Apple, AT&T hit with glitches iPhone
http://news.ca.msn.com/money/article.aspx?cp-documentid=24590392
Summary:
Apple and AT&T are facing two major problems taking orders for the newest iPhone model. These problems are buyers reported problems registering their orders and an apparent glitch in AT&T's website was steering some customers into strangers' accounts. Also there is trouble meeting demand for iphone. The reason for causing the problem is the better-than-expected demand had stressed the company's systems, which slowed both its website and the reservation process at stores. AT&T replied said that it received reports of customers seeing the wrong account information but wasn't able to replicate the problem and was investigating. At&T also said that the personal information users were seeing in one another's accounts didn't include Social Security numbers, credit card information and detailed call logs.
Connection:
The connection between this article and Chapter 10 Industrial Organization in Canada is the partnership between the two companies, in this case, Apple and AT&T. It is a partnership because two company are brought together to attract more financial resources and are reliable for its debts. Both company are big company, which means both of them have high credit and high reputation. Two company cooporate together to form a contract which benefit both of the company. Apple provides the newest phone model to AT&T, then AT&T sell the phone with a phone contract for people to use their phone plan.
Reflection:
Basicly, i was talking about partnership between the two big company, AT&T and Apple. But the article is actually talking about the websit problems when ordering the new Iphone model on AT&T websit. People concern about when they are logging into their accounts they actually loged into another stranger's account, customers were affraid of losing their personal informations. The company should protect their customers informations carefully.Anyways, Im really looking forward to the new iphone and the new contract.
Wednesday, June 16, 2010
Chapter 8 Blog
BC has lowest minimum wage, highest poverty rate
http://columbiavalleynews.com/2010/04/10/bc-has-lowest-minimum-wage-highest-poverty-rate/
Summary:
The BC Federation of Labor says that the minimum wage in BC is a national embarrassment. As Ontario increased its minimum wage on March 31, 2010 to $10. 25 an hour and on April 1, 2010, Nova Scotia’s minimum wage will rise to $9.20 and New Brunswick’s to $8.50 with another increase in September, which will bring it’s minimum wage to $9.00. The minimum wage for BC is still remain at $8.00. But B.C. government said that they can not afford to raise the minimum wage. The BC Federation of Labor suggested that B.C. government should raise the minimum wage to $10.00, it is a way to prevent proverty.
Connections:
The connecting between the article and Chapter 10 Stabilization Policy is linked by wage and price controls. In the article, it stated that each provinces is raising their minimum wage to prevent proverty rate, this is a kind of control to make citizen's life better in the economic depression. But B.C government's decision is also a kind of controling wage and price action. When the wage raise, the price of goods and services will also raise due to higher expenses by raising the minimum wage. By not raising the minimum wage, the price of goods and services will not be increase,which in this case is an anti-inflation act.
Reflections:
BC used to have the highest minimum wage at 2002, and the minimum wage keeped at $8.00 per hour for many years, now BC is having the lowest minimum wage within Canada. Increasing minimum wage has been proven to do nothing in regards to improving poverty levels. Employers that do pay minimum wage are often put into a situation where they have to let go of some workers in order to afford the higher wage of its remaining employees. Controling the minimum wages also is controling the prices of the goods in the market. I think they shouldn't raise the minimum wage during economic depression, this will worsten the situation.
http://columbiavalleynews.com/2010/04/10/bc-has-lowest-minimum-wage-highest-poverty-rate/
Summary:
The BC Federation of Labor says that the minimum wage in BC is a national embarrassment. As Ontario increased its minimum wage on March 31, 2010 to $10. 25 an hour and on April 1, 2010, Nova Scotia’s minimum wage will rise to $9.20 and New Brunswick’s to $8.50 with another increase in September, which will bring it’s minimum wage to $9.00. The minimum wage for BC is still remain at $8.00. But B.C. government said that they can not afford to raise the minimum wage. The BC Federation of Labor suggested that B.C. government should raise the minimum wage to $10.00, it is a way to prevent proverty.
Connections:
The connecting between the article and Chapter 10 Stabilization Policy is linked by wage and price controls. In the article, it stated that each provinces is raising their minimum wage to prevent proverty rate, this is a kind of control to make citizen's life better in the economic depression. But B.C government's decision is also a kind of controling wage and price action. When the wage raise, the price of goods and services will also raise due to higher expenses by raising the minimum wage. By not raising the minimum wage, the price of goods and services will not be increase,which in this case is an anti-inflation act.
Reflections:
BC used to have the highest minimum wage at 2002, and the minimum wage keeped at $8.00 per hour for many years, now BC is having the lowest minimum wage within Canada. Increasing minimum wage has been proven to do nothing in regards to improving poverty levels. Employers that do pay minimum wage are often put into a situation where they have to let go of some workers in order to afford the higher wage of its remaining employees. Controling the minimum wages also is controling the prices of the goods in the market. I think they shouldn't raise the minimum wage during economic depression, this will worsten the situation.
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
Chapter 5 Blog
AbitibiBowater to suspends at several plants, affects 1,500 jobs in Canada
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/17092009/2/biz-finance-abitibibowater-suspends-several-plants-affects-1-500-jobs.html
Summary
A Montreal-based company, AbitibiBowater, has to stop its production at several facilities due to its financial problems. Aside from stopping production, as much as 1500 jobs will be affected due to the outcome of this decision. The reason for this decision is because of the lessening demand for newsprint. A spokesman for the company said that the demand for newsprint has dropped as much as 30% within a year. Along with many forestry industries in Canada, AbitibiBowater has been greatly affected during the recession. An attempt to restructure the company would be difficult since AbitibiBowater is operating with little profit while carrying a huge debt load.
Connection
This article linked with chatper 5 Ecnomic Indicators because the decision made by the company directly effect the unemployment rate in the country. Unempolyment rate is the employment-to-population ratio. By stopping the company's production 1,500 employees will be lay off, this will incease Canada's unemployment rate. AbitibiBowater Inc. laid off workers due to the financial problems, this is Demand-Deficient Unemplyment, which happened when the company's sales is decreasing so they don't need to use as many workers, so they laid off workers to cut the expenses. The unemployment of this company is not only effecting the unemployment rate, it will also affect the participation rate.
Reflection:
I personally don't support lay off workers, but I understand that cut the expenses especially workers is the first thing every company would do when they are facing financial problems. But, if the company laying off workers because the decrease of their sales, laying of workers will help a little by decreasing the expenses but it won't help the decerase in sales. Workers got lay off, they have no income, they will starting to buy less, this will maybe cause raising the decrease amount of the sales, which the sales will be decrease more than before they lay off the workers. This leads us to these questions, is it a good thing to lay off workers? Does it really help company's financial problems in longer term?
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/17092009/2/biz-finance-abitibibowater-suspends-several-plants-affects-1-500-jobs.html
Summary
A Montreal-based company, AbitibiBowater, has to stop its production at several facilities due to its financial problems. Aside from stopping production, as much as 1500 jobs will be affected due to the outcome of this decision. The reason for this decision is because of the lessening demand for newsprint. A spokesman for the company said that the demand for newsprint has dropped as much as 30% within a year. Along with many forestry industries in Canada, AbitibiBowater has been greatly affected during the recession. An attempt to restructure the company would be difficult since AbitibiBowater is operating with little profit while carrying a huge debt load.
Connection
This article linked with chatper 5 Ecnomic Indicators because the decision made by the company directly effect the unemployment rate in the country. Unempolyment rate is the employment-to-population ratio. By stopping the company's production 1,500 employees will be lay off, this will incease Canada's unemployment rate. AbitibiBowater Inc. laid off workers due to the financial problems, this is Demand-Deficient Unemplyment, which happened when the company's sales is decreasing so they don't need to use as many workers, so they laid off workers to cut the expenses. The unemployment of this company is not only effecting the unemployment rate, it will also affect the participation rate.
Reflection:
I personally don't support lay off workers, but I understand that cut the expenses especially workers is the first thing every company would do when they are facing financial problems. But, if the company laying off workers because the decrease of their sales, laying of workers will help a little by decreasing the expenses but it won't help the decerase in sales. Workers got lay off, they have no income, they will starting to buy less, this will maybe cause raising the decrease amount of the sales, which the sales will be decrease more than before they lay off the workers. This leads us to these questions, is it a good thing to lay off workers? Does it really help company's financial problems in longer term?
Monday, March 1, 2010
Chpt 7 HSBC, Standard CEOs to donate bonuses -report
HSBC, Standard CEOs to donate bonuses -report
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100228/business/cbusiness_us_hsbc_bonus
Summary：
The chief executives of HSBC holdings which is the biggest bank are set to give out their bonuses to the charities.Some British newspaper reported that Michael Geoghegan and Peter Sands were willing to donate his bonus to several charities but on the HSBC side they refused to answer. The article also talked about other banks gived up their rights to a 2009 annual bonus. At the same time, People are angry that government are using taxes money to help the almost bankrupt banks government money, and the bank is still lossing money after that. On another news paper stated that HSBC claimed they didn't receive any taxes money from the government and they will decide how to pay their own executives. Geoghegan will be awareded a bonus of four times of $1.68 million. HSBC is planning to increase the base pay for their top executives, and they also planning to not rise Geoghegan's award bonus more than a third.
Connections:
This article links with chapter 7 Money and the Canadian Banking System is because they both related to bank and money. HSBC is a charter bank which operationg under the authority of Parliament that accepts deposits and lends money to business, government, and household. HSBC also allowes different types of deposit such as cheqing account, saving account, term deposits, Guaranteed investment certificate and mutual funds. HSBC also follows the Bank Act that the federal government legislation regulats the banking industry in Canada.
Reflections:
There are a lot of talks between the banks in the canada and the government. This chapter is my favourite chapter because i always interested about banking system, not only banks in the canada. If the government is really using taxpayer's money to help banks from bankrupt but the bank is still giving out so much money to their executive, that is totally not fair. It means that they are putting our money into someone else's own pocket for their personal use. Why would anyone wants to do that?
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/reuters/100228/business/cbusiness_us_hsbc_bonus
Summary：
The chief executives of HSBC holdings which is the biggest bank are set to give out their bonuses to the charities.Some British newspaper reported that Michael Geoghegan and Peter Sands were willing to donate his bonus to several charities but on the HSBC side they refused to answer. The article also talked about other banks gived up their rights to a 2009 annual bonus. At the same time, People are angry that government are using taxes money to help the almost bankrupt banks government money, and the bank is still lossing money after that. On another news paper stated that HSBC claimed they didn't receive any taxes money from the government and they will decide how to pay their own executives. Geoghegan will be awareded a bonus of four times of $1.68 million. HSBC is planning to increase the base pay for their top executives, and they also planning to not rise Geoghegan's award bonus more than a third.
Connections:
This article links with chapter 7 Money and the Canadian Banking System is because they both related to bank and money. HSBC is a charter bank which operationg under the authority of Parliament that accepts deposits and lends money to business, government, and household. HSBC also allowes different types of deposit such as cheqing account, saving account, term deposits, Guaranteed investment certificate and mutual funds. HSBC also follows the Bank Act that the federal government legislation regulats the banking industry in Canada.
Reflections:
There are a lot of talks between the banks in the canada and the government. This chapter is my favourite chapter because i always interested about banking system, not only banks in the canada. If the government is really using taxpayer's money to help banks from bankrupt but the bank is still giving out so much money to their executive, that is totally not fair. It means that they are putting our money into someone else's own pocket for their personal use. Why would anyone wants to do that?
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Burnaby Homeowners face tax increase
Burnaby Homeowners face tax increase
http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/story.html?id=c0db8a72-7283-4721-b996-58c8b745a322
Summary:
The Canadian government decided to raise the tax rate of burnaby homeowners by 3.95 percent. The original intension was for a higher tax rate, but further discussion has brought down the tax rate from 4.37 to 3.95. The decision is base on fundings needed to operate service sectors. In a statement made by the mayor of burnaby,he stated that,"Considering what we offer to citizens (in services), ... I think it's the lowest we can do without looking at what services to cut or what staff to cut."
This means that in order to fund the different services that burnaby residents enjoy you have no choice but to pay higher taxes, otherwise they may have to face the consequences of losing some of their public services.
Connection:
This article links with Chapter 4 Government in Canada, because it talks about the burnaby homeowners facing an increase in porperty tax. Property tax is an direct tax that imposed on the person who is intended to pay the tax.The purpose of collecting porperty tax is to use the tax to provide public services for residents. In the summary, the quote that the mayor stated was linked to the equalization payment for federal/Provincial Financial Arragements. Equalization payment means that the payments to the provinces to ensure the provinces can provide a equal amount or reasonable level of public services without raising too many taxes. In this case, the raise of the porperty tax in burnaby was to balance the public services, which in the case that the payment was not enough to cover the full expense of the public services.
Reflection:
It is really unfair that the canadian governemtn raised the property tax in burnaby with out rasing the services. The mayor made the point saying that even though they are raising taxes, the porperty tax in burnaby is still lower than metrotown and vancouver area.But I think this point is unjustify because burnaby is not a commercial area. The services in metrotown and vancouver area are in a larger scale because they are providing more services and serving more people on the daily bases. For example, if you compare the number of buses that travel to Metrotown and Vancouver with the number of buses that travel to Burnaby, it is obvious why Vancouver and Metrotown area have a higher tax rate. Therefore, I believe it is unreasonable to compare the tax rate to these areas.
http://www2.canada.com/burnabynow/news/story.html?id=c0db8a72-7283-4721-b996-58c8b745a322
Summary:
The Canadian government decided to raise the tax rate of burnaby homeowners by 3.95 percent. The original intension was for a higher tax rate, but further discussion has brought down the tax rate from 4.37 to 3.95. The decision is base on fundings needed to operate service sectors. In a statement made by the mayor of burnaby,he stated that,"Considering what we offer to citizens (in services), ... I think it's the lowest we can do without looking at what services to cut or what staff to cut."
This means that in order to fund the different services that burnaby residents enjoy you have no choice but to pay higher taxes, otherwise they may have to face the consequences of losing some of their public services.
Connection:
This article links with Chapter 4 Government in Canada, because it talks about the burnaby homeowners facing an increase in porperty tax. Property tax is an direct tax that imposed on the person who is intended to pay the tax.The purpose of collecting porperty tax is to use the tax to provide public services for residents. In the summary, the quote that the mayor stated was linked to the equalization payment for federal/Provincial Financial Arragements. Equalization payment means that the payments to the provinces to ensure the provinces can provide a equal amount or reasonable level of public services without raising too many taxes. In this case, the raise of the porperty tax in burnaby was to balance the public services, which in the case that the payment was not enough to cover the full expense of the public services.
Reflection:
It is really unfair that the canadian governemtn raised the property tax in burnaby with out rasing the services. The mayor made the point saying that even though they are raising taxes, the porperty tax in burnaby is still lower than metrotown and vancouver area.But I think this point is unjustify because burnaby is not a commercial area. The services in metrotown and vancouver area are in a larger scale because they are providing more services and serving more people on the daily bases. For example, if you compare the number of buses that travel to Metrotown and Vancouver with the number of buses that travel to Burnaby, it is obvious why Vancouver and Metrotown area have a higher tax rate. Therefore, I believe it is unreasonable to compare the tax rate to these areas.
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