All Posts Tagged With: "economy"
The Pitch – Do you think the economic rally has stalled?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Nov 10 2009 | 1 Comment
Do you think the rally has stalled?
Question:
The stock market really hasn’t moved too much one way or another for a few weeks. Do you think that the economic rally has stalled?
Answer:
I think that it has stalled for now, but that could be due to the poor reports coming out about unemployment. If you look at other factors such as retail sales (which were up for the past month) then the economy is doing a bit better in the way of consumer spending.
I think over the next few months, the rally will continue but it will be more gradual.
Have an idea or want us to use your pitch in the next issue? Then, make a submission on The Pitch Page. Related posts:
The Pitch – How often should minimum wage increase?
Tags: unemployment, next issue, the pitch
Housing Prices See an Increase In the DC Area
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Oct 13 2009 | 0 Comments
Washington D.C. and the surrounding areas in Maryland and Virginia saw something in September that not many places across the country have seen; an increase in home prices. Unfortunately, while the prices increased, the median sale price did fall a bit.
Sales were up almost 19% in September in the area from just a year ago; with the median sale price declining almost 5% to $371,568.
Houses in D.C. are also selling for most of what the owner is asking. The average sale price in the area was 92% of the asking price.
Seeing any area, particularly a large metro area gaining in sales of homes is a pretty good (and not outrageous) sign that the economy is doing a bit better than it was a year ago. Then again, a year ago, credit had completely frozen as the subprime crisis really took off.
As banks have begun to lend again, more homes have started to sell. As the homes start to sell, prices will gradually begin to rise again. The rise will be in areas where there are jobs and every list that I’ve read says the jobs are in Washington D.C. due to the amount of government jobs as well as all of the large companies that are headquartered there.
When I was in Maryland over the summer, it didn’t seem like the recession had hit there as bad as it looked in other parts of the country I have seen in the last year. For example, while Chris and I were in St. Louis in August, restaurants were basically empty at dinner time. It’s not like we were going to obscure places either. The only restaurant I noticed was busy the entire time we were there was a Cheesecake Factory in one of the larger malls in the area. In Maryland, everything was always busy it seemed. Shopping centers were full of cars usually and there weren’t a lot of empty businesses making it look like a ghost town.
Related posts:Housing prices are on the decline nationwide
The English population is expected to increase; housing will follow
Tags: metro area, economy, banks
More strange indicators of the economy
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Tue, Sep 29 2009 | 2 Comments
I’ve talked about it in the past week or so; little indicators of the economy’s health. Well, here is a list from Time that compiles some of the more strange indicators of the economy and what they mean.
1. Hikers. When times are hard and unemployment is high, people tend to have a lot more free time on their hands. This means there is a spike in the number of people going for hikes in national parks and other places as well.
2. Immigration into the United States. For a while now, like decades, the number of immigrants coming into the U.S. has been rising. However, now with a bad economy, the number has slowed down and even stalled a bit. It seems like our country isn’t as attractive as it once was.
3. Men’s Underwear. I talked about this one in a post I wrote last week about ties. I think this one is just silly. But, the idea is that men buy more underwear when the economy starts picking up. When the economy is down sales of men’s underwear drops dramatically.
4. Fewer babies are being born and planned. In a recent survey of women, 44% said that they were going to wait to have kids until the economy starts to pick up. This means that the sale of birth control items should be up, right?
5. More attractive waitresses. This is another silly one in my opinion. The idea behind this “index” is that attractive women don’t have a hard time finding work being models or working for some kind of marketing campaign when times are good. However, now that times aren’t so great, they are finding themselves working at restaurants. And restaurant owners are more than willing to hire the pretty girls to be waitresses so it will bring customers in.
Like I said, the whole thing is kind of silly. I mean, you can also look at more reliable sources to tell you how the economy is doing like unemployment as well as sales figures. I always thought that if sales in some industries were up then the economy is probably doing better than if sales are down.
The economy is one of those things that have many indicators ranging from the very silly to the very serious. Hopefully most of the indicators are pointing to the economy starting to pick up and maybe we’ll start seeing some growth soon.
Related posts:Are bright colored clothes a sign of the economy?
Strange things that Wal-Mart has banned
Tags: national parks, economy, marketing campaign
When did British Airways Become A Discount Airline?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Mon, Sep 28 2009 | 1 Comment
The people who fly with British Airways will have to do something that people who fly on other airlines will NOT have to do: Pay for a particular seat on the plane. If they want to sit somewhere in particular they will have to pay some kind of fee according to the airline. The extra charges will only affect those who want to sit next to the window or the aisle (SO I suppose, if you want to be stuck in the middle of two people you don’t know, you should be alright?).
The change will take place starting on October 7th. The lowest fee that will be assessed will be 10 pounds for those who are booking their seats on an economy flight throughout Europe. The most expensive seats will cost the customer sixty pounds for long trips in the business class. Those who are expecting a seat somewhere near the emergency exit will have to pay an extra fifty pounds a flight.
British Airways says this measure will give customers more control over their seating. British Airways currently allows customers to select their seat for free 24 hours prior to their flight. If customers want to book ahead of time, they can do it before 10 and 4 days before take-off.
“Customers frequently request specific seats, but in the past we’ve only been able to confirm them 24 hours in advance or on the day. We know people want to secure them in advance and have real control over their flying experience. This will allow them to do that,” said a BA spokesman.
With this new fee and probably others that will follow, BA tries recover after £401m loss last year. Earlier this year, BA decided to no longer offer free meals on short flights and cut luggage allowances.
It is really annoying when any company decides to take advantage of a customer when there is some kind of demand for a product. In this case, the airlines are trying to squeeze money out of the consumer because they are paying rock bottom prices for airline tickets. It’s a funny thing though because these customers are still waiting in airports for delayed flights and sitting on tarmacs waiting for their planes to take off. I should know, I spent over an hour on a tarmac in North Carolina waiting in the past few months. I hate flying on airplanes.
Source
British Airways wants more customers so they’re dropping their fares
American Airlines could be facing some heafty fines for sub-par repairs
Tags: economy, british airways, discount airline
Are bright colored clothes a sign of the economy?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Sep 25 2009 | 5 Comments
Just like at a funeral, at the beginning of the recession people were mourning. The clothes told the story: people would be wearing black and other drab colors while going to work. It was like that for the past year, ever since the fall of Lehman Brothers. Now, that things are finally starting to perk up a bit, those who have jobs are starting to wear colorful clothes again.
Men’s ties are being seen as an economic indicator. Because men’s ties are a cheap way to change a wardrobe, it is typically the first thing that outwardly indicates that, not only are these guys going out and buying clothes, but they are buying bight colors again.
This is just one of the many economic indicators that have been noted in the past few months. Another, and funnier in my opinion, indicator was the underwear index. Men were going out and purchasing more underwear and that was supposedly an indicator that the economy was going to perk up a bit more.
Another indicator is piles of garbage outside restaurants. The piles indicate that people are eating out again, which is one of the signs that the economy (really) is picking up again. Anytime people have disposable income to go to a restaurant and eat it is a good sign for not only the restaurant but the overall economy as well.
While a lot of data was used to compile this information, of course, some of it could be misread messages. Men could be wearing bright colored ties because it’s warm outside and they want to reflect the weather. Restaurants are using promotions to bring people in the doors more now than ever. Men need underwear and if they haven’t bought any new undies since the fall of Lehman Brothers, then perhaps it is time for them to get some new underpants.
I would like for the recession to see an end as much as everyone else, but are we grasping at straws by putting money into studies like this one?
Related posts:More strange indicators of the economy
Construction Gear Offers Name Brand Work Clothes.
Today’s Ebook – Causes and Effects of the Lehman Brothers Bankruptcy
Tags: promotions, drab colors, economic indicators
