enough 
to save up for and what some-
thing is worth in dollars can be 
extremely diverse.

 
— Jesse Klein can be reached 

at jekle@umich.edu

Relative wealth

JESSE
KLEIN

My family’s household 

income is $250,000, 
but I promise you I’m 

middle class.

E-mail GabriElla at GabsmEy@umich.Edu
GABRIELLA MEYER

Don’t fear the reefer

I

n Michigan, we’ve become accustomed 
to walking into restaurants and stores — 
BTB aside — completely aware that the 

price advertised to us is six 
percent less than the actual 
cost of any item. At work, 
we’re subjected to hefty 
payroll and social security 
taxes (mostly at a net loss 
for us millennials), and soon 
many of us will be subject to 
health care taxes. On a broke 
college student’s budget, our 
monthly sales tax expendi-
ture could pay for a six pack 
(or two).

In May, voters in Michigan 

will decide whether to approve a one-percent 
sales tax increase in Michigan. This revenue 
could generate more than $5 billion in state 
revenue to be spent on our crumbling roads, an 
investment Michigan desperately needs. But as 
with most taxes, the sales tax’s negative effect 
on the poor is disproportionate. Before we start 
digging into the pockets of every living and 
breathing Michigander, we should consider 
tapping into the lucrative excise sin tax market.

Michigan already actively participates in sin 

taxation. Cigarettes in the Great Lakes state are 
among the priciest in the nation. A whopping $2 
is slapped onto every pack of cigarettes. Tough 
luck for smokers in Michigan, but not as bad as 
New York, where your Marlboro Menthols are 
taxed $4.35. Excise sin taxes like the cigarette 
tax also disproportionately affect Michigan’s 
lowest income residents, and yet they give us 
that warm and fuzzy feeling. Instead of pun-
ishing everyone, we’re taxing only those that 
choose to partake in activities that are seen as 
“harmful.” In 2011, Michigan brought in $2.3 
billion dollars of revenue from sin taxes. People 
love to smoke, drink and gamble, regardless of 
the legality, safety or cost. Illegal marijuana 
use, soon to be a $35-billion industry in the 
United States, is contributing nothing to Michi-
gan’s current state revenue.

Several counties in Michigan, Washtenaw 

included, have already relaxed penalties and 
even decriminalized the use of marijuana. Ann 
Arbor, widely regarded as Michigan’s coolest 
college town, has students celebrating Hash 
Bash every day of the year. University students 
can be caught bragging to their Spartan friends 
about avoiding pesky MIPs simply by walking 
across the street from their dorms before light-
ing up. In Ann Arbor, chances of getting caught 
are low, and if you’re of age, the penalty of being 
caught with marijuana is just a measly $25 fine.

The state of Michigan has already legal-

ized marijuana for medical use, and in 2010, 
Michigan generated $10 million in revenue 
from medical marijuana applications. Medi-
cal marijuana dispensaries are all over, fur-
ther proving a high demand for the stuff. 
Green Planet, open seven days per week, 
is conveniently located across the street 
from our very own Ross School of Busi-
ness. For now, don’t try to go in without 
your golden ticket: a medical marijuana card 
 

(approximately $100).

Ethics aside, there is clear demand for 

marijuana in Michigan, and for the most 
part, the supply levels are underestimated 
and under-taxed. Colorado’s recent legaliza-
tion of the recreational use of marijuana is 
a prime example of why voters in Michigan 
should follow suit. In 2012, voters in Colorado 
legalized the recreational use of marijuana, 
under the enactment of Colorado Amend-
ment 64. Under this law, adults over the age 
of 21 were legally granted the rights to grow 
six marijuana plants and possess up to one 
ounce of pot.

I asked my cousin Saul (his name has been 

changed for this column), Colorado native 
and an occasional marijuana enthusiast, 
how legalization had affected pot smoking 
 

in Denver.

“Now, instead of picking up from my guy, I 

go to a dispensary. It’s a little bit more expen-
sive, but not enough to change the amount 
I buy. About $4 more for one-eighth of an 
ounce ($44 versus $40). Since Denver is a big 
city, there are large dispensaries to buy it in 
bulk, and weed isn’t too expensive. In smaller 
mountain towns, weed is a lot more expen-
sive now than it was before.”

It’s clear that legalization has changed the 

way that people buy weed in Colorado.

If you stroll into a dispensary in Colorado, 

you don’t need a medical marijuana card, but 
you’re going to need your wallet. Marijuana 
sold for recreational use is slapped with a sin 
tax of almost 30 percent in Colorado, versus 
the 2.9-percent tax on marijuana purchased 
for medical reasons. While Saul’s demand for 
marijuana seems to be inelastic at the price 
level of $40 per one eighth-ounce, this is like-
ly not the case for those living outside Denver, 
or on a tighter budget.

As for life in Denver, “Nothing has really 

changed,”Saul said. “There are a lot of people 
moving out here, and since smoking publicly 
is still not legal (on a federal level), no one is 
getting too reckless. People are mostly just 
using it to enjoy outdoor activities.”

Stores in Colorado began selling recre-

ational pot in January 2014. At the end of 
2014, Colorado saw its tax revenues expand in 
a way that had previously been reserved for 
accountants’ dreams — $51 million in extra 
tax revenue from recreational use alone in 
2014, to be exact. Not the $5 billion Michi-
gan needs for our roads, but still a significant 
amount, and one which is expected to grow 
every year.

So maybe there’s a reason beyond lazi-

ness as to why stoners aren’t advocating 
and organizing more for pot legalization. 
According to the influence laws of supply 
and demand, marijuana use will actually 
decline if legalized in Michigan. Prices will 
go up, and Michigan will generate millions 
of dollars in tax revenue, which we could use 
toward investing in our roads. There’s really 
no reason for lawmakers or voters in Michi-
gan to fear marijuana legalization, unless of 
course, we’re worried that it will make pot 
too expensive.

— Lauren Richmond can be reached 

at lerichmo@umich.edu.

LAUREN
RICHMOND

You know that moment when you realize 

your sister gets away with sneaking out on 
a Saturday night while you are punished for 
the same actions? Your parents scold you 
for the same petty acts that your sister gets 
away with simply because you are the oldest 
— which naturally means that everyone pays 
attention to your actions more closely and 
that you are supposed to be a perfect role 
model for everyone else.

Believe it or not, the same applies 

 with Israel.

Now, imagine that you are Israel and Egypt 

is your little sister, who gets away from the 
scrutinizing media even though “she” carries 
out much harsher actions.

Egypt has recently begun working on 

the expansion of its Gaza buffer zone; it 
will now expand up to two kilometers in 
an effort to protect Egyptian citizens from 
terrorism within the Sinai Peninsula. With 
this expansion comes the displacement of 
hundreds of Gazan families in Rafah. These 
families were each given short notice before 
which they were to evacuate their homes in 
order to make room for this border expansion. 

It should be noted that Egyptian President 
Abdel-Fattah al-Sissi said that along with 
potentially building a new city, the families 
will receive some sort of compensation for 
their homes, yet the exact amount has yet to 
be decided.

Why the need for this expansion? The 

same reason for the Israeli-Gaza border: to 
help protect the Egyptians from terrorism 
stemming from Gaza. In this scenario, 
the Egyptians are facing a war against 
the fundamentalist Ansar Bayt al-Maqdis 
group — a new addition to the Islamic State. 
The Egyptian intelligence services had 
discovered that Sinai terrorists have been 
receiving weapons from the Gaza Strip to 
then use against Egyptians. In fact, a 1,200-
meter tunnel connecting Gaza with Sinai 
was discovered, through which smugglers 
have crossed; this tunnel was created by 
 

Hamas terrorists.

Egypt is trying to protect its citizens from 

the wave of terrorism across the Sinai, which 
has reportedly been fueled by Gaza. This is an 
effort that will subtly creep across the media 
unnoticed. However, when Israel tries to 

An unrelenting double standard

LINDSAY HURWITZ | VIEWPOINT

protect its citizens from the suicide 
bombings and war sprung upon 
them from Gaza, it’s scrutinized in 
the media for months. In fact, anti-
Israel activists both exaggerate 
the composure of the barrier by 
saying that it is entirely cement and 
claim that the barrier is proof that 
Israel is an apartheid state. Little 
recognition is given to the fact that 
this barrier is directly correlated 
with a decrease in suicide bombers 
who entered Israel, and that Israel 
is never the one to start rocket fire 
into Gaza.

Just as tunnels were found 

between Egypt and Gaza that 
were used for weapon smuggling, 
tunnels were found connecting 
Israel with Gaza – only these 
tunnels were used with the intent 
of abducting Israelis. Hamas had 
planned 
a 
massive 
murderous 

assault during which it would send 
200 fighters dressed as IDF soldiers 

into Israel to both capture and kill 
innocent Israelis. These tunnels 
were complete with a complex and 
intricate maze-like design through 
which hundreds of Gazans could 
freely and slyly enter Israel. These 
tunnels threatened the entirety of 
Israel’s security even more so than 
the rockets, as they added a means 
for several Gazan soldiers to enter 
into Israel in a surprise attack, 
murdering two IDF soldiers. Yet, 
when Israel began to destroy these 
tunnels and target the terrorists 
who entered the land with goals 
of demolishing Israelis, it was 
scrutinized in the media for its 
actions in Gaza. In fact, because 
Hamas hides among its people, 
innocent Gazan lives were lost 
during this time of the war.

Just as Egypt was protecting 

its people against the smuggling 
of weapons, so too Israel was 
protecting its people against the 

bombing and ground threats rooted 
in Gaza. The difference is that 
Israel is always the older sister: 
scorned for actions taken to defend 
itself even though other countries 
are doing the same. The measures 
that both countries have now taken 
should be appreciated for bearing 
the interests of the greater good 
of their nations. Yet Israel goes 
to great lengths to avoid harming 
innocent 
people 
and 
civilian 

lives — can the same be said for 
Egypt? The media needs to gain a 
little perspective.

It annoys every older sibling 

when they take the heat for matters 
their younger siblings get away 
with. Don’t let Israel take the fall 
for trying to protect its people 
when every other country is doing 
the same.

Lindsay Hurwitz is an 

LSA sophomore.

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