Group items tagged

This article is about the trade relation between China and USA and the manufacture and export of Barbie dolls. These dolls sold in the States for 9.99$ fetches each Chinese woman manufacturing them, only around 35c. This is a classic example of China exporting cheap labor. And this cheap export is causing the trade deficit between China and USA to increase even further, in favor of China. As China has cheap labor, it is much more economical to manufacture these dolls here than in USA. Consumers too would be against buying more expensive goods when there is a cheaper alternative. Thus China keeps providing cheap labor an USA keeps becoming more in debt.

It is an article about the government of China that has decided to impose a 6.5% tariff on materials from most U.S. polysilicon suppliers. A tariff is a tax that is charged on imported goods. The Chinese government decide to impose this tariff in order to prevent dumping from USA. Dumping is the selling by a country of large quantities of a commodity, at a price lower than its production cost, in another country. However it is difficult to deduce if this tariff is imposed to prevent dumpling or if it is a revenge for the tariff that the USA government imposed Chinese-made solar cells one year ago. I think that the Chinese government should talk first with the USA government because protectionism is a very dangerous weapon because it often invite to retaliatory actions. This may reduce the benefits that can be gained from international trade by all consumers and producers in all countries.

I find this article very interesting because it is really related to our actual theme and it is about a recent topic. It talks about the decrease in the unemployment benefits and the decrease in the unemployment rate is USA. The unemployment rate fell to a four-year low of 7.7%, however, is not so low because probably in the USA there is a big hidden unemployment (people who are working in an industry that doesn't utilize their skill set properly or those who have given up on looking for another job are not counted in the official figures and are thus considered a part of hidden unemployment). The good aspect is that the government is reducing the spending's on the unemployment benefits. The unemployment have very big costs, cost for the unemployed people (they receive less employment and some of them suffer mental problems like depression), the society (poverty, homelessness, higher rates of crime and vandalism, increased gang activities, however not all of them are created by the unemployment) and the whole economy (It´s not operating at full capacity).

This article disclose a description of the situation about education in Asia. There are a lot of kids who want to get an English-language education in countries like USA or UK, but they would like to stay closer to their families, because not everybody can easily leave home and go to foreign country alone. Because of the high demand for schools that give international-level-education in English, there are more and more schools like that. But still I think supply of that type of education and schools is miserable, and that might be one of the reasons why the prices are so high. For example, in Kazakhstan we have a British school - Haileybury. It has an IB program as well as Riverstone International School does, the one that I go to. But! Riverstone is situated in Idaho, USA, and charges about $15,000 for one year of High School. Haileybury - aroung $32,000. The reason why I mentioned the location of Riverstone is because of the huge difference between being in US and Kazakhstan. Staying here in America helps to study English and understand cultural difference, being back in Kazakhstan, helps to stick to your family, but one will never fully undestand that international tone and go beyond certain level of English. Plus the prices are very different even if we would add tickets, insurance, etc, to go to America is even cheaper and has more benefits and positive sides. So in the conclusion, I just want to say that these type of schools is demanded by a lot of Asian (and not only Asian) students, but can be afforded only by affluent middle classes. Thus I hope there would be more supply of that type of schools, which led to competition between schools and cheaper prices (or our education system will change and we will have one standard system everywhere).

As all of us know, our world's population is increasing at a rapid rate. They predict that in 2025, there will be 1 more billion people on earth than their are today. So on average, they are predicting that there will be an increase in population of about 80 million people a year. Our resources that we have right now are already scarce, so it will only get tougher. Reporters say the 3 nations that will be most in need of more water will be China, India, and USA due to population growth, increasing irrigation and economic growth. Reporters also say that the amount of extra water needed is equivalent to 20 Nile Rivers. Failure to find the needed extra water could result in great conflicts over water. Also, with climate change (global warming) this will decrease the amount of available freshwater. Furthermore, the water needs to be sanitized to avoid diseases and sickness being spread. The report said that this could cost up to an extra 11 billion dollars a year. I chose this article because it is clearly related to scarcity and is growing concern in our world that needs to be looked at. 2025 is not very far away, and we need to come up with ideas for producing extra, clean water.

It is an opinion article about the real-estate market. This article explain how the people investigate this market to make prediction about the homes prices. " if the inventory of homes available for sale is greater than the number of homes sold in a year, it is probably a "buyers market"; conversely, if the inventory is less than the prior year's sales, it can be considered a "sellers market". This is based on the basic economic theory that when supply exceeds demand, there is downward pressure on prices; and when demand exceeds supply, there is upward pressure on prices." You can find information about what type if homes the people need in Florida USA. Somes places have an excess of single family houses avaible for sale, but they they are shortage of condos and villas. In other places the situation is reversed.

There is a lot of articles about the problems with the harvest of corn. It is a big problem because it affect everybody. USA produce 40 % of the corn production. The the had bad crop it will affect everybody because the price will increase and the supply will decreasy, it will cause huge problemes to the poor people, because the won´t be able to afford it. I think that this is one of the bigest problem of the world because each day more and more people die of hunger. We must increase the food supply.

Pollution from the Motiva refinery in Norco, Louisiana has been a major pollutant in the region since 2005, and it doesn't show signs of stopping. There have been 301 reported cases of accidents in 2011 and many more unreported. The firm may be only concerned with its marginal private costs and have no intention in even dealing with the marginal social costs caused by the negative externality. The government must intervene and cease this crime; the injustice towards its community, society and the environment.

I didn't heard about this case before. I find it ironic because USA with their great judiciary don't have methods to fight with companies like Motiva. We can ask ourselves who is worst a murderer who kills one person and is sentenced to death or a company who is killing hundreds of humans beings. The oil is very important in our live, we need it every day but we must ask as where is the limit? what is more important a human being or using a car? We have to eliminate negative externalities like pollution because if we don't do anything then we will destroy the world because we have infinite wants (this is the sad reality).

I Found this article interesting because it relates the purchase of gold to the economic state/growth of the USA. The article states that gold companies are expecting a fall in the purchising/demand for gold due to the investors being insecure of their economic state and dont want to spend mone. This shows as that the US economy is weak because there hasnt been a fall in Gold demand since 2002, and therefore we can assumer that the only reason that the demand for gold now would drop is because of economic instability

This article is very good as it talks about the insecurity felt by investors due to the poor economic condition. They have lost confidence because the economy at this moment is really unstable and anything could happen, in this case the demand for gold fell, something that is first happening in a long time, thus showing us how the economic crisis has affected even the biggest economic powers, such as the US.

The United States remains desperate for faster growth and stronger job creation as it continues its slow recovery from the 2009 recession. Peter Blair Henry, the dean of NYU's Leonard N. Stern School of Business states private investment is falling $1 trillion short per year due a to disputes over the "fiscal cliff," the federal borrowing limit and other issues." Monetary policy and fiscal policy are working at "cross purposes" - one is expanding while the other contracts." Governments should save money during times of economic prosperity and spend it to boost the economy when growth decreases. Lawmakers should prioritize predictability in policymaking to trigger private investment and government investments, particularly in education, should be off-limits to cuts. Henry points out that a solution to closing the wage gap is to produce more skilled workers. Raising taxes on the highest tax bracket may also be part of the solution to overall sustainability concerning the fiscal side, but not a solution for income inequality.

This article talk about how technology is improving at a rapid pace and thus leading to unemployment in the manufacturing sector. Since these manufacturing industries comprise three quarters of the 20- sub industry sectors, the level of unemployment is considered quite large. Some of these sub industries are leather tanning, paper mills, fertilizer factories, glass products etc. Another influencing factor in the drop of aggregate demand in the U.S is the shift in the age of the labor force. According to statistics, by 2020, people over 55 will compose of more than 25% of the labor force in manufacturing.

This article comments on why there is a rise in food prices due to the lack of harvesting and the growing population. Due to this if there is a short fall of 5% for example the prices will double (China). But in the USA the USDA says it would take a 25% increase in price for a fall of 1% in consuption. Food is inelastic.

This article is all about the scarcity of food in the mid west USA and consequently the overall effects that it is having on that part of the country.

South Korea has been accused of dumping its washing machines by the United States. This is in response to a complaint by an American manufacturer "Whirlpool" who has voiced for a tariff to protect its products. South Korea is to appeal to the World Trade Organization. the chief aim of Korea's complaint is in the way in which the US calculates dumping.

United States proposed a Trans Pacific Partnership (TPP) with a goal of reaching a deal by year-end. The U.S. aims to discuss the trade deal with other nations during the World Trade Organization meeting. The TPP talks aim to establish a free-trade bloc that covers 800 million people, a third of world trade and accounting for 40 percent of the global economy. The goal is to promote remove trade protectionisms and also set standard for workers' rights, environmental protection and intellectual property rights. This article can be related to our topic this week as it involves trade protectionism. This TTP deal argues against protectionism measures as they believe the removal of protectionism will promote growth. For instance, Obama believes that more export will provide more U.S. jobs. On the other hand, opponents against the deal state that the deal will only provide multinational corporations powers against national policies in the name of free trade.

This article deals with the new resolution that has been passed by the EU government demanding that the free trade pact with the US be under discussion. This is to safeguard the movie industries and online media of countries like France against foreign competition. With the influence of American culture and Hollywood films in every country around the world, the EU is determined to maintain its own culture and industries. This is a good example of how countries set up trade barriers to protect their own local industries against powerful international competition.

the U.S. dollar edged down against the British pound and euro on Wednesday as a House vote on a Republican bill to reopen the government and lift the debt limit was cancelled, and Senate leaders resumed talks. The euro rose to $1.3551 from $1.3528 late Tuesday, and the pound advanced to $1.6013 from $1.5997. This article is a perfect demonstration of the currency war and the debt crises where the USA desperately tries to raise the debt barrier as depreciation of the dollar still occurs.

Due to an American drought in the summer of 2012, the government expects that the price of food increases by 4 to 5 percent in 2013 , including milk , beef , chicken and pork. Fortunately , Americans spend only 13 percent on their groceries. But economist fear a greater impact outside the USA , because America exports a lot of agricultural products.