Nigeria, Brazil Sign Agreement to Boost Trade, Investment

Petroleo Brasileiro is expanding it's oil production in Nigeria in an effort to increase it's presence in the African oil market. Petrobras has been producing oil in Nigeria for 14 years, and expects to increase production,” Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff said today during a speech in Abuja, Nigeria’s capital. “Petrobras expects to establish an ever-stronger presence here in Nigeria.”
Trade between Brazil, South America’s biggest economy, and Nigeria, Africa’s most populous country, is $9 billion a year. Nigerian President Goodluck Jonathan and Rousseff signed an agreement to boost cooperation on energy, aviation, agriculture, electricity, infrastructure development and defense.This seems like a sound idea to improve the economic well being of two different nations, as well as strengthening Petroleo as a company.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-23/nigeria-brazil-sign-agreement-to-boost-trade-investment.html

EU Says Euro Area to Shrink in 2013 as Unemployment Rises

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-02-22/eu-says-euro-zone-to-shrink-in-2013-as-unemployment-rises.html

The Euro-area economy will shrink in back-to-back years for the first time. According to the Brussels-based commission report, the GDP in the EU region will contract 0.3 percent this year and the unemployment will climb to 12.2 percent. Germany will once again play an important role in the recovery. Due to a drop in euro-area demand, German economy is now predicted to grow only 0.5 percent comparing to 0.8 percent. This is not a good sign for the whole region. The domestic demand and investemnt are not expected to improve until 2014, but the prognosis for 2014 is promising. Until demand and investment become main drivers of economic growth EU authorities will be working on other plans of improving the situation in the region.

Shinzo Abe's another step

This March, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are going to have take a big advancement in his plan toward a healthier Japanese Economy, as Bank of Japan's governor Masaaki Shirakawa decided to resign his position just earlier this month. His replacement will be appointed during the same day, with the three potential names all share the same mindset with the Prime Minister regarding monetary policies.
The three candidates for the positions are the head of the Japan Centre for Economic Research Kazusama Iwata, the head of Asian Development Bank Haruhiko Kuroda and the finance-ministry veteran Toshiro Mutoh, who is currently considered the favorite.

While each candidate has his own difference focuses and tactics, all three of them have the same mindsets that Mr.Abe requires for such position in his campaign. While the hope of the Prime Minister has been fulfilled sooner than he expected, the effects of his bold approach remains to be seen. Nevertheless, this event could very well be a big step ahead for the Japanese Economy in the future.

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21571464-accelerated-handover-may-bring-new-thinking-japans-central-bank-regime-change

The Weakening of the Yen

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-01-24/the-surprising-upside-to-japans-currency-war

This article discusses Japan's continuing efforts to raise a reasonable level inflation in a country that is currently experiencing deflation. This, however, has the added effect of weakening the Yen - something Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is encouraging. He would like the Bank of Japan to go further and buy foreign bonds with Japanese Yen to weaken the currency.

This should ideally lead to a rise in Japan's exports and shrinking of their imports. However, since trade is a zero-sum game, when one country racks up high surpluses - the other country racks up deficits. This has led to people criticizing Japan for starting a 'currency war' that will spread to emerging economies. The actual effects of Japan's decisions are yet to be seen but they are definitely in Japan's national interest. 

The Debt Ceiling Explained: Why You Should Care

http://live.wsj.com/video/the-debt-ceiling-explained-why-you-should-care/40415F7F-C0EB-4048-9612-42A22EB77D66.html#!40415F7F-C0EB-4048-9612-42A22EB77D66

As we all know the United States is in the middle debt crisis. We currently 16.4 Trillion dollars in debt. Over the past four years we have spent 1 trillion dollars more per year than we have in the past. We make up for this debt by selling bonds and borrowing from other countries, which means most of our debt is owed to other countries such as Japan and China. Congress created the debt ceiling  so that when the federal debt "bumps up" to the ceiling congress then votes weather or not to raise the debt ceiling, which is where we are now. Congress needs to come to an agreement on taxes and spending to be able to slow this massive build up of debt that we have accumulated. If they don't there could be a huge issue in the Federal Government getting us out of this debt.

New Orleans area economy produced more in 2011, but didn't beat inflation

I found this article and it interested me because I was born and raised in Louisiana and as I read it, it showed me some stuff that we learned in class. It talks about how the economy produced more but in terms of real GDP the New Orleans economy had a slight decrease. This just shows how looking at nominal rates isn't always the best thing to do but looking at the "real" numbers is the best way to get an idea of how a certain economy is doing.

U.S. Trails Much of the World in Paid Family Leave

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/23/your-money/us-trails-much-of-the-world-in-providing-paid-family-leave.html?pagewanted=1&ref=business

The United States often is counted as having fewer benefits than other countries in the world. It is no surprise then, that even when employed, US employees have fewer family leave benefits. This may keep workers more productive but may not make them happier and may contribute to an eventual higher level of employee job separation due to dissatisfaction of employees.

Jobless claims rise

http://money.cnn.com/2013/02/21/news/economy/unemployment-benefits/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

A report from the Labor Department showed that there is an increase in the number of Americans filed for jobless benefits from 342,000 in the previous week to 362,000 in the latest week. However, taking into account the impact of short-term blips that can be caused by weather and other special events, economists suggest that we look at the four-week average figure. Having said that, the average number of people seeking help over the past four weeks totaled 360,750, up 8,000 from the four-week average the previous week. This is not necessarily bad, considering that these figures are lower than they were a year ago. What it is telling us is that the improvements in the economy have been very gradual and slow. As mentioned in the article, the figures have been hovering in the 350,000 to 400,000 range, which is consistent with the US economy's adding 180,000 jobs each month. However, that is simply not enough to keep up with the population growth and certainly not enough to impose a significant decrease in the the unemployment rate.

"Trickle-up Economics"

http://www.economist.com/news/united-states/21571894-president-proposes-hefty-increase-minimum-wage-trickle-up-economics

In this article in the economist details the current agenda of president Obama and his plan to increase the minimum wage.  The whole idea behind Obama's plan to increase the minimum wage is that first off it will bring us closer to income equality.  Also it will help bolster the current US economy by reducing the poverty level and increase the spending power of the poorest workers.  While it comes with great criticism by big business and Republicans to whom are saying that it would cost low skilled workers vital jobs.  This increase in minimum from $7.25 to $9.00 by 2015.  As opposed to traditional views that raising minimum wage will increase the number of the unemployed in recent studies the idea of raising minimum wage has secured those who have jobs due to costly turnovers and lay offs.  Not only does it show that it helps some keep their jobs it also the increase in minimum wage would give people to spend or consume more of what they earn for example the EPI last year claimed a minimum wage of $9.80 and said to have created 100,000 jobs.  The article also touched on the fact that this was not Obama's only move to boost the economy that with the purposed jobs lost to this increase he was talking about such as increasing infrastructure to early childhood education.

The end of cash?

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21427472

This article talks about how the world is steadily approaching a cash-free environment because of all the different payment options now available with the help of start ups. But really, it's hard to see a future without cash. Cash is important because of the convenience, anonymity and useful when the 'power goes out'. However, the new payment methods, especially those tailored to mobile phones have made making payments extremely extremely convenient. Most higher income earners shy away from cash while low income earners, for example those who spend about $2 a day really depend on cash and the cost of cash mostly falls on them. Increased access to a bank account, credit, insurance and all the tools necessary for economic stability and electronic money makes this all much easier. Those without access to such tools are usually the poor, and it makes it even harder for them to come out of poverty.