2011 in reviewPublished by
Jason Smith on 1/10/2012
2011 In Review
What a year! We saw major World events that affected the pockets of nearly everyone in the United States, the uprising of the Occupy movement and a few too many close calls when it comes to the U.S. government budget. 2011 had its share of ups and downs for sure, especially when it comes to finance. The recurring theme that we saw in last year's top news stories was "Lets get America back to work and get the ecoonomy back on track." Here’s a month-by-month look at some of the biggest news topics of the year (as reported by major news stations)
December: Occupy Wall Street
Occupy Wall Street claims to be a people-powered movement that began on September 17, 2011 in Liberty Square in Manhattan’s Financial District, and has spread to over 100 cities in the United States and actions in over 1,500 cities globally. The movement was inspired by popular uprisings in Egypt and Tunisia, and aims to fight back against the richest 1% of people that are writing the rules of today's global economy.
November: Unemployment Rates down to 8.6%
The unemployment rate, that had stuck stubbornly at or above 9% for the past two years, dipped unexpectedly to 8.6%, the lowest since March 2009. That's a good headline number, but if you dig beneath the surface, there is less reason for enthusiasm. The fall in the unemployment rate coincided with a drop in the overall labor force of 315,000, which is the most since January of this year.
>Read More at CBS
October: Obama’s Jobs Plan Falls Through
The hotly anticipated jobs plan created by President Obama was shot down by the Senate after it received too few votes. The jobs plan, officially known as the American Jobs Act, was a $447 billion plan that proposed a number of tax cuts and spending adjustments to reduce the national deficit, boost hiring and push the stalled economy into motion.
>Read More at The Whitehouse
September: 9/11 Ten Year Anniversary.
Ten years after two planes struck the twin towers in an attack that killed nearly 3,000 people, New York marked a decade of both pain and healing with the ritual reading of the names at a new memorial to the lost. The ground zero ceremony paused for the moments exactly 10 years ago that the hijacked planes hit the towers and when they collapsed. The times that the other planes hit the Pentagon and crashed in Pennsylvania were also observed with silence.
>Read More at Time Magazine
August: U.S. Credit Downgraded
After members of the U.S. government put other agendas ahead of the well being of the nation, Standard and Poor’s decided to downgrade the U.S. credit rating from AAA to AA+, which marked the first U.S. credit downgrade in history. This downgrade effected everything from stock prices to interest rates, though the long-term consequences are yet to be seen.
>Read More at Fox News
July: Gov’t Comes Close to Defaulting on U.S. Debt
After the U.S. debt ceiling was reached in May, the government was forced to come up with a solution (i.e., raise the debt ceiling) or else risk default on August 2. Though the government had over 11 weeks to come to an agreement about how the debt situation would be handled, things came down to the wire as Congress argued over solutions and almost put Social Security benefits and Medicare on the chopping block.
June: The Global Economy continues to expand!
The global economy expanded; Inflation rose; financial volatility increased and commodity prices stabilized (accordingl to the IMF). The IMF warned that growth will slow temporarily but with increasing downside risks. Warnings of greater-than-anticipated weakness in U.S. activity and renewed financial volatility from concerns about the depth of fiscal challenges in the euro area periphery were not heded.
>Read More at The IMF
May: Osama Bin Laden Death Rallies Markets
Another major world event rocked markets in May, this time positively. Following the the killing of Osama Bin Laden by U.S. forces in Abbottabad, the stock market opened significantly higher that Monday. Obama called his death "the most significant achievement to date in our nation’s effort to defeat al Qaeda.” The Dow Jones industrial average rose 56 points (0.5 percent), the S&P 500 climbed 5 points (0.4 percent) and the Nasdaq Composite gained 8 points (0.3 percent).
>Read More at MarketWatch
April: Government Budget Problems Almost Result in Shutdown
Though we were well into April, the 2011 budget had never been approved by Congress. Instead, lawmakers passed six short-term spending bills, known as "continuous resolutions,” through March. The final extension was set to expire in April, leaving Congress hours to come to a budget agreement or else face a total government shutdown. Had the shutdown occurred, Americans would have faced a number of disastrous consequences–federal employees and members of the military would not have been paid, the FHA would have stopped operating and tax returns would not be mailed out.
>Read More at AboutUs
March: Japan Quake Rocks Markets
The devastating earthquake and subsequent tsunamis that hit Japan in March also hit global markets hard. The Japan Earthquakes sent the Nikkei Index on a downward spiral, and the U.S. stock market soon followed. Additionally, the auto industry lost ground as Japanese auto manufactures were forced to come to a halt due to power outages.
>Read More at Wikipedia
February: The Egyptian Revolution.
Millions of protesters from a variety of socio-economic and religious backgrounds demanded the overthrow of the regime of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. Despite being predominantly peaceful in nature, the revolution was not without violent clashes between security forces and protesters, with at least 846 people killed and 6,000 injured. The uprising took place in Cairo, Alexandria, and in other cities in Egypt, following the Tunisian revolution that resulted in the overthrow of the long-time Tunisian president. Following weeks of determined popular protest and pressure, Mubarak resigned from office.
>Read More at the Economist.
January: Arizona Shooting
On January 8, 2011, U.S. Representative Gabrielle Giffords and eighteen other people were shot during a public meeting held in a supermarket parking lot in Casas Adobes, near Tucson, Arizona. Six of those shot died, including Arizona District Court Chief Judge John Roll, one of Rep. Giffords' staffers, and a nine-year-old child. Giffords was holding a constituent meeting called "Congress on Your Corner" in the parking lot of a Safeway store when Jared Lee Loughner drew a pistol and shot her in the head, subsequently firing on other people.
>Read More at Huffington Post
In a "flat" world, commerce increasingly competes on a global basis. Yet economic development and business opportunities vary widely, as some countries struggle and others boom. How long will today's uneven and volatile economic conditions persist? What should be deployed to balance risk and return if market conditions continue to vary widely from country to country — and from day to day? The answer to these questions seem to vary as much as the S&P 500 did throughout last year.
Throughout this first couple of weeks of 2012 nearly every Board Room across the United States is asking the same question:: "How do we increase profits?" The answer is nealry always the same - increase sales and/or decrease overhead costs. Alliance Cost Containment, celebrating 20 years in business has a solution that has helped over 1,000 businesses across the United States. Because Alliance Cost Containment typically works entirely on a contingency basis they are able to offer their clients a guarantee - NO SAVINGS = NO FEES (If they fail to find savings then you pay no fees!). This makes this business model very attractive for potential clients - especially during these difficult economic times.
After reviewing these top 2011 stories I think that you will agree that the common thread was generally "lets get America back to work and get the ecomony back on track." Although Alliance Cost Containment can not, by itself, achieve these goals we can make a contribution. As more and more organizations become more profitable because of the work that Alliance Cost Containment does then these organizations are able to more positively impact the economy and even retain or hire more workers. Its a win-win scenario for the client, for the Cost Advisor at Alliance Cost Containment and for the American people.
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