Battered by Economic Crisis, Greeks Turn to Barter Networks

This article talks about the growing networks after the economic crisis in Greece. Right now, the market in Greece is filled with part alternative currency, part barter system, part open-air market, which provides a good opportunity to development network. The Greece government also published a law to encourage the creation of “alternative forms of entrepreneurship and local development,” including networks based on an exchange of goods and services. Beyond network exchanges, there are newer signs of cooperation from the ground up, but most Greece believe that these exchanges represent a more unstable economics in the future.

Profits, but No Joy, for Merrill

The CEO of Bank of America has been trying to save the bank's downturn for the past two years. But Despite the billions from Mr. Buffett, and tens of billions in asset sales, Bank of America can’t seem to find its way. Bank of America’s stock, down 54 percent this year, is the biggest loser in the Dow Jones industrial average. However, The billions of dollars that Bank of America Merrill Lynch is earning from its businesses on Wall Street are being wiped out by the red ink flowing out of Countrywide. Bonuses are on the line. So are jobs.

Alleviation of L.A.’s Job Crisis

In this New York Times article the focus was on the Los Angeles County and its high unemployment rate of 12.5 percent. In the article the author provided the views of two economic experts on ways to deal with this high level of unemployment. Though both of these people differed in their opinions, their aim was clear that it was to help the LA County.

Mr. Beutner backed the invitation of foreign companies such as the Chinese electric car company BYD auto to do business in the county to help increase employment opportunities. To help to get this he advocated taking advantage of the city’s size and complexity. On the other hand Mr. Kotkin opposed this idea by saying that it is the small businesses within the city that should be our area of focus for helping the economy. The idea was that we should instead help promote the expansion of our own small business in the city.

Though their opinions may differ, these both seem like solid ways to go in helping to remedy LA’s ailing employment market.

Bubble cars to provide jolt in Paris

I thought this was an interesting idea that could very well go global. Billionaire, Vincent Bollore, is seeking to better the traffic situation in France with his idea of the bubble-shaped cars. The cars electric powered and the concept is not to purchase these vehicles, rather they are used as rentals and stored at various locations. This idea encourages an economic alternative to driving and fuel emissions and they hope that in the seventh year, the business will begin to make a profit. People will be encouraged to start renting cars rather than purchasing them which, if successful, can make for a very large and prosperous business. The battery operated cars can travel up to 250 kilometers which is relatively equal to four hours as well as the use of a battery that is less likely to overheat than most other car batteries.

I believe other counties should look into this concept both for environmental benefits as well as its target to help those who cannot afford vehicles. For those struggling families out there, the system would make traveling much easier and less expensive when money is already tight. Many economies throughout the world and its citizens could greatly benefit from this idea and provide support for many families in need.

In Greece, Barter Networks Surge

This article discusses the fact that since Greece's economy has been in such a poor condition, there are areas where people are beginning to use a barter system as opposed to the euro.

Greece's unemployment rate is currently 16 percent and the economy is still shrinking, causing many people to not have enough money to purchase all that they want to. This has lead to barter networks, such as those located in Volos, Greece. In these networks, a Local Alternative Unit (known as TEM is used), that is valued as equivalent to one euro. These are earned by offering goods and services and can be used for discounts when goods and services are purchased from other members of the networks.

These networks are becoming more popular as less people have the money to purchase items without a discount, due to the struggling economy of Greece.

Obama Proposes Protecting Unemployed Against Hiring Bias

This article talks about President Obama's new job bill which would prohibit employers from discriminating against job applicants just because they are unemployed.Unsuccessful job applicants could sue the employer if they discriminates on the basis of a person's status of unemployed.
This proposal seems to be helpful decreasing the high employment rate now, while there still are some critiques towords this proposal. People says that the new action will establish the unemployed as a new "protected class", which would make unemployed people feel more safe to be unemployed. Thus in reality it might enhance the unemployment rate.
To the employer, this proposal would give employers some leeway. In deciding whether to hire a person who is unemployed, they could consider the person’s work history and examine why the person is unemployed if that was relevant to ability to perform a job.

Obama administration widens challenges to state immigration laws

It is interesting to see that the federal government is suing the state government over many of the immigration laws.
It is also at the same time frustrating to see such an irresponsible debate between each side of the political spectrum.
The Republicans seem to be on the side that more immigrants mean less jobs for citizens so they need to go while the Democrats seem to support the influx of immigrants no matter what.
Why not actually study and educate people about the benefit or the harmful effects of illegal immigrants? All we hear about are how they take away jobs and use up the federal budget.
We rarely see any politicians coming up with an actual plan that will increase the benefits of illegal immigrants and decrease the harms of illegal immigration.
Extremists and many neo-conservatives must learn to give up their hope that the U.S. is suddenly going to kick out all illegal immigrants out of the country and put a wall in its borders. That will simply not happen, at least based on the history of the U.S. and what it stands for. On the other hand, the U.S. should look to make immigration more efficient and legal, so that the U.S. will be able to benefit from not only the millions of Latinos, but other immigrants that come to the U.S. to look for a better opportunity.
The know-nothing party of old failed to keep out immigrants and looking back, the influx of cheap labor greatly benefited the U.S. then. I just hope that politicians stop seeing the world as an everyday American sees it. If we were to take out emotion and do what's sensible, I believe the U.S. would take a step in the right direction regarding immigration.

Gassing Up: Why America's Future Job Growth Lies In Traditional Energy Industries

This is an interesting article written by Joel Kotkin, an employee of Praxis Strategy Group. He makes the claim that not only new jobs, but higher quality jobs( in terms of salary), must come from traditional energy industries like mining,oil and natural gas. The reason behind this claim is that "green" energy like wind and solar, still costs much more to produce per kilowatt than natural gas( wind is twice as expensive, and solar three times as expensive).
We have all heard that "America must reduce its dependency on foreign oil", and most people associate this with a rise in green technology. However, green tech has not progressed enough to take over the majority of U.S energy needs. With the current unemployment rate so high, it looks like traditional energy jobs will play a role in boosting the economy. In fact, from 2006 till the present this sector of the economy created 500, 000 jobs, with the average job paying somewhere around $100,000.It will be interesting to see how much more growth comes from this sector and how that might help the economy recover.

Can The Middle-Class Be Rebuilt?

This discussion talks about how things like Government policy, over-valuation of the dollar etc. over the past 30 years have contributed to the lowered-wages and standard of living of the United States' middle-class. With foreign-made resources available for cheaper (Steel, Automobiles, etc.), the wages for middle-class jobs in the US have decreased.

It's interesting however, that changing policy to give the middle-class higher wages etc. would result in the lowering of wages for highly-educated professionals. But this would also mean that services that these people provide would be at a lower cost as well (health-care etc.)

I also found the statistics on name-brand medication vs. generic to be completely baffling. Without the USA's excessive patent laws, we could be spending 1/10th what we normally do on our prescription drugs. All these patents do is to increase big-pharma's profits, which in turn makes the top-employees of the company wealthier. It's not like they are letting their middle-class workers who manufacture these medications have access to the insane profits they're making from charging outlandish fees for highly necessary medication.

Being that the health of those in the middle to lower-classes is not as good as those in the upper class and beyond (i.e. lower class tends to smoke more, has very poor dieting habits), and that the middle and lower classes make up a much larger population than the upper-classes, shows how a huge portion of the United States' population could benefit from getting prescription drugs for cheaper.

The Federal Reserve Says, 'Let's Do the Twist'

This article tells about the new plan that Fed has come up with to help boost the sluggish economy. In an attempt to boost the financial markets, Fed is planning on re structuring its balance sheet by selling $400 billion of short term bonds and buying long term bonds. This is being done to drive the long term interest rates lower so that investors are induced to invest in new projects and hence boost the economy by providing much needed jobs. The short term rates are already near 0% and by decreasing the long term interest rates Fed would be able to increase investments in housing as people will find it lucrative to buy houses when mortgage rates are low. Thus helping bring back the housing market to life.
One problem that the Fed will face is that when the interest rates on long term bonds decrease their prices will increase as a result investors will be willing to sell their bonds at higher prices which again will increase the interest rates.
Will this strategy of Fed work or not, only time will tell till then we have to keep our fingers crossed.

China's Manufacturing Slows as U.S., Europe Stall

This is an interesting article that explains China's roll in the sick global economy. The sluggish US and European economies have reduced China's net exports. Consequently, China's manufacturing sector has constricted in recent months due to the decrease in demand from the US and European markets. At this point, the main thing that is keeping China's growth above 8%, the rate that is needed to produce enough jobs for the growing population, is there population. Domestic demand has supported this beast of an economy though the dip in foreign demand, but inflation has become a problem. An economist described China as "stuck between a rock and a hard place." They need huge annual growth to support their job market, but with this growth come inflation.

What Level of Finance is Good for Economies?

This article talks about how over the past 30 years the financial sector has fallen out of touch with the nation as a whole. Ranging from a growing dependence on financial craftsmanship for gpd growth, to the over sized banking firms, and how the financial sector and banking are behind in technology that may be necessary to reach small and medium sized businesses.

From unemployment to startup

This article highlights how young people are turning their lows, such as speeding tickets, into money making entrepreneurship. Literally, one young college student made a business out of getting his friends and family members out of tickets. This relates to the class because we spent a good portion talking about job separation and job finding as key factors in the unemployment rate. More and more people are going a different route and finding their own niche in this troubled economy and coming out on top.

Consumption Trends

In the opinions page of nytimes.com, there was an interesting piece about the shift in consumer consumption. The idea is that the younger generation is becoming more willing to pay for media content. With the price increase of Netflix it has 60 million customers but it still has 24 million remaining. This remaining number of customers caused the writer to think of what this signified. He notes that it mirrors a trend in the younger generation in being more willing to purchase online content than what he calls the Napster or free generation. With more things such as the iTunes app store and sites with purchasable content recording great sales it has made me wonder what effect this change in consumer behavior could cause. In our analysis of national savings we saw how changes in private savings affected the economy in terms of investments. If the current generation seem to be more willing to purchase things which were once sought after for free could this eventually affect our national savings in some way. Though this increased consumption‘s effects could be minimal or its change counter balanced by some other change such as income levels the idea that this behavioral shift from free to purchasing could later be of some greater significance is interesting.

Gas and the Economy

This article is great. It talks about how the lower gas prices are helping put cash back in the hands of consumers. This is what our economy needs, the consumers getting more money. They are getting money through price drops which helps them spend that money else where and consume more. Now, I agree this is not a fix for the economy but maybe it will be a spark that consumers need to help regain their confidence. I also like this idea because the change in gas prices isn't something the government controlled or something people tried to manipulate it is a "natural" occurrence. Now the article also talks about how people expect prices to jump back up but that's the long run and with our economy it seem like all economists are only worrying about the short run anyway. This helps us in a short run. Consumers are getting cash in their hands, some will spend it and some will save it, but either way it goes back into our economy.

Bad is in the Eye of the Beholder.....

In the past few months, the World has watched as Europe's debt crisis has escalated and Greece approaches default. Many see this as the beginning to a world wide recession. However, some see opportunity in the current crisis and have a bullish attitude towards everyone's growing concerns. One such man is John Taylor, the head of a giant Foreign-Exchange Hedge Fund called FX Global Currency Program. Taylor believes that because the dollar is the worlds reserve currency, it is a good reverse indicator of the world economies health. Taylor's theory is that when gloabal economics are positive, value of currency goes down because of "ample" liquidity. However, when Global economics are doing poorly, liquidity is down and the appreciation on the US dollar goes up. John Taylor and FX did well last week, as their biggest position was in the dollar, along with "Short equities, and positions in long term Treasury yields." Taylor also uses the poticial climate of the United States as an indicator of how the US dollar will do. He beleives that the GOP will win the 2012 elections, and because of the GOP's unwillingness to print anymore money, a recession will follow. This will, in turn, make the dollar more valuable.

Taxation and class war: Hurting the rich

This article discusses the idea of increasing the amount of taxes that the wealthiest Americans pay. It begins by discussing how in some European countries (such as Britain), the rate at which the richest are taxed has been greatly increased in recent years. It then moves on to discuss whether or not the United States should do the same thing.

The article points out that a blunt increase in the tax rate leads to less entrepreneurial risks taken, as well as the rich moving, working less, or shifting their income into less-taxed forms. While it gives reasons for increasing the tax on the richest Americans, it argues that it cannot just be an increase in the tax rate they pay. The article suggests that eliminating tax deductions is the method that should be used, saying that since these deductions go mostly to the rich, they end up paying more but since it is not an increase in the tax rate, the negative effects mentioned above will not happen.

As World Leaders Meet, Global Unemployment Is Topic No. 1

As World Leaders Meet, Global Unemployment Is Topic No. 1
By Jack Ewing
Published: September 21, 2011
http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/22/business/global/to-limit-turmoil-focus-turns-to-fighting-joblessness.html?scp=2&sq=unemployment&st=cse



It is talked in this news that, at the annual meetings of the International Monetary Fund and World Bank, the unemployment was the prominent on the agenda.
Considering the Arab Spring, the London riots and the Greek debt crises, it is obviouls that all of them happened in environments of rampant unemployment.From this point, it is not hard to find that political and economic crisis are to some extent due to the same issue-unemployment.
It is told by the author that, the ultimate measure of economic success is whether a society can provide jobs for its citizens. "A society that fails will see other problems multiply in the form of political unrest, sinking tax revenue and soaring debt."
As explained in the article What government need to pay attention now, are creating new jobs from small and medium-size enterprises and employment, and loosening job protections then put more pressure on umployed people.