Global Design Trends 2014

Infographic: Shutterstock's Global Design Trends 2014

You Have The Right to Know: The GMO Tug of War #GMO

GMOs have been either banned or strictly require labelling in over 60 countries or so. However, things seem to be heading towards a different direction in the United States where the GMO debate is intensifying with each passing day. The results of many national surveys clearly suggests that more than 90% of Americans would like to know if their food contains GM ingredients.

Despite many renowned scholars in the field coming forward to vouch that GMO’s are anything but sustainable and has the potential to destroy the planet, countries including Argentina, Brazil, Canada, India, China etc. continue to follow the GMO bandwagon with U.S leading the way. However, nations like South Africa, Peru, France etc., have taken legal action against the Monsanto Company on the question of GM food safety and ensuing health concerns. With more and more consumers demanding the right to know what they are eating and the public outrage against GM foods gaining momentum in the U.S and elsewhere, the reassessment and regulation of the safety standards of the GM foods before being introduced into the market, has become a matter of immediate concern. This in turn, translates into the need for food labelling schemes and judicious government intervention in the case of GM foods. 

Chart from the Cornucopia Institute

With "Non-GMO" or "GMO-free" foods gaining popularity, many companies have started making the much desired shift towards making their products free of GMOs. In order to cater to the rising demand for GMO free food, companies including the likes of General Mills are in the process of making GMO-free variants for their very popular brands. By 2018, Whole Foods intends to make labelling mandatory for their stores across the U.S and Canada. Also, the very popular Ben & Jerry's officially became GMO-free in 2013. Chitpotle chain of restaurants that serve Mexican food, openly disclosed the presence of GMO in their food and at the same time made a firm commitment to make their food free of GMOs as much as possible and voluntarily started labelling their products with the intention of gaining more consumer acceptance and trust.
Content by info@AlphaSMC.com

Companies like Monsanto have allegedly spent millions of dollars for lobbying against labelling of GM foods in the U.S. It is assumed that in 2013, the company made a donation of over $5 million USD in support of the anti- GMO labelling campaign in the state of Washington.

The infographic below, created by The Cornucopia Institute, outlines the  list of  corporations and organizations that are supporting and opposing I-522, which is a citizen’s initiative in Washington and might go on to become the first state to make clear labelling of genetically engineered ingredients on food packaging mandatory. Companies like Monsanto and General Mills are against GMO labelling whereas companies like Stonyfield, Annie’s, Nature’s Path etc. support the I-522 campaign. 

References:

http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2014/02/11/monsanto-anti-gmo-labeling.aspx

http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/02/18/us-usa-food-gmo-analysis-idUSBREA1H1G420140218

http://gmoreport.blogspot.in/

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/steve-ells/chipotle-gmos-no_b_4063994.html

What is GMO?

So lately while we have been obsessively counting calories in each morsel of food and deliberating over the plethora of dietary information found strewn all over the internet, are we forgetting or rather conveniently ignoring the bigger picture? You might be familiar with the amount of carbohydrates and proteins that you are consuming on a daily basis, but chances are, you are unaware of the fact that the food that you are eating right now is genetically modified. Yes, we are talking about GMOs or Genetically Modified Organisms!

GMO- An Overview

GMO’s are Genetically Engineered Organisms, both plants and animals, whose genetic material has been altered through gene splicing techniques of biotechnology. In GMO’s, the DNA from bacteria, virus or even other plants or animals is introduced into the genetic material of other organisms artificially, thereby, resulting in the production of organisms that do not occur in nature. This is indeed different from traditional crossbreeding techniques.

Ever thought about eating a strawberry recombined with fish DNA? As weird as it sounds, this is the basic concept behind GMOs. Another example would be combining the DNA of corn with a bacterium known as bacillus thuringiensis (Bt), known for producing a protein that kills insects. This trait of the Bt is in turn passed on to the corn, which makes it produce its own pesticide.

 In the United States, the Flavr Savr tomato introduced by the Monsanto Company (MON) 20 years ago became the first GMO that was approved for human consumption. Corn, soy, canola, sugar beets, Hawaiian papaya etc. make it to the list of widely consumed GM foods. More recently, GM salmon became the first GM animal that was approved by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for consumption by humans. This would further pave the way for more experiments on cows, pigs etc. and serve as an impetus for the prevalence of untested GMO foods in the market on one side, as well as an overwhelming uproar of ethical concerns on the other. Despite the many qualms about GMO and the possible side effects of human intervention in the process of creation, it might come as a bit of shock to learn that around 75%-80% of all the food products in America contain GM ingredients in one form or the other.

So this genetic manipulation is our way of challenging Mother Nature by developing organisms with lucrative claims of better yields, resistance to diseases, enhanced flavour and nutritional values, reduction of allergenic potential, tolerance to pests, cold and drought, lesser cost etc.  This enhancement of particular desired traits through biotechnology is much faster and more accurate than conventional techniques of breeding. So if GMO sounds like the solution to creating perfect organisms without any inherent flaws, what is all current anti-GMO buzz about?

GMO’s have gone on to become the most contentious issue faced by the food industry till date. Though they were initially thought of as the much awaited solution to starvation and hunger plaguing our world, there is a lot of scepticism and speculation surrounding the topic due to the uncertainty of what it could possibly do to our health and environment in the longer run.  Much of this concern stems from the lack of conclusive evidence to prove that GMO does not pose a threat to human health and does not lead to potential environmental hazards. The lack of long term scientific studies on humans along with the disturbing results evident from animal studies point to issues related to increased mortality, decreased fertility, slower growth rates etc. There is also the question of the violation of farmer’s rights and consumer’s rights in connection to GMO production and sale.

So, in the guise of producing more cost effective and appealing products, we might end up creating mutant organisms with the potential to alter the course of history itself. Or, are all our fears unfounded and baseless? 

Content by info@AlphaSMC.com

Twitter Bios - Women Leaders in their Fields

Twitter IPO is coming out soon and it will be historically seen as the most popular offer of the year 2013. We look into how this company has achieved so much and has become a leader in what is now a new way of journalism, but in 140 characters. In 140 characters you have also to put your Bio/Resume. Most of the users put what they are, what they want and how they define themselves. Some make a statement and some just don’t. We always say that you should be able to do an elevator speech but definitely this has pushed the limits.  We picked the most popular women in business and politics. You be the judge of whom made the best job and use of the 140 letters. We like Hillary Clinton; the black and white picture, the glasses, the hair, the chic bio and that “ I am working and exactly know what I am doing look”. 

Janet Yellen - How close you are to become the next Federal Reserve Chairman?

Janet Yellen, expected  to be nominated by President Obama as the next Federal Reserve Chairman replacing Ben Bernanke. The following are the educational background, work experience, publications, honors and awards she holds for the job. She will also, if approved, be the first woman chair in US.

Education

BA, Economics, Brown University
PhD, Economics, Yale University

Positions Held

2010 - present, Vice Chair, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
1985 - present, Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
2004 - 2010, President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
1997 - 1999, Chair, President's Council of Economic Advisors
1994 - 1997, Member, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
1982 - 1985, Associate Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
1980 - 1982, Assistant Professor, Haas School of Business, UC Berkeley
1978 - 1980, Lecturer, London School of Economics and Political Science
1977 - 1978, Economist, Division of International Finance, Trade and Financial Studies Section, Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
1971 - 1976, Assistant Professor, Department of Economics, Harvard University
1974, Research Fellow, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
 

External Service and Assignments

• Vice Chair, Federal Reserve Board of Governors
• President and CEO, Federal Reserve Bank of San Francisco
• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences
• Vice President, Western Economics Association
• Fellow, Yale Corporation
• Member, National Academy of Sciences Panel on Ensuring the Best Presidential Science and Technology Appointments
• Research Associate, National Bureau of Economic Research
• Advisory Board, Center for International Political Economy
• Advisory Board, Brookings Panel on Economic Activity
• Chair: Economic Policy Committee of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development
• President's Interagency Committee on Women's Business Enterprise
• Member and adviser: Brookings Panel on Economic Activity (senior advisor); Advisor Panel in Economics, National Science Foundation
• Advisor: Congressional Budget Office
• Research fellow: Yale University, and Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Current Research and Interests

• Unemployment and labor markets
• Monetary and fiscal policies
• International trade and investment policy

Selected Papers and Publications

• The Fabulous Decade: Macroeconomic Lessons from the 1990s, with Alan Binder. New York: The Century Foundation Press, 2001.
• "Trends in Income Inequality and Policy Responses." Looking Ahead (October 1997).
• "The Inequality Paradox: Growth of Income Disparity." National Policy Association (1998).
• "The Continuing Importance of Trade Liberalization." Business Economics (1998).
• "Monetary Policy: Goals and Strategy." Business Economics (July 1996).
• "An Analysis of Out-of-Wedlock Childbearing in the United States," with George Akerlof and Michael Katz. Journal of Economics (May 1996).
• "East Germany In From the Cold: The Economic Aftermath of Currency Union," with George Akerlof, Andrew Rose, and Helga Hessenius. Brookings Papers on Economic Activity 1991:1.
• "How Large Are the Losses from Rule of Thumb Behavior in Models of the Business Cycle?" with George Akerlof, in Money, Macroeconomics and Economic Policy: Essays in Honor of James Tobin, edited by Willima Brainard, William Nordhaus, and Harold Watts, Cambridge, Mass.: MIT Press, 1991.

Teaching

• Macroeconomics in the Global Economy, MBA201B-1A

Honors and Awards

• Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, 2001
• Fellow, Yale Corporation, 2000
• Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters Degree, Bard College, May 2000
• Honorary Doctor of Laws Degree, Brown University, 1998
• Maria and Sidney Rolfe Award for National Economic Service, Women's Economic Roundtable, 1997
• Wilbur Lucius Cross Medal, Yale University, 1997
• Honorary Woodrow Wilson Fellowship, 1967
• Guggenheim Fellow, 1986-1987
• Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching (Evening MBA Program), 1988
• Earl F. Cheit Award for Excellence in Teaching (MBA Program), 1985

La Reserva Federal - Sep 18, 2013 - Anuncio de Política Monetaria - Caso de Estudio

Alpha SMC, adapta la noticia mas significativa del día a las necesidades estudiadas por nuestros analistas de su empresa. En este caso el anuncio de política económica anunciado en Septiembre 18, 2013 por la Reserva Federal y como se adapta a dos sectores: consultoría de empresas y empresas de servicios en tecnología financiera.

Noticia Base:

El Comité Federal de Mercado Abierto [FOMC] anuncio su política monetaria dejando en claro que no van a subir las tasas de interés hasta tanto la tasa de desempleo no este por debajo de 6.5%. En sus proyecciones económicas se estima que esto debe suceder hacia mediados del próximo año. Adicionalmente el Comité decidió esperar mas evidencia de que se mantendrá el progreso económico antes de ajustar el ritmo de sus compras. En general a pesar de que el empleo sigue a niveles no consistentes con el objetivo de la Fed, la actividad económica sigue en mejorando y en curso con las expectativas.

Documento: Traducción del Anuncio del Comité Federal de Mercado Abierto

Proyecciones de la Reserva Federal - Anuncio hecho en 09/18/13

Empresa Consultoria: 
ConsulTree siempre esta atento a los cambios de política económica que puedan afectar en el corto, mediano y largo plazo a nuestros clientes. La planificación y estrategias para adquirir talento corporativo y consultoría siempre son consistentes con el espectro económico mundial. Nuestra posición en este momento es de contratar ya que la subida en el mercado de valores es señal de que pronto la economía va a sentir con mas fuerza los efectos de estas medidas económicas. La contratación de talento top puede durar de 3 a 6 meses,  esto nos sincroniza  con el ciclo esperado de activación de la economía.

Empresa de Software de Tarjetas de Crédito para Bancos y Entidades Financiera:
OpenCard considera que mientras que la economía este en curso  y las tasas de interés tan bajas, los banco deberían estar actualizando sus sistemas y preparándose tecnológicamente para cuando la economía entre en full vigor. Los bancos que puedan ofrecer mejores soluciones tecnológicas, tasas y costos bajos a sus usuarios serán los que lideren el sector cuando el desempleo vuelva a bajar y esos millones de personas vuelvan a ser usuarios de las tarjetas de crédito. OpenCard provee soluciones con opciones que ningún otro software ofrece.

Dave Crystal 10 Point Plan for Miami Beach in 90 Seconds - Case Study

We took the 10 point plan the Candidate for Commissioner for the City of Miami Beach had in his webpage and converted into a 90 second slide show. [you can read the original plan below]

The original was as follows:

1.               The City shall provide full audits of its finances and capital projects and post them on an easy-to-find website for everyone to peruse. Every citizen shall know how his or her tax dollars are being spent. Transparency is Paramount.

2.               Whereas the city's annual pension contributions have realized over a 350% increase in the last 8 years alone, going from $11.9 million in 2004 to more than $53.8 million today, and whereas the costs of pension for Police and Fire currently approximate 75% of their respective payroll, and with the combined police and fire budget approximating 70% of the total City budget, it is Crystal Clear that our city no longer has the luxury to maintain these expensive and ill conceived practices. The current police and fire pension scheme is unsustainable as a defined-benefit plan and must be immediately converted to a defined-contribution plan so that both the employees and city share the systemic risk of an uncertain economy and uncertain market returns. Furthermore, overtime pay should never be factored into the pension base calculations.

3.               Police will be required to walk the beat, particularly in alleyways in south beach and north beach, where most of the more heinous crimes have occurred in recent years.

4.               To combat the rampant rise in corruption in the City of Miami Beach from 2004 to present, an independent Office of the Inspector General shall be created to find, expose and root out any and all corruption, particularly in the Building Department and Code Compliance Division. The Inspector General will not only have several of his or her own independent inspectors, but shall also have direct control and oversight over Miami Beach Internal Affairs and will work in tandem with the Miami Beach Chief of Police. Furthermore a separate internal affairs citizens' board shall be created to deal with public complaints against police officers, including those of the gay community. This new internal affairs board will be equally comprised of police personnel and civilian professionals. This office will recommend any disciplinary action simultaneously to the Chief of Police and the Inspector General.

5.               Encourage city employees to educate themselves and improve their language skills. Facilitate this commitment to ambitious and talented city employees with on-the-job training and partial scholarships. A better city starts with better-educated employees.

6.               Reform the Building Department, including improvement on the response time of city inspectors. The city needs to help businesses open and homes sell by inspecting properties quickly and efficiently. Any aspect of a permitting process that can be done online or via e-mail, should be so done. Miami Beach must make it easier for permits to be granted. Permitting inefficiencies should not prevent ready and able entrepreneurs from opening businesses that create new jobs, nor should it preclude homeowners from making improvements which will increase property values and enhance livability. As such, as long as a citizen or business owner is acting in good faith, all property taxes due on his or her estate shall be suspended and only paid in arrears once a permit or certificate of occupancy is remitted by the City. This way the City is incentivized to move quickly and efficiently.

7.               Restore Memorial Day weekend to its former glory by preempting Urban Beach Weekend with a variety of cultural and patriotic events dedicated to honoring our troops and veterans.

8.               On occasions of torrential downpour, the city will rent rug-trucks used for sucking excess water off of airport tarmacs. The city will position these machines at those corners (such as 41st St. and Sheridan Ave., 78th St. and Carlyle Ave., and Alton Rd. and 10th St.) notorious for flooding. Upon removal of this excess water, the machine will dump same water into Indian Creek River or the ocean, whichever is closer. This will save Miami Beach storefront owners and car owners millions of dollars in damages over the long run (note: this will not work in case of storm surge; only intended to cure rain-induced standing water situations).

9.               The city will sponsor or encourage the creation of a "green" water ferry service from various points in Miami Beach to Bayside, Downtown Miami. This service is destined for long-term profitability, will ease local commutes, and will serve as an exciting tourist attraction. Having some of the most beautiful waterways of any city in the world, Miami Beach is the perfect place for such a water taxi. This water taxi service will not only become a tourist favorite in just a few years, but, more importantly, it will serve as surrogate transportation for those who live in Miami Beach and work or conduct business in downtown Miami, thus reducing the parking crisis and relieving traffic along the corridors of 41st St., 63rd St./Alton Rd, and 71st St. The water taxi will stop at 41st St. and Collins; 53rd St. and Collins; 63rd St. and Collins; Bonita Drive; Mt Sinai Hospital and Bayside, Downtown Miami.

10.            All Beach residents who have been registered to vote on the Beach for at least the last two years shall be given the option of prepaying $360 per annum for the right to unlimited metered parking throughout the city. When it comes to parking, citizens come first!