The American dollar isn’t nearly as strong as it used to be, according to news that came about this week. Because the United States economy doesn’t look particularly promising at the moment, the dollar fell to a brand new low last week. This news, coupled with the fact that oil prices hit their highest points ever, leaves many economists in the United States with many new worries about the economy.

Among the problems with the US economy are the strangely low earnings from Bank of America, the continually slumping labor market, and the already slumping housing numbers. In addition to that, the Federal Reserve released a report on the economy that was anything but promising.
There has been a ton of pressure added to the credit market in recent weeks, as US banks might be looking at liquidation of their securities in the near future. This news also sparked the increased buying of US Treasury bills, which have long been a safe option for investors. This upswing shows that investors are concerned about the market’s direction and want to play it safe during this time.

Tom di Galoma, a chief executive with Jeffries & Co. had this to say in an interview with Yahoo News. “There are concerns about another rout in the credit market. Housing will be a drag on the economy for the next 12 to 18 months.”
There is also speculation among market veterans that another cut in the federal interest rate is coming either this month or the next. Most felt that the Fed would take action before December.

The government bond market also saw the yield on their three-month Treasury bill slip. The bill dropped 23bp to end up at 3.76%. This marked a three-week low. Other Treasury bonds also saw their stock drop in recent weeks, as the market has taken a hit.
The situation isn’t much better in Europe, where the ten year Bund fell by 4.32%. Over in Asia, the ten year Japanese government bond dropped a remarkable 1.64%, which is just one hundredth of a percentage point above the bond’s month low.
Over in the currency markets, the dollar has also seen a drop. It met a record low when compared to a number of different currencies in the last week. The Euro, on the other hand, made a record high number of $1.43 when compared to the dollar. Speculation has it that potential Fed interest rate cuts have played a role in effecting the situation.

Though there are certainly concerns over what to do about the dollar’s sinking value, all signs point to the federal government staying put at this point. All of the reasons for the dollar’s decline seem to be things that will sort themselves out if they are given the chance. Slumping housing numbers and low rate expectations are contributing factors that should eventually cool down as the value of the dollar increases.
As far as metals go, sterling saw a rise in its value this week. It hit a three-month high against the value of the dollar. This came as a result of above average retail sales data in the United Kingdom, where the economy seems to be heading in the opposite direction.
One of the primary concerns for the US economy comes as a result of the rising costs of US crude oil. With tensions in the Middle East continuing to grow, the price of a barrel of oil rose to nearly $90. This is an all-time high that doesn’t seem likely to come down anytime soon. Platinum and gold also look like they are headed into uncharted, record territory.

On May 4, the price of gas ended the week at $3.012 cents per gallon. This price is just the latest in the surge of high gas prices and in fact, it was a 2.1 cent increase from just the day before. This increase of the per gallon price occurred despite the fact that June delivery of light, sweet crude oil dropped $1.26 per barrel to end the day at $61.93. Presently, high gas prices in the United States are being attributed to several factors. The first factor includes the shut down of some domestic refineries in order for maintenance and other improvements to take place. A limited supply of gasoline imports remains the second factor. This limited supply of gasoline is due to the switching from gasoline to the diesel productions at several European refineries and refinery interruptions and other problems have led to a 12% drop in Venezuelan imports.

Investors and consumers alike are worried about the sudden increase in gas prices since summer, the peak season for gas consumption, has not even begun yet. Of course, the summer pricing depends on two things; 1) the amount of gas the refineries will produce and 2) how much consumers are truly willing to spend on gas. Unfortunately, immediately following the summer months, Americans will have to wait with baited breath to see if any hurricanes strike the Gulf coast and if so, how much damage the refineries in the Gulf area receive. There is not much leeway in the industry so if the refineries experience any disruption in the chain of supply and delivery, consumers could see higher prices that top the summer gas prices.

The increase in gas prices originally affected mainly the blue-collared workers, but now industry experts are beginning to see the gas prices affect more and more white-collared workers. As a way to save gas and therefore save money, many people have chosen to stay home more, trade in their present vehicle for a more gas-efficient model and/or find a job that has a closer commute. For those that are currently jobless, the area in which many people can look for a job has diminished.

Those looking for employment have now begun to take into account the driving distance prior to applying or taking on a job. Furthermore, some experts believe that the high price of gas will further force the jobless rate to increase. The April jobless rate which was reported to be 4.5% is up from the 5-year low of 4.4% in March. While these figures indicate that the economy is a little weak and not in trouble, experts fear the price of gas will force the cost of goods to increase, thereby leaving less money for businesses to hire aggressively. This lag in hiring new employees will cause the jobless rate to increase over the summer and experts predict that it could perhaps end the year around five percent. While this may seem like a high jobless percentage, it is still low when compared to other historical jobless rates.

Consumer advocate groups have begun to urge politicians to try and force refineries to produce more gasoline; however, the ultimate decision on gasoline prices will fall on the shoulders of consumers. Consumers will have to ultimately decide how much they want to travel and if paying the price at the pump is actually worth it.

Unless you�ve been living in a cave for the past few years, you�ve probably noticed a huge increase in the interest in poker and in particular, Texas Holdem poker. This boom has occurred online with sites like party poker, on TV with the World Poker Tour and of course the first name in poker: The World Series of poker. The 2005 World Series, was the largest poker event in history. The No Limit Hold�em Final had 5619 entries that generated over $52 million in prize money and $5.2 million in fees and untold publicity to Harrahs. Joseph Hachem, was the winner of $7.5 million grand prize. Overall 45 world series events from June 2nd to July 13th generated roughly $100 million in prize money.

Even more impressive than than the boom in casino poker, is the huge size of the online poker market. It is expected to generate over $3 billion in revenues. At any moment of time, 10�s of thousands of people, mainly males, from all parts of the worlds at rooms including Party Poker, Poker Stars, and others. What�s even more interesting is that most of the money, upto 80% comes from US players; while the US Attorney General (and most state counterparts) have declared online gambling illegal. Unlike casino games or bingo, Poker is considered a game of skill in many state. But we�re not hear to talk about poker or it�s legality, so if you want more on poker and online poker in particular, i found this site helpful All Poker Rooms. In particular you might want to read The rules of Texas Holdem or if you�re like me, and can�t ever remember whether flush beats straights, check out Winning Poker Hands, if you are unfamiliar with the game of Texas Holdem.

Now, that you�ve got the big picture, the real question becomes, what is the impact of poker or more generally gambling on an economy. It was years ago that i heard one TV talking heads, labeled the US culture �the casino economy�. I don�t think their entire theory was exponded in the sound bite, but for me, it was a great description of the stock market/Internet hype bubble that popped in 2000 and the executives that scammed shareholders of Worldcom, Enron, Tyco and many others, steal the jackpot for themselves. This casino mentality has transferred to the current, now slowing, real estate boom. The US culture and economy has become a world of nods and winks, were thieves steel by falsifing info, lying on appraisals and wild conflicts of interest around every corner. While this may not be unique to the USA, it was �The Story� in the US, after the �Internet Bubble� and before the most recent story �Outsourcing�.

In particular, what is the effect of offshore operators, attracting players that might otherwise play locally at state licensed and taxed casinos? Just using the figures (i got them from Marketing Sherpa) the figures i quoted earlier, the online gambling industry is generating $8 billion to $10 billion in revenues each year. Probably drawing away US gamblers who might otherwise play at casinos that pay local taxes. Let�s assume that at least $2 Billion to $3 Billion would have paid taxes in the country where the player live. That�s $10 for every american. Given that the online industry, employs people offshore, it�s really the equivalent of outsource our gambling to lower cost offshore providers. This year alone, rapidly growing India will supply nearly $20 Billion of services for a number countries in wealthier/industrialized world.

I guess my point is that market forces generate an advantage in �Offshoring�, whether it be outsourced-offshore IT services or offshore gambling, because the offshore operator has some combination of cost or regulatory advantage. For IT and Accounting services their advantage is nearly all based on price. Online gambling benefits from both the regulatory advantages of being offshore and the cost advantage being virtual. It is this cost advantage ( being VIRTUAL ) that Las Vegas and the US Indians cannot overcome, without a change in the political climae. While most US business being outsourced is being outsourced based soley on wage differencial, online gambling is being �outsourced� offshore, because the US government refused to allow online gaming or even to allow each state to make it�s choice.

Is there anything wrong with gaming going online or offshore? I�m not really seeking to identify right and wrong, but the same governments that have refused to allow licensed online gambling also lose tax revenues to Offshore/Online operators, every day. So as US gamblers send their money offshore, states lose millions a day in taxes while the US gambling industry loses even more revenue and customers. The best way to stem the tide of online gambling taking money offshore is to all US based/regulated gaming online (each state should decide) and US operators compete with there trusted brands against the offshore operators.

One of the main problems being discussed in the US recently is the problem of underfunded pensions and sky rocketing benefit expenses. Old line American companies (the same is true elsewhere is G8 countries) are now burdened with pension costs that their competition does not have, but these cost are higher their obligations have went on longer than these plans had allowed for.

It really doesn’t matter if the companies poorly planned, or the insurance/investment industry mis advised, but there are at least problems that will become painfully obvious in the days ahead. First, old line companies, burdened by benefits are uncompetitive with their newer or less obligated competition. Second, a society that ignores social services and leaves it to business, will either have a failing social systems or failing businesses. Society need to establish government funded safety nets that work to make life in a world of temporary jobs, managable and rewarding to both the worker and investors.

Imagine a US where employers paid only hourly wages or salaries employees, no additional employment taxes or benefits, just a flexible labor force. This is the best way to help business compete against remote nations and their cheaper labor, right here at home. Imagine, a simplified, flat tax on indiduals with household and personal exemptions, generates the money for a social system, that trains and maintains a flexible workforce, for a newly unburdened and engergized business sector.

ah, the dream continues.

Palm Pilot, the original big name in the handheld device world has recently stunned the technology industry. On September 26th 2005 the company publicly released that its newest smart phone would be running the Microsoft Windows CE operating system. As quoted from David Ewalt at Forbes.com, ��it was the equivalent of Coca-Cola agreeing to fill its bottles with Pepsi.�

For nearly 10 years now Palm and Microsoft have been in a head to head battle for dominance in the handheld computer industry. (The author of this blog happens to use a Microsoft powered device himself.) Palm was the originator and the innovator; they set the standard and made people realize that handheld computing was a possibility. Microsoft was left out of the loop, until they poured their billions of dollars into research and development.

“Palm made handhelds mainstream,” says Current Analysis analyst Sam Bhavnani. “The Palm Pilot [brand] was used to describe even non-Palm products, like Kleenex or Rollerblades.”

Even up until one year ago, Palm was still considered to be the front runner in the handheld software market. During the second quarter of 2004 nearly 42% of all handhelds shipped in the US were done so with the Palm operating system installed. Windows only accounted for roughly 36%. Exactly one year later in 2005 Palm fell drastically behind, holding on to only 18% of the market.

What is it that stopped Palm cold in its track? What could have happened so drastically that Palm would give up its own software in favor of that of its main competitor? Money. As mentioned before, Microsoft has billions of dollars at its disposal and can move into virtually any market they please. Also have multi-billion dollar software contracts with leading handheld manufacturers such as HP and Dell doesn�t hurt either.

Palm was being forced out of the market so abruptly that partnering with Microsoft was their only choice. Palm will now be focusing on hardware development and software development other than operating systems. Instead of OS development Palm will concentrate on business software which is compatible with the Windows operating system.

What is next for PDA�s? This is a question on a lot of people�s minds and from what it looks like, phones and integrated PDA�s are the future. Cell phone networks offer connectivity pretty much anywhere you could want to be, and it�s getting even better. With the ability to be connected pretty much anywhere, why not have your computer with you at all times and be able to feed off that same connectivity?