Foodborne Illness Outbreaks are Breaking Consumers' Banks... Here's Why

Outbreaks of foodborne pathogens like bacteria, viruses, and parasites can cause a variety of health concerns ranging from minor issues to kidney failure and death. Sprouts, infant formula, and cantaloupe have been contaminated consistently, resulting in outbreaks that have been managed by the FDA to protect consumers. However, these outbreaks do not just harm consumer health. They hurt the economy, too.

From 2013 to 2018, foodborne illness outbreaks accounted for an increased $2 billion in consumer spending. Why? While recent overall inflation has been generally low in comparison to previous years, this same trend is not reflected in the healthcare sector, which has seen significant increases in prices.

Three particular illnesses (Salmonella, Listeria, and Toxoplasma) have been the most significant drivers of inflation, accounting for the overall most expensive hospitalization-related illnesses from 2013 to 2018. As outbreaks occur, hospitalization rates increase, as does household spending. Hence, a lack of a food safety is just as much an economic concern as it is a health one.

The FDA must strengthen its regulatory policies to reduce foodborne illness outbreaks. If it fails to do this, more people will die, and those who survive will be faced with rising medical costs. In the long run, this will hurt the macroeconomy by driving up consumer costs.

https://www.cdc.gov/foodsafety/outbreaks/lists/outbreaks-list.html

https://www.ers.usda.gov/amber-waves/2021/april/economic-cost-of-major-foodborne-illnesses-increased-2-billion-from-2013-to-2018/

 

An optimistic take on the possibility of a recession in the US economy

This article takes a more optimistic view on the possibility of a recession in the US economy, stating that despite US economists predicting a recession, due to high interest rates and weakening consumer spending, the US economy may avoid a recession considering that inflation has started to show "widespread signs of easing." This may in part be due to the fact that the increase in US wages has started to slow down, which was a factor in the rise of inflation. 

The article does not suggest the US economy will be booming within the year, rather that the FED may be able to orchestrate a "soft landing" without having the economy reverse, and without having a major increase in unemployment. There will still be many people who have to go through hard times, but it will not be as widespread as in a typical recession.

 The article interviews Alan Blinder, a Princeton University economist who was a former vice chair of the FED, who states that "The most positive sign... is the ongoing slowdown in inflation. It has dropped from a peak of 9.1% in June to a still-high 7.1% in November." This is due to a multitude of factors, including the price of gas becoming more affordable and supply lines finally reverting back to form. Last year in mid-June, the price of gas was $5, now it's $3.27. 

The price of used cars, furniture and clothing have all dropped within the past few months as well. The article does state some of the reasons the US may dip into a recession, from businesses becoming anxious, political incompetence, and China's economy reopening and buying large sums of oil, which may raise oil prices in the US.


Article: https://apnews.com/article/inflation-business-compensation-and-benefits-economy-728bf4d2efd02b20de28db3e01ed25ba

Consumers remain skeptical of economic improvement, despite signs showing otherwise

This article goes over the recent numbers of the Conference Board’s consumer confidence index, which, "gaug[es] attitudes about the current and future strength of the economy." In December, the number was 109, and was expected to remain as such, but by January it decreased to 107.1.

Despite this decrease, the Present Situation Index grew from 147.4 in December to 150.9 in January. This indicates consumers may be growing more confident. However, while consumers are more confident about the short run, there is still concern over long run economic conditions.

The expectation index decreased from 83.4 in December to 77.8 in January. This is particularly concerning since an expectation index below 80 usually indicates an expected recession in the next year.

Consumers seem to be more concerned about some aspects of the economy over others. Ataman Ozyildirim, the Conference Board’s senior director of economics, states, "Consumers were less upbeat about the short-term outlook for jobs... They also expect business conditions to worsen in the near term." However, "Despite that, consumers expect their incomes to remain relatively stable in the months ahead.” Consumers' plans for buying automobiles and appliances remain unchanged, but consumers are likely to buy less houses.

The Federal Reserve sees their rate hikes as being successful at cooling down an "overheated economy" as evidenced by the "softer data on housing prices, wages, and consumer confidence at the turn of the year"

SOURCE: https://www.cnn.com/2023/01/31/economy/consumer-confidence-index-january/index.html

India's Budget 2023

The Indian government has presented its budget for the upcoming fiscal year 2023, which will begin in April. Their goals are to minimize the government deficit while boosting economic growth. They are spending around 550 billions, or 45 trillion rupees this year. 

The tax slab rates have been adjusted by the Indian government to make taxes easier to pay for those with lower incomes. People with incomes under Rs. 7 lakhs would not be required to pay taxes, and the new tax system will take effect automatically. 

Inclusive Development, Reaching the Last Mile, Infra and Investment, Unleashing Potential, Green Growth, Youth Power, and Financial Sector are the seven pillars of this budget.

More than 2.4 billion dollars have been set aside for the improvement and growth of Indian Railways technology. The amount spent on capital projects has climbed by 33% to 10 lakh crores, or 3.3% of the GDP. India's finance minister, Nirmala Sitharaman, has also committed to increasing funding for public transportation, buildings, infrastructure, healthcare, and education. 

I really appreciated that this budget increased the price of cigarettes from before and added a significant 16% tax to them, which I believe will assist the government lower sales of taboo goods. However, this budget has lowered the custom duty on a number of TV panel and mobile component parts.

This budget has made it possible for startups to carry over losses for up to 10 years, which will benefit business owners. Additionally, funds for agriculture acceleration are given out to support young businesspeople in India's rural areas. 

India is projected to increase by at least 7% this year.

Microsoft and Google job cuts

Microsoft cut 10,000 jobs due to the economic uncertainty and tried to shift their focus to growth and development. The cuts will impact less than 5% of their global workforce which is still a large amount of people. The reports showed that the layoffs mostly affect the engineering department.It's the largest layoff at Microsoft in about eight years, where the company cut more than 20,000 jobs in about a year. Microsoft also plans to make some new changes to its hardware portfolio and tighten up their leased office spaces which will cost them about $1.2 billion. 

Similarly Google cuts 12,000 Jobs due to economic pressure. Their 12,000 layoffs                          represent 6.5% of Google's 185,000. There are more employees are being laid off now than worked at Google in 2006, when there were just over 10,500 workers Google now plans to take its focus and direct the remaining work on to projects that are a that include in Ai

The question remains why are these big tech companies really laying off this many employees?  During covid these companies took a hiring spree and salaries were at an all time high as competition rose. This could mean that, in some ways, these cuts represent a pull back of hiring policies put in place since the pandemic.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/01/30/the-real-reasons-for-big-tech-layoffs-at-google-microsoft-meta-and-amazon/?sh=83606cf2b67d 

https://www.cnet.com/news/google-cuts-12000-jobs-amid-economic-pressure/  

PayPal's Plan to Lay Off 2,000 Employees in Coming Weeks

     PayPal announced their plan to lay off 2,000 employees in the coming weeks. This would amount to cutting out 7% of their workforce. President and CEO, Dan Schulman, said the change is to address the changing macroeconomic environment and focus resources on core priorities. PayPal's stock dropped 2% after these announcements. This announcement came after Workday, Google, Microsoft, Salesforce, and many other tech giants would all be laying off workers. 

    This trend of tech giants laying off workers is due to the fear of a recession upcoming. It is also being blamed on Covid-19 over-hiring. During the pandemic these tech companies boomed and experienced big growth thanks to their constant innovation and capitalization on current trends. This boom in growth allowed an increase in hiring and employees. Now as a recession is on the horizon and the companies are dealing with lowered stocks, less growth, and high inflation they are downsizing. 

    Many tech companies have stated that over-hiring in the previous years is the reason for their layoffs, but their maybe some other reasons behind the scenes. One maybe that the tech industry has always been a growth based industry. When the industry is down it is never down for long. These companies are not just gonna take an upcoming recession and there are a few ways they can continue their growth. One way is to sell more products or raise prices. Another way is to cut employees and lower expenses. The latter is the approach many companies have taken for the time being. Another reason for the layoffs could be because the companies see a need to innovate and must divert resources toward research and development. Some have also suggested that tech companies may just be copying each other and following the trend. 

    Articles: https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/31/paypal-to-lay-off-2000-employees-in-coming-weeks-about-7percent-of-workforce.html

    https://www.forbes.com/sites/qai/2023/01/27/why-are-tech-companies-laying-off-all-these-workers/?sh=589666064fc6 

Nike is Suing Multiple Shoe Companies for Patent Infringment

Nike is suing Lulu Lemon for patent infringement related to at least four of the apparel company’s shoes, extending a contentious legal history between the two companies. Nike said it has suffered economic harm and irreparable injury as a result of Lululemon’s sale of the Chargefeel Mid, Chargefeel Low, Blissfeel and Strongfeel sneakers. Nike said its three patent claims focus on textile elements, including knitted elements, webbed areas and tubular structures on the footwear. One patent claim also addresses the footwear’s performance. Nike, which is based in Oregon, is seeking unspecified damages.

Nike filed a lawsuit against the streetwear brand in New York district court accusing Bape of trademark infringement and false designation of origin after 20 years. “Bape’s current footwear business revolves around copying Nike’s iconic designs,” the lawsuit reads. The lawsuit explains Nike’s long delay in pursuing legal action by saying that before 2021, the amount of sneakers Bape sold in the US was insignificant. Nike’s lawyers say that starting in 2021, Bape scaled up its footwear business and began to sell even more “copies of iconic Nike designs.” This escalation, Nike says, forced the lawsuit. Nike lawyers say that Bape’s sneakers have created confusion in the marketplace and that consumers could falsely associate its products with Nikes. In a warning letter to Bape in August 2022, Nike claimed that a recent collaboration between Bape and Marvel was likely to create an “erroneous association” between Bape’s shoes, Disney, Marvel, and Nike.

Nike has filed a trademark infringement lawsuit against two popular sneaker designers and the manufacturer of their footwear. The Swoosh filed yesterday in the southern district of New York a lawsuit that spans six different complaints. Nike says defendants Nickwon Arvinger and David Weeks of By Kiy LLC (aka Kool Kiy) and Bill Omar Carrasquillo of Reloaded Merch LLC (Omi aka “Omi in a Hellcat”) have been “promoting, copying, and selling” Nike’s designs, namely the Air Jordan 1 and Dunk, as their own. Along with trademark infringement, Nike says that Kiy and Omi’s designs are also grounds for counts of false designation of origin, unfair competition, and trademark dilution. The Swoosh’s lawyers ague that the alleged knockoff sneakers are likely to confuse customers about the origin of the products and Nike’s connection to them, especially on the secondary market where it highlights examples of resellers using variations of the Air Jordan 1 name to advertise Kiy’s products.

Nike has ramped up its battle with the online marketplace StockX, saying that it purchased four pairs of counterfeit shoes on the site, despite StockX's guarantees of authenticity. The famous footwear manufacturer was already in a lawsuit from February with StockX over what Nike saw as trademark infringement in the non-fungible tokens StockX was selling, and has amended the suit to include the latest accusations. Nike said in a federal court filing with the Southern District of New York on Tuesday that the shoes it had purchased and determined to be fake "had affixed to them StockX's 'Verified Authentic' hangtag, and all came with a paper receipt from StockX in the shoe box stating that the condition of the shoes is '100% Authentic.'" Nike said that StockX is diluting its trademarks while using them to heavily market NFTs, draw in consumers who know the brand and then benefit financially.

How do you think Nikes stock and worth will be after everything is said and done and will it change the sneaker economy forever?

Ford Follows Tesla in Cutting Electric Vehicle Prices

Ford and Tesla are two very well known vehicle manufacture companies. In recent news, Ford is beginning to curt prices on electric vehicles, similar to what Tesla has began doing. The Mustang Mach-E is getting a price reduction due to Ford being more interested in increasing the production rate of the sport utility vehicle. This is potentially one way that Fords wants to increase the competition in the electric car market. One factor that helps support the decision of Ford to decreases prices is because about two weeks ago, tesla announced that they will be cutting prices of Tesla Car models by 20% because of the softening demand for electric vehicles. 

Fords chief executive, Jim Farley, gave another reason on why Ford is decreasing prices on their electric vehicles. Jim stated on twitter " We want to make E.V.s more accessible, so we're increasing production and reducing prices across the Mach -E lineup" Ford's hopes is that with the increase in production, it will create an opportunity for dealerships and sellers to have a higher inventory of electric vehicles. When people see that there is a price decrease in electric vehicles, sales for the vehicles may increase as customers may be more interested more now than ever. Farley also added " With higher production, we're reducing costs, which allows us to share these savings with customers."

These statements and decisions made by ford is more of a response to Tesla's decision for price reduction. With these actions in place, this may help the market for electric vehicles as demands for them may increase because of the price reduction which would create a higher competitive market. Before, Tesla was the main company that everyone went to if they were looking for electric vehicles. With Ford creating their Mach-E models and increasing production of their sport utility vehicle, Ford will be able to set their feet in the door and become a fighting competitor with Tesla.

Main Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/business/ford-mustang-electric-prices.html

U.S. and India Form a Technology Partnership to Counter China

 The United States and India are forming a technology partnership aimed at promoting innovation and increasing competitiveness in the global market. The partnership will focus on the main areas of digital economy, research and innovation, infrastructure, and workforce development. The two nations will specifically be expanding cooperation on advanced weaponry, supercomputing, semiconductors and other high-tech fields. A successful partnership would offset China’s dominance of cutting-edge technologies.

This has been described as a “big foundational piece of an overall strategy to put the entire democratic world in the Indo-Pacific region in a position of strength,” by Jake Sullivan, the U.S. national security advisor. One motivation for this was the continued reliance on China for important goods like semiconductors and telecommunications parts, this is thought to have the potential to give China a military advantage in the future and thus the Biden administration has introduced more restrictions on the sale of advanced semiconductor technology to China in recent months.

The U.S. and India are also committed to greatly increase efforts to produce and develop defense technologies together such as jet engines, artillery systems, and armored infantry vehicles. Officials have also agreed to carry out the building of an advanced mobile network in India and look for new cooperation in semiconductor production. These efforts would mainly be aimed at increasing India’s chip research.

The main issue is that most of the decisions to collaborate will have to be made in the private sector where companies will likely be more concerned about the business implications rather than the governmental strategies at play. Many companies have already found it difficult to obtain the factory space and skilled workers needed to move supply chains out of China.

To address these issues both Biden and Modi are working to increase efforts to increase the industrial and innovation bases of the two countries. The key components of this are working through regulatory barriers such as visas for Indian workers in the U.S. and India changing its tax system to attract more manufacturers from foreign nations. The United States would also need to rework the restrictions that have been placed on transferring defense technology outside of the country. 

This collaboration is expected to result in increased investment and job creation for both the U.S. and India. The partnership will provide opportunities for startups to grow and to have better technology and digital infrastructure access in underdeveloped areas as well as increase the number of workers in tech-related fields.

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/31/business/economy/us-india-technology-partnership.html

How Increasing Interest Rates are Affecting Businesses and the Stock Market

 Since last March, the stock market has declined severely, meaning that of course interest rates have skyrocketed. This has affected both business profitability and the stock market in huge ways. 

To business owners, this means less profit potential right off the bat for those who have taken out loans in the past. These new interest rates will take out money out of the pockets of business owners. Not only will it affect the top of the pyramid, but all the way down through as well, right down to the sale of the goods and/or services. Because of wages being lowered in some scenarios, this forces firms to raise prices on good and services, and forces households to pay more for sometimes necessary goods, otherwise known as inflation.

Rise in interest rates can also hit some sectors of the economy differently than others. For example, the real estate industry has taken a huge hit, as housing prices continue to climb. To make matters worse for them, building supplies and labor has become more expensive as well, leading to less and less profit for these companies.

This also leads to businesses selling more stock, or taking out more loans in order to keep their business running. When the interest rates are higher, the interest expense that needs to be met makes a company even less profitable. 

Big Ten Football Posts Record Numbers

     The 2022 season has already been a major success for multiple Big Ten football programs. After coming together for a media rights deal of seven years that has an estimated worth of seven billion dollars, both the Big Ten schools, and FOX, CBS, and NBC/Peacock are looking for immediate financial success. The deal that will include college football and all Olympic sports will run through the year 2030.

    So far, the massive contract is already showing its worth as Ohio State and Michigan both have already posted record setting years. Coming just two years off of the 2020 Covid season where the Big Ten, unlike many other conferences, decided to put a limitation on their team's schedules, saw big records being broken in the amount of revenue they were able to generate. For Ohio State and Michigan, both schools brought in over 55 million from ticket sales and another 47 million just from football alone. Not only this, but both schools brought in another 46 million for Michigan and another 49 million for Ohio State in media rights deals. Contributions from a combination of donors, foundations, and companies also added to the success of the big programs. Both schools reported an increase of over 13 million dollars in donations from the previous years with Michigan capping out at 43 million and Ohio State at 62 million. 

    With record setting numbers like these, media programs like FOX, CBS, and NBC are bound to receive some of the success and attention these programs alone bring in. A lot can be said about the Big Ten programs as they brought in the most viewers this year with Ohio State at 1 with 70.3 million viewers and Michigan at 2 with 70.1 million viewers, and the next closest program is Alabama at 3 trailing behind with 62.2 million viewers to show for. Ohio State and Michigan also held the most watched regular season game in week 13 with 17 million viewers which is 10 million viewers more than the next best game. As well as Ohio State recorded the season high of 22.4 million in the Peach Bowl and Michigan with the second highest at 21.7 million in the Fiesta bowl. 

Michigan, Ohio State post record revenue in 2022 | Yardbarker

Ten most viewed college football teams in 2022 | Buckeyes Wire (usatoday.com)

College football TV ratings 2022 - Sports Media Watch

Is India Becoming The Most Populous Country In The World?

     Many countries today like China, Japan and even the United States are having trouble in age population having that most of their economy are made up of retirees or close to retirement citizens. However, India is on the other side of the coin when it comes to what makes up their population. The Diplomat says "2/3 of Indians are under 35 years old."(Pillalamarri). This is an remarkable population being that two thirds of India is of the working age. 

        India does have it's economical flaws in intercommunal tensions, high scale of poverty, and uneven consistency with education and opportunities. But as their manufacturing aspects continue, including vital industries like cellphones and semiconductors, India is on track to becoming the third largest economy by the end of the decade. 

            So to speak, is India becoming the most populous country in the world? They are growing substantially in numbers and capital. They have 5 million more people than china in terms of populous. Who's to count them out?

https://thediplomat.com/2023/01/india-is-the-worlds-most-populous-country-what-it-means/

Japan's Population Crisis

  Over the last week, Japan has declared a state of emergency under the impact of a nationwide population decline. "Last year less than 800,000 babies were born, resulting in a rapid decline that experts hadn’t predicted until 2030." In 1970's , Japan would see approx 2.1 million births per year. The fertility rate, which indicates the number of children a women will have during her lifetime, fell for the sixth consecutive year to 1.30 in 2021. 

On the other end of the spectrum, Japan has one of the highest life expectancies in the world. 1 in every 1,500 people in Japan are over the age of 100 years old. This has led to talks among politicians to increase the retirement age to 68 years old. As well as having seniors re-join the labor force on a part-time basis. 

Japan's plan to combat population decline focuses on government spending. In order to boost the birth rate the government plans to roll out a countermeasure plan which includes: more financial assistance to help with child rearing, preschool education, nursing care services, and workplace reforms. "A financial support package valued at 100,000 yen is also being devised to help cover the cost of postnatal necessities such as strollers, diapers, and infant formula."

Population decline on such a small island that is already over its natural carrying capacity creates a strong head wind that Japan will try to overcome. A major cultural shift will have to take place in order to save the future of Japan's economy and future growth as a nation. Otherwise, they will face implicit consequences to their labor force and ability to maintain a balance between supply and demand for labor. 

source:

https://thediplomat.com/2023/01/japans-population-crisis-nears-point-of-no-return/

Is it possible to avoid recession?

 Last year markets had a bad time although in 2023 they're looking different. There are broad measures of emerging-market share prices that have seen their best start to a year in decades. The article states that "America's s&p 500 is up by 5%. Since reaching its peak in October, the trade-weighted value of the dollar has fallen by 7%, a sign that fear about the global economy is ebbing." It also stated that although not long ago it felt as if a global recession was inescapable but now optimism is re-emerging. 

Citigroup, a bank said that the probability of a full-blown recession is now about 30% in contrast with the 50% assessment that was prolonged in the second half of last year. Although the post says that these are breadcrumbs and the economy is still weak, investors will hold onto anything. 

Actual statistics are still unclear. Recent retail and industry statistics for the United States performed below predictions. However, consumer confidence throughout the OECD has increased after falling to an all-time low in the summer. Though pandemic-related disruptions imply that these numbers won't be as trustworthy as usual, most economists were anticipating a reasonable number.

The labor markets also appear to be holding up. A recession is likely since unemployment is rising in certain wealthy nations, such as Austria and Denmark. There is seldom a day that goes by without a major technology business announcing that it is laying off staff. Yet just a small portion of jobs worldwide are in the technology sector, and unemployment rates are still low worldwide.

Investors are concerned about the labor markets, but inflation is what they are most concerned about right now. It's too soon to say whether or not this threat has passed.  Before central banks can be sure that inflation is under control, a lot of work remains, especially in light of the rising commodity prices brought on by China's openings. Additionally, a recession-prone economy is unpredictable. Predicting the severity of a recession becomes challenging once people start to cut back on spending and lose their jobs. The article ends by saying that a lesson learned in recent years is that if something is going to go wrong it probably will, yet it's nice to have hope and be optimistic. 

source: https://www.economist.com/finance-and-economics/2023/01/24/how-the-world-economy-could-avoid-recession

The Pandemic Used-Car Boom Is Coming to an Abrupt End

     During the Pandemic, multiple consumers were purchasing used-cars because of the shortage in supplies for the automobile companies. This caused consumers to go to used-car lots because the new car dealers had nothing to give. Companies like Carvana have been hit hard by this issue. While they were thriving in 2020-2021 due to their online purchasing of used cars, it has not been needed now because of COVID protocols going away.  

    Since interest rates are getting to be so high, consumers have been purchasing fewer cars. This is killing the used-car business as the new-car dealers have been able to pick up their production. In this article, the said the used-car values fell 14 percent in 2022, and are expected to fall 4 more percent in 2023. 

    The most struggling business in the car selling industry is Carvana. They have lost over 500 million dollars and have had to lay off 4,000 employees already. Their stock has fallen more than 95 percent, and they are starting to pile up debt. Though they are struggling, there has been plenty of research showing they can turn themselves around later this year. 

https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/30/business/economy/used-cars-carmax-carvana.html

MLB Sets New Revenue Record in 2022

     The MLB set a new revenue record in 2022, recording a 10.8-10.9 billion dollar revenue. According to Forbes, the revenue surpassed 10.7 billion in 2019. This is also a huge bounce back from the pandemic, which did not allow fans to attend the game and struggled to bring in income, especially with the high player payrolls for each team.

The revenue increase also comes on a season where although there were no Covid-19 restrictions, there was still a decline in attendance. Toward the end of the 2022 season, some ballparks were reporting only 20% capacity for games. This is on-brand for the league however as attendance has dropped nine seasons not adding in the Covid-19 affected season. 

The main source of revenue for the MLB comes from the media deals the league can sign. The league's new deals with Fox, TBS, and ESPN were a huge revenue stream accounting for about 1.75 billion in revenue each. This also paired well with having an uptick in tv viewers to combat the attendance decrease. The deals also covered new streaming platforms and opportunities making the game more accessible. 

https://www.forbes.com/sites/maurybrown/2023/01/10/mlb-sets-new-revenue-record-exceeding-108-billion-for-2022/?sh=4f5c1c6a77ee

Comparing Walmart Prices from 2019 to 2022

 NPR looked at prices in a Georgia Walmart in 2022 and compared them to prices at the same Walmart in 2022. They learned that overall, prices have gone up, the practice of “shrinkflation” is more common, and that they exchanged some name brands for more profitable private companies.

The expected outcome of prices rising due to inflation was evident in their research. On average, prices went up 23% at this Walmart. Quaker Old Fashioned Oats went up significantly, with a price increase of 73% and the price of Papermate Mechanical Pencils went up 86%. A few of the other items with a large price increase includes Bounty Paper Towels, Great Value Eggs, and Welch’s Grape Jelly. There were many factors that went into these large increases such as supply chain issues, tariffs, and seasonal purchases.

There were some items that decreased in price. A few of the most significant price decreases were a result of Walmart switching brands. For example, they switched from big-name brands, like the Stanley screwdriver, to private brands. This gives Walmart the ability to advertise lower prices while still making a good profit. Another reason some prices did not go down is because the store can choose to spread a price hike across multiple different items rather than using it on a popular item.

Another concept that NPR captured at this Walmart was “shrinkflation”. This is when the price of a product remains similar to before, but there is a decrease in the amount of product. One example from this project was Dove Soap. In 2019, you could purchase a 10 pack of 4 oz soap bars for $10.88. In 2022, you could purchase an 8 pack of 3.75 oz soap bars for $10.97. This was captured in other products such as Tide Detergent as well.

Source: https://www.npr.org/2023/01/26/1147894382/walmart-price-inflation-supply-chain-economy

Super Bowl Problems

Without a doubt, the Super Bowl hosted by the National Football League is one of the largest sporting events worldwide. The amount of revenue the NFL receives over just a couple of hours of gameplay is staggering, to say the least. It is no secret that Super Bowl advertisements are always a huge topic of discussion. This is especially relevant when talking about the prices companies pay to have their brand recognized in the commercials of this event. 

          As of 2023 Super Bowl advertisements have been sold at a record-breaking price by Fox Media Company. Television networks are looking to pay over 100 billion dollars over the next decade just to broadcast NFL games. Therefore, media companies such as Fox, are looking to make some of that money back through their advertisements. Front Office Sports is claiming that Fox has set their advertisement price for this year's game at approximately 7 million dollars. This is astonishing when you realize these advertisements are only running thirty seconds long. 

          Now, the high-priced ads are news to nobody, although it should be pointed out that these advertisements are increasingly getting pricer. It makes it hard for smaller companies to purchase this commercial time, especially when the broadcasters know that companies will pay that large sum of money. Companies like Apple are paying the NFL 50 million dollars yearly in new sponsorship deals. The market for these advertisements is on a consistent uprise, therefore I wonder when these prices will begin to plateau.       

Source:

profile.php?id=100014173501641. (2023, January 30). The cost of a Super Bowl LVII ad cost has been revealed. Sportsnaut. Retrieved January 30, 2023, from https://sportsnaut.com/super-bowl-ads-cost-2023/ 

  

Private Payroll Growth Far Exceeds Expectations

The pandemic caused some of the highest unemployment rates since the Great Depression. These rates messed up the U.S. economy in many different ways such as inflation levels and wages. As the U.S. looks to recover from the pandemic emotionally, there are a lot of economic recoveries to be done, with the main concern being unemployment and inflation rates.   

In December of 2022, private payrolls went to 235,000 compared to the 153,000 estimate that the DOW Jones had for that month. Seeing how the U.S. economy has been struggling to keep unemployment low through the pandemic this is a very promising thing to report. This growth is led by service providers who made up 213,000 of the 235,000 total payrolls while the producing goods sector had the other 22,000. Despite the increase in these sectors other ones such as trade, transportation, and utilities had a 24,000-job loss. 

With all of the new payrolls in this sector and many others, the FED looks to continue to raise inflation rates to counterbalance the new payrolls. With the pandemic coming to an end, many are getting jobs back at an exceedingly fast pace. While this is a good thing in retrospect it's taking its toll on the economy and making it hard to find an equilibrium point. There are so many jobs available now that there are 1.7 job openings for every 1 worker. As the FED continues to work toward this equilibrium, they are raising their expectations for payroll growth in the following months in 2023.

Article: ADP jobs report December 2022: (cnbc.com)

Hummus Wars

 Although this is not a very recent event in economics, I wanted to bring attention to a topic that I found interesting. What does hummus have to do with economics? Lebanon was trying to stop Israel from marketing hummus and other dishes as Israeli. To do this, Lebanon wanted to register hummus, with an EU commission, as Lebanese which would allow them to have exclusive rights to the term "hummus" on any product packaging. 

The article that I read with this information argues that "authenticity" is not determined by tradition or heritage, but by practice. Therefore, hummus is Israeli so long as it is consumed and understood as such by the Israeli population.

With the rise of global hummus consumption, authenticity takes on an economic value. Lebanese producers are not well represented in international sales therefore, they have attempted to trademark hummus, both to legislate and profit from the construction of authenticity. Legal authenticity embodied in the trademark of a foodstuff provides an economic advantage and promotes ethnic, national, or regional pride. The attempt to gain the exclusive legal right to market hummus would benefit Lebanon in both these ways.

 In 2009, the largest batch of hummus was made in Lebanon (4,532 lbs of hummus). This beat the previous record, set by Israel, of an 882 lb dish of hummus. Israel retaliated though and created an 8,992.5 lb dish of hummus. Lebanon came back again with a 23,042 lb dish of hummus. This was the final large dish made. The purpose of making these large dishes was to tell the world that this dish is a part of a certain culture's traditions. 

However, Lebanon was stopped because hummus was proved to be part of the general culture of that geographic region and could be used by any producer. 

Ariel; The Hummus Wars. Gastronomica 1 February 2012; 12 (1): 34-41. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/GFC.2012.12.1.34

Recession on the Horizon for the UK as the Economic Outlook Looks Bleak

    The current economic outlook for the British is pessimistic to say the least. The United Kingdom is currently forecasted by Goldman Sachs to decrease in total GDP by 1.3% in the next year. This leaves them as a close second out of the group 10 major economies only to Russia(1.4%), a country that is currently facing numerous sanctions from their invasion of Ukraine and the opposition of Joe Biden, the US, and most of the planet.

    The Brits face their harshest decline in living standards ever while interest rates and inflation both continue to rise. Additionally, they expect an increase in unemployment next year with food and energy prices rising fast. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development is predicting that the UK will continue to fall behind in terms of growth compared to the other group 10 countries.

    In summary, recession seems all too likely and impending for the UK with the massive decline in trade from Brexit, the consequences from Russia’s war in Ukraine(along with most of the globe), and the problems from China’s Covid-19 procedures disrupting the UK supply. 

https://www.cnbc.com/2023/01/04/the-uk-recession-will-be-almost-as-deep-as-that-of-russia-economists-predict.html

The NBA Foundation Invests $300 Million to Empower the Black Community

    The foundation was given $300 million by the 30 NBA team owners to be spread out over ten years. In two years, the foundation has invested $53 million into different non-profit organizations that all aim to help train, mentor and coach Black youths across the US and Canada.

    It recently celebrated its two year anniversary by awarding 40 new and renewed grants totaling $20 million, representing its largest grant round to date. All told, 136 grantees and 70,000 young people have benefitted from the initiative so far. The foundation has also created the inaugural NBA x Historically Black Colleges & Universities (HBCU) Fellowship program, which put 60 students from HBCU institutions into paid internship roles within the league office, and with several NBA franchises.

    The foundations board consists of Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes, Philadelphia 76ers player Tobias Harris, New Orleans Pelicans governor Gayle Benson, Atlanta Hawks principal owner Tony Ressler, and basketball legend Michael Jordan. When asked in what ways they have spent their budget, they said, “ Our mission is to promote economic opportunity for Black youth aged between 14 and 24 years old.”

Article: https://www.sportspromedia.com/interviews/nba-foundation-greg-taylor-charity-black-community-interview/?zephr_sso_ott=nQFBqt