Would A Soda Tax Be A Big Deal?

This article discusses the possibility of a soda tax. The idea for this begins with the governments both local and state that have been left desperate for money after the recession. The arguments for the tax show that beyond increasing the money supply of the government the tax would also help fight obesity in the United States. The drink industry argues that simply raising the price of sugary drinks would not be enough alone to combat the obesity problem in the United states. Several studies were done showing the price elasticity of demand for the sugary drinks. The final consensus was that a 20% increase in the price of the drink would cause a 10% decrease in the demand.

Amid Rising Demand, Price Of Coffee Beans Soars

This article explains that as China becomes more middle class it tries to imitate the European and American ways in several aspects including drinking coffee. This increase of coffee drinkers in China has lead to an increase of the demand of coffee in the world. However, for many reasons including bad weather and the time coffee plants take to grow and mature, the supply of coffee in the world has not increased. This increase in demand with supply staying the same has caused an upward shift on the price of coffee. The suppliers of coffee also realize that the product is such a routine part of the consumers daily lives that they do not fear the increase in price pushing consumers away from purchasing the product.

Economy sees growth, but unemployment stays high

Even with a growing economy, the unemployment rate does not appear to be reaching normal rates of 5.5 to 6% anytime soon. This year the economy grew at 2.5%, more than expected by the Fed. This higher than expected growth may be due to stronger U.S. spending by consumers and higher overseas sales. Still, the Fed does not project unemployment to decrease significantly for a few years. The latest projections show just under a 7% unemployment rate by the year 2013.

Ohio's jobless rate slips below double digits for first time in more than a year

Unemployment in Ohio has dropped to 9.9%. However, this drop is believed to be caused by discouraged workers who continue to be unemployed but have stopped looking for work. In order to be considered "unemployed", a person must be actively looking for work. The psychological effects of this drop give the appearance that the economy is looking up, even if the true statistics show otherwise.

How Congress' tax-cut decision may affect economy

Economists agree that tax cuts for lower- and middle-class Americans should be continued but there are questions as to what should be done for the upper 3% of Americans.

If Congress were to let the tax cuts expire for everyone the deficit would drop to $732 billion but growth would shrink to .9 percent a year and unemployment would increase to 10.7 percent. The higher taxes decrease consumption and decrease job availability.

Republicans are fighting for tax cuts for everyone but President Obama has a different plan. He would like to continue the tax cuts for individuals with an income below $200,000 and couples below $250,000. However, after major losses in the elections, Obama has shown that he would be okay with one- or two-year extensions of the cuts to the upper 3%.

Extending the tax cuts permanently for lower-and middle-classes and allowing them to expire for upper-class Americans will leave grown at 2.6%, unemployment at 10%, and would decrease the deficit from $1.3 trillion to $904 billion.

Extending the tax cuts permanently for lower- and middle-classes and for one or two years for the highest earners will leave growth at 2.95%, unemployment at 9.9%, and decrease the deficit from $1.3 trillion to $943 billion.

By making the tax cuts permanent for everyone, growth will remain at 2.95%, unemployment at9.9%, but the deficit would grow to $4 trillion over the next ten years.

99ers: The unemployed need help!

Roughly 14.8 million Americans are unemployed with about 6.2 million of them out of work for at least 27 weeks. This long term unemployment is making long-term jobless people get more organized. One union “the 99ers” have sent 10,000 letters to lawmakers earlier this month. Another group the FlashMobs4Jobs is holding rallies and demonstrations. Earlier this month the group recreated a 1930s breadline outside the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Unemployed Americans have collected $319 billion in jobless benefits over the past three years, and the lawmakers are very sensitive in increasing the bill. One thing is certain though the voice of the unemployed will get increasingly stronger.

Black Friday Ends Red for Stocks as Portugal Looms

The Dow dropped almost 100 points black Friday and fell into the red.

The NYSE had their own Black Friday where many stocks were available for purchase but there weren't interested buyers.

Nearly every Dow stock went down but the Nasdaq Composite did better with stocks such as Apple and Adobe.

The Euro also fell another .87% when a German newspaper announced that the EU wants Portugal to accept a bailout. However, the cost to insure Portugal's bonds are on the rise.

Also falling were crude oil and gold. This is said to be a result of risk aversion of the possible war between the Koreas.

Chairman Ben S. Bernanke's Speech - Emerging from the Crisis: Where Do We Stand?

This speech from the Fed's Chairman nicely capture the current state of the economy after the Financial Crisis and the Great Recession. Besides, he addresses several approaches, traditional ones and also innovative ones, that the Fed and central banks around the world took to steer the economies around the world out of Depression. Lastly, Bernanke recaps several lessons to learn from the Recession and the Financial Crisis - involving the major role of the financial systems to macro economies, creative policies responses, and international cooperation.

Mittel-management

Being the second largest exporter in the world Germany dedicates part of its success story to Mittelstand or its medium and small companies. The most interesting companies to take lessons from are the rather bigger ones and more outward-looking. Most of them (90%) operate in the business-to-business market and 70% are based in the countryside. Many people believe that Mittelstand will be a victim of globalization. However for the past decade Mittelstand has been a story of success and conquer, and it seems that it will continue for a long time.

An Industrial Project That Could Change Myanmar

A business development project set in motion this week for the coast of Myanmar will change the quite coastline into a heavy cargo port. Factories, refineries and a coal power plant will also be set up in the area.
This port will hopefully deeply impact the international shipping lanes as ships can stop here instead of taking a longer route that costs them several thousand kilometers. It will be a link between Europe and Indochina.
Hopefully the factories will bring tons of new jobs to the starving population.
The article did mention the progress the government has made by having their first elections in two decades and released the country's biggest dissident and protester, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, from house arrest.