U.S. Economy/Global Economy

Summary:  A couple different view points relating to the current economy and the outlook for the economy.  It will also touch on the aspect of the current global economy including the crisis in Europe.  I know that the economy and what we have to look forward to is a big issue currently and since Economics is my major I am going to try to give you a perspective of my interpretation of the economic situation both the United States and the global economy is in.


The U.S. economy in 2011 saw some unexpected declining as the crisis arose in Europe.  The future outlook for the U.S. however doesn't suggest another recession, keeping in mind that recession is defined as a decrease in GDP for more than one quarter.  There is some speculation that suggests that the key to the rebound of the U.S. economy is the housing market, different economist do predict that the decline of the housing market will come to an end in 2012.  If the decline does stop and their begins to be slow growth in these area's it may lead to an increase in consumer confidence which will ultimately increase the currency circulation.  The higher currency circulation, or the amount of times money changes hands, has shown to increase the likely-hood of economic growth.  Consumer confidence however is most affected by the job market, if people can find jobs they can make money to spend.  The unemployment rate does not seem to go down unless the GDP growth rate is above 2.5%.  Another way to think about it without getting over involved in fancy terms and statistics is this;  Our economy will recover eventually if we can do four basic things.

1. Promote business confidence (Which will lead to an increase in the job market.)
2. Cut pork spending (Cut out unnecessary spending in the gov.)
3. Support innovation (Small business's make up a huge portion of the U.S. GDP)
4. Give it time (the economy won't recover overnight much less over a year or two)

A lot of people out there believe it or not believe that our economy can be saved in such a short amount of time.  What people do not realize is that the economy works almost like an ecosystem, when one thing goes out of balance the whole thing collapses and it takes a long time for an ecosystem to recover.  Certain legislation will help that is not to argue, but one bill or one idea will not save the economy, it will take a collaborate effort by everyone not just the constant change of political reigns.

My focus is primarily with the US economy, but it is impossible to state that the economy of the US is not affected by the global economy.  Importing a majority of our finished products is a very bad thing for the US in a sense of "economic security".  When I say that I mean that the more reliant we are on other countries to produce products for us the more their market matters to us.  What we need to do is bring production back to the US and avoid the outsourcing we have promoted for so long.  The reason a lot of US companies outsource is because it is dramatically cheaper than it is to produce the same product in the US. Unfortunately this causes a big drop in the job market which results with a high unemployment rate.

Post to be continued. (Next, the global economy and the European Crisis)

Another Semester/Time Management

Tomorrow marks the day that no one looks forward to.  The day that classes start up full force at SDSU.  I really don't mind classes it is just a busy factor.  I took 18 credits last semester which I am also taking this semester, the class load is a little heavy but it shouldn't be too bad.  I have been able to manage my classes fairly well and that kinda brings me into my idea for this blog.

Time management is probably one of the biggest walls to cross when taking on the class load of a college student.  I am one of the offender's of this bad habit of procrastination (you know who you are), but I aim to get better throughout this following semester.  Many of my friends have this train of thought "Why do it now when it is not due for a week", well to some point I agree with them, sometimes the homework can not be completed right away and needs to be put off.  It isn't just the class load that people procrastinate about either, for most students, myself included, they have a hard time balancing a healthy routine.  What I mean about a healthy routine is one that includes solid meals every day and time set aside to work out and do what you consider entertaining.  My personal feelings are mixed because I am usually really good about knowing when everything is due and what has priority but I get so mixed up with it sometimes that I end up procrastinating it so much that I stress myself more than is necessary.  If I were to set time aside everyday to do the homework I need to do and make sure that I am eating healthy solid meals along with a good workout everyday not only would I be more productive but I would feel so much better.  Both mentally and physically improving my life I hope to seek out this "routine" that allows me for me time without neglecting self respect practices such as working out eating healthy etc.

Hunting, Conservation, and Recreation

Hunting has been one of my passions since I can remember.  I hunt pheasants,duck,geese,deer, and other small game.  I believe hunting is a very important part of our culture.  Teaching life lessons such as appreciation for the wild and safe responsible behavior.  The amount of hunters has been dropping every single year simply because the youth are not introduced to the multiple adventures hunting offers.  There are multiple things to blame for the fall of hunters, one big part mentioned more in depth later is conservation.  If there is no land for people to hunt on there is going to be less hunters.  In my opinion the reason that the population of hunters is decreasing at such a steep rate is because of the new generation of parents.  Parents do not take there kids out hunting, camping, or hiking like they use to.  The new generation is so obsessed with technology and other forms of indoor entertainment that they completely neglect what the outdoors has to offer.  Sometimes getting away from everything, from work, and from the daily stresses that our economy puts on our society.  The pure beauty of a nature hike or the quite hours sitting in a deer stand is no competition for any other entertainment that we have provided.

With this being said conservation becomes the most important goals of those hunters out there.  Conserving what we have and improving habitat so that we are even able to hunt and enjoy the outdoors in the future is crucial.  There use to be a CRP program which encourage the planting of several types of grasses that encouraged the conservation of the wild and also the conservation of the soil.  The soil benefits from these programs and with the price of corn going through the roof farmers are being blinded by greed.  Taking out their fields of CRP to plant overpriced corn so they can make a dollar, this unfortunately is largely due to the fact that congress did not renew the CRP program.  Our country is so far in debt that we have cut conservation programs that are there for the well being of our wildlife and the well being of our land/resources.

Recreation, the last part of my rant is something that has been lost among the society.  The practices of camping and hiking are some of the most memorable activities our world has to offer.  Taking the time to go out and appreciate what we are given is a lost habit.  Our society is stuck indoors and they don't want to take the time to see what there is to see.  Living life in this manner only results in a shadowed life, a life in which people do not grow to a full potential.  Technology, although we would not be where we are without it has almost hindered out ability to appreciate the planet we live on.  I am much to blame as anyone, there are many times where I could be outside enjoying the day but I stay inside to watch TV.  Sometimes I wonder if we have grown to far away from "outside"

Sports

I have played sports my whole life, out of all the different ones out there I prefer soccer.  Soccer, although not very popular where I live, is the worlds most played and most watched sport.  What I do not understand is why so many people hate the sport.  There are many people out there that talk down about the game and especially do not like the players that play the sport.  So many of them think that it is a "wussy" sport but non of them have actually played the game.  In my opinion soccer is also one of the most physical demanding sports out there.  There are not many other sporting activities out there that require you to be running for a full 45 minutes before you have a break and then continue for a second 45 minutes.  Players such as David Beckham come to the United States for a large sum of money to play the sport and all that happens is he gets criticized for not being better than the best.  If Aaron Rodgers where to go to some country and play "football" where football was played and accepted he would be an instant star. 

I guess what I am trying to get across is that I do not understand why so many people hate on such a great sport.  Are people that ignorant that they will dislike something without simply trying it?   Yet for some reason every time the world cup comes around everyone who is anyone is a huge soccer fan.  I like that we are patriotic and support the US team but from personal experience people say how exciting the game is to watch and how they respect the sport.  But, after two weeks go by all the sudden they absolutely hate the sport again and hate everyone that plays it.  It is like only liking turkey during thanksgiving, it doesn't make sense.  After all soccer has more followers and more viewers for major events such as the World Cup vs the Super Bowl.

Oil:A Controlling Concern

Oil is one of the most important resources of the current day market.  With the United States increasing the amount of oil imported we are putting ourselves at risk of a non-cost effective market.  By expanding the oil into a global market it has quite possibly made itself one of the most dangerous resources in the world.  Conflicts arise from the control of high density oil areas creating war and conflict throughout the world.  Because one resource is depended on so much is why I call it a controlling concern.  The fact that the United States imports over 60% of it's oil consumption is very bad for the people of the United States.  The more dependent we are on this resource the more expensive it is going to be.  I am 100% for alternative energy research and development.  A problem arises as we begin this quest for a more cost effective energy source, what is to be done in the mean time.  Unfortunately I do not have a direct answer for you but I do know that resource consumption has to be more closely monitored, if it is not people will continue to suffer the consequences of a large dependency of a limited resource.  A term is used when this dependency comes into question known as energy security.  I find this very intriguing, dating back.  Winston Churchill said in 1913, "Safety and certainty in oil lie in variety and variety alone."   Oil dependency was predicted almost 100 years ago yet a more dependent renewable resource has not yet been discovered.  Is the world procrastinating because it is known that the current oil supply will last x amount of days?  All I know is that the current dependency is having a crushing effect on the US economy, whether it is the expense from the wars where we are trying to obtain oil or from the import cost we have every year. 

Banking Reform

A great video explaining two different views on the economy


There are several arguments out there suggesting that banking was and is a major cause of our economic situation.  Banks can be traced to a majority part of the reason our nation is in the situation we are currently stuck in.  Although they may be to blame the consumer will always remain the ultimate reason the economy rises and falls.  Consumer confidence plays a huge role in today's market, although there are many things that influence the consumer in the end the average person as a collective whole controls our market.


Some arguments out there say that the banking system should go to public banking instead of these large private institutions that play such a large role in the success of our economy.  Corporations do depend on large banks but that should not mean we must eliminate small public banks.  There are many of these banks that exist but not to an extent that they should.  For example, North Dakota, the most successful state in the country at the moment has a state bank implemented and is the nations only state-run bank.  From what I understand they are also one of the few states with an unemployment rate under 4% which is remarkable considering some cities are above 15% unemployment.  The oil rush in North Dakota could be a large part of this success but it only goes to show that where there is hope consumer confidence goes high and the community benefits.

Economic Struggle's of A College Student/Grad

Economic struggle has been the overview of many US citizens ever since the crash of the market in 2008.  There were many causes to the crash of the market but most economist believe it to be caused by the housing market.  Basically people were buying homes and selling them for profit, after people saw how easy it was to do this successfully and make money more and more people began to follow suit.  Banks handed out loans to under qualified people because they also thought that because the housing market was so strong they would make back there money easily.  This article isn't to contemplate the reasons we are in succession though; rather to expand on the day to day activities that people must struggle through because of economic pressures.


Being a college student, I am in an unfortunate position of a slow start to a not so promising future.  With the economy suffering and the job market almost non existent it is nearly impossible to get a good job out of college.  There is what I call an experience gap, the lack of experience college graduates face because they have not been able to get interns and other work related experience.  So many employer's want there new hires to have anywhere from two to five years of work related experience because they do not want to take on the cost of training a new employee.  This makes it very difficult for students in college and new graduates to find jobs relating to their respective majors.


So how does this relate to "Economic Struggle's"? Because there is a lack of job availability in the overall market it is forcing college graduates to take over qualified positions and not able to make their respective degree's potential of income.  Student's therefor graduate and must start making payments on their student loans but do not have the means to make those payments because they are stuck flipping burgers at the local McDonald's.  This has an unfortunate domino's effect, they can not make the money they need to pay off their loans so they go out and apply for more loans.  College graduates are stuck taking out loans to pay off other loans until they can get the "work related experience" to land a job pertaining to their degree and pay off their debt.