The all-telling eye

I found this interesting because it tells of a completely new way of doing things - through the technology-human interface. And it could be an entirely new emerging industry in the field of technology. There is a lot of information encoded in facial expression; failure to detect it is the basis of autism dysfunction.

There is WHAT we say, but also HOW we say it that provides subtle secondary pregnant meaning like sarcasm, regret, or sadness.

We assume technology should be strictly robotic and unemotionally. But humans are emotional. And mastering the Technology-Human Interface was the key to Steve Job's success. Yes I smiled when I read some of the details of this fascinating essay. And who does not smile at a well written joke, pun or a word like 'spork'.

There is a 'ton' of meaning that is lost in empty words unattached to facial expressions and gestures. That is why we still have face-to-face meetings in the 21st Century

Europe’s Woes Pose New Peril to Recovery in the U.S.

This article discusses some of the very negative impacts that the European financial crisis will have on the US economy. It is a good article for helping us to remember how globalized our economic systems are, and a crisis in an economic system as big as the European Union will have detrimental effects abroad. One point that the author makes is that the dollar will appreciate relative to the Euro, making our exports more expensive and decreasing net exports over time. This can clearly be seen and understood in the open economy models that we created in class, so I though that it was interesting to see a real life example of the model. This will not be the only effect of the crisis on the US. The depreciation of the Euro will also effect financial institutions, US investment abroad, and more. It is sometimes easy to forget how much other country's financial situations will affect us, and this article is a good reminder of how important Europe's health is to our survival. We are interconnected, and their failure is not a benefit to us.

Government Pays For Restoration Procts

This article talks about the Administration Neighborhood Stabilization Program, which provides federal money to state and local governments to buy, renovate and resell vacant and foreclosed houses. The program has a $7 billion budget, $26 million of which is going to Baltimore alone. The program is relatively young, only 11,545 houses have been sold using the program, however the ANSP seems like a waste of federal money. In Baltimore, a group of non profit organizations called Healthy Neighborhoods, has been doing the same exact thing and has been reselling houses at a loss. I can't imagine that state and local governments are fairing any better than Healthy Neighborhoods, which means that federal dollars are being wasted on the effort. The money might be better served for another purpose.

Can the Fed Stimulate Growth or Only Inflation?

This article discusses what the results of current monetary policy will be. It begins by saying that the Fed would like the government to continue to use expansionary fiscal policy, as opposed to the contractionary fiscal policy it seems to be switching to. The article then discusses all the predictions of Republicans that the Fed's actions over the last few years would lead to stagflation, but in fact, we have seen minimal inflation, and deflation is currently a greater fear.

However, it seems that some economists are still taking the position that the Fed should do nothing, such as Amity Shales who believes that it is okay for prices to stay where they are or even fall, the Fed should not try to make them rise. The article concludes by saying that this position is incorrect because we are at an incredibly low risk of inflation and the conservatives who are stopping fiscal and to some extent monetary policy are only preventing us from getting back on our feet sooner.

Attention College Grads: Protesting Won't Get You a Job Read more: http://www.foxbusiness.com/personal-finance/2011/11/10/attention-college-grads-pro

This article has an interesting take on the "Occupy Wallstreet" protests. The author suggests that frustrated college grads expected their diplomas would produce the job of their dreams. Though I know the protests are ideologically deeper than that, I still think the job search advice the author gives is a good suggestion of what mindset you should have when talking with a potential employer and the search in general.

Bill Clinton's plan to save the economy.

This is a GREAT video about Bill Clinton's plan to save the American economy.
In the video, he lays out a pretty simple, but sensible plan to save the economy.
One of the things he stresses is lowering the corporate tax, something you rarely hear from a Democrat.
Just recently, Dr. Tecklenberg spoke about creating jobs in America for the mock convention and suggested the same exact thing.
Clinton believes that jobs will come when American corporations can be competitive and can bring back high-end manufacturing jobs.
He admits that although he did raise corporate taxes when he was president, that was only because the U.S. rates were still in the middle somewhere.
Now that the rates are much higher than other countries, the U.S. should lower corporate taxes and bring back jobs AND raise tax revenue, not by raising tax rates, but giving growth to the economy.

Is an Ivy League Diploma Worth It?

With many news about student loans and student debts many qualified recent high school graduates decide to enroll in public universities rather than private prestige universities. A young high school recent graduate chose to go to City University of New York's Macaulay Honors College for free rather than going to Cornell because he doesn't want to be in debt even though he's from a middle class family. Many high school student chose that path since the unemployment rate is very high. They thinks that they can go as far as other students who goes to an elite school. But you need to sacrifice since its harder to get into the classes you need in order to graduate in time at a public school because there are more students there. When the young high school graduate finally enrolled at the City University he wasn't happy there but what can he do. He already made his decision and sacrifice.

More students are choosing more affordable universities and choose to commute instead. Community college is very common lately. How far would the sacrifice go?

High Bank Fees Give Wal-Mart A Money Aisle

After reading many articles saying that most big banks such as Bank of America are increasing service fees to customers thats why many people are seeking alternatives to do their errand such as at Wal-Mart.

Wal-Mart is providing different a la carte services for people such as cashing their checks, wire money, pay bills or even loading money to debit cards for lower fee than Banks at a flat rate of $3. A lot of people tends to close their bank accounts since they are charged with hidden fees and higher service fees. Wal-Mart are not banks but they provide basic service like most bank do.

This is very interesting to me how people learn to adapt and keep finding alternatives to be able to survive with a tight budget. Im looking forward to see how Wal-Mart money center evolved in the future.

Europe's Rescue Plan

This article helps in summarizing some of the international problems that were discussed in the Economic Outlook Conference and what is going on in Europe. The summit that just happened has come up with a plan to help eliminate some of the problems going on. Some feel that this deal at best fails to solve the euro crisis; at worst it may even make it worse. As the shortcomings of each component become clear, investors’ fears will surely return, bond yields will rise and banks’ funding problems will worsen.

Brazil compared with Norway and Venezuela on the vices of oil dependence

A great article on what we just did in class and also what Andres Duartes told us about.
It relates to the pros of Norway, the cons of Venezuela and how Brazil could learn from both of these countries regarding dependence on oil.