Jered Stoehr » Economy

A Modern POV (Point of View)

admin — Sun, 03 Jan 2010 09:29:44 +0000

Some people like to forward emails, I like to put TED videos on my blog. Over the last couple of years, TED videos have consistently knocked my socks off and have made me reconsider all kinds of things about the world today – I love them. This is a video that made me think about my assumptions.

He’s talking about people who aren’t centered on a god or a religion and the effects of their views. All around the world modern people are looking past their religions (particularly those religions that judge and point fingers at non-believers I believe) and forming different world views. What do these people believe in? What is the effect of these views? I was surprised at how relevant his observations were.

Speaker: Alain de Botton

Subject: How we define success, in ourselves and in others, and what it says about us

Time: 16:55

As of this posting, it has been translated into 15 languages

Another great talk from TED!

Uncommon common sense

admin — Sun, 22 Feb 2009 13:35:05 +0000

I watched this video today and loved it. It’s from a recent TED conference, and the speaker offers a slightly different understanding of what happened in the American financial institutions. From there, he talks about how we as a nation are dealing with the problems today and what our politicians are doing. In America we call them Regulations and Incentives. In the East, they call it Carrots and Sticks.

Time: 21:00 minutes

Subject: The side effects of only using Regulations and Incentives. How does virtue play a role?

Blows the doors off the concept “Renewable Energy”

admin — Fri, 23 May 2008 12:40:01 +0000

I watched this video the other night and couldn't sleep after I saw it. I don't know the best way to introduce it, but it was a video
that expanded what I thought was possible. To think about what
is going to happen in my lifetime is going to be nothing short of a
dream.

It's so easy as a businessman to get caught up thinking
about the world as being about Google or making cheaper widgets in
China to be sold at Walmart. There is so much more going on in the
world than what you read about in the NY Times.

Time: 32:00 (First 10:00 is everything; rest is Q & A)
Subject: Software that creates life using DNA; which consumes waste and creates usable energy

Japan – Bar Code Technology

admin — Wed, 07 May 2008 01:37:00 +0000

When I first visited Japan in 2006, the entry stamp I received at immigration was actually a sticker with a 2d barcode. This time around, I got the same entry stamp when I entered the country, and I’m seeing it other places.

This is old news in Japan, and 2d barcodes have been introduced in the USA too. Remember those stamps you could print out from home? Probably not, but they are still trying to sell those online. What I found exemplary was how these barcodes are being used in Japan now. I picked up a newspaper the other morning, and found this on the upper left corner: a 2d barcode taking you to another news site.

The barcode in the lower right corner of the BBC World News Ad can be used by your cell phone. So, you just put your cell phone in camera mode, take a picture and your camera browser will automatically take you to the special webpage.

Cell phones in japan have the ability to take a picture of this barcode and take you to a unique URL. It’s great because it’s like a landing page, but you don’t have to create a special URL for someone to remember. Using Landing Pages with a unique URL (Ie. www.moretosee.com for the Sharp Aquos television) is hard to measure, usually expensive to create, can complicate brand messaging, and is generally problematic. The 2d barcode is nice because it allows you to shortcut the naming (and then memorization) and focus on brand and content more.

Summary of the US Economy from the CIA

admin — Fri, 25 Jan 2008 22:56:00 +0000

I have been looking at some details of various countries on the CIA website during the last few weeks. It’s a great website,
it talks about history, economy, government, people, geography, etc. I decided to read through the CIA’s description of the US Economy. I’d like to highlight a few things of note on the summary of our economy:

“The US has the largest and most technologically powerful economy in the
world, with a per capita GDP of $43,500. In this market-oriented
economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the
decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and
services predominantly in the private marketplace.”

“Since 1975, practically
all the gains in household income have gone to the top 20% of
households.”

“Imported oil accounts for about two-thirds of US
consumption.”

“Long-term problems include inadequate investment in
economic infrastructure, rapidly rising medical and pension costs of an
aging population, sizable trade and budget deficits, and stagnation of
family income in the lower economic groups. The merchandise trade
deficit reached a record $750 billion in 2006.”

Major GDP Adjustments

admin — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 20:09:55 +0000

Recently the World Bank made some pretty major adjustments to the GDP of both China, India and a few others. China and India both had GDP reductions of 40% from previous estimates, which is huge. China went from an almost $9 trillion dollar GDP, to a $5.8 trillion dollar GDP. The Economist wrote a brief article about it (and the image you see is taken from the article).

If you didn’t know, China has been the worlds # 2 economy, it has passed Japan in the last couple years. Now that the GDP has been reduced so significantly, it’s fallen back to the # 6 position. There are some people who are really excited about this news for the US and other world powers, as it supposedly locks us in as the world power for a bit longer, but I wonder of the motives of this re-evaluation. Of course I can guess at the motives, but how does it effect something like interest rates?

With China having fixed the exchange rate with the US and the Euro, is this an attempt for the World Bank to tip back the scales a bit? I wish I knew more about Economics and could give a better argument.

I also wonder how this plays into a lot of the other financial forces going on today – the housing bubble, China owning over $1 trillion US Dollars, concerns about US consumer spending. All of these things add up to a confusing picture for me. You can always find people who see a recession coming, or those who see lots of growth and opportunity ahead. I guess I’d just love to understand how this re-evaluation fits into everything and how it fits in with everything.