It's been over a year since I was here. The economic climate has shifted once again. Here are the highlights for the year:
ObamaCare- The US took a big hit to capitalism in a move that puts the system in the government's hands.
Ireland Crisis- Worry about their debt failure spreading catastrophe around the globe dealt a blow to the markets.
Greek Crisis- The country with a union attitude had a big fall. Too many citizens making government money, but not paying taxes finally caused a fall. Germany stepped up to help in an effort to keep their Euro currency from falling off.
Election Time- The Republicans won in areas they have seldom done, and rebalanced congress.
Bush Tax Cut Extensions- In a controversial move, Obama decided with economists and left the cuts across the board for all of the Bush era. It's only 700 billion $ difference, not worth making people mad and shifting money overseas. Those people in the top bracket are the ones with the initiative to send their income to another country too.
Look forward to a new year. A new congress, and the start of a new decade. 2000-2010 has been quite a ride.
Monday, December 13, 2010
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Farewell
I've enjoyed sharing with you throughout the semester. Hopefully you learned something or have seen another way of thinking. The semester started off real slow, but it seems now that things are flying by. It won't be long til Christmas now. It's gotten a little colder since the start of the semester, but for November it feels real good. Maybe we'll get some snow-it makes everything look so much better.
Well, enough rambling. Have a great rest of the semester and good luck on finals.
Well, enough rambling. Have a great rest of the semester and good luck on finals.
Wednesday, November 11, 2009
Socialism on the Way
This weekend we came yet again another step closer to a world run by President Obama. The national health care plan that passed the House is sitting in the Senate now. What can we expect now?
Luckily there are a few more sensible people in the Senate than the House, but that isn't saying much. The hot topic that most of the news seems to be focusing on now is the issue of government funded abortions that have been laid out in the bill. While that may not be something I approve of, it is only a small portion of what is wrong with what is happening.
The bill imposes fines on people that do not buy health insurance. This is stupid. If you are healthy and do not believe you need health insurance, why should you be forced to buy it? The Democrats have tried to make it sound like they are fighting the insurance companies to help consumers, but in that instance it sounds like they are just increasing their customer base with force.
Health insurance used to be like car insurance or any other kind of insurance, meant to cover catastrophic events. If your car is leaking oil does GEICO step in and fix it? What if you rip a seat? If they were made to cover those type of incidents insurance would be completely unaffordable. Health insurance should be the same way, and people wouldn't try to take advantage of the system and we would have lower costs. You shouldn't run to the doctor because you scrape your knee. It is ridiculous that every taxpayer in America should cover the cost of you going to see about something that needs $.25 of peroxide and a Band-Aid.
The government could have easily tried something else first. How about making hospitals and medical services advertise prices? There is little to no competition in the health care market, period. With competition or at least the knowledge of prices consumers could find cheaper routes.
Have a great week.
Luckily there are a few more sensible people in the Senate than the House, but that isn't saying much. The hot topic that most of the news seems to be focusing on now is the issue of government funded abortions that have been laid out in the bill. While that may not be something I approve of, it is only a small portion of what is wrong with what is happening.
The bill imposes fines on people that do not buy health insurance. This is stupid. If you are healthy and do not believe you need health insurance, why should you be forced to buy it? The Democrats have tried to make it sound like they are fighting the insurance companies to help consumers, but in that instance it sounds like they are just increasing their customer base with force.
Health insurance used to be like car insurance or any other kind of insurance, meant to cover catastrophic events. If your car is leaking oil does GEICO step in and fix it? What if you rip a seat? If they were made to cover those type of incidents insurance would be completely unaffordable. Health insurance should be the same way, and people wouldn't try to take advantage of the system and we would have lower costs. You shouldn't run to the doctor because you scrape your knee. It is ridiculous that every taxpayer in America should cover the cost of you going to see about something that needs $.25 of peroxide and a Band-Aid.
The government could have easily tried something else first. How about making hospitals and medical services advertise prices? There is little to no competition in the health care market, period. With competition or at least the knowledge of prices consumers could find cheaper routes.
Have a great week.
Monday, November 2, 2009
The swine flu is good?
In a little odd news this morning, Clorox posted a 23% jump in first quarter profit. They attributed it to an increase in demand for its disinfectants related to the swine flu pandemic, as Diane calls it. They didn't only beat analysts estimates, they beat their own estimates. On another note, they expect earnings to be better this year off of a weaker dollar.
The weaker dollar issue has its good and bad issues. A weaker dollar means that more people are buying U.S. goods, but it also means that we can't buy as much from overseas. While the influx of foreign money is a good deal for our economy, it rarely is in the form of capital investment. Capital investment is the kind of inflows we need to stabilize the economy. Capital investment creates jobs from construction down to the janitors that clean the buildings after they are complete. Capital investment can come in many forms. One major capital investment that our country has from Japan are auto manufacturing plants. While most of them have been here for a while now, the relative cheapness of the dollar to the yen was part of what started that trend. So now, many foreign cars are made here- also partly due to the fact that the U.S. is the world's largest car market by a big margin.
Have a good week. No tests!
The weaker dollar issue has its good and bad issues. A weaker dollar means that more people are buying U.S. goods, but it also means that we can't buy as much from overseas. While the influx of foreign money is a good deal for our economy, it rarely is in the form of capital investment. Capital investment is the kind of inflows we need to stabilize the economy. Capital investment creates jobs from construction down to the janitors that clean the buildings after they are complete. Capital investment can come in many forms. One major capital investment that our country has from Japan are auto manufacturing plants. While most of them have been here for a while now, the relative cheapness of the dollar to the yen was part of what started that trend. So now, many foreign cars are made here- also partly due to the fact that the U.S. is the world's largest car market by a big margin.
Have a good week. No tests!
Thursday, October 29, 2009
The End of a 4 Day Slide
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Economy-growing-but-recovery-apf-3242332094.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=
Today posted the first growth in GDP in over a year, of 3.5%. That is good news on one end, but not the end of all problems. Joblessness still continues to rise. The rise in GDP has been attributed to one time deals like cash for clunkers and the home buyer's credit. Economists worry that once these measures are over, the economy will need more to keep in the positive.
The jobless rate rose again last quarter. If we don't see improvement in those numbers, we may end up back in the same spot again. Consumer spending drives the economy for our country, and Americans having jobs is a big part of that.
Don't forget to look at the bright side though, the market it up. That means that investors see a brighter future. We also managed to keep the slide from breaking through and going down to 8800 on the Dow. We may just end up sustaining this rally.
Have a good weekend.
Today posted the first growth in GDP in over a year, of 3.5%. That is good news on one end, but not the end of all problems. Joblessness still continues to rise. The rise in GDP has been attributed to one time deals like cash for clunkers and the home buyer's credit. Economists worry that once these measures are over, the economy will need more to keep in the positive.
The jobless rate rose again last quarter. If we don't see improvement in those numbers, we may end up back in the same spot again. Consumer spending drives the economy for our country, and Americans having jobs is a big part of that.
Don't forget to look at the bright side though, the market it up. That means that investors see a brighter future. We also managed to keep the slide from breaking through and going down to 8800 on the Dow. We may just end up sustaining this rally.
Have a good weekend.
Tuesday, October 27, 2009
Happy Halloween
Hello again. I hope you enjoyed the MBA picnic this weekend. It was a good time for those that came out. Big Red was even playing corn-hole, and rather good at it too.
On a business note, we had another good month for home prices. We had the third straight month of rising home prices in August, which is a good sign in our current economic state. In other news the government said the recession may be over, but not job losses.
Job losses may continue to mount, and not related to the economy at all. In another article I read in the Wall Street Journal this morning, employers are holding back and cutting back thanks to President Obama. He has managed to drag out the fear for small businesses which account for the majority of jobs in this country. The fear of being fined for not providing whatever care the government deems you should.
It makes no sense to hire someone if you will have to pay a fortune to keep them. That is what business owners all over the country are thinking. Why would I hire you if it may cost me an additional $10,000 or more before all the current legislation issues are over. I don't give the government credit for any of the job creation since the start of the recession, but certainly Congress and the White House should have credit for keeping employment down. Even if they are going to turn our country into a socialist nation, they need to do it and get it over with so companies will know what to do.
On a business note, we had another good month for home prices. We had the third straight month of rising home prices in August, which is a good sign in our current economic state. In other news the government said the recession may be over, but not job losses.
Job losses may continue to mount, and not related to the economy at all. In another article I read in the Wall Street Journal this morning, employers are holding back and cutting back thanks to President Obama. He has managed to drag out the fear for small businesses which account for the majority of jobs in this country. The fear of being fined for not providing whatever care the government deems you should.
It makes no sense to hire someone if you will have to pay a fortune to keep them. That is what business owners all over the country are thinking. Why would I hire you if it may cost me an additional $10,000 or more before all the current legislation issues are over. I don't give the government credit for any of the job creation since the start of the recession, but certainly Congress and the White House should have credit for keeping employment down. Even if they are going to turn our country into a socialist nation, they need to do it and get it over with so companies will know what to do.
Friday, October 23, 2009
How we ended up in Crisis Mode
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bernanke-urges-Congress-to-apf-3222386032.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
If you listen to most of the media you're certain it was Wall Street's fault. Their greedy ways and big paychecks are what caused people to lose their houses right? It wouldn't have anything to do with buying something outsider your means would it?
Throughout the entire campaign process last year it seemed as if that was the best scapegoat. Wall Street did it! It makes plenty of sense, they are only a small voting demographic. Oh but they contributed big money to your campaign, Obama, Obama- what were you thinking?
Obama may have changed some of his opinions though. In a talk with Bernanke this week, he mentioned creating videos to make families more financially literate. But it gets better, he even went on to mention that some people bought houses outside their means. Thank you Obama for finally pointing your finger in more than one direction.
The crisis is now national, but still not the same throughout. Where did it start? We have California, Florida, New York, and lastly Michigan to blame. Too many houses, not enough buyers, and too many people thinking they needed a bigger house.
The real culprit for the housing boom and fall is actually Congress and one of their societal pushes known as the Community Reinvestment Act. Clinton furthered the Act in 1997 and basically pushed banks to make sub-prime loans to minorities and low-income individuals that might not normally get them. That's all I'm going to delve into that for now, but it was and is a big problem. Basically "Reverse-Discrimination" if there is such a thing, sort of an oxymoron in my book.
Hope you all did well on that accounting test. Have a good weekend and see you at the picnic.
If you listen to most of the media you're certain it was Wall Street's fault. Their greedy ways and big paychecks are what caused people to lose their houses right? It wouldn't have anything to do with buying something outsider your means would it?
Throughout the entire campaign process last year it seemed as if that was the best scapegoat. Wall Street did it! It makes plenty of sense, they are only a small voting demographic. Oh but they contributed big money to your campaign, Obama, Obama- what were you thinking?
Obama may have changed some of his opinions though. In a talk with Bernanke this week, he mentioned creating videos to make families more financially literate. But it gets better, he even went on to mention that some people bought houses outside their means. Thank you Obama for finally pointing your finger in more than one direction.
The crisis is now national, but still not the same throughout. Where did it start? We have California, Florida, New York, and lastly Michigan to blame. Too many houses, not enough buyers, and too many people thinking they needed a bigger house.
The real culprit for the housing boom and fall is actually Congress and one of their societal pushes known as the Community Reinvestment Act. Clinton furthered the Act in 1997 and basically pushed banks to make sub-prime loans to minorities and low-income individuals that might not normally get them. That's all I'm going to delve into that for now, but it was and is a big problem. Basically "Reverse-Discrimination" if there is such a thing, sort of an oxymoron in my book.
Hope you all did well on that accounting test. Have a good weekend and see you at the picnic.
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