Leeward Community College Significant Impacts on Global Economy Essay

The news articles dated 1996 through 2014 are the basis for Feedback#1 Assignment which is due on Sept 16/17 The Feedback Assignment has 4 parts: 34 Questions posed by you, the student reader, with reference to part of reading that evoked the question is part 1; part 2 is Economics/Business/Finance Vocab..identify 15 terms that are econ.finan/business ,, google it to see definition & write it out with reference; find 3 significant paragraphs out of the 34 articles ..write them out and cite location; and finally part 4 is to identify the main talking points/content of each of the 34 articles. Please note the graphic accompanying the news articles showing the ups and downs of the macroeconomy in the United States from 1875 to 2020. To read the graphic notice there is a horizontal line which represents the long term growth rate in the economy which is 3% annually. If the fluctuating line is above the trend the economy is running fast and unemployment is low but there may be an inflationary tendency. If the line is below the horizontal then the economy is running slow and the main concern is high unemployment, recession, Great Recession (2007-09), Great Depression (1929-39), and the current situation with about 6.7% unemployment due to the COVID-19 Pandemic. Currently, the economy is below trend because of lockdowns and inability to safely conduct business transactions. There is no historical perspective on this since the last Pandemic was in 1918 when America was in WW1 and was spending a lot so economy didn't tank. The basic equation to process the current news cycle is change in Consumer spending + change in business investment + change in government purchases of goods/services +change in U.S exports minus U.S Imports. Consumer spending is 70% of the spending stream so when Households are financially stressed the economy slows or struggles to expand. So ask yourself as you are reading articles how any event may affect spending. Pandemic dries up spending and producing activities. Widespread uncertainty triggers hoarding and empty shelves for pandemic related goods. Economy does not collapse because Federal government gives aid to households and businesses…spending over 3 trillion Dollars in the process. Cares Act funding has just been renewed but is far short of what is needed just like in 2009 when the Great Recession occurred due to a financial crisis unpredicted by economic theory. There is a great deal of uncertainty which slows spending and therefore slows economic activity. So as you read articles pay attention to the date and see what the economy is doing. Remember that +3% is normal growth rate. At the present time (July 21, 2021) I am writing this the main concern is now inflation due to the disruption of supply lines and high spending triggered by the pandemic closures so there is pent up demand and the trillions of dollars pumped into the economy to support families and businesses hit hard by the lockdowns related to the pandemic. The big topic right now is the exponential increase in Delta variant infections which are devastating the unvaccinated who refuse to take COVID-19 seriously or who don't trust the medical establishment and government authorities. We are still in pandemic mode for the economy which is also affecting the job world in a big way. Many people do not want to go back to offices and want to continue working at home and many employees are not re-entering the work force causing "labor shortages" and reducing labor force participation rate which hampers restarting the economy and moving toward full employment. The outbreak of inflation is also a concern as to whether is it is temporary or could, if not checked by more restrictive monetary/fiscal policies, become systemic and difficult to curb. The COVID-19 Pandemic has put the whole world in high uncertainty for the time being.