Nook tablet v.s Kindle fire

As most people know, the Nook tablet and the Kindle are technology advancements in the way people perceive reading. They are obviously from two different companies so they are competing against each other, but which is better? That is a matter of opinion but most people would choose upon price. The price of the Kindle Fire, which was recently released, was set at a low $199 which is close to $50 less than the Nook tablet. Both have many different cool features but the point of them is to have books easy to read and easy access for people. This concept brings in another competitor, the iPad 2 which also allows for the user to have a library of books but that is not the main purpose of the iPad 2. It will be interesting to see how the two competitors decide to change their way of business and sales because the consumers are not attracted to it as much as the other due to price or quality.

Gas pricing changes from the European debt crisis?

The European debt crisis has been changing the U.S. gas prices drastically. The gas prices have been going up and down for the past few months. The price of oil fell to almost $98 per barrel. Due to the craziness happening in Europe, the U.S. is also worrying if it could lead to other things such as bank failures and possibly another recession. If this were to happen it would mean a weaker demand for oil.

Chance of 2010 recession tops 50 percent

The Federal government has been staying aware that there could be a chance of U.S. recession in the year 2012. With the European debt crisis at hand it is inevitable for the U.S. government to be thinking more about what could happen to us. The Federal government states that they are taking steps to not let this happen. They are not saying it will happen but it is a better chance that it will in the year 2012 as we get closer to it. If the European debt crisis keeps getting worse than the U.S. needs to be very careful. Because our economy is so weak, it can go down very quickly heading towards a recession so we must be precocious.

Why the rise in oil prices might be a good thing

With the oil prices hovering around a height of $100 for the first time since summer it may not be good for microeconomics but it's a good sign for macroeconomics, thank you paradox of thrift. With the economy being able to hold the price of oil so high it is a good sign that the US economy isn't going to double dip into another recession. In line with that, the fear of Europe's debt crisis spreading to the US may have been slightly disproved as we see the prices of oil climb. Although there is a note of joy in this news we also need to take into consideration that with the prices of oil are climbing due to a decrease in the supply so we need to start looking for ways to conserve or find new sources of oil especially with the US exporting more.
http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/O/OIL_PRICES?SITE=TXDAM&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Greek Debt Crisis

The problem of a growing debt in Greece increased when Greece swiched their currency to the euro. Government spending greatly increased when this swich occured sending the conntry into a plunging debt. During the time after this swich there was widespread tax evasion that allowed for the ratio of money flowing out of the government verus flowing in to be greatly skewed. When the international financial downturn occured Greece was far from prepared and because of this two bailouts were asked for in May 2010 and July 2011 at 110 billion euros and 109 billion euros each with the hoped for effect of controlling the crisis but with Portugal and the Irish Republic needing bailouts of there own, control of the crisis did not occur. When Greece asked for their third bailout in October they were denied and the question from the eurozone of whether Greece should be allowed to stay on the euro was raised. With no more bailouts Greece is having to go through extreme government spending cuts as well as raising taxes to account for this declination. This is causing Greece to fall into a reccesion which leads to higher unemployment and more benifit checks from the government, what seems like a downward spiral. With Greece now at a debt of about 340bn euros or $435bn it seems like there is no clear way out for them.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13798000
Lauren Edmond

Modern Warfare Sales predict to Break Records

Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 was released in stores this november and on its day of release approximately 1.5 million gamers lined up outside 13,000 stores to buy a copy at midnight. The games popularity is throught the roof because of the last Call of Duty game Call of Duty : Black ops. Black Ops holds the current record for the entertainment industry’s five-day opening sales revenue record at $650 million worldwide. The popularity has gotten of these games have gotten more fan including myself and anylst say thaty MW3 will break the records set by Black Ops. So far Mw3 is on the right track. While hard numbers haven’t yet come in for MW3, Amazon said it generated 32% more pre-orders than Black Ops.

Is it really worth it?.........IN 3DDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Many industries today, including Sony and LG, have joined the bandwagon for 3D-TVs. Why is a 3D-TV better than my HDTV without glasses? The answer is processing power. In 3D-TVs, the TV duplicates the image being shown and creates the optical illusion of a 3D image. The illusion is done either with glasses or the screen itself. The 3D-TV industry has gained demand because the 3D market is fairly new and many sports consumers want to see the football game in more depth and dimensions for analyzing sports games. The 3D industry is still in its infancy and the TVs have multiple errors. The 3D-TVs are only able to be viewed directly in front of the screen. Looking at the screen from the side causes the viewer's mind to hurt from translated images. The 3D-TVs also have a lower pixel count (due to 2 images being displayed) compared to the 1080p HDTVs currently. Will the 3D industry eventually dominate the TV market? Possibly, but not for many years. The issues with 3D-TVs need to be fixed and improved on in order for older people with poorer eyesight to be able to see the same image. Maybe in about 20-40 years, TVs everywhere will display information IN 3DDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Canadas Job Shortages

In the month of October Canada had a net loss of 54,000 jobs. There is obviously a shortage in jobs in Canada right now because it’s the biggest monthly drop since the depths of the global economic crisis, and the latest headwind to buffet one of the most resilient developed economies. Canada's jobless rate climbed to 7.3% in October, up from 7.1% in September, 54,000 more jobless people in one month! Because Canada has a heavy export economy and the United States is the main place the Canadians trade with. Since the US isn’t importing much from Canada right now there are fewer jobs in their manufacturing causing there to be layoffs. It is a causer and effect, the cause for the jobs loss is the bad economy in the US, the effect is unemployment in the Canadians manufacturing market it to rise. The small amount of jobs in the manufacturing market in Canada is a perfect example of a shortage.

Unemployment

Many people are being negatively impacted by our poor economy.

43% of young adults are not satisfied with their current employment.

It's hard to think that we have a chance to get out of debt when the government its self is so far into it.

We are lead to believe that they're making the wisest decisions for our benefit. In the long run we are still in debt and many Americans are putting their dreams on hold.

"69% prefer reducing federal spending over raising taxes on individuals in order to balance the federal budget."

More than half of the Americans for in favor of tax-cuts. They want to reduce government spending. How do they conclude that this is balancing the federal budget? The government is losing more money and future generations can conclude they potentially be the next victims of another recession.

Hotel Revenues on the Rise

"The point: recession or no recession people are still eager to travel."

For consumers finding a time to get away and relax isn't something they're willing to trade off. Dynamic pricing helps hoteliers as a tool to find equilibrium price. Consumers are spending a little extra cash to find exactly what they want. This exemplifies the role of a consumers self interest and elasticity. Differently priced rooms are available to all consumers to meet a variety of incomes. This is a wise way to prevent compromising margin.

Video Game Economics

It is no secret that many people, around the world, play video games.  Some more than others, but it's obvious that video games are a huge part of our culture.  To some, video games are a life style; to others, they are a way to waste time or hang out with some friends.  In 1996, the video game industry sold a compiled $2.6 billion in sales revenue.  In the 13 years to follow, video game industries upped their sales to about $20 billion dollars total.  This is unbelievable.  People spend more money on video games than other different goods produced by our country, and video games (although I play a good amount myself) are a huge waste of time.  Also, from 2005-2009, video game industry's annual growth rate exceeded 10%.  In the same time period, the entire US economy grew at a less than 2% growth rate.  This is again, unbelievable.  Maybe, if people put as much interest as they do in video games into other goods and services in our economy, things might get better than they have been. 

Dippin' Dots Files for Bankruptcy

Whether at Six Flags, Hurricane Harbor, or any other amusement park, we've all had Dippin' Dots: the little orbs of ice cream, commonly known as "the ice cream of the future". Thursday, November 3, Dippin' Dots filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in federal bankruptcy court in Paducah, KY, near their headquarters. In a statement, company spokesman Steve Heisner said the bankruptcy is a result of Dippin' Dots' "failure to reach an agreement with its secured lender Regions Financial." The company’s debt totals $12 million, with ranging from $657,000 owed to Peoples Bank to only $7.16 owed to Quimby Rubber Stamps Shoppe. People who are fans of Dippin' Dots, me included, don't have to worry - the company absolutely plans to stay in business regardless of the bankruptcy.

http://money.cnn.com/2011/11/04/news/companies/dippin_dots_bankruptcy/index.htm
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203716204577017782899029206.html

Redbox vs Cinemark

As the movie theaters begin to raise their prices, more and more companies like Redbox and Netflix are giving people more and more incentive to just wait for the movie to come out on dvd. 90% of american homes have DVD or blu ray players. The average price of a movie ticket has gone from about $5 to about $9. This isn't counting the gas money people are spending to even get to the nearest theater . The self intrest for certain people would rather be to just rent a movie for a dollar and stay in the comfort of their own home. Its cheaper and some people like who like the movies so much can keep them and watch them over and over till they get tired of it .

Unemployment Drops

News from this month just came in that America has dropped the unemployment rate down to 9% by adding about 80,000 jobs this last month says this Dallas morning news article. This is a good amount of growth coming from the august and September combined made 102,000 jobs. Also in the second quarter this year, almost 97,000 jobs were created for the complete second quarter. For the third time this year there are only less than 400,000 people that are unemployed. The increase is most likely helped by the growth of the economy in the third quarter. Although the unemployment rate is decreasing it can still not compete with the population growth in America. Employers are scared to hire people until the level of demand becomes steady. The Fed says that they expect the unemployment rate to reach about 8.6% by this time next year and remain steady for a while.

Blockbuster's Competition

The movie rental company, Blockbuster, has been dealing with many setbacks. The rise of online movie distributors like Netflix and also more convenient ways of getting movies like Redbox, which are conveniently located at many gas stations around the country. This competition has been making Blockbuster make some very important decisions. One decision they have to deal with is the shutting down many of the stores including the most convenient one by my house. Now I have moved on to the much more convenient road of Netflix and the occasional Redbox movie. Also, due to the demand being so high for Netflix and Redbox they upped the prices by two dollars. This forced Blockbuster to make the same decision because of competition says this article. I think that Blockbuster needs to start making some big decisions now to compete with Netflix and Redbox, or else bad things will happen.

Most Expensive Car on the Market!

The Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is 2.4 million dollars when fully upgraded. The base version is 1.7 million dollars and is the fastest street legal car. Its top speed over 265 miles per hour is no doubt a luxury good. A 2.4 million dollar car is defiantly not a necessity. A luxury good is something that is not a necessity and has great value. clearly a 2.4 million dollar car is an example of a luxury good, who need a car that can go from 0-60 mph in less than 2.5 seconds. The in side of the car is explained to be like a airplane cockpit. The car has an amazing horse power of 1200, thats the most any street legal car has ever had. Most cars cost a bit of money but are a necessity, but the Bugatti Veyron Super Sport is a extreme example of luxury goods.

Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 On Pace to Break Records

Call of Duty video games have been one of the top selling games with every new release. The newest game, Modern Warfare 3, is already on pace to break the record of the previous Call of Duty. Black Ops, last year's COD game, set records for the most pre-orders of a game. Modern Warfare 3, however, is already way ahead of that number. Consumer expectations grow with the success of this game and the popular game has a higher demand than ever. Call of Duty is capitalizing on the high demand of the game by releasing Call of Duty: Elite, a $50 a year service that is for the ultimate COD gamer. The company is using the Call of Duty: Elite as a complement to the game that they can profit more money from. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare is scheduled to be released November 8, and is one of the most highly anticipated games ever.

NFL Team Losing Money

The Detroit Lions haven't just been losing game for the past few seasons, they've been losing money. The Lions are the only team in the NFL, that has a total of 32 teams, that actually lost money last season. What is to blame for the lacking profit? The Lions have a brand new stadium, but they have only managed to win 23 percent of their games in the last five seasons. The Lions poor performances have surely lowered fan, or consumer, expectations and has caused the demand for tickets and apparel to drastically decline. People don't want to cheer for a losing team, especially in a city like Detriot that hasn't had much success since they stopped being a world power for car production. Many people are pointing fingers at the owner of the team, William Clay Ford Sr., but is he really to blame? An owner can only do so much, it's not like he can actaully play out there and change the outcome of the game. Luckily, the Lions have been improving greatly this year with their play on the field and the future looks promising for the franchise and hopefully Ford Sr. might see a positive profit at the end of the season.

Call of Duty Elite Price Raise?

The once only good first person shooter now has some competition. Call of Duty predicts that the price will raise sometime in the next two years because of EA games' Battlefield. Right now battlefield is 14 dollars cheaper than the call of duty release price. But battlefield will raise the price to about 50 dollars their next game still making it significantly cheaper than call of duty. With the new call of duty elite coming out, it is projected to have 2 million subscribers the first two years and 5 million by the end of 2013. The price will raise because it is a yearly cost and the demand is so high people will buy it no matter what the price is. the reason the price will raise is because the now free Battlefield elite will raise their prices to 50 dollars which lets the high demanded call of duty raise their prices.

$8 million iPad

A regular iPad 2 can cost anywhere from $499 to $829 depending how much memory you choose and whether it has 3G capabilities. Although a regular iPad 2 may seem expensive to most Americans, it is nothing compared to the iPad 2 Gold History Edition created by luxury enthusiast Stuart Hughes -- with an $8 million price tag!
Starting with a regular iPad 2, the aluminum back panel is replaced with one made of solid 24ct gold. Then, the normal Apple logo is replaced with one made of 24ct gold and with 53 diamonds. The part of the front of the iPad that surrounds the screen is made of ammonite, one of the rarest rocks on the planet. Finally, the feature that really sets this iPad apart is the actual Tyrannosaurus rex bones shaved into the finish. The final touch is the home button is replaced with a platinum base complete with 12 outer diamonds and a single 8.5ct centerpiece.
As if the price tag alone doesn't make this iPad a luxury good, only two in the world are being produced. This iPad is certainly an extreme example of a luxury good, which only a few are able to afford.


http://store.apple.com/us/browse/home/shop_ipad/family/ipad
http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/8-million-luxury-ipad-2-comes-diamonds-dinosaur-162521908.html

Red Sole Law Suit

The pretty cherry red soles of the coveted Christian Louboutin shoes was copied by Yves Saint Laurent. While YSL has had shoes with red soles dating back to the 70's, Louboutin has had the red tradmarked in 2008. Louboutin argues that copying the red sole caused customer confusion, raising the demand for the YSL shoes because of his popularity. Louboutin is asking for over a million dollars in damage controll and for YSL to recall the millions in merchandise with the trademark infringement. In this situation, YSL argues that a color cannot be trademarked, but other luxury brands such as Tiffany's and Hermes have also done the same. The bright red sole that stands out is part of what makes the shoe a luxury item, the price is set much higher than equilibrium to keep the posh brand name.

Penny Auction Websites

Penny auction websites sell high dollar items like laptops, iPhones, iPads, etc, for extremely cheap prices.  Every time someone bids the price goes up 1 penny and 10 seconds is added to the count down.   But here’s the catch, you have to buy bids for 60 cents apiece.  The bidding process is also a cycle that really no one can hardy win, because every time the timer gets down to a few seconds left other people will quickly place bids which bumps the timer up a few more seconds.   Also, say if 20 people are fighting for an item a couple will eventually give up, but there are hundreds of other people jumping in and start bidding and adding time to the clock.  These websites are not scams and are extremely profitable, say the website sells an iPad for $100 but it is worth $700, the price only goes up 1 penny every time someone bids….That means 10,000 people bided on that iPad!! Each bid costs that individual 60 cents so that means in total $6,000 worth of bids were spent trying to get that iPad plus the $100 that the person who won had to pay.  The website made $5,400 by selling one iPad and the variable and fixed costs are minuscule, the buyer pays the shipping, and the website only needs less than a dozen employees to operate.  Kind of makes you want to own one of these websites.

Jack Leonard

Mad over Missoni

Over the past few months, Target has been marketing a limited edition line of Missoni For Target brand items. The line consisted of furniture, home accessories, clothing, shoes, and glassware. Missoni was trying to market a variety of items compared to their usual designer line of clothes, shoes, and small accessories. On the launch date of the new line, as early as 7 a.m. lines were forming outside of Target stores, many women wanted to get ahold of the usually $600+ dresses and clothes for a twefth of the price. The demand for these lesser quality, mass produced Missoni items was through the roof, the launch crashed the Target website within an house, and shelves were empty in some store in as little as 20 minutes after opening. Some consumers wonder, how was this a good business call for Missoni? the highly sought after designer brand lost many avid supporters from before the Target days who believe that brand lost its luxury after releasing this line. However the Missoni owner, Margherita Missoni, is planning on launching another lower price scale line after seeing how in demand her cheaper price range products are. The madness didn't end with the Target stores even, a secondary market was created. Over 44,000 Missoni for Target items were on eBay the day of the launch selling at prices two to three times higher than their original price. Perhaps the oweners of Missoni should look into upping their prices on their lower quality goods to help find equilibrium because obviously, consumers are willing to pay big bucks for their new line just to own the coloful zigzags and other bright geometric prints.

Stealing is bad.

In 2001, Apple came out with their new phrase "RIP, Mix, Burn", which was the new slogan for burning music on to CDs, creating playlists, etc. The company strongly asked people not to steal music, and actually placed a label saying "Don't steal music" on the back of every ipod. As time went on, Apple came out with new products, people were making new software that made stealing music easier, and the two had somewhat meshed together. Apple created a new product called Icloud, in which someone could transfer all of the apps, music, etc. onto a computer that the phone is wirelessly synced up to, as long as their account is logged in. As someone who loves listening to music, it's a hastle to buy every single song I want to listen to, and it's easy to believe that people don't have incentive to buy the music, but just download it for free online somewhere. People stealing music hurts the music industry without a doubt because companies aren't getting all of the money they deserve for producing the music. While they are they making a lot of money, producing companies do lose a lot of profit. It is hard to track down all of the people who steal music, but those who do steal music need to hold themselves accountable and be honorable when getting music.

The Holiday Season

Although it's only the beginning of November, most retailers begin preparing for Christmas and Hanukah around this time in order to be prepared for the season of spending. As we learned in class, consumer spending has a lot to do with our country's GDP, so wouldn't it make sense that during the holiday season, in the midst of frantic Christmas and Hanukah shopping, that the United States' GDP would increase sharply for that quarter? According to the Nation Retail Federation (NRF), holiday sales, on average, have increased 2.6% for the last 10 years. Last year, sales increased a whopping 5.2% to $452.9 billion. That is most definitely a lot of consumer spending, which has proven beneficial for the macroeconomy. However, the problem that we face with this huge amount of spending during the holiday season deals with microeconomics, or inside individual households. Many people feel extreme pressure during this season due to financial issues, however they continue to spend a ridiculous amount on gifts, decorations, parties, etc. So how do these people balance their budget? How much is too much to spend on gifts and is their a minimum standard that our society has set?

-Natalie J

Bank of America backs down

Bank of America recently announced its plan to charge debit card holders a monthly fee of five dollars.  Bank of America members were out raged by this and threatened to leave the bank unless the plan was changed. this small change in membership would make the bank an estimated 410 million dollars in just one month.  because people were so repulsed by this plan the bank has discontinued the plan to charge debit card holders merely to retain members. the bank is even offering holders free admission to select museums this weekend as part of there "museums on us program." in my opinion bank of America really messed up by trying to pull a quick one their members and they will now pay for it in the upcoming months. i wonder how many insulted and angry members will switch banks this month.

Guns for Women?

in charleston south carolina a sheriff is urging women to buy and get permits for women to carry on them whenever they are alone. he exclaims that because of all the recent attacks and attempted rapes women shouldn't be taking any chances. this could bring about a large change in the market for handguns. there are 143 million females in the united states today and if everyone of them went out and purchased a handgun sometime in the next month the demand for guns would sky rocket.  the average hand gun is priced at around 300 dollars making the money pulled in by theses ladies would be somewhere around 2,490,000,000,000 dollars. this would cause a huge change for gun companies. unfortunately for gun companies i don't think every woman in the united states will go out and buy a gun but i think that the south carolina sheriff's press release will spark a small economic change in the gun market.

http://news.yahoo.com/south-carolina-sheriff-urges-women-carry-guns-104001215.html

Peanut Butter Prices Are Nuts!

Trick-or-treaters may have paid more of a price this year during Halloween. Peanut butter and all the products associated with, such as Reese’s (the best candy on the market) are dealing with escalating prices due to one of the worst peanut harvests in recent years. Price increases ranging from 20% to 40% as early as last Tuesday have been issued for many Peanut butter producers. According to last year, the price for a ton of peanut butter has already gone up by $750 and continues to climb. Many experts agree that next years peanut butter prices can’t look any better until harvest time roles around. In addition, we can expect increases in many of the compliments associated with peanut butter products. Soon enough jelly will be sold at prices through the roof just because it is so closely associated with peanut butter. Next year’s harvest needs to produce a decent yield of peanuts because I don’t want to start paying the extra buck for something as simple as a Reese’s cup!