Monday, November 29, 2010

Today we have done the exam about Unit 2: Economic Organization of Societies.

It consists of 7 exercises:

They were about economic activities and agents, definitions, taxes, capitalism and socialism, and an exercise of true or false.

Paqui has send 2 exercises for homework.

Sorry for the delay.

Source: http://es.123rf.com/photo_1423511_aula-con-pizarra-vac-a--ilustraci-n.html

How do the stock exchange markets work?

If you want to learn the basics of the stock exchange market, you can watch the following videos and presentations. They explain how the stock exchange market and other financial markets work in a very didactic way. The vocabulary is easy to understand and, if you like economics, you will enjoy and learn.

The first presentation explains the basic concepts and terminology used by traders: 

The stock exchange market is not the only place where people can buy and sell financial products. There are other markets, such as the currency and the commodities´ (raw materials) markets.  The next presentation explains how these financial markets work:

This video is a piece of an animated film of 1952 called What makes us tick. The film was produced to promote the stock market as the engine of the wealth of the U.S.A. 

If you want to watch the whole film, visit the following link: 


http://wn.com/nyse_what_makes_us_tick__1952

And finally, this is a piece of a British TV- show called The last laugh, similar to La hora de José Mota. In 2008 the comedians John Bird and John Fortune made a very good explanation of the causes of the recent economic crisis and its relation with the stock exchange market. The video includes subtitles in Spanish:

26th of November, 2010

Source: http://camibernal.blogspot.com/2010/12/tratar-de-ser-feliz.html

Hello!

Today we have checked the crossword. Paqui has told us that there were some mistakes in the questions 13, 14 and 15. We didn't know what dumping was so Paqui has explained us what dumping is: a selling strategy , consisting on selling products with a very low price in order to eliminate competitions. After we corrected it Paqui has given us a better definition of capitalism, so she has told us the best definition. Then she has explained us how much money the European Union has given to Ireland to rescue their banks, a total of 100,000 million € and she has explained us our economic crisis.

When we have finished it we have started to do an oral summary of the unit. While she was explaining it, some students were studying Physic and Chemistry; so Paqui has told us that it wasn't good and then she has told all the people that this year we are worse than last year and she has also said us that this year she can't teach because we are always speaking and doing other things, so today she has been very angry.

Bye, bye!

19th/NOVEMBER

Source: http://mujeresencampeche.blogspot.com/

Sorry I couldn´t write the journal las friday because my computer was broken.

Last Friday we have checked the exercises of page 29.

Then Paqui explained EQUITY POLICIES and the discrimination by sex, age, colour of skin...

At the end of the class Paqui said the date of the exam.

Speculators

Speculators are people who buy and sell goods, stocks and shares or bonds with the purpose of making profit with the variation of their value. They are not interested in the economic situation of the companies or the States that sell bonds. They are only focused on getting big profit margins. They play dangerous games, assuming great risks, but they also can put the economies of entire countries at serious risk. They move huge amounts of money from one stock market to another, betting on some values and provoking the collapse of some others. They use the stock exchange markets as casinos. The worst thing is that this is perfectly legal.

Here you have some cartoons that can help you to understand how speculators behave:

 Source: http://www.truthdig.com/cartoon/item/speculators_a_cartoon_from_austria_20100516/

Source: http://www.cartoonstock.com/newscartoons/directory/i/international_speculators.asp

The stock exchange market in some cartoons

Many times the stock exchange market doesn´t work according to logic. The following cartoons can help you understand other factors that influence the stock exchange market´s dynamics:

Source: http://www.businesscartoons.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2564

Source: http://www.businesscartoons.co.uk/shop/index.php?act=viewProd&productId=2564

Source: http://pensionpulse.blogspot.com/2010/05/paradox-of-market-chaos.html

If you want to get more information about how the stock exchange market works, you can visit the following link:

http://www.piggybank.co.uk/money.php

Wednesday, 24th /November/2010

Today in Social Sciencies, we have finished Unit 2. At the beginning of the lesson we have checked two exercises: one consisted of explaining what unions are and how they work, and the other one consisted of explaining what a strike is. In the last exercise we had to added one more thing because we haven´t written the exact answer. Paqui has asked to someones the different ways of go on strike for example work-to-rule strike, slow down...

Finally we have read the last point: STOCK EXCHANGE. It´s a place where stocks are bought and sold. Stocks are shares of a company, which give the owners the right of receiving benefits if there are any and the people how have the stocks are called "stockholders". The people that buy and sell stocks in the STOCK MARKET, are called " brokers". The name "Bourse" comes from the city of Bruges in where an important family os traders lived, the Van der Burse. They used their house as a place for trade meetings. In Amsterdam there is one of the most important Stock Exchange. The Speculators are the people who play with the values of stocks and they can cause the fall of country, this is not fair and they would have to be jailed. For homework, we have to do the crossword of the unit to review. See you :)

Image source: http://blogs.lavozdegalicia.es/luispousa/2009/03/31/una-duda/

Tax burden and the Spanish perception about taxes

Here you have some interesting documents to improve your knowledges about taxes. Tax burden is the average percentage the population of a country pays to the State through taxes.  The following graph shows tax burden in the different countries of the OECD (Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development): 

Source: http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/11/24/the-tax-burden-around-the-developed-world/

And this is an interesting survey published today by the CIS (Centro de Investigaciones Sociológicas), the State organization dedicated to sociological research in Spain. The survey reflects the opinion of the Spanish population about taxes. You can find a short summary on the following link: 

http://www.elpais.com/articulo/espana/783/espanoles/considera/injusto/sistema/tributario/CIS/elpepuesp/20101123elpepunac_10/Tes

The complete report on the links below: 

http://datos.cis.es/pdf/Es2841mar_A.pdf
 
http://www.cis.es/cis/opencms/ES/Novedades/Documentacion_2841.html

Unemployment rate: updated figures

As you may know, unemployment is one of the most important problems workers have to face. Here you have some charts and graphs that show the official unemployment rates in different countries:

- The first chart refers to the European Union´s unemployment rates in 2004 and 2009. This information is very useful to compare how the economic situation has changed and how unemployment rates have raised in the last five years. You  can also compare the differences between the unemployment rates per sex and age groups (younger and older workers): 

Source: http://epp.eurostat.ec.europa.eu/statistics_explained/index.php/Unemployment_trends

- The following graph shows the unemployment rates in the countries that belong to the Eurozone (the European countries that use the Euro as currency). The data correspond to September 2010. You can compare the evolution of the unemployment rate in the last year in the different countries of the Eurozone: 

Source: http://www.newsneconomics.com/2010/10/unemployment-in-europe-improving-ever.html 

- This is another interesting graph that reflects the evolution of unemployment rate in the United States in the last two years: 

Source: http://www.tradingeconomics.com/Economics/Unemployment-Rate.aspx?Symbol=USD

- On this link you can find updated data of the evolution of unemployment rates in the different states of the USA: 

http://www.bls.gov/news.release/laus.nr0.htm

- And the last link refers to Spain. It explains the process unemployed workers have to follow to perceive the unemployment benefit and the amount of money they will receive in relation with the time they have been working. The link is in Spanish: 

http://www.oficinadetreball.cat/socweb/export/sites/default/socweb_es/ciutadans/pres_desocup/prestacio_atur.html

New definitions.

taxes: there are two types of taxes:

-Direct: collected directly

  * every month: part of the salary

  * income tax deturn: once a year

- Indirect: collected indirectly

  *trough value-Added tax(VAT)
  *special taxes:tobacco,alcohol,petrol

  to finance the healthcare system.

tax envaders: they hide their incomes in tax havens.

tax havens: places where the state doesn't collect taxes
with lots of banks that are specialists in hiding money

equity  policies: policies to promote equity

positive descrimination(u.k) and affirmative action(usa):
it consists in favouring people who are discrimnated normally in
order than they can get better jobs and receive fair saliaries.
Sometines governments give subsides to the enterprises that hire
discriminated people. Other times they established by law that discriminated groups have to be
febray shed.

glass ceiling(techo de cristal): invisible barnier that prevent women to get the highest posts in the enter prises
or in the administration.

strikes: last resort for workers.
*slow-sown strike: working alower
*work-to-rule strike: following the rules stricktly
*"japanese" strike: to work more and produce more in order to create stocks
and losses for the company
*normal strike: not going to work

scab=blackleg: workers who got work when the majority are on strike.

Image source: http://www.justinperry.net/justinsblog?Load=Comments&PostID=43025