Assignment 6- "Identifying Opportunities in Economic and Regulatory Trends"

Economic Opportunity #1: Tax Bill and Budget Agreement will increase spending, improve economy-in the short term

Upon reviewing some of the actions of the Trump Administration this past year, I have found two bills that were passed that will definitely improve the economy-but not indefinitely. Trump passed a newly reformed tax plan bill that is much different from Obama's. In simple terms, everyone will be receiving a tax cut in 2018. Also, Trump passed a 1.3 trillion dollar federal spending bill in March, averting a government shutdown. Now, why do I think this will improve our economy short term? The answer is simple: increased spending. This will temporarily offset our debt and at least give us a fighting chance to pay it back... So, the American people(prototypical customer) better be thankful for this as there are plenty of reasons why this shouldn't be happening right now... This will obviously be easy to exploit because if people have more disposable income what are they going to do with it? I am going to assume spend it. Finally, I saw this opportunity because I have taken economics classes before. However, I feel that most educated individuals would have been able to see this as well.
Source(s): https://www.daveramsey.com/blog/tax-reform-bill
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/22/us/politics/house-passes-spending-bill.html

Regulatory Opportunity #1: US must come to an agreement with trading partners to improve future economy

I found this opportunity while I was writing my economic opportunity above. I mentioned that the increases in spending and decreased taxes will only help us in the short run. This is because Trump has issued taxes on US imports, specifically with China. Assuming they remain for at least the next 2-3 years, any economic momentum we would have gained up to this point will come to a halt. China's trade volume will obviously decrease, and the countries that are affected by US-China trade relations will also not want to trade with us either. It would be very ill-advised for Trump to not lift these tariffs soon, as after all China is who we are most in debt to. They're without a doubt our most important "customer." It is going to be very difficult to exploit this as well because of the amount of money we owe China. Let's just hope that our domestic economy does well enough over the next couple of years so that this negotiation goes as smoothly as possible...
Finally, I saw this opportunity because I have taken economics classes before. However, I feel that most educated individuals would have been able to see this as well.
Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2018/08/23/us-china-trade-war-new-round-of-american-tariffs-on-chinese-imports.html

Economic Opportunity #2: With a fully employed economy, higher wages can become a reality

This opportunity came to mind when I looked at our current unemployment rate. As of today we have an unemployment rate of 3.9 percent. If you've ever taken an economics class, you'd know that "full employment" is 4 percent. This means that virtually anyone who is willing and able to work is currently working. At 3.9 percent, that means that there's slightly more job openings than people who are trying to find a job. If we can get down to maybe 3.5 percent, there's a chance the government will increase the minimum wage, leading other wages to increase as well. However, the only way this opportunity will exist is if everything regarding our foreign relations/trade(mentioned above) pans out in our favor. If it doesn't, I don't think we'll be hitting 3.5 percent anytime soon... "Prototypical customer?" Anyone in America who wants to work of course! Even if our foreign relations/trade issues work out, this will still be hard to exploit due to a lot of other factors at hand such as other economic trends, regulatory trends, societal discrepancies, etc...
Finally, I saw this opportunity because I have taken economics classes before. However, I feel that most educated individuals would have been able to see this as well.
Source: https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2018/07/hello-full-employment/564527/

Regulatory Opportunity #2: With e-commerce businesses now having to pay sales taxes, they should aim for quantity over quality

Although my argument results in an economic opportunity, if it weren't for the regulatory change of taxes for online businesses, the opportunity would have never been able to exist. If you still don't agree with me, please let me know why in the comments. Anyways, I found this opportunity when reading through some of the US regulatory changes that happened this year. Before the Supreme court passed it 5-4, e-commerce businesses didn't have to worry about paying sales taxes. However, those days are now gone. My theory is that people pay the higher sales taxes on more expensive items right? Why not just change your business model and focus on cheaper goods that are still in high demand? Such as groceries, for example. I will admit that Amazon pantry and other innovative online grocers definitely inspired my thought process here. Anyways, the more of these type of products they sell, the less sales taxes they'll have to pay. Ideally, they'll make enough profit from this as well as their traditional products to pay all the taxes, and maybe even having some money left over! The "customer" would be anyone in the e-commerce industry, however the "actual customers" could maybe be considered "customers" as well since they'll have an easier way of getting groceries? Either way, as long as the respective businesses can figure out the logistics, there should be fair exploitation of this opportunity.
Source: https://www.businessnewsdaily.com/7671-regulatory-issues-changes.html