| Our experts look at the crystal ball for 2008
Sound economic fundamentals will support house prices in 2008. The economy is in good health; employment levels are high. Scottish economic growth is likely to remain close to its long-term average pace in 2008. Employment, a key driver of housing demand, is expected to rise to new record highs. Scotland's relatively good housing affordability – the house price to earnings ratio in Scotland is the lowest of any part of the UK – is also a positive factor for the property outlook.We expect the Bank of England to cut rates at least twice next year to insulate the economy from anything more than a gradual economic slowdown. But further reductions are more than possible and could occur rapidly. Lower rates will help to support consumer confidence, improve housing affordability and limit the slowdown in the Scottish housing market.Many mortgage borrowers due to come off fixed rate loans during 2008 will look to take advantage of the potential for rate cuts by shifting into variable rate mortgages.
Outsourcing: Where’s Uncle Sam?
He pointed out that IBM now has 43,000 people working in India who are part of "a new kind of organization," one that's designed not around a single country, "but on a truly planet-wide model." Yet a critical point has been lost in the debate: The interests of U.S. corporations are often not the same as those of the country and its citizens. Hiring staff in India may help companies like IBM, Dell (DELL), Microsoft (MSFT), Accenture (ACN), and others lower their costs and boost their profits, but it hurts the workers who lose jobs and those who lose the prospect of jobs. Economist Paul Samuelson, a Nobel Prize winner, wrote in a 2004 paper that the economic effect of outsourcing is similar to allowing mass immigration of workers willing to compete for service jobs at extremely low wages.
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Overall Holiday Season Retail Grows 3.6%, MasterCard SpendingPulse ...
Data Source: SpendingPulse, MasterCard Advisors. A macro-economic indicator, SpendingPulse reports on national retail sales and is based on aggregate sales activity in the MasterCard payments network, coupled with estimates for all other payment forms, including cash and check. MasterCard SpendingPulse does not represent MasterCard financial performance. SpendingPulse is provided by MasterCard Advisors, the professional services arm of MasterCard Worldwide. MasterCard Advisors� SpendingPulse, a macro-economic report tracking retail sales nationally, today provided summary results of the 2007 Holiday shopping season. This year, for the period between Black Friday and December 24, retail grew by a seasonally adjusted 3.6% over the same period in 2006. �Overall, sales came in just above the lower end of the range we were expecting, maintaining the slower, modest growth we�ve been seeing throughout the year,� noted Michael McNamara, vice president of research and analysis for MasterCard Advisors.
Just the facts on SB 777
Find a petition center (do a SB 777 google search) and make an effort to go sign if you haven't already. Mine are all filled and gone. TownCrier wrote on Jan 1, 2008 9:05 PM:Congratulations Agrippa, you seem to be a lone voice with actually some forebearence on the situation. I'm afraid however, that things may be a tad more sinister than just a Marxist ploy. Most people are either too stressed, prescription med'ed out, alcoholic, or just too overwhelmed to see all the pieces converging. Illegal immigrants, Islamic fanaticals, TB, economic stresses, Bird flu, Ecoli, Radical homosexuality, Disenfranchised Congress, corruption in the White House, and just when you think your Prosac is effective, along comes China and it's whole host of subverting schemes. We're being set up people and you really need to get your thumbs out of your arses and start paying attention.
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