Fed ready to slash interest rates- Response

This article was at first somewhat difficult for me to wrap my head around. Fortunately, my mother works with the stock market and was able to better explain it to me. This was extremely helpful as I now know the terms used in this and many other articles such as "home equity" or "prime rate". Once I managed to decipher this article I found it very interesting. I did not know that the Federal Reserve was in charge of the interest rate applied to banks and loaning. I also did not know that it had so heavily been modified in attempt to revive the economy. I did know about the loaning freeze occurring though and I found it very interesting to read about how the key interest rate was associated with this freeze. I am not sure if I personally am in favor of these decisions being made to slash the interest rates. I am aware that despite their repeated cuts in the past, they have had no affect on the loaning aspects of our economy. With the rates as low as they are, it seems that there is little room for repeated maneuvering. There is a point where the Fed's can no longer cut, and that's 0%, a number looming on the horizon.

Fed ready to slash interest rates

The Federal Reserve is seemingly prepared to slash a key interest rate.
The Fed's key rate has been dropping for quite some time and is moving closer and closer to 0%.
The Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke was in a two day meeting working on the economic crisis and exploring more tools to help the situation other than interest rate cuts.
"The message is simply the Fed stands ready to do everything in its power to stop the economy's free fall." stated Richard Yamarone who is an economist at Argus Research.
This is to suggest that perhaps this slash is more of a psychological tactic than a financial one.
Since the economic recession began last December, the Federal Reserve has already all but used up it's most significant tool for influencing the economy. The target to the federal funds rate has been cut to 1%, a number seen only once in this half of the century.
It is speculated that this rate could drop to 0.5% or even 0.25%.
The area of the economy that the Federal Reserve has been trying to affect are the loans currently not occurring between banks.
With so many unstable companies and customers, many banks have been very reluctant to lend money and help reinstate the cash flow necessary.
The lowering of the prime rate would affect home equity loans, certain credit cards and other consumer loans.
By dropping the rate from 4%, where it currently is, to an even lower mark would perhaps stimulate spending.
Up to now however, the rate slashes that have been put into effect have yet to have the influence desired.

Phoebe Responce #2

No one has commented on your layout yet, and I am shocked because it's super cool- teach me how to make the banner at the top? It really adds to the effect.
Anyway, in terms of your information- there's a lot of it! Probably due to how it's such a current topic, you were able to find articles that related perfectly to what you are researching. I just have one question: are you planning on following a little more on circuit city or just big-box stores in general?
Also, most of your blog seems to be the same colour and that makes it very hard to read. Other than that, great job! Your summaries of the articles in particular were impressive.

Kelsey Schwarz- Second Response

You certainly have gathered a ton of good information. I think it's really cool that you're so into your topic and similar things related to it as well. I like how you have the gadget with the price of oil. You have such a broad topic and you could go anywhere with it really like the Circuit City thing, to stocks, to Obama. There will definitely be enough information to keep you going..for forever. I also like you have statistics and on the bankruptcy article how you had all kinds of different facts. Good job.

Morgan response #2

I really like how you are looking at the recession. Moreintrest in the companies and stock than the politics, you should try to keep it that way. My only issue was how you had really simple mistakes ( like leaving a letter off) that would confuse me in the middle of reading. I'm preety sure there is a gadget that you could get so you could show the rise and fall of the stock market, if you continue to use articles about the stock marcket and its journey.

Amazing,yes . . .

I, too, am so impressed by Obama's active involvement in current affairs and his planning for the transition to be as seamless as possible, his creation of a "brain trust" as he chooses the best and the brightest to help him when he becomes President, and his plans that seem to reflect some of the CCC and WPA ideas of the past. A fascinating topic, which does change daily!

A promise of help from Team Obama (Response)

This article was very interesting and indeed, very intriguing. I got this article from The Week, a weekly article that I have now come to love to read. This article seemed to shine light on many of the issues that Obama is creating for himself. While it is thought to be wonderful, economic stimulus package the be signed in by Obama, it is worrisome a as to how the meeting went. I did find it very interesting though that the article speaks so highly of him and his team.
I find it absolutely fascinating that Obama has been able to put together such an organization without ever stepping foot inside the White House. I myself receive many emails a day from the Obama campaign outlining what is to be done on a certain topic.
I do feel that this team will bring about good change in the American despite what critics might say.
I dislike the immediate dislike of Summers however. I believe that one administration should not be crippled by the outcome of a past administration and it's staff.

A promise of help from Team Obama

This week president-elect Barack Obama announced the members of his chosen economic team.
Obama is supposedly ready to sign in a massive economic stimulus plan moments after his inauguration.
The package will supposedly provide 2.5 million new jobs through the building of bridges and increased work on alternative energy sources.
It is thought to cost about $700 billion dollars however, Obama promises to revise the federal budget to compensate for the costs.
Obama chose New York Federal Reserve President Timothy Geithner to be the Treasury secretary.
Obama chose Harvard economist and former Clinton Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers as head of the National Economic Council.
Summers "championed deregulation of derivatives, the "toxic assets" that have spread financial chaos throughout the world.
Obama stated that a new advisory board would be created to be headed by former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker.
All three are well known and respected on Wall Street.
Obama stated "Help is on the way" referring to his newly selected team. "I think it is very important for the American people to understand that we are putting together a first-class team."
Geithner has been a supposed "ring master" for the large government bailouts.
The stock market has approved of the decisions. It rose 900 points after the decision was announced.
Obama has promised not to raise taxes on the higher class, and instead to simply intends to cut the Bush tax cuts around 2010.
Obama is working with Bush to make a clean transfer of power between presidents.

Circuit City Takes Leave (Response)

Yet again, current events in this topic have prevailed. Not two days before researching this topic, I was informed by my parents of Circuit City’s filing of a Chapter 11 Bankruptcy. Unfortunately, this article offers yet more bad news and even more dire predictions of what is to become of the American economy. It really is quite frightening that a company of such large scale, (No. 2 in the nation for electronics) and one with both online and store front sale opportunities should be coming to such a chapter in the story of their existence. However, it does pose the question of whether this bankruptcy was caused by a lack of management by the company or a lack of customers. Circuit City claims that their failure is the result of increasing competition from stores such as Best Buy and Wal-Mart. However, a more in-depth look into the company’s records reveal such strategic decisions as the firing of 3,000 high paid employees and replacing them with lower paid employees. This brings to light the possibility that such this company’s crisis is more deeply rooted in lack customer satisfaction. As I delve deeper and deeper into this economic crisis, I have begun to see just how well an American company’s success can mirror the success or failure of the American population. Indeed, the best fit for the reason for Circuit City’s failure seems to be a simple lack of customers. In this economy, people are being more frugal with their money. As a result, a store that specializes in products that are more for personal pleasure, such as televisions and personal computers, is much more likely to feel the burden of a bad economy than say, an oil company. It will be very interesting to see where this story goes. Circuit City seems to think that they can stay on their feet, despite the potential losses that are almost certain to be suffered this holiday season. It does seem very unlikely that this electronics giant will be able to pull through this unfazed. With trust now being transferred from Circuit City into the arms of seemingly more stable companies like Best Buy, Circuit City is sure to take a hit this holiday season. Who wants to buy a $2,000 television when it is not guaranteed that the company will last as long as their warranty? As more companies close their doors, it seems that America is about to face an almost complete reform of retail stores. Both Best Buy and Wal-Mart are in tough times, suffering from a severe lack of customers willing to purchase expensive goods. If companies such as these are to close their doors in the future, what is to become of the once glorious American mall? As unprofitable as these times seem, it may indeed bring rise to many new companies, looking to replace the large giants that are falling almost everyday. And these companies will be small and flexible enough to dodge the falling debris, bring in a new customer base, and tough it out for the long run.

Circuit City to stay open in bankruptcy

Circuit City is the No. 2 electronics outlet in the US after Best Buy

Filed for bankruptcy “Chapter 11” on Monday

Hopes to be able to stock shelves in time for holidays

Will close 155 stores

Has 566 operating stores currently

Plans to cut about 17% of it’s 40,000 domestic workers
Is reviewing how best to deal with lack of shoppers in such a bad economy
Will keep rest of stores open through bankruptcy proceedings
“Chapter 11 is no a closing or liquidation. We remain committed to doing a better job of taking care of our guests, and making it easier to shop at Circuit City.” said in an email to CNN
Is seeking approval from bankruptcy court to continue with services such as returns and warranties.
The store will still accept credit cards for purchases
Even though such precautions are being taken, it is thought that the uncertainty of the store’s future will make customers wary of shopping there
Competition by Best Buy and Wal-Mart are thought to be a major threat to the store’s future.
The November-December period can account for 50% of a stores annual profit
Last year, Circuit City decided to fire more than 3,000 of it’s highest paid staff.
The staff was replaced by lower paid workers.
This was thought to be a “strategic blunder” in Circuit City’s behalf
Circuit City has negotiated a commitment for a $1.1 billion credit line to add to it’s curect working capital
This credit line will give Circuit City immediate liquidity while it resorts it’s resources to reorganizing the company and keeping current employees paid.
Circuit City plans to strengthen their balance sheets and restructure their entire company through the support that the Chapter 11 filing offers.

Our Crashing Economy

It seems almost too convenient that a topic such as this should occur on the day of which I am writing this article. This event has definitely proven the stability of this topic to be on going for the next several months. However, the article from which I took notes also proved the complexity of my topic. This crash is certainly not as simple as it might seem. Many people have taken this crash as an indicator of how the American economy will react to an Obama-Biden administration. This kind of most probably false reaction and indeed assumption that the election of Obama is the reason for such a decline is an indicator of the connection the president has the stability of our free market. Part of this I Search paper will follow just how the new president does when it comes to rebuilding the economy. This is the first step in the data acquisition of that section of my I Search. Facts though, point to Cisco Systems as a key contributer of the crash. I find this incredibly interesting that even though a decline such as this one, (10% over two days) had one core catalyst, no seems to be able to pinpoint it. This article and the event of which is was reporting also helps bring to light the severe turbulence of our economy. I thought that it was very interesting that a sharp decline such as this one follows the best economic run-up in 34 years. It certainly proves the sheer ability of our economy to be so volatile. This article also reveals the sometimes peculiar aspect of speculation and the role it plays in our economy. Indeed, many things such as the price of fuel can be influenced heavily by speculation. This article and event provides proof to the influence of speculation in our market. Overall, I was very pleased to find such a great source of information. This is certainly a website that I will be returning to. It provided a wide view of the issues it discussed and did not seem to lean in one direction or another when it came to discussing politics.

Market Takes Two Day Plummet

A warning from Cisco Systems of declining demand and a weak month of October was issued early Wednesday.
As a result, the US stock market has fallen around 10% over the past several days.
The market has fallen 440 points on Thursday and 500 points on Wednesday.
These crashes took place in the last several minutes of trading.
This is the worst decline over a two day period since the October 1987 crash.
A decline was expected due to the large run-up experienced last week.
The run up experienced last week was the best seen in 34 years.
This decline has largely been linked to the election of President Barack Obama despite evidence proving the decline’s link to Cisco’s reports.
This drop has been a day ahead of the October employment report, which is a key indicator to the status of the economy.
The amount of people reaping unemployment benefits has reached a 25 year peak.
It is believed that Thursday’s fall is due to speculation of the report to be released Friday.
Many theories point to the major source of such a plummet being speculation both on employment rates and financial securities within companies.

The Economy- iSearch

Retrospectively, I find it interesting that when I select three seemingly random topics that all interest me, all three happen to be strongly connected through the common thread of the ever present dollar. To me, that reveals a subconscious thought process that I posses, one that is forever thinking economically and financially. Each of the reviews I received about my possible topic choices were all not only conflicting, but also quite vague. They failed to offer any concrete advice as to which one would be the best candidate. So, I set out on my own, thinking about my own personal interests and reviewing which of the three would provide the best, most continuous flow of interesting information. Finally, I decided upon one. The one that is affecting every US citizen and many more abroad. From the lowest class to the wealthiest, from the floor scrubbers to the CEOs and from the forward thinkers to the naive, the current state of the US and world economy is a topic that provides a gold mine of an opportunity to a curious and motivated researcher such as myself.

Having been raised in a family whose prosperity and future is directly linked to the economy, I have attained an addiction to business and money. My mother, a stock broker, and my father, a business owner, have provided a home that has consumed my upbringing in business. So, it would make sense that the topic that provides the most personal interest would be that which provides an in-depth look into the massive and complicated engine that drives the US economy. This topic will give me an opportunity to delve into the specifics of our economy, and our stock market. I will be able to bring to the surface on my own, just how and why our economy is in such a crisis and track just where it is headed. In doing this, I will also be able to answer many of the questions I have always had about the influence and workings of the once mighty American dollar.

This is a topic that is so current and so important that it is some how garnering more media attention than Alaskan governors. The information available on this topic was, and will be for quite sometime, extremely current, and present in vast quantities. Indeed, the daily stock market report is usable information. Moving past the givens though, the news reports and newspaper articles released daily combined with articles in literary releases such as The Week and The New Yorker will provide massive amounts of information. Finding information less than two weeks old will be no problem, indeed much of it could be delivered to me through RSS feeds. It would seem then that this project would be a piece a cake. With so much information, how could it possibly be a challenge to research such a topic?

Ironically, the massive challenge this topic poses is the amount and type of information available. This is a topic that is interpreted, not reported, by our trusted new sources. There is no line that determines whether our economy is good or bad, there is no scale to which we can put our dollar and determine just how good it is. We tend to leave those kinds of decisions up to professionals. Professionals who seem to specialize not agreeing. Therefor, the challenge of this topic lies in the task of attaining and sorting through the information available, determining what to trust and what to disregard. Almost all the information I have researched and attained so far can be determined from hundreds of different views. The complexity of our economy combined with the vast amounts of conflicting information available for it will provide a thought provoking and very challenging research topic.

Personally, I can’t wait to get started on this topic. This is a time in the story of the United States that will probably never be seen again, at least not in my lifetime. I am itching to utilize such a time to take an in-depth look into the how’s and why’s of our current economic crisis. This is a topic that I know receives a resounding yes to all of the criteria required. This topic is evolving everyday. The stock market is unpredictable from one hours to the next and it seems that everyday there is the announcement of another merging. The complexity of our economy will provide and extremely challenging task of interpreting information. However, I know that I can face the challenge of this topic due to my personal interest.

So I may have lost an entire periods worth of work doing this but here is how you indent-

Type your paragraphs as you would. AND SAVE! Now select "Edit HTML". You will be presented with the same text formatted slightly differently. Find the first letter of your first paragraph. Note that before that letter might come some information in brackets. Ignore this. Directly before your first letter type the following line.

Now find your last period or whatever of your first paragraph and type the following code directly after it.

-

Do this for each paragraph and you should have indented paragraphs!

COMMENT below if you have any questions-

All three of these would be very interesting topics to research. I personally would be most interested in the economy and the current crisis. However, I also think that both of the other topics would be great too. There is a lot of information on the stock market and economic crisis, plus there are many TV interviews with experts that would be helpful. The ability to talk with the people who have been affected by the crisis will be useful too.

Title Here

You seem to have three thought out ideas. I think it would be really interesting to research how the entertainment business changes because of YouTube and other free entertainment.

One thing to look is how green these green car's are and if they are really being built to save the enviroment or make a profit, cutting corners to save money....

Scientific American is another magazine that is great for stuff like that.
I reallly can't think of anything to say but you should make sure that you pick something interesting and you won't get bored with it.
Good Luck

You obviously have three very in depth ideas that will no doubt keep you busy for the next few months, but which one to choose? They're all very interesting, but which one really gets you pumped. Is it the idea of YouTube and how anyone can watch almost anything on the Internet, or is it the way so many businesses are plunging into bankruptcy after being open for decades? If you were fallowing the the green side of this all you could probably link it into the economic area and how jobs in this area might increase. Picking the topic is probably the hard part here. It seems like you don't have to worry about finding information, but maybe you would like to consider looking at the topic which you know the least about. It depends how much you want to learn about which topic.

All of these topics would be very interesting to research because they all will be changing frequently. I think that the economy would be your best choice, based on your focus. The economy will be changing rapidly, and like you said, it may never (hopefully) be in such a state of turmoil as it is now. Im sure you'll get lots of conflicted opinions about the topic, so it would be a good choice to develop your own ideas about the situation. For an alternate source of information, (Im sure you already have a lot), I would suggest that show "Mad Money" on CNN. I dont consider myself to be very in touvh with the economy, but that guy helps me understand it.
If you do decide to research the "Internet TV" topic, an alternate source I know of is Hulu, though Im sure you probably already know about it.

I Search Topics- Money, Money, Money

The three topics decided upon differ greatly from one another. Each deals with a different section of America’s culture and interest. At this immediate point in American history, money is an ever occurring factor of any topic and indeed, it is the one linking similarity between the three potential topics. While interest in the economy would discuss interest in saving money and most likely delve into the mortgage crisis. This topic would center around the transfer of money within our economy and discuss why American citizens and companies seem to be losing money. However, the other two possible topics have more to do with making money. While some individuals want to save money by drilling for more oil, supporters of such endeavors as the Aptera car intend to make money by not using oil. The idea of making money and indeed industries on the back of green technology and the want to better the environment is an ever evolving business. While this may seem like the worst time to be launching companies with certainty in their future, it is happening and at an alarming pace, providing many continuous flows of interesting information. Another industry still thriving is that of the visual entertainment industry. However, this industry, loosing money to pirated copies of work, is currently racing to launch full fledged internet based media delivery methods. However, their success is threatened by that of smaller, strictly web-based productions that manage to draw millions of viewers through the likes of websites such as YoutTube. Web-TV is also a topic, changing every day and with hundreds of companies continually adding to the mix of information sources, in many ways a gold-mine of information.

The economy is of course, present not only on the minds of adults dealing with it currently. However, it is certainly also an issue on the mind of those who might be flung into the roller coaster ride of unpredictable stock markets and mortgages at the worst possible time. This topic would give opportunity to trace the roots of what is now being called a depression by some, back to where it all started. Was it Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae like some of our most respected politicians state? Or does it have more to do with misguided banking systems? A plethora of information is already available and very current simply on the relatively short history of this crisis. However, the stock market and indeed the entirety of America’s economy changed drastically every day. Thousands of news feeds are readily available, offering an overwhelming amount of information. Information that can very often contradict itself and others. Simple Google news searches turned up a flood of information and not all of it from very well known sources. Indeed, Masterfile produced an article from aljazeera.net. Written by a reporter from the middle east, it expressed an extremely interesting look at our economy. This topic would have the issue of too much information being present. Picking through it to find good reliable sources that list facts, not biased opinions, would be quite a challenge, albeit possibly provide an extremely intricate groundwork for an incredibly interesting paper.

Moving away from the economy and into the world of silicon valley and hopeful company start-ups, the very well known and certainly very advanced industry of visual media appears. This is an industry that has, like the economy, certainly had it’s own ups and downs. From the writer’s strike to material being pirated, this industry is certainly one that has struggled staying on it’s feet at times. As the internet has expanded over the years and larger percentages of the world population has gotten access to high-speed internet, the internet has become a potential gold-mine of ad revenue for media companies. Thus began a sort of silent, little known world of small internet start-ups attempting to finally bring TV to the internet. However, these start-ups were not left to fight this battle alone. Large media giants such as Apple or Netflix or even production studios themselves attempted to merge Internet and television. However, none had as much success as renewable, public entertainment sites like YouTube. However, while large prime-time productions or even Hollywood movies were struggling to make their mark upon the internet crowd, small, independent production studios, many having no intentions of making a profit, began to crop up and become extremely popular. Small groups like Smosh and Next New Networks draw a fan base of millions of viewers every week through YouTube alone. Internet media is a fascinating topic in and of itself. However, this would not be the intention nor direction of this topic. Indeed, the internet offers far more resources when it comes to analyzing just how and why these small production studios are keeping pace and in some cases, exceeding the popularity of many other made-for-television productions. While Google News and MasterFile returned results based more around large productions studio’s attempts to launch Web-based media distribution programs, there are hundreds of opportunities to, ironically, work away from the internet with a topic such as this. Interviews could easily be made directly with producers and directors of such production studios as Next New Networks. There is of course however, a vast amount of information available on the internet discussing what tactics these productions use to draw such large fan-bases.

There are indeed other industries thriving in America today such as the green technology industry. Consisting mostly of small, private enterprises, and not of large public companies governed by board members, this industry is one continually offering unique and new inventions and innovations. One section of the green technology industry that is particularly interesting is that of the electric and plug-in hybrid car business. Companies such as Tesla Motor and Aptera are gaining increasing media attention due to their release of such vehicles as the Tesla Roadster and Aptera Electric Car. A very competitive and ever evolving industry, the green car business is one that routinely falls under harsh criticism and skepticism. It is however, one that provides a very large amount of information through the internet. Of all the topics researched, this is the one that has had the most relevant results returned. Many articles were found pertaining to the Aptera car company along with companies such as Tesla Motors. Both of these companies and many others like them have cars in the works that are completely electric. Indeed, many of these companies have already easily out done large companies such as Ford and GM and they continue to advance everyday. This topic would, in some cases, direct contact with high ranking personnel due to the small scale of many of the companies. Many magazines such as WIRED and Popular Mechanics also cover these topics continuously and in great detail. A topic such as this would provide a wide array of possible sources from which to pull information.

All three of these potential topics provided an outstanding amount of interesting information. While they all differ greatly from one another, they are all interlinked with the continuous quest for money. In a time such as this, no company has a predicable economic future yet they continue to forge ahead. The stock market and the American economy as a whole is of course suffering greatly yet, it has suffered in the past and it has made it back to the top. This is a time in American history that should by no means be ignored. This is an incredible opportunity to research the US economy. It is possible that never again will one be able observe and analyze an economic crisis such as this while it is occurring it would be a waste to let it go by untouched. However, applies to both the green technology revolution and the Web Entertainment industry. Both of these industries are going through changes now that may never again be repeated. All of these topics have great potential for incredible break-through’s in the next several months.