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.