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!