Electric Cars on the Decline

A recent experiment by Chevrolet lead to an investigation on Lithium ion batteries in cars. A Chevy Volt burst into fire on a test one day. The lithium batteries may be a hazard for drivers and there's no telling whether or not the battery will just bust and cause a fire in the car. Another problem with the car is that retailers for the car are afraid that after the car is purchased its value will decrease way more than a car that uses gasoline will. It's an estimated 70% decrease in value in four years for cars with replaceable batteries rather than the 40% in four years for cars that use gasoline. That is a really problem for dealerships that want to buy the car back and for the people that decide to sell their battery powered car. The battery powered cars deal with long recharging times and limited ranges, which would frustrate people when filling up a car with gasoline takes a few minutes. The only upside to the battery and gas is the battery will cost little to no money to recharge rather than spending all the money on gas. Some think that electric cars will help the US become less dependent on imported oil which demand for the purchase of oil will increase dramatically. Eventually putting the oil company out of business if we as a country convert to all battery powered machines.

The Fancy House

Say you been a 2 story house in Dalworthington Gardens for 2 years and your neighbors move out. The house that you own decreases in value automatically. The retail value by 10%, so you paid $3300 dollars for your houses now the retail value of your houses is $3000 dollars. a great way to increase the value of your house is to extend is make it bigger, which would cost a little more money but if you want the bang for your buck its worth it. In addition, having a modern bathroom, a big kitchen with alot of work space, and natural materials in your house also so increases the value of your house. When buyers come look at your home and they see natural materials such as ceramic tile, hardwood floors,and granite there going to like that and want to buy the houses for more. Buyers also like master baths that give a little room to roam, along with kitchens that have solid surface counters and high-quality flooring, such as wood, laminate, tile or stone. Making all of these little updated or changes will increase the value of your home and help you get more money.

Hurricane Katrina

Katrina is one of the five of the worlds worst disaster. It is also one of the most costly disaster that happen, Katrina cost approximately $108 billion dollars in damages. At the paste our economy is going the reconstructing of the boot of Louisana will take some time. All the people with that lost of there home, cars, and even family members will alway suffer from the though of the tragedy. Being the fact that everything was underwater and I mean everything there is no food, fresh water, or shelter in order to survive FEMA had to provide everything. With more than 70% of there population to provide for FEMA would have to have a fat check to go out and purchase food, water, and open a facility to put all these people in. To do all this for these people would cost a fortune but instead of trying to fix other countries we need to built in America.

Rangers and the World Series

The Texas Rangers have been the world series two times in a row now and have come up short both times. The only thing that the Rangers have gained from the world series was more money. They have brought in so much money from all the merchandise that has been bought. After they went to the world series for the first time, they became a lot more popular and were selling more tickets for the next season. One good thing from all the merchandise that was sold is that Nolan Ryan has more money to spend on free agents to make next year's team better, and take us back to the world series and finally win one. The Rangers bring in a lot of money each year from sales and everything, and the increasing popularity that they are bringing in is helping them increase in value. They'll be able to buy more equipment and things for the players and give them bigger signing bonuses that will hopefully keep them there for a long time. The world series gives any team more revenue and by winning the world series, the team that wins will receive a huge amount of money. More and more people will want to watch the team next year and this will boost the confidence of the team to do well and win another world series.

3rd Quarter success

The 3rd Quarter reported increase in stock value. The economy has grown twice as fast the past few months... With businesses shrugging off fears of a recession. But is it the businesses or the people who aren't afraid of a recession?

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/28/news/economy/income_spending/index.htm?iid=SF_E_LN

http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/economy/us-economy-slows-in-second-quarter/2011/07/29/gIQAPBg3gI_story.html

Since 2007 American familes on average saved 3.6% of their income. This past quarter Americans only saved 2.4 percent of their income. Of course spending will stimulate our economy, but how long can people spend without worrying about their future? I don't believe trends like this past quarter will continue on because its just not realistic for people to spend money like this when their jobs are at stake.

This past quarter was a fluke and the next quarter for holidays will be weaker than normal. Then the first quarter of 2012 will be rather weak as well. But what this past quarter did prove was how much power the people do have to stimulate an economy.

The Cost of College

Recent surveys have shown that college tuition is on the rise again and this time, it's a big increase. The biggest price increases were in public institutions. There was 8.7 percent increase for in-state tuition at public two-year schools, and an 8.3 percent jump in the price of four-year public institutions, for in-state students. With this price increase some kids might not be able to afford college near their hometowns and will have to go to a junior college or something like that. This will be hard on the small town people that don't have much money and the kids will lack the higher education that they so rightfully deserve if they have been accepted to that college. Now with these price increases this will give kids more incentive to do better in school and try to achieve a scholarship that will pay for most or all of their college tuitions. For some this price increase means nothing and will not affect them at all. Colleges might see a decrease in the number of kids they have with the new price increase so they could lower the price back down to what they had when they had the most kids going to the their school. It would be nice for everyone if they could find an equilibrium price.

NBA Labor Problems

The NBA lockout has been underway for some time now and the commissioner has cancelled the first few weeks of the season and the labor problems don't seem to be getting better. The biggest problem for a lot teams and definitely the players is the amount of money they are receiving. The dilemma is that the NBA is full of great athletes, but it is classified by the superstars that make the team great. And those superstars think they should be paid a higher amount than the players not making the big plays. The owners are trying to even out the amount of money that the players receive. That's a real problem for the big name players and it will make them hold out until they can get more money. Some of the small name teams that don't ever do much might have to be shut down and more money will have to be made by the other teams to pay the superstars more money. There's no guarantee though that the teams not shut down will do well in the economy that we are in right now. The big time players might just have to sit out a while and accept the pay cuts and play the game that they love.

Are you a 1 %er?

How much money do you think it takes for you to be in the top 1% of households as far as income in one year? Hmm... If you guessed 1 million dollars you and Dr. Evil are a little greedy.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/20/news/economy/occupy_wall_street_income/index.htm?iid=SF_E_River

In 2009, it only your household income had to be 343,927$ to be in the top 1% of America. Now does being in the top 1% actually equate to having the highest standard of living? The answer depends on where you live. Most of these 1%ers work in New York on Wall Street. Of course if you work on Wall Street you are only cool if you live in Manhattan and if you live anywhere else you will get mugged , but Manhattan is a very expensive place to reside though. In order to keep your cool investor rep up you have to dress up in nice expensive clothes so your clients feel like they can trust you with their money. The cost of living is also much higher than most places! So just because you live in the top 1% doesn't mean your the upper class of anyone.

Soldier Homecoming

Obama has finally pulled the plug! No I'm not talking about his re-election campaign... But I am talking about one of his Campaign promises! The troops are coming home!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k-ImCpNqbJw&ob=av3e

(watch coming home music video here)

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/21/news/economy/iraq_troop_pullout/index.htm?iid=SF_E_Lead

Yes P-Diddy needed to be part of this post! Anyway the toughest men and women in America will be out of Iraq by the end of the year... But what are they coming home to? Well what use to be New Jersey is now Tent City/Jersey Shore, our economy is in the dumps, and most of all America is safe from the War on Terrorism (we hope). Now as our young men and women come home we can only hope that the spending cuts on the war will equate to a thriving economy. If history does repeat itself then our country will likely bounce back like it has after WW2 and the war in Vietnam. The war on terror was very costly has far as lives and economically. But in the end we put to rest the leaders of terror in the world who could have cost everyone a whole lot more pain than anyone could imagine.

Homecoming

The Oakridge School Homecoming is coming up and with all the things they have going on and all the people that come to do all events I know they generated alot of money. They have homecoming shirts going on sale for $10 dollars and 10 times 3000 is 30,000 dollars going to the school along with the parade. The parade is just a small fee of 2 dollars which will not bring in any money because the parade is only like a max of 100-200 people. The concession stands will bringing major money because when you can buy food and drinks at an event people are most likely going to buy it. The more people there are the lower the prices are going to be. With hot dogs at 2 dollars and hamburgers at 4 dollars and drinks ranging from 3 to 5 dollars people are going to want all three and if 2000 people out of 3000 people buy all 3 then that means $$$$.

I also think there is a deal we you can get all 3 for 5 or 6 dollars.To get food and drinks at an event is a luxury its not something we really have to have. All the money there getting I think money school is making a surplus from all the sales.

LOVE$$$$

LOVE, what is love? Nobody knows but as men we know the cost of it. On that first date you want to take a girl out to the movies and dinner. Lets just stay yall are going to see Paranormal Activity 3, so that’s going to cost you about $18.00 bucks for the tickets plus popcorn and drinks which is another like $20.00 bucks. So that a total of $38.00 dollars off the top and if she is a sweet girl she would want some candy which is an addition $4.50. You’re spending out $42.50 and yall haven’t even made it to dinner yet. For dinner yall chose The Cheesecake Factory, yall order 2 meals, a drink, and 2 slices of cheesecake. That approximately add up to $55.50 dollars, spending a total of $98.00 dollars on your first date, a girl you don’t even know that well. Some might say that not a lot of money but when it coming out of your pocket it’s a lot of money. So when you driving her home you better hope she not in love with you. If it true love let’s just say yall get MARRIED who know how much weddings cost now and days. The average for a decent wedding is $24,000 dollars with is a major deduction in your wallet. Being in love with a girl is cool but it’s also costly.

Paying after the Slip

A recent national survey has found out that one out of every three Americans would be unable to make their mortgage or rent payment for the next month after losing their jobs. Even higher-income households would find themselves in trouble quickly. Ten percent of survey respondents who make 100 thousand or more said they would immediately miss a payment on their mortgage or rent. One spokesperson proposed a solution to help the unemployed, but it requires people to be taxed more into a giant savings account that would be spread across the unemployed to help them pay for their mortgages or rents. The unemployed would really push for this proposition, but most all other people that have a steady job and paycheck don't like this idea. They don't think it's fair for them to just give their money away to the unemployed when they have to work all the time and work to stay in the house they bought themselves. The unemployed people would not start looking for a job so soon if they were handed money to pay for their rent and everyone would possibly have to start working more to make up for the money they have to give away to the unemployed to get by. Jobs might open up left and right if this happened so that the unemployed people could quickly find a job and less people would have to be taxed to help support the unemployed. If this proposition was implemented a lot of people would get very angry.

Race for the Cure

The Susan G. Komen for the cure foundation is a very inspirational cause that many people donate money to every year. The money that is received is all used for research for finding a cure for breast cancer. October is the month for breast cancer and everything at this time has pink on it and its proceeds go to the cure. Schools are now playing a big part in helping out. Schools all across the country are having 'pink outs' at their football games and pink merchandise is being sold, like pink gloves, cleats, wristbands, tape, etc. All of the proceeds go to the cure. Student council for these schools are ordering pink shirts that are sponsored by local donations and all the money received from buying a shirt goes to the Susan G. Komen foundation. Even if someone is not affected by breast cancer or their friends haven't been affected by breast cancer, people need to donate money to the foundation just because it's for a great cause that can happen to anyone. And a cure needs to be found so it won't happen and if it does, it can be cured quickly. Everyone needs to be apart of something special and by donating to this cause, people can feel good about themselves and know that they are helping out in the fight to find a cure for breast cancer.

Facing Buffett

At an attempt to force the Buffett rule the democrats look to raise taxes on millionaires and billionaires by 110,467$ per household on Obama's new jobs bill. Than would mean 392,00 households But the bill will likely not pass because of the republicans firm position in not raising any taxes. But that doesn't mean Buffet is going to give up on ruining his former country club buddies payouts.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/10/06/news/economy/millionaire_tax/index.htm?iid=SF_E_River

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503544_162-20115870-503544.html

After billionaire Buffett claimed he had paid less in taxes than his secretary, conservatives from the Wall Street Journal doubted his claims and asked to have his tax returns to be released to the public. Here is where things get interesting... The Wall Street Journal is controlled by the conservative media outlet Fox. Warren Buffett is only willing to release his tax records if the owner of Fox, Rupert Murdoch, releases his own public tax records. What Warren just did could make the icon of the conservative political media known as one of the most greedy individual in America. If Rupert does not release his records Buffett proves his point that there are millionaires hiding the fact they pay a very low rate due to loop holes in the tax code, if Rupert releases his tax records and they are as low as Buffett's then it makes the republican party look greedy.

I think the Buffett rule should not lower taxes rather declare all tax records open to the public! That way if anyone cheats the tax code everybody in America will know it and think they're greedy. Uncle Sam can now guilt trip you to pay your taxes.

The Future of Apple

The former CEO of Apple, Steve Jobs passed away a few days ago and many people are mourning his loss. Some people believe that Apple won't have much success now that he's gone. Others have said that with the products that Apple has recently released the company will have momentum for the next few years and they will be fine. The challenge will be if Tim Cook, the new CEO, can continue the success that Jobs lead Apple to for all these years. Jobs was instrumental in designing new technology and products that have revolutionized the world. The demand for the new iPhone 4S coming out soon is so high already and that's because of the new technology that was put in it and that technology was designed by Steve Jobs. Now that he is gone, people worry that in a few years the Apple products won't be making the huge leaps they are now. They fear that the demand for all their products will go down affecting the company's production, thus causing their prices to go up to make up for losses. Right now a lot of people are going to be buying Apple products just for Steve Jobs and this will be happening for a long time, so Apple should have nothing to worry about with their production and demand for their products. Apple will flourish and will forever flourish even without Steve Jobs. Tim Cook will take the company farther than it's ever been and will innovate this world in ways we will never even imagine.

IPhone 5

When it comes to iPhones they always sell by the millions. Why do they sell by the millions? Because for one the company selling it is Apple™ and for two it's an iPhone 5 the latest one. Apple creates now devices and as soon as they go on sell everybody wants one. Most of these items are luxury but they can all be use for necessary reasons. Apple sells iPhones for about $200-400 dollars and iPads for about $500-700 dollars and on top of that they are selling it by the millions so there bringing in major cake (money). These devices easily go down in value, because if you drop it and the screen cracks (SMITH) then you can't resell it for that much. When somebody brines are crack there iPhone there looking to get another which provides me money for Apple™. Personally, Apple never really change stuff on iPhones and iPads they either make it big or taller or wider or smaller with the addition of a camera. I respect the amount of money Apple™ is bringing in but the at they can do is change it up and give the people there moneys worth!

Dodging Bankruptcy

The Los Angeles Dodgers and owner Frank McCourt will face MLB commissioner Bud Selig in the court room october 31st to decide the faite of the team. Frank McCourt had to file for bankruptcy after Bud Selig denied the Dodgers right to a 150 million dollar deal with fox to televise their games. Selig believes it is best for baseball if McCourt loses ownership of the team. However Judge Kevin Gross will have the final say in the bankruptcy court room over whats best for baseball.

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-01/dodgers-bankruptcy-judge-orders-testimony-by-mccourt-selig.html

Frankly Bud Selig does not want another team like the Yankees or Red Sox to to be exempt participating in the league's revenue sharing system. Similar to how the Long Horn Network doesn't have to share its profits with other teams by having their own network. However the existence of networks like YES and LHN have been motivated by "greed", the dodgers were just trying to stay away from bankruptcy. If the Dodgers go bankrupt it will be very interesting to see how the future of sports telecasting rights change. It is very possible that this decision could be used down the line to create laws for collegiate athletic broadcasting. Especially with the fallout of athletic conferences.

Cell Phones

When it comes to cell phones, everybody has one now and days, whether it’s the Iphone or The Galaxy Samsung II. Everybody loves to have a phone but the cost of paying the bill is just a pain at least for me, my phone bill is $40 dollars a month. Its probably cheaper plans out there but paying $40 bucks every month has kind of became the norm for me, kind of like you buying $3 dollars and some change at the gas pump. To have a phone is a microeconomics, its an individual decisions to have one, you don’t have to call or text people you can find another way to communicate. We could use a computer and send emails or just send a hand written letter in the mail. I understand having a phone make life A LOT easier but in this down economy we’re in there are a lot of cut back made. People are going laid off their jobs, businesses are closing, and people are cutting back on stuff they really don’t need just to meet the budge. For example, if people need money to pay a bill they will could probably cut off there phone, there children’s phone, and if there in deep trouble they can cut off there whole family plan. So if you need stuff cut back on the items you don’t need, like your cellular phone, movies, and eating out. All of these thing are just elastic items that you really don’t need you just have them because there a luxury to you.

Tent City, New Jersey

On a public land site off of Jersey Shore there are people who aren't living the life of the Italian Americans you see on MTV... No these people have formed a community known as "Tent City". There are 70 homeless inhabitants in Tent City who among many were successful but have lost their jobs in New York City during the recession.

http://money.cnn.com/video/news/2011/09/15/n_tent_city.cnnmoney/

In the above link their are some humbling videos about tent city dwellers and other New Yorkers who are suffering during our economic crisis. As I stumbled across these interviews I found myself depressed that our economy is so far away from helping these people. The residents of Tent city are so hopeless that they are giving up on the Government supporting them. In a interview with one New Yorker he implied that the middle class of New York are people who live off of some type of aid from the government.

The inhabitants of Tent City do have the right idea. Our government has to much influence on our economy and we need to give more power to the corporations by eliminating taxes to give companies a chance to expand. Thus eliminating the need for communities like Tent City.

Mayweather Vs. Ortiz

The "Money" Mayweather Vs. "Vicious" Ortiz fight racked in nearly 2 million dollars. In addition it cost $59.99 for anybody who ordered it on pay per view but it was also held at The MGM theater in Las Vegas, Nevada and they always rack in MAJOR MULA.! Alot of people showed up the fight including celebrity like Puff Diddy, Jamie Foxx, and Mark Wahlberg. The MGM seats at least 16800 people and when there's alot of people and people selling food the demand is going to raise. Why? because the more people the more food that is going to be purchased and in addition to that the food is going to be cheap. As demand goes up the prices go down, it's a inverse relationship. The viewing of this fight is a luxury it not something that we actually need it just something people go see to be excited, it's an inelasticity. The fight is something we want to see not something we need to see. Mayweather funded the fight so muc of the money is going to go back to him, MGM will get there cut, and Ortiz lost so there's no telling how much money he is going to receive. Its just alot of money gained in a matter of hours and on top of that it wasnt a really good fight. He cheap shooted him in the 4th round and won. ESPN named the fight "The Weird Classic." So never boxer in a fight funded by Mayweather Productions it all just a big money scam.! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$

Americas and Oil Companies

Throughout the Americas, countries are making new oil rigs to drill in new found places with oil. A Chinese-built rig has been placed in Cuba to drill in the waters for more oil. But surprisingly, the hottest new oil market is in North Dakota's prairie where 400,000 barrel of oils are being produced daily and it may ease our dependence on Middle Eastern oil. Western oil companies are now focusing their sights on clusters on oil fields in the Americas. Now that we are drilling in our own land and country, this might help us control the gas prices and ultimately lower them. Though the Middle East still can control the prices because their oil fields are cheaper to develop and many countries want to go to them to save money. We are still looking for new places to develop oil other than the Middle Easy and now North Dakota. Right now we are looking for oil in regions near Russia in part of the Arctic Ocean. The biggest deal is how much the cost will be to actually drill in at the site. If it costs too much money, then we won't drill there and we'll have to keep drilling in the Middle East. A big oil boom, soon is much needed to keep this country at peace and from getting in to even more debt. The Americas need to become more producers of oils to help each other and not allow outside countries to drill from them.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/20/world/americas/recent-discoveries-put-americas-back-in-oil-companies-sights.html?hp

Government Intervention on College Football Economy

In a previous post a couple a weeks ago on The LongHorn network and the Big 12 Meltdown I mentioned how the college football economy is unique to any other economic system. In the college football economy the corporations (athletic programs) have more control than the government (NCAA) and the consumers(fans)... With the conference realignment getting national news the U.S. government looks for a reason to get involved. You see athletic conferences are actually tax free organizations that are banking billions yearly off of unpaid collegiate athletes.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/09/19/sports/ncaafootball/congressional-scrutiny-of-conference-realignment-is-said-to-be-likely.html?_r=1

After the announcement from the University of Pittsburgh and Syracuse that they would depart from the Big East and enter the ACC, an anonymous congressman from a state with a university that could be negatively impacted said

“I think the situation is rising to a level where getting Congress engaged may be unavoidable.”

This congressman believes that the government can intervene onconference realignment because of administrative issues regarding antitrust laws, taxes, and potentially Title IX. The problem with conference realignment is there will be athletic programs who will get left out and will be forced to play in a conference that doesn't receive an automatic BCS bowl bid for winning the conference championship. He also said

“If my school is somehow left out, my constituents are going to demand I do everything in my power to stop that.”

After hearing those comments we now know that the only fans with power are the same ones who almost caused our country to lose our AAA credit rating. Hooray... You now can expect a full blast of apocalyptic conference destruction on the east coast with the Big East unfolding. Meanwhile the soon to be former Big 12(10) has a political cat fight developing over Texas A&M's departure to the S.E.C. causing worry for Baylor's future as well as 8 other teams trying to figure out where they will be playing next year.

Now is the government involvement over conference realignment warranted... My answer is no because the government will make things seem "fair" but in reality a conference should only have to accept a team that earn the right to be in there conference like Texas A&M did.

States Taxes and Spending

States have been struggling to fund the most basic programs in 2011 and most likely won't be able to avoid tax and fee increases. States are now taking a closer look at business incentive programs, trying to focus more on returns on investments. They're looking at unemployment insurance tax rates and reforming or reassessing tax structures in other states, for example, sales tax exemption. There are many other taxes that states are looking at to reform, reassess, raise or decrease or even get rid of all in all. Business could benefit from these new taxes, but there is always that possibility of failure as well.

In the last two years, almost all the states have made cuts to major service areas and will most likely make more cuts to programs this year. The Recovery Act fiscal cliff will worsen funding shortfalls, more than likely in education and infrastructure, resulting in more drastic cuts in those areas from last year. Due to the loss of stimulus funds, 75 percent of the nation's school districts expected to cut teaching jobs last school year. In addition, states might attempt to shift cat burdens fro programs onto local jurisdictions, such as juvenile and adult correctional expenditures and pensions for teachers.

10 years later

Ten years ago today on 9/11/01 our country was attacked by people who did not believe in the freedoms that Americans enjoy. It forever changed the way the world traveled, it increased the tensions between us and middle eastern oil companies, and finally it sent our country in to debt by causing our national defense spending to shoot off the charts. But is it fair to say that the terrorists won by causing horror and economic disaster on our country? Heavens no!

http://www.gobankingrates.com/ten-years-after-economic-impacts-9-11/

The terrorists lost because they didn't stop us from doing what we wanted. One of the many things Osama Bin Laden hated about our country is how Americans are greedy (I prefer pursuit of happiness). Guess what? Donald Trump down the street from the twin towers still lived in his cozy tower trying to find somebody he can mentor by humiliating him/her on national television for many years. Speaking of buildings how about that 1.2 billion $ Spaceship that the Dallas cowboys play in? Jerry wanted America's team to have the best didn't he? Hold up now... Let's not forget how the NFL still played on opening day five days after the attacks on the world trade center and how the military flew jets over the stadiums while the national anthems were being played. Our economy's mindset hasn't changed and I still have faith in it.

Now being an ambitious young man who lives in America I plan on supporting our country's way of life by working towards the pursuit of happiness. In fact I'm willing to pay my taxes on military spending debt because I know those people who died in the attacks would do the same for me knowing it would defend the freedoms that everybody should be born with. Osama Bin Laden once said "We love death. The U.S. loves life. That is the difference between us two." The real difference between us two is I can choose the diamond while you can only take the water. How's that for paradox value?

God Bless America!

The Cost Of Living

The Cost Of Living

When people ask me whats up I always say the cost of living. I say it as a joke but the joke is actually true. The prices to have the resources you need to live just cost way to much these days. Milk is like $3.25, Gas are like $3.33, and if you have a baby thats going to be an estimate of 250,000 dollars to raise til the age of 18. The main reason for prices being so high is the debt that The US has. We are in a trillion dollar debt and no country has a trillion dollars to give us to get us out of debt, that wouldnt help anyway that would just put us in debt with that country. China has issued us some money to kinda help us out but a trillion dollars is alot of money. We saved a dollarsfrom the day Jesus was born until today we still wouldnt have a trillion dollars to pay off our debt. One of the ways we could reduce the debt is add tax increase to the resources or just tax the higher class people more then the lower class. Being the fact, that they tax so much stuff already which raises the prices of FREAKING LIVING it make it hard for people to make ends meet and get the neccessary resources they need. So maybe they thinking about another way to decrease the taxes or just dont tax at all.

Rising Gas Prices

Gasoline prices are peaking up to 5 dollars a gallon in some areas of the country and is certainly a cause for concern. According to a poll in the Washington Post, about 70 percent of Americans say that high gas prices are the reason for their financial crisis. High gas prices in 2008 contributed to our nation's deep recession, and we still haven't fully recovered from it. Policies that lower fuel prices and lift regulations that are contributing to even higher petroleum and energy prices need to be favored more than the other policies trying to get passed. Since failing to pass a flawed cap and trade legislation, the Environmental Protection Agency has been used as backdoor to implement new harmful regulations and energy taxes. Recently, the House passed H.R. 910, The Energy Tax Prevention Act, in order to prevent the EPA from promoting any regulation relating to climate change under the Clean Air Act. We also must take steps to ensure our nation is not held hostage to the prices set by the Middle East. That means we need to look for new sources of oil in Alaska, on the Outer Continental Shelf and from shale in the West. The use of American innovation to accelerate technology that burns coal in a cleaner way because it is an abundant energy source in our country needs to be used. I believe that over the long run, we the people need to develop and implement new alternative energy sources and technologies.

LongHorn Network and the Big 12 Meltdown

My Saturday evening was spent depressing over the fact that I was one of the millions of Texas Longhorn fans watching the Oregon vs LSU game instead of watching our team start their rebuilding period with the debut of freshmen Jaxon Shipley and Malcolm Brown. The LongHorn Network (LHN) is currently in a broadcasting dispute ESPN which prevented every major satellite television company from showing the game. But that's not the biggest of my problems... The biggest is the LongHorn Network is in the process dismantling the Big 12.

http://www.burntorangenation.com/2011/9/2/2401944/case-of-longhorn-network-blues

Our arch-rival Texas A&M is secretly jealous that the University of Texas has a TV network that is going to be making millions of dollars and be able to televise high school football games that star high school recruits. In retaliation Texas A&M is leaving the big 12 and looks to join the South Eastern Conference (SEC) in order to balance the recruiting field by playing in the most competitive conference and earn more money from television contracts. Meanwhile the University of Oklahoma views the departure of Texas A&M and former conference foes like Nebraska as a sign that the conference is heading in a direction that will decrease their own payouts from television contracts as they look to join the Pacific Athletic Conference (PAC-12).

After writing my last post Dirty Money at The U and in this post I realize that college football operates as a market economy that is motivated by Adam Smith's philosophy of worrying about your self. Only in this economy the consumer (the fans) get to miss college football action and lose their traditional rivalries and the the government (the NCAA) can't control its members from cheating. This economy is controlled by the corporations who know they can get away with cheating (most of time) and can force their consumers to do whatever it takes to support their university.

NBA Lockout

http://www.nba.com/2011/news/07/01/nba-labor-lockout.ap/index.htm

The NBA Lockout has happen because owners and players cant agree on NBA contracts for next season. The most recent lockout was in 1998-1999 season, which caused them to lost 32 games that were suppose to be played. They also don't have enough money to go into the teams salary caps. The only way the NBA season could start right now is to pay every players a value of one million dollars which would be really bad for the NBA also. For example, an NBA team salary cap depends on how much money a team can player their players. If a NBA team had the salary cap of 55.5 million dollars they could get pretty much get any NBA Superstar they want.For example imagine if the Miamia Heat had Bosh,D.Wade,LeBron,Howard,Carmelo,Stoudmare,Jimmer,and Dirk. Which mean they would probably go to the championship every year and when you win championships you get more money. If your team is a highly favorite then their memorabilia sells go up and when their memorabilia sells are extremely high then it becomes a big part of their franchise. They could possibly rack in up to half a billion dollars just off that. Now for other teams that barely get any TV time or hardly sell out there stadium, its hard for them because they don't have any money coming in and that is one of the reason the lockout is taking place. By the time the lockout is over there is most like going to be some teams delete from the league. Either that or there are going to be some teams moved to different state because they don't have enough money to support there team. Its kinda hard when to owner of your team is rich but the team is about to go bankrupt. So when the lockout is over don't be surprised if you see a NBA team called The Salem Sonic s from Oregon or The Chapel Hill Fliers from North Carolina.

Outside Help and Boosters

According to Yahoo! Sports, booster Nevin Shapiro provided almost 930 million dollars that he acquired from a Ponzi scheme to over 72 athletes. Most of those players are now in the NFL and about 12 players are still at the university are in big trouble and are not allowed to play football this year. Documents from Miami show a booster who broke NCAA rules while simultaneously making tens of thousands of dollars in annual contributions to Miami’s athletic program. All while incurring massive bills aligning himself socially with a stable of Miami players. Shapiro stated that he became a booster in '01 and started giving gifts to players in '02. He was doing this with money he pretty much was stealing from people who were giving him 'loans' or 'donations'. ESPN gathered coaches, former players and staff of college programs together to discuss a "blueprint for change" for college football. The biggest topic they talked about was getting rid of third party contributors such as boosters and outside help. Eliminating those would in theory get rid of the scandals and rumors traveling all throughout college football programs. In essence, getting rid of outside help and these illegal boosters would help clean up college programs. Colleges won't have to worry about getting in trouble, losing scholarships, championships, awards, or coaches having to quit their jobs to stay out of trouble. Everyone could focus on the actual gameplay of football instead of the illegal allegations that come up every now and then due illegal benefits from outside help.

Dirty Money at the U

The University of Miami (aka THE U) has done it again. For the second time in their football program's history they have been proven to have given "gifts" to student athletes. Why can't the boosters leave student athletes alone and prevent further damage to the prestige of the university? The answer is... Scarcity. Today winning in college football means one thing and that is being number 1. Today being the best college football team is high in demand.

athletes. http://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2011/08/dirty-money-in-miami-whos-shocked-by-college-sports-latest-scandal/243801/

Nevin Shapiro understood how hard it was to be number one... After all he was on his way to becoming the highest paid ponzi schemer of all time before he was sent to prison for fraud. In order for his team the Miami Hurricanes to win he did what he was best at and invested in the entertainment value the players experianced while they attended Miami. Nevin Shapiro claimed that his "eight-year run of rampant NCAA rule-breaking" included "cash, prostitutes, entertainment in his multimillion-dollar homes and yacht, paid trips to high-end restaurants and nightclubs, jewelry, bounties for on-field play, travel and, on one occasion, an abortion." Hmm... If I was a high school recruit I would definitely being willing to ride that investment out. However some of these recruits came to the university with nothing but the clothes on their back. One anonymous Miami player stood up for his teammate Tyrone Moss who took money from Shapiro saying he was "poor as [expletive] from Pompano and he's got a little kid to feed... Of course he's going to take [the money.] Who wouldn't in that situation?"

So does this mean Tyrone Moss and other poor athletes are greedy for taking gifts? No they're doing what it takes to survive and getting the most out of Miami's above average education. Is Nevin Shapiro greedy for donating to the school's post game football party fund? Of course not! Nobody who ever gave away money was greedy right?

Is Apple Watching?

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20055885-37.html?tag=topStories1

What looks to be like secret files on the iPhone that track user locations and log it on the device with out the users permission have been discovered. It is not very clear what the information is used for and why they have it yet though, but it is known that Apple has been collection data from their products with a 3G antenna for almost a year now.
Since this is very unclear this could be potentially very bad for Apple customers. Many people really trust Apple and are loyal customers, people also continue to buy their products simply because they trust Apple. This new information could jeopardize this though. Having data collected without the customer knowing is scary to many people. Customers weren't supposed to know about this, and now they aren't sure what it is being used for. This news could really hurt the company until they respond to all the questions. Temporarily, people may stop buying their products because they might feel as if they are being spied on. If they lose their customers, people may switch to the next best thing... the android. Studies show that the android is not using this technology to track their customers, and this might show a sense of security to many people and people may switch only for that reason. This news really can hurt Apple. It is the first negative comment I've really heard about the company, so it could really freak people out and start to question Apple more. This is going to lose customers' trust to the company and instead of Apple being the "it" technology company, they might turn into a sketchy company that people can't trust. This really has potential to hurt Apple.

The Masters: Golf's Crown Jewel Now Sells Tickets

The Masters is a well known and highly repected golf tournament showcasing some of golf's greates players. In recent years The Masters has always maintained its traditional aspects but now decided it's time for a change. Because golf is big business in Georgia, where the tournament takes place, why not offer opportunities for regular patrons to come and witness such a historical event. With that oppotunity comes a price, 50$ for a day pass and 75$ for a tournament pass doesn't sound like too much. However you must purchase the tickets directly through The Master's website. With this being mandatory, The Masters will see quite a jump in their revenue and will directly benefit from this. People who are interested in such and event will have to submit an application to be considered eligible to attend such a prestigious golf tournament If people wish to buy tickets outside of The Masters, they will be looking at a much steeper price. The Masters essentially holds all the power in choosing who would be able to come and view such an event and because of this power they will gain popularity but could suffer minutely as far as revenue goes. Also, because many golf players shwocased in this tournament have sponsorships, those sponsors have to pay The Masters to allow the players to advertise their product on national television. The vice president of sales and marketing for Augusta, Georgia compares the reliance on Christmas that stores have is the same reliance that hotels and restaurants have on The Masters. Augusta being a small town greatly benefits from the tournament and the golf course itself takes on new inquiries for memebership, thus increasing its popularity.

The Economy Stinks for the Trash Industry

The city of Arlington expects to lose about 950,000 dollars of revenue this fiscal year from the town landfill. The lack of trash is directly linked to the decline in business being conducted in today's economy. The landfill lease makes more money per year than the leases of the Ballpark and Cowboys stadium combined, making it the biggest lease source revenue in the city. Republic waste operates the city landfill. They have diverted some trash to Fort Worth landfills, which is also leading to the revenue loss. The current size of the North Arlington landfill has 12 years left, and the city is expecting to expand horizontally and vertically, giving it 20 to 25 years of life left. "As long as the landfill is open and has the capacity to take in trash, it will be a revenue generator for the city," Byrd said. This impacts our economy because the revenue from the landfill is so large that the city can use the funds for building roads and parks. We have seen the direct impact from the funds used by the city. Republic Waste diverting trash to Fort Worth will hurt the Arlington public works fund in the long run. Although it is currently a big loss, public officials expect the revenue to rebound in the next fiscal year.

Google to Spend Billions on War with Facebook

Two major internet corporations in Google and Facebook are currently at war with one another. Google is used to being the main search engine and answer for many Americans across the nation and people in other countries. You can usually type just about anything into the Google search engine and get an answer right back. This allowed Google to dominate the search engine world and surpass other companies like Yahoo or Bing. Now Google´s successes are being threatened by Facebook´s successes. As a result of Facebook´s newly gained popularity, Google feels threatened economically speaking. They feel as though Facebook is becoming the modern way to find out information leaving no need for search engines like Google. Because Facebook has a significant amount of workers less than Google, there is more money freed up to explore different avenues. More and more people are relying on Facebook now to get the latest buzz on things instead of running to Google. This issue is still maturing and neither company has seen any immense gain or loss due to this issue. Google os still the powerhouse and is still getting all the profit. Facebook is sneaking up and will slowly start to take over those Google lovers and convert them into Facebook lovers. Economically for both companies, it's a healthy dispute because it in turn forces the two companies to better themselves and give the consumer a better product in order to increase their profit.

Fort Worth District could lose 553 jobs in cuts

On Tuesday morning, 167 Ft. Worth positions will be voted on to see if they will be cut due to shortage in funding. The officials cannot say too much because they cannot release names of the employees that do not know they are being released. Wouldn't this mean the positions are already eliminated? So why is there a voting? Most of the 553 jobs that are being voted on are vacant or will be soon after people retire. All of the recently employed had to sign a form saying that they were aware that their jobs were paid with temporary funds.

"Our primary goal has been, and remains, to make decisions in the best of our interest of our students and in so doing, preserve jobs," Superintendent Melody Johnson said in a message to staff.

To stop some of the teachers from being fired, they are being transferred to other schools and districts. Officials estimate that the job reduction could save $17 million. This is going to cut the funding for several years but what happens when, or if, the economy takes another drop? Will education keep decreasing in it's teachers? If this is the case, there is no way that education standards will stay the same.

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/10/2989761/fort-worth-district-could-lose.html

Starbucks App

http://www.betanews.com/article/Starbucks-expands-mobile-payment-service-to-all-US-stores/1295465526 Starbucks is making paying for your favorite coffee mobile. All the Starbucks in Target now work for the new app and 7,500 stores across the country. This idea is great for the customers. Everybody has a smart phone now days, so making an app is truly the most innovative thing a company can do, in my opinion. The Starbucks app is genius for its customers. This makes getting your morning coffee less of a messy rush and more convenient for the customer. They can just stick out their phone (which is probably already glued to their hand) and pay. Starbucks is not only increasing business by making it more convenient and easier for customers to get coffee, but they are also probably making tons of money from the popularity of the app. Apps on smart phones can gain popularity real fast, and almost become a trend. People ask if they have the newest apps and if the Starbucks app catches on, then it could be the new app trend. This really does increase business for Starbucks. The new app is a great idea for the company to make things more convenient for their busy customers.

U.S. Seeks to Reassure on Contaminated Food

News of high levels of radioactive wastes in fishes across Japan had Americans in shock and fear to buy any seafood. This was because Japan is a major source for seafoods and produce for the U.S. This scare had many seafood sellers and fishermen in need of some form of revenue since their major source was now being questioned. They suffered a major decline in their sales because of this incident. Just recently U.S. public health officials sought to reassure people that the food is safe. Also to ensure that there is no need to take drastic measures on the matter as it is being carefully handled. Japan suffered economically from this. As a result of this scare, many fish markets are looking elsewhere for the products in order to boost sales that recently were declined. Thomas Frieden, head of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stated that Americans had nothing to be concerned about since the radioactive wastes have not yet been found in fish sold in the U.S.

Rangers Are Back

Any persistant followers of baseball know that it was opening weekend this past weekend. And for a team fresh out of the World Series, there couldn't have been a better performance.The Rangers swept the Sox, but that's only part of the buzz. They also brought in record crowds for a first three game series of the season with over 144,000 people. So what does this mean to Arlington's economy? One thing in particular that will please everyone is money. Arlington is the only city with an All-star game, a World Series, and a Superbowl all in one year. That can't do anything but help the economy. And now it's baseball season again. That's not the only hype about Arlington's economy. The Mavericks will also be making the playoffs which is a huge boost. But the Rangers are the talk of everything. This could dramatically improve the economy which is always beneficial when gas prices are as they are. People will be willing to spend money which puts more money into the circular flow. Businesses, and in this case, the franchise of the Texas Rangers will be impacted greatly by that. It's only the beginning of the season and things are looking great for the Rangers, now we just need them to help the economy look great as well. http://http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/04/03/2971539/wins-record-crowds-all-good-for.html#

Obama Promises Tuition Tax Credit

President Obama is promising struggling college students to help pay for college due to his student loan debt. For $10 billion a year, Obama is promising $4,000 in tuition for each student who achieves 100 hours of community service. A campaign, involving an Illinois Senator, expresses how they are struggling with rising fuel prices, educational costs, and other family demands. Campaigns like this are used to promote the presidents plans to help these families in need during the tough economic times.

"I was given love, and I was given support, but most importantly, I was given an education that put me on a pathway to my dreams. So was Michelle," states Obama during a speech.

Later in this speech, Obama shares his story of loan debt after marrying Michelle and taking many years to finally pay off this joint student debt. He also shares about a time he communicated with a dental hygenist student who falling into a deeper debt in paying for her school because she is having to pay $4 for a gallon of gas. Obama promises her, as well as every other college student in the world, that this time will pass and they will be able to afford, and finish, their schooling. According to this plan, Obama is going to cause a major increase in our national debt. Although, with people getting the money to afford college, we are going to see an increase in the job demands since there will be more degrees being accomplished. Obama has thought a very good plan in making people help the community by earning 100 hours to recieve the $4,000 but many people will begin to achieve this, if they haven't already. http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/25214156/ns/politics-decision_08/

President Obama reelection bid

President Obama is already starting his campaing for the 2010 election with a video that he made telling supporters that he will run for another bid and trying to gain more support.He says that the primary focuses of his 2010 campaign will be to improve the nation's healthcare system, fix Wall Street, and to get the U.S. economy moving again. His campaign won't be easy though. Because many of the economic decisions that he has made have upset many Republicans, they believe that he has held the recovery back. His campaign will have to address the national debt in order to gain any popularity. He also has to persuade the people that he is going to compromise some sort of plan in order to save the economy. He plans to jump start a massive fund-raising drive to raise money for his campaign by filing his legal paperwork in advance.

Facebook Kicking off 20,000 Users a Day

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/03/23/facebook.underage.users/index.html?iref=NS1

Facebook is booting over 20,000 underage users a day. To be on Facebook you must be at least 13 years old, and over half of the 12 year olds out there are using a social networking site. If Facebook is losing only a tiny fraction of their 600 million users, then what is happening to the company from this loss and why are they booting off users?
Facebook treats every user on their site like an adult, they give them their own choices as to what they want the public to see or not to see. If something explicit happens to a child on Facebook or from Facebook, then Facebook could probably get sued. 13 year olds don't make the brightest choices, but they have a little bit more of a grip on what to post online than a 10 year old does. I think Facebook is trying to prevent something bad from happening to a younger kid.
Another thought that crossed my mind was that 20,000 people less a day will be seeing the advertisements on Facebook and that might effect other companies besides Facebook. Will other companies lose potential money from this?
As age increases, it is shown that more people are involved with a social networking site. With all the younger kids getting kicked off Facebook will that make it more or less popular when they are of age? I would expect that it would make some kids want to be on Facebook more since they would have to wait to get on it, but I can also imagine kids being against it since they weren't originally allowed on or they were kicked off. Another possibility is that maybe the younger generations are finding other social networking sites to be on. If this is so, then Facebook will have a competitor because those kids might not want to switch sites if all their friends are using a different site other than Facebook.
I think Facebook is definitely number one when it comes to social networking sites, but to the younger generations it might not be. They might think something else is the 'cool thing'.

Americans Cancel Trips to Japan Due to the Earthquake

Due to the earthquake and the following tsunami in Japan, Americans are advised by the US government to postpone or cancel their planned trips to Japan for either leisure or business visits. Japanese travel organizations have described themselves as "swamped" with phone calls after this disaster.

Peggy Goodman informs us, "trips will resume before the end of May or beginning of June." Goodman is the president of Friendly Planet Travel in Pennsylvania who has yearly plans of tours going on in Japan. 727,000 visitors in Japan came from America last year, according to the tourism organization.

After the disaster occurred, the State Department sent warnings to the Americans to keep people from traveling to Japan since there was a shortage of water and food beginning to happen. Although the alerts end April 1, there are still many risk factors that may keep people from traveling. Many businesses are not operating in Japan right now because they're in recovery. Japan has many resources that we need every day and affects many major corporations we have. Japan has greatly impacted the entire world more than with just the economy. Japan moved 8 feet with this earthquake, it also moved the Earth 4 inches on it's axis. Although it may not seem like much, it has had a big affect. One life was lost in California and many people have been affected by either losing relatives in Japan or their jobs. It won't be long until we all see dramatic changes in our life involving money, oil prices and jobs.


http://articles.sfgate.com/2011-03-14/business/28690659_1_travel-plans-tour-operators-and-travel-tokyo-s-haneda

The iPhone 5 Surprise: No Intel Inside

In this article, Ross of Fiscal Times discusses the much awaited arrival of the iPhone 5. This new innovative device will be released in the summer of this year which is Apple's prime time of sales. The iPhone is already making waves because of its sleek design and news of new software. All iPhones produced last fall came equipped with software from Intel. The only downfall of this software was that in order to make the jump to Verizon in February, Intel had to create a brand new chip that would support the data in the Verizon iPhones that was different than the data in the AT&T iPhones. The new iPhone 5's will come standard with new chipsets from Qualcomm which is able to support both Verizon and AT&T's data networks. This loss for Intel was one of great magnitude and drove the sale of those iPhones down. But for Qualcomm it was a great benefit. The predicted sales will be very high for the new iPhone being released this summer. Also, the new iPad 2's being released will also contain this new Qualcomm chip and they have already seen great sales. With the release of the new iPhone 5, earlier generations of the iPhone will see a drop in price as they already have.
http://www.thefiscaltimes.com/Articles/2011/03/07/The-iPhone-5-Surprise-No-Intel-Inside.aspx

Drilling is not The Source of Parker County Water Contamination

http://www.star-telegram.com/2011/03/07/2902435/state-regulators-say-driller-not.html

Texas Railroad Commision hearing examiners declared that two Barnett Shale natural gas wells were not the soure of methane gas contamination of residential water wells in Parker County. These examiners believe that the source of the contamination is from a much shallower gas-bearing formation than the Barnett Shale, which is located more than a mile below ground level. The Railroad Commissioners are trying to find wells that are not contaminated so they can focus on other wells that are more dangerous. All these contaminations deal with methane, the primary ingredient in natural gas. All researchers hired by the EPA found the same results as the examiners. This result was that the contamination of the water wells was caused by methane. Since there is a scarce amount of uncontaminated water in these wells, the supply of clean water will decrease, therefore, the price of the water is going to increase as well as the demand. Clean water is a necessity in everyday life. We use water for showers, nutrition, hydration, etc. which creates a high demand for this product. Without this product, a catastrophe will evolve and slow down our economy well by well.

iPad 2

The iPad has now been outdated. This was very quick considering the original came out not too long ago. The iPad 2 has many more advances. But what does this mean to the price and the expectations to the new iPad? The original had shocked people with the capabilities it had and now there are more with the iPad 2. The price is the same as the first and there could be many reasons why. One reason could be the degredation of the dollar within just the past year. The economy has gone into a recession and that is the backing of the American dollar.

It is kind of shocking that the iPad 2 is the same price as the original iPad because of the recent raise in gas prices. It is a common trend for other prices to rise as gas does but this is not the case. The question now is simply, why? Everything else right now in the economy is inflated except for this technological advance. Maybe this is a sign for a turn around in the economy since technology is one of the main drives for a successful economy.


http://http//www.apple.com/ipad/

Times Square Alliance Presents a Major Public art Exhibition at the Crossroads of the World

http://www.artdaily.com/index.asp?int_sec=2&int_new=45402

The Times Square Alliance is showcasing different artists with a public art exhibit at the Crossroads in Times Square. The Times Square Show 2011 has four very interesting sculptures shown out in one of the busiest areas. Thousands of people are walking around Times Square every day which means thousands of people will be seeing these sculptures that aren't normally there. These out of place sculptures will be noticed since they are normally not there. I think these sculptures will draw tons of attention. With all this attention, these artists will be gaining the interest of people who normally wouldn't see their work or go to a museum. They will be exposed to something that they aren't use to and might like the sculptures. There are tons of people being exposed to the art in Times Square, so these artists will become so much more popular than they once were. Not only will people like them but they will be interested and want more. This will help not only the artists, but also museums. People who don't normally go to museums might start going now. Putting this in the public opens many doors to the artists and different businesses and museums for them to make more money and to have more interest.

Back to Land Lines? Cell Phones May Be Dead by 2015

"What do a cell phone, a laptop, and an electric car have in common?"

All three devices depend on batteries that contain a very scarce natural metal called lithium. The price of lithium has drastically increased due to its scarcity. This price increase has many technology companies rethinking the use of a lithium battery because the budget calls for a much lesser equivalent. Also to make matters worse for lithium, studies have shown that the contents in the lithium battery negatively affect brain activity. Lithium is very hard to find and its scarce amounts have predicated its price increase. Countries that have an abundance of the metal have the ability to price it at whatever they would like. With the demand of the lithium battery going up, producers of these devices have no choice but to pay those outrageous prices if they want to keep business booming. This in turn causes those lithium driven devices' prices to be increased by the manufacturers because of the increase in the price to produce the product. Many products that require the lithium battery are beginning to explore other alternatives to the long lasting battery. Suppliers of lithium are under much pressure from the demand of this scarce product. These factors will continue to decrease the popularity of the cell phone.

Consumer Spending Changing Factories

The article by Lucia Mutikani is saying that the spending that is happening, is helping the economy weather the rising oil prices and maintains the steady growth momentum. The Commerce Department declares that the spending rose 0.2 percent which answers why "spending is the only modest driver of growth this year." The federal chairmen Ben Bernanke stated that the central bank needs to prepare the $600 billion bond buying program should keep low interest rates.

Consumer spending takes up 70 percent of the economic activity in the United States. This percentage is being affected by the rising gasoline and food prices. With the people's money being taken from buying the necessity of gas, they're not having as much money for their wants. The consumers will have to rethink their spending when they have to use more of their income for gasoline and food which are needs because they need gas and food in order to keep working for money. As the prices of gasoline keep increasing, the factory demands will go down because the people are not making more money. A steady pay will not allow the consumers to change the way they spend their income. Unemployment in the factories could occur as the gas prices raise.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20110228/bs_nm/us_usa_economy;_ylt=A0LEaoAr92tNGygAk0qyBhIF;_ylu=X3oDMTJmaWUwNDBoBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTEwMjI4L3VzX3VzYV9lY29ub215BGNwb3MDMgRwb3MDNgRzZWMDeW5fdG9wX3N0b3J5BHNsawNjb25zdW1lcnNwZW4-

Voting on Facebook for American Idol

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TECH/social.media/02/24/american.idol.facebook/index.html

So Facebook has finally offered American Idol a secure way to vote online. Each viewer can log on to their Facebook account and vote up to 50 times. People can still vote via text message or phone calls as well. This means people will have an additional 50 votes. This could really impact the votes on the show and change things up a bit.
If people are voting on Facebook it might influence their friends to vote too since they could see in on their profiles or news feed. It might even make people who don't watch the show, want to start watching it because they want to be involved with the online voting on Facebook with the rest of their friends. The Facebook voting will most likely increase the popularity of the show even more. Facebook is the biggest social network, and trends fly around like crazy on it. If this voting is advertised well, then the ratings for the show and the channel could increase greatly. If other shows realize that Facebook voting is helping the popularity of American Idol, then this might become more popular with other series as well. I think television shows could really benefit by this, by putting themselves on Facebook, and allowing their fans to vote, not only makes their friends want to do it as well, but it makes them feel special and involved which will make them want to watch the show more often. Ultimately, Facebook voting will gain more viewers for the show.

Alcohol Nutrition Facts Brewing a Stir

A federal agency run through the Treasury Department called the TTB(The Alcohol and Tobacco tax and Trade Bureau) made it a law that nutrition facts be visibly posted on the bottles of alcoholic beverages. While at first glance one might think this a disadvantage, it is also a huge advantage for those healthier drinks. Companies like Guiness who have healthier beers than other beer companies will be able to showcase their nutrition facts and their profits will increase from this. With this government regulation taking place already in California, many other states will soon catch on as companies benefit greatly. We have seen this sort of situation at fast food restaurants such as McDonalds. McDonalds was regulated by the government to post nutrition facts on the food wrappers of their foods. This was all in a plot to prove to the FDA that they wouldn't lose profit.However, profits slowly decreased but as McDonalds improved their menu to include many more healthier foods, profit increased. If the beer and wine and spirts companies want to save profit, it would be vital for them to produce healthier beverages. With those healthier beverages, they will draw in a new crowd of people who maybe didn't drink alcohol in the past because of being unaware of the nutrition facts. This new breed of consumer will prove to be beneficial to alcohol companies across the nation.
http://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/2011/02/18/alcohol-nutrition-facts-brewing-stir/

Rajasthan Minister Steps in to Save Tiger

A happy reunion Friday Febraury 4th between Tigress T-5 and her cubs at the Ranthambore national park. The minister saved the tiger in a near death experience. When Beena Kak was in the park taking pictures of the pond, he noticed the tiger lying on it's back with red marks all over. This red mark turned out to be "a life-threatening wound that had invited hundreds of maggots." After an hour long operation on this tigress, she was able to be back with her cubs.

"I felt disturbed when I saw what I had clicked. I went back to where I had seen the tigress first. I took some more close-ups and realized that blood was oosing out of the wound. I called up the divisional forest officer," said the minister.

The docter that took care of the tigress explained that it was a 4-inch-deep wound and if left unattended, the tigress would have died in two days. After a minor surgery, the tigress was able to be united with her cubs.

Minister Beena Kak gave up his time in order to save this tigress. This opportunity cost ended up saving this tigress' life. The doctor also gave up his time to save this tigress that was practically on their death bed if the maggots would have infected for any longer.


http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/environment/the-good-earth/rajasthan-minister-steps-in-to-save-tiger/articleshow/7428474.cms

Boston Fundraising

Obama plans to make a trip to Boston for a fundraising opportunity later in the week. An article from the Star Telegram stated that it would be a very expensive event to be held although it is a fundraiser. Is this controversial to the fact that Obama had planned to cut debt and budget? Most people are excited about his visit he is making up north, but do they realize what exactly they are supporting?


This could be used as a prime example of the business cycle. The visit that Obama is making could be considered as an injection because of the amount of money used to put on the event. But in return of the fundraising money, it could be considered a leakage. Although it is going to one specific cause and not just the government itself, it is relevant to the fact that the business cycle works in all ways of economics. The money supply of it all could be another factor to the monetary policy. It will go up and down on its line but time can only tell if money production of the fundraiser can raise money supply. I guess we will just have to see where this stuff takes us and wait for the business cycle and money supply to work its trend.


http://http//www.star-telegram.com/2011/02/18/2859988/obama-planning-boston-fundraising.html

Costly gas fuels wholesale prices

"U.S. wholesale prices shot up again in January, largely owing to higher gasoline costs, the government reported Wednesday."

In this article, the increase in the cost of goods before they reached consumers saw a dramatic increase from the previous month. The cost of wholesale products in turn made the cost of consumer goods increase at an immense rate. This increase could possibly limit the amount of one particular good a person can buy at a time or limit the spending of households all across the nation. With the rise in wholesale products comes a raise in consumer cost. Often times though, in a weak economy, those high-profit producers have to lower their prices at the consumer rate to even get any kind of business. This is because in a weaker economy there are more leakages than money being put into the economy, causing it to suffer and in turn becomes weak. Many people across the nation face threats of rising prices of commodities that they need in order to live comfortably. This is an attempt to strengthen the economy, as there will be a lot more money coming into the economy than leaving it. The constant rise of the prices of corn products could affect the prices of other food products that utilize corn in their recipe. With this rise, you may see an alternative to corn byproducts. Maybe something that looks and taste like corn byproducts but is offered at a lower price. Alternatives may be the way that consumers get around these sudden increases and still live life comfortably. While there is no alternative for the surging energy costs in things such as home heating and a/c, consumers may see a subsiding of gas prices in the future.

New Way of Trading Cards

http://www.popsci.com/gadgets/gallery/2011-02/toy-fair-2011?image=4

Remember when we use to battle with our Pokemon cards and we would have to keep track of our health or power status? There are new trading cards out that will actually keep track of it for you. When you stack the cards, they will actually do all the work, the base card is your player card, and when you get attacked, you will place the action card on top of yours which will change the status of your player card. Can you imagine how much money this would make if it were Pokemon cards back when we were into that? I would be going ballistic for these cards! This new invention is such a great idea, because not only do people want to have these awesome cards, but people collect trading cards. So people won't just be buying only one of these cards, they will be buying a ton of them! Also, if this catches as much as Pokemon did, then all the kids will want some, and then their friends will want them so they can battle too. The new twist on trading cards, is brilliant. People with the old cards won't be able to battle against the newer cards, so they will have to buy them too. I think this idea will definitely make a lot of money if kids catch on to it and like it.

Falling U.S. War Budget in 2012

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-war-budget-may-fall-in-fiscal-2012-2011-02-14



According to marketwatch, the Department Defense has proclaimed that they will reduce the spendings for the war in Iraq as the war slowly comes to an end. The process they choose to do this is by lowering the fiscal budget for 2012 since the 2011 fiscal budget which effectively froze spending this year at the 2010 level. The face value for the 2012 core budget was 1% growth above the 2011 budget.

"We expect growth to turn negative next year, which is why we remain cautious on defense," Spingarn said.

As the consumer is taxed by the fiscal policy, this money is then transferred to the government which is "spent" on the military as well as other things. Without this budget, the government uses the money at the President's and Congress' discretion which will affect the household and businesses. By bringing home the troops, the President will then use the same fiscal budget, which will become lowered, on things better for the consumer.

Christina Aguilera Fumbles National Anthem

During this year's 2011 Superbowl, Christina Aguilera butchered the fourth line of the National Anthem. This famous singer combined the second and fourth line of the anthem into her own lyrics. Instead of the proper "What so proudly we hailed through the twilight's last gleaming,"....."O'er the ramparts we watched were so gallantly streaming," we heard:

"What so proudly we watched at the twilight's last gleaming"

Christina Aguilera tried to cover up her mistake by singing the rest of the song as best as she could causing the last note to be a little off on pitch. Such a tragic event could cause many Aguilera fans to stray away, also known as a change in consumer taste. This will decrease the demand for Christina's music unless she has true and loyal fans that stick by her side through all the pitches and mess ups. Music store managers may even make the decision to reduce their prices in Christina's previous cd's. Many fans may even substitute her music for another pop star, like Britney Spears.


http://www.billboard.com/events/christina-aguilera-fumbles-national-anthem-1005023702.story#/events/christina-aguilera-fumbles-national-anthem-1005023702.story

Wal-Mart's Challenge

Wal-Mart's prices have been on the rise for a while. One customer got fed up with it and went from twice every week to twice every month. Some people just got tired of paying for prices they didn't have to before. Target had this deal where customers could save 5 percent on their entire purchase if they bought Target brand clothing. Most people then decided to skip out on Wal-Mart when buying new clothes. Places like Target seemed much more logical because the money you save would be greater. Wal-Mart's revenue went down, and of course they were not satisfied.

Some customers were also complaing that Wal-Mart was not neat enough to enjoyably and safely shop around in. It became almost a hassle to do. What could this do to business that was already declining? How could Wal-Mart as a corporate wide company fix the pleasure of their guests? Their answer was to make changes within the store itself. A few things such as widening the aisles and removing clutter made the customer's trip to Wally world much more enjoyable. There was a high demand for these renovations and in return, their revenue went up. Customers started to come back and shop more and more at Wal-mart than other stores with the same goods. Things started to rise again, but not their prices.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20110206/ap_on_bi_ge/us_wal_mart_s_challengehttp://

Google Art Project

http://www.theartnewspaper.com/articles/Google+teams+with+international+museums+to+zoom+in+on+art/23020

So the art world is making huge step with the new Google Art Project. Google is using it's street view technology and finally bringing it inside for the first time. 17 different museums are included in this project, London's Tate, New York's Museum of Modern Art (MoMa) and also Metropolitan Museum. The new technology allows people to virtually tour the museums and even look at one of the 1,060 pieces art work close up. The museums have selected paintings to be photographed using gigapixel technology at a resolution of over 14 billion pixels, so you can see everything on the painting. This is phenomenal, it is opening up so many doors to many new viewers and the museums have said that it is actually bringing in more people because after viewing it online, they want to see the real thing. Since this is the case, people all over the world can experience fine art and hopefully go see the real thing. I think museums will greatly benefit from this.
I just took a virtual tour of the MoMA and I must say, I am blown away by this technology. It definitely urges me to go to the actual museum more though. I mean the quality of this is great, but now that I know what is inside, I would like to experience it up close and personal. I also took a look at the new gigapixel technology and looked at Vincent van Gogh's, "The Starry Night" and I can see everything down to the texture of the paint, to the strokes and colors he mixed. This new technology will definitely increase the popularity of the museums. I think they will all benefit from this very much.

Facebook's Focus in 2011 is Mobile Presence

"Mobile is our primary focus for our platform this year"

The social networking giant, Facebook has proven itself to be highly successful on the web. As the mobile networks continue to improve their systems, so do the apps that they associate with. The innovation and improvements in technology have made it possible for more accessibility on their mobile devices. This increased accessibility will provide more revenue for Facebook as there will be a higher demand for their mobile app. 'Mobile usage of Facebook is the fastest-growing part of the social network', says Bret Taylor, the chief of technology at Facebook. With 200 million members, I'd say they're doing pretty well. Facebook still needs to improve their mobile app to make it more cohesive with the actual website and the Facebook network. That is where the new HTML5 web standard comes into play. This new web standard will improve the overall quality of Facebook and will fix many problems that users may have experienced previously with the app. This future expectation will certainly appeal to more consumers and will increase its membership. The demand for the Facebook app will increase. This will cause the availibility of the app to become more apparent because of the demand being so high. Facebook will see much revenue from this new web standard and will benefit greatly from it.