Libya Oil Chief Says Crude Production ‘Could Reach a Halt’ Due to Conflict

Libya's oil production fell to less than 400,000 barrels a day after foreign companies pulled out their staff, the chairman of the country’s state-run National Oil Corp. The North African country had no intention of breaking commitments with foreign companies and called on them to send their employees back to resume work. Libya may otherwise award new oil and gas concessions directly to companies in countries such as China and India in order to raise production. Oil fell yesterday after the Libyan regime said it would cease military operations and begin talks with the rebels. Crude for April delivery dropped 35 cents to settle at $101.07 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange. Futures were up as much as 2.2 percent at $103.66 before the Libyan announcement.

Nuclear accident hurts Japan’s exports

Fears of radiation are threatening Japan's export-led economy.

As Japan struggles to contain radiation leaking from crippled nuclear reactors, many countries, including China, Indonesia, South Korea and Thailand have already started to test food imported from Japan for radiation, and the European Union has recommended that its member countries do so. However, the risk is low to Americans because Japan accounts for only 4 percent of American food imports. And even less of that is food with the highest risk of contamination.

Far greater damage could occur if Japanese automobiles or electronics get contaminated with radiation, or if fear spreads among consumers that they could get exposed to radiation sitting in a Prius or playing a DVD. However, given the nature of the manufacturing industries in Japan, there is little danger of contamination reaching harmful levels, the experts said. For one, most manufacturing in Japan happens far from the nuclear plant (and many of the cars and electronics from Japanese companies are actually made outside Japan). Moreover, manufacturing is usually done indoors. Most products were in packages and the radioactive particles would not damage the product inside. If a product is known to have deposited particles they can be washed off, or a contaminated box opened by someone wearing gloves and thrown away.

Higher Prices for Consumers

I have definitely noticed the rising prices recently, and this article quantifies my observation. Prices have risen 2.1% in the last year. With the higher prices for necessary items like food and fuel, consumers and producers alike are grappling with the consequences. Consumers have even less income available for discretionary use or for saving and investing. Producers have to deal with the costs of shipping increasing. However, these producers have been able to pass along most of the higher costs to customers. With the uncertainty around the world right now concerning things like the Middle East and Japan, the prices are not expected to decline any time soon.

Japanese crisis hits world markets

Japan’s devastating 8.9 magnitude earthquake has impacted the global market. The Bank of Japan injected $97.8bn into the financial system in attempt to calm the market a day after it fed a record $184bn into money markets and eased monetary policy.

On the other hand the Dollar value rose by 0.8 percent.

This is when we see the effect of economic globalization because on country economic situation affects the market. It makes me question If globalization is good or bad?

G-7 Finance Chiefs to Discuss Measures to Help Japan

The finance ministers and central banks leaders of the G-7 countries "met assess the economic effects of the crisis in Japan and a possible response." The meeting will cover measures to support Japan, improve liquidity if needed and calm financial markets.
The leaders do not believe Japan will need direct financial assistance "given the level of Japan’s foreign exchange reserves and the wealth of the country".
The French president and finance minister called for this meeting because they "believe they have tools of monetary policy and foreign-exchange coordination that could be used to improve the situation."
"The Japanese government is mostly concerned with preventing excessive appreciation of the yen.
One initial plan could center around opening lines of credit among major central banks. Similar facilities were opened by some central banks after the terrorist attacks in the United States in 2001 and the financial market contagion in 2008 and 2009. "

Stock market hurt by nuclear power situattion in Japan

Due to worry about the nuclear crisis in Japan stock markets in the United States and Europe ended lower on Wednesday. Markets had been calmer when it comes to early trading but the markets became scared after the European Union energy commissioner Gunther Oettinger doomed the situation as out of control and said that catastrophic could happen in the following hours. The central bank of Japan has been continuously pumping liquidity into the economy and representatives of countries such as France have hinted that they might be providing Japan with Financial assistance. Some Japanese industries such as the automobile industry have managed to recover some of its losses.

Flaws in Japan’s Leadership Deepen Sense of Crisis

Japan faces its biggest challenge since the end of World War II, and needs to have strong and assertive leadership more than ever. This requires what Japan is untrained for- improvisation, clear and reassuring public communication, and cooperation among multiple powerful bureaucracies. This is needed for the nationwide mobilization for search and rescue, resettlement, and solutions to the nuclear situation.

Following the War, Japan prospered under a system which allowed the United States to handle much of its foreign policy and bureaucrats to take care of its domestic affairs. But in the past decade these corporations have lost power and its prestigious reputation and no strong political class has emerged resulting in four prime ministers in the last four years.

The question is- will japan's government and people able to unite to adjust and overcome the nation-wide disasters?

Alan Greenspan: Stimulus hurt recovery

Former federal reserve chairman, Alan Greenspan, discusses his desire to see less government intervention in order to increase business investment in capital. Alan Greenspan's thoughts and ideas on the subject are beginning to gain a lot of attention as some agree with him in his desire for less government intervention. These who agree with him believe that government intervention is the cause for uncertainty and less private sector spending. In the short video clip, Greenspan briefly discusses the deficit problem and he believes that it should be the government's priority at the moment. In order to address this problem, Greenspan believes that raising taxes would be the most efficient way to do so.

Death Toll Estimate in Japan Soars as Relief Efforts Intensify

Japan’s $5 trillion economy, which is the third largest in the world, was unbelievably threatened by the 8.9 earthquake, tsunami and recent hazards from the damaged nuclear rectors that leaked radiation. The disaster caused the economy to experience extreme turmoil by death, destruction and homelessness. This terrible catastrophe has left more than 10,000 people dead and millions of people without water, power, heat, or transportation. With all the collective anxiety, Japan’s stock market has seen the worst drop in three years with the main index falling 5.5%. The Bank of Japan put about $86 billion into the economy on Monday because of the worries for the banking and financial systems. The prime minister of Japan has kept a positive outlook on the crisis stating, “If the nation works together, we will overcome”. Since Japan does have such a strong economy, I believe they will in fact overcome this terrible tragedy.

From Gas to Gadgets: Japan's Disaster Means Higher Prices

I know there has been tons of talk about the implications of the earth quake in Japan, but here is a good article on how prices of various goods will be affected by the destruction. It is interesting to see how much the crisis will affect the United States and how the international trade will be hurt between the two countries.

Slower Growth Signaled by Wal-Mart Stock as Commodities Rise

Economists ignore volatile commodity prices when calculating inflation. The poorest families, who spend as much as 25 percent of their after-tax income on food and fuel, don’t have that luxury.

Rising prices “will shave a couple tenths off consumer spending, and the consumers that are going to get hit the most are at the lower end of the income scale,” said Michael Feroli, chief U.S. economist at JPMorgan Chase & Co. in New York. On March 11, he lowered his forecast for first quarter growth to 2.5 percent from 3.5 percent and second quarter growth to 3.5 percent from 4 percent, citing in part the persistence of higher energy costs.

America’s poorer families are suffering more than richer households as they face a bigger squeeze from the highest gasoline expenses in more than two years, stagnating wages and a jobless rate that has remained at or above 8.9 percent since April 2009. Their pain is shared by their preferred retailers, including Walmart and J.C. Penney Co.

“Rising gas prices and still-high unemployment levels weigh on the minds of our customers,” Bill Simon, U.S. chief executive officer of Bentonville, Arkansas-based Wal-Mart, said on a Feb. 22 earnings call. “Pressure from higher energy and commodity costs are factors that we will watch closely, as they affect our own logistics and transportation costs, as well as the prices the customer pays,” he said.

Creating a Clean Energy Economy

In this article, the former governor of Colorado and the current director of the New Energy Economy at Colorado State University, Bill Ritter Jr, encourages governors all across the U.S. to aid in the creation and development of a clean energy economy. During his term, Ritter signed over fifty pieces of legislation for clean air that not only resulted in putting Colorado in the top five of states in its amount of clean energy workers per capita, but also created thousands of jobs stimulating the economy. He claims it is the role of the state governors to help make President Obama's goal to produce 80% of America's energy from clean sources by the year 2035 into a reality. Finally, Ritter defends all this by stating that making these strides to protect the environment do not need to come at the cost of compromising production; rather they can coexist. Colorado proved this to be true by passing a bill to shut down inefficient and dirty plants and build better, cleaner ones that utilize natural gas. While governors across the nation deal with budget cuts and constraints, they should remain focused on this goal of clean energy which will in turn reduce our dependency on foreign oil, protect the environment, and create jobs.

China Operating with a Trade Deficit?

This article relates to the import/export numbers that were released out of Beijing recently. Surprisingly, China's imports raised almost twenty percent while exports raised only about two and a half percent, which caused China to have its first trade deficit in almost a year (since the previous March). While many people hope that this would be a sign of friction easing between China and its trade partners over the value of its currency (the yuan), the more likely explanation was the date of the Chinese New Year and the impact it had on the economy.

The value of the Chinese currency has and will continue to be a hot topic because China has often been the main purchaser of U.S. bonds, and the U.S. as well as other trade partners have continuously argued that the yuan has been purposely devalued by the Chinese government to the detriment of its trade partners.