Another Debt Chart, This One Even More Depressing

Current debt projections, unless changes in spending and taxes are made. Read more here from economist John Taylor.

United States Debt to GDP Ratio

Ships That Don't Move: The Global Recession Takes its Toll

The current recession has seen the biggest decline in global trade since the great depression, and can be exemplified by the ghost fleet of ships seen off the coast of Singapore, below.

As the Daily Mail writes: "The biggest and most secretive gathering of ships in maritime history lies at anchor east of Singapore. Never before photographed, it is bigger than the U.S. and British navies combined but has no crew, no cargo and no destination - and is why your Christmas stocking may be on the light side this year."

US National Income vs. The World

Here is an very interesting interactive chart comparing Gross Domestic Product around the world. Click on the image below to compare a nation's income based on region, religion, population, language, and much more.

Need Some (Facebook) Friends... Here's a price

Want some new facebook friends? You can have them easily... for a price. 7.6 cents per friend, precicesly.

As PC World Writes: "For a piddling 7.6 cents per friend, Usocial will deliver 5000 new buddies to your Facebook account. That's $654.30 worth of lovin' from people you'll never meet..."

Back in Business

Redonomics is back after a long and restful summer. Please check back for many updates this fall. Thanks for stopping by Redonomics.

Photos from Japan Trip

Great Advice on Budgeting From SNL

Global Economic Pain

Read more here from the Journal, for an excellent perspective on the global recession, and the stats show it is a bad one.

A Tough Market For College Grads

An excellent story in the Minneapolis-StarTribune today highlights the difficult job market facing college grads today:

"Just 19.7 percent of 2009 grads who applied for a job have one so far, down from 51 percent at the same point in 2007, according to a new survey by the National Association of Colleges and Employers.

Those employers say they plan to hire 22 percent fewer graduates than last year. Another survey by the group shows the average starting salary dropped 2.2 percent from the same time last year."

Let's hope these students do graduate with high-interest credit card debt in addition to their student loans. For the current unemployment rate, the worst in 25 years, check out my previous post here.Above photo: St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN

AP TEST REVIEW ON FACEBOOK

You are invited to attend an AP Economics review event on Facebook, hosted by David Mayer, a friend of mine and a Teacher at Churchill High School in San Antonio, Texas.

Here is the link:

MACRO: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=90215276873

If you have any questions, post it at this site and a highly qualified teacher will answer your question.

15,000 Views, Check it Out!

15,000 views, of video I took from these students performing Georgian music and dancing from my Study Tour to the beautiful Republic of Georgia with the Council for Economic Education. Read about it here, page three, and check out the video.

8.9%, - 5,700,000 Jobs Now Lost Since Recession Began

1st Quarter GDP Down 6.1%

Read more here, from the Wall Street Journal.

The Trillion Dollar Campaign

The Zimbabwean Newspaper, from Zimbabwe, is drawing attention to the dire situation in Zimbabwe with a Trillion dollar campaign.

From the Zimbabwean: "In Zimbabwe, the money is so worthless, that banknotes are cheap alternative to paper - meaning its cheaper to use the notes themselves for printing onto than buying the paper with the currency.. The Zimbabwean newspaper calls upon South Africans to “Fight The Regime That Crippled a Country”. The call to arms is written on worthless Zimbabwe bank notes… using billboards, wall posters and via direct mail to South Africa’s top corporate executives. The creative and eye-catching campaign has caused a stir on the streets of Johannesburg and has been reported by media around the world. One of the most eloquent symbols of Zimbabwe’s collapse is the Z$100 trillion dollar note, a symptom of its world record inflation. This note cannot buy anything, not even a loaf of bread and certainly not any advertising, but it can become the advertising - a powerful reminder about Zimbabwe’s plight and the need to hold someone accountable. The Mugabe regime has destroyed Zimbabwe. It has presided over the brutal oppression of the opposition, a cholera crisis, massive food shortages and the total collapse of the economy. Furthermore anyone brave enough to report this has been bullied, beaten and driven into exile. One such group is ‘The Zimbabwean newspaper.'"

I Know Some Call Economics The Dismal Science, But Seriously Mr. Summers...

Here is the President's Top Economics Advisor, Dr. Larry Summers, falling asleep today while the president speaks on the economy. Read more here.

Four Bears

State Job Losses Since The Recession Began

This is an interesting chart showing what states have lost the most jobs since the recession began. You can click on the map to go the the Wall Street Journal interactive activity.

A Quick Quiz of Past AP Econ Test Questions... From The N.Y. Times

Click here to take the quiz.

North Korea at Night

So as North Korea spends most of their resources on the military, there is obviously little left for everything else, like economic development and feeding their population.

Charting The Stock Market: Ups and Downs, Mostly Down

So is the market heading for a huge dip? Click on the picture to enlarge.

More Worthless Zimbabwe Paper

To Protest the massive hyperinflation, the the Zimbabwean Newspaper created an ad campaign featuring huge posters, wall murals, flyers, and even billboards all made out of trillions of Zimbabwean dollars. Check out the photos from the newspaper’s Flickr Photo Stream.

"The Mugabe regime has destroyed Zimbabwe. It has presided over the brutal oppression of the opposition, a cholera crises, massive food shortages and the total collapse of their economy. Furthermore anyone brave enough to report this has been bullied, beaten and driven into exile. One such group is ‘the Zimbabwean Newspaper’. However, not content with having hounded these journalists out, the regime has slapped an import ‘luxury’ duty of over 55% on them which makes the paper unaffordable for the average Zimbabwean. In order to subsidize the paper they need to sell it in England and South Africa, to raise the foreign currency. A unique campaign was devised to promote the paper to raise awareness and increase readership. One of the most eloquent symbols of Zimbabwe’s collapse is the Z$100 trillion dollar note, a symptom of their world record inflation. This note cannot buy anything, not even a loaf of bread and certainly not any advertising, but it can become the advertising, it can be a powerful reminder about Zimbabwe’s plight and the need to hold someone accountable. Link.

Every Breath You Take - The Fed

GDP By Country: G-20 Players

Click on the above picture for a neat interactive graphic of GDP, Debt, Inflation, and more for the G20 Countries.

There Is No Such Thing As 11,000 Free Pizzas.

That is, until some clever people found a "bailout code" and spread it on the internet, and it spread until 11,000 people bought them. Read here.

Deficit Projections: An Unsustainable Path

We've Come A Long Way... Cool Video.

World Poverty

Tyler Cowen of George Mason University and economics blog marginal revolution (below, on the right) has some excellent insight on world poverty. Check it out!

The Minnesota Timberwolves "Recession" Season Ticket Package

It looks like the Timberwolves have a very interesting marketing gimmick to sell some tickets. If you buy season tickets for the 2009-10 season and lose your job, you can get a full refund on all unused tickets. But then, as Rick Reilly says, you still have to watch the Timberwolves. The T-Wolves also cut prices on 95% of their seats. Of course the T-wolves would see an increase in the quantity demanded of tickets as they lower the price of tickets; however the demand curve could also shift to the left, decreasing demand, and reducing the advantages of this sale to the T-Wolves due to their continued futility.

... but then again, if Latrell Sprewell were still playing, how would he feed his family with this decline in revenues.

It's Getting Better All The Time

Here is what the average teenager could have bought, after a summer of work in 1949, at the minimum wage of 40 cents per hour in 1949, assuming a 12 weeks of 40 hours of work per week. This work would have generated $192 in total summer earnings (ignoring taxes). Using a Sears catalog for retail prices, $192 would have only purchased the following 4 items in 1949:
At the mimumum wage of $7.25 today, full-time summer job will generate about $3,500 this year, which would be enough to purchase the following list of 28 items (click to enlarge):
Economics professor Mark Perry says the following: "Teenagers today can afford things like cell phones with cameras, digital cameras, GPS systems, CD players, DVD players, laptop computers, and iPods that even a billionaire couldn't have purchased 20 years ago. As much as we might complain, just by being alive in the 21st century America, even if you're earning the minimum wage, you've "won first prize in the lottery of life."