iRich

According to an article in The Economist, Apple's share's have risen by nearly 50% in value in the first quarter of this year. This makes Apple the highest valued company on the American Stock Market at over $550 Billion. This will likely mean another huge payoff for share holders. For the past 2 decades three companies have alternated as the most valueable in the American stock market; General Electric, Exxon Mobile, and Microsoft. However Apple doesn't employ nearly as many people as these three and also doesn't generate nearly the revenue. Apple is able to be a more powerful player on the stock market than these three because it's unprecedented poosibiltity of growth. In the past ten years Apple has introduced the ipod, iphone, and ipad, each was on the cutting edge of technology. As soon as another company comes out with their own version of Apple's product, Apple updates theirs and released the newer version, keeping themselves ahead of the competition. This unique situation allows Apple to be a stronger stock than companies that are larger in traditional terms.

God over Economy?......No

Ever since the recession of 2008, the economy has been the most important issue for politicians seeking office. It has definitely been the key issue in each of the last two presidential elections. That is, however, except for one high profile Republican canidate. Time Magazine ran a story this week discussing Rick Santorum's unique stance on what is most important. The GOP hopeful believes that America's problems can be more easily solved by addressing the so called "family problem." He believes that increased marriages among parents will lead to other problems fixing themselves. While this isn't necesarily wrong, there's one major problem with it: You Can't legislate marriage. As President what is he expecting to do? Force the lower class to get married and stay together while having a good home life and thus producing a productive member of society? This can't possibly be accomplished and is ridiculous to even think of. Seperation of Church and State is clearly established and any educated voter should see that Santorum should more focused on economic issues and less focused on eradicating gay marriage and legislating family life. Even though he's of the more conservative belief that the government should interfere less with the economy; he should be campaigning on that. He should be focused on changing the economic policies of the current administration if he is against them. He should be focused on anything but what he's campaigned on. It's a good thing he'll never be president.

Bigger is Better(or cheaper) When it Comes to Cars

An article in the Wall Street
Journal online predicts that in 2012 it will become harder to find good deals
on fuel efficient cars, but it will be cheaper to find larger cars such as
SUVs. It’s being estimated that car sales rose 20% in February from last month
and the most popular types of cars sold were small sedans and fuel efficient
subcompacts. This is likely due to rising gas prices and consumer’s desire to
save more at the pump. As a result of the demand of these cars rising, the
price is also rising. As expected, the demand for SUVs has fallen in recent
years especially during months when fuel prices rise. This was no different in
February as demand is again down for these gas guzzlers. This likely means that
car dealers will be offering incentives and lower prices in an effort to
increase demand. I would expect this trend to continue as long as gas prices
continue to rise.

Sugar Cane

According to the Wall Street
Journal Online, Central American countries are planning growing more than the
normal amount of sugar cane this year. Normally growing more or less than the
usual or needed amount would affect the price in some way but in this case
governments are planning this increase to ensure that prices stay relatively
the same. This is necessary after droughts hit Mexico’s sugar cane fields,
rendering them useless. This plan will keep the prices stable until it is clear
that Brazil, which is the World’s top grower of sugar cane, is going to have a
strong output. I think this is a very proactive and intelligent plan by the
growers of Central America. Although it may affect the price in the
participating countries; it keeps the overall price of sugar cane stable. This
may also set a precedent that will allow for sugar cane prices to remain stable
in the years to come.