Skip to main content

Home/ Fall 2012 Challenges Assignment/ Group items tagged global

Rss Feed Group items tagged

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.
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
Ms Cuttle

Global markets scale new heights, but TSX 'wildly' underperforms - The Globe and Mail - 1 views

  • Global markets are climbing again this morning, though Canadian investors should take note: Toronto has been "wildly" underperforming as other exchanges push fresh highs.
  • Toronto is down about 20 per cent from its peak.
  • he Globe and Mail’s Sean Silcoff and Dianne Nice hosted an online chat today with Vijai Mohan, the founder of a small U.S. hedge fund who’s perhaps better known as the man who’s selling Canada short.
Erica Yeo

Why the gap between rich and poor in Canada keeps growing - thestar.com - 0 views

  • Information technology has eliminated some middle-skill jobs, such as filing and administration, while globalization has seen high-paid manufacturing jobs outsourced to lower-paid countries, Alexander said.
  • globalization has weakened the lowest earners’ bargaining power as their jobs are outsourced to cheaper countries,
  • The gap has likely widened since the recession in 2008 as more companies moved high-paid manufacturing jobs offshore to countries with lower wage rates, the economists also noted.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • Cuts to government programs, such as unemployment insurance, combined with increases in post-secondary education costs are making it hard for the lowest income Canadians to compete in the knowledge economy,
  • The top 10 per cent of Canadians earned 10 times as much as the bottom 10 per cent in 2008, the OECD said. That’s up from a ratio of 8 to 1 in the early 1990s
  • Calling on governments to do more to close the gap, the OECD said the report dispels the theory that tax cuts will have a trickle down effect by promoting economic growth that benefits everyone
Nikita Klyuev

Closing Bell: TSX closes lower after World Bank cuts global growth forecast - 0 views

  •  
    February crude was up 96 cents at US$94.24 a barrel and the energy sector was down 0.35%. Canadian Natural Resources (TSX:CNQ) gave back 35 cents to C$28.74. The gold sector was off about 0.4% while February bullion declined 70 cents to US$1,683.20 an ounce. Barrick Gold Corp. (TSX:ABX) faded 34 cents to C$33.69.
Brijesh Patel

Canadian consumer debt soars 53 per cent - 1 views

  •  
    - In the past 5 years, consumer debt has increased by 53% - The most borrowing occurring in the two years right after the global financial crisis. - Canada's household debt to income ration jumped to 163.4% - Canada's debt-to-income ratio has now reached a record high, topping levels seen in the U.S - Currently, the Canadian housing market is in a state of decline, with home sales dropping 15 per cent in September.
  •  
    #2 what is causing the debt ratio to increase drastically ?
Erica Yeo

Crude Oil Rises on Gaza Conflict Amid Declining U.S. Stockpiles - Bloomberg - 2 views

  • boosting speculation that the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians of Gaza may disrupt crude supply from the Middle East.
  • Prices advanced earlier after American Petroleum Institute data yesterday showed crude inventories fell for the second week in three. An Energy Department report today is forecast to show supplies increased.
  • “Crude trade will remain choppy until we have some clarity on the Israeli-Gaza conflict,
  • ...5 more annotations...
  • Societe Generale SA raised its predictions for global oil prices next year,
  • Crude for January delivery was at $87.58 a barrel, up 83 cents, or 1 percent, in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange at 1:38 p.m. London time. The contract dropped $2.53 yesterday to $86.75, the biggest decline since Nov. 7. Prices are down 11 percent this year.
  • The bank increased its price outlook for Brent to $110 a barrel from $103 previously, according to an e-mailed report.
  • Crude stockpiles in the U.S. slid 1.9 million barrels in the week ended Nov. 16, the API’s report showed.
  • Gasoline slid 4.8 million barrels, compared with a gain of 1 million barrels in the Bloomberg survey. Distillates, including diesel and heating oil, declined 4.4 million barrels, compared with a projected 1 million-barrel decrease.
  •  
    1. What affect do you think the american stockpiles of crude oil have on the supply and demand graph of crude oil? 2. Since the middle east contributes to most of our oil resources, what are the possible solutions to the price increase of crude oil if the conflict between israel and palestine continues?
Erica Yeo

The Second Great Contraction by Kenneth Rogoff - Project Syndicate - 3 views

  • But the real problem is that the global economy is badly overleveraged, and there is no quick escape without a scheme to transfer wealth from creditors to debtors, either through defaults, financial repression, or inflation.
  • but to debt and credit, and the deleveraging that typically takes many years to complete.
  • Many commentators have argued that fiscal stimulus has largely failed not because it was misguided, but because it was not large enough
  • ...1 more annotation...
  • I argued that the only practical way to shorten the coming period of painful deleveraging and slow growth would be a sustained burst of moderate inflation, say, 4-6% for several years.
    • Erica Yeo
       
      Inflation = Higher wages and hopefully fixed debt. People and businesses will be able to pay off debt more quickly.
tyler wiliams

Income inequality rising quickly in Canada - 1 views

  •  
    From the mid 1990's - late 2000's Canada had the fourth largest increase in income inequality among it's peers. Income inequality, along with corruption, were named as the two most serious challenges facing the world at this year's World Economic Forum in Davos. the impact of the growing income gap has gather little attention in Canada market forces and globalization are increasing disparity, along with institutional shifts such as dwindling unionization rates and stagnating minimum wages.
lebiez piranaj

Canada's Income Inequality: What Is It, And How Bad? - 1 views

  • income inequality could be “the new global warming.”
  • in the last three decades income for the richest Canadians has increased far faster than it has for the poorest
  • As the income gap widens and rich neighbourhoods become unaffordable for middle- and low-income families, good schools become less accessible
  • ...6 more annotations...
  • As of 2009, the average Canadian family had an after-tax income of $60,000, an increase of 16 per cent from the Canadian average of $52,000 in 1980
  • the top 10 per cent have pulled ahead of the pack
  • The average income that families in the bottom 20 per cent make from employment has decreased by 60 per cent since 1980, whereas the average earnings in the top 10 per cent has grown by 45 per cent
  • Canada’s Gini was estimated to be 0.32 – a middling value
  • More telling is that in the past decade, Canada’s Gini has risen faster than all but five of the OECD’s 34 countries
  • Wilkinson says that as the income gap widens, problems related to social status increase
  •  
    The article talks about how income inequality is increasing in Canada. It talks about how the rich are getting a bigger income over the years then the poor. 
lebiez piranaj

For richer, for poorer | The Economist - 1 views

  • the share of national income going to the richest 1% of Americans has doubled since 1980
  • rise in disparities all along the income distribution
  • best-known way of measuring inequality is the Gini coefficient
  • ...15 more annotations...
  • global inequality has started to fall even as inequality within many countries has risen
  • inequality rises in the early stages of industrialisation as people leave the land
  • inequality has been on the rise for three decades
  • people at the bottom and even in the middle of the income distribution are falling behind not just in relative but also in absolute terms
  • Too often high-tax welfare states turned out to be inefficient and unsustainable
  • Europe France’s new president, François Hollande, wants a top income-tax rate of 75%
  • The mainstream consensus has long been that a growing economy raises all boats
  • of the tendencies that are harmful to sound economics, the most seductive and…poisonous is to focus on questions of distribution
  • Some societies are more concerned about equality of opportunity
  • The unstable history of Latin America, long the continent with the biggest income gaps, suggests that countries run by entrenched wealthy elites do not do very well
  • America’s presidential election is largely being fought over questions such as whether taxes should rise at the top
  • a big driver of today’s income distributions is government policy
  • a lot of today’s inequality is inefficient
  • reflects market and government failures that also reduce growth
  • it is about attacking cronyism and investing in the young
  •  
    The article talks about how inequality may have decreased worldwide but it is increasing more and more in specific countries, Canada has fairly high inequality and there are propositions to tax the rich or redistribute income using other strategies. 
Cristina Raileanu

Raising Interest Rates? Canada's Impending Household Debt Crisis | Global Research - 0 views

  • If the bank feels you can pay $2,000 a month on a mortgage, then you generally qualify for the loan, if you have the right credit record and collateral.
  • It is worth noting here that the money your bank loans for a mortgage is created out of thin air at the push of a button. They do not lend the money of their depositors for this.
  • interest charges are built into just about every product and service available. Higher interest rates means businesses would have to charge more to recover their loan costs.
  • ...3 more annotations...
  • For an extreme example of what can happen one only has to turn back the clock to the 1980s, when 20% interest rates destroyed many businesses and individual lives;
  • it is the average consumer that is blamed for the problems created by the so-called experts.
  • one could take each aforementioned quote by the experts, reword it to mean the exact opposite, and thereby have a better understanding of the situation.
faseehthemoonman

Economy improving short-term, but future not so bright for Canada: Carney - thestar.com - 1 views

  • second worst export performance in the G20 group of nations
  • country’s exports of manufactured goods has been cut in half, he said, a large reason why employment in the factory sector has fallen nearly 500,000 jobs.
  • He notes that since the recession, emerging markets have accounting for two-thirds of global growth and one-half of import growth, a trend expected to continue for decades.
1 - 14 of 14
Showing 20 items per page