US Recession Finally Easing?

US Economy May Finally Be Moving Towards Recovery

First Published Date : September 6, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

Although most of the major economies in the world have been through no small amount of turmoil in 2009, most eyes have been turned towards the performance of the US economy due to the nation’s status as a world leader. This is one time when America would have been prepared to cede the limelight, however, as the financial predictions chart has constantly shown the States and the United Kingdom as the countries in deepest recession and with the latest predicted recoveries of all. Now, however, there are coherent signs that the US economy may finally be moving towards recovery, with second-quarter showings in 2009 looking better than had been expected. The economy still contracted, but only by one percent.

To make a comparison, the January through March period this year showed a retraction of more than 6%, an opening to the year which was enough to make many wonder aloud whether the US would see any kind of recovery before 2010. The fall was the worst for almost thirty years and American’s third straight contraction. This latest marks the fourth in a row – clearly not what would be desired – but the movement is certainly more positive than anyone had been led to hope. It would be optimistic to suggest that Q3 will show growth in the numbers, but Federal Reserve Chair Ben Bernanke has been moved to suggest that the recession will be over for America later in 2009.

Reasons for the better performance are believed to be something of a mix, with businesses smoothing off spending cuts and government spending increasing. A better trade performance with other nations also helped, while consumer spending did decrease, as the results of businesses going to the wall made themselves known, people having to dip into their savings and being less able to rely on the equity in their homes for a shield against the ravages of unemployment. However, given the forecasts for how 2009 was expected to head, the news is broadly a lot more positive than could have been expected.

Some of the credit from economists has gone to the stimulus package fronted by President Barack Obama, which cut taxes and increased the level of government spending. This plan allowed the economy to stabilise somewhat by lessening the burden on services and businesses, keeping some companies alive and allowing support to be provided where needed. As yet, though, economists believe that the best of the package’s results has yet to come, with the second half of the year expected to see the outcome bloom and the early stages of 2010 considered to be the point where the full extent of the stimulus will be evident.

Economists know to couch their optimism in cautious language, and there are no guarantees as things stand, but money does not always behave like we want it to, so there is plenty of reason for cautious speaking. The advice seems to be that America should stick to what it is doing now and monitor the results. If these are as positive as expected, then 2010 will see a world in recovery, given the improvement in economies elsewhere.

How To Develop Good Habits

Developing Good Habits

If you want to better yourself and go on the road to personal development, then you need to develop good habits. These are habits that will help you become a better person, and feel good about yourself. They come down to getting your body, mind and spirit in better shape so you can meet challenges and overcome any problems that may arise on your road to personal development.

1. Personal hygiene is important because it will make you feel better about yourself, and it will keep you healthy. Making yourself look good and smell good will make you feel good and push you to better yourself.

2. Sleeping well will ensure that you are alert during the day. When you have a good night’s sleep, you will often be able to meet the challenges that life gives you with eyes wide open. As well, a good night’s sleep will keep you from becoming too lazy and not pushing yourself to better who you are.

3. Healthy eating will keep you feeling healthy and good about yourself. Being able to eat something and feeling good about what you are eating will go a long way to motive you to be a better person. When you have a salad instead of a hamburger, you will feel good about the decisions you are making and that will build confidence in you.

4. Developing the ability to meditate is important because it will keep you calm. When you are calm, you will not feel stressed and you will be able to concentrate on bettering yourself and becoming a better person. Meditation is a very important habit to develop.

5. Take the time to read and learn as much as you can. Instead of watching television, develop the habit of reading so that you can better yourself. You can learn anything that you want with nothing but a $10 library card and that will help you learn as much as you can to better yourself.

6. Practice the habit of being a more humane and better person. By helping people, being a person who socializes and who helps others, you will be able to feel better about yourself and you will be motivated to help. The better you feel helping others, the better you will feel about helping yourself.

Developing good habits is very important because it will make you feel good about yourself. Good habits also teach you to motivate yourself and better yourself. They say that you can develop a good habit in the space of a month, and that means you need to make the commitment to better yourself by getting good habits.

When you are trying to start good habits it is important to remember that you need to do the following:

1. Remember why you are motivating yourself and that will keep you on the right path.

2. Every day, make sure you remind yourself of the progress you are making.

3. Like who you are becoming and the good habits will become part of who you are.

To streamline and minimize blog maintenance, I will be discontinuing maintaining the Simplepersonaldevelopment.com website (however, I will still hold the domain). I will gradually move all articles from this site to Ahmed Dawn Dot Com. This article originally published on the above website on Dec 16, 2010.

Pohutu Geyser in Te Whakarewarewa Geothermal Valley | New Zealand

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 7

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 1

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 2

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 3

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 4

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 5

New Zealand Travel Blog: Part 6

After a quick lunch, I was heading towards the Te Whakarewarewa Thermal Reserve sites. Te Whakarewarewa Valley is a huge area spreading more than 70 hectares and there were so many points to see, that it would be impossible to do in an hour. Also, I had to video and take pictures of whatever I was seeing and that adds more time.

So I decided not to go far and stay close to see nearby points. I was worried that if I got lost, I would be late to come back to catch my tour group. I will briefly describe some of the points of interest I visited.

Natural Steam Vent Cooker – Foods can be cooked just by placing a pot on hot soil via Mother Nature.

Pohutu Geyser – The largest geyser in the southern hemisphere. Erupts twice each hour and can reach 30 meters high.

Ngararatuatara Cooking Pool – Same as the vent cooker, but here you can cook food in water as the water is boiling by nature.

Lake Waikaukau – Named after ancestor Hatupatu. Very acidic water, but birds still swim in and around the waters. Another miracle by Mother Nature.

There was so much more I missed, but what I saw was more than enough to appreciate Mother Earth and nature. Miracles exist and they are just around the corner on this earth to see.

I noticed that for safety reasons, you can only walk in designated areas within fenced boundaries. But still, the vapour and hot steam from the geyser and hot spring water can reach you sometimes. Whenever I saw steam was coming my way, I had to run to avoid it to protect my cameras.

I was able to make it on time for the tour bus. The next destination was the world-renowned Waitomo Glowworm Caves.

European Heads Lead Calls For Bank Regulation

Debate on Bank Regulation

First Published Date : September 7, 2009 ADawnJournal.com

The G20 summit in Pittsburgh later in September will feature some lively debate on bank regulation after the heads of Europe’s three most established economies all put their names to a letter stressing that the 20 richest countries in the world must take steps to regulate their banking sectors. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Nicolas Sarkozy penned the joint letter ahead of this month’s summit in the United States, each of them aware of the revulsion which has met increasing stories of bank bonuses amid the financial storm of this year and last. Despite likely allegations of populism – which would hardly be inaccurate – the words of the three are likely to be echoed by voters.

Much of the ire raised among the financial crisis has been the result of banks which have taken large amounts of government bailout money moving to pay out much of it in bonuses. This puts some banks in a tricky position. In many cases these bonuses are a contracted issue and withholding them would put the banks in breach of their contracts to employees. However the bank is performing on the balance sheet (and those requiring bailouts have clearly not been touching the sky), if the individual executives have been delivering the numbers stipulated in their contracts then the bonuses are owed to them by right. As much as the rest of us may be moved to shake our fists at the injustice of it all, ignoring contract terms would put companies on shaky legal ground.

The moves proposed by Europe’s Big Three, then, will deal more with what can be offered in the future – and it seems that they have little thirst for a return to the practices which many blame for the crisis itself. In the words of the letter the lifting of financial tensions has resulted in many of the world’s financial institutions assuming that a return to old practices could be acceptable. It is many people’s view that “bonus culture” encouraged high-risk practices which are blamed for much of the difficulty in which the global economy still finds itself.

Although the three leaders collaborated on the letter, it is known that they are not in total agreement between themselves. While Nicolas Sarkozy views it as essential that bonuses should be capped at a certain level, his opinion is not quite backed by the Brown administration which feels that the plan is unworkable and favours the option of clawing back some of the bonuses after a period of time if long-term results are seen to have suffered. Consensus may be hard to reach in time for Pittsburgh, but publicly leaders are saying that it must be reached then in order for a firm line to be drawn on the subject. With the recovery of stimulus payments also set to be discussed in Pittsburgh, it could well be that there are disagreements aplenty around the table when the finance ministers sit down to talk.

Best Travel Rewards Programs by U.S. News & World Report

Best Flight and Hotel Loyalty Programs

First Published: Aug, 2015 ADawnJournal.com

U.S. News & World Report recently looked at 28 airline and hotel loyalty programs and picked their 2015 best travel rewards programs. The factors used to decide the rankings are the following:

Airline Rewards Programs

Ease of Earning Free Round-Trip Flight (45%)

Additional Benefits (25%)

Network Coverage (10%)

Award Flight Availability (10%)

Number of Daily Flights (5%)

Airline Quality Rating (5%)

Hotel Rewards Programs

Ease of Earning Free Night (45%)

Additional Benefits (25%)

Geographic Coverage (15%)

Number of Hotels in Network (10%)

Property Diversity (5%)

Based on these criteria, here are the top ten airline programs:

Alaska Airlines 
American 
Southwest 
JetBlue 
Hawaiian 
Virgin America 
Frontier 
United 
Delta 
Spirit

And the top ten hotel rewards programs:

Marriott 
Wyndham 
Best Western (tie) 
Club Carlson (tie) 
InterContinental 
Leading Hotels 
La Quinta 
Starwood 
Hilton 
Hyatt

These rankings are on only U.S.-based airlines and hotel rewards. However, most of these hotels mentioned here also have a presence in Canada.

While the rankings might provide important insights, you should not adjust your rewards programs solely based on them. The factors determine these rankings may not have anything to do with the rewards programs you follow and you should stick to your programs based on what makes sense for you.