NDN Blog

Check out what our staff will be paying attention to this morning in the news

The Economy:

Bernanke Says More Steps Needed to Ensure Market Stability - Wall Street Journal

Economy Takes Spotlight - Wall Street Journal

Obama's Nixon Reprise - Wall Street Journal

Focus on Economy Poses Problems for Candidates - New York Times

McCain To Discuss Economy, Immigration at Latino Convention - CBS News

Pocketbook issues - Obama, McCain on the economy - San Francisco Chronicle

Will Rising Oil Prices Cause Overall Inflation? - People's Daily

Globalization:

The Rich World and the Food Crisis - Wall Street Journal

Green Policy:

G-8 Approves Plan to Cut Greenhouse Gas Emissions - Washington Post

Energy Bill Out of Gas - The Hill

Immigration:

Advocates Speak Up for Illegal Day Laborers Cheated of Wages - Washington Post

Law Students Rush to Meet Needs in Booming Field of Immigration - Washington Post

McCain Balances Dueling Stances on Immigration - Wall Street Journal

The Early Word: Seeking the Hispanic Vote - New York Times

Foreign Policy:

Mr. Obama on Iraq - Washington Post

Khamenei Aide: Iran to Hit Tel Aviv and US Fleet in Gulf if Attacked - Xinhua

G8: Leaders Agree to Call for Zimbabwe Sanctions - The Times

Iraq Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki Demands US Withdrawal Timetable - The Times

In a Wall Street Journal article, Emily Steel reports that Google is set to release a new tool which measures Internet use. Intended to help advertisers identify the best places to buy online ads, the products most valuable asset might be its cost.

Unlike other services that gather data on internet use largely by tracking the online activity of different panels of people, such as comScore and Nielsen, Google will be offering its new advertising tool to marketers for free.

An excerpt from the article:

"Google's new tool could bring more efficiency to the process of buying online ads, ad executives say. Google already has one of the dominant systems for online ad-serving, which helps Web publishers manage their advertising sales and serve up ads each time a consumer opens one of their Web pages. The Web-audience data could be combined with the ad-serving system, so that advertisers would be able to find out whether they would reach the right audience before they committed to placing an ad. Existing ad-serving systems don't currently provide detailed Web-audience data about the sites where they place ads. By giving away the new tool, Google could presumably attract more ad business."

In addition, Google is expected to produce another tool which will show how web users respond to online ads. By comparing groups of people exposed to an ad with others who haven't been exposed, Google is able to account for such factors as search activity and site visitation. These tools combine to offer amazing opportunities for marketers on all levels as access to such a tool could save billions in the advertising world.

One-stop shops generally rely on more affordable prices to compensate for a lower quality package of services. However, the new Google marketing service will be both the most affordable and advanced technology on the market - making Google the one-stop shop to end all one-stop shops.

An article in the Washington Post today exposed a growing problem that parallels the economic downturn in America. In his article, Michael Fletcher speaks to the growing level of middle class individuals who are experiencing long-term unemployment:

"In November, nearly 1.4 million people -- almost one in five of those unemployed -- had been jobless for at least 27 weeks, the juncture when unemployment insurance benefits end for most recipients. That is about twice the level of long-term unemployment before the 2001 recession."

In the wake of the housing market crisis and prospects of recession, America's relatively low unemployment rates have masked concern for this development. Yet Fletcher finds that this growing number of long-term unemployment is indicative of a polarizing labor market; strong on the top and bottom, demand is weak for the jobs in the middle.

Concern has sparked attention on the Hill and in presidential campaigns as fiscal policy and an economic stimulus package remain a top priority. This is evident in both Clinton's and Obama's fiscal stimulus proposal, which calls for some $10 billion to extend and expand the Unemployment Insurance program.

I listened to Bernanke's testimony on the Hill today and here are some of the key points that were made:

• Bernanke and Bush have called for an economic stimulus package in an attempt to avoid recession.
• Bernanke mentioned that fiscal action “could be helpful” in giving “broader support for the economy” than a reduction in interest rates alone. Further, he mentioned that “putting money into the hands of households and firms would be more effective” than provisions such as a permanent tax cut.

While no specific provisions were advocated, Bernanke showed clear support to the general concept of an economic package to boost the economy.

The White House admitted that “some boost is necessary” to deal with this economic downturn, accepting for the first time that intervention is needed.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi met with congressional leaders to create legislation in order to “energize the weakening economy.”

Upon his return from the Middle East, President Bush called for a conference call with congressional leaders to discuss the possibility of an economic stimulus package. 

Bernanke has signaled his intentions to cut interest rates by .5%, but noted that a package containing fiscal policies should be implemented “quickly and structured so that its effects on aggregate spending are felt as much as possible within the next 12 months.”

Bernanke made clear that if such actions are not made in a timely, direct, and temporary fashion, they would be ineffective, if not detrimental. He warns that a fiscal policy which increases the budget deficit will make confronting the challenges of an aging population and health care, among other factors, more difficult.

Brian Blackstone's Wall Street Journal and Jeannine Aversa's Associated Press articles provide further detail into this issue.