http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/12/06/olympic-outsourcing-team-usa-snowboarders-uniforms-foreign-made/
I am sure you all can still remember the 2012 London Summer Olympics. Michael Phelps becoming the most decorated Olympian of all time, Gabby Douglas becoming the first African American to win the Gold in the All-around Girls Gymnastics, Misty May-Treanor and Kerri Walsh Jennings taking the Gold in woman's Beach volleyball and so much more. So, for anyone who watched the games I am sure you will remember the all the big headlines about the how the USA uniforms were not made in America. Well, it happened again. Burton a very big snowboard company partnered with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association to create uniforms for the U.S. Snowboarding team, but the uniforms were not Made In America. The uniforms were actually made all over the world. The uniforms went too Japan, Italy, Taiwan, Vietnam, China. Burton defends the decision by saying that they sent the uniforms to the best vendors around the world.
"The Sochi Games will mark the third Winter Olympics where Burton partnered with the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Association to create uniforms for the U.S. Snowboarding team. The primary focus of this year’s design, according to company materials, was “technical performance” above all.
“As such, every piece of the uniform has to perform at the highest level and keep the athletes warm and dry in the unpredictable weather conditions that could come in Sochi,” Burton’s statement continued."
When I heard about the 2012 Summer Olympic uniforms being not being made in the US, I personally thought it was stupid. I believed that the Olympic uniforms should be made in the US. But, after reading this article it made me think about it more. Burton talks about the "technical performance being the above all primary focus, because the boarders need to stay warm and dry. This makes total sense to me because being a skier myself I want to stay warm and dry, and as Burton says in the article this is the Olympic games the most important of their careers, they deserve the best, which I do completely agree with. I think what got me about the summer Olympics is that well those uniforms don't require as much technical performance as the winter uniforms. I am all for clothes being made in America, especially the Olympic uniforms, but if we truly do not have the resources then I understand. I agree with Burton's decision on the winter uniforms and I think they make up for it considering the majority of the snowboards the Burton athletes will be using were handmade in Burlington, Vermont at Burton Headquarters.
Friday, December 13, 2013
Thursday, November 21, 2013
Europe Gets a Halloween Scare on Inflation - Bloomberg Business Week
http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-10-31/europe-gets-a-halloween-scare-on-inflation
On October 31st Europe's inflation plummeted to 0.7 percent. This is very low, especially since in September it held a record high of 12.2 percent. This is not good for the European Central Bank. Due to the decrease in inflation the bank now has a lot of pressure on them to cut interest rates. October now marks the ninth consecutive month inflation has decreased below the bank's 2% target. In the article they say; "One especially troubling aspect of the inflation data was a slump in the services sector, suggesting that recovery across the region has not gained much traction. The last time inflation was this low, in 2009, the euro zone was mired in recession." This is not only not good for the European Central Bank but countries that use the euro could possibly be affected too.
Compared to the U.S. Europe's inflation is lower then ours and seems to be hurting them right now. Thankfully the U.S. has not been hurt yet due to inflation being too low, but it could be possible. The European Central Bank and the U.S. Fed have the same 2% target for inflation, which I thought was very interesting and did not expect. So long story short the over all U.S. economy might be doing worse than the European Economies but our inflation is definitely better than theirs.
On October 31st Europe's inflation plummeted to 0.7 percent. This is very low, especially since in September it held a record high of 12.2 percent. This is not good for the European Central Bank. Due to the decrease in inflation the bank now has a lot of pressure on them to cut interest rates. October now marks the ninth consecutive month inflation has decreased below the bank's 2% target. In the article they say; "One especially troubling aspect of the inflation data was a slump in the services sector, suggesting that recovery across the region has not gained much traction. The last time inflation was this low, in 2009, the euro zone was mired in recession." This is not only not good for the European Central Bank but countries that use the euro could possibly be affected too.
Compared to the U.S. Europe's inflation is lower then ours and seems to be hurting them right now. Thankfully the U.S. has not been hurt yet due to inflation being too low, but it could be possible. The European Central Bank and the U.S. Fed have the same 2% target for inflation, which I thought was very interesting and did not expect. So long story short the over all U.S. economy might be doing worse than the European Economies but our inflation is definitely better than theirs.
Are fears of inflation overblown? - Chicago Tribune
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2009-06-17/news/0906160441_1_inflation-prices-stock-market
This article is a little old again, but the title caught my attention. It says that people are worried about to much money being spent, and they are worried about the inflation increasing. Well for inflation to raise you need plenty of money and plenty of demand. During this time there was not much demand, people were saving. I think this is still true today though. I believe people are very fearful of inflation rising yet they don't realize because they are demanded less with their money and saving it, they are keeping inflation down.
I think that inflation is low right now because the demand is down and so is the quantity of money. Even though some economists say that our economy is getting better, even with the high unemployment rate, I don't think it is growing or getting better fast enough. The economy might be better than it was over all from 2-3 years ago, but for me personally I feel like my family has started to save money more and more. I also think that the majority of the U.S. citizens are in the middle class and although there is plenty of money there, the majority of the money is in the top 1% but that is really another topic. I definitely think there is a big fear for inflation but I wonder if that is not a good thing considering it seems to be keeping the demand down and therefore the inflation down, but in my second article it talked about how a little rise in inflation might cause a economic boost which would be good, if it is only a little. So maybe the Fed should focus on a way to get people to demand a little more but not too much more.
This article is a little old again, but the title caught my attention. It says that people are worried about to much money being spent, and they are worried about the inflation increasing. Well for inflation to raise you need plenty of money and plenty of demand. During this time there was not much demand, people were saving. I think this is still true today though. I believe people are very fearful of inflation rising yet they don't realize because they are demanded less with their money and saving it, they are keeping inflation down.
I think that inflation is low right now because the demand is down and so is the quantity of money. Even though some economists say that our economy is getting better, even with the high unemployment rate, I don't think it is growing or getting better fast enough. The economy might be better than it was over all from 2-3 years ago, but for me personally I feel like my family has started to save money more and more. I also think that the majority of the U.S. citizens are in the middle class and although there is plenty of money there, the majority of the money is in the top 1% but that is really another topic. I definitely think there is a big fear for inflation but I wonder if that is not a good thing considering it seems to be keeping the demand down and therefore the inflation down, but in my second article it talked about how a little rise in inflation might cause a economic boost which would be good, if it is only a little. So maybe the Fed should focus on a way to get people to demand a little more but not too much more.
It's Time to Start Hoping for More Inflation - U.S. News
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/11/05/its-time-to-start-hoping-for-more-inflation
The article is more up to date then my last. This is from November 5th this year. I read the article and was a little confused. Inflation has been persistently below 2 percent objective, which is really good, but in the article it says that it could pose risks to economic performance. The Fed is not afraid that prices are spiraling out of control, it's that inflation is getting to low. not that prices are spiraling out of control. The article states; "Instead, the latest statements from the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed committee tasked with setting interest rate policy, show the Fed is keeping its eye on whether inflation is getting too low."
I wonder how inflation can be too low. All I have ever heard in my seventeen years is all the negative inflation has on an economy, never anything good. The article gives a simple version of how inflation can boost growth; "Consider a city with a lot of renters. Apartment owners may see some young and relatively high income people move into the city and decide they can charge more for rent. If that happens on a broad enough scale, more employers may feel the need to raise their wages in order to attract workers. Ideally, that raise leaves workers with some leftover money to spend or save elsewhere, making them richer in real terms. And the money from higher rents, meanwhile, could lead rental companies to hire more workers or boost pay to their workers, which could also be an economic boost." From this example I can see how inflation can sometimes help boost the economy, but I just think there are so many negative affects that we should be happy that inflation is low. I think that also if we try to raise inflation to help boost the economy it will just get out of control and end up stunting economic growth instead of boosting it.
The article is more up to date then my last. This is from November 5th this year. I read the article and was a little confused. Inflation has been persistently below 2 percent objective, which is really good, but in the article it says that it could pose risks to economic performance. The Fed is not afraid that prices are spiraling out of control, it's that inflation is getting to low. not that prices are spiraling out of control. The article states; "Instead, the latest statements from the Federal Open Market Committee, the Fed committee tasked with setting interest rate policy, show the Fed is keeping its eye on whether inflation is getting too low."
I wonder how inflation can be too low. All I have ever heard in my seventeen years is all the negative inflation has on an economy, never anything good. The article gives a simple version of how inflation can boost growth; "Consider a city with a lot of renters. Apartment owners may see some young and relatively high income people move into the city and decide they can charge more for rent. If that happens on a broad enough scale, more employers may feel the need to raise their wages in order to attract workers. Ideally, that raise leaves workers with some leftover money to spend or save elsewhere, making them richer in real terms. And the money from higher rents, meanwhile, could lead rental companies to hire more workers or boost pay to their workers, which could also be an economic boost." From this example I can see how inflation can sometimes help boost the economy, but I just think there are so many negative affects that we should be happy that inflation is low. I think that also if we try to raise inflation to help boost the economy it will just get out of control and end up stunting economic growth instead of boosting it.
Federal Reserve considers explicit pledge: Low rates if inflation stays down - The Washington Post
http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-09-23/business/42307809_1_low-inflation-federal-reserve-interest-rates
The Federal Reserve is leaning toward an explicit commitment to keep interest rates at rock-
bottom levels, as long as inflation remains low.
The pledge would be an attempt to strengthen assurance that the central bank will not tap the brakes on the recovery until it is certain that the momentum can be sustained. The Fed already has vowed not to raise rates — a move that would slow economic growth — at least until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent or inflation rises above 2.5 percent.
It is strongly considering adding a third prong to that promise: not to move if inflation is below a certain target.
Above I have a link to the article but also I just pasted the article right on. The article is a little old but it still looked interesting to me. In the article it says that the Fed has vowed to not raise rates as long a inflation remains low. I feel like vow, commitment, are such a big promise to make, which is another word the article used to describe the Fed's persistence to keep the interest rates low. I think this will cause trouble for the Fed.
If inflation goes up I think the Fed will have to raise rates because what else can you do. I think the shouldn't have made such of a great vow because it could be really hard to keep, and they don't have complete control of inflation so there is never knowing what to expect. I also think that inflation goes up and the rates rise, people will get mad. I know that sounds stupid but even though the Fed said they would keep them low, if inflation stayed low, people will still be upset by the increase in rates. There are a lot of uneducated people in this world, and probably a lot on this topic, so I feel that they would blame the Fed for the raise in not only the interest rates but the inflation as well. I think it is really great that the Fed is trying to keep the rates low, but I think vow, commitment, and promise are promising too much.
The Federal Reserve is leaning toward an explicit commitment to keep interest rates at rock-
bottom levels, as long as inflation remains low.
The pledge would be an attempt to strengthen assurance that the central bank will not tap the brakes on the recovery until it is certain that the momentum can be sustained. The Fed already has vowed not to raise rates — a move that would slow economic growth — at least until the unemployment rate falls to 6.5 percent or inflation rises above 2.5 percent.
It is strongly considering adding a third prong to that promise: not to move if inflation is below a certain target.
Above I have a link to the article but also I just pasted the article right on. The article is a little old but it still looked interesting to me. In the article it says that the Fed has vowed to not raise rates as long a inflation remains low. I feel like vow, commitment, are such a big promise to make, which is another word the article used to describe the Fed's persistence to keep the interest rates low. I think this will cause trouble for the Fed.
If inflation goes up I think the Fed will have to raise rates because what else can you do. I think the shouldn't have made such of a great vow because it could be really hard to keep, and they don't have complete control of inflation so there is never knowing what to expect. I also think that inflation goes up and the rates rise, people will get mad. I know that sounds stupid but even though the Fed said they would keep them low, if inflation stayed low, people will still be upset by the increase in rates. There are a lot of uneducated people in this world, and probably a lot on this topic, so I feel that they would blame the Fed for the raise in not only the interest rates but the inflation as well. I think it is really great that the Fed is trying to keep the rates low, but I think vow, commitment, and promise are promising too much.
Tuesday, October 8, 2013
Greeks protest job cuts, unemployment hits new high- townhall.com
http://townhall.com/news/us/2013/07/11/greeks-protest-job-cuts-unemployment-hits-new-high-n1638564
Unemployment doesn't only occur in the U. S. I picked this article as my non-US source. It is all about the unemployment rate in Greece increasing drastically for them. And now job cuts are being discussed which the Greeks are not happy about due to the already increasing unemployment rate, the highest it has been since 2006.
"Fuelled by three years of austerity Athens has imposed in return for bailout funds from its foreign lenders, unemployment inched up to 26.9 percent in April, the statistics service ELSTAT said - the highest since it began publishing jobless data in 2006.The jobless rate, up from 26.8 percent in March, is more than twice the average in the euro zone, which stood at 12.2 percent in May. Young Greeks aged 15-24 are the hardest hit, even though the rate for that age group eased to 57.5 percent in April from 58.3 percent in March. About 700 to 1,000 Greeks are being laid off daily, ELSTAT estimates."
The above paragraph is directly from the article. The last fact is just shocking to me because, we, the U.S. is so much bigger than Greece and yet 700 to 1,000 people daily, daily are being laid off. If that is how many people in Greece daily, it makes you wonder how many U.S. citizens lose their jobs daily. I read that up to 20,000 Americans lose their job everyday. Compared to both countries populations you may think this is not so bad, but it is. This effects the economy a lot. There is not as many resource, goods and services, and money payment exchanges being made. Unemployment is not a happy topic especially when people are losing jobs when they aren't even doing anything wrong. Greece is going through a hard time right now because of the already increasing unemployment rate and now the talk of job cuts. I am not quite sure how the Greece government works but I hope they can come up with a solution to help lower their unemployment rates and since they are a smaller country I hope when they find a solution it won't take to long to help the economy get better. Unemployment is a big issue everyone and most people don't want to be without a job, people like money. I also hope the U.S. Congress starts working together, so the economy can start to improve.
Unemployment doesn't only occur in the U. S. I picked this article as my non-US source. It is all about the unemployment rate in Greece increasing drastically for them. And now job cuts are being discussed which the Greeks are not happy about due to the already increasing unemployment rate, the highest it has been since 2006.
"Fuelled by three years of austerity Athens has imposed in return for bailout funds from its foreign lenders, unemployment inched up to 26.9 percent in April, the statistics service ELSTAT said - the highest since it began publishing jobless data in 2006.The jobless rate, up from 26.8 percent in March, is more than twice the average in the euro zone, which stood at 12.2 percent in May. Young Greeks aged 15-24 are the hardest hit, even though the rate for that age group eased to 57.5 percent in April from 58.3 percent in March. About 700 to 1,000 Greeks are being laid off daily, ELSTAT estimates."
The above paragraph is directly from the article. The last fact is just shocking to me because, we, the U.S. is so much bigger than Greece and yet 700 to 1,000 people daily, daily are being laid off. If that is how many people in Greece daily, it makes you wonder how many U.S. citizens lose their jobs daily. I read that up to 20,000 Americans lose their job everyday. Compared to both countries populations you may think this is not so bad, but it is. This effects the economy a lot. There is not as many resource, goods and services, and money payment exchanges being made. Unemployment is not a happy topic especially when people are losing jobs when they aren't even doing anything wrong. Greece is going through a hard time right now because of the already increasing unemployment rate and now the talk of job cuts. I am not quite sure how the Greece government works but I hope they can come up with a solution to help lower their unemployment rates and since they are a smaller country I hope when they find a solution it won't take to long to help the economy get better. Unemployment is a big issue everyone and most people don't want to be without a job, people like money. I also hope the U.S. Congress starts working together, so the economy can start to improve.
Government shutdown: What's the cost?-cbsnews.com
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-250_162-57605387/government-shutdown-whats-the-cost/
This article talks about, "shutting down the government could cost the federal government well over $2 billion dollars if it resembles the last shutdowns in 1995-1996, though the economy would be harmed in additional ways that are nearly impossible to measure." and all the aspects that will be contribute to these costs , but there is one part in particular that I am focusing on for the unemployment side of it. This part;
"Though employees of firms that contract with the federal government won't be furloughed the same way that federal employees are, there will be employees on standby who receive their salaries even as the contracts are temporarily on hold. And those contractors will ultimately get paid or get an equitable adjustment when the shutdown ends, said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who is now the Director of Federal Government Affairs for Deloitte. Like federal government managers, contracting officers have already lost work time going through all of their contracts to determine which ones will be affected by a shutdown and how they can keep things running.
"You're paying for stuff that is not getting done," Davis said of a shutdown. On top of that, he added, "the morale costs on this to federal workers and contractors is huge." Federal workers were paid retroactively in past shutdowns, but there's no guarantee that will happen this time around. Those effects will be outsized in Maryland and Virginia where tens of thousands of people work for government contracts. Maryland officials told the Washington Post the state would lose $5 million a day in lost income tax revenue. "
Due to the government shutdown many, majority of people who work for the government are out of work, which yes could be short lived depending how long the shutdown lasts but it is not going to help us at all. It really don't like when people get paid for doing work but I know that there are people who are out of work and it was nothing they did. I wish there was a way to figure out the people that are just lazy and the people that try very hard and just want to find work because I have no problem paying people who are working to find work but the ones that are not and are capable of working and finding work should not be paid. With that being said I still don't like that we are paying Congress and sure you could fight that they are working because they are working to get the government out of the shutdown and they don't car about the money because they are already rich, but I don't see them working I see them fighting and accomplishing nothing so far. If they were really working I think they would be working together and obviously they still care about the money or they wouldn't have worried about passing the law, even though they really don't need to because they are well off. Congress needs to start listening to each other and working together so we can get out of this shutdown, get people back to work, and keep making an effort to fix the economy.
This article talks about, "shutting down the government could cost the federal government well over $2 billion dollars if it resembles the last shutdowns in 1995-1996, though the economy would be harmed in additional ways that are nearly impossible to measure." and all the aspects that will be contribute to these costs , but there is one part in particular that I am focusing on for the unemployment side of it. This part;
"Though employees of firms that contract with the federal government won't be furloughed the same way that federal employees are, there will be employees on standby who receive their salaries even as the contracts are temporarily on hold. And those contractors will ultimately get paid or get an equitable adjustment when the shutdown ends, said former Rep. Tom Davis, R-Va., who is now the Director of Federal Government Affairs for Deloitte. Like federal government managers, contracting officers have already lost work time going through all of their contracts to determine which ones will be affected by a shutdown and how they can keep things running.
"You're paying for stuff that is not getting done," Davis said of a shutdown. On top of that, he added, "the morale costs on this to federal workers and contractors is huge." Federal workers were paid retroactively in past shutdowns, but there's no guarantee that will happen this time around. Those effects will be outsized in Maryland and Virginia where tens of thousands of people work for government contracts. Maryland officials told the Washington Post the state would lose $5 million a day in lost income tax revenue. "
Due to the government shutdown many, majority of people who work for the government are out of work, which yes could be short lived depending how long the shutdown lasts but it is not going to help us at all. It really don't like when people get paid for doing work but I know that there are people who are out of work and it was nothing they did. I wish there was a way to figure out the people that are just lazy and the people that try very hard and just want to find work because I have no problem paying people who are working to find work but the ones that are not and are capable of working and finding work should not be paid. With that being said I still don't like that we are paying Congress and sure you could fight that they are working because they are working to get the government out of the shutdown and they don't car about the money because they are already rich, but I don't see them working I see them fighting and accomplishing nothing so far. If they were really working I think they would be working together and obviously they still care about the money or they wouldn't have worried about passing the law, even though they really don't need to because they are well off. Congress needs to start listening to each other and working together so we can get out of this shutdown, get people back to work, and keep making an effort to fix the economy.
Thursday, September 19, 2013
Sluggish labor market could muddy Fed debate-Los Angeles Times
http://articles.latimes.com/2013/sep/06/business/la-fi-jobs-20130907
Unemployment rate fell down to 7.3% last month, but it mostly fell for the wrong reason. More discouraged Americans gave up looking for work as the percentage of the population in the labor force dropped for the third consecutive month. Having Americans give up looking for work is not going to help the economy, but there is not much that can be done to be encourage these Americans to keep looking for work because even with the improving labor market, it is not improving nearly as fast as we need it too, but then again when does anything improve as fast as we need it.
"The economy is still healing. It's just not nearly as rapid a growth as we'd like to see," said economist Daniel Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State.
Economists are now digging into the data quickly, but they have found uncomforting signs that could give Fed policymakers pause on deciding whether it's time to reduce their bond-buying stimulus program.
Unemployment rate fell down to 7.3% last month, but it mostly fell for the wrong reason. More discouraged Americans gave up looking for work as the percentage of the population in the labor force dropped for the third consecutive month. Having Americans give up looking for work is not going to help the economy, but there is not much that can be done to be encourage these Americans to keep looking for work because even with the improving labor market, it is not improving nearly as fast as we need it too, but then again when does anything improve as fast as we need it.
"The economy is still healing. It's just not nearly as rapid a growth as we'd like to see," said economist Daniel Seiver, a finance professor at San Diego State.
Economists are now digging into the data quickly, but they have found uncomforting signs that could give Fed policymakers pause on deciding whether it's time to reduce their bond-buying stimulus program.
U.S. Posts Lowest Jobless Claims Since 2007-usnews.com
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2013/08/15/us-posts-lowest-jobless-claims-since-2007
Unemployment claims are at their lowest.
Last week 320,000 Americans filed for new unemployment insurance claims; the lowest count since late 2007, and 15,000 fewer than the previous week. There is no doubt that the trend of unemployment claims are going down overall, but there are still states that are seeing an increase, California had the greatest increase. Because of the drop in the claims, Joel Naroff, president and chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, an economic consulting firm, believes the next jobs report could be an improvement over recent months.
Overall this is good news that the total unemployment claims went down, but with the claims raising in some states this isn't going to be a huge beneficial impact on the economy.
Unemployment claims are at their lowest.
Last week 320,000 Americans filed for new unemployment insurance claims; the lowest count since late 2007, and 15,000 fewer than the previous week. There is no doubt that the trend of unemployment claims are going down overall, but there are still states that are seeing an increase, California had the greatest increase. Because of the drop in the claims, Joel Naroff, president and chief economist at Naroff Economic Advisors, an economic consulting firm, believes the next jobs report could be an improvement over recent months.
Overall this is good news that the total unemployment claims went down, but with the claims raising in some states this isn't going to be a huge beneficial impact on the economy.
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