Home Prices Climb in 88% of U.S Cities

According to an article by Bloomberg, housing prices have been rising. The article says that this is because there are less foreclosures to buy and a lower number of homes up for sale. However the article also says that some of the areas are overvalued. So not all of the gains in price made recently are the truth. The median price for a single family home rose 12.5% to $207,300 nationwide. The highest gained percentages were in Sacramento, California, Punta Gorda, Florida and Las Vegas. The article stated that rising home costs and the difficulty to get financing for a home was holding buyers back. there are currently more buyers than sellers in the real estate market. The most affordable homes were found to be in Toledo, Ohio.

Rising home costs means that the cost of living will increase. The article mentioned that buyers are having a hard time finding loans. That could also be linked to the higher interest rates in my opinion. It's not good that some of the houses are overvalued. If the prices continue to rise, they will create a bubble that will eventually burst. That would be bad for the home market as well as the local economy. Hopefully, financing for homes will become easier to secure in the near future. (But not too lax, we don't want a repeat of the housing crash.)

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-11-06/home-prices-climb-in-88-of-u-s-cities-as-recovery-spreads.html

Payoff in Waiting to Collect Social Security

The cost of living increases almost every year. Many Americans have put off saving for their retirement, most plan to rely on the money they get from Social Security. Americans are able to collect money from Social Security when they reach the age of 62. However the amount of money that they receive increases if they wait a few years to collect Social Security. Because the cost of living will increase over the years, it makes economic sense to put off collecting Social Security at least until the age of 65. For people born after 1959, the full retirement age is 67. In the article an example was given of a man who would receive $12,000 at the age of 65. If he delayed collecting the benefits for one year, he would get an additional $820 per year. Since many people are relying on Social Security for the majority of their retirement savings, it makes sense that they should delay it. Especially since the cost of living will continue to increase.

I believe that if it is possible, people should delay collecting Social Security for as long as possible.  That way they get more money. I don't think that most people are willing to delay collecting social security for financial reasons. People who collect Social security will get a cost of living adjustment per year, but I don't think that extra money really helps because of inflation. So their best bet is to wait as long as possible. I know I would wait so that I could receive more money.

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/16/your-money/the-payoff-in-waiting-to-collect-social-security.html?_r=0

Social Security raise to be lowest in years

Due to the predicted low inflation rates, the COLA (Cost of Living Adjustment) for Social Security will be historically lower than ever before. The increase is estimated at a 1.5% at this time. About 58 million retirees and disabled people receive Social Security. The increase will correspond to a average month increase of $17. This has caused the recipients to complain because they worry about wiggle room in their checks.

The low inflation rates are good because it means that the cost of living has not gone up very much. It is slightly bad for the people receiving Social Security because they will not get much of an increase. However they should be happy that there is an increase at all.

http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/10/13/social-security-raise-to-be-among-lowest-in-years/2975567/

Cost of Living in U.S. Increases Less Than Forecasted

An article recently published in Bloomberg says that the cost of living in the US did not increase as much as it was expected too. Inflation did not rise much, but the paychecks have also barley risen. The article mentions that McDonald's is trying to keep their prices under control to lure in financially unstable consumers.

It is a good thing that the cost of living has not increased a dramatic amount. I believe that people's incomes should also increase to keep up with inflation and living expenses. It was very interesting that McDonald's is trying hard to bring in more low income customers. I thought that McDonald's target market would be lower middle class to middle class consumers. I supposed McDonald's will try to lower the quality of their food to make it cheaper for the consumers to buy.

All Eyes on the Sharing Economy

http://www.economist.com/news/technology-quarterly/21572914-collaborative-consumption-technology-makes-it-easier-people-rent-items

Many of the popular peer to peer sharing sites include rooms, boat and car rentals. However they are not the only things you can borrow. Musical instruments, car parking spaces, etc are all being shared. There are also peer to peer taxi services in place. However regulations are slowly creeping into the new sharing economy. Sites like Lyft and Sidecar were sued by California Public Utilities Commission because it did not provide evidence of property damage insurance. It was ruled that the companies can continue to operate while new rules are being put into place.

I don't think that any of this would be possible today without the invention of social networking sites. Many of the peer to peer sites let people link their social networking sites to the sharing websites. It helps put people's minds at ease and promotes sharing. I believe that people would rather get a service from a person they can connect to rather than a faceless company.

Regulations in the Sharing Economy

http://business.time.com/2013/10/07/airbnbs-woes-show-how-far-the-sharing-economy-has-come/

After New York city tried to get a peer to peer lodging service to pay hotel taxes, the companies are responding positively. Airbnb, one of the biggest peer to peer sites, initially said that the laws were outdated and refused to make clients pay the hotel taxes. Now Airbnb has reversed their stance and is now cooperating with the hotel tax. People who rent rooms in New York on Airbnb will now have to add 14% on to their bill at the end of their stay.

I think that it is good for Airbnb to cooperate with New York city. If not they might have lawsuits on their hands and that would look bad for them. Airbnb will still do a fair amount of traffic and I do not think it will effect their number of clients. I think that peer to peer sites like this one should be utilized more for a different "hotel" experience.

Food Stamps and The Economic State of the US

The Republicans want to reduce the funding to the food stamp program by $40 billion over the next decade. They also plan on ending waivers that allow extensions on the food stamp program. However these cuts would drastically effect the people that rely on food stamps. It is estimated that 15% of American's rely heavily on food stamps and another 4 million use waivers.

I believe that food stamps are a very important resource that have to be available for the low income citizens in America. Republicans may argue that people have been abusing the system and therefore funding needs to be cut. I think that the system should be policed more but funding shouldn't be cut. If people are in a rough spot in life, there should be a program in place to help them out.

Source:http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/27/opinion/food-stamp-regression-in-the-statehouse.html?_r=0

The Sharing Economy

In today's very connected society, a new form of economy is appearing. It's called the sharing economy. According to The Guardian, the sharing economy is set to become a major part of many people's lives. What does it mean to be a part of the sharing economy? On Airbnb, a peer to peer lodgings market has appeared. A person may rent a room, pool house or even a couch on Airbnb. Many of these places are nicer than a hotel and cheaper. Airbnb performs background checks on the people renting out the places for safety. In the UK, a site called TaskRabbit.com is gaining in popularity. Need someone to do your grocery shopping for you while you take care of other errands? If you've got $25-35 dollars to spare TaskRabbit can find someone to do your grocery shopping. TaskRabbit offers many other services such as cleaning, organizing and baking. Need to borrow a car for a few hours? BlaBlaCar.com connects people who have cars with people who want to borrow them. The sharing economy offers unconventional trades between people but it could be used to help the unemployed. Source: http://www.theguardian.com/technology/2013/aug/04/internet-technology-fon-taskrabbit-blablacar