The web economy blog

Archive for the ‘Web Economy’ Category

Colorado web designers Madwire Media, the fastest growing web design company in Colorado, brought six million U.S. dollars in the northern Colorado economy in 2010 and forecasts in addition to fifteen million in 2011.

With unemployment still high and a fragile economy, companies left and right have had to close their doors or lay off employees to stay afloat. CNN Money Magazine reported that unemployment has remained above 9% for 21 consecutive months, and economists and politicians, including Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, have said repeatedly that is likely to remain high in coming years.

Even amid this broken economy, Colorado’s largest web design firm with local, national and global clients, Madwire Media, grew from five to over forty employees in 2010 and plans to add 35 more to the staff by the end of 2011. With this growth, Madwire Media impacted the Northern Colorado economy by six million dollars last year. The reason for such growth is because they put great focus on phenomenal customer service, modern design, efficient development, and marketing that drives results at incredibly low rates.

At this rate, it is forecasted that Colorado web design firm Madwire Media will add an additional fifteen million dollars to the local economy in 2011. This brings a positive light to a not-so-positive economy. Madwire Media is obviously doing it right, and their integrative and non-traditional approach to business probably has a lot to do with it.

Madwire Media is not your unfortunately typical poor service, email only, slow turnaround time, under-delivering web design and internet marketing company. In fact, they pride themselves in being the complete opposite of that. They eat, sleep and drink great service, design, marketing, and affordability. They never leave their clients hanging out to dry, under-serviced, and unsatisfied. Madwire Media is outperforming in the current market, helping to stimulate the economy by bringing in new money nationally and locally.

Madwire Media does everything in their power to help their clients reach their goals, within their budget, and build their business. When it comes to internet marketing and design, they do it all.

His business approach is refreshing and encouraging today’s economy and the media Madwire is sure to create plenty of buzz in the market this year. With its innovative web site design, SEO marketing to inbound, brand identity, and social media, which seem to do anything, and do well.

Ontario East has launched the first collaboration of its kind, with the regional web portal that uses social media to reveal the innovative initiatives underway in the community and show the world that Ontario is more creative eastern corner of Canada.

“This site is a way to introduce, in one place, all activities taking place in eastern Ontario to build a creative economy,” Stephen Paul President of the Ontario East Economic Development Commission (Ontario East).

Eastern Ontario focuses on the enlargement of a creative economy on the fact that rural areas of this type, including small towns and cities are less likely to benefit from the headquarters or expanding manufacturing.

“The real economic growth in these areas is going to come from entrepreneurs and small businesses employed in the creative economy, those individuals who are paid to solve problems, use their intellectual capacity and collaborate,” says Paul.

The new portal will display social media posts from as many as 20 communities, detailing their hottest creative economy activities in real time. It also provides links to each community’s website.

The portal’s design is based on the concept that continuously updated, fresh content will boost the site’s Google ranking and Internet presence. This will make it easier to find Ontario East online and raise the profile of the myriad of activities occurring in the region that are contributing to the creative economy. This higher profile should help attract and retain more creative economy entrepreneurs.

Creative economies are defined as ones in which people are paid to think using ideas, analytical skills, innovation, knowledge, and collaboration, and in which the nature of work moves from routine-oriented jobs to creativity-oriented jobs. In Ontario, the creative economy employs 35 per cent of the workforce yet pays 51 per cent of wages. Jobs in the creative economy tend to pay twice that of the next wage category.

There are many advantages to developing a creative economy: creative economies cross all sectors, there are low barriers to entry, and there are high growth trends. They are also human capital intensive, which works well for Ontario East and its highly educated and skilled workforce.

“When people think of the word ‘creative,’ they tend to think it’s about artists and musicians. It’s much broader than that. It’s about architects just as much as it’s about programmers and artists and potters. It’s beyond bohemians and includes real estate, insurance, brokers, stocks, and more,” says Dan Taylor, Ontario East’s Creative Economy Sector Team Lead.

“A creative economy asks us to look at the economy a little differently. We usually think about sectors in economics. Creative economy doesn’t address sectors; it focuses on people, creative workers – people who are paid to think. Their job is to solve problems and come up with creative solutions,” Taylor adds.

Creative industries can include advertising, business consulting, design, education, engineering, film, gaming, healthcare, heritage, marketing, fine arts, public relations, and software development, among other industries.

The Ontario East Economic Development Commission, also known as Ontario East, was one of Canada’s first regionally-based economic development commissions when it formed in 1988. Its new site is an example of the collaborative nature of its communities to pull together toward a common vision.

Eastern Ontario consists of 124 regional economic enlargement professionals and entrepreneurs who work together to promote the business’s leading position in the area. Association represents more than 200 communities, thousands of companies, and nearly two million inhabitants.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve, Ben Bernanke on Capitol Hill is more confidence in the prospects of the economy and jobs, but not enough to retire from the Fed,s 600 billion U.S. dollars of the bond program to buy Friday.

Bernanke’s testimony before the Senate Budget Committee is his first appearance in Congress since the Fed announced in November it planned to buy 600 billion in Treasury bond purchases in June are designed to stimulate the economy by reducing interest rates and rising stock prices.

The program has been criticized by Republicans in Congress and some Fed officials who contend it will do little to help the economy and could hurt it by unleashing inflation and speculative buying on Wall Street. The move heightened tensions with trading partners including China, Germany and Brazil. They complained it was really a scheme to push down the value of the dollar, giving U.S. exporters a competitive edge.

Bernanke is expected to defend the program and signal the Fed intends to spend the full amount as scheduled, while also delivering a more encouraging message about the economic outlook for 2011.

“The economy seems to be moving in the right direction. But he’ll also caution that now is not the time for the Fed or for Congress to pull up supports,” said Ken Mayland, president of ClearView Economics.

Factories are cranking up production. The service sector is growing at its fastest pace in more than four years. Fewer people applied for unemployment benefits over the past month than in any other four-week period in more than two years. Consumers are spending more freely, and a payroll tax cut is likely to boost their activity further. All that suggests hiring will accelerate in the months ahead.

Bernanke’s testimony is scheduled to start one hour after the government releases its December jobs report. Economists are predicting that employers added 145,000 new positions last month and the unemployment rate dipped to 9.7 percent.

“The Fed chief will talk about improvements in the economy and will sound more optimistic,” said James O’Sullivan, economist at MF Global. “But he’ll caution that unemployment is historically high and has a long way to go to get back to normal.

Bernanke has said it could take four or five years for unemployment to drop to a historically normal, 5.5 percent to 6 percent. That’s why O’Sullivan and other economists predict Bernanke will make the case that bond-buying program is still needed.

Economists and Fed officials think Congress’ tax-reduction plan will help bolster the economy this year and should spur more hiring.

The tax package extends tax cuts enacted by President George W. Bush in 2001 and 2003, gives a pay raise to working Americans by lowering the Social Security payroll tax, provides tax breaks to businesses and extends unemployment benefits. The package has a price tag of $858 billion over two years.

Similarly, economists predict Bernanke will argue for Congress and the White House to come up with a long-term plan to reduce the government’s trillion-plus-dollar budget deficits.

President Barack Obama’s debt commission at the end of last year failed to reach a consensus on what to do about exploding deficits. Over the coming decade government deficits are estimated in the $10 trillion range. If Congress fails to come up with a plan to curb those deficits in the long run, the economy could be hurt, Bernanke is likely to say. Big deficits could force investors to demand more returns to loan out their money to the government. Interest rates could soar, crimping spending and slowing the economy.

Risks still lurk, the Fed said earlier this week. Seizures can lower the prices of houses more and further weaken the housing market. Try to balance their budgets, struggling state and local governments could cut spending more deeply and lay off employees. These forces would weigh on economic growth.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Friday, marked increases income inequality that the government is trying to address the issue while the economy grew by a record percentage of 14.7 last year, a dramatic recovery of negative growth in 2009.

He said his New Year message: ‘We are committed to ensuring that the vast majority of the benefit of Singapore on the type of economic growth, as low-income and less educated workers and the middle group who feel sandwiched between.’

He also cautioned that the exceptional growth in 2010 was due to special circumstances and unlikely to be repeated soon.

The official forecast for 2011 is 4 to 6 per cent. Year-on-year, the economy grew 12.5 per cent in the last quarter of 2010.

Mr Lee noted that growth had improved Singaporeans’ lives, but also brought a number of challenges. These included: managing the inflow of foreign workers and immigrants, keeping homes affordable, and helping low-wage workers cope with the cost of living.

“We have the means to address these problems and improve things. But in doing so, we must remember that Mexico should be kept open and welcoming of talent, to preserve the value of HDB flats owners of 800,000, and strengthen the spirit of independence for Singaporeans, “he said.

Major stock indexes rose again to record two years on Wednesday, when a report showed the U.S. economy grew faster than expected in the summer.

Department of Commerce said the country’s GDP rose by an annual rate of 2.6 percent in July-September, a slight increase in its previous estimate was 2.5 percent.

“Some folks will look at 2.6 percent as a disappointment, but the market is taking a look at the bigger picture,” said Phil Orlando, the chief stock market strategist at Federated Investors. Many traders expect the economy to grow by 3 percent or more during the fourth quarter and through 2011, he said.

Separately, the National Association of Realtors said sales of previously occupied homes rose 5.6 percent in November to an annual rate of 4.68 million. That was slightly below analysts’ estimates of 4.75 million, according to data provided by FactSet.

“There is some mixed news out there,” said Jeffrey Kleintop, chief market strategist at LPL Financial, pointing to quarterly results from Nike Inc. – one barometer of consumer spending – as raising a flag that there are some concerns that “companies may miss some estimates, and that earnings growth is slowing.”

“Maybe the markets are getting ahead of themselves even though there are a lot of good reasons why stocks should be going up,” said Kleintop.

The Dow Jones industrial average rose 26.33 points, or 0.2 percent, to close at 11,559.49. The S&P 500 index rose 4.24, or 0.3 percent, to 1,258.84. Both indexes closed at their highest levels since July 2008.

The Nasdaq composite index gained 3.87, or 0.2 percent, to 2,671.48. It was the highest close for the Nasdaq since Dec. 28, 2007.

Trading was light ahead of the Christmas holiday on Friday. Rising stocks outnumbered falling ones by 3 to 2 on the New York Stock Exchange. Consolidated volume was 3.6 billion shares.

Of the 30 stocks that make up the Dow index, 22 rose. Bank of America Corp. led the way, gaining 3.1 percent to $13.38. Palo Alto’s Hewlett-Packard had the largest fall. The stock dropped 1 percent to $41.48.

Before the market opened, Walgreens reported revenue and earnings that beat analyst estimates. The country’s largest drugstore chain said its income rose 18.8 percent. The stock rose 5.5 percent to $38.85.

Late Tuesday, Nike Inc. said it planned to raise some of its prices because of higher costs for cotton and shipping. Revenue and earnings per share were better than analysts had forecast. Nike fell 5.3 percent to $86.95.

December promises to be a good month positions. S&P 500 has risen 6.6 percent this month and the Dow has received a 5 per cent. On Tuesday, the S & P 500 closed above it reached in September 1912, 2008, the last trading day before the collapse of Lehman Brothers, a culmination of the financial crisis

The market economy with socialist orientation in Vietnam has worked as much as the market mechanism and administrative policy.

In early 2010, when the world economy was still correct to return to Vietnam a part of the National Assembly and the government to develop solutions that help improve the economy of the late world economy.

Methods included tightening public expenditure, implementing a stimulus package, increasing exports, encouraging domestic consumption, and improving social welfare, which helped stabilize the country’s socio-economy.

Over the past year, the prices of gold and foreign currency have seen fluctuations due to not only the world’s law of supply and demand but also speculation and rumours in the domestic market.

To deal with the problems, the State bank of Vietnam (SBV) introduced effective policies to clean up the gold trading market by allowing gold import, reducing gold import taxes, adjusting exchange rates, and publicizing the national foreign exchange reserve. These policies helped reduce the gold price instability and stabilize the price of foreign currency.

At the end of the year, while the Government is making every effort to curb inflation, many commercial banks joined a race to increase interest rates, creating a more complicated situation in the banking sector.

In response to the banks’ decisions, the Government and SBV imposed administrative measures to control the race. The Ministry of Finance and Industry and the Ministry of Industry and Trade also took the initiative to control prices by deciding not to raise prices of coal, electricity, petrol and oil until the Lunar New Year Festival.

Over 2010 many lessons were learned from the management of the socialist-oriented market economy.

Firstly, the socialist-oriented market economy offers an option for the Government to use policy to intervene in specific economic issues, making the economy more transparent, in accordance with the law of supply and demand. All experts and strategists need to do is to analyse the situation and propose effective measures to the Government.

Secondly, as important social and political events are about to take place in Vietnam and the Lunar New Year Festival is drawing near. Vietnam needs to be more active in stabilizing prices and introducing administrative measures to prevent price fever.

Thirdly, the Government should keep a close watch on the market to introduce proper policies. For example, the price-stabilising fund should be used to help businesses reserve commodities to meet consumer demand in both urban and rural areas.

Fourthly, the market management policies should be transparent and consistent to enhance social unanimity.

Lastly, Vietnam should uphold the active role of mass media to help stabilize the market by providing information and analyzing the market situation, as well as pointing out the deception of those who want to play on the market. This will also help minimize the negative impact on the market created by the mass media.

Despite being affected by global economic crisis and debt crisis of Europe, Vietnam will see significant economic growth in 2010 with foreign investment remains high. These achievements are attributable to the effective management of the state of the economy based on the law of the market.

John Key government can take more responsibility for the deteriorating fiscal situation and a great responsibility for the deteriorating economic situation, the Green Party co-leader Dr. Russel Norman said today.

Dr Norman said the release of half of Economic and Fiscal Update, the Ministry of Finance, which showed the economic recovery unstable and New Zealand.

“The worsening outlook for the Government’s budget is a result of some poor decisions on both the revenue and spending side,” said Dr Norman.

“On the revenue side, the Government’s tax cuts directed towards upper-income earners and the lack of a capital gains tax (excluding the family home) has led to a revenue shortfall.”

“On the spending side, the Government’s poor quality spending on uneconomic new motorways and ETS subsidies for polluters has also had a negative impact on the books.

“We are literally now borrowing money to pay for tax cuts for the well-off and motorway projects with negative economic returns.”

Dr Norman also questioned the quality of the Government’s economic stimulus measures that have failed to revive a fragile economy.

“Tax cuts directed towards upper-income earners are one of the poorest ways to stimulate a failing economy. Increasing aid to the unemployed has a stimulus impact two-to-three times greater than nearly any other measure the Government could have chosen,” said Dr Norman.”

“And it would have worked to mitigate the worst impacts of the recession on those most vulnerable to it.

“The Government’s approach to economic management during one of the most turbulent periods of recent history has failed all but the wealthiest of us.”

“A smarter way to manage the improbability would have been to use the crisis as an occasion to change the economy onto a more sustainable and flexible grip. Instead, we have the old economy, dependent on cheap oil to drive, to pay polluters to let the aid of carbon, and to borrow to finance tax cuts, which do not stimulate the economy.”

If all schools have to worry about these days was the establishment of common standards for curriculum and agree on how to measure student progress and teacher effectiveness, our national image education will be completely rosy.

But the growing social problems, which are more demanding of students and the shortage of school social workers – usually the only resource dedicated to helping student’s personal concerns – and you’re looking at another major, but rarely noticed, the issue of education.

The U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights just issued complete guidelines descriptive the liability of educational institutions in the prevention of discrimination based on race, national origin, sex, color, sexual orientation or disability.

That action, itself a result of several high-profile bullying-related suicides, spurred New Jersey to provide suicide prevention courses for students and make school districts codify a comprehensive policy on anti-bullying and harassment.

In Illinois, the governor is considering legislation to reduce child sexual abuse that would establish age-appropriate instruction for public school students in kindergarten through fifth grade and training for school workers on identifying and dealing with abused youngsters.

These topics are being programmed into the classroom because they, along with direct instruction on sexual health, emotional balance and social behavior — lessons that teachers a generation ago would have expected students to learn at home — have landed on the doorstep of public schools.

Teachers who never imagined having to address the multifaceted issues of sexuality, suicide or bullying are ever more leaning on school social workers who are already stretched to their limits.

The latest U.S. Department of Health and Human Service report on the topic found that one in five children and adolescents will experience during their school years a significant mental health problem such as stress, anxiety, bullying, family problems, depression, learning disabilities or alcohol and substance abuse.

Serious mental health problems such as self-injurious behaviors and suicide attempts are on the rise. A Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration report in 2005 found that nearly 60 percent of adolescents ages 12 to 17 who reported a major depressive episode didn’t receive any treatment. And of the kids who did look for help, two-thirds received that help only in school.

Other studies have shown that in many states, school social workers are the major providers of mental health services to children and in some cases, such as rural or inner city areas, schools are the only mental health service provider in the community.

Yet only about 5 percent of the nation’s approximately half-million social workers work in public schools, according to the National Association of Social Workers. That organization recently went before a congressional committee to brief legislators on the need for additional federal and state investments to overcome the challenges of recruiting, educating and keeping social workers.

According to U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics projections, at least 100,000 more social workers will be needed by 2018 just to keep pace with the volume of social needs in communities.

The evidence so far is only anecdotal, but states all over the country are facing hard decisions to cut programs. College and career guidance counselors, testing and special education-focused school psychologists, and social workers are at high risk because their roles tend not to be widely understood in communities.

Cross your fingers that school social workers across the country will survive reduced budgets and continue to help students and teachers navigate these perilous times we’re all living through.

United Way of Greater Clarksville is registered in GoodreSearch and GoodShop, with its supporters to raise money for the cause every time  they search the Internet or shop online.

The goal is to win $ 3,000 through the site for this year annual campaign funds that will be added to support the programs offered by partner agencies of United Way.

GoodSearch  is a search engine powered by Yahoo! GoodSearch donates 50 percent of its revenue, approximately a penny per search, to the charities designated by its users.

“Every penny counts,” says Beckie Moore, director of the United Way of the Greater Clarksville Region. “While doing a search or shopping online why not raise money for our life-changing programs? There is entirely no reason not to use GoodSearch and GoodShop — it’s so easy! What better time to begin than the Christmas season!”

Most of the Investors are recognizing the transformative power of payment billing and billing using social network strategies, growing to billion dollar industries.

After rumors that PayPal has been an investment of $ 16 million in Tradeshift, after a few week later a subscription billing provider Zuora announced that it has received $ 20 million in a Series C round of funding.

It is expected that industry after industry moves to the Subscription Economy: Business Enterprises and consumers to immediately buy the outright to subscription to huge libraries of products and solutions.

Many companies are rethinking their core products and value propositions as services and investing rapidly in subscription revenue models, including:

• Cloud computing is disrupting the $3.4 trillion technology industry as enterprises move to elastic compute clouds that are enabled by subscription billing’s ability to meter, price, and bill cloud services.
• App marketplaces, led by Microsoft, Google, saleforce.com, Apple, PayPal and others, are creating more opportunities for developers to offer software-as-a-service.
• The media industry recognizes it needs to monetize online content, and it requires billing to create promotions and bundles of digital and physical content that push out to multiple devices and platforms.
• Online consumer service providers are using subscriptions to innovate the pricing and packaging of premium, try-before-you-buy, and cross-sell service models that best meet consumer demand.
• Telecom and wireless technologies in WiMax, satellite, geo-location and 4G are creating a new wave of telecom services and service providers which are being enabled by subscription billing.

It’s interesting to watch how this is going to develop in Europe towards and after the 2013 e-invoicing liberalization.