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.