Statistics state that both Starbucks coffee and cups are much cheaper in the US than in China. By considering all the costs of the production, though the transportation fees and tariffs in China is higher than those in the US, the cost of every cup of coffee would only increase a few pennies. Research state that 90 percent of the total production cost is for raw material, labor costs and rental fees. However,The price of coffee beans now is 30 percent less than it was in 2011. In addition, the labour cost in China is lower than that in the US because the lower average income level in China. As a result, there is no reason for Starbucks to charge such high prices of their products in China.

In my opinion, the reason for the high price of Starbucks is Chinese consumers’ blind faith in foreign brands. This is really unfair for other Chinese domestic coffee companies because they do not have competitive advantages in their products even they can provide higher quality coffee with lower prices. Government should take actions to tackle this problem in order to offer better furthers for its domestic coffee companies.

Links:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/starbucks-defends-higher-pricing-in-china-1.2158908

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/10/21/us-starbucks-china-pricing-idUSBRE99K03P20131021

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303902404579148871471212170

http://usa.chinadaily.com.cn/business/2013-10/15/content_17032843.htm

Even with the help of Federal Reserve which bought large quantities of government securities, America was still considered as the country with the highest rate of inflation. However, recently, the inflation rate of America dropped to the lowest level within the several decades. Similarly, other European countries reached their lowest inflation rate as well, such as 2.2 percent in Britain, 0.6 percent in France, 1.2 percent in Germany and 1.3 in Spain. The lower oil price and durable goods price are the two main factors of holding down the inflation rate. The most surprising part is that even the costs of health care service just increased 1.1 percent from the last year in America.

In my opinion, the low inflation rates in those countries both have pros and cons.  Consumers will have higher purchasing power and the unemployment rate may decrease because of the low inflation rate. However, the low inflation rate will result in a relative lower economic growth rate(can be referred as the GDP growth rate). All the governments should balance the advantages and disadvantages of the low inflation rate according to their domestic scenario.

Links:

http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/11/13/europes-low-inflation-problem/?_r=0

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303789604579199330187483774

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303460004579193432663296874

http://www.xpatloop.com/news/75010

These years, the youth unemployment rates of many European countries have increased a lot. For example, the youth unemployment rate in Italy increased from 4.4 percent in 2012 to 40.4 percent. As a result, leaders of state of government from 24 of the EU’s 28 member states had a meeting together and carried out a scheme which to deal with this terrible problem. In this scheme, EU members agree to pledge 24 billion euros to provide the following three priorities: training and education, employment guidance and creating opportunities for young entrepreneurs.

I really appreciate this scheme because I think both young entrepreneurs and governments can benefit a lot from it. Getting job opportunities from the government will positively impact the young people because they can gain lots of job experience after leaving their universities, meaning that they will have a better future. In terms of the government, the lower rate of youth unemployment rate, the lower the crime rate in its country.

Links:

http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=1036

http://www.aljazeera.com/news/europe/2013/11/eu-leaders-vow-tackle-youth-unemployment-20131112221359305279.html

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-12/european-leaders-revisit-scourge-of-region-s-youth-unemployment.html

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303914304579193754236946232

This November, German carmaker Volkswagen has made an announcement to recall about 2.6 million cars in the world, especially in China, accounting for about 640,000 cars. The reason for the recall is that Volkswagen had found several potential problems in their previous products, including lights, leaking fuel lines and the wrong type of engine oil. Volkswagen expects to double its manufacturing capacity in China to four million cars a year by 2018. However, this recall decreases the growth rate of the car sales in China.

In my opinion, Volkswagen should prevent making another recall again in the further. The recall costed Volkswagen a large amount of money, including the delivery cost, the fixing cost and maybe some subsidies for car owners. In addition, the reputation of Volkswagen was negatively affected by the recall because both the car owners and other consumers who are considering its products are worried about the quality and safety of Volkswagen’s cars. In order to deal with this problem, Volkswagen should improve their production lines. They can use better supervising systems and hire better workers.

Links:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24940238

http://online.wsj.com/news/articles/SB10001424052702303289904579197253153734432

http://www.automobilemag.com/auto_recalls/01/volkswagen/

http://www.auto123.com/en/used-cars/recalls/volkswagen

http://www.motortrend.com/used_cars/01/volkswagen/recalls/

In June, 2013, during this year’s G8 summit, Obama and Putin not only had disagreements in the meeting, but also had a diplomatic crisis out of the meeting. Obama and Putin both lived in a same hotel in Northern Ireland. On the first morning, both of them wanted to go to the gym in their hotel to workout and both of them booked the time yesterday evening. When Putin arrived, he found that Obama had arrived earlier than him and was using the gym at that time. They chatted with each other. At last, they did not workout together in the same gym and Putin decided to leave the gym to Obama and instead swim in the freezing waters of Lough Enre for his morning workout.

This news is very funny and really attracted me. From viewing by other aspects, we can find that America and Russia still butted heads over the conflict in Syria. They bring this conflict into their real lives. In my opinion, I think that Putin did a great job because his back down. It definitely makes him more gentle and attractive which leads to a better reputation of his country.

links：

http://o.canada.com/news/vladimir-putin-sea-monster/

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/4971643/Obama-Putin-Northern-Ireland-G8-gym-lake-swim.html

http://www.newser.com/story/169647/obama-works-out-in-g8-gym-so-putin-swims-in-lake.html

http://video.sina.com.cn/p/news/v/2013-06-18/224562563885.html?opsubject_id=top8