Snouter asked: I’ve really gotten into free market capitalism after listening to some Ron Paul over the last few weeks. He predicted the 1987 recession in 1984 (on youtube) and this recession as early as 2002.
I really want do know how he is doing it and have really become interested in free market capitalism.
wariopuff asked:
Why would a firm in a perfectly competitive market always choose to set its price equal to the current market price? If a firm set its price below the current market price, what effect would this have on the market?
PAUL asked:
This is for my research for the market prices range of cigarettes here in the philippines. And which among the brand of cigarettes is much more sellable in the market.
WASHINGTON – Sales of new US homes surged 9.6 per cent in July, according to government data on Wednesday that showed further signs of recovery in the troubled housing sector.
Sales of new single-family homes rose to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 433,000, the Commerce Department said. That was well above analyst estimates of 390,000.
Nonetheless, the figure was 13.4 per cent below the sales pace of a year ago, and gains came amid price cuts.
The median sales price of new houses sold in July 2009 was US$210,100 (S$304,000), down slightly from US$210,400 in June and 11 per cent below last year’s median price.
The average sales price of US$269,200 was down 2.7 per cent from a month earlier and off 10 per cent from a year earlier.
Inventory levels came down in July, reducing the glut of new homes for sale.
The seasonally adjusted estimate of new houses for sale at the end of July was 271,000, a supply of 7.5 months at the current sales rate
Boeing spokesman Russ Young said the company is notifying state and local officials about applying for permits at the North Charleston plant, but noted there will be no decision on where to locate a second line until year’s end.
The Chicago-based company has been evaluating potential sites for a second assembly line for the 787, a next-generation aircraft built for fuel efficiency with lightweight carbon composite parts and its best-selling new model to date.
But production of the 787 has been hampered by problems stemming partly from Boeing’s reliance on global suppliers to build large sections of the aircraft. Those sections are later assembled at its commercial aircraft facilities in Everett, Washington.
The production glitches and an eight-week strike by union workers last fall have led to repeated delays of the 787′s first test flight and deliveries.
The troubles with the 787 program have cost Boeing credibility and billions of dollars in anticipated expenses and penalties. First deliveries are now about two years behind schedule.
Still, the 787 remains a priority for Boeing, which has struggled with sharply lower orders as the global economic slowdown has eroded demand for air travel and cargo services.
The North Charleston plant, which Boeing bought last month from Vought for US$580 million (S$838 million) plus about US$420 million in debt forgiveness, makes fuselage sections for the 787.
Analysts saw the acquisition of the plant, which was built in 2005, as an effort by Boeing to exert greater control over the production process and resolve supplier problems.
Because of the lead time required to get building permits, the company may also seek them for other locations, Mr Young said. Boeing has declined to specify other sites being considered
Credit Agricole, France’s largest retail bank, has announced better-than-expected profits as fewer losses on bad loans helped to boost performance.
The bank made 201m euros ($286m; £177m) between April and June, more than double the 76m euros it made in the same period a year ago.
But despite the results, the bank said the financial crisis would not be over until the second half of 2010.
Banks across the world have reported mixed results for the second quarter.
‘Resilient results’
“All our historic business lines are producing good results, which allows us to deal with the impact of the current crisis,” said Georges Pauget, Credit Agricole’s chief executive officer.
“Retail banking, insurance, asset management and consumer finance delivered very good performances, despite the adverse economic climate,” he added.
Christoph Bossmann, an analyst at West LB, said: “The results are resilient in retail banking and asset management.”
Earlier this month, French banks BNP Paribas and Societe Generale reported increases in profits, while Swiss bank UBS reported a loss.
Major banks in the UK have also reported mixed results, with Barclays and HSBC posting bumper profits and Northern Rock and Lloyds Banking Group announcing big losses.
Banks in the US have had similarly mixed fortunes, with Goldman Sachs and JP Morgan in the money and Morgan Stanley posting losses.
The Wall Street Journal, which is also owned by Dow Jones publishing group, part of Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, reported over the weekend that the company was in discussions with potential buyers of the business.
Goldman Sachs has been appointed to lead the talks.
News Corp bought Dow Jones for $5.7bn (£3.45bn) in 2007 but was recently forced to write down $2.8bn of the purchase price after its publishing operations were hit by the fall in advertising.
Potential buyers of the indices business have been named as Bloomberg, FTSE – which is a joint venture between the Financial Times Group and the London Stock Exchange, MSCI Barra, Russell, Thomson Reuters or McGraw-Hill – the owner of index provider Standard & Poor’s.
The Wall Street Journal said negotiations are still at an early stage and the talks could also result in an arrangement other than an outright sale, such as a joint venture.
As well as the famous industrial average, the company also compiles more than 130,000 indices and licences the data to market professionals.
Should any new acquirer decide to change or scrap any of the indices, it could have a strong effect of providers of exchange traded funds (ETFs) as many of these investment vehicles track specific Dow Jones indices.
The industrial average was introduced in 1884 by Charles Dow and Edward Jones. Initially it contained 12 stocks, but this was raised to 30 in 1928. Included in the index today, are companies such as IBM, Wal-Mart, Caterpillar and ExxonMobil. General Electric is the only company that has been listed since the index was founded.
Economics | admin, 5 Apr 10 | 
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