The housing boom a bust?

http://www.economist.com/news/finance-and-economics/21575737-lessons-americas-long-history-property-booms-betting-house

This article States that a lot of times in housing booms that people are influenced by what economist say are "animal spirits". These are unknown reasons for people to get excited about housing that drives the prices up and also the demand for goods. The article warns that people need to be more careful about their spending as well because at some point the bubble may burst again, not as badly as during the recession but enough to cause some financial woes.

Is It Art, or Is It Just Real Estate?

In this article from the New York Times, they discuss marketing tactics used from real estate developers. High end real estate is usually bought and sold by people who have an appreciation for art. Thus, we are starting to see art exhibits take place at new high end developments as a way to catch peoples attention and set them apart from the crowd in the ever competitive market. I think this is a great idea by those developers who have the extra capital to put on such a show for their marketing.

Buying a House? Selling? They Can Do Your Taxes, Too

In this article in the New York Times, the author discusses the still prevent offices in Manhattan that offer several types of services under one roofs. One office may do real estate, taxes, funerals, and more. Initially this was used as a way to split some overhead costs. Now the last few businesses that still use this route say that it increases foot traffic and builds synergy. I think this is a good strategy for small business owners who can share some overhead cost while being able to send referrals to one another.




http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/09/nyregion/outside-manhattan-hybrid-real-estate-services-survive.html?_r=0

China breaking UN sanctions to support North Korea

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/northkorea/9991907/China-breaking-UN-sanctions-to-support-North-Korea.html

This article discusses a recent choice made by Chinese politicians to engage in brinksmanship. China funnels billions of pounds of foreign currency to North Korea through Dandong, a sketchy border city between the two nations. While some of the financial operations have stopped, recent reports suggest that a significant number of government-sponsored operators are still transferring money from Dandong to Pyongyang. This action suggests that despite UN sanctions, China remains very supportive of the North Korean regime and facilitates numerous illegal transfers of goods and services. When push comes to shove, I hope China will make the right decision and not sacrifice world stability for a dangerous authoritarian nation.

Trader, Kareem Serageldin, pleads guilty to role in banking crash

 http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/crime/trader-kareem-serageldin-pleads-guilty-to-role-in-banking-crash-8572216.html

The former global head of Credit Suisse's structured credit trading, Kareem Serageldin, is expected to receive about five years in prison when he is sentenced in August for his role in the banking crash. Serageldin, “deliberately inflated the value of mortgages and bonds … and ordered two others in his team to do the same.” Serageldin's artificial valuations led to a £1.7 billion write-down in the company's 2007 year-end financial results and contributed to masking the failure of the sub-prime mortgage market that caused the collapse of the banking system. I hope to see more of these arrests in the near future to show bankers that the US government will not tolerate unethical and illegal behavior. 

UK construction output remains weak

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-22120451

The article discusses the figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) which show output in the construction industry rose 5.5% in February from the month before. However, the output was still 7% lower than February last year  which is not a good sign. Construction accounts for just 7% of the UK economy, but the sector's troubles have been a drag on growth. Last year, its poor performance was blamed for driving the economy back into recession.

The UK's economy shrank by 0.3% in the last three months of 2012, and if it contracts during the first quarter of this year then it will be back in recession for the third time in five years. Let's just hope that it is not the case.

Ireland & Portugal Get Some Breathing Room

Over the weekend, Ireland and Portugal got some much needed breathing room: they now have more time to pay their loans back. Ireland and Portugal now have seven years to pay back the emergency loans that they demanded during the crisis. This allows them to have better access to private lenders and eases the pressure on the government's public finances.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/13/business/global/euro-zone-finance-ministers-gather-in-ireland.html?pagewanted=all

Director Pay at Goldman Sachs Rises

Earlier this month, I commented on an article that described how many board members - of the top banks in the US - were receiving pay increases, while many CEOs, and other c-level executives, saw their salaries decrease. Many people have protested about the large pay packages CEOs receive, and it now has been a hot topic, however, many have not taken notice at the (relatively) huge packages the board members are getting; interestingly, this is not considered their full time job, despite the big money they earn. Most directors only meet a few times a year. Board members at Goldman have just received an additional 500 shares of company stock because of the "increase in demands." How many days did they work? How many times did the board meet? In 2012, the Board met a total of 12 times. What are your thoughts on this? The 500 additional shares comes to about $75,000 a year, in addition to the average compensation of $447,622.

Link: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/04/12/goldman-directors-get-a-pay-raise/

Is strength of currency just politics?

This year the yen has depreciated 13% against the dollar, which reflects an initiative by the Shinzo Abe administration to aggressively buy bonds. Basically the US fears that with further devaluating measures, Japan will become too competitive, and go against previous agreements settled upon at G7 and G20.

Here is one example where the "unholy trinity" (IMF, World Bank, WTO) are flexing their muscles. Japan will continue to face pressures to "play fair" or else. While each of these entities are set up slightly differently, they basically put the power in the big players hands i.e the United States. While countries like Japan and Korea are relatively new to "rich club" of countries, it will be interesting to see how they react to submitting to the "rich clubs" authority.

China for now has dodged any accusations of this nature due to an appreciation of the yuan and a decrease in their surplus of exports.

If you think this is bad, you should see how the "unholy trinity" cripples developing nations with a plethora of neo-liberal regulations attached to loans. This essentially forces them to open their economies to free trade so that rich countries can exploit them (among many other things).

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-again-says-china-not-a-currency-manipulator-2013-04-12?link=MW_story_popular

Revolution in the air

View the article here.

Last week the Central Bank of Japan unveiled its plan to combat the deflation that has plagued Japan for almost 2 decades. Haruhiko Kuroda, the new central-bank governor, announced that the central bank would be expanding its balance sheet to over 1% of GDP a month and promised to double base money in two years. He also announced that the central bank would be doubling its hold of government bonds and raise the average maturity from 3 to 7 years. This plan would hopefully force investors to seek higher yields elsewhere: by investing abroad, which would weaken their currency, or by investing in the real economy, which would boost demand.

This risky move by the central bank might not be enough. Several structural factors are also to blame including a declining population, suppressed domestic demand, insufficient competition in many sectors, and excessive hoarding of cash by risk-averse companies. The author suggests that the government will have to do its part in eliminating deflation by tackling some of these problems head on. For example, the government could tax retained earnings that are not invested, punishing these risk-averse companies for hoarding their cash. He also suggests programs that would encourage women to join the workforce, promote immigration, and open up sectors to more competition.

A short loan is a cheap loan

We all know that the longer the term on a loan, the more interest you are going to be paying on it. Banks want to be compensated for the increased risk of a longer loan through a higher interest rate to boot. According to Jennifer Waters in a post in Marketwatch, although the monthly payments are cheaper, the end result of added interest is repulsive at best. Even with excellent credit today, if you were to take out a 96 month car loan at a 5% interest rate, you will end up paying $6,000 in interest on a vehicle that originally cost $31,000. You say, "Grant that's interesting and all, but who is going to take out a 96 month car loan?". Good question, and one that i asked myself.  Typically today car loans are around 60 months, or five years. When we take into account that in just five years the average price of a vehicle has gone up $3,000, we can see how many would want to possibly extend the duration of the loan in order for more liquidity on a month to month basis. More and more we are seeing 72,84, and yes, even 96 month loans.

This article is not groundbreaking in content, but it is a very good thing for us as "soon-to-be grads" to be reminded of. Give it a read and let me know your thoughts.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/96-month-car-loans-wreck-your-wallet-2013-04-12

Pentagon budget highlights cuts and consolidation

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/10/news/economy/defense-budget/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

The pentagon has proposed some much needed cuts in government spending. They are proposing a 526.6 billion dollar cut in some weapons programs and infrastructure. They would be terminating the lower priority weapons programs while consolidating the existing infrastructure. These proposals are looking to side step the forced cuts from the sequester that wasn't avoided. Since the US is spends the most money on the military than many of the other top countries combined, it begs the question if this is enough cut backs or if there should be more. Also, how will these cut backs effect the troops already stationed overseas and other more important defense programs?  

Firms are firing less, but not hiring enough

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/10/news/economy/jobs-hiring-layoffs/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

Far fewer Americans are getting fired or laid off these days than they were in 2009. In fact, layoffs are back at their pre-recession lows. However, hiring has not returned to 2007 levels. This means firms are holding on to their current workers but still don't seem ready to hire new workers. Meanwhile, the population has grown. In order for the unemployment rate to come down significantly, improvement in the job market needs to come from more new hires, not just fewer layoffs. But the sad truth is, companies create profits, not jobs. Consumers with money to spend create demand and the jobs follow. One can only hope.

Seniors say, 'We can't afford Social Security cuts'

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/11/news/economy/social-security-chained-cpi/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead

According to the article, in a recently released budget, President Obama proposed basing the way the annual increases are calculated on "chained CPI," which grows more slowly than the current inflation measure. That would mean that seniors would get smaller bumps in their Social Security payments each year. Even though the difference is technically not considerable at first, it could accumulate over time and pose as a problem for the seniors. However, this seems like a much needed step to fix the deficit since Social Security and Medicare are the two vast drivers of budget deficits. Taxing rich people who only account for 1 or 2% of the population is not going to do us any good even though it appears to be reasonable. Nobody hates the seniors but something has to be done in order to get us out of this mess.

Facebook Founder Mark Zuckerberg Launches Fwd.us To Influence Immigration, Education Issues

Mark Zuckerberg has rounded up other Silicon Valley leaders to start a new political campaign: Fwd.us.  This campaign aims to revamp our immigration policy, boost education, and encourage investment in scientific research.  They propose a plan to help current illegal immigrants living in the U.S. become citizens.  Along with this plan, they hope to "attract the most talented and hardest-working people, no matter where they were born."  When it comes to learning, Zuckerberg calls for more of a focus on science, technology, engineering and math.  

"Today's knowledge and ideas-based economy, the 28-year-old Harvard dropout wrote, is very different from the economy of the 20th century that was based on natural resources, industrial machines and labor."

He believes that Fwd.us will help to ensure more jobs, innovation, and investment.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/04/11/fwdus-mark-zuckerberg-facebook_n_3060893.html

Morocco's tourism looking to UK and Germany

Unlike its North African neighbors such as Egypt and Tunisia, Morocco hasn't experience significant decrease in tourism. Tourism is the most important industry in the economy, employing some 470,000 people in this country of 32 million and being the main source of foreign currency. More than half of Morocco's 9.3 million visitors in 2011 were French and Spanish, but those groups arrived in smaller numbers and stayed fewer nights due to financial crisis in their nations. As a result, tourism industry's growth was only 1% in 2011, a very slow rate compared to the past. Morocco is targeting visitors from Germany and the United Kingdom, as well as wealthy Arab tourists from the Gulf, who tend to stay longer and spend more than other tourists. The country is focusing on sea and sand tourism with an intention of expanding into mountain and desert tourism. It is quite surprising that Morocco hasn't been approaching East and South East Asian market where many countries are developing quickly.
Source: http://news.yahoo.com/morocco-looks-uk-germany-beef-tourism-214605526.html

Is Getting a PhD Becoming Less Useful?

http://www.economist.com/node/17723223?spc=scode&spv=xm&ah=9d7f7ab945510a56fa6d37c30b6f1709

This article discusses the fact that earning a PhD might not be worth the time and money that it requires in today's society. One reason is because of the declining job outlook for those with doctoral degrees. Another issue is the fact that those with PhDs are not earning very much more in the workforce than those with master's degrees but they spend much more time earning their degrees. It is noted that too many PhD students are being produced for the amount of jobs available to them. It seems that those with PhDs should be prepared to spend their lives in academia. It might be a better option for those interested in furthering their education in order to increase salary opportunities to consider earning their master's degree rather than a doctoral degree.

Fast food workers in New York protest demanding higher wages

On Thursday hundreds of fast food workers protested for higher wages and union representation.  One woman said that she has worked at McDonald's for three years and only makes $8 an hour.  The protesters want $15 an hour, which is almost double the amount they are currently making.  The state legislature voted to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $9 by 2016, but this will restrict the ability for the industry to create jobs.  The protesters also commemorated the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., where he was supporting a protest by sanitation workers.

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/04/04/fast-food-workers-in-new-york-protest-demanding-higher-wages/ 

Margaret Thatcher dies at 87

Margaret Thatcher died earlier today at the age of 87. The video below discusses the new path that her policies and ideas brought to Great Britain. Although many remember her highs and the great changes she brought, the beginning of her tenure was quite challenging. She served for 11 years and unfortunately was pushed out by her own party. After leaving office, Thatcher stayed out of the public eye.

Thatcher video

Retail Investor Goes for Yield: Survey

The dumb money may be getting smarter.  This article discusses retail investors', frequently referred to as the 'dumb money', performance in the last month.  The article Credits this group of investors with making astute decisions as they chose to not continue to ride the bull market and dumped top performing large cap stocks like Dell in favor of smaller, dividend payers.  This move was unusual for retail investors as they usually get caught up in the euphoria of a bull market and continue to buy growth oriented, riskier securities until there is a major pullback.  The move proved particularly wise as stocks stalled at the beginning of April and treasury yields fell, making dividend paying securities a good place to be.  My question to you guys is do you think this good judgement on the part of retail investors is an aberration or are common investors actually getting smarter?

http://www.cnbc.com/id/100624266

Doctors driven to bankruptcy

Recently there have been more doctors filing for bankruptcy, causing some to stop practicing.  What is particularly surprising is that the majority of these doctors have not had malpractice lawsuits.  The change in regulations, shrinking insurance reimbursements, and the rising costs of malpractice insurance are all causes of this new trend. This has caused doctors to send patients to other doctors and hospitals for care, which can make it hard for patients to be able to see specialists because of the distance.  I think it is very disappointing that the economy has caused health care providers to stop practicing and it is harder for some patients to access healthcare.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/08/smallbusiness/doctors-bankruptcy/index.html?iid=HP_LN

Changing Trends in U.S. University Admissions

In this article, Fareed Zakaria discusses the changing trends in U.S. college admissions. He contends that universities are moving them away from granting admissions on merit and achievement and moving in the direction of providing a privileged experience to a bunch of students that already are privileged in some way or the other.

In the article, he quotes from a book ‘Paying for the Party: How College Maintains Inequality’ saying that some state universities admit rich students that are from out of state and can pay heavy tuition but are not great academic performers. He adds that top-notch universities do admit high achievers who deserve merit scholarships but their number is so less that it is almost negligible. About the private colleges, he says that, they have less merit based scholarships and most of the spots are for minorities, legacy students or the athletes.

He says that the economic mobility is on a decline in the U.S. If a student from not a very privileged background works really hard to enter a top university on merit scholarship, it is becoming harder and harder for him given the current trends.

Source: http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,2140209,00.html#ixzz2PqZgH8qG

China's Internet: A Giant Cage

This article discusses ways the Chinese government has attempted to regulate the internet. While such control seems impossible, the Chinese have achieved surprising levels of success through many expensive, focused efforts. Many local companies (and foreign companies) have worked together with the government and cooperated in acts of censorship. As we mentioned in class, Google searches within China about the 'Tiananmen Square Massacre' are either blocked or removed. Cyber-hackers have also received unofficial support from the government, even destabilizing networks within the United States.

http://www.economist.com/news/special-report/21574628-internet-was-expected-help-democratise-china-instead-it-has-enabled

How long will the government's control over the internet last? Is there any potential for the internet to foment democratic political change within China, similar to the role of social media in the Arab Spring protests?

North vs South Korea (and America)

As most of you know, the tensions between North and South Korea have been getting more and more hostile. North Korea is one of the most highly militarized countries in the world. After threats of nuclear war have emerged, I believe this is an issue that will and needs to be a priority of our nation. America has already done joint exercises with South Korea's military. The highly sophisticated weapons all sides possess is daunting. Just how concerned do we have to be??? If the bombs of WWII caused that much destruction....what could the current weapons do...

North Korea Economist Article 

Jobless Aid for Millionaries

At the worst of times during the US recession, households that made more than $1 million received almost $80 million in unemployment benefits. In 2010, the government paid out $29.9 million to these households. 2,300 households received this aid, with almost 20 percent of them coming from New York. The article discusses the opinions of millionaires and the poor. Also, the article discusses the payments that certain income levels received during the recession.

Link: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-04-05/millionaires-got-80-million-in-jobless-aid-in-recession.html

Some Shareholders Slow Executive Pay Increases

This article outlines the few shareholders that have been successful in holding the executives pay. For example, 128,000 retires of Verizon were able to have the company to agree to reduce the stock options  for executives when the company underperformed. An independent consultant suggests that many company boards are not giving new CEO's huge pay packages until they have proved themselves. The article also discusses the trouble with some methods of finding the best pay package for the chief executive: The corporate peer group. Utilizing a corporate peer group is supposed to pay a chief executive based off the practices of similar companies, however, it has turned into an "arms race."Some companies mirror the pay packages of firms that make more profit and are larger.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/07/business/shareholders-can-slow-the-executive-pay-express.html?hp&_r=0

Funny Economics Quotations

http://economicsoftheworld.blogspot.com/2010/06/funny-economic-quotes.html

These are some hilarious quotations on economics and economists.

My favorites:
-An economist is a man who knows a hundred ways of making love but doesn't know any women.
                                                                                                                              Art Buchwald.

-An economist is an expert who will know tomorrow why the things he predicted yesterday didn't happen today.
                                                                                                                      Laurence J. Peter.

Argentina's Deadly Storms

Argentina has recently experienced torrential downpours that have claimed a significant number of lives and have caused large electricity blackouts in major cities. Moreover, the storms are yet another result of what the author calls "chaotic urbanization" and a lack of infrastructure funding. The city of La Plata, where 51 residents were killed by the downpours last Tuesday, was built at a natural drainage point. La Plata and the capital city, Buenos Aires, lack adequate drainage systems causing water to rise quickly in downtown areas. Argentina struggles to attract foreign direct investment that could fund infrastructure improvement projects because of its history of default. Adding to this problem is the high rate of inflation; argentines exchange and spend their pesos quickly, causing banks not to have enough money to fund the large loans necessary for building infrastructure.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/americasview/2013/04/argentinas-deadly-storms

Corruption in education - in light of what we discussed in class on Friday 4/5

I was pleasantly surprised when I opened up one of the Croatia news portals this morning to find Croatian professors in handcuffs (check out the photo). Here is an article in the English language: http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/04/05/dozens-arrested-in-croatian-university-bribe-case/. It seems that faculty in the area of economics have been very busy engaging in market activities. I guess they have learned something during their graduate school training. Or, maybe they have bought them as well.

It seems that some of the problems of corruption in education are not unique to Croatia, but rather prevalent in the post-socialist Eastern European countries: http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2013/04/04/feature-02

ESPN a throw in on the Disney deal?

http://www.freeforpsp.com/free-wallpapers/movies/200911/10292.html

ESPN the worldwide leader in sports was once a throw in on a deal that allowed Disney to acquire the rights to ABC. About 20 years later the giant that is ESPN makes up about 60 percent of the cash flow that Disney has now. This company has come back in the past few years and became the first company to make affiliate fees work, which are fees to air their broadcasts on different networks. It is crazy to see a company that was once a unwanted throw in on a larger deal become something that Disney could have never imagined would be their cash cow.

A new flu: Deadly, however it moves, avian flu H7N9

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/analects/2013/04/new-flu

A pork butcher in the People's Republic of China was killed by an avian flu not previously seen in humans called H7N9. Previously only transmitted to birds, scientists confirmed that the flu can now jump from birds to mammals. The WHO said that there is still no evidence of human-to-human transmissions as all of the human's family members are not infected.

The article discusses in optimism how management in China is dealing with the H7N9 much better than it did with the SARS pandemic. Now, over a million in China now talk about it rather it being kept top secret. When the SARS pandemic occurred, it was not handled well which led to its spread to other regions as East Asia, the rest of Asia, and even the Western world.

Record Unemployment Rates in Euro Zone

The Euro Zone is going though some very difficult times, especially with the recent news regarding capital controls in Cyprus. Well, these troubling times are affecting the job market. The unemployment rate hit 12 percent after the first two months of the year, which is a record high. Cutting government spending and raising taxes - especially in Greece - has taken its toll. With less government spending, the job market gets hit and the demand for goods and services decreases. Greece is the country with the worst unemployment, 26.4 percent last recorded in December, and the youth in Greece are truly suffering with the unemployment rate rising all the way to 58.4 percent. Spain comes in second, with the overall unemployment reaching 26.3 percent in February.

The link below outlines unemployment rates all over the Euro Zone and some underlying reasons for the high percentages.

Link: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/04/03/business/global/unemployment-in-euro-zone-reaches-a-record-high-of-12-percent.html?pagewanted=2&hp&_r=0

Despite Difficult Times, Board Members Pay Increasing for Top Banks

Despite the financial crisis, board members at the top banks in the US have seen their pay increase. The article cites specific boards and the massive paychecks these board members are getting, although it "essentially being a part-time job." Goldman Sachs board members have seen their pay increase 50 percent since 2008. Board members at Goldman are expected to see their compensation increase once again after a very strong year in 2012. Goldman Sachs board members are lucky because they receive the highest pay among the nations top banks, with Morgan Stanley's board right behind them. The average pay of Citigroup's board is $315,000, which is a 64% increase from 2008.

Click the link below to get more details.

Link: http://dealbook.nytimes.com/2013/03/31/pay-for-boards-at-banks-soars-amid-cutbacks/?hp

Bank of Japan set to launch war on deflation

Japan's new Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has made the central bank's 2% inflation target a top priority.  He wants to drive down the value of the currency in order to get consumers to spend more and save less.  Some skeptics, and even Abe, acknowledge that this will be a difficult target to reach before the deadline.  Economists are especially worried about the sustained downward pressure on wages in Japan.  The central bank has already increased its bond-buying program and there are fears of political backlash over stoking a currency war.  Japan already has the highest debt-to-GDP ratio in the world and in January they announced a $117 billion government spending program.
http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/03/news/economy/bank-of-japan/index.html?iid=HP_River

Large companies in the US have grown faster than small companies

http://www.businessweek.com/articles/2013-04-03/large-companies-have-grown-faster-than-small-ones

According to the article, ever since the recovery from the recession, large companies have grown faster than small companies. The big companies have, on average, incrased employment by 7.5% compared 4.9% increase by small businesses. 

There are 3 main reasons for this: 1. Most construction companies are small businesses. They suffered greatly in the housing market crash and are still struggling, 2. The big companies had greater cash reserves to face the huge credit crunch which followed the recession. Therefore, they were not hurt so badly, 3. Big companies also cater to international markets and since the value of the USD declined, it helped in increase of exports. 

Game of Thrones Premiere Sets Piracy Record

This article reports that the TV show "Game of Thrones,"was the most pirated show in 2012. The city with the most illegal downloads was London, and the country with the most illegal downloads was the US. While Hollywood is peaking its concern about piracy, HBO's programming president sees it as a sign of success. He's taking this high demand as a compliment, and said in an interview that it didn't negatively impact their DVD sales. The co-creator of the hit show agreed, but said if viewers could pay just 99 cents for their download rather than illegally watching it, the show could pay for a few more "dragon scenes."

Do you think HBO is being too lax about piracy? What do you think would happen to the entertainment market if piracy laws were more strict?

http://money.cnn.com/2013/04/02/technology/game-of-thrones-piracy/index.html?iid=HP_LN

Why Does Greenland's election have global impact?

No one typically pays much attention to Greenland.  There are so few people that live there, so they typically do not have much global impact.  Their most recent election, where only 30,000 people voted, could create an export market for metals used in electronics that could really boost many other countries economies.  This potential export is due to the fact that many ice caps in Greenland are melting making rare-earth metals more easily extractable.  Many of these metals are used in computers and tvs.  The government, depending on who wins, will lift bans on mining Uranium which is typically mixed with these other metals.  Is the government holding down their economy but currently not allowing these metals to be mined?

http://www.economist.com/blogs/newsbook/2013/03/economist-explains-why-greenland-election-global-implications

Balancing the Economy: Bottoms Up

With China being considered one of the largest economic forces in the world, their statistical data is now being questioned.  Many countries outside China have always chosen to take their GDP, inflation rates, growth rates, etc with a grain of salt.  Now two economists from Morgan Stanley have decided to try to find their own data to estimate these statistics.  They are finding that the governments estimates are significantly off.  The government has left out major portions of the economy including online shopping and gaming, etc. This has major economic impact across the globe.

http://www.economist.com/news/china/21574503-consumption-china-may-be-much-higher-official-statistics-suggest-bottoms-up

US economy ekes out 0.4% growth in fourth quarter

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-21969730

The Department of Commerce said the US economy grew faster than expected in the last quarter of 2012. It was estimated that the growth would be 0.1%, but thanks to increased investments in plant and equipment the growth rate was 0.4%. However at the moment the figures are lower than they were in the previous quarter. The defence spending  and government expenditures were cut which hurt economic output. The revision of DGP did not have an impact on the overall economy. During the October-December quarter showed that the home sales were rising and the labor market was improving. Chief investment officer of Harbor Advisory said that the economy is improving. According to last year’s rate, the investment bank was expecting US GDP to increase by 2.2%. Last week the US Federal Reserve said that stimulus measures are still needed. The Fed is buying $85bn a month of Treasury bonds and mortgage backed securities so the borrowing costs for households and businesses are lower. The Fed also wants to see long term trend of falling unemployment.   

Jobless Claims Rise Slightly

This  article discus the amount of americans filing for unemployment benefits this year.

The number of Americas filing for their first week of unemployment benefits rose last week, suggesting a stall in what has generally been a steadily if slowly improving job market. Analysts were expecting 335,000 people to have filed for unemployment benefits but turned out to be a figure of 341,000, an increase of 16,000. With so many articles claiming job growth in america, this doesn't seem to follow the trend. 

http://money.cnn.com/2013/03/28/news/economy/unemployment-benefits/index.html?iid=SF_E_River