Ch 12 Notes

The Rich Pay alot of Taxes?

Please read the article "The Rich Already Pay Their Fair Share of Taxes" and answer these questions.

1. What percentage of the U.S.'s total income taxes did the richest 1% of taxpayers pay?

2. How do we know that a large percentage of the riches 1% of taxpayers are "new rich"?

3. Use the Internet to research tax rates in other countries. Select two countries and compare their tax rates to the United States.

http://www.worldwide-tax.com/

4. The United Kingdom has something called VAT what does it stand for and explaing what it is.

Can you find a good youtube video to explain VAT?

Regulatory Agencies

1. Choose one of the regulatory agencies from the list provided.

2. When and why was the agency established.

3. What types on products or services does your agency regulate.

4. Select one product or service that the agency regulates and analyze the impact of the agency's regulations on consumers and producers.

5. Include a Picture In your post. 

6. Cite your sources

Your post should be in essay format not written out as questions. 

Directions for Monday 10/20

1.   Assignment: Read Chapter 6 (yes skip 5) page 84-93. and answer questions 1-23. Hand in to bin.

2.   Work on wall displays

Directions for Monday 9/29/08

Please grab a WSJ from the back counter and read "Anxiety Spreads" on page 10.

This article deals with inflation and the affects. Please answer the questions below on your blog.

1.  What factors forced Marsha Asbury to raise bagel prices from 69 cents to $1.14?

2. Why have apartment rents increased 18% in Casper Wyo., in the last year?

3. There are many ways to measure inflation define and compare the two measures below in your own words. Please link your sources.

Consumer Price Index

Core Inflation

In your opinion what is the best measure and why?

Please include a picture with your post.

Article on the buyout

here is a link to an article I found (where does it come from?)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-secret-of-the-bailo_n_128294.html

Video Response Warm-up

See directions below for your second post of the day. 

Your first task

Please watch the video below and leave a comment in the comments section. 

writing prompt- what do they mean by the housing bubble.

See directions below for your second post of the day. 

The Housing Bubble

Stop- Before you start today's task, please go look at the comments I left on your post from yesterday. Connor, please post your blog address in the comments section of this post. 

In General

1. You need to provide more details in your writing It is hard to compare two situations with out much to go on.

2. Make sure you are doing your own work. Taking sentences verbatim is plagiarism and many of you are walking a thin line.

3. I can sure leave you busy work, your blog posts should be much more thoughtful and please add more of your own insight.

4. where wikipedia may give you a brief overview, is it the best source you can find? Why is Wikipedia not the best source for academic work?

After you have made your edits to yesterday's post, please research the following

Tuesday's Post please title (The Current Economic Situation)

Today you will be exploring the current economic situation. 

These are writing prompts to get you thinking not questions. Your final product should be in paragraph format with complete sentences. 

1.What led up to the current situation?

• What are Sub-prime mortgages, credit default swaps, and credit insurance contracts? How did they lead to the market crash?
• Who are the Key Players in the banking world (who are the recent bankrupt companies and what lead to their downfall.)
  

2. What is the government buyout?

• How will the proposed plan work? break it down in your own words the way that you understand it.
  
• Who are the key players in government and business

Please Provide a picture as part of your post. 

Monday Video

Comparing the Housing Bubble and the Great Depression

Today you will be focusing on the Great Depression. Tuesday you will focus on the Housing Bubble. 

Monday

Today I would like you to focus on the Great Depression. Using your Internet search skills find information on these three areas.

Causes of the Great Depression

Effects of the Great Depression

How We came out of the Depression

Please post links to your findings. 

Post your finding on your blog by the end of the period. I will be commenting on them tonight.

Thanks,

Mr. Herbert

Directions for Tuesday 9/16

With the assembly today you will have only 15 minutes in class. This should be enough time to at least set up your account on blogger. 

Already have a blog- you will need to go to your dashboard and click add blog- you access your dashboard by clicking the orange logo in the top left. 

No Blog- You will need to set up an account, you do not have to have a g-mail account any web based e-mail will work. I recommend making your password the same as your network log in.

You can look at some other students' business blogs if you need an example.

See you Wednesday 

Directions For 4/22/08

Elsa,

Please continue to work on your research paper. Remember I will be looking for your Rough draft at the end of class Wednesday. If you do not think you will finish e-mail the paper to your-self and work on it at home.

(Please print what you have done at the end of the period and place it in the bin.)

Labor Srikes

Some times HRM fails when a union of workers and managers can not agree on pay,incentive packages etc. At this point there may be a strike called. There have been some major labor strikes in U.S. History.

Assignment:
Pick on specific strike and write a 2 page paper on this strike
you will need to start with an outline to take notes with. You must have 3 sources one of which must be a book.
1. What was The impact of the firm involved
2. What was the economic status of the employees
2. What was the impact on the public in general
(Remember the tools we learned in apps 2)

Here are some notable strikes you may choose from
Ludlow Massacre (1914)
Postal Worker's Strike (1970)
Air Traffic Controllers Strike (1981)
The Homestead Strike (1892)
Pullman Strike (1893 - 1894)

A Clearer Picture

Overview: One of the reasons companies have to advertise is competition. There was a fierce competition between Blu-ray and HD DVD that came to an end earlier this year when Toshiba and its HD-DVD format surrendered to Sony's Blu-ray.

Read the WSJ article on page 19 and answer the following questions in you blog.

Questions
1. Why did Toshiba drop out of the DVD format battle? what role did retailers play?

2. Why might Sony's victory for Blu-ray be fleeting? (temporary)

3. List the pros and cons of being an early adopter of technology. An early adopter is defined and a consumer who rushes out to buy the latest gadget. Think about price and specs. What is the appeal of being an early adopter?

4. Use the web to research the similarities and differences of the Blu-ray and HD DVD. List this info in your blog.

Elsa if you finish you should get on the review site and review chapter 14. Test will be on Wendsday

Pricing Strategies

Read the the reading Mr. Arnold will give to you and take notes on all the bold terms in the reading. On the last page they give you examples of adds that personify the different types of pricing strategies. Identify the pricing strategy for each ad they have shown.

You are now going to create a poster showing ads for each type of pricing strategy.

Use the magazines to find article that match each pricing strategy.

Penetration Pricing

Loss-leader Pricing

Skimming Pricing

Variable Pricing

The magazines are on the lectern, with markers, scissors, and paper for your poster.

Window Dressing

After reading the WSJ article on the changing design in laptops answer the following questions.

1. Why might it be a risky strategy to woo consumers to technology products based largely on design features?

2. Why hadn't PC makers design a priority until recently?

3. Apple recently unveiled the MacBook Air, dubbed the "world's thinnest laptop." It weighs just three pounds and is less than an inch thick. However, there are trade-offs associated with the designs. There is no removable battery, no DVD drive and fewer ports for wired connections. it's also several hundred dollars more expensive than the traditional MacBooks. Go to Apples's Web site and compare the types of laptops it sells.

a.) What type of consumer do you think the MacBook Air would appeal to? Explain.

b.) Do you think the success, or failure, of this computer will affect how Apple designs future lap tops.

c.) list the price of a MacBook Air and a standard Macbook along with thier features.

d.) Check out this apple history web site that examines apple design change. find one design Change and discuss it's importance. Provide pictures if possible.

Post for Wed. Feb 27th

How to Keep a Hot car Hot

Read the artticle on page 16 of the WSJ and answer the following questions in your blog. be sure to provide pictures as part of your post.

Questions

1. In the past, why was't GM able to align its production more closely with consumer demand? Why is it now in a better position to do so?


2. Why is it risky for GM to restrict production of the Enclave?


3. How does GM's new strategy compare with other auto makers'?


4. Under what circumstances might GM be forced to abandon its new strategy?

Differentiation

As we start to disucss marketing in class one of the key terms we will discuss will be differentiation. This is the strategy or process by which a business distinguishes its products from a competitor's products.

Examine Buick's web site, other auto sites, newspapers and magazines to read reviews of the Buick Enclave. and answer the following questions.

Questions:

1. Which vehicles are the Enclave's principal competitors?


2. How does GM differentiate the Enclave from competitors' products?


3. In what ways does GM's strategy with the enclave reflect the competition if faces?

Why Wildfires Are Getting Worse

Part One
Read the WSJ article on page 19 and answer the following questions in your blog.

1. Why do firefighters spend more resources saving property than attacking wildfires?
   
2. What role does the weather play in the creation and spread of wildfires?
   

Part Two
Read the our view section and respond to this editorial on who should pay for the costly wildfires- local, state or federal government. Be sure to cite examples from the article to support your argument and include your own insights. Post the response on your blog and email it to letters.classroom.wsj.com.

Exchange Rates

Each Country has it's own currency and each currency is worth a different amount. Choose three countries with three different currencies and find what they are worth in dollars. Example: 1dollar is worth about 10 Mexican pesos.

Use the internet to find your information (hint XE is a good site) post the value and a picture of the actual currency in your post and answer the following question.

What do you think makes money worth more or less than the American dollar?

The Fast Food Consumer

Yesterday we discussed government regulations on business. Some people argue
that consumers could regulate business with their dollars and save tax payers
millions. Read the following quote and answer the following questions in your
blog.

Nobody in the United States is forced to buy fast food. The firs step
toward meaningful change is by far the easiest:stop buying it. The executives
who run the fast food industry are not bad men. They are businessmen. They will
sell Free-range, organic, grass-fed hamburgers if you demand it. They will sell
whatever sells at a profit. The usefulness of the market, its effectiveness as a
tool, cuts both ways. The real power of the American consumer has not yet been
unleashed. The heads of Burger King, KFC, and McDonald's should feel daunted;
they're outnumbered. There are three of them and almost three hundred million of
you. A good boycott, a refusal to by, can speak much louder than words.
Sometimes the most irresistible force is the most mundane."

Source: Eric Schlosser, Fast Food Nation, Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 2001,
P.269

Answer the following questions in your blog

1. How could consumers use their economic power to create healthier
food?

2. Why do consumers continue to purchase fast foods that are so
unhealthy?

3. Do consumers have all of the information they need to make decisions
about fast food?

4. Choose an item that you like from a fast food restaurant. Use the web
to find the following info. Include a picture of the item.

• Calories
• Calories from fat
• Amount of Sugar

WSJ Quiz January 2007

The following questions are from the articles we have read in this months WSJ. Please create a post that shows the question and your answer in bold.

True or False

1. Ohio State's athletic budget is the biggest in the history of college sports.

2. Ohio State's general fund does not give any money to the athletic department and receives no money in return.

3. Nike is abandoning its focus on athletics to market its products to more artsy consumers.

Multiple Choice

4. Ohio State's 37 "nonrevenue" teams generate total revenue of about.

a. $250,000, b. $500,000 c. $1 million, d. $1.5 million, e. $2 million

5. What percentage increase in revenue have Nike officals promised to Wall Street by 2010?

a. 20% b. 30% c. 40% d. 50% e. 60%

6. In addition to Mr. Cartoon Nike has added low-profile celebrities from style-conscious art forms such as.

a. Graffiti, b. Murals, c. Industrial design, d. All of the above, c. none of the above.

7. Due to budget problems, Rutgers recently cancled six sports, but the athletic department increased spending for.

a. Football coaches' salaries b. The remaining nonrevenue sports c. Student-athlete scholarships

d. all of the above, e. None of the above.

Is Starbucks Losing Steam?

Is Starbucks growing too fast? The company has about 10,500 locations in the U.S.-an increase of more than 3,000 stores in less than two years. Analysts and investors are wondering whether Starbucks is close to market saturation.

Read the WSJ Article "Is Starbucks Losing Steam?" and answer the following questions.

1. How does Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz respond to investor concerns about his company's rapid expansion?

2. Why has Starbucks launched its first-ever TV-advertising campaign? How did it advertise its products in the past?

Define the Following Terms and add links to the definition.

A.) Cannibalization: (as it pertains to business, not eating people)

B.) Same-store sales:

C.) Saturated Market:

Sole Searching

Athletes might still rule at Nike, but its marketing game is changing. Nike's traditional endorsement strategy has taken a few hits, and the company is looking outside of sports to give consumers edgy and relevant products.



Read the WSJ article on page 8 and answer the following questions.

Make use of pictures and links in your post

1. How is Nike adapting to a changing consumer market?

2. Why are "influencers of influencers" important to Nike?

3. In the 1980s and '90s basketball star Michael Jordan defined Nike, and he was a key marketing asset before he even won an NBA championship. What made Mr. Jordan so special? Why has Nike been unable to create a similar buzz around a player, despite featuring athletes such as Tiger Woods and LeBron James? What do you think?

4. With the recent scandals mentioned in the article- affecting two Nike athletes, Michael Vick and Marion Jones- is it safer for marketing executives to support relationships with lesser-known or low-key celebrities? Why or not? How have Mr. Vick and Ms. Jones tarnished Nike's Reputation, or have they? Explain.

5. If you were starting a shoe company and you wanted to compete with Nike, what athletes, entertainers or artists would you hire to endorse your products and why? What would you use to market you shoe. Add a picture of your celebrity.

I Pity the fool that doesn't stack the chairs today

Thanks Mr. Herbert

Mega-Bucks

Ohio has one of the nation's highest home-foreclosure rates and two of the poorest U.S. cities. But in the center of the state is thriving Ohio State University, whose $109 million athletic budget is the biggest in college sports and a big spark for the local economy.

Read the "Maga Bucks" article in the January issue of the Wall Street Journal Classroom Addition, and answer the following questions in your blog. Use links and pictures to add depth to your post.

Your Post
1. How has Ohio State been able to build a self-sufficient athletic department?

2. How does Ohio State athletics support academic ventures by the university?

3. Define the following two terms and provide links to where you obtained your info. A.) Multiplier Effect B.) Opportunity Cost

4. With its large and self-sufficient budget, Ohio State's athletic department is run like a business. Should a college athletics program be a business? Why or why not?

5. Should college athletes be paid? why or why not.