Speaking in Colorado, vice-president made a strong case for the creation of a 'new energy economy' as part of the stimulus program, claiming that it and a 'full throttle green program' are inextricably linked. He said that this form of stimulus has been successful in creating jobs and attracting venture capitalists.

This article talks about how the Congress of South African Trade Unions has pledged full support for SAMWU's 130 000 municipal workers who have been on a national protected strike from 12 April 2010. Trade unions, if powerful and well organized, and if many workers belong to them, can have devastating consequences on the economy if they go on strike.

In order to create new jobs, the senate of Arizona has just backed a bill that will cut business tax and give tax breaks to families in order to create new jobs. People in support of the package said that it would diversify the state economy and provide high-paying jobs by attracting business expansions and relocations.

The Federal Reserve, the central bank of the United States, have promised to keep interest rates at rock-bottom levels for the time being. Low interest rates encourage investment by firms and spending by consumers. Rising interest rates have a negative effect on storable commodities.

This article is about how the Bank of Japan is trying to curb increasing deflation in the country via a 20 trillion yen scheme that expands its super-cheap funding for the banking sector. Japan has suffered deflation since the 1990s, because of fallen asset prices, insolvent companies and banks, low GDP growth and imported deflation.

This article is about the rising unemployment rate in Britain, which has increased to 1.79 million (5.7%). This is primarily a consequence of the credit crunch, which can be attributed to annual growth slowing down to 3.4%.

This article from the Wall Street Journal describes the economic problems faced by Greece and the effect on the European Union because of the 2007-09 financial crisis. It was recently revealed that the last government of Greece left a huge amount of hidden debt, hidden with the help of Goldman Sachs. The Greek economy has since moved into a recession.

Although one of the world's most prosperous nations, America does seem to lag behind most in one area: life expectancy. This is due to the generally unhealthy lifestyles of Americans and the inequalities between African Americans and whites. This article finds however that the gap between the two races is slowly narrowing, and life expectancy as a whole is increasing.

This article describes a measure proposed by Obama as part of his healthcare overhaul and job creation plans, in which $225 million in Department of Labor grants would be used to train 15,000 people in job skills in careers such as healthcare, info-tech and other high growth fields. A high and steady rate of employment is a principle macroeconomic goal of the government.

This article is about Washington's plans to increase pollution taxes, which would supposedly increase state revenue by 225 million. This tax would have the double benefit of relieving the recession-hobbled state budget and encouraging environmentally friendly business practices.

Clean air is a public good, as it is non-rivalrous and non-excludable. The provision of clean air is a massive problem in China, because its rapid industrialization and high output has come at the cost of the environment, and subsequently created large amounts of toxic waste that is being released into the air and the water.

This is an example of a negative externality created by the rapid industrialization of China. This externality is created because the market price does not take into account the costs incurred by third-parties not involved in the transaction. In this case polluted waters damage the natural environment and pose a hazard to the people, but corruption and lack of legislation means that little is being done.

OPEC is one of the most famous oligopolies in the world: an organization of 13 of the world's largest oil producing countries. Together they determine output and in so doing heavily influence prices, which in turn has an impact on other economies. Their actions have long been the subject of criticism and debate.

The recent controversy over Tiger Wood's alleged infidelity has had devastating effect on his brand image, and in turn on his financial status. Although not directly discussing economics, this article is an example of how important non-price competition is. Branding and advertising is extremely important to Tiger Wood's - if we think of him as a company - because his image is what sets him apart from other sportsman. Now that image has been discredited, and the financial repercussions are enormous.

This article describes the attempts of American senators to allow American pharmacies and patients to import prescription drugs from other countries at government controlled rates, thus avoiding higher, unregulated prices in the US.

This article is about an agreement between three of Europe's biggest gas monopolies, Russia's Gazprom, Italy's Eni and France's EDF, to share the South Stream gas pipeline project. Natural gas is a natural monopoly because of very high startup costs and capital costs (for example the building of oil pipelines).

This is an opinion column for the SF Gate that describes monopolization of the taxicab market in the city of Oakland by the Friendly Cab Company and the problems have arisen as a result. The author also offers solutions to the problem, which includes lowering the gate fee and lowering the license fee.

India is a highly competitive market with some of the lowest rates in the world, and penetration of all market sectors is growing. This sector is considered to be the closest to achieving 'perfect competition' in an economy. This article expresses doubts about the opportunities for mobile virtual network operators in such a market.

This article is about the declining revenues and profits at Time Warner, one of the world's largest media firms. Time Warner owns news corporations such as CNN, TNT and HBO. The main reason for this is declining DVD sales, but the loss in profits also reflects the change in the way people are viewing and consuming television and movies.

This article from the Global Times is about how rising oil prices are affecting logistics firms. As logistics firms are involved with the transport of goods, oil constitutes a large part of their costs. In the past, these companies have been able to neutralize rising costs by increasing their service fees, but now that the economy is on the rebound, this isn't as easy.