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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/08/08/baby-boomer-poll-aarp_n_1756781.html?utm_hp_ref=economy
ReplyDeleteThis article is an in-depth look at how bad our economy really is. Based on the polls released Wednesday, the majority of the baby boomers (ages 50-64) are not happy with their financial situation. 66% are expecting to delay their retirement due to insecurities about their social security because of our subpar economy. This is a great look into how the economy is affecting people of all ages, and how bad it truly is. The baby boomers are really looking for a presidential candidate who can share their plans for improving the economy in the near future. Social security used to be an efficient way to fund the elderly after they retired, but is looked at with severe anxiety now. The article ends with a statement that really captures the severity of our economy by saying “Half of Americans die broke.”
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/german-economy-minister-rejects-call-to-give-greece-more-time-to-implement-reforms/2012/08/26/d9c77240-ef6a-11e1-b74c-84ed55e0300b_story.html]
ReplyDeleteIn the past couple years or so, Greece’s economy has started a spiral downwards. It has been borrowing money from other countries trying to buy time. On August 22, 2012 the Germans held a weekly economy cabinet meeting. They discussed the bailout program they have for Greece. Greece’s prime minister told Germany that his country needed “time to breathe” before making budget cuts and demanded reforms as part of its €240 billion bailout package. But Germany decided that the time Greece had asked for was, by the words of German Economy Minister Phillip Roesler, “not doable.” The debt crisis continues now for Greece just like many other countries in the Eurozone. As for right now there is a forecast of ominous skies for Greece’s economy.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/gordonchang/2012/08/26/omg-chinas-manufacturing-is-crashing/
ReplyDeleteNew statistics just released for august show a shocking drop in China’s economy. This goes against Chinas reputation as the mother ship of manufacturing goods. The HSBC Flash Purchasing Managers’ Index for August fell again for the 10th month in a roll, descanting to 47.8. This was a very big surprise to many economists. This shows that China’s Premier Wen Jiabao’s stimulus package didn’t go according to plan. Not only is China’s manufacturing declining but they already have surplus inventory. It does not help China’s manufactures if they produce goods if other countries do not need or want to import them.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/08/22/news/economy/middle-class-pew/index.html?iid=SF_E_River
ReplyDeleteIn this article we see how the middle class is struggling to survive and is starting to shrink. According to the Pew Research Center " America's middle class has endured its worst decade in modern history." The middle class in America is the one that has been more impacted these year with the economy decline. The wealth of the middle class is deteriorating. The middle class also had to face the decline of the median income. The report showed that there was a decline to roughly $70,000 in 2010 from about $73,000 in 2001. But even though the middle class is shrinking there is more diversity.In 2011 51% of the population was middle class unlike in 1971 61% was middle class.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-24/u-s-stocks-snap-six-week-rally-amid-europe-concern.html
ReplyDeleteThe article I read was about how the stocks are dropping around the world, and how the economic slowdown of America and Europe are affecting each other. It spoke of how Europe’s economy can only grow if America’s begins to get better. The Dow Jones Average dropped 117.23 points, or 0.9 percent, to 13,157.97. While Apple Inc. set a U.S. market value record at rising 2.3 percent. Experts say that Europe’s economy needs, first and foremost, America’s economy to grow. Other experts say that what America needs is a stimulus. Though the housing market is growing, consumers are not buying U.S. Capital Goods, causing a factory slowdown. Technology companies are taking the biggest hit in the stocks, together creating a decline of 0.6 percent. Big Lots dropped twenty one percent. This has scared many major companies, forcing them to reconsider their business model. The article ends stating that not all hope is lost for America’s economy, therefore not all hope is lost for Europe’s economy.
A check-plus comment (double credit). Well done!
Deletehttp://www.moneynews.com/Elias/Gold-Standard-monetary-republican/2012/08/24/id/449617?promo_code=F46F-1&utm_source=foxBusiness&utm_medium=nmwidget&utm_campaign=widgetphase2
ReplyDeleteThis article is focusing on an issue that has been debated for decades: a possible return to the gold standard and a more dependable monetary standard. This concept has been toyed with in many presidential platforms, specifically Republican platforms of 1980 and 1984, but is now being seriously considered in the 2012 Republican platform. “The US House of Representatives passed the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2012, in bipartisan spirit, 327-98,” which leads many to believe that reestablishing the link between commodities and the US dollar will “provide essential capital reserves for a stable currency regime.” Reserves could be up to 30 percent the nominal currency value, and it would protect citizens from hyperinflation as well as other abuses of monetary policy. However, commodity money can be difficult to store and transport. Silver is also being considered as substitute to the current fiat currency.
http://www.businessinsider.com/laid-off-us-workers-take-pay-cuts-at-new-jobs-2012-8
ReplyDeleteTheir jobs back in 2009 through 2011, one-third of them got a pay cut of 20 percent. Only 15 percent of those This article shows how bad the job market has become .Out of the 56 percent of Americans who got workers got equal pay to what they had before. The labor department said on Friday that in this economic crisis the manufacturing and mining companies have had some of the strongest job gains, but hiring is still below average. This statement shows how weak the job market is after the recession officially ended in June of 2009, and how slowly we are coming back.
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/28/business/global/philippine-economy-set-to-become-asias-newest-bright-spot.html?pagewanted=all
ReplyDeleteNormally when people think of robust economies in Asia, China is the country that comes to mind. Recently, however, economists are predicting the Philippines to become a new contender.
With thanks to its high population growth rate and contributions from Filipinos overseas, the Philippines is sitting comfortably. Although it is only the 112th largest country at the moment, according to HSBC estimates, if it stays on track, it should be in the 16th spot by 2050.
As Catholics, it is interesting to see that although many make the Philippine's strict laws prohibiting birth control and abortion (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15822637), these laws may in fact have led to the fruition of the economy of the Philippines.
Another surprising comparison between the Philippines and other Asian countries is that outsourcing jobs only make up about 1% of jobs. Both its ability to create more outsourcing jobs and to harvest their estimated 21.5 billion tons of metal deposits could lead to both short-term and long term prosperity. Outsourcing could cure the current poverty numbers and the natural resources could set the Philippines up comfortably for the long-term.
China, and even the United States, could learn from the Philippines.
“If you gave me $100 billion and said, ‘Take away the soft-drink leadership of Coca-Cola in the world,’ I’d give it back to you and say it can’t be done.” Warren Buffet’s confidence in the product is well-grounded; Coke is currently sold in every country on earth, with the exceptions of Cuba and North Korea. Buffet has expressed his assurance in Coke’s financial stability by highly investing in the drink, even though he has “lightened up” on products like Kraft Foods (which owns many popular foods, such as macaroni-and-cheese and Oreos). Coca-Cola’s profit margin is 18.49% and dividend yield is 2.6% -- numbers not expected to shrink in the future, as the middle class is expected to spend $30 trillion by 2025.
ReplyDeletehttp://emergingmoney.com/stocks/coke-consumer-ko-kft/
In this article, Americans Having Fewer Babies Crimp on Economy, Steve Mathews explains how the recent decline in number of children couples are having is slowly putting a strain on the economy. He gives examples on how several individuals have chosen to forgo having several children or even any at all for several reasons, including expenses. The national birth rate and immigration rate are decreasing rapidly; we are now at the smallest population gain since the mid 1940’s. This hurts the economy by lessening consumer spending; one consequence of this may be “Risk Aversion”. Companies for pregnancy tests, and other common baby related items have been suffering greatly within the past decade as the birth rate has plummeted. It leaves us to wonder what the true reason behind this downfall in births is really caused by, and how will this population decrease affect our economy in years to come.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.bloomberg.com/news/2012-08-21/americans-having-fewer-babies-crimping-consumer-spending.html
http://www.economist.com/blogs/gametheory/2012/06/golf-tournaments
ReplyDeleteThe article that i reviewed attempted to prove the economic worth of hosting sports events, specifically golf tournaments. The author used three clear and distinct reasons. The first was that companies which sponsored the tournament get "global brand exposer." This is a common marketing technique that companies use to help one another. The company that sponsors the tournament gets thousands of people to view their product at the event, not to mention the other thousands viewing from home. The second reason to host a golf tournament is that it stimulates the local economy. The fans that come to watch automatically spend money on renting hotels and buying food from local restaurants. For example, in Connecticut, the golf tournament had an "economic impact" of 135 million, since 2007. Finally, the tournaments generate money for charity. All PGA tournaments are organized as charities. Stats show that in the last decade there has been over 1 billion dollars raised for charity.
The article ends with a brief comparison between a golf tournament and the Olympics. The author states that there is not much necessary construction because the golf courses already pre-exist. The Olympics also draw and overwhelming amount of people, which is very difficult for small local businesses to cope with.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.reuters.com/article/2012/08/27/us-spain-gdp-revision-idUSBRE87Q0HB20120827
In this article it states that Spain’s economy did worse than they thought they would in 2010 and 2011. The economy is already in a recession and this recent finding did not help at all. The economy shrank 0.3 percent in 2010 and it only grew 0.4 percent last year. Spain is now trying to make deals with its euro zone partners on how they would be able to help Spain during this financial crisis even though the country has not made a final decision to request a financial bailout. Madrid has agreed on a European rescue package worth $125.17 billion to help its banks.
http://www.dailyfinance.com/2012/03/06/gms-not-unplugging-the-chevy-volt-but-its-low-on-juice/
ReplyDeleteThe article I have chosen to write on focuses on the industry that arguable embodies this economic decline the best; the American automobile industry. American car companies have been the poster child, if you will, of not only America’s economic woes but also our inability to climb out these hard times. The underwriting of American car companies have been occurring in this country since before President Obama even took office, and continues to this day. Essentially now, the average American tax payer owns large of General Motors. This is because tax dollars were used to fund this automotive “bailout.” But this article raises the question of whether or not our money is being efficiently used or not. For the second time this year, GM has suspended their production of their so called poster car, the Chevy Volt. The pricey forty-thousand dollar car has been promoted as one of their huge up and coming products, but has been placed on hold at least once in the past year. This begs the question as to if our tax dollars really are being used efficiently within the automotive industry.
http://www.npr.org/2012/08/21/159466378/cuba-views-china-vietnam-as-economic-hope
ReplyDeleteCuba's socialist ideals have been getting in the way of their economy. Since April of 1961 when Cuban President Fidel Castro first declared the country socialist, the government has been working to regulate all parts of the economy. The Marx ideology believes that everyone should be equal and work together in all things. This includes sharing all the wealth evenly. Cuba’s government has been grasping control over everything from, ice-cream carts to birthday party clowns, and requiring government licensing of all occupations. This abandonment of free market principles is not working out as well as many people had hoped it would. The Cuban government currently only recognizes 181 occupations, scientist, computer programers, and many engineers are not included in this list and if you’re not on the list you can’t have that job. As a result on the narrow field of occupations and strict regulations Cuba is falling behind in technology, making it harder for them to keep up with the global market. This coupled with their hostile trade relation with the States makes their international trade nearly non-existent. Many Cubans feel that until they must imitate the less regulated economic system of other Socialist or continue to fall behind.
http://www.forbes.com/sites/rickungar/2012/08/26/it-may-not-be-the-economy-stupid-americans-might-favor-social-issues-over-their-pocketbooks/
ReplyDeleteThe article that I read on this website concludes that Americans are not voting to get money into their pocketbooks. They are voting over social issues that each presidential candidate has to offer. The people choose their political party and stick with it till the end even if it means not repairing the economy. The people seem to be confused at a certain point as to who to choose for president. What helps them define their choice is where the candidate stands on social issues and not on what each candidate has to offer for the economy.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/09/04/news/economy/ism-manufacturing/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead
ReplyDeleteThe U.S manufacturing activity has slumped again in August. It has now been 3 months that the manufacturing activity contracts. Even though there has been a contraction in manufacturing there has been a growth in hiring (employment).The employment index show that is slipped to 51.6% in August from 52% the month before. It still showed expansion. The U.S is not the only country facing manufacturing activity decline, Chinese manufacture has shown weakness in their Chinese factories.
http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2012/09/10/iphone-5-sales-could-offer-big-boost-to-gdp/
ReplyDeleteThe iPhone 5 which is to be released sometime this week is said to raze the economy by quarter and half a percentage point in the fourth quarter. Apple is predicting to sell 8 million phones in the last three months of the year, this is a high perdition but with last year’s sales of the iPhone 4 S this is said to be a reasonable prediction. If they are able to sell the 8 million, then $400 per phone would figure into the government’s measure of GDP. This would boost GDP by 3.2 billion that is an increase of 0.33 percent. With the higher oil prices and the drought which is hurting the US right now. With the launch of the iPhone 5, the economy will be moving in the right direction
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