Economics

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

The free market is not a magic pill. Free markets work well for many things but they cannot be trusted with depletable resources like fish. If you are a fisherman the more fish you catch the more money you make. This motivates the fisherman to catch as many fish as possible thus with many fisherman doing this it leads to the collapse of the fishery. The thing is that the less fish there are -the more they are worth thus the lower the fish population - the higher the motivation to catch them in the free market. Many examples of depleted resources fall into this catagory a good example is the depleted cod fishery in the USA waters which never recovered from overfishing. The free market cannot be trusted to regulate these kinds of resources and this is where the role of government becomes important.

[jgk3]

Re: Economics

Good point Haykakan

[Serjik]

Re: Economics

@jgk3

Listen bro, if you gonna ban me because of a intellectual argument with self-haters and walking dead zombies please go right ahead. trust me bro, you need me here more than I need to be here. because of how wonderful all you mods are doing your work this place is already half dead. go ahead bro kill it totally.

[jgk3]

Re: Economics

Alright, since you asked for it. So like... in your absence we're all doomed then eh?

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Here is a good summery of the depression we are facing now. Two important things to understand here is that the lack of demand is caused by the fact that people are poorer now since the value of their real estate has plummeted and people who are poor will generate less demand. The other important thing to in this vid is the fact that this lack of demand (which did not have to occure) reduces our long run GDP. SInce the demand is weak businesses will reduce capacity over time if the weakness in demand persists. So why is this a bad thing? It is a very bad thing because by reducing capacity we limit GDP we can generate as a nation. GDP is the productivity level of our nation and by limiting productivity we reduce our income because productivity is what drives income. By only bailing out the banks and not the public the government ensured low long range aggregate demand thus a lower gdp. The persistance of this low demand is leading to reduction in capacity (firms that expect lower demand for a long period of time will sell some of their buildings and equipment and lay off workers) which in turn leads to lower long range GDP. This is bad because it means we will not be making as much money as we should be. The redused capacity will make increasing the level of GDP far more difficult later. If you watch this video till the end it will take you to the next video in the series and in this next video around 1:15 it starts discussing income inequality in USA. Income inequality is a important subject and this video does a good job of showing you where the money in USA goes. The statistics this second video uses is a few years old and the numbers are even more disturbing today then these stats imply.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LeZvQdk5UpU&list=PLT-vY3f9uw3ADgyYqUVo2R8kxM4Agc3aw

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

I was reading some of the earlier posts and Serjik is right about the coming asian domination. To understand why it is happening you have to understand history. Asia was far more advanced then the rest of the world untill the industrial revolution. Since asia was pretty much closed off during the industrial revolution it did not benefit from it thus it fell behind the west. Countries like China and India lost their sovreighnty and fell under the control of the british empire and this loss of independence guaranteed that they would not develop. You can see the effects independence by looking at the economies of China and India after they won their freedom from the imperialists. Asia is on track to once again dominate the world like it had for thousends of years before the industrial revolution. The question is will the West give up its leading position or will it fight the innevitable.

[jgk3]

Re: Economics

Nice video series. Your assertions about India and China make a lot of sense.

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Reuters) - Signs the euro zone's economic downturn is deepening and worries over a possible financial meltdown in Cyprus sent world shares, oil and the single currency lower on Thursday.

The falls could have been greater but for earlier data showing a pick-up in Chinese factory activity and the commitment by U.S. Federal Reserve on Tuesday to stick with its ultra-loose monetary policy stance.









Wall Street shares reflected the precarious balance of risks indicating a flat performance when trading starts. .N

But the euro and European shares moved decisively lower, with the single currency briefly dipping below $1.29 to the dollar, following weak readings of the March Purchasing Manager's Indexes (PMIs), which showed activity across the 17-nation currency bloc slowing from already weak levels.

The data revealed that German growth was starting to suffer from the euro zone's renewed problems and again highlighted a widening chasm with France, the region's second largest economy.

"It (PMI data) does not look good," Antonio Garcia Pascual, chief southern European economist at Barclays. "Maybe we were expecting it in France but the weakness in Germany was a surprise.

The FTSEurofirst 300 index .FTEU3 of top European shares extended its falls after the data to be down 0.5 percent to 1,192.21 points. The main market indexes in London .FTSE, Paris .FCHI and Frankfurt .GDAXI were all around 1.0 percent lower. .EU .L

Yields on German 10-year government bonds, used as a safe-haven in times of market stress, stayed close to their 2013 lows at 1.38 percent, barely changed on the day.

MSCI's world equity index .MIWD00000PUS dipped only about 0.1 percent, but remains on course for its worst week since November last year when worries about the U.S. fiscal cliff were driving markets lower.

CYPRUS DEADLINE

Apart from the bleak economic numbers, market attention was firmly on Cyprus, where crisis talks among political leaders resumed to seek a new bailout plan which could involve Russia.

The European Central Bank has set a Monday deadline for Cyprus to agree a new plan, threatening to cut off funding to the island's cash-strapped banks if a program is not agreed by then with the European Union and the IMF.

Cyprus has faced the prospect of bankruptcy since Tuesday when its tiny parliament voted unanimously against a levy on bank deposits to raise 5.8 billion euros ($7.5 billion) demanded by the EU under a 10 billion euro rescue deal.

The worries about Cyprus look to be contained for the moment with Spain able to sell 4.5 billion euros of new bonds on |Thursday in an auction that saw strong demand and resulted in lower yields than at recent debt sales. <ID:L6N0CD5N8>

"All in all, no signs of Cyprus contagion in this sale," said Marc Ostwald, a strategist at London-based Monument Securities.

Spain's 10-year bond yield in the secondary market fell 10 basis points on the day to 4.9 percent.

FED HELP

Most markets had begun the day firmly underpinned by the Federal Reserve's latest policy statement at which the current aggressive policy stimulus program was left unchanged despite recent improvements in the U.S. economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said the central bank might slow the pace of its bond buying but only after the labor market showed sustained improvement over a number of months.

Asian shares gained a further lift when the HSBC Purchasing Managers' Index for China showed a rise to 51.7 in March from 50.4 in February, pointing towards solid but not spectacular first-quarter growth in the world's second-largest economy.

The MSCI's broadest index of Asia-Pacific shares outside Japan, .MIAPJ0000PUS rose 0.1 percent after that data.

Japan's Nikkei stock average .N225 climbed 1.3 percent, hitting a 4-1/2-year high as exporters gained on the Fed's commitment but also expectations of further monetary easing by the Bank of Japan. .T

The BoJ's new governor, Haruhiko Kuroda, in his first news conference, reaffirmed the commitment to expand Japan monetary stimulus to beat deflation, sending 10-year government bond yields to a near-decade low on Thursday.

Oil markets drew support from the Chinese data to hold on to much of their previous day's gains but have eased slightly due the concerns about Cyprus and the wider euro zone.

U.S. crude futures fell 42 cents to $93.08 a barrel while Brent eased 44 cents to $108.28. <O/R>

The pledge by the Fed a pledge to keep spending $85 billion a month buying bonds lent support to gold. Spot gold firmed 0.2 percent to $1,608.56 an ounce, though off a three-week high of $1,615.16 hit earlier this week.

[Haykakan]

Re: Economics

Economics is a dynamic subject involving many other disciplines. Here we see how psychology behind our motivations works or does not work. The human mind is interesting - hope you enjoy this vid andgain a deeper understanding about what motivates us.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6XAPnuFjJc

[jgk3]

Re: Economics

Wow, I've loved every video I've watched so far in that series Haykakan.