http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/11_25/b4233053223432.htm
Economics was one of the subjects I enjoyed very much way back in high school and college.
Course that was then and this is now...and am a far cry from that kind of arena but now and then its fun to read about ideas being applied to the US situation :-)
Will some of the examples being done in other countries work for us here in the Philippines?
ReplyDeleteanyway, am struck amused or unamused...
"For a start, look north. Unlike the U.S., Canada has a national sales tax—the Goods and Services Tax, currently levied at 5 percent. Consumption taxes such as these are less harmful than a tax on wages and salaries (which discourages work) or a tax on investment (which discourages saving)."
oh but here with us, our nice salary tax and taxes even on your savings (yes, I was still alive at the time they didn't tax your savings account, savings deposit or time deposit....gosh, it was like another entire world) makes one contemplate about immigrating to another planet...
I always hear about fellow countrymen groan..saying they don't see their taxes on infra and other worthwhile projects but in the pockets of......
I also like the idea about China's Go Green strategy and Thailand's Cheap Rooms idea...what say you as it applies to our country?
ReplyDeleteAn irritating "Popup" blocked the thing so I can't read it, the Popup moves as you try to read. I do use Popup blocker.
ReplyDeletelol
really? whatcha using Firefox, Chrome or IE?
ReplyDeleteI didn't have any pop-ups..hahaha...if you close the pop-up does it pop again?
It can't be closed, nothing to click on, it informs that I've won a million dollars or some such crap. Shows up with IE8 and FF3.6
ReplyDeleteLOL...a million dollars is crap eh....
ReplyDeleteOn such a Popup yes. lol
ReplyDeleteHugs.
Germany's, Thailand, Singapore and Turkey's programs are I think possible here in the US.
ReplyDeleteGermany -Germany's solution is great. US economy's problem started here I think, in the housing industry. When it collapsed, it brought down so many businesses associated with it. One should not buy something beyond their means!
Thailand - the word here is "staycation", families who are used to traveling out of their county or state every summer, now decide to stay at home and spend their vacation nearby. Hotels are very expensive, average now probably is in the 3 digit rate. With Thailand's program of lower rate hotels, our travel industry might start moving again, thus putting back many in the work force.
Singapore - I like companies who don't lay their employees off, but rather train them on other skills - even if those skills aren't relevant to their company-like thant mentioned in Singapore's example! What an investment.
Turkey - I think the country should open up. I do can understand so many areas that are sensitive to the US's industry and security, but there are a lot of opportunities for foreign countries to invest on here. And citizens here are still very protective about foreigners "owning" part of the US companies. California has one of the toughest regulations among the states that some companies move to nearby states such as Nevada, although their business is mostly, if not all, in California. Although, the good side is, California leads in the green revolution though. It exceeds the Federal requirement on energy standards, and more non-fossil fuel research and manufacturing are found here.
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The other countries' projects are also very good, but in my opinion, with American politics the way it is right now, both Democrats and Republicans posturing for better appeal with voters, nothing can be accomplished, and that could be the eventual downfall of this country.
and that is the situation..in a nutshell :-)
ReplyDeletethough am not sure abotu the downfall of this country..but I suppose to everything there is a time under the sun
Thanks Mar...
U.S. Gov't. right now is like a person who doesn't know how to balance its check book that is why it has a huge deficit and growing. Every houses sold by the bank is covered by insurance that's why AIG got a bailout from the government and when bank foreclosed the houses and sold still goes to the bank. The collapse of the housing should not cause a double-dip recession that U.S. is experiencing right now. Killing businesses of so much regulations and taxes is the main cause and so much dependency of energy from Arab countries is the second. Even how high the taxes are if few businesses and few people are being taxed is not enough, government should encourage investors like China and Brazil did to create more jobs. U.S. has a huge natural resources for its energy that the present administration doesn't want to touch because of environmental reasons which I believe is a lame reason it's a political. OPEC is a cartel which we are at their mercy. What happened now to US dollar? It is depleting in value everything now in groceries and department stores went up from 5% to 30% in prices, national unemployment is 9.1% and growing. California is 12% and growing. U.S. need a new person who can deliver not just a sweet talker. If U.S. will improve the whole world economy will follow. U.S. should start making products labeled "made in USA".
ReplyDeletegain some, lose some..some peeps like the idea of dollar being stronger, others won't.
ReplyDeletesome people I know (like my dad) like products made in the US, some people don't (others believe its not of good quality anymore).
I think US products are still of quality.
ReplyDeleteIt's the Chinese cheap products that saturate the market, and by impulse the consumer is attracted to the low cost, regardless of its quality. It's always been the complaints of other countries, including the US how the Chinese gov't cutthroats competitors with the prices on their products. The only thing is, China is also a huge market for these countries' products. Take for instance cars, up to 2 years ago, US car makers weren't doing too well domestically, but their market share of cars in China is impressive.
probably a safer statement is...there are some brands and products which are still of good quality whether China or US :-)
ReplyDeleteOh yes, there are a lot of good quality products from countries such as Japan, Korea, and European countries too. (Samsung, LG come to mind -from Korea, and they have very innovative designs and very good quality products.) At the moment, I can't think of any good product or brand from China. Also the perception is that China's products are cheap, mass produced, and uses very inferior materials.
ReplyDeletehmm...possible..because the only Chinese brands I can think of which I used to patranize where White Rabbit and Ma-ling...hehehe...and of course now I stay away from any food coming from them...
ReplyDeleteI used to also favor some very soothing Chinese cough syrup before (which I used to get from a botica in Cebu)...until I think somebody told me the ingredients had some snake bits.....LOL