Andrews third post

Recently, their is a high demand for the average american to buy a house. Weather one can afford it or not, Americans want to buy something that meets their personal desire. In other words, American's personal preferences have been a huge deciding factor when it has come to buying a house. Being the American that we all are, we all want the nice house, with the myriad accommodations that suit our desire. Once an inferior good, the buying of a house as become an purchase that many more Americans have been willing to make. An inferior good is a good that decreases in demand when consumer income rises. However, in this economy, consumers income actually hasn't risen, rather,  banks and easily credited mortgages loans have enabled the buyer to meet his or her needs. Recently, the increased cost of F.H.A mortgages has shifted the math a bit for the would be borrowers. Generally, the most popular low down parent loans have been promptly issued by the Federal Housing Administration. Generally, Borrowers can make housing payments as low as 3-5 percent, however, an alternative has been made. This alternative is private mortgage insurances, those who are willing to only put a down payment on a house for less than 5 percent. Rather than being provided by the government, the insurance is provided a private company. And when a borrower puts a down payment on a house for less than 5 percent, this enables the buyer to purchase a house for less than he initially would have before. All this being said, Buyers have been given the opportunity to buy something for less. Since their is such a high demand for houses at this point, people have to wonder if their are enough houses for everyone who wants to make a down payment. This controvarsary has become a hot topic in todays news headlines. Many debate over the fact of whether private insurances should distribute easy credit to Americans. This topic that is heavily studied by many economist.  

Andrews second post

Troubles have been aroused in Los Angles this past week due to an array of financial blows in a very well known Universal Company, Walt Disney. Disney, the worlds largest conglomerate corporation, had a challenging quarter this year for a multitude of reasons. One major catastrafy to the Disney Corporation was due to the Japanese earthquake, which utterly shuttered Tokyo Disneyland. In Tokyo, the corporations theme park committee closely watched the barometer of consumer confidence shortly after the earthquake hit Tokyo this past months. Numbers don't lie, and when a company's numbers are down, one can easily infer a possible negative or positive outcome. According to economist, for the first three months of the yearly quarter in April, the Disney Corporation had a net income of 942 million dollars, or 49 cents a share, down to 953 million, or 48 cents a share. By simply definition, a net income is the residual income of a firm after adding revenue of gains and subtracting all expenses and losses at the end of every quarter. So in other words, Disney was losing money and wasn't making a sufficient profit for the yearly quarter. Furthermore, Disney Theme parks have declined 3 percent to 145 million due to low attendance rates. Overall, due to the crises that took place in Japan, even the company's back in Los Angles haven suffered the consequences. Due to the low demand in Theme park attendance in this opening yearly quarter, Disney is being forced to cut back on prices and worker wages. This Disney headline is a significant event to many economists because a crises in Tokyo can prove a vital crippling to the American economy. ​

Logans third post

Technology has always been thought to be both a tremendous blessing, and in some cases a curse. The us postal service has reported a 2.2 billion dollar loss last year alone. Mail volume has dropped by 35 percent, and red tape legislature makes it impossible for the company to improve it's situation. Although this loss can be chalked up to leadership issues and failing government support, the main culprit behind the sharp decline in the postal service is undoubtedly email. A more convenient form of delivering messages that a consumer can have access to for free at websites like aol and yahoo. The equilibrium price of the mail service has now been drawn down to zero dollars and zero cents. The us postal service which is inefficient, slow, and actually costs money cannot hope to compete. Demand for paper products is down all across the board as the computer is now the ultimate way to communicate. Postage has become the new cd to the iPod, and now Jobs will be lost, those who held those jobs can't spend money they aren't making and a large group of the population will read about the USPS's troubles in an emai sent by their buddy via aol.

Logans second post

In microsoft's attempt to fight back in their losing battle against the technological juggernaut Apple Inc. They have purchased the world renowned video chat website skype for 8.5 billion dollars. Clearly in an attempt to keep up with apples own video chat service IChat, prices for video chat services will no doubt be pushed significantly lower by the competition between the two technology heavyweights. However this is a large risk for Microsoft as the 8.5 billion spent on Skype becomes the opportunity cost of developing new technology that could dethrone the recent wave of successful apple products. Apples stock continues to steadily rise as strong sales of the iPad 2 and successful marketing of a new line of iPods are making for a strong second quarter. Five years ago Microsoft seemed the invincible company in technology and apple was the ailing has been left leaderless by an I'll Steve Jobs. But now it seems the tables have turned and Microsoft is in serious danger of becoming the next IBM.

Andrews first post

As usual, Saudi Arabia, the World’s oil producer of last resort, ramped up production at the begging of the year. However, after the series of crises that have been constituently occurring in Japan, Japanese demand for oil fell dramatically. For year, Japan has relied on Saudi Arabia for its oil. On a day to day basis, Japan’s average output of oil is 310,000 barrels day. According to many, Saudi Arabia had a rough estimate of 9 million barrels by March. However, when the horrid quake and tsunami hit North Tokyo, the equation changed, cutting back on Japanese demand. This demand curve has forced Saudi Arabia oil tankers to look elsewhere. According to the I.E.A, estimates have simulated that the earthquake would cut second quarter demand by an estimate of 27000 barrels a day. Due to a cutback in the supply in Barrels, the price would have to be lowered. Recently, oil prices have been increasing due to the lost production in Libya, North Africa, and the Middle East. These effects are not only horrifying to Japan’s Economy, but the results are also devastating to Americans. Since last Tuesday, oil prices around the nation have suddenly risen. Beginning on Tuesday, oil prices rose to 108.89 dollars. According to many economists, the high price in crude oil could produce a viable problem in the United States. Reports of I.E.A agents have warned that there are real risks with such high prices. One Hundred dollar per barrels plus price environment will prove incompatible with the currency expected pace of the World wide Economy recovery according from I.E.A reports.

Maui's 1st Post

The back-to-work program has been around for quite some time. It is expected that less than 1 percent of the people out of the Half million cases that were reported in 2009, will not continue to receive the benefits because of restoring to their normal healthy selves. This is a problem for the government because we are in the period where the baby boomers are starting to file for their social security and our tax dollars will not be able to support all of that for a long period of time. Economists say that the Back-to-work program will run out of money by 2018 and there are the workers that one must think about because they truly need those benefits to help out with the family. With the demand of Social security and the low supply that is able to be distributed, the United States needs to come up with a plan or the younger generation will not see the day that they receive social security.

Ebay's Purchase of GSI Good For Consumers

Ebay's purchase of GSI and subsequent competetion with Amazon in the ever growing market of online retail spells lower prices for consumers across the board. With the purchase of GSI E-Bay ensures acess to brands from over 100 international retailers. Of course, as a rule of economics, two companies in the same market competing for business will drive down prices on thousands of products on Amazon and Ebay. In a period of significant struggle for Amazon Ebay's purchase very may well spell the end for the long time internet retailing giant who was at one time the major player on the online retailing scene specializing in delivering products such as books, electronics, and other highly sought after items potentially sold out in stores. Of course the 2.4 billion dollar buyout is quite a risk for EBay. For which the opportunity cost is most likely the much needed refinement of their online security protocols which must deal with the wide scale rampancy of frud and illegalities. A prime example of failing to keep up with a companies bread and butter is the newly defunct large scale book retaler Borders. Newly bankrupt as of last week, stores across the country are failing as Borders failed to use capital to increase reachability to new readers through internet retailers. As a result products such as the amazon kindle, ipad 2, and other ereaders now dominate the book market. Barnes and Noble you are on notice.