Vancouver, Canada — on October 30, The Certified General Accountants Association of Canada (CGA-Canada) released a report on youth unemployment in Canada arguing that the situation is not as dire as commonly perceived. Despite the challenges experienced by unemployed youth (15 to 24 years) in Canada, hardship caused by joblessness during the most recent recession and recovery was more moderate compared to that of the recessions in the early 80s and 90s.

“Conventional thinking seems to be that the jobless situation for youth has never been so bad. It’s challenging, that’s for sure. But it has been worse,” says Anthony Ariganello, president and CEO of CGA-Canada. “The situation today is not dire and so we need to reinforce the message to youth to not despair.”

The highest level of youth unemployment during the recent recession was 15.2 percent – evidently below that experienced in the previous recessions. Youth unemployment swelled to 19.2 percent in 1983 and 17.2 percent in 1992.

And youth are finding a job quicker than any other age group. In 2011, nearly half (46.8 percent) of unemployed youth were able to find a job within 1 to 4 weeks and the average duration of unemployment experienced by youth did not exceed 11 weeks. Long-term unemployment was not common among youth either: only a small proportion (5.4 percent) of youth remained without a job for more than one year. Instead, youth is most often unemployed while transitioning from school to the labour market and only a fraction of them are jobless due to layoffs.

Despite the positive trends, the big issue is underemployment.

“Underemployment is a big issue not only for youth, but for people of all ages,” says Rock Lefebvre, co-author of the report and vice-president of Research & Standards at CGA-Canada. “And while we know how harmful underemployment is for individuals as well as to the economy, we know far less about what causes it.”

To improve the understanding of the causes of youth underemployment, CGA-Canada recommends launching a research initiative focused on the issue. Advancing the Canadian economy towards a greater reliance on higher-skilled, higher-wage jobs is also crucial.

For that, CGA-Canada encourages businesses to improve competitiveness by investing in machinery and equipment and resource and development (R&D), innovation, and aggressively expanding in foreign markets. Greater use of school-employer partnerships may help to improve the match between employers’ needs and workers’ skills as well as help youth make informed decisions about their field of study.

For more information on youth unemployment and the report, visit: www.cga.org/canada/employment.

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Globally, the drive to reinstate economic normalcy got more pronounced when, recently, China reduced its interest rate for the second time, and Bank of England injected small monetary dose in the system.

The Chinese Central Bank announced to cut its interest rates from 6.31 percent to 6 percent, a move to boost economic activity after China recorded its steepest fall in economic growth rate during the last three years.The Chinese economy grew at 8.1 percent annually, a direct impact of slow-down in exports to troubled European countries.

The stock market in China responded negatively to this latest package launched by Chinese Central Bank, with stock prices of major banks falling due to this unexpected action.Shares of the Bank of China, the China Construction Bank and the Industrial and Commercial Bank of China are likewise moving into negative territory.

Recently, the Bank of England jumped into the rough waters and signaled that it would extend its quantitative easing program in an attempt to bring back stability and pull back the economy from the roughness of recession.

Chris Williamson, Chief Economist at Markit said, while referring to English economy “The Economy is showing signs of renewed stress, with GDP likely to fall for a third Successive quarter. Even the Purchasing Managers Index, PMI surveys, the strength of which in first quarter was seen as a key factor behind the bank of England holding off on further Quantitative Easing, have not fallen to an extent that would normally be consistent with further stimulus, based on historical relationships between PMI and policy.”

He believed that quantitative easing program may not produced any formidable impact, but said that at July meeting Monetary Policy Committee might inject money into the system boosting consumer confidence. The Bank of England injected £50 billion euros of electronic money into the system, a move that might help the off-balanced economy to re-balance itself.

And, to expand the drive of monetary stimulus, the European Central Bank joined the other banks by announcing a reduction in key lending rates from one percent to .75 percent. Globally, central banks are more cautious in safeguarding their economies from the venoms of recession, which are high sensitive to events that occur in different regions and circumstances.

Over the last few years, debt crisis in the Euro Zone and financial mayhem that erupted in the US has became the prime factor for weakening and destabilizing economies in other parts of the world. All economies are inter-connected and inter-related in forms and degrees.

Theory tells us that reduction of interest rates will lower the cost of borrowing, and thus will be able to draw the borrower an inch closer to borrowing  and effectively turn policy into real remedy. With fall in interest rates corporations find it easy to rely on borrowing because repayment will be less burdensome, since now corporations are required to pay lesser then earlier and finally leading to rise in production.

The hope is that monetary aid extended by central banks in various countries and diverse regions of the world might help the wheel of economic activity to gain velocity.

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Greenville, U.S.A.  – Emerald House Publishing today announced the release of a new children’s book, Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream. Written and illustrated to restore faith in the American dream, the book tells the story of a young boy, who through his faith, imagination and entrepreneurial spirit, sets out to achieve the American dream.

Taking place during the Great Recession, the story begins with Abraham learning that his Mother and Father had recently lost their jobs. With Christmas not far away, and his parents unable to buy gifts for him and his sister, Abraham desperately wants to save Christmas for his family; however, the reality is he too, has no money. But dreams can come true … where there’s a will and a way!

“Our mission with Abraham’s Journey is to inspire today’s youth, by instilling in them the values, principles and virtues necessary to achieve the American dream,” says co-author Robert Basmadjian. “As we make preparations to celebrate Independence Day, I am reminded of the freedoms and principles that our forefathers fought so valiantly to secure and protect. Through their courage, perseverance and sacrifice, they laid down the foundation for the ‘American dream’ and a better way of life for their children. It is this same spirit that inspired us to write Abraham’s Journey.”

According to co-author Kathleen Basmadjian, Abraham’s Journey was written to teach children about the importance of self-reliance and personal responsibility and their role in achieving the American dream. “Today, our children face tremendous hardship and adversity, threatening the American dream’s very existence. Unless we as parents, educators and community leaders teach our children and grandchildren about this unique American ideal, the American dream could be lost forever. Through the eyes of Abraham, we hope to provide children and young teens with an imaginative and inspirational story that will help them to celebrate their very own American dream journey.”

Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg , civil rights leader Martin Luther King, Jr., and famed pilot Amelia Earhart all make appearances in the pages of Abraham’s Journey: A Celebration of the American Dream.

About the Authors

Husband and wife authors Robert and Kathleen Basmadjian currently live in New Jersey. Robert holds a Masters in communications from William Patterson College and Kathleen has a PhD in biology from The Catholic University of America.

Image Courtesy of  spirit of america / Shutterstock.com

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Rio de Janeiro, Brazil – Tony Blair and a group of international statesmen and business leaders on June 19 said that a “clean revolution” – a step change in investment in renewable energy and clean technology – was needed to lead the world out of recession.
In an open letter, they said: “We have a historic opportunity to lead the world out of recession and into a more stable, sustainable future. The ‘Clean Revolution’ is essential if we want to ensure we save our economies from the crippling costs of runaway climate change, and create meaningful jobs and enhance energy security.”

The signatories of the open letter are backing the launch in Rio of the Clean Revolution campaign, a major initiative by The Climate Group and a range of government and business partners that calls for a ‘green growth’ push out of global recession.

Tony Blair, in a speech, added: “The Clean Revolution is the expressway to the Green Economy. Because of the current financial crisis, acting on climate change is more than ever before an opportunity to lead the world out of recession and to tackle the increasing geopolitical tensions created by the lack of energy security.”

Among the campaign’s backers to date are Philips and Suzlon, a major Asian wind turbine manufacturer, as well as other businesses and venture capitalists in China and the United States.

“Government and business leaders are realizing the opportunity in the Clean Revolution and are already leading the world into a more sustainable future. But it needs to happen faster. We need a step change. And it begins, today, at Rio+20,” said Mark Kenber, CEO, The Climate Group.

Speakers at the Clean Revolution launch event in Rio included Prince Albert of Monaco, Quebec’s PremierJean Charest, The World Bank’s Special Envoy for Climate Change, Andrew Steer, Georg Kell, UN Global Compact Executive Director, senior representatives from Phillips, Suzlon and the Dutch Postcode Lottery as well as Professor Wang Yi of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, one of the key architects of China’s low carbon strategy.

“We should not expect global rules to guide us though this ‘make or break’ decade.” Instead it will be voluntary leadership that will demonstrate that success is not only possible, but also profitable, and which in turn will inspire others to act. The Clean Revolution Initiative is designed to move things across the tipping point. We’re proud to be part of it,” said Andrew Steer, Special Envoy for Climate Change, The World Bank.

The Climate Group has launched a new website  and a series of research reports demonstrating success stories of ‘clean revolutions’ under way in different parts of the world.

The Clean Revolution is a partnership of international statesmen and governments, business leaders and corporations, thinkers and opinion formers. It is coordinated by The Climate Group. It calls for a swift, massive scale-up of clean energy and infrastructure, and of smart technologies and design.

The initiative aims to create a tipping point for change by inspiring government and business leaders. It presents them with the evidence of the economic opportunities of the Clean Revolution, and profiles how innovative leadership is already transforming policies and markets around the world.

Image Courtesy of  Toni Blair

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Dearborn, U.S.A – For more than a century Ford Motor Company has been a leading automotive industry innovator, launching breakthroughs in areas as diverse as manufacturing, safety, propulsion systems and vehicle design. On 31 May 2012 Ford is reaching beyond its boundaries to encourage entrepreneurship and the sharing of ideas to facilitate innovation that can help not only the company, but more importantly, the community at large to create a better world.

“There was a time not so long ago in this business when ideas that were ‘not invented here’ got easily dismissed,” says William Coughlin, CEO, Ford Global Technologies, a wholly owned subsidiary of Ford Motor Company that manages the company’s intellectual property portfolio. “The competitive pressures in the auto industry today are greater than ever, with demands for improving quality, safety, technology and of course fuel efficiency, so we are both encouraging and looking for new ideas wherever we can find them.”

Ford is launching several major initiatives to support entrepreneurship and surface technological innovation in southeast Michigan. In addition to the recent improvement to the Patent Incentive Program that provides Ford employee inventors with a three-month free membership to TechShop Detroit, Ford is also looking for new ideas from outside.

“TechShop is a place where entrepreneurs and other makers have access to over one million dollars of tools, software and high-end equipment that allow them to rapidly and inexpensively prototype,” said Mark Hatch, CEO of TechShop. “Innovation happens when you add community and crowdsourcing into the mix – which is exactly what the Motor City Innovation Exchange will do for our members, the automotive industry and anyone in the greater Detroit area who has an idea they want to turn into a reality.”

Motor City Innovation Exchange, AutoHarvest and TechTown

Creators with ideas that have been fleshed out need to put them into action and that’s where the Motor City Innovation Exchange comes into play.

“Bringing TechShop to Detroit was the critical first step in the creation of the Innovation Exchange,” says Coughlin. “It will be an open meeting place that will enable inventors to showcase what they create in TechShop and then negotiate, network and even sell their prototyped solutions to players in the automotive industry, from manufacturers and suppliers to research institutions and startups.”

The Innovation Exchange is also a physical extension of Detroit-based AutoHarvest Foundation, a nonprofit organization set up by several respected automotive executives to facilitate connections between the industry and Metro Detroit’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. Ford Global Technologies, along with other automakers, suppliers, universities and research centers actively support AutoHarvest. The goal is to build a vibrant marketplace for licensing technological innovation across and beyond the auto industry.

Until now, there has been a major disconnect between having a great idea and being able to sell or license it to companies that can actually put it to use. For those not already in the industry, making the right connections to present a new concept or product has been a daunting task. AutoHarvest and Innovation Exchange hope to provide a platform for commercializing the intellectual property created by everyday inventors, industry insiders, universities and research labs.

TechTown, the Wayne State University business incubator, will hold regular “office hours” sessions at Innovation Exchange to provide informal business support to TechShop members and other innovators. Exchange participants will be able to take advantage of free or low-cost workshops on a variety of relevant topics presented by TechTown instructors.

“Innovation Exchange is all about helping to spread the word about the innovation happening both inside and outside of TechShop, and giving the creators the foundational resources they need to understand how to sell and commercialize their idea and connect with the right players while respecting their intellectual property,” says Coughlin.

Jump Start Program

TechShop members with big ideas for a startup and a need for affordable working space can participate in a new Jump Start Program that offers discounted rental rates in Ford Land buildings in the Allen Park and Dearborn area.

Because of the diversity of projects being developed at TechShop, Ford Land will be flexible in providing suitable space that fits the specific needs of participants. The space, including locations adjacent to TechShop Detroit, can be used by individuals or small businesses for a variety of purposes including office, garage, lab and assembly use. Interested TechShop members can access information at http://fordland.com.

“Supporting innovation and entrepreneurialism benefits the entire region,” said Donna Inch, chairman and CEO, Ford Land. “By lowering startup costs, we will enable more businesses to get off the ground and have a better chance of being successful.”

“Like every industry, the automobile business was built and thrived on innovation,” said Coughlin. “As personal transportation is reinvented in the 21st century, the challenges facing the industry are greater than ever and fresh ideas are essential to success.”

“Ford is pleased to be leading the way through its connections with TechShop, AutoHarvest Foundation and TechTown,” he added.

Image Courtesy of  Darren Brode / Shutterstock.com

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The Spanish economy is currently trapped in the heavy shackles of debt, leading to harsh spending cuts and perhaps intolerable levels of financial hardship among the people. This became more evident when Standard and Poors (S&P) downgraded Spain’s rating by two notches.

Spain’s rating was downgraded from an A to a BBB+. This is the second time the rating was lowered within a year, leading to widespread fear and uncertainty over Spain’s fiscal conditions. Unfortunately, this is just part of an overload of bad news for Spain, along with unemployment reaching a record high of 24.4 percent and confirmation from the central bank that Spain is in recession for the second time in three years.

Debt and budgetary problems appear sovereign, but others should not be impacted even by its sheer scale. The problem is the movement of capital between nations, leading to the vicious cycle of debt. When fiscal imbalances erupted in Greece a few years back, they seemed to have transmitted unequivocally, like a deadly virus. After Greece’s announcement, another debt bomb exploded in Italy, again in Spain, and again in Portugal. Greece was the first of  multiple incidences of crisis.

Countries in debt struggle with a clash of recession and fiscal inefficiency in terms of debt management. One smooth way to get rid of debt is to increase tax rates so that the state can repay it and reduce interest burden. But a tax rate increase requires sound and consistent growth rate, which can rarely be found in the short-term.

Another major problem associated with public debt is a rise in the cost of borrowing in domestic as well as international markets, leading to complications in finding sources to repay it. In Spain, the economy contracted by o.3 percent in the last quarter of 2011. Bringing back a growth rate that can complement a rise in tax rates is a distant dream in the short term. On an annual basis, GDP slipped by 0.4 percent.

Debt problems have both micro and macroeconomic implications. At the microeconomic level, the households feel the heat of debt in terms of a rise in cost of living and a rise in interest rate in the initial stages of a problem.

At the macroeconomic level, public debt seems to grow if the ratio of debt to GDP is bigger. According to Global Finance magazine, Spanish Debt-GDP ratio was 56 percent in 2009. In 2012, the  ratio stood at 79.8 percent, a troublesome turnaround.

Out of the 100 percent of what a country produces, it is required to pay almost 80 percent to creditors, even at a time when the economy is struggling to get back to normalcy. If, somehow, a country reduces its debt load, then stiffer austerity measures are hardly necessary.

Smooth functioning of the economy acts as a cushion while fighting with debt. Because debt and growth in GDP are inversely related, when the GDP growth rate is higher debt can easily be warded off. But when the debt component is greater than GDP rate, the country faces crisis.

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The U.S., Japan and Australia are expected to escape recession over the next 12 months, with the U.S. economy now expected to expand by 2.9 percent over the period, according to the Spring Outlook report from Mellon Capital Management Corporation, part of BNY Mellon Asset Management.

Excluding the U.S., Japan and Australia, most developed countries are expected to experience a mild recession over the next year, with European countries at the highest risk, the report said.

“The U.S. economy is continuing to strengthen and we now put the probability of anemic U.S. growth at less than five percent,” said Lex Huberts, president of Mellon Capital. ”This is a significant improvement from September, when the probability was closer to 20 percent that the U.S. economy would grow at less than two percent over the next year.”

Mellon Capital generates its own proprietary measure of leading economic indicators (LEI), with an LEI level of slightly less than 100 indicating, in Mellon Capital’s view, a significant probability of a mild economic contraction.  All major developed countries except the U.S., Japan and Australia currently have readings below 100.  Southern peripheral countries in Europe have the lowest LEI, but France, Great Britain and Germany also appear weak, all below 99, signaling the likelihood of at least a mild recession, according to the report.

“Looking at our forward estimates of economic fundamentals, we are cautiously optimistic on stocks given the signs of economic recovery in the U.S., positive steps toward resolving the euro area debt crisis and the general stabilization of earnings forecasts in Europe,” said Huberts.  “However, tensions with Iran are a concern.”

The report also notes that Mellon Capital is moderately positive on commodities, favors emerging markets equities and favors the Australian dollar and Canadian dollar among developed market currencies at this time.

Gabriela Parcella, chief executive officer of Mellon Capital, said, “We are seeing growing interest in our global asset allocation and alternatives strategies as institutions increasingly recognize the opportunities for investing in the current economic environment.”

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President Obama told a packed audience of supporters in Vermont on Friday that America faces a stark choice between a society based on “shared responsibility” and a society “where you’re on your own.” He pledged to continue his efforts to equalize the tax burden and to push legislation which he believes will continue to create jobs and strengthen the economy.

Speaking of his rivals in the Republican presidential primary, Obama said, “Their philosophy is simple: in America, you’re on your own. If you’re out of work and can’t find a job, too bad; you’re on your own. If you get sick and don’t have healthcare, you’re own your own. If you’re born into poverty, you’re supposed to pull yourself up by your own bootstraps, even if you don’t have boots.” He continued, “They believe that’s how America advanced. That’s their cramped, narrow conception of liberty, and they are wrong.”

Obama said the Republican philosophy is reflected in their efforts to cut government programs such as Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security, deregulate the banks, and create a tax structure that favors the wealthy. That is the same approach that caused the recession in 2008, he said.

“The recovery is happening,” said Obama. “In three years, we’ve created four million new jobs. We’ve rescued the American auto industry. American manufacturing is stronger than it’s been in years. I know there are still a lot of people out of work, and things haven’t gone as fast as we would like, but the last thing we can afford to do is go back to the same policies that caused this mess in the first place.”

Obama’s speech at the University of Vermont in Burlington was the first leg of a fundraising tour through New England. He drew laughs from the heavily partisan crowd when he pointed out that he was the first American president to visit the state in 17 years. President George W. Bush avoided Vermont, a perennial stronghold of the Democratic party and bastion of liberal politics, through all eight years of his presidency. President Bill Clinton visited the state during his first term.

“We’re going the reset the clock on that,” he said. “We love you,” shouted a woman in the audience. “Love you back,” Obama responded, drawing more laughs and cheers.

While avoiding the Supreme Court hearings on his healthcare reform bill, Obama touted the benefits of the law and said it has already had a positive impact. “Two and a half million more young people now have health insurance because they’re allowed to stay on their parents plans until they’re 26,” said Obama. “Seniors have already saved hundreds of millions on their Medicare prescription drug benefits. The healthcare reform we’ve passed will ensure that no one will go broke just because they got sick.”

He said the Republican party originally supported many of the ideas included in the healthcare reform law and that their uncooperative, anti-government attitude is something new. He said some of the country’s greatest achievements, such as the GI Bill, the space program, and the interstate highway system, were only possible with bipartisan support.

“There used to be a common spirit of cooperation, but not anymore, at least not in Washington D.C.,” said Obama. “But outside of Washington, most Americans understand that no matter who you are or where you’re from, we rise and fall as one people.”

Obama concluded by telling his supporters not to be discouraged by the opposition to the changes and improvements he promised when he ran for office in 2008.

“I told you change would not be easy,” said Obama. “I’m not a perfect man – Michelle will tell you that. But I promised I would keep fighting as hard as possible for positive change, and I have kept that promise. We’ll keep working until we’ve finished what we started in 2008. Press on with me. Press on, and we’ll remind the world what America is all about.”

Image Courtesy of    Ryan Rodrick Beiler / Shutterstock.com

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The Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA) and the Social IMPACT Research Center released a new analysis that highlights how large cuts to human services, which provide supports for some of the most vulnerable people in the state, will send shockwaves through the state’s economy.

The new research, entitled Ramifications of State Budget Cuts to Human Services: Increases Job Loss, Decreases economic Activity, Harms Vulnerable Populations, shows these cuts could result in nearly 4,000 lost jobs and a $458.5 million loss to Illinois’s economy.

While budget discussions are just beginning, the three year budget projection issued by the Governor’s Office of Management and Budget as part of the new Budgeting for Results process indicates that the human services budget area will receive a significant cut of $350 million dollars from Financial Year2012 to Financial Year 2013.

Faced with cuts of this magnitude, human services providers will reduce hours, lay off staff, close facilities, or do all of these things. Not only does this impact thousands of Illinoisans who rely on these programs, but the cuts will have a direct economic consequence on the state.

Since most human services are delivered by private, nonprofit businesses, the vast majority of the economic effects will land on the private sector. When organizations providing human services must cut programs and reduce services, these actions ripple through the economy causing job loss in communities and sectors all across Illinois.

More broadly, cuts to human services will translate directly into decreased economic activity statewide, and the report shows that could result in a loss of $458.5 million to the economy. The actual negative economic impact of a cut to the human services budget exceeds the actual size of the cut since spending on human services generates $1.31 of economic activity for every $1 spent. In other words, state funding to human services functions as an economic engine and removing it from the economic chain has serious consequences:

“By cutting human services funding further in the next budget Illinois is lengthening the time it will take to fully recover from the Great Recession,” said Yerik Kaslow, Director of Education and Social Policy Analysis at the Center for Tax and Budget Accountability and co-author of the report.

“Since human services are often the most cost-effective approaches to treating and solving social problems, with these cuts we are allowing social problems to become more entrenched and more difficult to address, which sets the stage for more costs to all Illinois taxpayers.”

This is not simply a point-in-time issue—cuts to human services accumulate: the $1.64 billion dollar cumulative underfunding of human services since 2002 likely led to the loss of over 18,000 private sector jobs in Illinois over that same period. As of October 2011, the State had a backlog of bills to human service providers totaling nearly $459 million, which has the effect of withholding over $600 million from the Illinois economy.

Illinois is in the midst of recovering from the worst recession in two generations. Job growth and increased economic activity are of paramount concern to voters and lawmakers alike. Ramifications of State Budget Cuts to Human Services provides evidence that public spending on human services serves as an economic stimulus for jobs and private spending in the broader Illinois economy.

Adequate public spending also has the longer-range benefits of avoiding future social problems and associated costs. In light of this, cuts to human services are short-sighted and detrimental to Illinois’s economy.

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The Plastic Packaging Market 2012-2022 is Visiongain ‘s new materials report for readers globally. Although the overall packaging industry was severely impacted by the economic recession, the plastic packaging market is gradually gaining significance through the latest technologies and enhanced products in the vast global packaging industry.

The global plastic packaging market is a steadily growing market which is expected to follow a modest growth rate in mature markets and a progressive above average growth rate in emerging markets. Visiongain calculates that the global plastic packaging market will reach $196.42bn in 2012.

Whilst the recession impacted demand for all types of packaging; upcoming environmental issues, changing consumer needs, high disposable incomes and improved packaging products, have resulted in sturdy growth for plastic packaging. Visiongain expects the global packaging market and in particular, the plastic packaging market to demonstrate solid growth in line with previously expected growth rates.

The emerging economies, which in total maintained positive growth during the crisis, will continue to register strong growth, driving demand for sustainable, lightweight, user-friendly and enhanced plastic packaging products in the coming decade. Plastics have increasingly replaced traditional materials in the packaging industry because of their lightweight and superior functionality. Although the consumption of flexible plastic packaging is growing at a rapid pace, rigid plastic packaging still holds the majority of the market.

A key trend that has been beneficial to growth has been a shift by the consumer to consumption at home. In an attempt to save money, many consumers are attempting to re-create the dining out experience at home, with intelligently packaged ready meals. As such plastic packaging applications are increasing in the food & beverage sectors. Also, the sub-markets of the consumer plastic packaging industry continue to rapidly develop, with stand out growth rates being witnessed in the personal care and healthcare sectors in particular.

The plastic packaging market stands immune to the recent economic downturn as technological advancements related to lightweight, convenient and sustainable packaging will retain its demand in the industry. Furthermore, key industry players and manufacturers are opting for better materials made from renewable sources for packaging purposes thus keeping them out of the landfills.

Environmental-friendliness and sustainability have become basic qualifying criterions for all packaging products. In this regard, the plastic packaging market is at a distinctive advantage since with the advent of biodegradable plastic and bio-plastic, the plastic packaging market has gained an edge over other packaging materials, which makes it easier to recycle, reduce and reuse and raise its eco-friendly profile.

The global plastic packaging industry is expected to exhibit solid growth, driven by three major drivers – escalating demand for lightweight and sustainable packaging solutions; healthier and better lifestyles worldwide; and rapidly developing emerging markets with improved disposable incomes and growing consumer demand for plastic packaging across all submarkets.

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According to an Institute for Women’s Policy Research analysis of the January employment report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, women’s employment now appears to be rising, and the past three months saw equal job growth for men and women (206,000 for each). This is good news for women since their job growth has substantially lagged behind men’s for most of the recovery.

In December, women gained 89,000 jobs, while men gained 111,000. The revised numbers for October and November show 117,000 new jobs for women since September compared with 95,000 for men.

Overall, job growth in the United States was moderate in December with 200,000 jobs added to nonfarm payrolls. This is up from 100,000 new jobs in November, but down slightly from 210,000 added in September.

From December 2010 to December 2011, of the 1.6 million jobs added to payrolls, only 521,000, or 32 percent, were filled by women, whereas 1,119,000, or 68 percent, were filled by men. Despite progress in the last quarter, the gap between women’s and men’s employment in December remains at 1.5 million.

Men are recovering more quickly than women, but the jobs recovery is slow for both men and women. Women have regained about one out of four (23 percent) of the total jobs they lost in the recession while men have gained more than one out of three (34 percent). (IWPR calculates job loss in the recession from December 2007 to the trough for each gender. Men’s employment trough was in January 2010, while women’s was in September 2010.)

The unemployment rate remained steady from November to December for women aged 16 and older (8.3 percent), but fell for men (from 8.9 percent to 8.7 percent). Some of the apparent improvement is due to workers ending their job search and no longer being counted among the unemployed.

Overall, the civilian labor force (those employed or unemployed and actively seeking work) shrank by 50,000 between November and December. However, this figure represents the net change of a loss of 82,000 female labor force participants and a gain of 32,000 male labor force participants.

Fewer women left the labor force in December compared with November. For those unemployed, the average or mean duration of unemployment has been 40.8 weeks. Half of those unemployed have been so for a median average of 21.0 weeks or longer.

One reason why men are doing better than women at this point in the recession is that women are a disproportionate share of state and local government workers; those levels of government are still shedding jobs, though their job loss has slowed. In December, the private sector added 212,000 jobs, while government employment fell by 12,000 jobs. Job growth was strong in retail trade, transportation and warehousing, and healthcare and social assistance.

While private sector employment grew by 1.9 million workers from December 2010 to December 2011, 280,000 government jobs were lost. This difference in job growth across sectors disproportionately affects women who represent 57 percent of workers in the public sector compared with 48 percent in the private sector.

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Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke painted a gloomy picture of the economy when he testified before the Joint Economic Committee on Capitol Hill. Bernanke told members of Congress that the economic recovery was “close to faltering.” He said that the Federal Reserve had taken great pains to promote economic growth, but it cannot be expected to singlehandedly avert a financial crisis.

“Monetary policy can be a powerful tool, but it is not a panacea for the problems currently faced by the U.S. economy,” he said. “Fostering healthy growth and job creation is a shared responsibility of all economic policy makers.”

The underlying theme of Bernanke’s testimony was that America’s economic growth had been diminished by world events such as the earthquake in Japan and the ongoing wrangle over European debt. The economy has also been undermined from within by domestic problems such as the weak housing market and depressed consumer confidence.

“Consumer behavior has both reflected and contributed to the slow pace of recovery,” he said. “Households have been very cautious in their spending decisions, as declines in house prices and in the values of financial assets have reduced household wealth, and many families continue to struggle with high debt burdens or reduced access to credit.”

Bernanke went on to say that, although prices have risen more sharply than expected over the past year, he expects the situation to stabilize soon. Until now, Bernanke suggested that the economy would recover as long as the government did not interfere. However, in today’s testimony, he appeared to advocate a more proactive role for the government, and he urged legislators to keep four goals in mind when crafting policy.

First, he urged the government to tackle the national debt in the hopes of securing long-term fiscal responsibility. While he welcomed the creation of a Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction, he cautioned that much more would need to be done in order to guarantee fiscal sustainability.

Second, Bernanke urged the government to avoid actions that might imperil the economic recovery, such as deep short-term spending cuts. Under the circumstances, legislators could be forgiven for wondering if this was not in conflict with his call to reduce the deficit, but Bernanke assured them that this was not the case.

“These first two objectives are certainly not incompatible, as putting in place a credible plan for reducing future deficits over the longer term does not preclude attending to the implications of fiscal choices for the recovery in the near term,” he said. The government’s third goal should be crafting policies that promote long-term growth and economic opportunity.

“As a nation, we need to think carefully about how federal spending priorities and the design of the tax code affect the productivity and vitality of our economy in the longer term,” he said. Finally, Bernanke called on the government to reform its budgeting process. He urged legislators to work out a system that was more transparent and less likely to cause market disruptions due to partisan wrangling.

Bernanke’s comments come amidst mounting pessimism regarding the state of the US economy. Last week, the Economic Cycle Research Institute warned its clients that America was headed toward a new recession. “If you think this is a bad economy, you haven’t seen anything yet. And that has profound implications for both Main Street and Wall Street,” they said.
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President Obama unveiled his eagerly awaited jobs plan recently, which might bring fresh hope and confidence to the economy and to the lives of people in America. The plan is mix of deliberate adjustment of expenditure and taxation, with a purpose to assist the ailing U.S. out of the recovery bed.

The President revealed what many have seen as a second stimulus package to lift the economy from recession. He proposed mild ramifications with fiscal tools, deductions in payroll taxes and extending the spendings on infrastructure and other alternatives to get the economy running again.

In order to increase activity, a mix of tax cuts and spendings on schools and roads, aid to teachers and assistance to the unemployed was announced. The total cost of the plan is $447 billion of which $253 billion will go to tax-cuts and $194 to new spendings. A select part of the bill could become law and provide a measure of support for the economy.

The best component to win the congress’ approval is the payroll tax cuts. Reduction in tax rates will give more purchasing power to the consumer, which eventually should push demands upwards. Currently employees normally pay 6 percent if their income in tax, but in the future, they may become liable to pay only 4.2 percent. A reduction of 2 percent.

Fundamentally, the Obama administration wants to put more people to work and increase spending so that a weakened demand may get strengthened and help bring back certainty in economic activity.

The $447 billion cost program is nearly half of the stimulus package announced by the President in 2009, and reflects the severity of the economic crisis. When the economy is weak, governments will often launch ambitious analysis to find out the root cause of the problem, and upon successfully finding it, they design policy to curb or mitigate its impact on the economy.

As in this case, Obama proposed a National Infrastructure bank which would cost $10 billion to establish, but which would pay for new public construction projects like local roads, bridges and mass transit systems.

Furthermore, the president outlined new spending program for school modernization (at least 35,000 public schools) with total spending of $25 billion. In an effort to provide benefits to jobless people, the plan sets aside $62 billion for unemployment insurance to continue supporting the jobless.

Many economists say that the American government must put billions of dollars into the economy to keep it from sinking into recession, but no proposal is ever be without criticism. Nigel Gault, Chief Economist with HIS Global Insight said “If you give somebody a tax cut and they just save it, then there no jobs created”.
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The possibility of the European Economy inviting the double dip recession is almost certain. Experts say Greece will not be able to pay all of its debt. The fate of Europe and European Economy depends on how effectively countries entangled in debt crisis mitigate its impact.

European leaders, and especially leaders of devastated public finance systems, have lost sleep in order to keep the pulse of their economy beating. They are on the brink of collapse that might potentially drag-back the world economic growth rate to lowest in a decade.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) and European Union (EU) have been attempting to keep the country solvent to avoid another recession hitting already weak global economy. The most outrageous shock will be on the EU banking industry as a whole, since European banks parked heavy doses of money into sovereign debt in the region.

Of all 17 nation bloc of Europe, exposure of France to Greek debt is $56.7bn, German exposure is $33.9bn, and the UK is $14.6bn. The EU and IMF agreed on 110bn Euros of bailout funds for Greece last year and again this year in July a further provision of 109bn Euros was agreed upon.

In July, European leaders agreed to provide an additional 109bn Euros bailout to Greece as it again came on the verge to default. Even so Greek Economy never settled on to that and situation got much worse. The problem with Greece, Italy, Spain, Ireland, and Portugal in a broader sense, is that they all were living beyond their means.

Over the last 5 years, the fiscal gap had been drenching wider and wider. All these nations had been spending far from revenue which led them to put reliance on debt, and because of this, the debt balloon is so big that it will possibly burst. According to Gary Jenkins, the head of fixed income research at Evolution securities, the timing of a Greek default remains in the hands of the troika (EU, ECB, and IMF), and it is difficult to believe that it will pull the plug at this stage.

Louise cooper, Market analyst at BCG Partners, shared his opinion on the situation. “I’m not sure that more austerity will help, which is troika demanding. What is needed is deep structural reform, which neither the Greek electorate or political class seem to have much appetite for.”

A recent report included a plan to eliminate 25,000 public sector employees hired last year, but according to spokesman for the European commission, Amadeus Altafaj-Tardio, new austerity measures aren’t on the table but negotiations are underway for full-fledged compliance with earlier agreed measures.

With drastic drop in public expenditure on various socio-economic fronts there has been wide-spread anger and violent protest in Greece so far this year. Greek default may sky-rocket cost of borrowing in the region and potentially Europe may face credit crunch which will be greatest hindrance to weak economies of the region.

If Greece somehow manages for an orderly default that might push repayments a decade ahead so confidence in the region might not get shaken completely or otherwise trust in the euro zone may be shattered forever. In its semi-annual World Economic Outlook, IMF gave a statement saying, “Global Activity has weakened and became more uneven; confidence has fallen sharply recently; and downside risks are growing.”

The Fund further said, “Greek default already affecting the world economy. Coupled with the economic slowdown in the United States and the impact of the Japanese earthquake, Europe’s debt crisis is putting the global recovery at risk.”
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With the recent near-default of the American government, we are forced to take a closer look at the dark rabbit hole that has become the federal budget. A short plunge into history will surface in a debate of the politics of the current financial crisis: Over the past century, the world has changed dramatically, contributing to and resulting from globalization.

Like the domino effect, once science reached a certain point of innovation, the world population exploded, creating a systematic and uncontrollable increase in both processes over the following years. The U.S. government reflects a clear example of this incredulous expansion. The 20^th century saw America transform from an infant nation into the leading nation of efficiency, compassion, and modernity.

At the helm of the 1900’s, the U.S. government consumed merely 6.9 percent of Gross Domestic Product (GDP, a minority of which was due to federal spending. However, World War I brought a kick to spending, and culminating at about 12 percent of GDP in the 1920s.

President Roosevelt and the New Deal brought spending up to 20 percent during the Great Depression, but it was during World War II that government spending peaked to 53 percent of GDP in 1945. In terms of government spending, the post -World War II era marked itself as the Golden Age, despite President Clinton’s 1995 declaration that big government spending has finally come to an end.

Immediately after WWII, spending dropped to 21 percent, but by the recession of 1980-82, hit a peak of 36 percent. Government spending averaged 32 percent of GDP until the disastrous recession of 2008, in which spending surged to wartime-like spending, 45 percent, thanks to bank and automotive industry bailouts.

      VS.    

The federal budget for the 2011 fiscal year outlines exactly what the enormous percentage of the GDP amounts to. As seen in the pie chart below, courtesy of usgovernmentspending.com, the $3.8 trillion in expenditures is divided into 5 categories, in descending order of dollars spent: defense, healthcare, pensions, “other”, and welfare.

Defense, 25 percent of the budget, plunders a whopping one trillion dollars. Health follows at a close second with $0.9 trillion, or 23 percent. Pensions, at 21 percent, translate to $0.8 trillion. Welfare constitutes 13 percent of the budget with $0.5 trillion, with the remaining 18 percent pulling $0.6 trillion – including, but not limited to, education.

According to USA Today, the national debt has mounted to such a number that, to repay it entirely, each American household would have to fork over a whopping $668,621. In other words, with absolutely 0% interest, the most manageable payment plan would involve a $13,364 annual payment for the next 50 years per household, or approximately the annual tuition rate for a state-subsidized public American university.

To clarify, this number is only the amount of debt as it stands today, not the additional debt of next year, the year after, etc.

The level of debt has become so outrageous that, last month, the United States government was forced to raise its debt ceiling or face default. The latter decision would have crippled the government, rendering it incapable of basic function and placing the civil population into very real danger.

Welfare and public education would eventually become inaccessible, and troops abroad would be marooned without funding. Additionally, a debt default would have led to an enormous depreciation of the dollar and possible another global recession, due to a reduction in worth of all dollar-back assets worldwide.

Luckily, the Senate cobbled together a last minute compromise that left much to be desired. This heartbreaking piece of work was the result of months of partisan bickering and head-butting. As a result, the DJIA drop 1500 points in little over a week, and the S&P graciously downgraded U.S. debt for the first time in history.

How this will affect the American economy remains to be seen, but the future surely is not bright. Think the government can tighten their belts and spend within their limits? If it means we all must draw back a little bit, then here’s a rally towards a healthy economy in the unfortunately far off future.
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The latest numbers emerged from the federal government. Although the recession technically ended, someone should tell the rest of America. According to the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual Income, Poverty, and Health Insurance Coverage report for 2010, poverty increased to 15.1 percent in 2010.

A total of 46.2 million people are in poverty, the highest number since the government started tracking poverty in the 1950s. “Income down, poverty up, health insurance coverage down or flat,” said Ron Haskins, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, in a statement.

“The news on economic well-being in the U.S. is not good. Worse, children’s poverty increased for the fourth year in a row and at 22 percent is the highest since 1993. Child poverty has been higher than the 2010 level in only three years since the mid-1960s.” Poverty is defined by family size and income.

The federal government considers a family of four with annual earnings of less than $22,314 to be poor. In 2010, 9.2 million families lived in poverty, up from 8.8 million in 2009. Poverty increased among every racial and ethnic group except Asian Americans.  The share of white Americans living in poverty grew to 13 percent, up from 12.3 percent in 2009.

African Americans and Latinos saw similar increases in poverty and remained significantly more likely to be poor than whites. In 2010, black poverty climbed to 27.4 percent from 25.8 percent in 2009, and Latino poverty reached 26.6 percent, up from 25.3 percent in 2009.

The uninsured continues to rise as well. The share of Americans covered by private health insurance continued its decade-long fall. Nearly 50 million Americans lacked health insurance in 2010, an increase of 900,000 from the previous year. The number of Americans who participate in a government health insurance program, however, continued its four-year climb.

Alice O’Connor, a historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and author of “Poverty Knowledge: Social Science, Social Policy and the Poor in Twentieth Century U.S. History,” said explanations for rising poverty often focus on the work ethic and personal choices of the poor.

But since the Great Recession, she said, a growing number of Americans have come to understand that the availability of living-wage jobs plays a large role in determining a family’s economic state. Despite that recognition, O’Connor said many still fail to understand the role social policies — such as those that make collective bargaining difficult or tax income from work and investments differently — contribute to increased poverty.

She noted that public health insurance programs for poor children and adults and cash welfare assistance, among other social safety net measures, have seen significant cuts in many cash-strapped states. And many workers — particularly men — are effectively earning less than they did three decades ago, while also lacking access to health insurance and other benefits. ”

What we are looking at today is really the result of decades of eroded protections for workers and just a declining number of good jobs,” said O’Connor.

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Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has launched his own jobs plan ahead of the president’s address to the nation on Thursday. On Tuesday, Romney detailed his 59 specific proposals to improve the nation’s economy and create jobs.

“At best, government can provide a framework in which economic growth can occur. All too often, however, government gets in the way,” Romney wrote in an opinion piece in USA Today that previewed his 160-page plan. “The past three years of unparalleled government expansion have retaught that lesson all too well.”

Romney’s plan, no surprise, includes lowering the tax rate for corporations to encourage more corporations to keep profits in the U.S. This comes just weeks after Romney stated that “corporations are people.” Romney also proposes to eliminate tax on interests, capital gains and dividends. Romney’s campaign stated that these proposals specifically target middle class Americans, however few middle class Americans pay those types of taxes.

Romney criticized Obama for expanding federal regulations. He announced a proposal to ensure that new regulations at government agencies do not cost money. If a new set of rules raises costs for businesses, Romney would require that a different set of regulations be eliminated.

“I have spent most of my career in the private sector starting new businesses and turning around ailing ones. Unlike career politicians who’ve never met a payroll, I know why jobs come and go,” Romney wrote in USA Today, again a jab at Texas Gov. Rick Perry, who has held public office since he was elected as a Texas state representative in 1985.

Democrats criticized Romney’s plan, even before he rolled it out. Brad Woodhouse, a spokesman for the Democratic Party, said: “Mitt Romney has promised an economic plan that is bold and sweeping. But if the past months have shown anything, what Americans are really likely to get is more of the same tired rhetoric and worn out ideas which have failed America in the past.”

Although there is nothing new or different in this plan (lower taxes, reduce regulations), at least Romney is proposing something. The Republican Party in general has not offered any real solutions to the economy. The Republicans are known as the “Party of No” for a reason.

They are quick to criticize the president, congress and everyone else without suggesting any alternatives. Of course, the hocus pocus magic of lowering taxes and reducing regulations does not help the economy (see: George W. Bush’s 8 years) but  Mittens is trying to set himself apart in the crowded GOP field.

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Republican front runner Rick Perry was quick to criticize another stimulus plan, while offering no suggestions on how he plans to boost the economy. The Texas governor said on Monday in Tulsa, Oklahoma that no new economic stimulus package is needed to “get America working again.”

Perry said he would let his “guiding principles” as a fiscal conservative inform his policies if he were elected president. But, when asked for details, Perry resorted to general statements he has often repeated on the campaign trail.

“No. 1 is don’t spend all the money, you can figure out what that means,” Perry said at the Tulsa Press Club event also attended by U.S. Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla. “You won’t have stimulus programs under a Perry presidency. You won’t spend all the money.”

Despite Perry’s strong stance against federal funds, his state benefitted greatly from the last economic stimulus package. Texas has used $17.4 billion in federal stimulus money In fact, Texas used the federal stimulus to balance its last two budgets.

Perry said the nation’s “entrepreneurial spirit” would create jobs and that his tax policies would allow Americans to keep more of what they earn. He said his tax system would be “light on job creators” and called for a more predictable legal system “that doesn’t allow for over-suing.”

“We have seen a clear thirst for leadership in this country,” Perry said. In his book — titled Fed Up! Our Fight to Save America From Washington — the Texas governor writes, “We are fed up with bailout after bailout and stimulus plan after stimulus plan, each one of which tosses principle out the window along with taxpayer money.”

Earlier on Monday, Perry’s focus was foreign policy. He said American military commanders should always control U.S. military forces abroad. “It’s not our interest to go it alone,” he said. “We respect our allies and we must always seek to engage them in military missions. But at the same time, we must be willing to act when it is time to act.

We cannot concede the moral authority of our nation to multilateral debating societies, and when our interests are threatened American soldiers should be led by American commanders.”

Although Perry did not say, he seems to be referring to NATO operations in Libya. The Libya operation is being run by a Canadian general from a NATO headquarters in Italy, but an American officer is the top NATO commander.

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As if the historically low 17 percent approval rating of Congress wasn’t low enough, certain members of congress seem to want to get this even lower.

Despite unemployment rates that have hovered just below double digits for a very long time, record foreclosures and a stagnant economy that can’t get moving, some members of congress are whining about their low paychecks. I am not kidding. Does it infuriate you??

Even though members of Congress are paid $174,000 a year, get a month off for summer, weeks off for the holiday season, paid travel, excellent health care and plenty of under the table lobbyists perks, these spoiled idiots are saying they are not being paid enough. All while trying to cut spending and put decent government workers out of job.

First up, we have Republican idiot Steve Southerland from Florida. Speaking to a retirement community in Tallahassee, the freshman congressman complained about some of the parts of his new job. He claimed that his salary is not so much because of the amount of hours he puts in. He said there was no instant pensions or free health insurance. Yeah, none of us “normal” folks get that either, jackass.

“And by the way, did I mention? They’re shooting at us. There is law-enforcement security in this room right now, and why is that?” Southerland told about 125 people in an auditorium at the Westminster Oaks retirement community.

“If you think this job pays too much, with those kinds of risks and cutting me off from my family business, I’ll just tell you: This job don’t mean that much to me. I had a good life in Panama City,” Southerland whined.”…He added that ‘if you took the hours that I work and divided it into my pay,’ the $174,000 salary would not seem so high.”

Southerland was a funeral home director before he became a congressman, making about $90,000 a year.

Rep. Sean Duffy from Wisconsin (remember the state that complained teachers’ salaries were too high????????) also complained about his paycheck a few months ago. He said it was a “struggle” to pay his mortgage and student loans with his congressional salary. “At this point, I’m not living high on the hog,” Duffy, a father of six, said.

Sorry, Mr. Duffy, but I don’t feel sorry for you at all. Buy a freakin smaller house. Use birth control. That is the same bullshit you as a Republican would tell a mother when you cut off her food stamps.

It is not only Republicans that whine though. Linda Sanchez, a Democrat from California, told MSNBC last spring that she was living “paycheck to paycheck.” Wow, these people need to budget a little better. You make more than four times what my husband and me make together.

You stupid lawmakers always have the nerve to tell us to cut out expenses. Really? If you can’t make it at six figures, what the hell else can I cut?

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An analysis of US Census data has revealed that the wealth gap between whites and minorities in the US has grown to its widest levels in a quarter-century. Compared to a median wealth ratio of 7:1 between white households and black or Hispanic households in 1995, the recession and the uneven recovery has left white American with around 20 times the net worth of African-Americans and 18 times more than Hispanic households.

Asian communities have also lost their strong financial position by going down more than half in their median household wealth.

According to the Huffington Post, the study, compiled by Pew Research Center from 2009 data, shows the racial impact of the economic meltdown. It provides tangible evidence of the inequality between predominantly younger minorities who depend on their home for equity and older white households who are more likely to have pension funds and other stock holdings.

The overall analysis show that plunging housing values and widespread unemployment has widened the existing racial wealth gap to its widest since the census began tracking such date in 1984.

“What’s pushing the wealth of whites is the rebound in the stock market and corporate savings, while younger Hispanics and African-Americans who bought homes in the last decade [...] are seeing big declines,” said Timothy Smeeding, a University of Wisconsin-Madison professor specialized in income inequality, to the Associated Press.

Roderick Harrison, former chief of racial statistics at the Census Bureau has expressed fear that these number has pushed the American society back to what the Kerner Commission, President Lyndon B. Johnson’s investigation commission on the 1967 race riots, called ‘two societies, separate and unequal’. “The great difference is that the second society has now become both black and Hispanic,” said Harrison.

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