How Jeremy Lin affects the national income of NBA

I guess Linsanity this word doesn’t sound fresh for you. Jeremy Lin is one of the greatest Asian basketball players in the world. Due to his quickness and skills, he manages to lead New York Knicks to win in 7 winning streaks without the two star players Carmelo Anthony and Amar'e Stoudemire. Other than that, he is also the first Taiwanese who made into the Nba. As an Asian, I feel so proud of him.
 After Yao Ming retired, the fan from china is running low. It also affected the Nba facing a big drop in sales and less profit. Fortunately, Lin performing well in this season. He seize the opportunity to perform himself while the main guard of the team is injured. From my viewpoint, I think everyone is so excited while watching his game, his ability, how he tricks his opponent, everything of him is just making the world more exciting while watching him playing. This incident give a big impact to the whole world. His income, fame and publicity is growing rapidly in a short time.

 Due to his fame, he help Nba increase national income in so many ways. We can see that Lin turn on the market in Asian country again. As we can see, he boost up the business rate of Nba again. His jersey had set up a new record for the New York Knicks. Just a few short months time, the sports apparel retailers sold out all of the Jeremy Lin jersey and shirt as quickly as manufacturers could make them. So you can imagine how popular is Jeremy Lin in everywhere. In other word, we can see that lot of people is bring in their money in order to consume more Jeremy Lin product. Other than that, these matches is the best attraction for the Nba to attract more foreigner to watch it. As long as more people watch it, the broadcasting will have more subscribers. Hence, as long as more people subscribing, they automatically will earn more and more. Extra money will increase the cash flow, and this will increase the real GDP which can refers to the national income.

Learning Mandarin and the effects to the world economics

Influence on Learning Mandarin to the World Economics

In the old days my dad always ask me to learn French, Russian, and Japanese because it will help me in the future, But now he ask me to learn mandarin in collage because china is dominating the world economy. Although Chinese may in fact be in high demand, what’s equally important is to factor in is the supply of mandarin speakers. According to the US census, in 2006 there were 2.5 million** people in the United States who speak mandarin at home. That’s more than any language other than English and Spanish. What this means is that not even counting the hundreds of thousands of American currently studying mandarin as a second language, there are already over two million Americans, who by virtue of growing up speaking  mandarin

 Nowadays we can see that most of the goods that we bought are made from china even the branded goods that are from us, for an example recently I went to US and went to an apple store there and wanted to buy an iPad that just came out and I find out it is made from china.  This really shows that china is dominating the world economics because the practically make everything there and I just found out from an article that they even makes fake eggs.

Learn mandarin to upgrade your status

For those who is still studying and looking for if you can speak mandarin, you will have brighter future, this is because you will have lot of opportunity to get a job because most company are from china and if you already got a job you have high chance to get promoted to a higher or better position.  There are a substantial amount of career-oriented positions available which will make use of your mandarin skills. The thing is, most of them are in China, particularly Beijing, Shanghai, and Shenzhen. If your goal is to base your career on mandarin, you should be comfortable with the idea that you’re going to be spending the majority of your time in China. This is why you need to learn mandarin as your second language.

Mamak stalls seen in the vicinity of Melbourne

        It all began when Malaysian lads Julian Lee, Alan Au and Clement Lee started a market stall in Chinatown, Sydney, selling roti canai (sheer-thin roti) and teh tarik (tea). The hit was intense and instant. Due to a tremendous rise in sales revenue, they followed up with a Chinatown restaurant in 2007, which size was doubled a year later. Ultimately, they opened a Chatswood Mamak in 2010. Within five-year of time, it's already something of a Sydney institution.

As a Malaysian, no doubt there is much pride received, realizing the symbolic Malaysian style of food being expanded to an international extent.  Now, the question is, will the opening of Mamak restaurant in Melbourne succeed? Well, the performance of the business shall be interpreted separately in different time frames. In economic terms, all decisions of a business can be placed in two time frames: namely the short run and the long run. As for the short run, all factors of production (input) remains unchanged; whereas all factors of production are subjected to changes in the long run. Note that in economic terms, length of time is not taken into account when determining time frames of a firm.

Since the mentioned business is connected to selling of food, input of the restaurant can be divided into two components: raw food materials and amount of workers employed. Raw food materials are materials used in making nasi lemak, roti canai, fish curry, rojak salad and even cendol as a dessert. Examples of raw food materials are flour, curry gravy, tamarind notes, yam beans, peanuts and so on. Examples of workers employed are cleaners, cashiers, chefs, waiters etc. Since all inputs are fixed, the restaurant is said to be in the short run. Since the restaurant is able to expand the size of its business lately, there is no doubt that considerable sales revenue is generated in the short run.

At the later stage of the business, the Mamak restaurant has branched out to a different state of Australia, which is from Melbourne to Sydney. Therefore, the business is said to be experiencing the long run time frame. Factors of production such as premises, equipment, amount of labour and infrastructure have been altered due to an expansion of the firm’s size. All in all, the business has generated sufficient profit to excel in the long run.

As a Malaysian, we do hope that our local Mamak industry can be expanded further to an international extent. Apart from a sense of indisputable pride, the popularity of Mamak food may contribute to an increase in exports and national income of Malaysia, just like how the recent emergence of Korean wave contributed to the Korean economy.

Reference: http://www.theage.com.au/entertainment/restaurants-and-bars/mamak-20120924-26gcp.html

Illicit Trade Of Ciagarettes

British American Tobacco (Malaysia) Berhad is a tobacco production company working under compliance of Confederation of Malaysian Tobacco Manufacturers with two other main tobacco production companies named as JT International Berhad and Philip Morris (Malaysia) Sdn. Bhd. These tobacco companies seem to be earning a lot of money and gained a lot of strength in the consumer market but then they still have their own weakness. People never know who their biggest competitors are because their competitor is an underground activity which is doing illegal cigarette trading. Based on the analysis, the level of illegal cigarette trades increased in our country from 20 percent in 2002 to 36.5 per cent in 2010. As such, this encourages the underground economy to thrive effortlessly. 

On the other hand, this makes the government to be losing due to the underground tobacco market smuggling in the economy. This is because the government will be losing their tobacco taxes revenues estimated to be at least RM2 billion annually. The annual 2 billion is so important to the government for a lot of beneficial uses for continuous improvement of Malaysian society such as helping in the government hospitality sector and to those senior citizens in the old folk’s home. 

Nevertheless, this decrease of people buying legal cigarettes in the market makes a big losing to the legal cigarette trade company in Malaysia when the legal volume from 19.5 billion stick in 2002 to 13.5 billion in 2010. This shows a big reduction which is 31 percent in the volume cigarette sticks that are produced annually. This is because the illegal cigarette is extremely cheap compared to legal cigarettes. A pack of the cheapest legal cigarettes can go to RM 7.00 per pack of 20 sticks whereas a pack of 20’s illegal cigarettes can be bought for RM 2.00 – RM3.50. Hence, the act of increasing the taxes and the price of the cigarettes will only benefit the criminals who are doing this activity. This is because the higher the taxes and the price of a pack of legal cigarettes, the more the illicit trade of cigarettes and the more money they make. Furthermore, plain packaging and text of a legal cigarette will encourage the illegal cigarettes to produce more because it is cheaper to counterfeiting such as gold inks, special cardboards, colours, logos and graphic health warnings as mandated by Ministry of Health. 

Banning such as displaying cigarettes in stores make buying of cigarettes more difficult out of sight out of mind but then the consumer will know where to get what they want and would not quit smoking. Banning the use of all the ingredients in cigarettes such as changing the taste will just make people to buy from illicit trade of cigarette which makes the taste that they wanted. Banning on smoking inside in public areas also decrease the output of legal cigarettes. In conclusion, neither the government nor the legal tobacco company will not gain any profit but the illicit trades of cigarettes done by the smugglers out there will only be gaining their profit. 

Malaysia’s covered by long coastal lines, isolated jetties and porous borders encourages crime syndicates to smuggle in illegal cigarettes undetected. In short, the lower the price of the illegal cigarette, the higher is the demand of the illegal cigarette when it applied to the law of demand in economics. This is because the higher the price of legal cigarette, the lower is the demand of the legal cigarettes due to the increase of taxes on cigarettes. This can also be explained the higher price of legal cigarettes, the more illegal cigarettes will be supplied and contraband by the smugglers.

Illegal Cigarette Trades In Media:

Reference:

http://www.batmalaysia.com/group/sites/BAT_7RYJ8N.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO8PBF5L?opendocument&SKN=1

http://www.batmalaysia.com/group/sites/BAT_7RYJ8N.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO8PBFAV?opendocument&SKN=1

http://www.batmalaysia.com/group/sites/BAT_7RYJ8N.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO8PBFUP?opendocument&SKN=1

http://www.batmalaysia.com/group/sites/BAT_7RYJ8N.nsf/vwPagesWebLive/DO8Q7EHZ?opendocument&SKN=1

The Emergence of Loan Sharks

I refer to the article "Getting a Grip of the Loan Shark Problems". 

Loan Sharks are one of the many things that is widely loathed by the society nowadays. There are many cases where borrowers suffer constant harassment or physical abuse when the loan sharks come knocking on their doors, realizing that they do not have the money to settle their ugly debt. Presently, taking loans from loan sharks still remains a taboo act that is also strongly discouraged by governments all over the world, with some even taking the initiative to fight against these loan shark criminals. What I find ironic is that people have no choice but to look for the authorities for help when they face trouble from loan shark. The irony lies between the fact that the reason for the emergence of loan sharks is because of the high world unemployment rate and other factors, which is also partly the world government's fault.

To investigate further about the increasing number of loan sharks around streets, one must understand that there are two types of people who make deals with loan sharks; one of them are the financially desperate. Taking a bank loan is no simple task; you must have a stable monthly income and all the other requirements must be met. Banks basically do a background check on you before they hand you a loan, so how is it possible for a broke man, blacklisted as a bankrupt with no stable income, to turn over a new leaf without help from the bank? That is what makes a financially desperate man think that making a deal with the devil is the better alternative, because loan sharks promise instant cash to anyone, anytime.

Another type of people who borrow money from loan sharks are the people facing addiction issues, such as the gambling addicts and junkies. Gambling is not encouraged and even illegal in some countries, but the problem is that the government did not enforce these laws and policies. I think that the only way to get rid of loan sharks is for the government to start by reducing unemployment rate. The governments could also loosen the financial and status requirements to take a loan from the bank, so that people find banks as better a option in search for financial aid. The government should also impose laws where legal gambling dens must screen their players or set a limit in player loss in order to minimize the number of people who gamble their lives away. No matter what the government do, there will always be loan sharks lurking around, feeding on the weak, but the least they can do is suppress them.

Reference: http://www.consumer.org.my/index.php/personal-finance/debt/172-getting-a-grip-of-the-loan-shark-problems

Fifa World Cup on South Africa Economics

The effects of Fifa world cup to South Africa economics

Summary

The Fifa World has a significant impact on the global economy. FIFA, football’s global governing body with 204 member countries, is beginning to view itself as a global “big business”. This self-image is no assumption; it has been proven throughout various World Cups that this football tournament has a global impact.

Effect of South Africa GDP 

South Africa, a developing economy, has GDP per capita of about $10,000 per year, 50% of its population living in poverty based on estimates from 2000 and a 2009 unemployment rate of 24%. The latest reports indicate that the government of South Africa spent 11.5 billion rand, or $1.48 billion, on new football stadium construction and renovation to existing stadiums for the World Cup. Five new football stadiums were built to host World Cup matches, and five existing stadiums were renovated and enlarged. FIFA regulations require all World Cup facilities to be state of the art, with luxury boxes and premium seating. The capacity of the new stadiums built for the World Cup range from 40,000 to 64,000.all the new stadiums will have luxury boxes and premium seating, clearly a high demand good in a country with GDP per capita of $10,000. Annual operation and maintenance of a modern outdoor sports facility can cost $10 million or more in the U.S., suggesting that the continuing cost of the new World Cup stadiums in South Africa could be quite large.

Effect to the tourism

The 2012 World Cup will clearly leave other economic legacies. Hundreds of thousands of tourists will travel to South Africa to watch the matches and spend money in the local economy. For several weeks South Africa will be the centre of worldwide media attention. This media exposure will reach billions of people and some of them will decide to visit South Africa in the future. However, South Africa was already a major tourist destination before hosting the World Cup, so some of the potential current and future World Cup related economic benefits from tourism should be offset by the existing economic impact of tourism in the country.

Demand and Supply

Recently I read an article posted from India on this afternoon, we can see that the Indian sugar futures are fell to their lowest price on this Thursday. At 1038 GMT, the December contract on the India’s National Commodity and Derivatives Exchange is down 0.82 percent at 3266 rupees per 100 kg. According to the member of the Bombay Sugar Merchants Association said, the wholesale demand is pretty weak. Even the retail demand is also weak as the festival season is over. According to the article, we can see that the supply of Sugar will be decrease very soon. Therefore I trust that the price will be increase again.

According to the article, we can see that many sugar mills are still holding significant stocks from the November quota. It seen that most of them are under pressure as they need to sell their stocks in a week. Also we found that the main factors that influence the sugar price decrease is because most of the factories in Maharashtra delayed the cane-crushing because the farmers and mills couldn’t agree with the cane prices.                             

Beside that, we can see the government is trying to take some action to solve this situation, they asked millers to sell 4 million tonnes of sugar in the open market during October and November, and this is higher than the average monthly allocation of around 1.7 million tones. This may help to increase back the price of sugar and in order to save back this situation.


Reference list:
http://www.brecorder.com/markets/commodities/asia/91943-indian-sugar-drops-to-near-1-month-low-on-sluggish-demand-.html

The Astro Supremacy

I refer to The Star's article "Astro to Increase Prices.".

If there is one brand we Malaysians are all familiar with for as long as we could remember, it would undeniably be Astro, the classic television broadcasting service we all find relatable to our daily television habits. In fact, I think it is necessary for me to rephrase; Astro is the ONLY television broadcasting service available in Malaysia. Ever faced the scenario where Astro ceased to operate due to the slightest drizzle? You curse, and you swear, and you realize that there's nothing you can do, not even subscribe to any other TV broadcasting service. 

The reason to why the citizens of Malaysia have no choice but to put up with Astro’s incapability is because Astro is the sole firm that dominates the Malaysian broadcasting and media industry, leaving people no choice but to subscribe to Astro for their daily habitual fulfillment. A sole dominating firm is better known as a Monopoly, which normally exists in an imperfectly competitive industry, where change in price would not affect the demand much. A monopoly tend to have legal rights in order for them to stay in control in the industry for a long time, for example the Malaysian authorities’ agreement to hand Astro a definite contract for 20 years, up until the year 2017. This strategic act is infamously known as a barrier to entry, and competing firms should expect more from Astro, such as the ownership of satellites in Malaysia. Monopolies are normally backed by a number of politicians, so that the business will be a profitable one for the government as well. Astro is also a price-setter, where gullible Malaysians just sit and watch Astro increase the subscription charge year by year. Astro can afford to increase their price to as much as they like, even to a ridiculous amount, and yet the demand would not change as much because the price of Astro is inelastic. 

The unreliability and the recent increase in prices of Astro might somehow affect the television and cinema industry. This might be the case when people decide that Astro is not worth watching and that watching movies in cinemas would be more worthy, thus harming the television business while refining the cinema business. The contract the Malaysian government promised Astro might also affect the perception of Malaysian voters about the controlling government, which might also politically affect the Malaysian government. Whether Astro stays as a monopoly or not, I do not think it will bring about any significant effect on the Malaysian economy.

Reference: http://biz.thestar.com.my/news/story.asp?file=/2011/6/24/business/8963931&sec=business