Black Friday.

We all know that Black Friday is one of the biggest days of the if you're trying to catch a great sale. Stores lower there prices, so that consumers come rushing in to buy as much as they can for the best deal. Some stores are put a limit on how much customers could buy (which was madness, "first come, first serve!!"). They limited customers so that others could buy, or get a chance to buy, the items that they wanted. This probably po-d a majority of the customers, but some probably just went back into the madness again. This year, some stores opened up to the public earlier than others so that they would be the first to attract all of the consumers. This caused an upset from the other stores that followed the unwritten law. This violation of the unwritten law has made room for a possible riot. With the inconvenience to the customers who have to be at the stores earlier and earlier to get the best deals and to the workers, who have to follw the rules of the big business men. This may leaed to an "Occupy My Job". Black Friday is also a day where many customers buy Christmas presents, which all stores encourage. Because they want customers to buy everything out before the holidays come, stores encourage customers to buy as much as they can. With all the madness of Black Friday, I prefer to wait for Cyber Monday.

"Breaking Bank"

With the upcoming release of breaking dawn, it will be expected that it instantly go straight to the number 1 movie spot of the box office. It will definately peak over the $100 million mark. The twi-hard fans will go absolutely crazy spendin their money on the merchandise.and the tickets. Theatres will be packed and some fans might even see the movie twice.  Theatres will definately be affected by the crazed fans because the fans that had been waiting for hours will hungry and they will buy lots of popcorn and drinks. Also, the most desperate twilight fans will or wouldve camped at the premiere just to get a glimpse, autograph or autograph of the stars. Some people  that are lucky enough to get autographs, might even sell them for big bucks. Then they'd use the money to go buy something.
Basically what I'm getting at is that Twilight is going to help the economy with all of the spending that will be going on. The tickets, merchandise, and food that will be sold will help out the Thearres and everyone.

Online high school education

Today, we have minors in college that don't even see one classroom physically to get their degree. Instead, more and more people are switching to online classes accessed by their computers and desktops, even phones! More classrooms that are usually are full get slowly smaller every year, and more teachers are getting let back...decreasing jobs at a big rate,especially in the teacher/school staff area. And this soon decreases production in the campus and the demand for new buildings and campus production. therefore: Jobs lost, dollars lost, and the only way to really fix the problem would to be increasing the price of the online classes.

What is the Point of College?

The Big College Scam? For all us seniors busily filling out college applications, waiting to see which fine institution of higher learning will accept us, the future may not be as bright as we think. According to Mr. Kelly’s article, we are all buying into the myth that a college degree will assure us a brilliant career. This, however, is not the case. Apparently what the majority of college graduates can look forward to will be large debt loans and minimal job opportunities. Tuition and fee costs at most colleges and universities have far outpaced the median family income in recent years and continue to do so. In turn, students are amassing loan debts that currently are at levels of more than $1 trillion dollars. Perhaps the debt is climbing higher because students are taking longer to finish degree programs, thus incurring a higher debt load. Graduates are having difficulty in retaining gainful employment. Who is to blame? According to the article, the blame needs to fall on the entire education system. It seems that as the amount of money spent per student continues to rise, the educational level of the average high school and college graduate continues to fall. An additional trigger to the rising cost of education is, of course, governmental “help”. As with all areas touched by government interference, there has been an increase in the red tape which students must navigate. Since the cost of college tuition cannot continue to outpace family income, the government wants to step in and “bail” the student loan industry. Does shifting the burden from the student to the taxpayer without overhauling the system make any sense?

Money For Education

People always say that money can't buy anything, but we know that we can't do much without money. Gas, food, cell phones, and all kinds of bills we have to pay months and months. But I think one of the most expensive things is education. Average Americans earn $42,000 a year if they have a job, but tuition for a lot of colleges passed $50,000. So unless students got scholarships, it is really difficult for a student from an average family to go to college.

What can students do?Borrowing money from colleges becomes one of the ways to solve the problem. We all know it is hard to find a job in this economy for everyone. For most inexperienced college students, finding a job is even harder. How are they going to pay those loans without jobs?

Education is so expensive, what can we do to help students?

North Dakota: THE BOOMING BOOMTOWN!

Are you looking for wide open spaces, starry nights, and long cold winters? Then North Dakota may be the place for you. Along with all the stereotypical pictures that come to mind about North Dakota, the least obvious would be an environment rich in jobs. But, that is exactly the case and, up to now, a well kept secret. As the nation overall is currently experiencing the highest unemployment rates, in our recent history , North Dakota has the lowest rate at just 1.5% along with a large inventory of jobs needing to be filled. The major employers are in the oil industry fueled by the enormous oil supply provided by the Bakken oil formation. Employers are willing to offer salaries ranging the 6 figure area for people with little experience and there is no need for a college education just to fill existing vacancies. But, the demand for workers far exceeds the supply. The oil boom has caused a need for employees in not only the oil industry but in all other areas. Oil workers will need places to live, eat, and shop , and there is definitely a shortage of all. But job seekers beware! Along with high paychecks, be prepared for long hours, a housing shortage, extreme winter conditions , and high prices. And, the secret is out. Just recently, one of the new “primetime” magazine television programs showcased the city of Williston, N.D. and its booming economy.

Pretty Nails!

Girls like to do their nails, so some of them go get their nails done regularly . There are a lot of Nail Salons in the US, but they are kind of expensive. But why do people still go ? I think one of the reasons is that when girls get pretty nails, those nails can make them really happy and feel satisfied. Also, for girls who don't go to Nail Salons but still love to have pretty nails, they can go get nail polish and do nails themselves. Some girls even have huge collections of nail polish. There are all different kinds of brands for Nail Polish, so girls can always find cheaper substitutions. So satisfaction helps economy move, when consumers feel satisfied whenever they bought something from a store, they will probably go back to that store again or tell theirs friends to go. In today's economy , if the government only think about how to improve the economy but not how to increase the desire of consumers, it will be kinda hard to help the economy.

Not exactly the broken window fallacy.

So throughout the first semester of school, I have dropped my Ipad several times, it has hit desk legs, tumbled down stairs, landed on concrete and has been hit by a fist fuelled by 170 pounds of force and a D is Spanish. Though the amazement of it still working amuses me, I would love a screen that would NOT be cracked/shattered to improve the awesomeness of the device. So I call up Apple to see how much it would be to repair a cracked screen, and Apple (after a set appointment) will usually do a repair for $150. Why the triple digit price? Apple designed the screen and the base of the tablet to be connected together, making it even more a pain to replace not just the screen but the super nice aluminum case holding all the goodness together too.

This brings up a question: did Apple design the Ipad like that because they knew that the screens would crack eventually and would need to repair them? The benefit of this would mean more jobs, and income increase in Apple's repair branch. The disadvantage is that I need a job and two paychecks at least to repair my Ipad screen; if the screen was a separate part, then the repair would be a easy trip to Target and $10. One day...

The Texas Rangers and the World Series

As we all know, Texas Ranger fever is at an all time high due to the local team being in the World Series. This brings out-of-towners in to support their team, which leads to increased activity in the host city. Along with headaches, like increased population and traffic, it appears that the temporary inconveniences are a necessary evil in order to reap economic benefits. The economic windfall is not limited to baseball, but the effect is felt throughout the sports world whenever you have a team that commands national, if not worldwide, attention. At times, the cost of supporting the team by providing first class facilities falls on the city’s population, as has been the case in Arlington. Arlington has contributed to the building of both The Ballpark and the new Cowboy stadium in the form of an additional sales tax percentage, but the city has seen an increase in consumer spending. A recent tourism study shows that visitor spending continues to rise in Arlington in spite of the current national economic climate. The rest of the nation has not been as fortunate. The Ranger’s current success and the high profile Dallas Cowboys have put the city in the national spotlight. The city’s revenues have continued to climb, and Arlington is in an enviable position of having a budget surplus when other cities are struggling. Visitors sent approximately $593 million in the city last year, sales tax revenue jumped 34% in a five year time span, and tourism is the only industry seeing job growth. For a city that was lagging behind economically only ten years ago, the future seems to be much brighter. Being seen as a major player when it comes to financial capabilities only encourages more development and thus a promise of economic stability. And, while other cities may not have enjoyed the revitalization, it is clear that Arlington has benefited greatly from having such great sport venues within its city limits.

Senior Citizens

I'm sure you have seen grandmas and grandpas work at Wal-mart, but why don't they relax at home? After working 40,50 years who doesn't want to enjoy the life with the money he or she owns? But since everything is getting more and more expensive, people just have to work longer to live. And those baby boomers ,who were born between 1946 and 1964, are now officially senior citizens. What will government do with them?Will the government give them enough medicare and insurance?

People don't want to retire even when they can. Unemployment is still high, and college students who are graduated can hardly find jobs. We know that spending is the driving force for economy, but now spending is not easy for most of the people. will government give more benefits to people who retired and senior citizens? So they don't have to work when they can enjoy the life?If they don't have to work, will companies need more workers? So more people get jobs?

The Gluten free world.

Gluten: a protein found in wheat that makes its grains bigger, and faster to grow, cheap and cruddy as the government has always done it. At first, the gluten protein was a genetic idea that people thought would change how fast we could produce primarily wheat and dairy items...and it did work, however after a while, the disease we know today as "Celiac disease" was born.

It started off as a minor and rare disease that no one really cared about or worried about, today 1 in 1000 people have the disease and every generation gets a higher ratio of people infected with it. What it does is that the "hairs" in your gut that get the major nutrients for your body from food, are supposed to be up and going everywhere to get the stuff needed to fulfill your bodies needs. If you are diagnosed with Celiac disease, your "hairs" are flat because of cross-fire between gluten and your immune system.

The solution: go gluten free, however the times we live in do not accept the transition from a bacon-cheese fries to an all natural, un-touched fruit salad. However as more people get infected, the food stores turn to healthier( and yet still tastier solutions. The hard part is when people figure out how bad this is in the long run, ( shorter life, increased cancer chances, long-term health problems,immune system failure.) We will end up wanting the food industry to throw away gluten and stick to natural growth, even tho it will have to include a period of very high food prices. I am personally diagnosed with it and i do agree if everyone ate what I normally eat, allot of health problems would be solved and taken care of.

Gadhafi's death and the price of gas

We all know that the price of gas is based on future expectation. If the future doesnt look to bright for gas then the price will increase. If it seems as though the future of gas looks good, the price will go down and the people will go crazy. But since February of 2011 gas has been damaging towards our wallets when it rose to $3.98. That was the highest it had ever been since 2008. The price rose so high due to protests in Benghazi, just like the protests that were in Libya. Another factor that affects the price of gas is which countries produce the most gas and distribute it throughout the world. When the couontries that distribute the gas protest, that puts a hault on the selling of gas and causes the price to go up. When Libya protested, it ocurred over a period of months and that caused nations to use 60 million emergency barrels of gas(half of which came from the US). Now that Gadhafi is dead and Libya isnt protesting as hard as they were, hopefully the price of gas will slowly decrease as Libya reluctantly lowers the price of oil on the international market. Since Gadhafi is dead this also allows other countries to distribute there oil and profit, helping everyone out and especially the economy.

What Has Technology Done to Us?

Are we, as a nation, contributing to the jobless crisis by wanting more and more convenience? In the quest for instant service, technology is becoming an essential part of our lives. We don’t want to stand in line at the grocery store, the bank, the gas station or just about anywhere else. We have lost the customer service attitude of the older generation because we are willing to do everything ourselves in order to get it done quickly. In response, the internet and technological improvements have made applications available for our use. We can now book our own trips, including airline and hotel, online without the use of a travel agent. There goes a few travel agent jobs! We have self checkout lines available in most grocery stores. There goes a few grocery store jobs! We can do all our banking, shopping, etc. online without actually having to step into a “bricks and mortar” location. How many jobs are lost in those industries? As the article states, in the past there was the need for actual workers to run and maintain “technology” from that era. Now, with tremendous advances in technology that does not require “manned” attention, the demand for workers is in decline. The global impact of the internet, smart phones, and wireless technology allows companies to service an increasing customer base, without having to boost employment. Research shows that retailers worldwide spend more capital on technology, and thus are able to reduce their workforce further. Technology has outpaced the need for workers and the jobless recovery will be slowed down. So, since technology reduces the number of workers needed to produce the same quantities of goods and services, the economy must grow at an even greater rate in order to create new jobs. And, with the economic slump the U.S. is currently experiencing, the outlook on reducing the jobless rate looks gloomy.

Are You Wearing Converse Today?

We all need different types of shoes, for running, casual , and formal. But for some people Converse shoe can be wore for casual and formal. So a lot people love Converse. Converse this company has been with us for a long time, and Converse shoes are always popular among young people. At First Converse were made for athletes and famous people, but more and more people like Converse. So if the companies can let more famous people wear their product, there might be more consumer interested in buying them. Because Converse has all different colors, everyone can find a color for he/she. Some people even try to get all shoes with different colors. There is also a website that you can do a test and it tells which color is your special converse color. Converse also have really high quality shoes, so people can wear them for a really long time. Converse companies also have all types of shoe laces for different people, those little details can always make consumers pay more attention. Letting consumers know the companies always have new ideas can make more consumers spending money with them.

Vouchers and Taxes

School Vouchers: Money the government gives you to send your child to a school of your choice, public or private. In states that don't have a voucher system, like Texas, parents who send their kids to private school have to pay twice - the property tax that pays for the public schools, and tuition for the private school they choose their kids to attend. Because of this double expense, the majority of students that attend private schools are usually from families that are well off.

Because of this truth, ninety percent of all students go to public school because they have no choice; voucher systems promise to change this by giving a voucher to parents who can then use the voucher to send their kids to the school of their choice, money is no longer the deciding factor.

Vouchers also cause the public schools to become more competitive, because they will be rewarded by parents who recognize high performing schools. Vouchers also give the economy a boost because the money is given to the parents that spend it locally with the school instead of giving it to the bureaucrats in some central government office that just stacks the red tape.

The Jobs Bill

Considering all the very public battles in the press between conservatives and liberals, it is no surprise that the President’s proposed jobs bill did not pass the Senate vote. It failed to garner the required majority of 60 votes to move forward on the measure. A major component of the bill that was not supported by both parties was the provision to extend unemployment benefits for the nation’s unemployed masses, some of whom have been without work for as long as 40.5 weeks. The provision would have extended unemployment benefits for an additional year, with the average person being able to collect a total of 99 weeks split between state and federal level. But now with the failed measure comes the reality that more than 6 million Americans are going to lose their benefit in 2012. Proponents of the extension argue that cutting the benefit will have a negative impact on the economy, since those collecting the funds are usually the ones that spend the money immediately. With no money coming to the jobless, the unemployment funds will be removed from the domestic economy. Opponents, on the other hand, argue that continually extending unemployment benefits discourages the jobless from actively seeking gainful employment and choosing to remain on the government “payroll”. The local thought is that while the President’s bill failed as a whole, the unemployment benefit extension may be submitted for passage as a separate measure. That would reduce the cost from the $447 billion price tag of the entire bill to a more palatable one of “only” $44 billion. Perhaps if the bill includes major provisions for actually getting the jobless back to work, then both parties would agree. I would think that the view of the situation depends on which side of the fence you are on…are you gainfully employed or are you relying on the unemployment check to pay your bills? I am sure that there are jobs available to some that choose to draw unemployment. As always, in my opinion, programs that are intended to provide help to those who need temporary assistance can and are abused. And, while the nation’s businesses continue to deal with the current economic and political climate, unemployment may continue at our current rate of 9.1%.

How Many More Jobs Do We Need?

Economy adds 103000 jobs, but it's not enough. High unemployment percentage is one of the biggest problems in our economy now, and economy keeps adding new jobs for people, but the percentage just won't go down. Having people spend money in economy will help the everything, so why can't we just ask people spend money on instead of saving? Because most of the people spend all their money on their children's school tuition , transportation ,and housing bills, and people are already really stressed about how much bills they need to pay. College tuition is higher and higher each year, where can we get money if we don't save the money? The gas is inelastic demand, people need it everyday,if we don't save money how can we pay for gases? We also have houses, we need to pay for the water, electric, insurance bills ,if we don't save money how are we going to live in the houses?It's not easy to let people spend money when they have to face all those problems. Just adding new jobs for unemployment isn't enough because the population is growing really fast.

The war of cars.

Yesterday I was driving in my "car" and drove up to a huge bug that took up a whole lane and looked like it was eating a person that was half consumed. Come to find out it was a Nissan Leaf, a 100% electric car...it got me wondering what was is more successful: the electric car corporations or the car corporations that are making their cars more gas efficient?

Well lets take a look at the two cars that have money saving consumers eye-balling: for the gas efficient cars: The Chevy Volt, that gets 407 miles on a full charge of battery and gas...looking at the pumps right now its at $3.09 per gallon, and on a 9.3 gallon tank, your looking at a $28.74 a fill up...pretty impressive.

As for the electric side, their is the Nissan leaf, approx. 100 miles on a single 24 hour charge. for a first electric car on the road, not too shaby.

What it all comes down to is what the consumers want: people that don't want to worry about running out of gas any time soon (and kick butt acceleration of 0-60 in 8.5 seconds ) or something to get them from one place to another in a 25-50 mile radius and forgeting what gas was...in either case, people will be turning their money away from oil/gas makers and will be relying on the power companies, so the consumer is happy, the electric company is happy, the oil makers aren't as happy, but still thankfuly they will remain in buisness. Untill I get money, I will be sticking to my trusty Lancer.

The Iphone4s

Unless you live under a rock or you don't believe in using technology, then you've heard about the passing of Steve Jobs. Steve Jobs revolutionized technology and the direction in which it is headed. He created the ipod, the iPhone, and the ipad's. Without Jobs, the Apple corporation was on the brink of filing for bankruptcy. Soon as h came back to Apple, the company started to progress in the right direction.
Before his passing, the much anticipated "IPhone4s" was unveiled. The new IPhone was already going to be a success, but the death of its creator spiked its demand.
It is expected that the lines for the IPhone4s will  be long, now the lines are expected to be even longer. After the passing of Michael Jackson his albums and songs became a gold mine for fans that wanted to buy tokens of appreciation/remembrance of the pop king. Now the same can be said for Steve Jobs. Its anticipated that fans will pack the Apple stores to be the first to have an IPhone4s. This prediction means that there will be an increase of demand for the new IPhone. This doesn't necessarily mean the price will increase but this could effect other brands of phones such as androids. Not only is the IPhone4s going to be highly demanded but is going to be available for different networks, like AT&T, Verizon, and Sprint. Branching out to other notworks means that the number of consumers will increase. Being available for different  networks means that other phone brands will probably have a sudden decrease after October 14.
Steve Jobs revolutionized the world of technology and opened doors that were once un-thought of by mind. He has outranked other companies for years but yet he always stayed ahead of the competition. Steve Jobs will be greatly missed and yet he is still present with Apple. Apple will continue to take over the world  and change the world as we now it.

Wasted Time!

The average American worker wastes two hours a day. And, believe it or not, I’m not talking about lunch time. Apparently the two hour timeframe is in addition to the employee’s allowed “lunch time” so potentially we are looking at three hours for which the employer receives no benefit. Accordingly, if you add up all the wasted hours, just the average two per employee, it is costing American employers around $759 billion dollars on wasted salaries. Now, employers do build in an expected allowance for employee “distraction” of about one hour and take it into consideration when structuring salaries. However, they obviously underestimated the average employee since it seems that the actual amount should be double. In a recent survey, surfing the internet and socializing with co-workers came up on top as the major culprits. Missouri takes the top honors as the most “employee distracted” state with employees in the insurance industry coming in first place. I find it interesting that the survey also showed that when you were born has an impact on your productiveness on the job. The older generation appears to be the most job conscience with the least amount of wasted time. The ratio of wasted time to age increases as the employees’ age decreases. Since the survey only accounts for those born up to 1985 and currently in their mid to late twenties it would be interesting to see what the same survey would reveal if done in a few years time when my generation is an integral part of the workforce. Will we be spending more time wasting the employer’s money or will the current economic times force us to keep our nose to the grindstone in order to preserve a job. I’d like to think that, as the article states, my generation’s wasted time will be “creative” in nature and will have a positive impact on our future employers’ bottom line.

Chinese food for American!

You can find an Asian restaurant everywhere you go. But do you think the Chinese dishes here are the same Chinese dishes in China? NO,not really! Because restaurants have to think about what people can eat, how would they like to try the different without being scared. Different countries can have a lot in difference. Its just like KFC,McDonal's, or Pizza Hut is so much different in China, they are American food,but they more like Asian American food,so everyone can try. Consumers can have influenced economy greatly, giving what consumers want can increase the demand for good and services. We know how important consumers are for our economy. Satisfying consumers is what the companies want to be successful. So before opening a store, knowing what the consumers want is important.

Where's my car?

$47,000: With this amount of money I could attend Rice University for a year, and replace my "car" with a Mustang Mach 1. Really, it's what every person in the United States owes the government right now. I, you and our children will deal with paying out this mess America is (shamefully) known for. Not only are we effected severely, but the whole planet pays the price. It cannot be good that for every dollar we spend, 40 cents is borrowed. This makes our title and reputation as "economic capital of the world" less appropriate every day. As I close this blog, the USA debt was $14,802,967,860,015.41; it has raised $38,245,284.11 in the 30 minutes it took to write this. Let's retire Keynes. I need a car.

Minimum Wage gets a raise! (possibly)

In an economy where some people are living paycheck to paycheck, people don't spend very much because they're make minimum wage. There’s a demand for more jobs, but there’s also a demand to better the economy. The Government wants people to spend more money so that it’ll boost the economy, but for those with families and  living on a low income, spending money is just out of the question. The only way for the economy to get the boost it needs is to raise minimum wage so that the lower class economy will spend more. Also raising minimum wage will help the poverty rate decrease. Raising minimum wage might cause a disturbance with some owners but there's no need to worry. Some owners might not hire more people to make up for the raised paychecks but a study done by Alan Krueger proves that raising minimum wage had no effect on the business itself. 
So this means that the Government might make businesses' raise minimum to help fix the economy.
(If they do decide to raise worker's paycheck, they should start with raising teacher's salaries!)

Falling Oil Prices

Oil prices are continuing to fall to their lowest amounts in recent months and consumers are beginning to feel relief at the pump. Although, viewing the current prices from a historical perspective, the price of gasoline is still quite high. The lower gas prices means more money in the consumer’s pockets and, in turn, more income available to spend on other products. Gasoline prices usually follow the reduction in oil prices and recently, the national average has fallen to $3.56. The trend is expected to continue with an additional .09 in the next few weeks. Economists state that for every $1 decline in oil price, the average American consumer has an additional $3 billion to spend, save or pay down debt. Does more spending lead to a rise in the economic outlook? You would think so; however, sometimes low gas prices are linked to a weakening in the economy and should not be seen as a positive indicator of an economic recovery. As a matter of fact, experts attribute the recent drop in oil prices to several factors that include the political climate in Washington, the S$P downgrade and the debt crisis in Europe. As these factors continue without resolution, oil traders expect the demand for oil and gasoline to fall. The declines we are currently experiencing are an indication of trouble ahead and could be a sign of a pretty sick economy. Lower oil and gas prices are an automatic response to the prospect of worse times and paint a bleak economic outlook. If the trend continues, uncertainty will prevail within the American public, which will flow over into the business sector. It becomes a vicious circle: businesses will cease hiring, consumers will cease buying products, investors will cease investing in stocks, and the economy will slow down even further. As the article aptly states, “…be careful what you wish for.”

Making Own Make-ups?

Makeups are like clothes to some people, they will always be needed all the time. Doing make-up for an American girl isn't a big deal,but what about making your own make-ups?

So, there is a number of creative teenage girls doing makeup videos to teach people "how to do"

On the markets, there are more than more brands about different product, and they are most of the time expensive. Making it yourself can help a lot of girls who can't afford the make up they want. It might not help to move the economy cycles,but it is a good way for society to have new ideas from new generations. Perhaps, the business companies can learn some important things from those girls and make the makeup on markets work better for more people. But before trying to start making our own "brands" ,we need to make sure the new product we are making is skin harmless. We don't want to risk anything like our faces.

But,it is a really good idea to make our own stuff that we like. learning new stuff is always good for our economy, it might be one less mistake economy will make, or one more step towards the success. We need more people to get inspirations from.

Corn.

My family and I took a trip this summer up to Boston, NYC and Chicago, and on the way from city to city we seemed to always see ENDLESS CORN. Why? Well we could blame the food companies putting corn in all their products, leading to demand of more corn, but that's not right. it is government subsidies that encourage corn for ethanol that are responsible. Whole farms are dedicated to the production of ethanol corn, and so much of it is in production, it decreases the production of food corn and increases the cost of food products that were previously grown on fields not dedicated to ethanol corn. Because of this, the price of all foods have gone up, and not just corn.

Is There Any Relief In Sight For Texas?

One man’s disaster is another man’s wish. While Hurricane Irene brought devastating flooding to the Eastern part of the nation, Texas has been suffering the worst drought in history. The record temperatures have stretched over extended periods, making this one of the hottest and driest summers since records have been kept in the last 150 years. While the flooding on the east coast has created an economic impact, it may be of shorter duration that the drought. The drought has affected major components of the food industry, and will take years to recover. Just in Texas, half of the normal cotton crop has been lost, which accounts for fifty five percent of the total U.S. crop. As a major exporter to other nations, the drought will drive the price of cotton higher, and there will be higher costs in the textile industry. Another area affected is the cattle industry. Due to the drought, ranchers can no longer depend on natural grazing lands to feed their stock. The drought has also led to the loss of the state’s hay crop, increasing the cost to ranchers, which forces them to sell off the stock they can no longer afford and in the process, are losing valuable breeding stock. As stated in the article, rebuilding herds will take time and be a long, expensive process. That will impact the price of beef for years to come. And as bad news runs in threes, the final blow will be in the fall wheat production. With lower than normal rainfall and high temperatures the ground is in less than ideal conditions to support any type of crop. Two of the states affected produce around a third of the nation’s winter wheat and a less than abundant crop will, as economists predict, cause a 50% increase in price. With losses already estimated at five billion and no relief in sight, the drought will make its impact felt in the most vulnerable area, the pocketbook.

Do You Like Starbucks?!

Do you like Starbucks? How much do you spend on Starbucks per year? Many of us go starbucks 6-8 times a month and spend more then we would ever think just on getting Starbucks, Would you go to another Coffee store if there is a new one opening, the answer will probably be no for most of people. Why do we like Starbucks so much even though the price of it isn't cheap?

We know that the Law of Demand proved that the price and quantity have inverse relationship:when price goes up ,the quantity goes down,when price goes down, the quantity should go up. It might not be the case for Starbucks, although coffee is not inelastic production.It is hard for a different store to have the same popularity as Starbucks.

Starbucks is been around for more then 40 years, everyone knows it,and we can find a starbucks almost everywhere we go. It is convenient, and when we say coffee,most of us would think of Starbucks. But if people just don't like coffee or Starbucks, it wouldn't matter whether there is a new coffee or not!

Obamanation.

This week, Obama announced to the public of a plan to put $1.5T in Tax hikes, mainly targeting the rich (people that make more than $250,000 a year) and cutting $580B from mandatory benefit programs, $248B from medicare and $72B from medicaid and other health programs. Despite the fact that the 2% of households in this range donate considerable sums of money to charities for the common good, and already pay 50% of all income taxes. This new tax plan endangers not only the economic wealth of these households, but also the charities supported by them.

Do you Facebook while working?

Social Networking sites, such as Facebook, have become very popular over the last several years. They're  also very addictive and you can be up all night till the early morning without even realizing it. So being on Facebook while working doesn't cost workers sleep but it does however cost businesses money when employees are on facebook.

A Nucleus Research study done in 2009 estimated that 2/3 of Facebook users, access the site at work ad this causes a 1.5% loss of productivity. Some businesses use Facebook to branch out across the country to customers that are further away, so that must make it okay for employees to be on Facebook sometimes right? If being on Facebook is business related then yes, but if not the no! In the study, 87% of people were on Facebook for something completely unrelated to there business.

To solve the problem of employees being on Facebook, companies should either block all social networking sites, only allow employees on there phones during there breaks, or just have a no phone policy. If companies become more strict on there phone policies then employees will become more focused on there work and companies would see an increase of productivity since the employees arent distracted.

How being frugal can cost you.

In an economy where people are trying to save money, there a few health/money tips that could save you later on in life. Buying off the dollar menu is a quick way to save a few bucks and fill up the kids but its also a quick trip to the hospital,evntually. Fastfood is full of calories and greasy fats that can result in clogged arteries. Finding and using exercise equipment that isnt professionally checked could also result in a trip to th hospital; the equipment could break down injuring a person. It seems like all accidents lead to the hospital so it would be smart to set up a co pay,like mentioned in the article, because its cheaper.

Wal-Mart Revives Layaway

What was old is new again! This is a timeless statement and appears to be the new Wal-Mart motto. In a society where everything seems to be recyclable, Wal-Mart is reviving the “layaway” shopping experience. This new yet old promotion is an attempt by the giant retailer to regain a foothold in the low income markets. Just recently, it was reported that Walmart’s share of the U.S. consumer market had dropped for the first time in over a decade. The retailer had seen a steady increase in its share of the market annually for the last ten years. However, in recent years, its main customer base has been hit hard by high unemployment and rising costs. It has also faced fierce competition from other retailers targeting the same consumers. Wal-Mart had offered the layaway option in previous years, but during the boom economic years with easily available credit, it discontinued the service citing high costs and lack of consumer interest. However, when other competitors began offering/and or expanding the service, Wal-Mart was forced to start up again in order to stay competitive. The program is available with quite a number of restrictions and is limited to certain minimum purchase and product requirements. It may be expanded to include all non-perishable items such as clothing, etc. if the demand grows. It will be interesting to see if this return to a method of purchasing made popular in the Great Depression will enable Wal-Mart to regain its status as the “King” of the low-cost, high volume retailers. Wal-Mart is not accustomed to being in a “catch-up” position and had become used to being the leader of the pack.

Supermarkets

Hmart is a Korean supermarket that has really fresh vegetable and fruits also is has delicious Asian cuisine . It is always crowded. Not only Asians go to hmart, more and more Americans start going to Asian markets. More people are interested in the differences between cultures, and of course food is always the first thing we try to know! At hmart, we can find food thats wont be purchased at other grocery stores. The special food makes hmart fascinating , even though hmart is located far away from everywhere. Some time if we get hmart at the end of the day,all the fruit and vegetable would be gone. Because its scarcity, makes people wanting more.

Making a market successful, the owner needs to find things that can make his market different then others,like some other Asian supermarkets are not as crowded as hmart.

How to make a market work for everyone , who would be coming when the market is built, and what to make in this market, these are important questions to answer when a owner wants to do anything. Hmart's owner knew these answer,so hmart is doing great!!

Social Media VS. Productivity

Would you facebook, use your cell phone, or use company email for personal use? Apparently, that is what the current workforce is doing. All of the advancements in technology were to make workers more productive by speeding up communications, and, by default, getting faster results on the job. In effect, these tools are costing employers valuable work time. A recent study showed that almost 60% of work interruptions were due to employees using email, social media, etc. for personal reasons, while on the job. A recent survey estimates that this lost productivity is costing businesses millions of dollars. The question remains that while social media is a basic part of business today, should employees be monitored to restrict their personal use? One solution would be to have clear policies on what is and is not the acceptable use of the social media, and making sure that all employees are fully aware of what the guidelines are. Only then will employees and companies know where they stand on the issue of social media. Like it or not, social media, like facebook, are part of the current workplace and will be ongoing into the future.

Insomnia Is Greater Than Productivity

Insomnia or sleepless is mostly defined by an individual's report of sleeping difficulties. People have stresses, even students have stresses from high expectations of others. AS the result, we get insomnia, exhausted and depressed. People who suffer insomnia are less productive than people who have 8 hours sleep every night. Those employees drag themselves to work, although they are physically at work, their minds are still sleeping. A research shows that insomnia costs U.S. $63 billion annually in lost productivity. So insomnia is one of the important factor of why employees can not meet their max efficiency at work. Most people don't see insomnia as a kind of illness, but those people might need some medical help. Have a good night sleep, everything might seem different the next morning. Just like we can work harder, more efficiency , and more productive. Sleep is not only important to work but also important to ourselves.

Sugary Beverages and You! (the average person)

In this article, the amount of sugar based beverages consumed by people is brought to attention. Approximately 1 out of 20 people drink more than 4 cans of soda a day. Each can of soda contains 140 calories and the daily reccomendation of sugary beverages is 64 calories. When you do the math for every 1 out of 20 people, they have  consumed 560 calories. Most of the soda beverages puchased an consumed are by half the population, young teens(mainly males), and blacks. This study shows how harmful soda can be to childrens health. The effects of soda among childen include obesity and diabetes. Hospitals have stopped selling beverages loaded with the  sugary goodness because of the patients there with weight related issues. Because of the loss of their customers, soda manufacturers have seen a decline in profits. Some schools have also stopped selling soda due to new health trends.

As a personal study I stopped drinking soda to see the effects of my decision in my evereyday life snd the results really suprised me. When I stopped drinkink soda and substituted it with water I first noticed that I became more alert during classes and was more attentive. The second change that I noticed was my weight; I lost a couple pounds and my face also became more clearer. And the third and my most favorite of all is that I just became more lively! I dont know why but changing the drinks that I drank changed my life in a way and I think that cuttibg back on the soda and sugary beverages could be a good thing for everyone!

Will The Country Ever Fully Recover From Hurricane Irene?

Hurricane Irene could be labeled as one that has caused massive damage. Currently, the estimated losses in just the state of Vermont total more than 1 billion dollars. Although Irene was at a category 1 when it came on shore, the damages were not as apparent until days later. It did not have the devastating winds, nor did it cause damage along the shoreline. The real threat from Irene became apparent in the rising waters of the inland rivers that were pushed over their banks by the storm surge. According to newspaper accounts, in the Northeast alone, the cost to repair the damage of the affected areas could total more than 20 billion dollars. This is only for the physical damage, with an additional 20 billion more dollars in economic loss, due to closed restaurants and shops. Even in the face of tragedy, there is some benefit. Reconstruction of the damaged areas could provide jobs, especially in construction, for an area that has severe unemployment. The hurricane ravaged areas have asked for assistance from the federal government, but with the current economic situation, it is unclear as to whether FEMA will have sufficient funds to provide that aid. Hopefully, politicians will not take this as an opportunity to continue playing political games, but instead, come together to look at the human tragedy, and work together to provide the necessary relief. Only time will tell, and it will take time for the affected areas to recover.

Ice Cream Is Happiness

This article talks about different ice cream, but why do we have ice cream？

Is it because we need ice cream for life? Or we just simply want it? The answer to that question is "we want it", because ice cream is a satisfaction in life. Ice cream makes us feel the happiness and reminds us of the old good time, so people like ice cream regardless of the ages.

One of the most important questions to ask before even produce any products is "WHO" to produce. We know that almost everyone has their favorite favors of ice cream, and we know that a lot of people like sweet things, so ice cream is produced for almost everyone. Plus, even if you couldn't eat sweet stuff, there are always special made ice cream for these people.

Also, we can't eat ice cream everyday which make ice cream scarcity, and people would want it more.

People like ice cream also because it tastes good, and it makes people forget about the sadness.

Corn that doesn't need so much nitrogen could cut America's $8-billion-a-year fertilizer bill, send less pollution into the water and less carbon into the air.

Major research is being done in Iowa and California to produce corn that can live and thrive without nitrogen fertilizer. In July of 2007 both research facilities produced such corn. Even with that, they are 5 to 10 years away from productivity. The U.S.’s corn crop is worth more than $66 billion. Rice and wheat growers around the world have reached a plateau. Corn is the only crop that continues to rise in production. We have been paying an incredible price. Not only the high cost of using nitrogen fertilizer, but the damage caused through rainwater runoff. More than half of the fertilizer is wasted by runoff. It finds its way into aquifers, flows into creeks, streams and rivers. The runoff that has reached the Mississippi travels to the Gulf of Mexico, where deadly algae blooms that deprives fish and plants of oxygen. The EPA has stated that the Gulf has the 2^nd largest ocean dead zone. Scientists are still debating which has caused the most environmental damage- the BP oil spill last year or the ongoing nitrogen pollution from U.S. agriculture?

This has the potential to change not just one industry- Ag, but many-- seafood & maritime, tourism, etc. Every year the cost of environmental damage increases. This is a very hard value to put into an exact percentage or amount but we all know that it has to be one that the world focuses on

Cities build airport cities — 'aerotropolises' — for growth

A way to compete in a globally connected economy—
For decades, Ford produced Taurus sedans at a plant next to the busiest airport in the world, Atlanta's Hartsfield. But the 130-acre lot has sat vacant since 2008 when the plant was shut down.

A local commercial real-estate developer bought the land and now envisions something completely different: a mixed-use project, with office parks for firms that need quick access to the airport.

Development projects next door to airports are sparking economic excitement throughout the U.S., as financially struggling cities look to attract export-oriented and high-tech businesses amid an uncertain economic recovery.
Atlanta is just one of several cities latching onto the trend of trying to build all the aspects of a city around an airport — an "aerotropolis" as it's called by planners. The push is for aviation authorities to partner with private companies to cohesively and systematically develop bountiful land near the airport to attract office space, warehouses, logistics centers, retail stores, recreational facilities and apartments.
By attracting businesses that need frequent and easy access to airports — delivery-fulfillment centers, exporters, Web commerce companies, biomedical manufacturers and other time-sensitive enterprises — other clusters of businesses that cater to existing companies will be formed. Projects, such as entertainment and residential complexes, will soon follow, forming a city whose core and economic engine is the airport.

Airports and airlines need to be treated as key infrastructure to compete in a global economy," says John Kasarda, a University of North Carolina professor who is largely credited with coining the term "aerotropolis".

DFW has done this to an extent and wants to push it farther.

“•Dallas/Fort Worth. Airport officials see a new aerotropolis around three new rail stations that will connect the airport to Dallas and Fort Worth when they open in the next three years. Owning a land mass larger than Manhattan, the airport has zoned about 6,000 acres for industrial parks, retail and restaurants, hotels and an entertainment venue that will be developed gradually in the next 20 years, says John Terrell, the airport's vice president of commercial development. About 1,000 acres already have been developed, consisting of a hotel, golf course, cargo and commerce park. Aviall, an aircraft parts distributor, has moved in, as have the Dallas Cowboys' merchandising headquarters and aircraft engine maker Pratt & Whitney.
With American and Southwest airlines headquartered in the region, aviation has always been a key economic driver in Dallas and Fort Worth, and the region has had some previous success in aerotropolis development. Nearby suburbs, such as Southlake and Grapevine, hosting Great Wolf Lodge and the Gaylord Texan have flourished. Las Colinas, a planned, upscale area nearby, has owed much of its development to the airport.”-- Usa Today Newspaper

Countries around the world have been aggressive in converting the aerotropolis idea into reality--Dubai, Hong Kong, Seoul and Shanghai. Even in an economic downturn they are a success.

These projects may take many years to fully complete, but the potential they have to sustain jobs and economic stability in an area is very high.

Another possible iOS device?

So the breakdown here is that this picture was taken from the App store of Apple. This hints at a new iOS device, but possibly could be just a coding error. This happened two months ahead of time of Apple's conference where "they will the company has said it is showing off "the future of iOS and Mac OS X". " As far as I can tell it is a possibility. Another new device or revealing of product specific apps will cause a great stir in the market place. If there are new apps for such as Apple TV, this just means that other companies will have competition. I'm really hoping for another iOS device or new product. Apple seems to do a good job of making people want to put money back into the circular flow of the economy. Hopefully the company will grow large enough to hire an insane amount of people to create more jobs. As of right now they are feeling backlash because of Japan and their lack of exports so jobs creating part will definitely be a big one.

Read more: http://news.cnet.com/8301-27076_3-20053947-248.html#ixzz1JpCB1l3V

Wells Fargo plans to embed credit cards with an EMV microchip for about 15,000 of its customers that travel abroad. America is one of the last developed nations that rely on magnetic stripes for credit card transactions. “Almost 10 million U.S. consumers experienced credit-card acceptance problems abroad in 2008, costing about $4 billion in lost transactions for merchants and $447 million in revenue for card issuers, according to a 2009 study by Aite Group. A common problem facing U.S. consumers is that some merchants abroad are unfamiliar with magnetic-stripe cards and may refuse to accept them.” JP Morgan plans to race against Wells Fargo to bring EMV to its wealthiest consumers by June. Although they are focusing on their highest spenders they will follow with standard card holders shortly after .It seems that credit card companies have a race to see who can micro chip us first. In Canada all ATM’s must be compatible with EVM technology by the end of 2012. It seems we are far behind the times. I’m curious as to why it has taken this long if Europe has been using EMV for years?? With so many credit card companies needing help it seems this investment would have come long before now.

Southwest Airlines decision to cancel about 300 flights and then ultimately grounding 79 planes (about 1/7 of its fleet) will inconvenience passengers and will cost the airline several million dollars. The damage to Southwest's earnings will be reduced if stranded passengers rebook on other Southwest flights. But other airlines such as United offered standby seating for the stranded passengers.

The grounded planes are 137-seat Boeing 737-300s. Using the airline's most recent available figures for average occupancy, it's possible to estimate that more than 31,000 paying passengers were stranded Saturday. Southwest says on its website, updated this week, that its average one-way fare is $130.27, which would produce a $4.1 million loss in revenue. Southwest might provide an estimate on the cost of grounding this month, when it releases its first-quarter earnings report.

The airfare isn’t the only loss that Southwest will have, the added expense of accessing the true damage of each aircraft and then making the FAA and NTSB mandated repairs to get their fleet back in the air must be considered. (JetBlue stated that it lost $30 million due to late-December storms that caused it to cancel 1,400 flights.)

Taking it a step further there are 931, 737-300 such models in service worldwide, 288 of which are in the U.S. fleet. Boeing said its service bulletin will also require checks on larger 737 models too. So this will stretch much farther than Southwest.

iPad Tramples over Competition, for now.

Okay so here's the breakdown, with Apple's groundbreaking tablet, competitors are left in the dust as retailers such as Motorola are all falling into the same category of just "tablets." The picture above clearly states this. The competitor that was quickly fading is the Xoom tablet from Motorola. They sold 100,000 units compared to Apple's 500,000 in the first weekend. Now why you ask did I put the "for now" portion into the title. Here's why, the only good outcome to getting a Xoom as of right now is due to the fact that it will be using the Android 3.0 software compared to getting the iPad and their iOS. As far as I can tell this is Mac vs. PC all over again. It will be all about operating systems and supporting apps. For now Apple will lead the market in sales but as one can tell during the smart phones war, Android is catching up in sales.
Overall what I'm trying to get at here is that Apple will have some healthy competition. This in turn will end up being a competition of "who can make people spend more money." Apple usually does do a good job at that, but Android owned by Google can do the same. If people do end up spending money its because of this competition. Consumers will put more money into the economy and the circle continues to flow.
This story can be found on CNET.

Mobile Phones are Vulnerable

Recently Epsilon got hacked causing a ton of fake emails to be sent out to people all over the place. The problem is that people are giving away personal information because they have been fooled into doing so by emails that say something like "Your account has been compromised please enter your password to verify your account." This is a technique called phishing and can cause all sorts of problems for anyone who falls victim.

The most immediate threat is the possibility for people's identities to be stolen on a massive scale and have them all end up accumulating a lot of false charges. This means that there would have to be an investigation into each account that was tampered with and the person whose account it is would have no access to it for roughly a week. This would hurt the economy because people would all of a sudden have to be extremely careful with their money, especially if they have all of their money in one account. The other problem is going to be for any company that deals with online security because people will start to have their doubts about even the most secure companies after such a large breach. This corporations could end up using smaller security companies less, causing them to go bankrupt. This wouldn't be any good because it would mean that there was less competition. With less competition in the online security section of the market then prices could rise. This could end up causing a rise in prices on everything that the company sells because they would have to pay for a more expensive security system and that would be bad for the consumer. Overall this is just a bad situation that will probably have a large amount of consequences.

Business Booming in Silicon Valley

When Marty Hu graduates from Stanford University's computer science program in June, he'll enter the hottest Silicon Valley job market for software engineers since the dot.com crash a decade ago.

In fact, times are so good that Hu, 21, turned down interview requests from several blue-chip companies, including Google and Microsoft.

"At this point, I've sort of taken it [the interest from tech firms] for granted," Hu said.

Instead of joining an established company, Hu, who still gets weekly invitations for interviews from would-be employers, has opted to launch his own company.

According to an article on cnn.com Silicon Valley is experiencing job growth at an alarming rate. With the national unemployment at 8.8%, Silicon Valley is adding jobs to many of its major company's. These company's include Google and social networking giant Facebook. The software programming sector is where the most growth can be seen as many of the nations brightest new programmers are being hired right out of college. So why is software programing getting so big? Is it because of the most recent expansions of company's like Facebook into the mobile market? I think that coupled with the fact that the gaming market is still one of the strongest in the country are the reasons. So will this trend continue or will we see it begin to decline gradually?