Outsourcing to China

Many people may see this video quite bias. However, it does enumerate benefits of outsourcing jobs abroad. Outsourcing is a sign of globalization which many people think is a good thing. I personally believe a country does not experience economic loss by outsourcing because the businesses are actually making more profit. In a world of Free Trade, we have to consider the opportunity cost of our decisions. For example, we can have 500 workers working in the fabric factory in United States, the company pays these workers $20,000 in total, but with the same amount of money, this company would have 1000 workers in India which increased the productivity.

Following is a video from TheOnion about outsourcing, which I believe actually hinted some negative effects outsourcing have on American society.

Signs of home price rebound

[Image from New York Times]

"Indications of progress are visible in other hard-hit areas, including Las Vegas, parts of Florida and the Inland Empire in southeastern California. Sales in Las Vegas in March, for example, rose 35 percent from last year."
When buying is cheaper than renting, markets begin to turn. At the current rate of sales, there is less than three months of inventory in the Sacramento market. In normal times, that would indicate a seller’s market.

Click here to learn more about the housing market.

Why stimulus money goes unspent

[Image from CNN]

Above diagram indicates that states have drawn down only $15.6 billion of the $74 billion made available to them in the 11 weeks since President Obama signed the $787 billion recovery act. The process of is very time consuming. First, the states have to apply for the funds from different federal agencies, such as education, infrastructure, and health care. It usually takes long time for the money to be handed to the states, and after the fund is being approved, the states cannot use the funds immediately, they will have to go through the state legislature to have the funds put into use. Due to the time consuming process, some states decided to cut their budgets before the funds actually arrive.

For more detail of the story, click "here" to learn more.

Home Loan or Bust

The Fed just released a statement that says banks have made it harder for people to get home loans. 5% more banks are using a tighter policy when lending out loans. Demand for nearly all types of consumer and business loans continued to weaken over the last three months, with one exception. Demand for prime mortgages registered its first increase since the Fed began to track those loans separately in April 2007. That uptick in demand comes as mortgage rates dropped, helped by a concerted effort by the Fed to drive down rates to help revive the crippled housing industry. Rates on 30-year mortgages slid to 4.78 percent last week, trying a record low, according to figures compiled by mortgage giant Freddie Mac.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-says-more-banks-tighten-apf-15123248.html

S & P Goes Even

Good news struck investors on Monday, which made them buy large amounts of stock. This outburst has made Wall Street break even in sales for 2009. The Dow rose 3% towards the end of the day. Even with this good news, the employment rate data will come out Friday

Obama plans to close US tax loopholes

President Barack Obama proposed Monday to raise taxes on the overseas profits of U.S. companies and to go after evaders who abuse offshore tax shelters. The president said he wants to prevent U.S. companies from deferring tax payments by keeping profits in foreign countries rather than recording them at home and called for more transparency in bank accounts that Americans hold in notorious tax havens like the Cayman Islands.

Stop Spending Our Future - The Crisis

It's easy to say "trillion", but when asked to describe how much a trillion is, most people wouldn't have any idea. So let's get a good picture of how much money we are talking about here.