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This article doesn't have as much economic terminology as I would have liked but it proves a very important point using a topic I really enjoy, chemistry. Helium is not thought to be a very useful nor uncommon element and while the former is completely untrue, the latter is just a bit misleading. It is the second most abundant element in the universe, the first being hydrogen, but it's not as easy for us to get. As most people know, helium is lighter than air, so every time we find helium we have to catch it before it escapes into the atmosphere. Once it makes it out of our grasp, whether via a balloon or from careless mining of natural gas reserves, it might as well be gone. In the late 20th century, the US government had a huge reserve of helium gas and so, to get rid of a lot of it, they artificially set the price so that it costed less than it really should have. Even though we now recognize the value that this noble gas has, the price still hasn't been increased properly and it is still being sold off by the tank full for birthday parties and other celebrations. Helium is used for a lot more than sounding like a chipmunk. Without it, technology such as rockets, lasers, and the Hadron Collider wouldn't work. What this all goes to show is that the scarcity of a product isn't just about how much of it exists, but how much of it we can get to.

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.

The European Union and America are to open negotiations with the aim of creating the world's biggest free trade area worth €86bn (£75bn) within two years.

The article talks about the trade deficit in Europe. Prime minister Cameron wants to increase GDP by 0.5%. This would make a major difference to Europe's economy and could become a "game-changer". Cameron wants to accomplish this goal by breaking down trade barriers.

The European Union and America are to open negotiations with the aim of creating the world's biggest free trade area worth €86bn (£75bn) within two years. Breaking down the remaining trade barriers and securing a comprehensive deal will require hard work and bold decisions on both sides. EU and US economies account for nearly half of the world's economic output and a third of global trade, meaning that a transatlantic free-trade bloc would hold great sway over emerging economic superpowers China, Brazil and India.

US economies are still growing after thee great recession and according to economists the US should see an increase in economic growth by 2014. It is also mentioned that unemployment rate will continue to decline as economic growth becomes faster.

The article talks about the water demand of different countries and the different areas it is used for. This differes a lot from country to country. In some countries is used for agriculture and in others it is used for households or industry.

This article highlights cuts in government spending in the US, specifically on airports and airlines. We know that government spending is a major component of aggregate demand. If government spending goes down, it is likely we will see a shift left in the aggregate demand. This is the result of about 10% fewer workers at any given time in the air transportation industry around the country. The article specifically highlights that this includes air traffic controllers as the decrease in them most affects consumers.

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.

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.

As measured by gross domestic product, the Customs Union in its three-member format of Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan still appears tiny beside the European Union. The output of the Customs Union states was $US2.3 trillion last year, compared with $US16.6 trillion for the EU, according to the International Monetary Fund. Ukraine's economic output of $US176 billion last year would only modestly bolster the Russian bloc.

The article discusses how, in the past, the US government's response to foreign imports competing with the domestic steel industry has been to create trade barriers. However, as David Phelps, president of American Institute for International Steel, explains in the article, this practice takes away from the competition that should exist within a market, such as when two domestic steel industries are competing. On the other hand, what differentiates domestic competition and international competition is that US will lose output if it can't support its domestic industries.

This article discusses how sometimes the use of barriers has a negative effect on the economy of a country, for example, as can be seen with Bush's administration that imposed tariffs on steel imports. Trade protection can be seen with the rush of agreements that countries are not willing to partake in, such as Japan. Of course after the Bush administration, the democratic party picked up the "protectionist baton" and have worked toward trade liberalization.

The article talks about tariffs imposed by the US government on the steel market. It shows the other side of protectionism. In the case of the US the tariff impose had a negative effect on the steel market. The tariff robbed more in profits than it gave to steel making companies.

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.

This article describes negative externalities in the oil business. This is a global problem and definitely one of the most debated topics in environmental contexts. 'The climate changes are harming the earth, a lot of it is claimed to be caused by burning of fossil fuels. The Gulf of Mexico oil spill is a great example of the creation of a negative externality. The goal of getting more oil to fuel our lifestyle and make a profit for BP trumped any recognition of the massive economic and environmental damage that flowed from their blown out well. Is the cost of this mess going to turn up in the price of gasoline in the US? Probably not. Will it turn up in our tax bills? Probably yes.'

I found this article quite interesting as it explains negative externalities very well and gives examples to better understand it. It also goes on to state that one of negative externality that is very relevant to the article is the negative effects a product may have on the environment. It shows the reader that many gas companies are able to cut corners to make the product cheap and more desirable, but in the process it makes a mess of the environment. A popular example that they use to prove their point was the Gulf of Mexico Oil spill.

I bumped into this article as I was searching for negative externalities.The article describes negative externalities as general and in terms of oil spilling. As for that it also described the environmental issues and gaves examples from the Gulf of Mexico.

The article talks about how an oil platform in the Gulf of Mexico exploded and caused 11 injuries and 2 people missing. This is an expample of a negative externality, because now the company will have to pay for any health treatment the workers will have to take, and they will also have to use their time trying to find the 2 people missing. The company will lose money.

You don't have to read much of this article to understand the gist of what the author is saying. As we all know, the business cycle fluctuates like a sin graph, except, at the same time, the real GDP steadily increases as more innovations are made the things can be done for cheaper. Paying attention to those ups and downs are important for governments because, when the downs occur, the government needs to put in more spending to cover for private industries and to try and stimulate the economy. However, what the US government has failed to do now-a-days is lower spending when the economy has built its way back up and above where it was before. This isn't because US citizens will start mass protests in the streets against a higher sales tax or less funding for the public education system, but because officials want to ignore the fundamental concept that, just like the economy went down before, so shall it in the future times.

Fall in demand for durable goods (orders for durable goods in the US fell 5.2% in January) means also fall in aggregate demand. Falling aggregate demand - the total spending on goods and services implies firms will start to lay off workers and unemployment rates are likely to rise. According to the business cycle, at current point there is a negative output gap, because economy is producing below its long-term trend economy can sustain.

This article talks mainly about several problems affecting monetary policy. Among those are instability to the financial system, a sudden rise in interest rates and inflation. Presently, Fed is using easy monetary policy to increase AD. There is also quantitative easing mentioned in the article, which refers to purchases by the central bank of long-term bonds or $85 billion a month in Treasurys and mortgage-backed securities so that the money supply increases. Again, the major problem related to this Fed strategy is inflationary pressure (also by selling $1.1 trillion mortgage-backed securities)...

This article by Jeff Cox discusses how the Fed is using the monetary policy to increase aggregate demand. It also presents problems affecting monetary policy. The problems are as follows: "Among those concerns are instability to the financial system, a sudden rise in interest rates and inflation."

This article discusses how the government is creating jobs because they want to help stimulate economic growth. There were many people people were unemployed "12.3m unemployed who have been without work for more than six weeks" and the creation of the jobs is due to the increase in taxes.

While there was a lot of economic lingo in here that I didn't completely understand, what I did pick up was the use of price increases to help the government make more money. The government makes its money off the financial interactions between households and firms. This is done through income tax, sales tax, etc. Starting to sound familiar? So, by increasing the price on diesel, the government ensures that large transactions will be made between the household and the firm, meaning they get a bigger chunk of dough. But the political motive behind this is that the government can now use the extras cash-money to fund public programs and what not for social benefit.

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.