Economic Indicator # 2: The Consumer Confidence Survey

An economic indicator is defined by Investopidea.com (n.d.) as “A piece of economic data, usually of macroeconomic scale, that is used by investors to interpret current or future investment possibilities and judge the overall health of an economy”. Below are six economic indicators that affect Apple Inc. and its business decisions and strategies.

Max: Hi I’m Max Lessins. This is Crash Course for economics and today we’ll be discussing the Great Recession, focusing on the fiscal and monetary policies used to recover from the 2008 economic meltdown.

Income elasticity of demand is used to measure how consumers respond to changes to their income and their buying power or demand of a product. To better understand how changes of income affect consumers decisions to either buy less of a specific product or more of a specific product we use the income elasticity formula. The income elasticity formula is to divide the percentage change of the quantity of a particular product demanded over the percentage of change in a person’s income. The answer will result in either a positive or negative coefficient with a threshold of zero. If the results are a positive coefficient then that specific product is considered a normal/superior good; if the results are a negative coefficient that product is considered an inferior good.

4. What is the Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE)? Consumer Expenditure Survey (CE) is a survey that provides information on the buying and spending habits of consumers in an economy (What Is Consumer Expenditure?).

The consumer confidence index measures the level of optimism regarding the prospect of economic growth. These data are gathered via surveys that focus on people’s attitude towards economy by asking them to make short and long term forecasts. Although consumers’ overviews of the economy are based on past occurrences, the expectations are generally reflective of future expenditure behaviour, which is a large component of real GDP. CCI is subjective because people’s economic outlooks are generally based on variables that are partially reflective and closely related to themselves such as unemployment rate and petrol prices. Consumers’ expectations are based on the changes in these factors and they will impact upon future household consumption.

The CPI is a price index of a market basket of items that consumers buy. A market basket is a collection of items that people often buy such as clothing, gasoline, food, and so forth.

The three major economic indicators—the real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), the unemployment rate, and the Consumer Price Index (CPI)—will be used in this analysis of the Canadian economy, along with several others.

After I got the assignment and read what the topics were, I started doing research on all the topics you gave us. After doing the research I decided I was most interested in the United states recession in 2008. It also interested me in finding out what we have done, in the middle of doing, and what we are going to do to get out of the recession. I decided to choose this topic about the US economy and what we were and are doing to get out of the recession because I wanted to learn more about why we went into a recession and how we are now working on how to get out of one. I wanted to write about all the things that led up to the recession and write about what we are doing and going to do to fix the recession. I started off by finding a lot

For one who see 's no purpose in life, simply living is strenuous and unmanageable. It is purpose that leads us, as human beings, to strive for excellence and to makes the world a better place. Jimmy Carter, the 39th president of the United States, televised a speech about America 's confidence Crisis. In modern day consumerist America, "[h]uman identity is no longer defined by what one does, but by what one owns," but unfortunately, "material goods cannot fill the emptiness of lives which have no confidence or purpose," which, these lives Jimmy Carter addressed are growing more empty as time goes on. Currently, America is made of materials, media, and money, which shines above the items of true importance: love, empathy, welfare, and general happiness. Like the old saying goes, all that glitters is not gold; Americans are shining, but their foundations are collapsing.

People are retiring later, adolescents are finding it difficult to get employed, and poverty rates are through the roof. Surely, these are not signs of a booming economy, but rather the opposite. Top notch economists have debated whether or not the American economy has improved over the years, but when one dives deep into research, he can see that the cornerstone of the United States’ economy is about to fail. Not only should the government take a step back from further disrupting the economy, but they should rather help find ways to grow it through producing goods in America and by supporting new businesses to decrease the unemployment rate. A team working for Goldman Sachs states that America is the best working economy in the world, but they didn’t do enough research. If the stock market is a success, it only shows big companies are doing well, not the new and smaller businesses. Furthermore, America should pay more attention to manufacturing goods in its own country in order to decrease the unemployment rate and help lower the amount of debt the United States owes.

A recession is very different from a depression because a recession is when GDP is contraction for two consecutive quarters. The reason why this is called The Great Recession is because it had a significant decrease in GDP and jobs in the United States. After his first month in office, Congress gave Obama “the first legislative triumph”(Havemann). The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act was Obama’s initial response to the 2008 recession. This act “enacted a $787 billion fiscal stimulus bill that comprised $288 billion in tax cuts and $499 billion in spending”(Havemann). It was a universal truth that most countries had been failing at this time, in some cases that were much worse than America’s. “ all experienced higher unemployment, a federal

Over the years, the economy in the United States has gone up and down. There were times where things were doomed and people lost their jobs. However ,this society has also prospered and created new forms of advancement. The world we live has turned its focus to the gaining production has to offer and its profits. This country has turned into a consumer-based economy. The real issues lie just within that. As the United States of America continues to become superior, one must understand the errors made within the economy. Having a consumer-based economy has caused tremendous failure, whether one knows it or not. It does not seem adequate to allow such system as the best for everyone, nor should the government feel as though they have the right

We are heading towards the season of spending, black Friday is just around the corner, with that exactly 31 days after we have Christmas. Consumer spending should be at an all-time high right, with month long sales and new deals everyday as coined with the popular shopping destinations. Now we all agree that there are four seasons throughout the year, we have the spring equinox, summer solstice, fall equinox, winter solstice. In most firms, they also have something called a fiscal year and that can be broken down into 4 quarters. Consumers are always spending throughout the year, those spending habits change with the flow of seasons.

Looking at the year of 2015, we see that inflation is still under control however the consumer

Economic environment comprises of elements that influence by consumer buying power and spending patterns. Total buying power depends on current income, prices, savings, and credit (Kotler et al. 2013, p 131). The adjustment in average weekly earnings for each individual and the development in the Australian economy, which can be determined with Gross domestic product (GDP).