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This article talks about how the prices of food have increased in many countries around the world. In the past years the price of wheat was low, for example in May it was about $200 but in September the cost rose to $400, just within some months. Economists say that the prices of foods have increased continually since 1845. Food scarcity is also caused by the weather because if there is no rain in a country then the crops would not be able to grow well for example Australia. However, the wants for meats in countries like China and India is high and this also increases the demands for cereals. The cereals are used to feed the animals in this countries so that the country can have enough meats.

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.

The article talks about how the fast economic growth of countries like China and India, will not be able to compensate for the economic slowdownin richer countries. There will be a negative growth in world economy. To improve world economy, most countries would need the aggreagate demand of countries like China.

This article discusses how there are 17 countries that use the euro -- and the unemployment rate increased to 11.9% in those countries. It mentions how in Greece the unemployment rate grew to 27% because the country is bankrupt, therefore, the government cannot afford to employ people.

This very brief CNN article informs that the general economic growth of Africa as a whole is expected to rise with approximately 6-7% in the future. Following the third world countries and their economies isn't the same as following wealthy countries and their respective economies, as the negative factors aren't considered as much in third world country as their level of development in the economy can't really be compared to i.e. Germany. The growth is vital, and highly benefits.

A lot of people have preached in the past about how we should destroy the social class system, about how the difference between wealthy and impoverished is an abomination and that the workers should rise up against their oppressive bosses and show them that the employers need their employees and not the other way around. However, most people probably haven't considered the economic angle to it. I hadn't, till I read this article, and I didn't more than the first few sentences to get me thinking. In a country where 10% can buy whatever they want and the other 90% can barely afford to feed their families, how do you get anything done. Those 90% probably do menial labor all day, creating goods and providing services for the 10% that act as their directors, and while this system works out fine for those 10%, your entire aggregate demand is still comprised of only the wants and needs of a tenth of your population. The fewer people you have with the ability to buy things, the smaller your macro-economic activity will be and, thus, your GDP. Now, while this kind of inequality is not fatal to a countries economic stability, per the previous reasons, it definitely puts it at a disadvantage to countries of equal wealth, resources, and population where demand is spread more evenly per capita.

The article talks about the reasons why countries keep foreign currencies. The main reason why the keep the reserves are to meet the international payment obligations in the long term and in the short term. Furthermore countries keep foreign currencies in order to pay imports or for commercial debts.

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.

This article talks about how people in the UK tried to buy cheap meat, and instead got horse meat. The article is related to aggregate demand as it involves the whole economy of the country: people can't consume as much, therefore they are buy cheap meat online or importing it so that they won't spend as much money. However, the government is preoccupied as there is no control over the meat. This is not only happening in the UK, but also in other countries where the population is not consuming as much due to the lack of money and the economic crisis.

Quarrying and aggregate supply firm Breedon believes profits will "significantly exceed expectations" after margins continued to improve in the final few weeks of last year. The company, which has its Scottish headquarters at Ethiebeaton in Angus, said market forecasts for the year look set to be significantly surpassed during a finish which escaped the disruptive influence of winter weather. We don't often think about how macro- and micro-economics can come together, but, for big companies, one is no more important than the other. Not only do you have to think about the margins and competition of your own market, but how your market is doing in general. It doesn't matter if your beating the other guys with a better price and more demand if that price is barely enough to cover what your supplying. On the flipside, your countries economy could be doing great and your factors of production most favorable but, if everyone's getting more benefit from those advantages than you are, it's only a matter of time before get too far a head. This article is a perfect example of where a European company has become enthusiastic about future profit predictions based not only on competition and margin but just on the welfare of the whole country in general

Because of the decreased amount of work opportunities the unemployment rates go higher. That is bad enough for any country, and even worse for a country like China who are dependent on their production and export. The scarcity of work opportunities get bigger, and creates competition on the market. This will contribute to a poorer population since the competition gets higher and people then work for less money.

This article talks about the protests of China against the Japanese goods. It states that both countries are economically independet, however China adores Japanese brands. It all started out with Japan having their factories in China, since theres a lower production cost. Now that China protests it will move the firms into other countries, such as Thailand.

The country was forced to take 67.5bn euros (£57.4bn) after its biggest banks almost collapsed in November 2010. A further 16.5bn euros (£14bn) was drawn out of the state's National Pensions Reserve Fund. The country is now in foreign debt.

 Too much protectionism is not good as well as no protectionism, it will ruin the free trade in the world. 

This article looks at the European Commission, an organization that has warned of a slide towards "blatant and uncontrolled protectionism" across the globe as emerging markets from several countries are starting to defend themselves, warning that abuses by countries like Russia, Brazil, Indonesia, China and other key states could pose a growing threat to global recovery. The EU trading body has said "154 new tariffs and restrictive measures have been pushed through over the past year while "virtually none" has been abolished"

Venezuela has joined Mercosur, six years after first applying to join the South American trading bloc. This article showcases features of economic integration, in this case customs union, which is a free trade area where members establish a common tariff and agree to other trade policies with non-member countries. Well, this article is particularly valuable also because it gives you that well-known sense of economic reality as a genuinely different economic world than that described in the economic theory. Countries cluster together for a mutual advantage, however, as opposed to comparative advantage concept and other highly cherished theoretical reasons, it always comes down to natural resources as vital sources of geopolitical influence, for instance oil, which is abundant in Venezuela. This can reasonably be inferred from the following quote: "Brazil said Mercosur was "also positioning itself as a global energy power in renewable and non-renewable resources". In the end, the disadvantages of economic integration are given, highlighting the fact that in economics there are perpetual advantages as well as disadvantages (influx of cheap agricultural products, little influence in decision-making processes). But then again, the disadvantages have to be explained within advantages in order to grasp the holistic situation (e.g. influx of cheap agricultural products forces Venezuelan farmers to cut down on their costs and improve on efficiency).

India has objected to some of the clauses in the trade facilitation agreement and sought support for the developing countries' food security proposal at the World Trade Organization (WTO). In the latest rounds of talks, India has also made it amply clear that if there is no forward movement on G-33 nations food security proposal, trade facilitation would also not move. The G-33 is a group of developing countries.

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.

These days, with an economy recovering from a slight collapse and people looking to alternatives to gasoline and coal, a shortage of oil is not very good for the fossil fuels industry. Yesterday, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries announced that oil prices would remain stable, even in these times of uncertainty. With all the negatives of oil (the pollution, the wars it has caused, the danger it can put workers at to obtain, etc.) demand has started to decrease. But, petrol suppliers can't just increase their prices like the supply demand curves might predict because they don't want to risk scaring the remaining consumers into thinking the price of oil will only increase as more of it is used up. This has left OPEC and all of it's members in a bit of a pickle.

In this article it talks about the poor economy in Indonesia and the little income some of its citizens have. Due to so little income some people cannot buy proper food for their families resulting in malnutrition. This is a huge problem for the economy as it cannot get back on its feet if people do not spend money, but if there is no money to spend then what can one do?

This article tells us that because the prices of foods as increased, there is poverty and malnutrition is countries like Indonesia. Two different types of surveys was taken in Indonesia before 1996 and immediately after the economics crisis in 1999. The result was that some food nutrients like iron and calcium was more than usual during the crisis years and and food nutrient like Vit C was almost nothing.

The government of Greece decided to put an old airport (twice as big as Central Park) for sale for 6 billion euros. In this way, the government would sell this old area to a private owner, therefore creating 9,000 jobs for Greece and helping the government and the country. We can say that this is price control, since the Greek government gave the price for the area, and is trying to stabilize/help the economy by creating a price for this area that could be used to help greatly Greece. In fact, not only jobs would be given but tourism would increase greatly (as well as the Greek income).