twitenomics! The economy according to the people of the Internet.

Oh Internet, I do so hope that you aren’t censored. Why? Because with out the Internet we would not get the privilege of seeing what the world’s most opinionated people, like me, have to say about current affairs.

We begin, as ever, with the BBC’s extensively interactive Internet news. Whether its interactivity is a good thing or not remains to be seen, but with such comments on their website as gettingstarted’s, on the topic of Megaupload’s removal, a topic which has got the online world in flame. Gettingstarted compared the issue of having strict laws emplaced on the web to King Cunut saying the “big companies are like King Cunut, trying to stop the tide. Except that they’re not kings. But they are Cunuts.” This comment was the BBC’s highest rated that day and with a cheeky reference to calling the recording industry the most fowl swear word; this can hardly surprise one. Despite this unity shown in here, the Internet’s case is worsened by TuRbO-DD who used all his brain power to formulate an educated response to the news of hacker group Anonymous hacking the FBI. “NERD ALERT! NERD ALERT!” nice to see people some people aren’t affected by possible security issues isn’t it?

On Facebook many people were discussing the same issued. Michael Madz pointed out that “if someone commits murder the gun maker isn’t sued” while Frederick Roman Millan Cuchufleto got straight to the point with “it really sucks!” Rob Snow got all disturbing and threatening when saying that the government is “afraid of an intelligent, well informed and connected population” later remarking “their time is coming.” I don’t know whether Rob Snow is implying that in the future we’ll get rid of governments, or something, but I doubt that and am generally baffled by his insinuation that the government both hates the public and will pay penance for its sins.

On Twitter, however, it was business as usual. Richard Branson posted a video of a new technique for incentivising senior employees and Theo Paphitis offered six small businesses of his choosing the opportunity to be retweeted by him, thereby giving them promotion and hopefully more traffic.

Politics wise, Ed Miliband mentioned how “youth unemployment now stands at over 1 million- when the PM boasts about rising employment; it shows how out of touch he is.” After my following of political tweeting I have now realised it’s yet another place for politicians to insult one another. The PM was busy, although, with his Co-operatives bill, saying it would “build a fairer economy” and also mentioning how he planned to “restrict the cash element of bonuses in all state-owned banks to £2,000.”

That was a long Twitenomics, but I could not sign out without a brief appearance from our wanna be economist. Today’s person was  Chantelle Hought, former Big Brother who took the time to advertise her brand new “eyelash range” apparently they “stay on allll day!”

24 hours of economics in 240 words! An economic snapshot number 28

For January 20^th

0:14 a.m.  The LSL reported, today, that rental costs were down an average of 0.8% in December.

0:24 a.m.  Johnson & Johnson have settled a case for over £102million.

2:31 a.m.  General Motors have regained top vehicle maker, after facing bankruptcy just two years ago, its sales rising 7.6% last year.

7:22 a.m.  There’s been flooding in Denbighshire town, despite a £4.9million flood relief project.

9:03 a.m.  Lagarde, of the IMF, joined warning on austerity and growth.

10:36 a.m. Uk’s retail sales rose 0.6% last month!

10:55 a.m. China’s investment Corporation have bought nearly 9% of Thames water, its first major share purchase in the UK.

The internet, most prominent of which, Wikipedia's blackout
protest has seemingly had an affect, with Congress
postponing  internet censorship votes!

10:57 a.m. The Scottish open has been revealed to be worth £5million to Scottish economy.

11:20 a.m. Vodafone aren’t liable for taxes and penalties of nearly £2.8billion in India, it’s been ruled.

11:34 a.m. Ikea’s profits rose 10% thanks to emerging markets sales boost.

11:44 a.m. Poundland saw sales rise of 5.9% thanks to it’s cards and chocolate selling well in the Christmas season.

3:52 p.m.  Hackers have retaliated over the shutting down of Megaupload, hacking the FBI among other organisations.

4:55 p.m.  HMV has struck a deal with banks and suppliers so as to halve its debts in the coming years.

5:38 p.m.  The US congress has postponed the SOPA and PIPA, internet censorship bills, amid protesting from the internet’s largest websites.

11:29 p.m. 24,000 former Woolworths workers have been paid a total of £67million in compensation.

sorry for the latency, sixth form work is a pain :(

24 hours of economics in 240 words! An economic snapshot number 27

For January 19^th

1:29 a.m.  Heads of government apprentice schemes (SFA) have resigned!

4:50 a.m.  Facebook has unveiled 60 apps under its latest plans for expansion.

7:38 a.m.  Comet saw poor Christmas sales according to a owner kesa Electricals, like-for-like sales falling by 14.5%

During a week of internet censorship discussions, with
blackouts for bills like SOPA, Megaupload
fell, due to being the means by which millions of
pounds of revenue was lost through piracy!

10:37 a.m. Car insurance premiums are up again, according to the AA, the cheapest annual premium being up 15%, with a 5% rise in the last three months.

11:19 a.m. Pirmark’s owner AB Foods has reported a strong 12% rise in total sales in the past 16 weeks.

0:55 p.m.  RBS has denied a reported over £1million bonus for chief executive, Stephen Hester.

2:05 p.m.  Pumpkin Patch, clothing retailer, has appointed Deloitte as administrators in the UK, who stated the firm would have to close 5 stores.

3:55 p.m.  Bank of America has reportedly returned $2billion profit for the past three months, as apposed to the $1.2billion loss it made this time last year.

5:35 p.m.  Bank shares in the EU stock markets have increased, with Commerzbank’s shares, of many, rising 15%.

8:51 p.m.  Megaupload, one of the internet’s largest file sharing sites, has been shut down by U.S. officials for violating piracy laws, being accused of holding over £500million in lost revenue.

9:22 p.m.  Eastman Kodak has filed for bankruptcy protection, giving the company time to reorganise itself without facing its creditors.

9:44 p.m. Microsoft’s quarterly profits fell by $10million this year, still only making up 1/600 of overall profits.

24 hours of economics in 240 words! An economic snapshot number 26

For January 18^th

0:00 a.m.  Citroen has had its “yes” ad banned from watchdog ASA, saying it caused seizures.

4:16 a.m.  World Bank has warned the developing nations for a shock as it’s now predicting a 0.3% contraction in the Eurozone, which will affect the developing countries because the Eurozone makes up a large amount of their trade.

6:07 a.m.  Yahoo co-founder Jerry Yang has resigned, despite founding it in 1995.

10:22 a.m. UK hydrogen powered cars are predicted to launch in the UK in 2015, after the government and 13 companies have launched an initiative.

11:18 a.m. Germany has lowered its growth forecast to 0.7% growth, down from the originally predicted 1%.

Watchdog says NO to Citroen's YES!

0:56 p.m.  Direct Line and Churchill have been fined £2.17million for tampering with complaint files before submitting them to the FSA.

1:04 p.m.  The UK unemployment rate has increased by 118,000 to 2.69million, according to the ONS.

3:53 p.m.  Goldman Sachs has cut its pays and bonuses to £7.4billion after their profits halved.

4:12 p.m.  IMF is seeking a $500billion funding boost, in order to stabilize the world’s economy, saying it may need $1trillion in the coming years.

7:35 p.m.  Greece has predicted a private debt write-off deal by the weekend, despite talks stalling last week.

9:35 p.m.  Peacocks has entered administration, after failing to restructure its £240million debts.

10:55 p.m. Ebay has reported a big jump in quarterly profits, with its income rising from $559million to $1.98billion.

24 hours of economics in 240 words! An economic snapshot number 25

For January 17^th

1:52 a.m.  Talks over Nigerian fuel prices failed to reach an agreement over the removal of the fuel subsidy.

6:45 a.m.  China, the second largest economy, had found its economic growth has slowed, with its GDP down from 9.1% to 8.9% in the fourth quarter.

7:18 a.m. RBS has sold aircraft leasing units to Sumitomo for £4.7billion, the single biggest disposal of assets by RBS since it was rescued by the government in 2008.

8:45 Premier Foods is to shed about 600 staff as in an attempt to double cost savings to £40million a year.

9:14 a.m.  Dixons, owner of Curry’s and PC World, has seen a sales fall of 5%.

It's been a good day for inflation rates, with both the UK and
Eurozone inflation rates falling closer to the desired
2%

11:00 a.m. The UK’s inflation rate fell 4.2% in December, down from 4.8% in November.

11:11 a.m. Airbus has seen record orders worth £91billion for 2011.

11:19 a.m. The Eurozone’s inflation rate is down 3%, to 2.7%, in December, but still above the target of 2%.

0:12 p.m.  German investor sentiment has improved dramatically from 53.8 to minus 21.6, a 7-month high.

1:25 p.m.  Peacocks clothing firm has been granted 10 days protection from its creditors to find an investor to prevent it going into administration for £240million of debts.

3:35 p.m.  Citigroup has reported a profit of £7.3billion for 2011, up by 6% on the previous year.

3:40 p.m.  EU has opened legal action against Hungary after it reforms to its central bank, data protection and judiciary, the PM has one month to respond!

24 hours of economics in 240 words! An economic snapshot number 24

For January 16^th

0:20 a.m.  Scottish homes are at “most affordable” since 2002 !

7:45 a.m.  The UK is in recession according to the Item Club economic forecasters, saying “confidence is heavily damaged”

8:10 a.m. London is seeking to make London the leading international centre for trading China’s Yuan.

9:28 a.m.  Homebuilder Bovis is eyeing a profit increase for 2011, expecting it to be up 68% from 2010.

11:31 a.m. Bloomsbury has seen strong fourth-quarter trading, aided by a 28% jump in e-book sales.

5 of the 6 major UK energy providers have now announced
price cuts!

0:47 p.m.  Sean Quinn, businessmen, has declared bankruptcy, accusing the IBRC of pursuing a “vendetta” against him.

1:35 p.m.  Nick Clegg has urged more companies to offer shares to their employees.

3:22 p.m.  Luton airport is aiming to boost passenger numbers by 7 million a year and create over 6,000 jobs.

5:06 p.m.  Costa Concordia’s sinking could cost Carnival, its parent firm, up to £62million!

5:12 p.m.  Moody’s rating agency has gone against S&P, keeping France at a AAA rating!

5:51 p.m.  Past Times has appointed administrators from KPMG to sell the business as it goes into administration, having already closed 46 stores!

7:46 p.m.  Standard and Poor’s has downgraded the EU bailout fund to AA+ from AAA.

8:12 p.m.  SottishPower will cut 5% off its gas prices on 27 February and, rival, Eon aims to have cut electricity by 6%.

8:31 p.m.  Mini has recalled 235,00 cars worldwide due to a faulty pump.