February 2022 – North Toronto Collegiate Institute

How did a lucky Buccaneers fan make thousands of dollars by attending a game?

by Cameron, Spencer & Nikola

At the Buccaneers vs. Bears game on October 24, 2021. Buccaneers quarterback Tom Brady threw his 600th touchdown to wide receiver Mike Evans. Unaware of the significance of this pass, Evans handed the ball to a fan in the front row of the end zone. This proved to be a major mistake, which was corrected by Buccaneer staff and Brady. Besides the significance to Brady, the ball is estimated to be worth around $500,000. In exchange for the ball, Tom Brady gave the fan two signed jerseys, a signed helmet, a signed Evans jersey plus his game cleats, a $1,000 store credit at the Buccaneers team store, season tickets for two years, and on top of that, a Bitcoin.

Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency that you can buy, sell, and trade, without an intermediary like a bank. The reason it is worth money is because we, as people, decide it’s value, similar to gold. Since it’s supply is limited to 21 million coins, and 18.8m have already been mined as of August 2021 (~90%), this creates a supply and demand issue. Given this lack of supply, many people expect it’s price to continue to grow as time goes on, especially as more big investors begin treating it as a digital gold to hedge against market volatility and inflation.

One Bitcoin is currently worth around $75,000 CAD, but that number could increase significantly. Over the past year, Bitcoin has increased by 200%, and since 6 years ago, a whopping 17,000%. Over the next 5 years, experts believe that Bitcoin will be worth around $320,000 CAD, roughly quadruple its current value. By 2030, a single coin is estimated to be worth $6,750,000.

Although Bitcoin has the potential to be worth an astronomical amount, it could also crash. It’s known to be a very volatile investment that has a track record of a lot of boom and bust cycles. As an example, between April and July, Bitcoin corrected more than 60%, and over the course of its 11-year existence, the coin has had 7 corrections greater than 50%. The repeated history of these negative turns prove that Bitcoin can make a turn for the worse at any time.

We asked Noah Yan which option he he would take in 10 years and he said “100% a Bitcoin. Although the football will probably be worth north of $1 million, I believe that because of the previous progress of bitcoin, it’s on track to be worth much more than the football.”

Although the risk of Bitcoin is high and the volatility surrounding it will be great, we believe that it will be worth more than Tom Brady’s 600th touchdown ball because of its successful past, and the predictions for the currency in the future.

Ever Wonder Why It’s So Hard To Get A PS5?

by Leora & Noah

The bot-buying of Playstation 5s has surged by 800%. This makes it near impossible for consumers to get their hands on a brand new PS5 at the retail price. The Ps5, one of, if not the most popular gaming systems, is not only popular to the average consumer and dedicated gamer, but it is also a hot item for scalping retail bots.

These nasty algorithms pick up popular items, like the Ps5 within milliseconds of them being released, giving the average customer no chance to get it for themselves. The correct terminology is called “scalping” and is over-inflating the market for video game consoles. Those involved with these bots, scalpers, utilize these bots to buy large quantities of popular items and resell them for double to triple the original price. Many people across social media voice their frustration with these bots.

Playstation tweets out, “It’s official: PS5 has sold 10 million consoles. Thank you!” To which the company was met with a fluster of negative comments. Complaints against scalpers took the announcement by storm. One user tweeted, “Unfortunately many of those were bought then sold for a higher price thanks to bots. I’m still trying to get one since it’s been released.”

The great demand for Ps5s, brings up another issue. “Could have been 50 million consoles if they were in stock. No chip shortage excuses. Make consoles now,” an angry twitter user wrote.

Ps5s utilize semiconductor microchips. Since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, the demand for products that use microchips, like laptops and gaming consoles, has gone up, due to everybody being trapped inside. The problem with this is the shortage of semiconductor microchips that began around the start of the pandemic. Public health restrictions slowed down or completely closed factories, substantially the production of microchips, and in turn, the Ps5 as well.

You win some and you lose some, and in this case, the retail bots prevailed, and the average consumer did not. The demand for the Ps5 kept going up and up, while the supply was taking a nosedive. As the holiday season approaches, to avoid disappointment, we suggest keeping your gifts less on the technological side.

Toronto Minimum Wage

by Ryder

The minimum wage is a topic that is frequently brought up in conversations because it’s what a lot of people have to live by, but is it enough? Today, We are going to look into the minimum wage in Toronto and see if it’s enough for all Ontarians.

On Tuesday, November 2nd, 2021, Ontario premier Doug Ford announced that the minimum wage will go from the previous $14.35 to $15.00 by the new year of 2022.“Workers deserve to have more money in their pockets,” said Ford. The Ontario government said they estimated that this would benefit around 760,000 people in the province, given that Ontario has a population of 13.6 million people, that’s about 5 to 6% of the total population.

Previously, Ford cancelled the raise in 2019 to $15 an hour in October of 2018 when the Progressive Conservatives took power from the Liberals. On Jan. 1, 2018, The minimum wage in Ontario increased from $11.60 to $14 an hour. If we calculate the difference from $11.60 to $15.00 three years later based on a 40 hour week, the yearly wage of a minimum wage worker would go up from around $24,000 to $31,200, which would be around 24% increase, but is it enough? During the interview, Doug Ford admitted that he thinks it’s still not enough, stating that“It’s a start”.

So is $15 a livable wage in Toronto? According to the Ontario Living Wage Network (OLWN), which calculates and adds up the food, shelter, clothing, transportation and other necessities, it costs $22.08 dollars to live in Toronto ( average for a single adult, single parent, and a family of four) and this list doesn’t even include things like home ownership, education savings, retirement savings, etc. Which will make the living wage far from the $15 minimum wage we will have.

Following these increases, it was also announced that the minimum wage will be increasing every October based on the inflation rate, which is now at an 18-year high and has quadrupled since early 2019.

During the hard times where gas, groceries and other basic necessities are skyrocketing in price and become unaffordable, is $15 really enough, if you ask my personal opinion, the answer is no, but this is a step in the right direction for our fellow Ontarians.