Wide spread poverty across developing nations is common knowledge among the citizens of developed countries, yet the solution to this problem isn’t. Most people simply donate money to build a school or some very small contribution which invariable gets lost before it makes a real impact in the lives of the impoverished. Root Capital is the most prominent organization fixing the problem.

The World Bank estimates that a growth in the agricultural sector will be twice as effective at reducing poverty in an economy as any other respective sector. Root Capital provides loans to small business, so that they can buy sustainably grown produce from farmers, and hold a constant stream of income for the many families which make a living from growing produce.

Sources: http://www.forbes.com/sites/helencoster/2011/11/30/forbes-list-of-the-top-30-social-entrepreneurs/

http://www.rootcapital.org/about-us

http://www.clintonbushhaitifund.org/pages/Root-Capital/

Aside from the obvious shivering I get from thinking that another nation will have the power to kill thousands of people in seconds, It’s also interesting to note the impact of pursuing nuclear energy is having on Iran’s economy.

Iran’s economy is essentially contracting as resources aren’t being properly utilized, but more significantly, as foreign nations cut ties with Iran; Such as the oil embargo imposed by the EU. Hopefully when the Iranian elections come, the power will shift to someone with more conservative and peaceful views.

Sources: http://www.economist.com/node/21564229

http://emergency-usa.blogspot.ca/2011/05/iran-nuclear-plant-fully-operational.html

In my opinion, this is yet another clear indicator of the economy`s direction. Since the rate of young Canadians living at home has been rising steadily since at least 1981, It`s fairly clear that young Canadians are having less and less opportunities in the past 30 years. Coupled with the ever rising price of real estate it`s easy to understand why this trend is happening. Hopefully Jim Flaherty`s initiative to decrease the price of real estate will actually drive the prices down, and housing will become more accessible. That way the Sauder class of 2016 won`t be living with their parents until they`re 30.

Sources: http://business.financialpost.com/2012/10/06/letting-your-adult-kids-move-back-home-comes-at-a-price/

http://gawker.com/5581481/being-young-and-unemployed-sure-is-trendy

Hurricane Sandy certainly caused tremendous amounts of damage to local infrastructure and businesses in New York and New Jersey, but perhaps the greatest impact it had on business happened to the Supply Chains of businesses.

Most of the damage, however, could have been averted.  As Bryan Knotts discusses in his blog post: “Supply Chain Disruptions Like Hurricane Sandy Are No Longer Outliers”, most of the damage could have minimized if business had kept tighter controls on their supply chains. With today’s technology, any product could be tracked at any point in the supply chain with great accuracy, yet most businesses don’t use such technology; as a result, when disasters like Hurricane Sandy strike, many products are simply lost somewhere along the supply line. Perhaps business will keep better control of their inventory after losing millions to Hurricane Sandy.

Blog: http://blog.apptricity.com/default.aspx?Author=Brian%20Knotts

Blog post: http://bx.businessweek.com/supply-chain-performance/view?url=http%3A%2F%2Fblog.apptricity.com%2Fbid%2F241154%2FSupply-Chain-Disruptions-Like-Hurricane-Sandy-Are-No-Longer-Outliers

http://www.neumann.edu/academics/divisions/business/journal/review_08/Gibison.pdf

http://www.brighthub.com/office/entrepreneurs/articles/115557.aspx

These articles about McDonald’s illustrate all the ways in which the company is unethical. It’s clear that McDonald’s harms denizens in many ways; McDonald’s has been accused of animal cruelty, exploitation of workers, the destruction of the Amazon rainforest, etc. In one instance, Ray Kroc the founder of McDonald’s donated $250,000 to Nixon’s re-election campaign in 1972. In return, legislation was passed which allowed McDonald’s to pay its teenage workers 20% below the federal minimum wage. Such as this, there are numerous examples over the decades in which McDonald’s has acted in unethical ways. Yet the case described above could be the worst one, McDonald’s essentially corrupted the government in order to make more money at the expense of others. Many workers were exploited and the government indirectly corroborated with it.

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