2004-2010: The Building of a Crisis Greece's admittance into the Eurozone had its skeptics at the time it happened, and the controversy increased with the admission in 2004 that the deficit figure was fudged in order to allow Greece to join the exchange rate mechanism on January 1, 2000, which was key to the country being allowed to use the Euro when the currency was first introduced on January 1, 2002. Between

Economic Events: 1980-1989 the decade of greed. The era of Ronald Reagan when the rich got richer and the poor got poorer. Despite this common wisdom, 1980 started off auspiciously. On May 8, 1980 the World Health Organization hailed "one of the century's greatest medical accomplishments," the final and total eradication of smallpox (Dickson 247). But how quickly times change - barely a quarter century has passed and this same disease

Economics: The State of the U.S. Economy Cousin Edgar, a global investor, is seeking to capitalize on the thriving gasoline industry and the rising world demand for oil by purchasing several gas stations in the U.S. market. Inspiring his interest is the high price of gasoline, which he reckons will rise even higher in the near future, thanks to the urbanization and industrialization currently being witnessed in the developing economies of

("House Passes Bill to," 2006, p. A06) Another general false conception is that "colleges are increasing need-based scholarships as opposed to merit-based scholarships... (however,) the College Board's annual report shows that at the state level, the percentage of merit-based grant aid increased from 10% of all aid during the 1993-1994 academic year to 26% of all aid in 2003-2004." These and other misperceptions, perhaps contribute to the fact most Americans

Macroeconomics Factors that lead to Growth There are several factors that lead to economic growth. They are physical capital, human capital, natural capital and technological change. Physical capital refers to the infrastructure that a nation has, for example transportation and communication infrastructure, and manufacturing capacity. Human capital refers to the number of people, and their skill level. Natural capital reflects natural resources that can be exploited. Technological change reflects the increases in

(Vander Ploeg, 2003) Key findings stated in the report of Vander Ploeg include the following: Unlike the overall indications of municipal infrastructure needs, which identify water and wastewater infrastructure as having the greatest investment needs, western cities biggest needs exist in the transportation sector. In each of the cities except Vancouver, roads, bridges, interchanges, sidewalks and public transit make up at least half of the annual infrastructure deficit; This may be related