PREGUNTAVER

The US economy is said to be hardly moving. In fact,Jeanine Aversa, an economics writer for the Associated Press describes at as having skidded to near halt. Here are a few other points of view.

With lots of foreign currencies continuously gaining in value against the dollar. Stores owners in New York have started to speculate against the US currency by accepting Euros, Canadian dollars, UK pounds and a few other denominations. At the rate the dollar is being devalued, I would say that the move is very wise. Store owners make more money by setting their own exchange rates and by selling their hordes foreign currency when its value has substantially grown, they make more money. And with the Philippine peso gaining 20% against the US dollar within a year, I will not be surprised if stores where there are Asians will start putting up "Philippine Pesos Accepted here signs"

I have previously written about profit (as a motivation to become efficient and its benefits to the consumers) and competition & price equilibrium in relation to the coffee shops industry . Taking competition a bit further, Starbucks is offering $1 coffee (still expensive, if you'll ask me) and free refills. This is in addition to earlier moves to install drive-thru counters and national advertisements. This will probably be a long protracted "Cafe Wars" in an industry worth billions of dollars. I surmise that such move by Starbucks was in response to McDonald's move to compete in the industry. MacDonalds already serve cheaper coffee (with refills) and gives free WiFi services, something that Satrbucks is yet to do. I heard that WiFi in Starbucks outlets in the UK costs an arm and a leg. With probably more outlets worlwide (Starbucks has 15,000), McDonalds should never be taken lightly as a competitor. My biggest pick as a future industry loser remains to be Nes...

When our automobile fails to start, we try to jump start it, by plugging the weak battery to a good one, with the use of jumper cables. The same is quite true for the US economy. The battery that provides power to it is perceived to be weak so the government is thinking of measures to jump start it to make the engine run. For starts, President Bush wants to give tax rebates to low income households so they can use it to alleviate their lives. In so doing, the recipients of the rebates will use the money to pay for commodities and that will make the manufacturers, suppliers and the rest of the economy active. because of a multiplier effect, the rest of the economy is expected to positively react. The video provided will give us a better picture of the bigger plans.

La Donna Mobile' For a man who denies the Holocaust and calls for the destruction of another state (Israel) , complaining that another is going around and rallying others to gang up on him is quite unfathomable. Let me remind everyone of the following, "You reap what you sow" and, Do not do unto others, what you do not want others to do unto you!" Iran's President Ahmadinejad is whining these days that US President Bush is very confrontational and is aiming at Iran, "This message reflects his own conceptions and it is a message of rift, a message of sowing the seeds of division. It is a message of confrontation demeaning the dignity of mankind." Dubya, on the other hand, seems to be spending so much time going around and creating enemies while the economy suffers back home. That certainly, is not an optimal use of a leader's time. Economics is all about the proper allocation of resources to be able to satisfy human wants. Both Iran's and the ...

One of the beauties of competition is that the equilibrium price speaks well of the products being sold. Demand for the particular product goes up or down depending on the supply of its competitors brand. At this point, the demand for coffee shops is on the rise and many brands have joined the fray. Starbucks dominate the market but other companies are moving heaven and earth to get bigger slices. This led to good services from everyone in the industry and to mention one improvement, WIFI services are now available in most stores, some of it are even free. Further to my previous post , I visited a another coffee shop and found it worth some space in this blog. Nescafe Cafe' been around for some years and searching the web, you'll find lots outlets in South Africa, Poland and other countries. Well, I went to one in Manila and to my horror, the price is so obscenely high! Common, Starbucks imports coffee beans, other shops also do and, they brew their coffee beans right under you...

Free market economists contend that profit is the main motivation why man becomes efficient. When he sees an opportunity to make money, he takes it and in the process makes the community a better place. Well, they started by serving free WiFi and now, they have added a Barista position in their restaurant crews. By adding more products and services on their repertoire, the world's number one restaurant chain hope to gain US$ 1 billion in their annual profits. It's all about profit for McDonalds but for us lowly humans, its better service that we get for our money.

As a young boy, I had a fascination for Four-Wheel Drive (4WD) vehicles. 4WD's look very macho and there's nothing like being in a big car. However, as I started to accumulate driving hours, I realized that fast cars brings me to my destination faster. But as I grew older, I realized that sedans and big cars have their own separate purposes and cannot really be compared to one another. Sedans bring me to my office faster but SUV's can fit lots of cargo and are generally better for road collisions. As an old man once said, "When you collide with a car while in an SUV, you land on top of the heap" -- well said. In purchasing SUV's, will you go for a 4WD or a simple 2WD? In terms of price, 2WD's are cheaper and performance wise, a 4WD may not necessarily outperform the other. If you drive in rough terrains, a 4WD will definitely be much better. But if you are a like me, who spends most of his driving hours shuttling from house to the office, a 2WD is probabl...

Why do the babies starve There's enough food to feed the world Why when there're so many of us Are there people still alone.. - Tracy Chapman, Why? While checking my Paypal account, I saw this ad of an online marketplace that provides the opportunity for ordinary people to invest by lending in entrepreneurs, mostly women from small countries. The entrepreneur gets the chance to earn while helping those who, before he came, had no hope.. Check the site by clicking on the Micro Place Button (below)

If it aint broke, don't fix it!

Americans Leonid Hurwicz, Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson won the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences on Monday for work that helps explain situations in which markets work well. The three researchers "laid the foundations of mechanism design theory," the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said. "Mechanism design theory initiated by Leonid Hurwicz and further developed by Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson has greatly enhanced our understanding of optimal allocation mechanisms in such situations, accounting for individuals' incentives and private information." Their theory allows economists, governments and businesses to "distinguish situations (that) work well from those in which they do not." This post will be updated in a couple of hours... Guten Morgen! :D

Now they're talking. These farmers are hardly poor but are receiving heavy subsidies. Vamos a ver!

This is something that has been very clear. the US is close to becoming a protectionist state despite its free trade advocacies. Let me sleep for a few hours and talk about this in detail. For the meantime, please read the article .

T he DOHA round of the World Trade Organization (WTO) negotiations intends to promote the opening of markets and promoting free trade. This April, the latest meeting failed to reach a conclusion. Director-General Pascal Lamy of the World Trade Organization delivered a speech before the US Chamber of Commerce on April 23, 2007. Here are excerpts from his speech. "T oday we know that the Doha Development Round will not be concluded until and unless all these participants are ready to walk the extra mile and table additional contributions to the collective success of this multilateral enterprise. It is clear that the contributions will be linked to the degree of development and wealth of each participant, with the world poorest countries making the smallest contribution. It is also clear that no one will be asked to move first: countries will have to move in concert, like a big orchestra playing to the same tune. For the moment, a group of major actors — the EU, US, Brazil, India — d...

The passing of former President Boris Yeltsin reminded me of my Russian friends, the continuing saga about the people's struggle for better government and the need for a responsible press. On 1993, I was a young student taking up a short course in Switzerland. My initial conversations with classmates, program facilitators and acquaintances never failed to include questions (some were delivered in a manner that struck me as rude) about what was happening to my country. They told me that they kept on hearing bad things about it. The polite ones simply asked; “How is the Philippines?” And there’s this gentleman who softly said; “Tell us more about your country. We seem to only hear about it, whenever there’s a catastrophe.” Such a fine gentleman, I thought. So full of good manners . Anyway, though seemingly impolite, I must admit that the apparently offensive statements were mostly valid observations. On 1993, the Philippines had just gone through more than 10 years of great misfor...

APPLY NOW Trade representatives from the US, Brazil, India and Europe will meet to hammer an agreement that will resolve the 2005 deadlock in the DOHA round. In the negotiations, US and EU will be pushing India and Brazil, acknowledged leaders of the world's developing countries, to open their economies. To quote an online editor at the http://www.americaneconomicalert.org/news_home.asp?NTID=67 ; "Developing nations are being pressed to open their markets wider to industrial goods and services and the United States is seeking fewer farm products on their "protected" list. But India and other developing nations says they needs their farm tariffs to protect the livelihoods of their huge farming populations. Up to 80 percent of the workforces in developing nations depend on agriculture." I believe that the editor failed to point out that the US heavily subsidises a lot of industries, therefore creating “False competitiveness” for their local industries. I am not t...

APPLY NOW -In a Reuters article, the following figures came out in reference to the Philippine Educational system. Please click this page for the complete article . -In a survey, the country rated 126 out of 163 in a 2006 global survey on corruption, behind Libya and Uganda. -The average annual teachers' salary averages 1,700 UK pounds. -The United Nations reports that approximately 46 percent of the population live on less than $2 a day, and 28 percent of children under the age of five are underweight. -A class size of 65 students is a frequent occurrence . -World Bank show education spending by the Philippines was equal to 3.2 percent of gross domestic product in 2004, far higher than Indonesia's 0.9 percent but well below Malaysia's 8 percent and Thailand's 4.2 percent. -Just one in five 12-year- olds scored the mastery level of 75 percent in maths, science, social studies and languages in the 2004/05 school year. -There are plans to increase its education budget ...

Fed up with your tax bill? Maybe you should consider moving to Alaska . Where to locate the company's offices & facilities should always be a part of every start up businessman's checklist. There are cities that offer tax holidays and incentives for certain industries and being able to identify and take advantage of such a program can spell the difference between a firm's highway to profitability or road to bankruptcy. Of course, there are a lot of other items to be considered (such as salary rates and cost of living) but for now, this short essay will dwell on taxes. As explained by a number of American exporting companies that I deal with, their products which used to bear the proudly "Made in the USA" logo now says "Made in Mexico" for tax purposes, among other reasons. In the same vein, every citizen should also consider a similar checklist in order to make life a lot easier. For the ordinary employee or small entrepreneur, taxes may also spell t...

Economics is also known as "Political Economy". Therefore, a lot of "Power Relationships" litter the busy field. Now if one will take a casual look at the current events influencing the "Wealth of Nations", it can easily be pointed out that "Those who have the gold, makes the rules!"- That's economics. This post is about a "Sexual Harassment" case against Luis Moratinos y Munoz, a Spanish national and Third Secretary & Political Affairs Officer of the European Commission to the Philippines. He also used to work as a professor at the very exclusive Ateneo de Manila University. In at least three articles at the Philippine Star, Lawyer Dong Puno wrote about a female straight A student "Jessica". "The facts , as alleged by Jessica, are all too familiar. She is a college student who received a failing grade in the subject handled by Mr. Moratinos. She not only disputed that grade but filed a formal complaint with th...