Monday, 24 December 2012

U.S. Stocks Tumble as Treasuries Rally on Budget Concerns (Personal WriteUp)

Article Summary

The issue that has arisen after the United States Presidential Election is the divide in the Nation by power due to the majority for the Republicans in the House vs. majority for Democrats in the Senate. Therefore, Obama’s Policies must thereby first be passed in the House before approaching the Senate, with such policies includes taxation. There is now an issue in the uprising of the New Tax Resolution of the United States as the Democrats wants to increase taxes, while the Republicans want to decrease taxes for all levels. The day after the United States Presidential Election, the Stock Market stumbled and fell. The Dow Jones makes its biggest drop in a year (dropped 2.4% in a day), the S&P 500 dropped 2.4% (lowest since August), the price of Oil dropped 5% (biggest decline of the year), Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. slid at least 5.6 percent, and Hewlett-Packard Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. lost at least 3.8 percent, and the KBW Bank Index sank 4.6 percent. Obama is now approaching Congress to increase the taxes by $600 Billion and spending cuts that threaten the growth of the United States economy. However, Obama must now negotiate with Republicans that intend a Tax-Cut Extension for All Income Levels.House Speaker John Boehner states that they will be willing to agree to a new revenue from a tax system that would generate faster economic growth which leaves a divide in the beliefs of taxation, as whether allowing Economic Growth as source of revenue or standard taxation policies. This divide is the exact conditions required to lead the United States economy to the great concerned Fiscal Cliff which in fact may lead to a global recession like that of the 2008 recession.

Relation to the Course

This article has much content related to this Economics Course. They are described in the following points:
This article also demonstrates a variety of different Economic methods. It demonstrates different examples of positive statements. Examples include the following:
Positive Economics (Descriptive Statement – facts portraying things as they are in the present or have been in the past): the Stock Market stumbled and fell. The Dow Jones makes its biggest drop in a year (dropped 2.4% in a day), the S&P 500 dropped 2.4% (lowest since August), the price of Oil dropped 5% (biggest decline of the year), Bank of America Corp. and JPMorgan Chase & Co. slid at least 5.6 percent, and Hewlett-Packard Co., Exxon Mobil Corp. and UnitedHealth Group Inc. lost at least 3.8 percent, and the KBW Bank Index sank 4.6 percent. This is a clear demonstration of a descriptive statement as it simple portrays stats as they were, perfectly meeting the definition.
 
This article also demonstrated a variety of different fallacies. Examples include the following:
Fallacy of Single Causation (a single factor caused a particular event when in fact there may have been other contributing factors): This article blames the result of the United States Presidential election as the sole cause for the fiscal cliff. However, there are many other contributing factors that would lead to the downfall in the economy such as the expiration of the Bush Era tax cuts and other external global economic influences.
 
Types of Economic Systems: Throughout the article, there were major discussions regarding the different approaches to Government Taxation. It highlighted how the Democratic approach was to earn government revenue through a upfront taxation, contrary to the Republican approach which believes that by lowering the taxation, we can push towards a faster economic growth, that with even a lower tax rate, can still earn more revenue. This is where there are the contrasting ideologies of Economic Systems. There is the Democratic approach which takes a more Command approach, opposed to the Republican approach which takes a more Market approach.
 
Types of Government: Throughout the article, there were major discussions regarding the different approaches towards government spending and approaches. The Democrats are a more socialist government party as they believe that by increasing taxes, they can invest in more social programs such as Medicare. On the other hand, the Republicans are more of a Capitalistic government party as their top priority is Economic growth opposed to social programs for the public.  
 

Comments

The reason I selected this article, like the past ones, was due to my personal relation with the content. Even before the election, I was personally greatly concerned with this matter. After doing a lot of research into the investment world after the great 2008 recession, there were great talks by analysts of what would be known as the “double dip”. After doing further research into the matter, analysts predicted if such a result occurred in the 2012 United States Presidential Election, then the double dip would be soon approaching. This set me on the high alert, as I was sure to do much more research into the matter when the time was approaching. This is why I selected this article, as I was greatly concerned into the matter.
This article has also helped guide my opinion on the matter. After doing further research to understand what this highly concerned Fiscal Cliff is regarding, it is a great matter of interest. Firstly if it was to happen, then there is a great possibility that there will be a global recession, which may personally affect my life and my living standards. Moreover, it is a greater concern for me as an investment. If I predict that the Fiscal Cliff was to happen, then I would begin to short-sell stocks for mass profit, and purchase mass quantities at the trough. This opens an endless world of opportunities for me in the investment world, as I can utilize such a tragic event for personal maximum profit. Therefore, this article is of great importance to me, as it gave me a clear understanding on the Fiscal Cliff and its relation to the Investment world.  

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