Group items tagged

The article discusses the story of the shrinking U.S. trade deficit is essentially the story of the U.S. oil boom. The last time the U.S. came close to balancing out the trade deficit, at least in terms of its share of GDP, was just after a recession ended in 1991. The big issue is whether the U.S. can continue to expand its economy while also shrinking its trade deficit-something it hasn't been able to do for a generation or more. The U.S. will start exporting natural gas at some point over the next few years.

The U.S. is working on fixing it's fiscal policy. Congress is workig for "a stopgap spending measure to keep the government running for the last six months of this fiscal year". The U.S. is cutting it's spending and creating a budget to lower the gap in the debt that the U.S. is in. In the month of February, the spending was down by 3% from the year before as well. The government also had a temporary tax cut that brought in more revenue for them as well.

Fiscal policy is the set of policies relating to government's spending and taxation rates. Military spending is a part of government spending and is closely related to domestic industries, particularly in the U.S. The U.S. government is lowering the military budget, therefore decreasing aggregate demand both through government spending and through implications to other industries interwoven with military. So this is deflationary fiscal policy, which is reducing U.S. military power on a global scale.

This article is really interesting, since it talks about possible cuts made by the government in the U.S defense. This is macroeconomic activity since there is a government intervention which would cut thousands of jobs and therefore increase the unemployment in the country. This is a kind of macroeconomic activity which involves the USA defense as the firm and the households which are all of the people working for the defense of the country.

The U.S. trade deficit widened slightly in August as exports slipped, suggesting trade will probably not be much of a boost to growth in the third quarter. The import growth is weak and consistent with sluggish domestic demand. So in fact this article is about the goods and services account under the current account. The possible reasons for such trade deficit may be a decrease of foreign demand for US exports, decreased domestic interest rates and speculators' anticipations for the US dollar to rise, which means that there will be a tendency for the price of US dollar to appreciate. This leads to even less competitive exports. If I look at this situation from another perspective, more currency flowed out for imports than it flowed in for exports, creating the debit item and exacerbating the current account.

OTTAWA - The Harper government is set to propose a number of new measures to close the U.S.-Canada consumer price gap, including the possibility of extending the tariff relief offered on sports equipment in the last budget to consumer electronics and other products. Put pretty simply, it seems that global corporations are using different prices on sports equipment and what not between US and Canada. In order to combat this, the countries are lowering their tariffs in an attempt to allow businesses to pass the savings onto consumers. The article doesn't give much details on the situation, but this is definitely a good example of how the manipulation of protectionist import controls can be used to affect the market.

Gas prices increased in California about 0.39 cents between September 21 and October 7. To decrease prices Gov. Jerry brown ordered to make an early transition to winter-blend gasoline which evaporates more quickly. This move could increase supply by as much as 10% said Gov. Brown.

In this article it is about "how the excise tax on gasoline and diesel fuel has been the main source of funds for building and maintaining the nation's roadways. It has paid for most of the four million road miles currently in service" By imposing taxes, governments obtain certain tax revenue which is used for supporting national infrastructure (roads), public services and subsidies for other things. But gas tax is not sufficient anymore. So, there are myriad discussions across political fields how to alter current tax policy. There are several options: taxing the miles (the question is how to tax the miles) toll roads (but they would hardly replace the gasoline tax), adjusting tax to inflation, taxing oil instead of gasoline or taxing cars. It seems resolving this issue is a hard nut to crack for the U.S. government.

This is an example of scarcity in the Mexican government. It is scarcity of capital and of labor. The scarcity of capital is the limited quality security resources. The scarcity of labor is not just of people, but as well a scarcity of good people. Many prison guards are corrupt, and there aren't a lot of them. This is also a good example of what I'll call a gambling opportunity cost. The government decided to not invest enough in security with the gamble that there could be a prison break. It would have been a good gamble if there were no prison break, however, it turned for the worse. Not only, of course, did the prisoners escape, but now the government needs to pay the wages of all of the sudden security requirements. They most likely are having to pay as much for the mistake as they would have had to pay to do it right the first time.

This article talks about the increase in price of oil and the increase in demand for oil. Analysts said that the price of oil would increase as time goes and suppliers are trying to meet the demands of people. The cost of one barrel of North Sea Brent has increased and made a new record in both euro and pounds. 'Many analysts say the broader trend is that prices will continue to rise because of risks to oil supplies'. Oil supplies were slowed down in the late 1970's and early 1980's because of the war between Iran and Iraq. During global consumption, oil would increase in price by about 1.3 million barrels a day said by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. However, supply will fall by about 310,000 barrels a day.

"The U.S. trade deficit widened more than expected in September as imports rose to their highest level in almost a year. The Commerce Department said the trade gap increased 8.0 percent to $41.8 billion, the largest since May. August's shortfall on the trade balance was revised slightly to $38.7 billion from the previously reported $38.8 billion. Economists polled by Reuters had expected the trade deficit to widen a bit to $39.0 billion in September. When adjusted for inflation, the trade gap widened to $50.4 billion, the largest since May, from $47.4 billion the prior month. This measure goes into the calculation of gross domestic product. The increase in the so-called real trade deficit in September suggested the government will probably lower its initial third-quarter GDP estimate." This does not surprise me at all with their trade balance widening because of the debt they are in. Their debt are in the trillions and there isn't a lot the US are doing. Yes, their economy might be improving slightly but a lot of people are without jobs creating a sort of dilemma.

The article discusses how the U.S. trade deficit shot up nearly 10% to $36.4 billion in November, hitting its highest point since last January, the Department of Commerce said Tuesday. But even as imports soared, exports also grew -- for the seventh straight month. And some cheered the greater trade activity.

This article is about the reluctance to increase quotas for low-price sugar imports, due to the increased domestic production. Therefore from our IB Economic Theory, arguments against trade protection are used, specifically because it breeds inefficiency and leads to higher prices for consumers.Favorable weather in major sugar cane- and sugarbeet-growing areas are expected to lift production this season, as well as those in Mexico, which will be of benefit to the US since they are in the North American Free Trade Agreement and the US can import as much as it wants without any trade barriers to satisfy the domestic demand, although it is said that supplies presently outpace demand.

Oil imports to the US increase which increased their trade deficit. Furthermore exports to Europe, Asia and South America. This meant that the trade deficit decreased as low as $513 billion in the first 11 months of 2011.

Japan's trade deficit nearly doubled in October, as growth in imports outpaced robust increases in exports to the U.S. and China, the Finance Ministry reported Wednesday. A weakening in the Japanese yen over the past year has helped exports, but it has also increased the cost in yen terms... This is the importance of looking at **how** payments balance. Though Japan has seen some significant increases in exports, most notably in the vehicle and chemical industries, too much money is still leaving Japan. Part of this may be due to the fact that many Japanese firms depend on foreign manufacturing. The government has plans to revitalize a large manufacturing sector of Japan, but the question now is how quickly and how much will it help?

Japan posted its biggest October trade deficit on record, as a revival in exports to the U.S. and China was overwhelmed by the nation's soaring costs for imported fuel in the wake of the nuclear industry's shutdown.

This article offers a glimpse of recent fluctuations in foreign exchange market. I will narrow my focus down to the USD. If the U.S. Federal Reserve decides to keep up the spending on Treasuries or mortgage-backed securities, this means that the supply of USD on foreign exchange market will be sustained or perhaps even increase. This means that should the demand for USD stay constant, its value will depreciate. However in the end, the expectations of investors concerning the future growth/future path of the exchange make up arguably one the most important share of a currency's movement.

In the article the US government accuses Germany of causing economical instability. The US government thinks that Germany relies too much on their exports and does not focus on domestic economy. Furthermore the german government keeps the value of the euro low in order to insure high exports.