Economic Development: Characteristics

Child dependency ration - the number of children in relation to the number of working (economically active) population, usually expressed as a ratio..

Old age dependency ratio - measures the number of elderly people as a share of those of working age

Child dependency ratio is worse for the economy. Old people dependency means the country has old people therefore the life expectancy is long enough. The cost of living for a old person is usually less then a young person. They usually have built up wealth or still work. 

Old age dependency ratio does not count the whole working life of the old people. 

Unemployment is hard to monitor because people not searching for jobs are not considered unemployed. 

Developing Countries

Developing vs Developed

 Low Standard of Living
     - low income
     - inequality
     - poor health
     - inadequate education

Low Levels of production

High Rates of Population growth and dependency burdens

High and rising level of unemployment 

Substantial dependence and agricultural production

Prevalence of imperfect markets and limited information

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'Super Committee' likely to announce failure to reach debt deal

http://edition.cnn.com/2011/11/21/politics/super-committee/index.html?hpt=ibu_c2


Summary: The United States needs to cut government spending due to the massive government dept. There was a meeting to discuss the proposed solution and ways to cut government spending. However the republicans believe that this act would hurt the middle and low class too much and not create job opportunities. There is no point in passing a law that cuts government spending but also cuts the amount of taxes due to the lack of job opportunities. This legislation might turn into another recession. However if no legislation is passed, automated spending cuts will be put in place. This however will be generic and decrease the spending in both the defense and non-defense section. This will hurt many small businesses and might also lead to another recession. The united states is on thin ice but as stated Becerra "I was always taught when you play a sport you don't give up until the buzzer sounds, and there's still time on the clock" and it is most definitively too early to talk about failure.

Economic concepts: Supply side policies, unemployment, GDP, government spendings

Hewlett-Packard Keeps Slipping in Asia

 

HP’s market share in PCs is falling in China and India

Summary: HP has made many steps in the past and has lost almost all of its customer loyalty in Asia, more specifically in china and India. I personally can relate to this problem as I used to own an HP laptop and it was by far my favorite one. However the downfall is evident. Acer and Lenovo have pasted HP in both of the countries and now HP is scrambling to renew its reputation. The best thing they could do is ask for government subsidiez and lower the price of their products.

The bottom line: Over the past two years once-dominant HP has lost market share to Lenovo, Acer, and especially Dell in fast-growing Asian PC markets.

Euro Crisis

From a humble view of a student. A impromptu reflection on the euro crisis.

     The euro crisis is at large and is definitively  a problem in Europe. It seems to have all begun with Greece, however I do not believe that is true. The test and regulations for new members to enter the euro zone are much greater and more monitored. Greece "had breached the euro-zone entry requirements". It is not the fault of the Greek lifestyle that brought this crisis around. It is the incapability of the euro-zone members to identify the failing economy in Greece. It is very interesting that even after the 2010 bailout there were still no more violent actions against Greece. It seems as if the countries of the EU thought the crisis was over for good. In another article I read that this economical turmoil is the fault of the politicians. They repeatedly claim that the European bailout money is just a lend and Greece will indeed pay back its loans. This is far from the truth. Greece is insolvent and is very likely to default on its loans.

    Now that we have established the fact that Greece is indeed not the cause of the crisis, I will disprove this statement. Even though the countries of the European Union did not react well to the situation, Greece still lied its way into the euro-zone and who could be possibly responsible for this besides Greece. The recession only brought the facts to light. Supposedly Greece has already taken "belt-tightening measures" however the people have started to revolt. Now we have the problem of leadership. However the burden is not on Angela Merkel to guide unsatisfied Greek peoples. The reason the euro-zone is "cracking" is because of the panic created in investors. The monetary superiors have difficulties spending money in any sector. The euro is losing value not because it is losing value but because all holders believe it will lose value in the future and are exiting as soon as possible. The euro is really a breeze away from crumbling to dust. Who is there to blame?

Weekly Reading 2

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2011-10-11/americans-in-poll-back-taxing-rich-maintaining-entitlements.html

Summary: Most of the American society and the republican party in the US believes that the middle class has been taxed enough and the higher class should be taxed now, more extensively. Taxing the high income jobs and will not benefit huge corporations that are the basis of the economy. Businesses complain that now they cannot find trained workers for their high skilled jobs.

Economic Concepts: Direct Taxes