News Archive

US Government Paid $1.2 Billion in Cash for Clunkers Program

Saturday, 26 September 2009

Just a couple of weeks ago, the US government have devised a cash for clunkers program with the bid of stimulating the auto industry. Of course, US consumers would need to trade in their gas guzzling machines and purchase a more fuel economical automobile instead, in order to be eligible for the cash rebates.

Nevertheless, according to the Transportation Secretary, Ray LaHood, he mentioned that the government has already paid $1.22 billion to automakers for sales made under the cash for clunkers program. On the other hand, the government has already set September 30th as the deadline to reimburse automakers for the sales in which they have already made under the program. So far, more than 40 percent of the applications which was filed by the automakers have received the payment from the government.

However, US automakers lament that the government is far too slow in reimbursing them with the promised money. Statistics have shown that more than 690,000 new cars were sold under the cash for clunkers program. The program, on the other hand, cost US tax payers approximately $2.88 billion dollars.

Do you think that the government is slow in reimbursing these automakers for the cash rebates which was promised?

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Best Companies To Invest In

Thursday, 24 September 2009

I’m pretty sure that the recent recession is pretty unforgiving, whereby so many companies worldwide have opted to fire their workers by the thousands. Still there are companies that thrived and flourished during the recession, and Wall Street analysts have picked several all-time favorites from the stock market.

It seems that McDonald and Palm have recorded exemplary performances, even in the recessive market conditions. McDonald has recorded 2.2 percent rise in global sales for the month of August 2009 and 1.7 percent rise for the US sales alone. Personally, I believe that everyone eats McDonalds and it’s a pretty hard to miss restaurant as there are simply so many outlets in the United States alone.

Palm, on the other hand, was a shocker. The company started to fire thousands of their workers back in December last year, but surprisingly, the company performed surprising well for the recent months. Wall Street has even classified Palm from neutral to outperform and is a highly recommended stock purchase.

Do you think that McDonald and Palm are the best companies to invest in?

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Obama Visits Pentagon Memorial on September 11, 2009

Tuesday, 22 September 2009

It has been 8 years since the fall of the World Trade Center in New York. And just 8 years ago, such terrorizing act has prompted the then US President, George Bush, to go on a warpath. George Bush declared 2 major wars in his lifetime as US President, and these wars are the Afghanistan war and Iraq war. 8 years later, the former US President isn’t leading the White House anymore, and the current President Barack Obama, has inherited 2 major wars which he didn’t start. On the other hand, what makes matters worst is the fact that the war has dragged the entire nation down to one of its lowest points in history, and some market analysts have even attributed the current recession as the 21st century Great Depression.

Nevertheless, President Barack Obama has visited the Pentagon Memorial today, whereby the day marks the 8th anniversary of one of the bleakest moments in US history. The act of terrorism which happened 8 years ago, devastated the entire nation and I personally believe that it has somehow led to the fall of the Americans, as the nation has fallen to one of the worst recession in history.

Let’s just pray that there wouldn’t be anymore terrorist attacks on American soil in the future to come.

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GM to Restore Salary for Workers Who Accepted Pay Cuts Earlier This Year

Sunday, 20 September 2009

Just when General Motors signaled that the company was heading towards impending doom earlier this year, the company did filed for bankruptcy, with the bid to protect the company from ruthless creditors who wouldn’t budge with their decisions to make more money from the company, even though GM was ailing financially. Nevertheless, I can say that GM did an impressive 360 degrees turnaround, whereby the company’s marketing campaigns are delivering results, and the company even disclosed that they will be restoring the salary for workers who accepted pay cuts earlier this year.

According to an anonymous source from the company, that person said that GM has decided to restore up to 10 percent for executive level pay, while managers stand to get a 7 percent increase, and majority of other salaries will also go up by 5 percent.

Personally, I find the salary increase to be a positive sign that the company is indeed out of troubled waters and are proceeding towards recovery. On the other hand, I also believe that the recent cash for clunkers program, as well as GM’s unprecedented money back guarantee campaign, did miracles for the company.

Do you think that GM is performing much better when compared to their performances earlier this year?

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Waves of Mergers and Acquisitions from Gigantic Corporations

Friday, 18 September 2009

I’m sure that the recent economic turmoil is pretty unforgiving, but there are still large corporations which thrived and flourished even though when the economy was in a bad shape. Over the years, large corporations such as Microsoft, IBM, Oracle and a few more others were on an acquisition binge. In fact, these companies managed to spend several billions of dollars in acquiring other companies in the market, while extending their own private range of products, or to simply put it, I’m sure that you can brand such an action as a market monopoly.

On the other hand, for the past 4 years, Oracle’s Chief Executive, Lawrence J. Ellison, already has spent $30 billion dollars to purchase 56 companies worldwide. His efforts have somewhat materialized, in which it brought in more than $24 billion in revenue for this fiscal year for Oracle. The positive dollar signs exhibited by the company also supercharged their stocks, whereby it virtually went off the roof.

Other companies that were on an acquisition binge include Microsoft which acquired 79 companies, IBM acquired 60 companies, EMC acquired 40 companies, while Hewlett-Packard acquired 34 companies.

Personally, I find these companies to be virtually unstoppable – don’t you think so?

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College Grads Loosing Grounds

Wednesday, 16 September 2009

Generally, having a job in the IT line more than a decade ago can be attributed to high paying jobs and a very comfortable life. A decade later which is today, college grads are being shortchanged, as clearly corporations are not increasing their salaries, but rather the average salary for the job is on a declining trend. What makes the matter worst is the fact that since the market is succumbed to inflation, this means that the average pay for a degree holder is decreasing, instead of increasing.

If you refer to the snapshot which I have embedded below, it clearly shows that the average pay for a degree holder was on an upward trend 10 years ago. And at present day, not only the average pay has declined, couple this with the inflation factor, it generally means that people in the IT line are earning lesser when compared to the yester years.

Of course, if you are a soon-to-be college graduate, I’m sure that this might somehow provide an insight on your future career, as clearly you can see that your pay isn’t going to increase tremendously, in many years to come. Judging by the fact that our economy is in recession, I don’t really think that an IT professional will be getting any increase in their salaries.

Do you think that the average pay for an IT professional will increase in the near future?

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August 2008 Federal Deficits

Monday, 14 September 2009

According to the Feds, it seems that the Federal deficits for the month of August 2008, has hit an all-time high of $1.38 trillion. Also, the soaring deficits have prompted various parties to question the viability of purchasing Treasury debt. The Chinese, who are also the largest foreign owners of US Trade securities, have already voiced their concerns regarding the runaway deficits.

On the other hand, administration officials have also voiced their concerns regarding the deficit as well, whereby if the deficit continues, this would also lead to soaring interest rates, which would indirectly weaken the US dollar, as clearly, foreigners would not want to invest into the currency.

However, I do praise the Obama administration in their efforts to cut the nation’s deficits. According to the data and statistics released by the Feds, it seems that the Obama administration has managed to cut this year’s deficit from $1.84 trillion to $1.58 trillion.

Do you think that these deficits are good for the country in the long run?

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Obama Accepts Apology for Lie Remark

Saturday, 12 September 2009

Joe Wilson has recently outraged the entire nation via his outburst by shouting ‘You Lie’ to President Barack Obama, when the President was addressing the Congress over issues on the healthcare reforms. Although Joe Wilson has promptly apologized for his public outburst, the damages that he caused are irreversible. Of course, President Barack Obama has accepted the apology from Joe Wilson, citing that everyone makes mistakes.

Personally, I feel that Joe Wilson acted stupidly over his outburst, as clearly, his outburst is pretty disrespectful for the President and the entire nation as well. I feel that even though if the fact delivered by the President might be somewhat skewed (in this case, it is not), it’s a disgrace to shout to the elected President by stating that his is a liar.

Joe Wilson’s co-workers are not standing by their man as well, as even a top ranking Republican mentioned that such incidents are unheard of in his entire history sitting in the Congress.

Do you think that Joe Wilson’s recent outburst would bury his political career?

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US Consumer Confidence Index

Wednesday, 09 September 2009

It seems that for the month of August 2008, the US consumer confidence index has surprisingly increased, whereby US retailers are recording positive sales growth for the month. On the other hand, leading market analysts have also commented that the US consumer sentiments have also increased dramatically for August, whereby majority of the major US retailers are recording positive sales growth and fast declining inventory.

FedEx Corp has also added that with the economic recovery at sight, US consumers are more confident in purchasing goods at present day, when compared to earlier this year. On the other hand, they also commented that the economy is heading towards recovery, but it also seems that the recovery process is a very slow one indeed. Also, US consumers are pretty strained over their finance after the recession, thus it might need some time for US consumers to fully regain their financial momentum.

Do you think that the economy is heading towards recovery?

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Joe Wilson Public Outburst

Sunday, 06 September 2009

President Barack Obama has been championing his healthcare overhaul for many months now. Judging by the fact that the reception to adopt such healthcare overhaul grew from ‘mild’ to ‘picking up steam’ at the moment, the President has decided to add the final touches, with hopes that the Congress would approve the revamp in healthcare.

Nevertheless, with President Barack Obama addressing the nation and the Congress over the healthcare overhaul recently, it seems that Republican Rep. Joe Wilson led an embarrassing and potentially devastating outburst, whereby he shouted ‘Lie! You lie’, at President Barack Obama when he was in the midst in delivering his speech.

It also seems that his recent outburst has drawn criticism from both the Democrats and even the Republicans. Even Arizona Sen. John McCain, the Republican Presidential candidate for 2008, said that what Joe Wilson did was totally disrespectful and he called Joe Wilson to apologize immediately.

On the other hand, Joe Wilson has apologized over his outburst, but political analysts have said that his political career might be dangling on a very fine line.

Do you think that what Joe Wilson was disrespectful?

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Trade and Job Figures Show Recession is Fading

Thursday, 03 September 2009

Earlier this year, the US government has declared that the country has officially fallen into recession. Organizations were firing their workers by the thousands, and unemployment continue to rise, whereby the August 2009 unemployment figure has reached the highest peak at 9.7 percent.

Nevertheless, recent trade and job statistics have shown that the recession is fading, whereby trade deficit rose 16.3 percent to $32 billion in July. Of course, such trade deficit also reflects that US consumers are consuming more products than before, which meant that US consumers are more confident of the market today, and are spending more money when compared to earlier this year. Import, on the other hand, rose 4.7 percent to $159.6 billion, while export figures also increased 2.2 percent to $127.6 billion.

Do you think that the country is moving out of recession and might be picking up steam in the near future?

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