Economy Opinion: Climate of Change (New York Times)

Op-Ed Columnist
Climate of Change (New York Times Permalink)
By PAUL KRUGMAN Published: February 27, 2009
President Obama’s budget represents a huge break from policy trends. If he can get it through Congress, he will set America on a fundamentally new course.

Economic Scene

A Bold Plan Sweeps Away Reagan Ideas
(New York Times Permalink)

By DAVID LEONHARDT Published: February 27, 2009

The budget proposals seek to reverse the rapid increase in economic inequality over the last 30 years.

Spending vs. Tax Cuts: Everything You Need to Know in One Chart

Spending vs. Tax Cuts: Everything You Need to Know in One Chart

(Source Mother Jones Magazine)
This is pretty excellent. It's a chart, created by Paul Rosenberg at Open Left, that combines data from Moody's Economy.com and Dean Baker's Center for Economic Policy and Research. It shows the return on investment for different stimulus options.



The takeaway? Food stamps, unemployment benefits, and infrastructure investment put the most money back into the economy for every dollar spent on them. Tax cuts for corporations and the wealthy do the least. (A payroll tax holiday, which is essentially a tax break for poor people, isn't so bad.) Job creation maps similarly.
So when conservatives tell you that FDR's public investment programs made the depression worse and that we need to hold fast to the conservative economic principles that created the current mess, shoot them this link. Perhaps President Obama should use that snazzy new BlackBerry of his to email it to his Republican opponents in Congress.

http://www.motherjones.com/mojoblog/archives/2009/02/12147_spending_vs_tax_cuts_as_stimulus.html

Searching for an Optimist at Davos

Searching for an Optimist at Davos

(From Slate Magazine, ... went to Davos but could not spot the 'famous optimistic Davos Man'. What's going on in the World? Only big profits for Pharmaceutical Conmpanies in 2009, or will a bit of fresh air and some physical activity do the trick? Will people after the 2010 WEF meeting cautiously ask how your health is and whether you need some help? )

CNBC's Jim Cramer likes to say that there's always a bull market some­where. When one region is down, the theory goes, another is up. At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, however, the only bull market was in pessimism. On the Promenade, Davos's main drag, a woman accosted me, asked whether I knew what was in the Book of Revela­tion, and wondered whether I had been inscribed in the Book of Life.
Historically, such apocalyptic thoughts have been rare at this meeting of the world's financial and political elite. A Davos Man is an optimist by nature and profession. Ordinarily, self-assurance is so thick in the resort town, you can cut it with a Swiss Army Knife. But the only place I saw people laughing in the face of danger and wearing exhilarated expressions was on the sparsely populated ski slopes.
Yet many CEOs bore the harrowed looks of survivors of the Donner Party. Once they trickled in, many having endured the indignity of flying commercial for the first time in years, they were treated to an avalanche of doomsaying. Alarmists, from hedge-fund manager George Soros to historian Niall Ferguson, spun elaborate tales of catastrophe. Ferguson boldly concluded that the United States was destined for a decade of extremely lame growth. Economists were universally downbeat, which isn't totally surprising. (They don't call economics the dismal science for nothing.) Those who had successfully predicted the debacle, like Nouriel Roubini, New York University's Dr. Doom, were elevated to prime speaking slots. Last year, the hot topics were sustainability and decoupling—the notion that developed markets could boom even if the United States stalled. This year, failure and depression were the chief subject of discussion.
Read on, follow the link..
http://www.slate.com/id/2210100?wpisrc=newsletter

Is the modern (21st Century) Economy 'dysfunctional'?

Still rather unexpected, but obviously hoovering around in our minds the question popped up: 'Is the Economy dysfunctional'?
The debate; 'Inflation or Deflation' is not even finished, although there is enough opinion and evidence - 1929 Crisis and Japan in the nineties- to keep the dicussion going.
In the last one and a half years we have seen something which is unprecedented in modern history, something which at first looked like a minor spot or unregularity in the financial markets, developing into a Global Economic Crisis. It looks like it suddenly happened, and every day more evidence is shown it is for real, many people still cannot comprehend it. How could this happen and so fast?

In the past week we did not hear very much from the World Economic Forum in Davos about the dysfunctionaly of the Modern Economy. In general the mood was not so great between the mountains there. There was a lot talking about what everybody already knows, e.g. the need for green and sustainable energy systems, but no great new creative breakthrougs.
Voices (from everywhere) are beginning to be heard about de-globalisation.

In fact our economic and monetary fundamentals are still based on Bretton Woods from just after the Second World War. Our primary Economic system is still based on Adam Smith's idea and philosophy. Nothing wrong with his systen, we think.
But one of the troubles right now and from the last 20 years is a matter of supply and demand, plenty of supply for the better paid consumers, but the less earning consumers simply do not have the money to buy these goods. The divide between rich and poor is getting sharper. Governments have not shown much restraint in taxation and waisted enormous amounts of money in useless project and bureaucracy.
At the same time they did not do what they should have done, regulate markets if necessary, provide infrastructure and education, and stimulate new ideas.
Money was abundant, but taxing everything takes money out of the smaller pockets first.
The poor are more and more subsidizing the rich.

The increasing amount of cheaper producing nations, together with the expanding consumer base is having its impact on the Global changing environment. Western Nations have become fat and lazy, but they have to offer a better outlook for (at least) this century to the rest of the world. It's not only Politicians or Economists which to come up better ideas.
(More to follow...)

In the first months of this blog, we gave some attention to cars and the auto industry...

In the first months of this blog, we gave some attention to cars and the auto industry..., but from now on we think it is better to post all item related to Future Cars on our Blog Tendsbridge.

The Blog Trendsbridge is about current and emerging trends.
Trends in the modern world and society, innovation and new trends in art and lifestyle, trends in the economy, business and technology.

The Housing Market, the Transportation Sector and the Auto-Industry are very important sectors in our Economy, and we are convinced the signs of a 21st Century Economy, mentality and technology will show up in these sectors.

For instance Toyota is working in secret on a new solar-technology powered vehicle, but it is still a secret and we do not know much about it.
We noticed this is generating quite a lot of interest from Japanese visitors.
Toyota-Future has an excellent and educating interactive website,.
Check Toyota-Future.com to get an insight of what Toyota is working on.

The European Commission launches a major (200 Billion Euro) Recovery Plan for growth and jobs

The Commission launches a major (200 Billion Euro) Recovery Plan for growth and jobs, to boost demand and restore confidence in the European economy. Press Release 25 Nov 2008)

The European Commission has today presented a comprehensive plan to drive Europe's recovery from the current economic crisis. The Recovery Plan is based on two mutually reinforcing main elements. Firstly, short-term measures to boost demand, save jobs and help restore confidence. Secondly, "smart investment" to yield higher growth and sustainable prosperity in the longer-term. The Plan calls for a timely, targeted and temporary fiscal stimulus of around €200 billion or 1.5% of EU GDP, within both national budgets (around €170 billion, 1.2% of GDP) and EU and European Investment Bank budgets (around €30 billion, 0.3% of GDP). Every Member State is called upon to take major measures good for its own citizens and good for the rest of Europe. The Recovery Plan will reinforce and accelerate reforms already underway under the Lisbon Growth and Jobs Strategy. It includes extensive action at national and EU level to help households and industry and concentrate support on the most vulnerable. It puts forward concrete steps to promote entrepreneurship, research and innovation, including in the car and construction industries. The Recovery Plan aims to boost efforts to tackle climate change while creating much-needed jobs at the same time, through for example strategic investment in energy efficient buildings and technologies.

The Dutch Economy: A Unique Window of Opportunity

The Netherlands is very well positioned to make a good start for a shift to a 21st Century sustainable economy, but it's a matter of changing mentality, and stimulating a creative flow.
With the looming recession and the slowly waking up of the Dutch Government to the thread of a slowdown and rising unemployment, an awareness of a unique window of opportunity for the 'low countries' is beginning to take shape.
But it will mean less tulips, cheese, wooden shoes and antique windmills.
Not the end of nostalgia.

The entire European Commission's World Energy Outlook to 2050 in PDF form. Released in 2006. Explores different energy resources and ideas.

[PDF] - International Energy Agency - Energy to 2050 -- Scenarios for a Sustainable Future

Map of the Netherlands