Student Unemployment

This cartoon depicts a college student graduating, then immediately falling off the steep cliff into unemployment. This is a common problem with recently graduated students. The unemployment rate is currently about 9.7%, so inexperienced, recently graduated "kids" are in low demand for jobs. Some people believe that highly selective, and pricey, colleges still offer a better return on investment than non-elite schools. With all the debt upon graduation as well as high unemployment rate for recently graduated students, perhaps it’s no surprise that more adults are moving home and delaying having kids.

Nike = Victory

Nike's, the #1 athletic shoe company, stock rose 5.3% to $74.66. This stock was the lead gainer in the S&P 500 Index's textiles and apparel group. Demand for products such as apparel and running in the United States also increased. Analysts expect demand to continue to be driven by events such as the World Cup in South Africa and Tiger Woods' expected return to the Masters golf tournament. Worldwide orders of shoes and apparel for delivery between March and July, an indicator of future sales, rose 9% to $7.1 billion. Gains were driven in North America, Western Europe, China and other emerging markets. In North America, revenue increased 1% to $1.7 billion, led by a 6% gain in apparel sales. Nike's selling, general and administrative expenses rose 16% to $1.6 billion while its gross margin increased to 46.9% from 43.9% in the same period last year.
All of these causes for demand lead to Nike increasing sales and revenue, even in these tough economic times. Our nation's capitalist system allows Nike to charge whatever they wish for their products, so as long as there is high demand for them, Nike will continue to be the #1 athletic shoe company.

GDP Up

CNNMoney.com senior writer, Chris Isidore, wrote that "the U.S. economy grew at a slightly faster pace than originally thought during the last three months of 2009." According to a report by the Commerce Department, the nation's gross domestic product grew at a rate of 5.9% in the quarter, 0.2% higher than had been expected. This is the best improvement for the U.S. economy in more than six years, and some economists say that the recession ended sometime last summer. Although this positive increase in GDP is great, the GDP for the whole year still decreased by 2.4%. A major contributor to the growth in GDP was a 22% rise in exports, raising the net exports portion of the GDP equation, GDP=C + Ig + G + Xn.

Prices 2.1% Higher Than One Year Ago

According to the US Labor Department, the consumer price index was "flat in February, though prices were 2.1% higher than a year ago." BBC News states that core inflation (which doesn't include food and energy costs) rose 0.1% in February. This low inflation rate will cause interest rates to remain low, maybe for the rest of the year. Economists believe this low inflation rate will lead to a "slow recovery."

New Tax Breaks For Hiring Unemployed Workers

A new bill, signed into law by President Obama, will offer tax breaks for the hiring of previously unemployed workers. The companies who hire these unemployed workers will not have to pay their portion of Social Security payroll taxes for any new worker who was unemployed for the prior 60 days. If the employee is kept for an entire year, the company will receive up to $1,000 back on its 2011 tax return. Obama stated that "This tax cut will be particularly helpful to small business owners...Many of them are on the fence right now about whether to bring in that extra worker or two, or whether they should hire anyone at all. This jobs bill should help make their decision that much easier."
This jobs bill is an example of offering incentives in order to get a company to do what the government wants them to do: reduce unemployment. This is an example of discretionary expansionary fiscal policy due to the increased government spending and decreased taxes involved.

Supply and Demand

http://www.politicalcartoons.com/cartoon/a691b702-b3c7-49d0-b0ad-785f62c60a0f.html

This political cartoon is an example of the concept of supply vs. demand. When the demand of a product, like gas, is high, the suppliers will increase the price because they want to make as much money as possible. In this particular example, the individual complaining about the high gas prices is actually a part of the reason these prices are so high. By driving a gas guzzler, he demands more gas than necessary, and the price of gas increases.