April 2009
23 posts
Obama's Law
Interesting post by Greg Mankiw:
“Via the WSJ, here is the view from a “secured (sic) creditor” of Chrysler: “Like many others I made the mistake of buying what I believed was ‘value,’” Mr. Gwin says, adding that investors who bought at the time believed the loans were worth more than their market price. “We did not contemplate having our first...
Fuel Efficiency doesn't equal decreasing demand...
Very interesting Article I stumbled upon:
The Fuel Efficiency Paradox by Jeff Jacoby:
It seems intuitive: Increasing the fuel efficiency of automobiles - or anything else that runs on gas - should lower the demand for oil. It was with precisely that expectation that Congress enacted the Corporate Average Fuel Economy (CAFE) standards in 1975, following the Arab oil embargo. At the time, US oil...
Unemployment Worsening in Canada, but EI not...
(Photo Credit: etftrends.com)
Unfortunately just when most people thought it couldn’t get any worse it is going to get worse. The number of people applying for employment insurance (EI) is up 19% from January, but the number of people receiving EI only increased by 7.8%. This means there a fair number of people needing EI who are not receiving it. With the number of unemployed...
I didn't want to talk about this.
But it seems I must. Swine Flu. If I have to hear about this anymore I am going to go crazy. Honestly the regular flu kills people all the time. If you are healthy chances are even IF you get it, you will fight it off.
There is no need to live in fear because of the swine flu. The media ALWAYS blows things out of proportion. Swine flu is not very prevalent in Canada or the U.S.A. The...
GM down to four core brands.
Via Eco Auto Ninja
“This morning, GM announced they were cutting 21,000 jobs and getting rid of Pontiac. Plans are in place to close more factories as the automaker fights to avoid bankruptcy.
GM has been surviving on on $15.4 billion in government loans and revealed that it envisions receiving an additional $11.6 billion. But if GM’s restructuring plan can’t satisfy the government by...
The Financial System of the Future...
Found this link on Greg Mankiw’s blog. I decided I would post it as well. This is a really interesting idea and may not be all that farfetched. It would solve a lot of informational problems, especially moral hazard. It basically allows people to adopt all the risk and not banks and other corporations. Therefore there are less likely to be risky dealings as people don’t want to...
Is outsourcing to India a thing of the past?
(Photo Credit: UMass Lowell Sunrise Radio)
Finally many companies are realizing that outsourcing customer service to India is really a whole lot more expensive than initially thought. The cost isn’t in terms of dollars, but in terms of frustrated, angry, upset, displeased, aggravated, and unhappy customers.
The Globe and Mail has reported that Primus Telecommunications Canada will be...
Geithner hopes to fool people.
(Photo Credit: p3books.com)
Tim Geithner announced that a vast majority of banks are well capitalized in the U.S., but Paul Krugman, among others, was quick to rebuttal this statement and rightfully so. This statement is incredibly misleading. While technically Geithner is correct, it is a classical example of lying with statistics.
There are over 1,722 large commercial banks in the U.S and...
Happy Earth Day.
(Photo Credit: caglecartoons.com)
Happy Earth Day. I hope today makes people a little more cognisant of their actions on this beautiful planet. We all, myself included, are very ignorant towards the fact that our actions are causing serious harm to this planet. We think that we can continue our wastefulness and excessiveness infinitely because the planet is indestructible.
Starting today...
And the interest rate falls again
The Bank of Canada has cut its key interest rate (the overnight rate) to 0.25% which is the lowest the Bank has ever gone since its opening in 1935. This move is the Bank’s respone to try to increase inflation to its desired 2% target. It will be expected to stay at 0.25% for the next year until the economy begins to rebound and inflation increases back to its desired level of 2%.
Will...
How many pillows are on your bed?
(Photo Credit: Nicolekiss.blogspot.com)
I just got back from the Business in a Recession Panel Discussion put on by the College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph. It was a great discussion and a lot of really informative things were said, but I think what I took away the most was the analogy put forward by Bruce McAdams. He had recently attended a conference for hotel...
Business in a Recession - Panel Discussion
If anyone will be in Guelph this Sunday April 19th I encourage you to come to the Business in a Recession Panel Discussion being presented by the College of Management and Economics at the University of Guelph. The participants will be explaining the cause of this recession, the ways out of it, and how much longer this recession will last for. Warren Jestin, chief economist at ScotiaBank, is a...
Exams...
Sorry I haven’t been posting this week. I am incredibly busy right now with exams (studying fundamentals of corporate finance right now!) so I won’t be able to post anything until Friday. I hope all is well with everyone.
Ahren
Consume our way to destruction
“We do not inherit the earth from our parents; we borrow it from our children.” Chief Seattle (from Nolberto Munier’s Introduction to Sustainability)
How do we get out this recession? We need to get consumers spending. We need to get their unlimited wants started again (seems like a good idea?). This is what many economists and government officials think needs to be done. ...
Jay Leno’s one man comedy stimulus plan
Jay Leno will be giving two free stand-up comedy routines in the Motor City (Detroit) in what he is calling Jay Leno’s Comedy Stimulus Plan. Detroit, which is home to the big three auto manufacturers, has been hit worse than most American cities by the current global recession. Mr. Leno hopes to give a few hours of entertainment to many of the unemployed workers in Detroit who have faced...
Canadian Government to Honour GM and Chrysler Cars
The United States has already committed to guarantying GM and Chrysler vehicle warranties in case either declares bankruptcy, but only today did Canada also decide it too would guarantee all vehicles purchased from April 7th, 2009 and on. This is to help support GM and Chrysler by giving consumers confidence that their vehicle warranties will be honoured regardless of whether GM and Chrysler...
G-20 - The London Summit
The 20 largest economies (plus some other organizations, which means the London Summit wasn’t official a G-20 meeting) in the world met last Thursday, April 2, 2009 in London to discuss stability, growth, and jobs. With the recession, all three topics are hot issues, as lack of stability in our current economy has turned growth negative, and taken many jobs with it.
The following list is...
Obama - President by Day Superhero by Night
How do you know Barack Obama has become a huge part of pop culture? By clicking here.
Obama actions figures. Obama, solving America’s problems by day through new policies and fighting evil by night! It will be interesting to see if his popularity remains as the economy continues to fall.
For all those out there who are worried an action figure won’t be made of you if you pursue...
U.S. Unemployment hits 8.5%.
And it keeps climbing. I hate how impersonal this is made to seem. These are actual people with families losing their jobs. It is really sad. It is going to be hard times for a lot of people. Here is an arcticle via Bloomberg which explains the 25-year high for unemployment in the U.S. I truly sympathize with all those who have lost their jobs, in Canada as well. Hopefully, after this...
Tight on Cash? Sell off your Gold Grills.
Over the next few days I will be cutting down on original material (hopefully still make a few original posts) due to overload of school and job related tasks. So in absence of original material, I will offer you interesting things I stumble upon. Here is one that I find quite amusing:
“A couple years, one gaudy fashion was the trend for diamond and gold grills. The pair shown above,...
Goodbye Pension.
(Photo credit: Cartoon Stock)
Meet the Federal Pension Guarantor. This is the federal agency that guarantees 44 million Americans’ pensions in case of companies going bankrupt and no longer able to meet their pension plans. In the months before the financial crisis, the Federal Pension Guarantor had a great idea - to take on a riskier financial strategy and try to eliminate the deficit...
Victim of the Recession: Greg Mankiw?
(source: The Crimson)
For anyone out there who follows Greg Mankiw’s blog and is not a hardvard student or harvard alumni, you will no longer be able to read his posts for free. Here is the post on his blog:
“With Harvard having lost so much of its endowment lately, the university has asked me to stop providing this blog free of charge. Going forward, therefore, this blog will be...