#14: THE END

So the end is nearly here...finally. This experience of writing blogs has been a long and frustrating one, with the frustrations being 100 percent my fault. Christina warned us all at the beginning of the semester that it is not a huge job if you did some each week and kept on track. She probably was right, but of course I left most of them until today, giving myself a much unneeded headache. I think that if I had to do it all again I would have spread it out more, and not just because of the work. I think I would have enjoyed knowing what was going on in the world throughout the entire semester. Even though we touched on current events in almost every class, if you do it on your own time you get to pick the articles that interest you personally. It is unfortunate that I realized now that I like being up to date with what is going on, it makes me feel like i am connected to the world. Hopefully after this great epiphany I will continue to stay connected, not necessarily through reading but maybe I will turn on the news once in awhile. Sorry make that real news, not TMZ or anything else played on MTV that I stay up to date with now. I hope that everyone else took something from this assignment and that we all learned something, even if it was as small as wanted to stay connected.

#13: Magazine Article

We all have heard about all the amazing perks that come with working at Google, and I am sure we have all thought more than once about trying to get a job there. We have seen a couple presentations on the company and talk about it all the time in Human Resources so I know that we students think it would be an awesome company to work for but its investors are not as impressed. The article Google's First-Quarter Earnings: Revenues Down, Profits Beat Forecasts, Investors Yawn, from BusinessWeek explains that Google has a lot to live up to. It has got to be tough to be Google right now because as the article states they have been doing so well that in order to get anyone to pay attention now they have to do something huge. A quote from the article sums this up by saying “even for Google, merely meeting expectations on the top line isn’t something that will get investors enthusiastic because it means business overall is still under pressure.” So even though the “Gross revenues came in at $5.51 billion and net revenues excluding special items were $4.07 billion, just about even with analysts’ expectations,” no one is applauding just yet. I think that with the economy the way it is its good to hear of a company still making that much money, and i would be very happy if i worked there.

#12: Newspaper Article

I blogged earlier about the flooding in Manitoba and its impact on the Canadian economy. Today the Toronto Star reported in the article, Water starting to recede in Winnipeg, that things are starting to look up. The article says “High water threatening some riverfront neighbourhoods in Winnipeg was expected to start receding Thursday – just hours after the city declared a state of emergency as a precaution.” This is great news for the people of Manitoba. I believe that the city and the people in that city grew very close during the dangerous time. The article confirms that by stating that “Hundreds of volunteers formed a human chain to heave sandbags to build up existing dikes.” It is good to see that even with all the hardships people are going through with the economy that they can still band together and help each other. It makes me wonder that if anything like that happened in this area how we as a community would handle it. It is also interesting to see that depending on where you live effects how the flooding affects you. “Depending on where you live, you are not impacted in any way, shape or form. For others, it's extremely terrifying to know that your home could be flooded. You watch the water rise. There are a lot of anxious moments right now,” said Mayor Sam Katz. So some parts of Manitoba are greatly affect while others are not touched, which is interesting to think about.

# 11: Magazine Article

Although it is more on the entertainment side, I decided to write about the Forbes article 'Slumdog' filmmakers give Mumbai charity $747, 500, because of the economical impact it will have. The article claims “The makers of the hit movie "Slumdog Millionaire" have donated $747,500 to a charity devoted to improving the lives of street children in Mumbai, the filmmakers said Thursday.” It goes to show you that even with the economical problems we have today some people are still worried about helping out other, less fortunate people. It is good to see that Hollywood still acknowledges that they have the power to changes people’s lives for the better and that they can make a difference with their excess money. The article says that the money will go to Plan, an organization that has been trying to help the children of India since 1979. I gathered from the article that the organization helps to educate children as their goal is to educate 5,000 slum kids in the next five years, but other than that it does not say much about the organization. The movie made more than $300 million worldwide and got a lot of criticism for not helping out the children of Mumbai and exploiting its child stars. The donation is in response to all the criticism and I think it will really help their image. The only issue is that they are donating the money just for their image, but either way the children get the money so it all works out in the end.

#10: Newspaper Article

Although it is kind of a bad sign, according to the Toronto Star and RBC, housing now has become more affordable. Home ownership more affordable, RBC says, is an article that talks about Canadian housing becoming more affordable, which is good for graduates who are looking to start their life. It states that, “Other types of housing also become more affordable, RBC said, with standard townhouse costing 35.4 per cent of family income (from 36.9), the standard condo to 30.1 per cent (from 31.4), and the standard two-story home to 50 per cent (from 52.0).” This is good news and bad news. It is good because graduates and home buyers are now going to be able to look at options they might not have be able to afford before. It is bad because it is another sign at how bad the economy is doing. The reason the prices are going down is because no one could afford them at where they were before. The article backs up my point by saying “RBC Economics said the biggest factor affecting the improved affordability in the final three months of 2008 was falling mortgage rates, while improved family income also contributed.” I personally cannot wait to get my own house, although it is mostly for the freedom aspect and probably will not happen for many years. Hopefully by that time the prices will not have skyrocketed again and I will actually be able to get a good home.

#9: Newspaper Article

The Toronto star has been writing a lot about the bad economy and businesses going bankrupt. In this article, Canadian bankruptcies surge in February; it actually gives you some hard facts on exactly what is going on. It states that the number of bankruptcies across Canada swelled 22.1 per cent in February compared with a year earlier. That is a huge number and shows just how seriously Canada’s economy is being affected by the recession. This affects us because if the economy doesn’t start to pick up, not only will we as students not have jobs, or enough money to continue going to school, but it will also affect us as graduates. If we were to graduate this year there is a slim chance we would get a job in out desired field. Even though we will have the most resent knowledge and training, and have the reputation of St. Lawrence business students preceding us, there are very few companies hiring right now. The economy is really hurting right now, and i believe that although the government is helping out a little, it need to help us students more. We are the future work force, and if we cannot afford to get an education, or a good company cannot hire us then the economy is not going to get any better. They need to help with the cost of schooling, which would give students more money to put into personal buying which will in turn help the economy. They need to give us a chance to show them what we can do for Canada.

#8: Magazine Article

I am sure by now everyone has heard about how badly GM and Chrysler are doing. If they do not already have enough problems to worry about President Obama just announced that 60 days to come up with a better plan of he is cutting off tax payers funds. The article General Motors: 60 Days to Show Result, which appeared in Business Week, explains that Obama is not satisfied with the plan that GM and Chrysler presented to his administration recently. He says they need to come up with a better plan, or else. Some of the criteria they must meet are to negotiate further cuts from the UAW, reduce its unsecured debt, and show a plan that works. This is a comfort to finally hear. Obama is actually taking charge and working towards building our economy, because what happens in the states is so closely related to what happens to us. I gathered from the article that what GM originally proposed would have met Bush’s standards, which seem to be a lot lower than that of Obama’s thankfully. Obama does not see the benefit in giving these companies money if they do not have a solid viable plan on how they would use it. We need to get a clearer grasp on what our economy is going through right now, like Obama has. No more CEOs making millions, if not billions of dollars, while their company is going bankrupt. It does not make sense, and hopefully with Obama’s influence it will begin to stop.