'My boss doesn't rule my destiny'

"Fast-food workers went on strike across the country on Thursday hitting pizza, burger and taco chains in Chicago, Los Angeles, Boston, Philadelphia, and other cities." -NEW YORK (CNNMoney)


Workers in about 150 cities walked off work to demand a minimum wage of $15 an hour, and the right to join unions without retaliation from employers. The big chains of the $200 billion fast food industry were well represented, with workers from McDonald's, Taco Bell and others. In New York City, workers paraded up Broadway beating drums and showing their opinions on pay and how they value their work and their jobs.


http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/16/news/companies/fast-food-protesters/index.html?iid=Lead

More Americans bike to work

The number of Americans who bike to work jumped by about 60% since 2000, according to a report from the U.S. Census Bureau. Though nearly 90% of commuters still drive to work, the number of those biking grew the most over the past decade when compared to other types of transportation. One reason for the spike in bike riding could be that cities are encouraging cyclists by creating bike lanes and bike-share programs.


By riding bikes, many people are saving money as well as time. Biking cuts down the amount of time in traffic, and you also do not need to pay for gas or other repairs. Biking to local places such as jobs and activities is a good way to save money and a quicker, more efficient, way to travel.


http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/08/news/economy/bike-commuters-census/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead

Hiring is up in April, unemployment down

"The jobs recovery is still chugging along, although at this pace it will still take years to get back to a pre-recession labor market." The U.S. economy added 288,000 jobs in April. While that's an encouraging sign that the economy is continuing to improve, the unemployment rate told a different story. That number, which comes from a survey of households, shows fewer Americans are joining the labor force and fewer people report they're employed. These trends led to the unemployment rate falling to 6.3%, its lowest level since September 2008.


Given the millions of jobs lost in the financial crisis, even modest hiring is still not enough to put the huge backlog of unemployed Americans back to work. But this is a good start as the countries economy begins to recover. 

http://money.cnn.com/2014/05/02/investing/april-jobs-report/index.html

Wal-Mart goes all, like, 'granola' on us

"The world's largest retailer and No. 1 purveyor of groceries in the U.S. is making a huge push into Whole Foods' territory of organic food." Walmart already sells 1,600 organic products, but Walmart is offering a new line of products under the Wild Oats brand. The difference is that they'll be offered at the same price as non-organic national brands and 25% cheaper than the organic national brands in its stores. The move reflects a bigger shift in the national consciousness around food. As we detail in the cover story, healthy, natural, and organic products make up a $150 billion segment that's set to grow 50% by 2018, according to one of Walmart's sales divisions. Shoppers in general aren't as brand conscious when it comes to organics because it's a new niche, says Phil Howard, a professor at Michigan State University, who teaches community, food, and agriculture. That's helped the ascent of the 365 brand and will likely also help       Wal-Mart get customers to try Wild Oats products. These new organic products will help customers to shop healthier for a cheaper price.

Falling soda sales: Not a trend, but a fundamental shift

"Coca-Cola and Pepsico must be judged not on whether they can resurrect their flagship brands, but on how well they can manage those brands' decline." Over the past nine years, soft drink sales have been declining. But this is much more than a trend. It is a fundamental shift in consumer taste and is a growing problem for soda makers. By the end of 2013, soda sales fell by 3%. This is the lowest it has been since 1995. Because of this, many companies such as Coca-Cola and Pepsico have begun to invest in alternatives like new kinds energy drinks, sports drinks, and flavored water.

http://features.blogs.fortune.cnn.com/2014/04/01/soda-sales-coke-pepsi/

Candy Crush company founder left $1 billion on the table

          The game, candy crush, has become very popular in the past few years. In 2003 co-founder of the game, Toby Rowland, did not believe the game would be a success. In 2011 he then cashed out his stake in the company for just under $3.1 million dollars. Since that time the game has rapidly increased in value. It is among the most well know games world-wide. Today, the game is worth $7.6 billion, which would've made his share in the company worth over $966 million. The game averages 93 million players a day. It is very popular among social media sites such as Facebook. When Rowland was questioned about why he did not think the game would succeed, he did not reply.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/17/technology/social/candy-crush-ipo/index.html?iid=SF_T_Lead

The Hidden Costs of a Minimum Wage Hike

In the future as states, cities, and the government raise their minimum wage, workers taxes increase. "The minimum wage increase is not just the dollar an hour, but it's also a raise in our taxes," said Jason Lerner of Little Learner Academy. In New Jersey the minimum wage rose from $7.25 to $8.25 on Jan. 1. This adds an extra 10.5% of taxes from the pay of workers and local businesses. Although this will affect workers and their pay, businesses say that it will not have a large affect on them.


http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/22/smallbusiness/minimum-wage-taxes/index.html?iid=SF_E_River

Apple's CarPlay draws safety criticism

"Apple is making it easier than ever to use your iPhone in the car. Some auto safety experts think that's not such a good idea." The new CarPlay system from Apple allows drivers to make hands-free calls, dictate text messages and many other iPhone functions. This can very useful, but it also serves as a large distraction to drivers. David Teater, senior director at the nonprofit National Safety Council, says they are very concerned about the auto industry and the consumer electronics industry overlapping and allowing drivers to do many things other then driving. Although it is a hands free operating system, research has shown that it can be just as dangerous as holding a phone while driving. "The idea that people want to be on their phones, and therefore let's give them a way to do that -- that's not putting safety first, that's putting convenience and the desire to be in touch first," says Bruce Hamilton, manager of research and communications at the AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety. I agree that both can be dangerous but I also think it can benefit many people if you are responsible and use it for the right reasons.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/03/05/technology/mobile/apple-carplay/index.html?iid=H_T_News

Sony moves to sell cable tv via the internet

This past Tuesday Sony stated that it would start testing a "cloud-based TV service" later this year. The service would include a package of live television channels, on-demand TV episodes and a digital video recorder. This kind of bundle is similar in idea and price to the subscriptions sold by Comcast, DirecTV and Verizon FiOs, but is delivered through an existing Internet connection. This would give a larger variety of options customers. A consumer could buy broadband from an existing provider like Comcast or Verizon then choose from any virtual cable providers including Sony. This would allow live streaming on many mobile devices as well as television screens.


http://money.cnn.com/2014/01/07/technology/enterprise/sony-tv/index.html?iid=SF_T_River

022114 EconBlogPost- Facebook/ Whatsapp

       Over the past few days Facebook has continued to expand in communication and messaging. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg purchased Whatsapp for $19 billion. According to OnDevice Research, Whatsapp is the most popular messaging app for smartphones. Facebook's messageing app is the second most popular with Whatsapp being number one that list. This purchase will only strengthen Facebook's position in the world of instant messaging. Whatsapp is similar to traditional text messaging, it allows people to connect by using their cellphone numbers. But instead of paying for messages, WhatsApp sends the messages over mobile broadband. This kind of messgaing has become very popular, but they are not interested in driving revenue away from Whatsapp. Mark Zuckerburg said, "We are not looking to drive revenue from WhatsApp in the near term, instead focusing on growth." He also said he doesn't anticipate trying to aggressively grow WhatsApp's revenue until the service reaches "billions" of users. As Facebook continues to grow and dominate in the market for communication and messaging, we can wonder what others changes will come in the near future that will benefit our need for easy communication.

http://money.cnn.com/2014/02/19/technology/social/facebook-whatsapp/index.html?iid=s_mpm

       This week in class we discussed the circular flow model and the Free Enterprise System. The circular flow model represents the exchanges, interactions and transactions between consumers and producers. It is useful in economics to track transactions and to help improve the interactions between consumers and producers in the future. The second topic we learned about was the Free Enterprise System. The Free Enterprise System is another name for Capitalism. In this economic system anyone is free to start a business. It is based mainly on private ownership and the freedom of businesses to produce whatever they would like. In a free enterprise system, there is balance between consumers and producers. You support whichever products and producers you choose.

020614 EconBlogPost

        This week we talked about Karl Marx, and Adam Smith. We also discussed different economic systems as well as their strengths and weaknesses. We split into groups and were each assigned a person, either Marx or Smith. We researched about them, their beliefs and their ideas. We then presented them to the class through a dialogue. I enjoyed doing this, because it helped me to understand more about the different economic systems and also the opinions/beliefs of Marx and Smith. I think this topic will relate to other topics in the future, because there will always be discussion and debate over which economic system will work best in different situations.