Extra Credit

Alright, how is everybody doing?
This blog is for my English 1A class' extra credit. It has two parts! Enjoy !

FYI- this video blog may be subject to change.

Part 1.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d0nERTFo-Sk&feature=channel_video_title


Econstories.tv is a place to learn about the economic way of thinking through the eyes of creative director John Papola and creative economist Russ Roberts.

In Fear the Boom and Bust, John Maynard Keynes and F. A. Hayek, two of the great economists of the 20th century, come back to life to attend an economics conference on the economic crisis. Before the conference begins, and at the insistence of Lord Keynes, they go out for a night on the town and sing about why there's a "boom and bust" cycle in modern economies and good reason to fear it.

Music was produced by Jack Bradley at Blackboard3 Music and Sound Design. It was composed and performed by Richard Royston Jacobs.


http://www.youtube.com/embed/d0nERTFo-Sk


Plus, to see and hear more from the stars of Fear the Boom and Bust, Billy Scafuri and Adam Lustick, visit their site: http://www.billyandadam.com



Part 2.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTQnarzmTOc&feature=channel_video_title


According to the National Bureau of Economic Research, the Great Recession ended almost two years ago, in the summer of 2009. Yet we're all uneasy. Job growth has been disappointing. The recovery seems fragile. Where should we head from here? Is that question even meaningful? Can the government steer the economy or have past attempts helped create the mess we're still in?

In "Fight of the Century", Keynes and Hayek weigh in on these central questions. Do we need more government spending or less? What's the evidence that government spending promotes prosperity in troubled times? Can war or natural disasters paradoxically be good for an economy in a slump? Should more spending come from the top down or from the bottom up? What are the ultimate sources of prosperity?

Keynes and Hayek never agreed on the answers to these questions and they still don't. Let's listen to the greats. See Keynes and Hayek throwing down in "Fight of the Century"!

http://www.youtube.com/embed/GTQnarzmTOc

Profile about former CEO John Mack of Morgan Stanley who was in charge between 2005-2009.

This video was on February 11, 2009 from From Capitol Hill: Morgan Stanley CEO John Mack of Morgan Stanley Addresses House Financial Services Committee (Market Pulse), after receiving $10 billion TARP money from federal government. Refer to the url as his biography and some information regarding him shows up on screen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sbv0FYEjAYY

According to the Morgan Stanley official website's Corporate Governance Board of Directors as of January 1, 2011, John J. Mack's biography consists of : Mr. Mack has been executive Chairman of the Board of Morgan Stanley since June 2005. He was Chief Executive Officer of Morgan Stanley from June 2005 to December 2009. He previously had spent nearly 30 years at the Firm in various positions, including as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director. Before rejoining Morgan Stanley, Mr. Mack served as co-Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Group and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Mack is a graduate of Duke University, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital and the University Hospital of both Columbia and Cornell, a board member of the Bloomberg Family Foundation, a Director of IMG, and a member of the Business Council and the Business Roundtable. Mr. Mack is also on the advisory board for China Investment Corporation, the International Business Leaders Advisory Council for the Mayor of Beijing, the International Advisory Panel of The Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Executive Committee of the Partnership for New York City. Additionally, he is a member of the International Business Council of the World Economic Forum, the NYC Financial Services Advisory Committee and the Shanghai International Financial Advisory Council.(1)
According to the World Economic Forum, John Mack's biography consists of his positions past and present are Graduate, Duke University. Formerly: Co-Chief Executive Officer, Credit Suisse Group; Chief Executive Officer, Credit Suisse First Boston. Over 30 years with Morgan Stanley including: President, Chief Operating Officer and Member of the Board; 2005-09, Chief Executive Officer. Member of the Board of Trustees, Duke University. Chairman of the Board of Trustees: New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the university hospital of Columbia and Cornell. Member, Advisory Council, Mayor of Beijing.(2)
According to Morgan Stanley's press release on June 30th, 2005, John Mack has been announced as new CEO and Chairman of the Board, effective immediately.
Miles Marsh, who at the time the lead director of the board said, "John has nearly thirty years at Morgan Stanley working with its people and culture. He knows the business. He knows what we must do to meet the challenges transforming the global financial services industry. He also brings to Morgan Stanley close relationships with clients worldwide as well as the trust and respect of employees, investors, and industry leaders," and he also mentioned "The Board has agreed unanimously that John Mack is uniquely qualified to become Morgan Stanley's new Chairman and Chief Executive Officer. He has the singular combination of experience, strategic insight and leadership ability needed to bring together the people of Morgan Stanley and improve profitability across the Firm. Throughout his career, John Mack has forged cohesive teams that deliver substantial results for shareholders." Also in that press release it introduces the background information about John Mack, "Mr. Mack is returning to a firm at which he spent nearly 30 years, most recently as President, Chief Operating Officer and a Director. He had joined Pequot Capital Management as Chairman earlier this year and served before that as Co-Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse Group and Chief Executive Officer of Credit Suisse First Boston. Mr. Mack is a graduate of Duke University, where he is a member of the Board of Trustees. He also serves as Chairman of the Board of Trustees of New York-Presbyterian Hospital, the University Hospital of both Columbia and Cornell, as a Trustee of the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and as a Director of Cousins Properties Incorporated." (3)

Now lets get down to the dirty business :
According to equilar.com, John Mack has total accumulated wealth of $53,705,904. Equity holding of $43,599,716, Pension balance of $4,067,424, Deferred comp. balance of $6,038,624. His 2008 annual comp. was $1,235,097. Base salary of $800,000 and other $435,097.(4)

This is youtube video URL when John Mack announced to step down as CEO of Morgan Stanley. However, Mr. Mack will stay as active chairman of Morgan Stanley.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERbpUXeTv3U

According to Forbes magazine's July 26, 2006 article, "SEC Wants Mack," John Mack is accused of tipping off Pequot Capital which he used to work for about a 2001 merger deal. Before this accusation there was another attempt to John Mack and Pequot Capital's inside trading rumor and former SEC investigator Gary Aguirre tried to build up case against John Mack and Pequot, however, as Mr. Aguirre puts it John Mack was well-connected, thus before things get ready the senior SEC officials blocked the interview and investigation about John Mack, and Aguirre got fired from the SEC investagor position. According to Aguirre's Senate Judiciary Hearing June of 2006 testimony, John Mack tipped of his friend and Pequot chief Art Samberg to a July 2001 merger deal between GE Capital and Heller Financial which made $18 million out of it. GE has been advised by Morgan Stanley in that $5 billion deal and Heller was advised by Credit Suisse First Boston and Lehman. Mr. Mack has been president and COO of Morgan Stanley that year, but quit in March, and became CEO of Credit Suisse in July of that same year. Mack left Credit Suisse in June 2004 and worked for a couple of weeks as chairman of Pequot Capital in June 2005. But at the end of that month, he was hired by Morgan Stanley to take over. The accusations on the article from Forbes magazine didn't conclude any decision or verdict regarding the accusations.(5)

Lastly, this is John Mack's view on possibly the new financial system overhaul.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hJ7kK9Q3cn4


URLs to the links of sources :
1. http://www.morganstanley.com/company/governance/board.html
2. http://www.weforum.org/s?s=john+mack
3. http://www.morganstanley.com/about/press/articles/3685.html
4. http://www.equilar.com/CEO_Compensation/Morgan_Stanley_John_J._Mack.php
5. http://www.forbes.com/2006/07/21/mack-ubs-sec-fund-cx_lm_0721mack.html

Research on Financial Institution

Hi? All?
I've done research on then financial institution Morgan Stanley(securities firm), now Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (bank holding company) to find out their financial portfolio, if you will, here to display and make some point from my own view based on those findings.
From my findings then Morgan Stanley's MS common stock closing price on NYSE as of February 29, 2008 was US$42.12 (1).
One month ended December 31, 2008, the book value per common share of Morgan Stanley was $27.53 (2).
According to other source, on September 17, 2008, the British evening-news analysis program Newsnight reported that Morgan Stanley had its share price dropped 42%.
When the Financial Crisis happened during 2008 year, the Morgan Stanley received $10 billion from the Federal Government (the U.S Federal Government) (3).
For Morgan Stanley the net income from their cash flows from operating activities of fiscal 2008 was $1.7 billion and for 2010 the net income was $4.7 billion (2).
For profit, Morgan Stanley made in fiscal 2008 for earning applicable to their shareholder $ 1.495 billion, and in 2010 $3.594 billion (2).
Also, i have found out that Morgan Stanley did involved into subprime mortgage business.
Since Morgan Stanley was a firm that help manage investors to make smart investments, and it is involved into several fields besides subprime mortgage the shockwave of financial crisis or the influence of financial crisis of 2008 was not detrimental. However, i must admit that this firm is very competitive and attentive in their field of business, and that helped them. I have to applaud that the management of this firm made good decisions when the financial crisis happened, thus, the firm has been saved unlike the long time rival Lehman Brothers which were in the same business as Morgan Stanley, or at least that is what i come to understand from the information that i have read.
The surprising information that i have come across during the search of information regarding Morgan Stanley was that this firm has problem with their finding of right leadership/management team which is surprising as a firm that is very competitive, yet the leadership position is not being filled properly and that concerns the well-being of this firm.
Another fact that i discovered was that Morgan Stanley in 2008 announced with approval from the U.S Federal Reserve Board of Governors that this securities firm is now becoming a traditional bank holding company regulated by Federal Reserve, at the same time as Goldman Sachs has become a traditional bank holding.However, in Morgan Stanley's website i found that the way Morgan Stanley explained the fact that they are now changing into a traditional bank holding company means that "The Firm's status as a Federal Bank Holding Company also provides Morgan Stanley ongoing access to the Federal Reserve Bank Discount Window and expanded opportunities for funding, " And, further it says "nor does the Firm expect there to be limitations on its activities that would have a material impact on Morgan Stanley's overall business."(4) and i would translate those statements as now that Morgan Stanley has access to Federal Reserve and get funded by Federal Reserve next time if they make mess not only Morgan Stanley's money got into that play but also the Federal Reserve would be in jeopardy. And, the activities of the bank as of now wouldn't be altered by or tethered by the new title as traditional bank. I sensed alarm here. Morgan Stanley must be very careful with dealings involving Federal Reserve and Federal Reserve fund because those are tax-payers money.
 

URL's to the sources :
1. http://classic-web.archive.org/web/20080321044634/http://www.morganstanley.com/about/company/index.html
2. http://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/895421/000119312511050049/d10k.htm
3. http://www.morganstanley.com/about/press/articles/580e1eb2-54f3-11de-96f6-3f25a44c9933.html and http://www.morganstanley.com/about/press/articles/b7cf5f77-5b47-11de-96f6-3f25a44c9933.html
4. http://www.morganstanley.com/about/press/articles/6933.html




What do you think? Put your words in the comment section.

Cheap consumer goods, and sweatshops around the world affecting the U.S workers?

Hello?People?
Today, i am gonna write about the possible effects on the U.S workers when we have cheap goods from imports and cheap labor outside the U.S.
First of all, the cheap goods outside the U.S affect the workers in the U.S by starting competition with the companies in the U.S who make same product. The U.S workers and their company has to offer good deal on their products to attract consumers either by lowering their costs, or guaranteed quality. However, most consumers like their goods to be cheap as possible, thus, it makes the competititon more fierce than it should be. In consequence, the U.S company usually look for other ways to cut cost of their production by laying off workers from their factories and company floor, and workers in the U.S, as a result, end up without jobs because of the cheap goods from outside.
Secondly, the cheap labor outside the U.S or the sweatshops offer the U.S companies good incentive to move their production line to more cheaper labor possible market. Thus, leaving the U.S workers without jobs. In the midst of all this we must remember that the U.S companies outsource their production when they are successful as a business. In other words, the U.S companies move their production outside the U.S and leave workers in the U.S without job when they make profit because in order to move their production the company need large sum of money to set up their new production line.
Lastly, i am worried that if this trend continue in the long run the advantage which is buying goods cheap here in the U.S might hurt the U.S workers because no company would want, as long as they can keep cost of production down, to build their manufacturing line in the U.S. However, there are exceptions to this, the upper or higher level products with expensive tag on them might still make the products in the U.S, for the sake of proximity and convenience, but those items tend to be made in fewer numbers, for example the designer collection items, and handmade, or custom made products for few people who are willing to pay extra money on them.
If you have question, comment, or analysis, please feel free to share.
Ganaa

My opinion on sweatshop conditions

Globalization and free trade automatically adopts the sweatshops of the countries that are trying to lead the consumer market shares into their country; but to me, the globalization and free trade's purpose was to exploit other country's weak spots and vulnerable places. For example, China's cheap labor cost and unregulated working conditions of the sweatshops were nice waving flags for the corporations that are looking for their outsourcing to be cheap and manipulative, so that they can make products faster, cheaper and without hassling with the rules and regulations. But, one has to understand that the sweatshops were not created by globalization and free trade, at least to my understanding. And it could have been something similar in concept, they were existed before corporations encouraged them by taking them into their end of the market and used them and gave them chance to be prolific. In my opinion, the sweatshop will never be eliminated from the face of the earth as long as there are people who are poor enough that they would rather work grueling long hours to get few cheated money than die from starvation and famine.
As for my spending habit associated with sweatshops around the world, i think from now on i would rather sleep on the idea of purchasing consumer products before i buy them. I realized that it is almost impossible for me to change my habit of buying goods that are not made by sweatshops because almost all goods that i owned and would likely to own are being made by sweatshops around the world.
Also, i have found out that some workers in those sweatshops actually use the sweatshop to get ahead, they don't feel like their lives are any worse than it could have been by working in the sweatshop, thus i believe me buying goods from their factory made company outlet is actually deed that is promoting the well being of those sweatshop workers.

Consumer Worksheet Part 2

Alright, this short blog is about Consumer Worksheet Part 2 of my english class. I will pose a question and give my answer right after it.
Under what working conditions do Chinese factory laborers work?
They work in long grueling hours, no break, poor working condition, and possible exploitation, and child labor.
Would you work under the same conditions?
I wouldn't, but if i were in their possition, i might.
How much do these laborers make in one day?
$3.2-4.2 a day.
What does that equate to for an American?
I couldn't solve this question.
Could you live on the adjusted income from the previous question?
Since i didn't answer the previous question, i am skipping this one either.
Where are the companies that own clothing brands that i was wearing have their headquarters?
Timbuk - SF, CA, the U.S
Shimano shoes - Sakoi, Tokyo, Japan
GAP - SF, CA, the U.S
Levi's - SF, CA, the U.S, Brussels, Belgium, and Singapore
Apple - Cupertino, CA, the U.S
REI - Kent, Washington, the U.S
Sony Ericsson - Hammersmith, London, UK

Greetings !

Hello? World?
My name is Ganaa.
This is my blog and i would like to welcome you to join in my blog.
I will be blogging about topics and discussions related to my english class that i am taking right now.
Since this is my first ever blogging experience, i am excited and looking forward to sharing my thoughts with the world.
If you have any thoughts on the subjects that i am covering, feel free to jump in and share your thoughts, feelings, comments, and concerns.
Now let me introduce myself further; my major is dental hygiene, and from my childhood i've wanted to be in the medical field.
This is my 2nd quarter at Foothill College. I am taking Math 10-statistics, Chem 30B-introduction to organic chemistry and swimming class besides english.
I used to live in SF, but now moved down in Mt.View, and i like it here.I'm the only child in my family. I'm an international student and live with my friends.
Since this blog is going to cover my english class topics, i would like to learn more about the tought process that goes into writing and reading while i take this english class. I struggle with reading and writing, since english is my second language, however, more i learn about english language, easier it would be for me to write and read in english, thus i am eager to learn the aspects of english.
This blog will help me to write in english, possible think in english, and get feedback from my audience, and listen to their toughts and opinions, so i can improve my english.
Thank you and welcome to my blog.
Ganaa