China's inflation

In February of 2010, China's price index has risen roughly 2.7%. With its price index rising, its economy has also been on the rise, while the rest of the world's price index keeps plummeting. Because inflation is occurring quickly in China, economists have guessed that the Chinese government will need to put an end to the stimulus, and soon.

Inflation, the general rise in prices of goods and services, in China could be kept in check by higher interest rates. However, raising the cost of goods in China leads to less of a demand in certain products, which would lead to less competition globally. One thing the Chinese government has done to control inflation is attempt to raise the value of the Chinese yuan, which is equivalent to the U.S's dollar. By raising the value of its currency, China could help prevent inflation from growing larger and larger.

Haiti pre earthquake and post earthquake

On January 12th in 2010 Haiti and it's citizens lives were changed forever. An earthquake of 7.0 magnitude hit the Haiti region just before 5 p.m. Prior to the earthquake, Haiti was the poorest country in the Americas. With the economy already going into a tailspin, the earthquake surely didn't help. After the earthquake many Haitians were seeking medical, housing and business help. However, among the terror and hopelessness there are a select few individuals who still seem to have the entrepreneurial spirit alive in them. Alexander Fritzner, a business owner in Haiti, is one who is fighting for his livelihood and hoping that he can build his store up again.

Although many people believe that even before the earthquake Haiti was down on its luck, it is very heart warming to know that some Haiti citizens are enduring the newest set back and trying to overcome it. There were not many positive numbers in Haiti's economy before the earthquake, and post earthquake the figures are dropping even further. However, one positive to count on is that hope still is among the population that the economy can be revived from this seemingly impossible setback.

Click here for more on rebuilding Haiti's economy.
Click here for more information on the economic basket-case of Haiti.

Political Cartoon - Debt

This particular political cartoon is poking fun at how our nation is in serious debt. Uncle Sam, being the symbol for the United States, is clearly carrying a heavy load on his back. The heavy load being our nation's debt that has increased with continuous war costs. Decreasing tax revenues from the income tax cuts give to the wealthy has also not helped our governments debt load. Having United State's previous president, George Bush, "on top" of the debt that is on Uncle Sam's back makes it appear as if he is in control with the headline. However, Uncle Sam reading the newspaper "Slumping Economy" shows that although the government seems to the naked eye that it is taking care of things, in reality the situation is not improving.

Attempts at trying to relieve the United States of debt, war costs and rich tax cuts, are not helping the economy dig itself out of the debt. These pursuits are actually hurting the economy and causing more stress to the U.S. The U.S. could save roughly one trillion dollars by cutting war costs and sending troops home earlier. However, the contrary is what actually is occurring. More troops have been sent to the Middle East, which leads to more spending to support these new troops. If the government doesn't get a hold of the nation's debt situation, "Uncle Sam might collapse."

The weather affecting unemployment

As this winter drew near, many people felt that their jobs were at risk. Not only were people in fear of losing their job because of the recession, but poor weather conditions were also having an effect.

Specifically in Nevada, the state's average unemployment is 13%, while the Las Vegas area unemployment increased rate to 13.8% in January. The increase in unemployment in Las Vegas has been mostly due to seasonal unemployment which is a part of frictional unemployment. At the same time retail employment was falling which one can also tie back to the recession as being its main cause. On the other hand, one could come to the conclusion that people did not want to work out in bad weather when there are more risks for getting sick, or in a car accident which could lead to retail employment decreasing.

Overall, the weather does have an effect on the unemployment rate. With construction workers and other seasonal job seekers not employed, the result is inevitably more unemployment. The recession alone causes unemployment; however with people sticking indoors with their fires and soup, the retail industry (specifically in Nevada) was also hit hard with unemployment this winter.

Competition amongst product labels

In market economies one of the key components to the idea of capitalism is competition. Competition affects how the business deals with private property, freedom of choice, role of self-interest, and markets and prices. Competition specifically hits hard on markets and prices.

There is a constant battle between brand labels, and private labels. Right now, there is an "Inflame competition between Wal-Mart, Kroger, and Aldi." The role of the market is greatly affected because competition ends up changing the market product and prices not only between major companies (Wal-Mart vs Kroger) but also within the store between brand labels and private labels. This constant competition could create a snowball effect and put "retailers squeezing at each other in pursuit of scarce consumer dollars and of market share in the recession" (Duff).

GDP differences

Gross domestic product is the market value for all final goods and services produced in the economy within a given year. It is the best measure of production for a country's economy. Interesting to note that that one can compare countries and their GDP's, not only based on the country itself, but also on their political history (NATO vs. OPEC), religion, and even language. NATO members have a higher GDP than OPEC countries. English speaking countries have better overall GDP than Spanish or French, and the Buddhist religion comes on top over Christian's and Muslim's. Interestingly, because a country is a member of NATO does not guarantee that they are ranked high in overall GDP (comparing all countries).

I conclude there must be a reason that there are no particular correlations between a country's religion, tongue, or political status that affects their GDP rate on the global perspective. However, it is clear that if a country isn't producing many final goods, they won't rank high in GDP ranks. A country must have high Consumer spending, Gross investment, Government spending, and Net exports to be thought of as competition in the GDP global ranking.

Supply and demand with Silver

In 2008 there was a significant dip in the demand for silver. With the economy failing, the result is people buying less of real silver products. For instance, real silver jewelery demand drooped 3.2%, and silverware demand dropped 2%. One could conclude that due to the poor economy consumer's expectations were dropping which in turn caused consumers to substitute fine silverware or nice real silver jewelery for cheaper knock-off brands. These examples and others cause the demand for silver to decrease. If mines continue to supply silver in the amounts they have been a surplus of silver will result due to the decrease in demand.