Watch a Live-Stream of an Eagles Nest and the potential to see new hatchlings TODAY---I find this fascinating!!

You have to watch an advertisement first, but the video is a live-stream of an Eagles nest and apparently one egg has hatched  TODAY and two others are in the process. Pretty cool to tune in on something like this...HT: CARPE DIEM...

The First one to hatch!!!

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If I can JUST make it to retirement age I will be able to find a job!! Huh? That does not sound right, but may be true...

Below is a chart of the "winners and losers" in the hunt for jobs in the last 15 months.  The group in the 45 to 54 range are large net losers in terms of employment.  Traditionally, these years have been the peak career and earning years for most people. The headline for this blog entry seems non-sensical, but there seems to be a grain of truth in it...at least at this point in our economic history. 
Why The Middle-Aged Are Missing Out On New Jobs

The job gains in the latest employment report ALL (almost all) went to Women!! See the incredible numbers here...

These two items from the latest Employment Report are pretty interesting (from the Household Survey,--a phone survey, not the headline establishment survey--from businesses) .  Last month, women were the "winners" in finding new jobs by a substantial margin---+4,000 for the guys and +247,000 for the gals.  Also, note that more men LEFT the labor force (decrease of 31,000) and more women ENTERED the labor market (increase of 96,000).  Any thoughts as to what is going on in the nation's labor market? 



Source: Business Insider



Engineering meets Economics on the 50th Floor of a Skyscraper---A nice graphic on the Marginal Costs of Tall Buildings...

Skycraper construction is reaching new heights, literally and figuratively. This is the last graphic from an interactive that shows a historical timeline in the engineering of these types of structures.  I like the link that is made between  engineering and economics. 

When construction of a skyscraper takes place there are lots of up-front costs, both fixed and variable. As construction is set-up and commences, then costs decrease per floor added because fixed costs become spread out over the project and variable costs, while they may be increasing, are increasing at a decreasing rate (production becomes streamlined and efficient). 

However, as the graphic shows, the variable costs will start to increase again as the engineering requirements of maintaining a strong structure become more complicated and expensive.  After a certain point, the cost of each additional floor becomes more costly than the last.  In economics, we call this the Marginal Cost of Production--the change in Total Cost divided by the change in quantity, in this case each floor of the building.  If the Marginal Cost of the next floor EXCEEDS the Marginal Revenue (the change in Total Revenue divided by the change in quantity, in this case each floor) gained from leasing that floor then the builings owners should not construct that floor.

 Alas, this may not stop them from reaching new heights. Sometimes peoples egos will over-rule the economics. We know how that usually turns out....


Source: The Atlantic



A nice, simple gasoline tax graphic for the US....

I have posted something similar in terms of the variation in gasoline taxes in the US, but this graphic is a much more simple visual.  The Federal gas tax is $.184 (18.4 Cents). So subtract that from the numbers you see and you have the State tax assessed per gallon of gasoline. It is important to recognize this when looking at the differences in the total price of a gallon of gas around the nation.


Source: Econobrowser



Those Cotton Pickin' Farmers are to blame for higher food prices! No, really, it is literally the fault of Cotton Picking farmers that food prices will increase...

In Microeconomics, farmers and the commodities they grow are used to illustrate a perfectly competitive market. The main characteristic of a firm in a perfectly competitive market is that they are a "price-taker". They have no pricing power and must accept the price dictated by the market.  Many farmers in the Farm Belt are indifferent to the commodity they grow---the land, machinery, and the know-how they possess can be used to grow corn, wheat, soybeans, or cotton.  Their main concern is which one will give them the most revenue per acre planted.  Seems like cotton is the winner in this regard. The problem is that cotton is the only one in the group you can't eat.  More land allocated to growing cotton, means less allocated to growing food. Food prices have been increasing in the past year.  These increases can be absorbed by rich countries, but not so much for those on "the margin".  Much unrest in the Middle East and elsewhere has its roots in high food prices. As more farmers make this decision, is will only makes things worse in developing/poor countries as they try to meet the food needs of their people. 

Amber Waves to Ivory Bolls

"...But this spring, many farmers in southern states will be planting cotton in ground where they used to grow corn, soybeans or wheat — spurred on by cotton prices that have soared as clothing makers clamor for more and poor harvests crimp supply.

The result is an acreage war between rival commodities used to feed and clothe the world’s population.

“There’s a lot more money to be made in cotton right now,” said Ramon Vela, a farmer here in the Texas Panhandle, as he stood in a field where he grew wheat last year, its stubble now plowed under to make way for cotton. Around the first week of May, Mr. Vela, 37, will plant 1,100 acres of cotton, up from 210 acres a year ago. “The prices are the big thing,” he said. “That’s the driving force.”

Economists, agricultural experts and government officials are predicting that many farmers, both in the United States and abroad, will join Mr. Vela this year in chasing the higher profits to be made in cotton — with consequences that could ripple across the globe.

“It’s good for the farmer, but from a humanitarian perspective it’s kind of scary,” said Webb Wallace, executive director of the Cotton and Grain Producers of the Lower Rio Grande Valley. “Those people in poor countries that have a hard time affording food, they’re going to be even less able to afford it now.”

US Energy Consumption by Energy Source---Once again, the problem is obvious...



Source: Economix



After spending a semester abroad you must work as an intern...College is no fun anymore! But getting a job in your preferred career field IS the end game...

In addition to spending a semester abroad, internships are becoming an important part of marketing yourself.  I know, I know, you say..."WHEN do I have a chance to have FUN in college!".  I am just the messenger. If you want to differentiate yourself from the rest of the pack, then you must consider it. Hey, it is FUN to work in the career of your choice--and it lasts a long time!

NYTIMES: The Internship as Inside Track

WANT to land a full-time job after college? Get an internship or two, or even four or more.

Internships have long been a part of the collegiate learning experience, but have never been more closely tied to permanent hiring than they are today, said Trudy Steinfeld, executive director of career development at New York University.

Of course, internships aren’t the only route to employment. But companies increasingly view them as a recruiting tool because they are a way to test-drive potential employees, she said. Conversely, interns can test-drive the company to see if it’s a good fit, professionally and culturally.

Not only do college interns garner more job offers than applicants without that experience, but jobs that grow out of internships tend to command higher starting salaries, said Edwin W. Koc, research director at the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

We know how much a gallon of gas costs. But how much do other things you buy cost by the gallon? Nice graphic!



Source: Paul Kedrosky's Infectious  Greed



Another gem from Hans Rosling---The magic of the Wash Machine as an engine of economic growth. Worth a watch!!

A great lecture on the virtues of simple devices that make our lives better.  The last two minutes tie it all together for me---a powerful illustration of OPPORTUNITY COSTS. Well worth the 10 minutes to watch...

A List of 10 de facto Monopolies no one talks about. Should the Government break them up, even though we (mostly) LOVE their products?

As coincidence would have it, in AP Microeconomics we will study Monopolies this week.  Here is a list of 10 companies by market share should be considered monopolies (or oligopolies or monopolistic competitors--a fine line) in their respective markets. These are not your grandparents monopolies, which I would characterize as "hard" industries such as oil, fixed phone service, banking, etc. All these industries employed lots of people and formed the heart of the "middle class" in America.  Now, industry tends to be "soft", literally and figuratively. This list is made up of high-tech firms and no one gets their hands physically dirty in any of them.  It is quite amazing that most on the list have been around less than 20 years. Don't worry, as with all monopolies, someone will come along with a better mousetrap and take them down---Creative Destruction, indeed.     

The New Generation Of American Monopolies

A monopoly is either what the government says it is or what a dominant company’s competitors claim. The government’s opinion is the only one that counts, however, as Sprint will find out as it protests the new AT&T buyout of T-Mobile.

A common definition of a monopoly is when a company has such effective control of its market that it can set prices and stifle innovation by depriving competition of any chance of profit. The offending company only has to continue to do extraordinarily well in its field regardless of what antitrust regulators have to say. 24/7 Wall St. found ten instances that could be considered de facto monopolies though the government will not take action in each case.

1. Product: Search Engine GOOGLE
   Market Share: 90.1%
   Competition: Yahoo!, Bing

2. Product: MicroSoft Windows  
    Market Share: 89.7%
   Competition: Mac OS X, Linux

3. Product: Facebook
    Market Share: 63.8%
    Competition: MySpace, Linked In, Twitter

4. Product: Netflix
    Market Share: 61%
    Competition: Blockbuster, Hulu, Vudu

5. Product: Intel
    Market Share: 80.3%
   Competition: AMD

6. Product: I-PAD
    Market Share: 73%
    Competition: Android, Samsung

7. Product: I-Tunes    Market Share: 70%
   Competition: Amazon.com, Wal-Mart Music Downloads

8. Product: Kindle
    Market Share: 67%
    Competition: Barnes & Noble, Sony

9. Product: Sirrus Radio
    Market Share: 100%
   Competition: None

10. Product: PayPal
      Market Share: N/A
      Competition: Google Checkout, Fiserv, CashEdge

Nice article with several examples of companies trying to control Variable Costs....

For producers, the key to staying competitive and profitable is to control variable costs. Variable costs are explicit costs that vary with production, i.e. labor, raw materials/inputs, utilities, etc.  In a highly competitive the industry, it is vital to minimize the impact of increasing variable costs on the total cost of producing.  If one cost increases that the company cannot control, then they must off-set this cost increase by a decrease in cost in some other area of production. Otherwise, they will have to pass on the costs to the customer.  In the current economic climate that is not easy to do.  This article has many examples of companies controlling their variable costs so they can avoid raising the retail price to customers.

Manufacturers Scrimp To Keep Customers From Paying More.

VF Corp. is sewing smaller buttons on some of its Lee and Wrangler jeans. General Mills has shifted to a slightly less expensive, though no less flavorful, rice for its Rice Chex cereal. And industrial product maker Quality Float Works is recycling oil for its factory machines.

Many manufacturers are taking small but meaningful steps to trim costs as they cope with surging materials prices without sharply raising prices for customers.

They have little choice. Household spending has picked up recently, but consumers aren’t splurging.

“They might be willing to accept a slight increase in price,” but they might buy less, says Madison Riley, managing director of Kurt Salmon, a retail consulting firm.

Food, energy and other commodity costs have soared the past year on rising global demand. Several manufacturers and retailers say they’ll pass along some increases to customers this year but will likely absorb much of them, squeezing profit margins.

Many say they’re scrimping without sacrificing quality:

•VF is switching to regular buttons on the flies of some jeans. Executives believed slightly bigger buttons “made a statement” and increased convenience, says Vice President Cindy Knoebel.

“We actually found that it didn’t make any difference to consumers.” The move saves about 5 cents on each pair and millions overall for the company, which is paying more for denim due to soaring cotton prices.

•General Mills used to ship rice-based flour for Rice Chex from farms and mills in Texas to its Cincinnati plant. But with agricultural and diesel prices rising, it switched to a different rice from Arkansas that’s less expensive and closer to Ohio. Costs fell about 4%, says Senior Vice President John Church. “You need to save 2, 3% in a lot of places.”

•Quality Float Works recycles oil that greases its factory machines to halve oil costs. The Schaumburg, Ill., maker of steel water-level sensors for tanks saw its oil costs nearly double from a year ago. “We can’t” raise prices, says President Sandra Westlund-Deenihan. “There’s a lot of people still out of work.”

Terrorist Economics 101---Choose a terror target based on the price of a ticket to that location. Sometimes it is that easy...

Even terroists are captive of basic economics. Airplane tickets to more desirable terror targets (Houston, Chicago) were too expensive, so this person decided to target a cheaper, substitute destination---Detroit.  If the price of tickets to one destination increases (or is more expensive), the demand for tickets to another increases--classic definition for Subsitutes.  Now, does that make Detroit an "inferior good" too?  I will let someone else answer that question....

For al-Qaida, Detroit was just the cheapest flight

""When an admitted al-Qaida operative planned his itinerary for a Christmas 2009 airline bombing, he considered launching the strike in the skies above Houston or Chicago, The Associated Press has learned. But tickets were too expensive, so he refocused the mission on a cheaper destination: Detroit....""

Nice Graphic: Visual Data on Teen Drug Use...I wonder how accurate it is...

By: HomeHealthTesting.com

Major road repaired in 2 weeks in Japan...I wish this crew was working on 114 in Grapevine...



These two photos show a road devastated by March 11 massive earthquake (left) and the same road after restoration in Naka, Japan. The highway company restored the 150-meter section of the highway linking Tokyo and the quake-damaged Ibaraki prefecture in six days. The photos were taken on March 11, 2011, left, and on March 17, 2011, right. (AP Photo/NEXCO East)


Click HERE for more stunning photos...