Select a good or service in which you are familiar. What are the factors that affect the supply and demand of the good or service? How do you expect the demand and supply of the good or service to change in the next year? Explain your answer.
To get the ball rolling on this discussion question. Is the economy improving? It is an exciting time to be studying economics in these turbulent times for the economy.
Most US economic indicators are pointing towards a steady, though slow improvement - a positive Gross Domestic Product growth, a flattening unemployment rate (in fact, slow increases in employment), a low inflation rate, signs of a housing market that has bottomed out in many areas, a raging stock market.
Of course, cautiousness is needed. As the European Union economy is still the largest economy in the world - some negative surprises from there could drag down the US recovery - for example, the threat of Greece, Spain and Portugal debt defaults is staggering. The ever present threat of domestic terrorism, the possibility of environmental disasters, the ever growing trade and budget deficits of the US, the imminent increase in interest rate - those are all matters of concern as they relate to the fragile recovery of the US economy.
And of course, as relates to unemployment - the picture may remain darker for the foreseeable future. The unemployment rate is usually one of the last indicators to start improving after the end of a recession. Your thoughts?
