Economics Chapter Three
Link: http://www.canada.com/theprovince/news/story.html?id=b00f5459-b65b-4dd0-81d2-0619f97610e8
Summary
On November 19, B.C. Environment Minister Barry Penner attended the Global Climate Summit, held in California. During this meeting, one of the major topics, carbon tax, was brought up and it was tremendously admired. When the minister was speaking to 800 delegates, he was interrupted twice by applauses for the carbon tax. B.C., being the only power in North America so far to have a carbon tax, has fascinated the opposition from some states that are strike by rising fuel prices and an economic decline. All the governors that were present during this day joined together to initiate the cut of greenhouse gas.
Connection
The connection between this article and chapter 3 is third party effect. The pollution and greenhouse gas that are from cars and other industries are effecting the third party which can be everyone on this planet, plants, animals, and the entire environment. Because of this negative effect, the government must get involved to stop it. The B.C. government has initiated the carbon tax to reduce the emission of carbon dioxide and thereby slow climate change. Also the gas suppliers must pay an excised tax on diesel gas when they sell it. This tax burdens the consumers also because gas suppliers would increase the price of gas in order to cover the cost of the excised tax.
Reflection
I have personally experienced the climate change in Vancouver--it snows in the middle of March or April! The carbon tax is a good way to decline the pollution in our environment and this unbelievable climate change. Cars are increasing every year because teenagers are starting to be permitted in driving and partially because of cars, our air is worst than before. My opinion of the carbon tax could possibly change once I start paying the gas because I'll start realizing how much gas is! Furthermore, B.C. is not the only province that is concerned about greenhouse gas, but other provinces and states are concern too. I believe this tax will eventually spread because there are many green-lovers in the world.
Thursday, November 20, 2008
Monday, October 27, 2008
Wage increases will tighten in 2009: Think-tank
Economics Chapter Two
Link: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=761a4157-fe36-4fe3-a423-59302674e935
Summary
This article is about how the financial crisis would affect the increase wages of workers in 2009. Their planned increase wage will be cut back by a half and is said that the "employers [will] focus on cost-cutting and efficiency drives in an uncertain economic environment". The lowest increases are said to be in the manufacturing sector, and in the communications and telecommunications industry. Prem Benimadhu, the board's vice-president, governance and human resources management, stated that organizations were projecting lower increases for 2009 before the current recession began in september.
Connection
The connection between this article and the concepts in chapter two is the factors of affecting demand. As the recession is taking place, many organizations are cutting down job opportunities and even some businesses are about to face bankruptcy. On top of that, in Ottawa, the future incomes for individuals are not what they expected. They are getting less than what they thought to receive and this affects the purchases of these people. They would not buy the things that they were going to buy and perhaps postpone the purchases.
Reflection
The current global economic recession is affecting everyone. Because of this recession, people are already planning for what to do in the future but maybe not trying to solve this problem that’s happening in the present. I find it funny how some employers would guarantee a possible increase in employees’ payroll if they work for a certain amount of time but now that this wage-cutting is happening, I think people would still work because a recession is happening. If this was happening to me, I would surely postpone my purchase of a car in the future because I would be worried if I could pay the monthly debts.
Link: http://www.canada.com/vancouversun/news/story.html?id=761a4157-fe36-4fe3-a423-59302674e935
Summary
This article is about how the financial crisis would affect the increase wages of workers in 2009. Their planned increase wage will be cut back by a half and is said that the "employers [will] focus on cost-cutting and efficiency drives in an uncertain economic environment". The lowest increases are said to be in the manufacturing sector, and in the communications and telecommunications industry. Prem Benimadhu, the board's vice-president, governance and human resources management, stated that organizations were projecting lower increases for 2009 before the current recession began in september.
Connection
The connection between this article and the concepts in chapter two is the factors of affecting demand. As the recession is taking place, many organizations are cutting down job opportunities and even some businesses are about to face bankruptcy. On top of that, in Ottawa, the future incomes for individuals are not what they expected. They are getting less than what they thought to receive and this affects the purchases of these people. They would not buy the things that they were going to buy and perhaps postpone the purchases.
Reflection
The current global economic recession is affecting everyone. Because of this recession, people are already planning for what to do in the future but maybe not trying to solve this problem that’s happening in the present. I find it funny how some employers would guarantee a possible increase in employees’ payroll if they work for a certain amount of time but now that this wage-cutting is happening, I think people would still work because a recession is happening. If this was happening to me, I would surely postpone my purchase of a car in the future because I would be worried if I could pay the monthly debts.
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Companies joining to push music on memory cards
Economics Chapter OneLink: http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20080922/memory_cards_080922/20080922?hub=SciTech
Summary
The article I read is actually found on the CTV website which talks about how SanDisk Co., Best Buy Co., WalMart Stores Inc. and other technology companies are presenting the new music format called “slotMusic”. SlotMusic are 1-gigabyte microSD cards that are filled with new music albums in mp3 format. The article states that although albums are being sold in CDs, their popularity has been decreasing and in 2007 the amount of album CDs sold dropped almost 19%. Unlike the CDs, slotMusic works in any devices that contain a MicroSD slot such as cell phones and computers. As a result, these companies are pushing to introduce this innovative idea into the States, Europe, and possibly other countries.
Connections
The connection between the article and the concepts in chapter one is direct cost and opportunity cost. The companies that are willing to design and present slotMusic would have to deal with advertise expenses to get this latest design to the public and including all the equipments and materials needed to create it. However, the opportunity cost would be the amount of money that they could have used to do a better job in advertising album CDs. Companies would lose more sales in album CDs (as they already have been) and also possibly eliminating album CDs presence in stores if slotMusic were successful.
Reflection
There is a possibility that album CD sales will drop if slotMusic were out in the public because I think slotMusic are more useful than album CDs considering that it does not require an extra device (a CD player) to play it. Also, slotMusic seems interesting in a way because its small and handy and new cell phones and computers now have MicroSD slots that can play it. However, I’m not quite sure if it would be extremely successful because we still have mp3 players and iPods that can fit up to 8G of music. Even if slotMusic is successful in the future, a newer device may be introduced after it since technology is constantly changing and improving.
Summary
The article I read is actually found on the CTV website which talks about how SanDisk Co., Best Buy Co., WalMart Stores Inc. and other technology companies are presenting the new music format called “slotMusic”. SlotMusic are 1-gigabyte microSD cards that are filled with new music albums in mp3 format. The article states that although albums are being sold in CDs, their popularity has been decreasing and in 2007 the amount of album CDs sold dropped almost 19%. Unlike the CDs, slotMusic works in any devices that contain a MicroSD slot such as cell phones and computers. As a result, these companies are pushing to introduce this innovative idea into the States, Europe, and possibly other countries.
Connections
The connection between the article and the concepts in chapter one is direct cost and opportunity cost. The companies that are willing to design and present slotMusic would have to deal with advertise expenses to get this latest design to the public and including all the equipments and materials needed to create it. However, the opportunity cost would be the amount of money that they could have used to do a better job in advertising album CDs. Companies would lose more sales in album CDs (as they already have been) and also possibly eliminating album CDs presence in stores if slotMusic were successful.
Reflection
There is a possibility that album CD sales will drop if slotMusic were out in the public because I think slotMusic are more useful than album CDs considering that it does not require an extra device (a CD player) to play it. Also, slotMusic seems interesting in a way because its small and handy and new cell phones and computers now have MicroSD slots that can play it. However, I’m not quite sure if it would be extremely successful because we still have mp3 players and iPods that can fit up to 8G of music. Even if slotMusic is successful in the future, a newer device may be introduced after it since technology is constantly changing and improving.
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