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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.

I think we will see the change of the market of smartphone through the windows phone is about to start to pre-order. Windows phone is one of the biggest competitors of Iphone over the world. In this case, the supply of the smartphone increases. And I believe the demand or price of iphone is going to chance because of it, after people consider about the oppotunity cost of either buying iphone or windows phone.

Yes I do agree with you that the "windows fones" are going to create a huge competition with the apple iphone and i think this is a positive aspect to the phone market because now the iphone will probably not dominate the phone market anymore and it's price will drop, making it more availible to people. Also this is a positive aspect that there is competition because it will lower the prices of telephones in generally making it more availible to everyone. Adding to the competotion aspect, it will force the to companys to finance their reserch even more, to try and beat their opposition, which will improve the technology of telephones of our day!

Medical devices encompass an extremely wide range of products, such as surgical gloves, dental instruments, wheelchairs, coronary stents, artificial knees and hips, defibrillators, cardiac pacemakers, irradiation equipment, and advanced imaging technology. The U.S. medical device industry has estimated total sales of $106 billion to $116 billion a year. A few large firms account for the lion's share of this revenue. For example, Johnson and Johnson's worldwide sales of medical devices and diagnostics totaled $26 billion in 2011; the firm had total sales (on both medical devices and other products) of $65 billion, on which it earned profits of nearly $10 billion. Medtronic had $16 billion in sales and profits of $3 billion in its 2011 fiscal year. One trade group has estimated that the ten largest medical device makers will account for 86 percent of the sales of covered medical devices and hence pay 86 percent of the receipts from the excise tax.

In this article author talks about excise tax and specificly about excise tax that was imposed in 1898 and survived till nowadays. The purpose of that taxation was to pay for the Spanish-American War. The war was over in 6 months but tax stayed. The amount received from taxation was about $300 billion, and the amount spend on war was $6 billion. This tax is very unfair to customers, "This is a 19th-century tax on a 21st-century technology," says Jim Cicconi, AT&T's general counsel. The original purpose of the tax was to raise revenue for a specific purpose, and to do so in a way that would not be noticed by the average consumer. Today, the purpose is gone, and consumers are definitely feeling the pinch. Businesses and consumers pay the same: 3% of the total. On a $100 phone bill, that works out to $3. On a $10,000 bill - not uncommon for businesses - the tab is about $300. Another important fact pointed in that article is that phones were luxury during XIX century, but now they are almost necessities. Seven federal courts have so far declared the tax to be illegal.

As the third major international crop, the price of corn rising is affecting the globe. As droughts plague the agriculture of African countries, the price of corn is surging, reminding us again that world hunger is still prevalent in the world today. The title of the article was eye-catching and reading it through "economic lens" really made it interesting. Droughts in Africa is affecting the agriculture of corn and making crops scarcer. In addition, price of fertilizers is two to four times more expensive in Africa, detrimentally affecting the region, which uses the most fertilizers. The opportunity cost of purchasing fertilizers is enormous as the money spent on fertilizers can be used for providing services for workers, better equipment or improving on infrastructures. Furthermore, farming technology is still quite primitive compares to North American standards and as a result the production possibility curves are smaller than other agricultural regions. This article was really interesting because it relates so closely with what we have learned so far, and it reminded me that world hunger is still very much present in our world.

Foreign direct investment in Mexico has increased 178 percent in 2013 from the the $12.7 billion seen in 2012. The increase in foreign direct investment was stimulated through economic reforms in industries ranging from telecoms to energy, which was pushed through Congress by President Enrique Pena Niet. The economic reforms has lured in many investors. Increase in foreign direct investment can help stimulate aggregate demand in Mexico, since there are an increase in capital inflows into Mexico. With an increase in aggregate demand, the country GDP can increase, and therefore contribute to economic development. The article also states that the investment was largely made into manufacturing sector. This could help contribute to research and development for machines or technology.