Business Cycles, Recessions, and Depressions

          It is so tough to predict the business cycle because it is driven by a tug-of-war between expectations and reality. What I mean by this is that companies, businesses, and households are constantly basing their plans off how much they expect their sales to grow by, Greg even states, "Business cycles are an unavoidable and largely unpredictable feature of market economies."(2 Ip) These are the why the business cycle is so hard to predict.
          There are two kinds of markets that exist. There is a bull market and a bear market. A bull market is when economic activity and investments appear to be long-term climb. The unemployment rate is usually low as well. A bear market is when economic activity and investments appear to be decreasing. The unemployment rate usually goes up during this period. (2 Ip)

          The cause of economic problems has differed over the years.  In the nineteenth century natural disasters and bank scares caused it to crash.  In 1973 and 1990, it crashed from a spike in oil prices.  In 2001, it crashed because the technology investments crashed.  In 2007, it crashed because housing values plummeted.  It is almost like like a reoccurring disease.  "We can develop immunity to the last virus we contracted.  The problem is that it mutates and we're susceptible all over again." (3 Ip)
          A recession is two or more consecutive quarters of declining GDP.  A recession leads up to a depression, but does not always become a depression.  In order for a recession to turn into a depression the bungee cord has to break.  What I mean by that is the economy has to hit rock bottom and stay there for a while.  Truman described recession and depression as, "a recession [is] when your neighbor loses his job; it's a depression when you lose yours." (5 Ip) 

The Hidden Economy

          When most people here about the underground economy they think about the black market.  This is not the case though.  The hidden economy is system of workers who can not find a full-time employment.  These people are usually paid in cash for doing certain tasks and all this is done without the government's knowledge of the transaction taking place.  Some examples of this are paying housekeepers, the hiring of illegal immigrants, and one day construction tasks.
          The hidden economy can be beneficial in several different ways.  It can help support the actual economy by providing the working class extra spending money to put into the economy.  It can also allow workers to provide for their families even though many people loss work hours.  Also the income that you make in the hidden economy is tax free because the government does not know about the transaction that took place.
          The underground economy can be detrimental for several different reasons.  The first is that it causes the government to loss money so they increase taxes to make up for the money lost in the hidden economy.  Secondly, the hidden economy usually leads to increased drug issues and other violent crimes.  Thirdly, those who participate in the hidden economy don't receive Social Security and health benefits for the tasks they are doing.

Net Neutrality

          
          Do you want big businesses to own the internet?  Big businesses, such as Google, Facebook, Amazon, Netflix, Cox, Comcast,  and Time Warner Brother Cable are trying to dispose of the law that creates net neutrality.  Net neutrality is the principle that everyone should treat data on the internet equally, without any discrimination. This is important to both corporations and consumers because it would allow them to have priority over other internet websites, thus increasing the speed of their website as long as they pay extra.  For consumers this would mean that only big companies would be able to have fast internet so little businesses would go bankrupt, thus limiting competition and increasing prices.  The FCC controls the neutrality of the internet because is in charge of all communications, including the internet, radio, and television.


Sources:
https://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~raylin/whatisnetneutrality.htm
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fpbOEoRrHyU