Temporary Hiatus

Have not blogged for a few days now.
Too occupied with responsibliities...social, economic and emotional..haha..depends on how they are interpreted. :)
Did not even have the time to read newspapers or articles to contribute anything.
I'll be back soon.

I thank all of you for your comments and your participation in the poll. Really appreciate them to make this blog a vibrant and lively one!! Keep up the good work
Replies shall be given in due course.

Econster Polling Station

Free Web poll for your Web site - freepolls.com

Right at our doorstep, we are facing a sugar shortage.
Just as what we learnt in market equilibrium topic two weeks ago.

Because of the shortage, the sugar price rises to eliminate the shortages.
What could be the reason??

Too much demand or too little supply..??

This is Economics-in-action,

Our suppliers told us they had run out of stock as the factory was shut down for maintenance. If this continues, our operations will be affected and we will have to bear a higher cost of production if we want to remain open," he said.

The wholesale price of sugar, he said, had soared a fortnight ago from RM64 to RM69 for a 50kg sack.

http://www.nst.com.my/Current_News/nst/Monday/National/20060508073732/Article/index_html

Rule of 72

Have you heard of The Rule of 72?

There’s an easy rule you can use to work out how your savings or investments can grow with compound interest.

The result tells you how long it will take for your money to double without further savings.

How it works??

Just divide 72 by the interest rate (or average annual return).

For example, you have RM10,000, let's say you are earning 6% interest.

So, 72 divided by 6 = 12.

Every 12 years your RM10,000 will double, so:
After 12 years you have RM20,000
After 24 years you have RM40,000
After 36 years you have RM80,000

If the interest rate is 10%, then 72 divided by 10 equals 7.2.
Any amount of money will double itself in 7.2 years!!!

Just use any amount of money, and the prevailing interest rate.
You'll be amazed at the power of compounding interest!!


Haha..should you start saving now???

Plastic Goods are Price Inelastic..??!!

Due to the many usages of plastic in today's world,
they have become such a necessary and indispensable item.

However, I didn't expect then to become price inelastic
Until I read this article ...

As its products get more durable and versatile, they've become an indispensable part of construction, consumer packaging and countless other fields.
Building material in particular is driving growth for plastic makers.

According to the American Plastics Council, 30% of plastics go into bags, bottles and food containers.

Consumer goods, such as kitchen products, toys and sports equipment account for 22% of all products. Building materials account for 18%.

The use of plastics is intensive as substitutes for natural material, such as wood, glass, paper and metal.

Plastic is already a valuable commodity.

Link
http://www.investors.com/editorial/IBDArticles.asp?artsec=23&issue=20060407

Price Ceiling for Cement in Malaysia

Real life example of price ceiling

Other than prices of chickens, cooking oil, flour being controlled during festivals,

cement price in Malaysia, too , has a price ceiling , it is at RM198 per tonne.

The article mentioned
Cement, a controlled item, has an average government ceiling price of RM198 per tonne, which is deemed the normal level.

The price of the commodity is expected to average RM185 per tonne, which is 19% higher than last year's average of RM155 a tonne.

Analysts expect prices to rise further to RM192 and RM198 a tonne in 2007 and 2008 respectively, on better demand-supply balance. (greater demand in the market?, shift of demand curve to the right?)

Link to article

http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2006/4/24/business/14005604&sec=business

Think: Why is demand cement important? In which industry it is relevant to?

Child Labour In India - Swarovski Crystal

One of the factors of production is labour.
Labour cost is extremely low in the underdeveloped countries, making the cost of production very low as well. For example, labour costs in China and India.

Do you know why labour costs in these countries is so low?

Because they employed child labour, work them so hard and pay them so little, and not even giving a decent place to sleep and proper food to eat.

Born into a life of extreme poverty, these poor children had no choice but to work to eke out a living doing jobs like this.


Have you heard of Swarovski Crystal? I won't look at them the same way again.

In India, child labour as young as eight-years old work for 16 hours a day, sewing the Swarovski crystals onto dresses. Some are paid pathetic sums like US1 per day.

Each night the boys bunk down on the roof of the building where they work 16-hour days, sleeping amid a filthy tangle of cables and pools of oily stagnant water. The factory owner's dogs also sleep up here, biting at the fleas infesting their mangy fur.

'We treat them well,' Krishnan (hahaha, yeah right !!!) says as I look around at the filthy matted bedding. A late lunch is brought in metal bowls: clumps of potato floating in murky curry, a few chapattis. The boys greedily slurp it down before carefully washing their hands and getting back to work.

read the artcle
http://observer.guardian.co.uk/world/story/0,,1764531,00.html?gusrc=rss

Who uses/wears Swarovski crystals?

Swarovski's has collaborated with fashion houses such as
Coco Chanel
Christian Dior
Yves Saint Laurent
Gianni Versace

to produce for the rich and famous!!!

In Britain, these crystals can be found on Camilla Parker Bowles's wedding hat and P Diddy's crystal-encrusted mobile phone.
In India - Swarovski has partnerships with nine of India's top fashion designers, including JJ Valaya and Tarun Tahiliani, whose clients include Jemima Khan, the Duchess of Kent and Bollywood stars Aishwarya Rai, Simi Garewal and Kabir Bedi

According to the report, Swarovski crystals can be found on iPods and mobile phones. (wizzerd:really?)

Guess what, for what what they paid the children, these crystals are sold for obsene sums of money.




ISN'T THIS EXPLOITATION??