Skip to main content

Home/ Fall 2012 Challenges Assignment/ Group items tagged Economic

Rss Feed Group items tagged

A SN

Tom Thorne's ejournal: Economic stagnation in US means whoever wins the US Presidential... - 1 views

  • The real threat to Canada is not who is in the White House but what they do about the mounting US Government debt now at $16 Trillion plus. To this point there is no will apparent to cooperate for a solution.
  • The real threat to Canada is not who is in the White House but what they do about the mounting US Government debt now at $16 Trillion plus. To this point there is no will apparent to cooperate for a solution.
  • The real threat to Canada is not who is in the White House but what they do about the mounting US Government debt now at $16 Trillion plus. To this point there is no will apparent to cooperate for a solution.
    • A SN
       
      Represents the real threat to Canada; USA's economic stagnation
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • The real threat to Canada is not who is in the White House but what they do about the mounting US Government debt now at $16 Trillion plus. To this point there is no will apparent to cooperate for a solution.
  • If the US literally prints its way out of its economic mess, the mess will be compounded. 
    • A SN
       
      Problems caused by overprinting money
  • Such an action is guaranteed to create inflation and a rise in interest rates charged to service the debt and also generally for business and lenders of all kinds.
  • Lenders will want more interest to cover the risk of carrying US Government debt loads expressed in diluted valued bonds and currency.
    • A SN
       
      The proves that the USA is in really bad debt.
  • Serious debt reduction is needed in the US Congress and Administration.  And there is very little wiggle room to cut US government expenditures. However failure to do so will mean in the middle range of time that the US will become more and more an economic lightweight and hence its world presence will be diminished. That is bad for Canada.
    • A SN
       
      If USA falls into a deeper economic stagnation Canada will be widely affected.
  • The US is making itself militarily and financially vulnerable. Canada, no matter how well we manage our financial affairs, will be forced into the same situation as our major trading partner.
    • A SN
       
      The US is losing it influence throughout the world. This is a problem.
  • It will be tougher for Canada to retain our natural resources.  Potential deals like the Chinese State taking over Nexen in our oil sands, will become more likely if we want to maintain our own economic performance independent of a financially errant US.
    • A SN
       
      problems caused by USA economic stagnation.
  • It really is time for the United States Government and its politicians to bite the economic bullet. Failure to do so means a downsizing of the United State’s influence on the world stage and that can only mean that Canada will need a more independent economic policy as China grows in influence. In short the lack of action on the economic front by our major trading partner is taking us more to Europe and into the arms of the Chinese Government’s hegemony.
    • A SN
       
      The consequences if the USA does not change.
  •  
    Questions: 1. Do you think that eventually Canada will have no choice but to sell its natural resources to the other world powers? Can this be a good change? 2. Canada and the USA share a lot of history and do a lot of activities together, do you think that being financially independent will make us rely less on the US ?
Cristina Raileanu

Canada's dirty economic secret: we're as indebted as the rest of you | Colin Horgan | C... - 0 views

  • is acknowledged to have weathered the economic storm better than any other major western economy, bank bailouts have been avoided, sustained growth has returned,"
  • "highest credit rating in the world,
  • Canada learned some sound policy lessons from its own financial and economic meltdowns in the latter decades of the 20th century, a lot of us are now personally up to our eyeballs.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Canadian "household debt as a percentage of disposable income has risen by almost 60 percentage points to 165% today,"
  • The bulk of this rise in debt – 66%, or $636 bn – has been in the form of mortgage debt, putting Canadians in an uncomfortable neighbourhood
  • between Spain and the United States in the ranking of household mortgage debt,"
A SN

The Wrong Inequality - NYTimes.com - 2 views

  • Blue Inequality
    • A SN
       
      One type of inequality.
  • Red Inequality
  • It’s between those with a college degree and those without.
  • ...8 more annotations...
  • Roughly 31 percent started or manage nonfinancial businesses. About 16 percent are doctors, 14 percent are in finance, 8 percent are lawyers, 5 percent are engineers and about 2 percent are in sports, entertainment or the media.
  • people similar to yourself, who may have gone to the same college, who are earning much more while benefiting from low tax rates, wielding disproportionate political power, gaining in prestige and contributing seemingly little to the social good.
  • New York City, Los Angeles, Boston, San Francisco, Seattle, Dallas, Houston and the District of Columbia.
  • Moreover, college graduates have become good at passing down advantages to their children. If you are born with parents who are college graduates, your odds of getting through college are excellent. If you are born to high school grads, your odds are terrible.
  • more likely to get married, they are much less likely to get divorced and they are much, much less likely to have a child out of wedlock. Today, college grads are much less likely to smoke than high school grads, they are less likely to be obese, they are more likely to be active in their communities, they have much more social trust, they speak many more words to their children at home.
  • But the fact is that Red Inequality is much more important. The zooming wealth of the top 1 percent is a problem, but it’s not nearly as big a problem as the tens of millions of Americans who have dropped out of high school or college. It’s not nearly as big a problem as the 40 percent of children who are born out of wedlock. It’s not nearly as big a problem as the nation’s stagnant human capital, its stagnant social mobility and the disorganized social fabric for the bottom 50 percent.
  • That’s because the protesters and media people who cover them tend to live in or near the big cities, where the top 1 percent is so evident
  • If your ultimate goal is to reduce inequality, then you should be furious at the doctors, bankers and C.E.O.’s. If your goal is to expand opportunity, then you have a much bigger and different agenda
  •  
    Questions 1. Why does this article relate to economics? Honestly, why should we as economists really care about this matter? 2. Inequality is not only found in America, so how can American inequalities be compared to other inequalities found in the world? (This can include gender, race, geographical location, history, and more)
  •  
    1. This article relates to economics because it discusses red and blue inequalities that exist and these are economic principles that economists need to pay attention to. The economy is based on efficiency and in order to be efficient economists have to take into consideration all types of inequalities that exist 2. An inequality is an unequal difference between two things, this article recognizes the inequality between the rich and the poor, or as they call it the red and blue inequality. Another type of inequality is gender inequality. In some countries girls are not allowed to go to school with the boys, and girls typically don't have the same rights as boys.
faseehthemoonman

Mining industry stakes claim as most powerful economic and social force in Queensland |... - 0 views

  •  
    Queensland resources council conducted a study that showed the mineral and energy has once again has increased its economic contribution to the state. resource companies have created 36 billion in gross regional product, due to gas and coal companies. it is a smart decision that auzi started to investing in producing a wide range of commodity resources. since the coal market struck a high. The challenge now is to ensure that there is a strong pipeline of projects across all commodities to sustain and grow the resources.
  •  
    Question Do you think a country like Aus would have more success investing in resources and commodities than Canada?
JJ Igra

'Dead' cash to blame for Ontario's stagnant growth, task force warns - 2 views

  •  
    "A new status quo of slow or stagnant economic growth for Ontario's economy is developing," warns the Task Force on Competitiveness, Productivity and Economic Progress. "If economic growth languishes at less than 2 per cent annually, everything from government funding and programs to private sector competitiveness and employment will be impacted." The issue of dead money surfaced this summer when Bank of Canada Governor Mark Carney said Canadian companies are sitting on cash when they should be investing or returning it to shareholders - comments that sparked an avalanche of criticism from economists and executives. Canada's relative stability should make businesses more willing to invest. Instead, they are sitting on large cash reserves. Ontario's GDP per capita ranks 14th among 16 North American peer jurisdictions and lags the median of the peers by $7,500 Roger Martin, chairman of the task force and Rotman School of Management dean, in a release. "But the gap in GDP per capita with North American peers shows that Ontario needs to move now to push for more growth." Dead money could be used "to invest in the physical and human capital we need to increase our productivity and close the prosperity gap," he added. Key Concepts: GDP- gross domestic product Stagnate- Showing no activity; dull and sluggish: "a stagnant economy".
  • ...2 more comments...
  •  
    Questions: 1) What incentives can the government provide for businesses to invest in other company's? 2) Do you think the government should intervene more or should they let those company's do their own decision making?
  •  
    1) Subsidies so that businesses will be willing to take a risk and invest in other companies. 2) Canada is a mixed economy. Government should intervene if the situation is critical but it should also be up to companies to make the rational decision for their company. Netan
  •  
    1) A crazy one would be to not corporate tax, them, if only for the beginning. Maybe subsidies the companies the government wants businesses to be involved in, and to be willing to invest into.
  •  
    2.I think the government should not intervene in the decisions different companies make unless it greatly affects the country's economy.
lebiez piranaj

Euro crisis opens old wounds for Greece, Germany - 0 views

  • A country's economy devastated, unemployment endemic and suicides rising -- this is the reality in Greece
  • Greece -- the birthplace of democracy -- is now reliant on eurozone bailouts and subject to political decision-making in Brussels and Berlin.
  • Merkel met with Greek Prime Minister
  • ...14 more annotations...
  • a Greek pensioner took his own life outside parliament citing austerity measures for his desperation.
    • lebiez piranaj
       
      austerity measures- when a government reduces it's spending and/or increases its user fees and taxes so that the country can pay back creditors
  • she pledged German support for Greece but made it clear that Greece cannot -- and therefore will not -- yield on its austerity reforms.
  • Greek police were deployed to keep the protests under control.
  • Some demonstrators evoked bitter memories of the brutal Nazi occupation of Greece from 1941 to 1944
  • Spyros Economides, a senior lecturer in international relations and European politics at the London School of Economics, said Greeks are "not very positive at all" in their views toward Germany.
  • it's also younger people who are unemployed and suffering economic dislocation
  • To stay, the Greeks are coming under intense pressure from eurozone peers --- led by Germany -- to implement further austerity measures of 13.5 billion euros [$17.7 billion].
  • the projected cuts could break down into 11.5 billion euros worth of cuts
  • from pensions and wages as well as the sale of state property
  • and the remaining 2 billion euros from additional taxes.
  • Frank Schaeffler, a German member of parliament in the Free Democratic Party, has previously advocated the sale of uninhabited Greek islands to fund creditor repayments.
  • Schaeffler said: "I am afraid Germany has softened its stance on Greece lately ... Samaras himself has said that Greece is willing to sell off its uninhabited islands."
  • Germany is concerned that a Greek exit from the eurozone could lead to a domino effect
  • could lead to a full break-up of the monetary union.
  •  
    Q1: Do you think putting up their uninhabited islands is a good recompensation method in case Greece doesn't pay off their loans and are the Germans indebted to Greece for their misactions during World War 2? Q2: Do you think Greece should be toughening it's austerity measures even though it might mean increasing Greece's current unemployment rate?
  •  
    1. If Greece's economic situation worsens I believe putting up their uninhabited islands would be a great way to compensate because they are likely to be worth a lot and currently are not being used. 2. In my opinion, I feel Greece's unemployment rate is at a very risky point and doing anything to further detriment that would be unwise.
S C

As consumer debt grows, Mark Carney says ready to act if necessary | Debt | Personal Fi... - 1 views

  • emerging
  • While consumers are still spending and loading up more debt, Canadian corporate leaders are pulling back on their business plans because of weak global economic growth
  • debt-to-income ratio rose to 163.4%
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • Household debt is viewed as the biggest threat to the Canadian economy
  • much of that acquired through low mortgages rates
  • Monday’s survey showed 44% of companies plan to increase employment levels over the same period — compared to 59% in July — while 18% said those levels would decline.
  • That rate continued to rise to another record high in the first half of 2012, the federal agency said. In 2011, the ratio of household debt to income was 161.7%, up from 150.6%, under a new system of economic accounting adapted by agency.
  • Firms are generally more circumspect about near-term investment decisions and are focusing on minimizing costs,
  • ost businesses are evenly split at 35% between faster and slower sales growth expectations
  • In its autumn Business Outlook Survey, the central bank said companies “have tempered their expectations for business activity.”
  • Canadian households are continuing to pile on debt at a record pace, while corporate leaders are pulling back on their business plans because of weak global economic growth and uncertain demand.
  • While Canada’s economy is being affected by the global angst, the key areas of uncertainty abroad are all points of justifiable confidence here at home
  •  
    Consumer debt is becoming a larger threat to the Canadian economy as a whole. Meanwhile, businesses stopped expanding due to weak global growth.
Erica Yeo

Canada's wage gap at record high: OECD - The Globe and Mail - 1 views

  • gap between Canada’s rich and poor is growing
  • the income gap in Canada is well above the 34-country average, though still not as extreme as in the United States
  • Countries with greater income inequality tend to see shorter, less sustained periods of economic growth
  • ...21 more annotations...
  • Greater inequality raises economic, political and ethical challenges as it risks leaving a growing number of people behind in an ever-changing economy
  • the top federal marginal income tax rates tumbled – to 29 per cent in 2010 from 43 per cent in 1981
  • Canada’s growing gap: a widening disparity in labour earnings between high- and low-paid workers, and less redistribution.
  • Taxes and benefits reduce inequality less in Canada than in most OECD countries
  • Shifts in the labour market are a key reason why the gap is widening
  • Technological progress has been more beneficial to high-skilled workers, while the gap in men’s earnings in particular is growing ever wider
  • annual hours of low-wage workers in Canada have fallen to 1,100 hours from 1,300 hours, while those of higher-wage workers fell by less, to 2,100 from 2,200 hours
  • Rising self-employment
  • the self-employed typically earn less than other full-time workers
  • Taxation
  • Canada’s tax-benefit system was as effective as those of the Nordic countries in stabilizing equality, offsetting more than 70 per cent of the rise of market-income inequality
  • taxes and benefits now offset less than 40 per cent of the rise in inequality
  • inequality has been rising more rapidly in Canada than in the U.S.
  • social implications
  • income inequality with poor health outcomes
  • 11-year difference in life expectancy between men who live in its poorest neighbourhood and those its richest
  • Taxing the rich
  • closing loopholes
  • compliance with tax rules
  • education, skills training and job retraining programs
  • More and better jobs, enabling people to escape poverty and offering real career prospects, is the most important challenge
  •  
    1) What do you think are possible solutions for the rising inequality? 2) Since the rich are taking a higher percent of overall income and Canada is in debt, do you agree with lowering their taxes?
Aron Joshua Tolentino

Euro Crisis Is Past It's Peak, EU Commissioner says - 6 views

1.) Greece should go back to their own currency. The euro has not been the best engineered currency out there. It has been affiliated with multiple economic break downs in the past as well as in th...

greece euro crisis

Cristina Raileanu

Commodities and resources - 0 views

  • Out west, we’ve had it pretty good. Unemployment is low, incomes are high, and the GDP is set to grow faster than almost anywhere.
  • We are not here for ourselves alone.
  • we focus on what immigrants can do for us (fill jobs) rather than on what we can do for them (provide beautiful communities and the chance to participate in building something amazing).
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • “We must build pipelines. The world needs our oil. Nothing can get in the way. This is not negotiable.” Oil and pipeline companies are running headlong into some unanticipated opposition from folks who don’t see it the same way.
  • That means being a world leader in environmental stewardship, rather than arrogantly comparing ourselves to Nigeria or Sudan and patting ourselves on the back because our human rights are better than theirs.
  • Alberta is in a unique situation. It’s been blessed enormously in resources, wealth, natural beauty and smart people. We really can do anything if we set our minds to it, but not if we do it only for short-term financial gain.
tyler wiliams

Broadbent Institute makes income inequality its first focus - 0 views

  •  
    Most of the income gains of the past three decades, the report argues, were realized by only wealthy Canadians. The paper suggests that social and economic rights be added to the Charter of Rights and Freedoms alongside Canadians' political and civil rights, in order to fulfil its "security of the person" provision. For every dollar increase in national earnings over the last 20 years more than 30 cents have gone to the top one per cent while the remaining 70 cents have been shared across the other 99 per cent of Canadians. The final section of the report is prescriptive, outlining several ways to combat growing income equality: -Good jobs: changes to economic policies to promote the growth of middle-class jobs, including trade and foreign investment policies that protect labour rights and environmental standards and strong investments in child care, public education and skills training. -Income supports: changes to the government programs targeted at low-income Canadians and those in short-term need, such as employment insurance, Old Age Security, the Canada Pension Plan, provincial welfare systems and other income supports and tax benefits targeted at low-income families with children and the working poor. -Expanding public services: the report argues that for the majority of Canadians public services are a good deal; The value of education, health care, child care and other public services annually exceeds the taxes paid by middle-class and low-income Canadians. At the same time, some reforms are needed, it acknowledges. -Fair taxes: changes to Canada's tax system are necessary, it argues, pointing out Canada's taxes as a share of national income (31 per cent) are below the average of the world's industrialized countries (34 per cent), squeezing funding for public services.
faseehthemoonman

Canada's Economic Future: What Have We Learned from the 1990s? - Bank of Canada - 1 views

  • To conclude, our economy has been expanding robustly over the past five years, inflation has remained low, employment and incomes have been rising. And we are now seeing encouraging signs of a productivity payoff from the restructuring of the past decade
  •  
    "r"
faseehthemoonman

Bank of Canada warns of rate increase, flags debt concerns - The Globe and Mail - 1 views

  • The Bank of Canada has laid out a clearer path for interest rates, pushing back the timing of an eventual increase
  • Bank of Canada’s benchmark rate from its current setting of 1 per cent.
  • 167 per cent
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Households need to slow their borrowing on their own, or else the Bank of Canada will give them reason to do so
  • anada’s gross domestic product grew at annual rates of 1.8 and 1.9
  • Since April, the Bank of Canada had been talking about a potential rate increase in the context of an “economic expansion” that failed to achieve
  • forecast for economic growth this year to 2.2 per cent from 2.1 per cent
ShiyuandCristina SC

Rich-poor gap could spark financial crisis in Canada: Report | Money | Toronto Sun - 1 views

  • The gap between the rich and the poor in Canada is getting wider and could eventually lead to an economic collapse, according to a new report by a left-wing think-tank.
  • Income for middle-class Canadians has remained stagnate since the 1980s, while the income of the richest 1% has increased dramatically
  • When the rising savings of the rich are parked in the financial markets, but everyone else falls deeper into debt, a house of cards is created, producing the kind of economic instability that led to the 1929 financial sector crash and the market meltdown of 2008."
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • As a result, Canada's income inequality has reached a level not seen since the 1920s, says Canadian Centre for Policy Alternatives.
  •  
    The problems created by income inequality in Canada could possibly lead to a financial crisis. 
Erica Yeo

Divisions between haves and have-nots begin with having skills - or not - The Globe and... - 1 views

  • Baby boomers are targeted because after struggling to get an education in skills that would land a job, and after decades of effort, they have accumulated some wealth.
  • To them, we symbolize intergenerational inequality.
  • Your future will be defined by how well you learn skills that match the needs of the job market. Those who gain useful skills will find higher paying, more rewarding jobs; those without that knowledge will face low-paying, unstable prospects.
  • ...9 more annotations...
  • fail to report what portion of their graduates find work that requires a university education.
  • large numbers of unfilled jobs co-existing with high levels of youth unemployment.
  • what if Canadian universities were the root cause of the skills gap, rather than the solution?
  • progressively widening inequality gap between members of your own generation.
  • 40 per cent of Canadian university graduates aged 25 to 29 were employed in “low-skill” jobs,
  • Canadian graduates turning to jobs-focused colleges for further training.
  • reduces Canadian productivity and prosperity
  • they just keep spending public money to produce graduates with few job prospects,
  • And the class of 2013 may come to realize that the most damaging inequality is not that of financial disparity, but rather the inequality of hope.
  •  
    Discussion Questions: 1. Why should a widening financial income gap be concerning to the economy? 2. What are the economic differences of the baby boomer's generation (1940's-1960's) and the current generation? Do you think these differences affected the education requirement of today's jobs?
Samson Luong

Rare-earth prices rise on slowed production - 2 views

  • Prices of rare earths in China have rebounded recently due to a halt in production and market expectations of large purchases for State Reserves
  • 32,000 yuan ($5,137) per ton, compared with 23,000 yuan at the end of October, a rise of nearly 40 percent
  • The recent price jump is mainly the result of a suspension of production
  • ...4 more annotations...
  • Rare-earth prices fluctuated wildly in 2011, jumping in June following government efforts to consolidate the sector but falling sharply in July as a result of oversupply and weakening market demand. 
  • There has also been market speculation that the State Reserve will buy rare earths in December, which has boosted market prices
  • soaring prices have negative effects on downstream industries that use rare earths as raw materials
  • To conserve resources and protect the environment from heavily polluting rare-earth mining, China has curbed output and exports of rare earths
  •  
    1. Can you use the economic concepts to explain what is happening in the rare earth market? (Hint: Supply and Demand determinants, the relationship of supply and demand etc. Feel free to use other concepts.) 2. Can you explain what type of interventions the government is using to solve the negative externalities in this case. What may happen in the market as a result?
Brijesh Patel

Commodities rise on budget talks - 0 views

  •  
    - The price of commodities has been going up and down the past week as negotiations over the U.S budget continues. - Oil rose while natural gas fell. Silver rose 2%, gold raised $10.70, copper gained 6.8 cents, palladium ended up at $12.25 and platinum gained $7.80 - Investors are hoping a new budget is agreed upon so that tax doesn't increase - There is a possibility that the economist believe that U.S could be pushed back into recession if a budget is not agreed upon. - During the second quarter, the economy grew at a faster rate than initially thought by the commerce department. - More Americans starting buying homes due to the job gains and low mortgage rates. The National Association of Realtors said an index measuring pending contracts to buy homes jumped last month.
  •  
    do you think that the new budget will make a difference in the commodities prices ?
Samson Luong

Brazil economy surprisingly weak, adds to global fears - The Globe and Mail - 0 views

  • Brazil has been stuck in a pattern of slow growth since Ms. Rousseff took office last year, as companies struggle with high costs and severe infrastructure and labour bottlenecks. Ms. Rousseff has tried to revive activity with numerous tax cuts and other stimulus, but Friday’s data showed that companies are not responding, as investment fell for a fifth straight quarter.
  • Friday’s data renews concerns that its slow growth is not a cyclical issue, but the result of deeply rooted structural problems after strong growth of the previous decade.
  • The measures that the government imagined would be capable of bringing Brazil out of the global crisis weren’t enough
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Data indicates that many consumers have reached their debt limit, despite a massive year-long cycle of interest rate cuts, leaving few other strong motors to power Brazil’s $2.5-trillion economy.
  • far deeper changes to Brazil’s restrictive labour laws as well as its complex and onerous tax code, which many companies say makes investment prohibitively expensive.
  • Ms. Rousseff has won some plaudits from foreign investors for efforts to address Brazil’s supply-side bottlenecks
  •  
    Questions 1. What effects will interest rate cuts and expanding consumer credit have on Brazil's economy? 2. Would allowing the private sector to build and operate airports, highways and cutting electricity costs be good for Brazil's economy? Why?
  •  
    1- It might cause an economic recession. 2- It will be beneficial as long as there isn't one company operating all these areas(monopoly power) which leads to a market failure. It will bring money to the private sector. Netan
Rohan Zahur

US economic growth rate revised up to 2.7% - 0 views

  •  
    Questions 1) Do you think it is the beginning of the recovery from a recession or a temporary sigh? (Explain) 2) In your own words, how does housing market depends and at the same time affects economy of the U.S?
1 - 20 of 31 Next ›
Showing 20 items per page