Economic Stimulus US and China

Economic stimulus measures on the part of the government in Beijing appear to be having a positive effect on the giant Chinese economy.

It appears that the US economy is still growing steadily, although not as strongly as it was last year (2018), when the tax-and-spending stimulus kicked in.

Looking toward November, 2020, a key question is how long this “virtuous cycle” can last, and whether there is anything on the horizon that could send the economy into a pre-election tailspin.

A factor that has certainly helped to keep inflation quiescent is stronger productivity growth.

When firms are getting more output from their workers, their over-all costs per unit of output can remain steady despite the fact that they are finally paying higher wages, so they don’t have to raise prices.

If productivity growth remains strong and unit labor costs don’t shoot up, the economy could continue to grow in a non-inflationary manner for some time, despite very low rates of unemployment.

Things could change, of course. A bolt from the blue could hit the stock market, which has been on a tear for most of the past decade and is now very highly valued.

Source: After a Strong Jobs Report, Economic Questions Linger for 2020, By John Cassidy, May 4, 2019 | THE NEW YORKER

What do I know about business and corporate blogging in Estonia?

The good, the bad and the ugly: Meelis Mandel, Editor in Chief, Äripäev Meelis chooses some Estonian business blogs and says what's good or bad about them in his opinion.

Hello folks! We’ve less than one hundred kilometers in distance between Tallinn and Helsinki. The birds can travel this distance very easy but how well do we know the blogosphere and business practices in our neighboring countries?

It very quickly occurs to me that that the Finnish bay is much thicker borderline than we tend to think. Estonian businesses is a big question mark for me. Tourism is one of the areas where people know a few brands. The same goes for liquor, beer and some household products.

It seems like we still live a very separated lives within our national economies. How could that be changed with Web 2.0, social media, blogs and microblogs? We’ve the tools but there has to be some common areas of interest before we start to connect. 

The sixties and the baby boomers and the present crisis

Having dreams is fine, and there is certainly a place for dreamers.

A lot has changed since 1968. As the years passed and I accumulated my own experience and wisdom, I still continued to dream for better times, goods and services. Even about a better world.

Forty one years later, I and my friends got good educations and good jobs.  We raised well-educated, hard working kids. But we’re facing new problems. The economic crisis is forcing Finland into a new era of innovation and restructuring of its industrial base.

We have made this country a sitting duck for the hungrier an much more hard-working hordes of ambitious capitalists in China and India who are destined to bury us with cheap goods and software for our computers and hardware.

Not only have we made our self uncompetitive economically, we've also made us too stupid, careless, and lazy to compete with all our might for our very survival. But I’m still a dreamer and hope that we can make a change like we did after the big economical downturn 1992.

Four Days to Go of This Year

Four more days to go of this year 2009. What will happen to the economic downturn next year? Are we heading towards better times? Many have struggled for stable footing on a rocky economy.

As people wind down their Christmas cheer and start looking ahead to 2010, there are signs that the US economy is starting to recover from the greatest economic crisis since the Great Depression.

We estimate that it will take some time for the Finnish economy to return to its glory again. Exports of goods and services are dramatically down. It might take years to struggle back to the growth and prosperity of 2005 to 2007.

Globally, millions of people are still out of work, and even those fortunate enough to have a job have had to make adjustments in their lifestyle. We’re spending the holiday season in Sotkamo and besides the cold weather things are quite okay.

I think many of us will be glad that 2009 is over - due to the recession. Probably most of you place lots of hope on 2010. If it doesn't get better at least let's be grateful that it doesn't get worse. 

Attention economy