Americans are overpaid

Adel Saaid
EAP 1
Economy
Hutchinson, M., Hadas, E.(2009, November 11). Americans are overpaid. Retrieved on November 13, 2009. http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/11/news/international/global_american_wages.breakingviews/index.htm


summary:

This article talks about how the world economy is rebalancing by reducing the wage gap between U.S. workers and the rest of the workers in the world. Certainly, American workers receive high wages compared to the rest of the workers in the rest of the world. U.S. workers have higher productivity, achieve the high quality of education, the availability of capital, and the infrastructure. But the current economic developments have led many countries to be an important player in economic competition and the availability of labor, cheap capital, and easy access to international markets as well as benefit from the communications revolution. If the American worker would compete, they should reduce wages in balance with the rest of the workers in countries with emerging economies.

Reaction:

In my opinion, I think this is the time to do the restructuring of the U.S. economy. The economy suffers from the U.S. financial crisis and economic problems. In addition, there is strong competition from the modern states economically. These countries have cheap labor, raw materials, and have low taxes that were missing at the U.S. economy. Thus, the time is appropriate to conduct these reforms so that the U.S. products compete in the international market. Otherwise, that day will come when you can not find anyone to buy U.S. products, despite their quality and reputation.

Wal – Mart: sales environment still difficult

Kavilanz, P. (2009, November 12), Wal – Mart: sales environment still difficult. From CNN Money News. Retrieved on November 5, 2009. http://money.cnn.com/2009/11/12/news/companies/walmart_earnings/index.htm


Summary:

This article talks about the effect of the economic crisis on the largest retailers such as Wal- Mart stores. Wall- Mart reported its third- quarter profit was approaching to earning 84 cents per share for the same period until Oct. 31, a profit up from the same period a year ago. But the stores’ sales had fallen down affected by difficult selling environment. However, Wal- Mart management worked to reduce expenses to get these earnings. So, experts are expecting that consumer spending will be low in the near future (fourth quarter) this year. According the author, this trend will continue even after the economy rebounds.

Reaction:

In fact, all the world and companies are affected by the huge economic crisis. Also, this crisis affected the consumers and the employees. Then, many people lost their jobs and others have loans to banks and they are unable to repay them. However, a lot of people don’t have enough money to spend for goods and some of them are not sure for the future, so they can’t spend their money as in the past. Wal – Mart Stores have more information about this situation so Wal – Mart and other supermarkets will do anything to reduce expenses. This is the only way to increase profits, I thought Wal – Mart laid off many workers in order to increase earnings per share in addition to reducing costs. According to this article and another, this crisis’ effect will continue into the near future.