James Ryan Jonas

What’s with the U.S. Debt Ceiling issue?

One of the most highly controversial topics in the United States right now is the Debt Ceiling issue. Basically, U.S. lawmakers are debating whether they should increase the country’s debt ceiling and, if yes, by how much. Much of their disagreement and discussion focus on the policy implications once the limit is raised.

Background of the Debt Ceiling Issue

Like any regular sovereign state, the United States relies on borrowings to finance its spending. In fact, the United States is the #1 borrower in the world, with total external debt amounting to $14.3 trillion as of May 2011.

That’s where the problem lies. The United States is limited by law to borrow a certain amount. This limit, or debt ceiling, is currently pegged at $14.3 trillion. However, according to the U.S. Treasury, this limit was reached in May 16, 2011 and the country only has enough money to spend until August 2, 2011 — a few days from today.

External Debt and Public Debt as % of GDP, by country

In the United States, a highly controversial issue right now is the debt ceiling limit.

The current debt ceiling of the US, set by law, is $14.3 trillion. According to the United States Treasury, this limit was reached in May 2011 and, if the limit is not raised, the US could fulfill all its obligations only until August 2, 2011 — less than a week from now.

No classes due to typhoon – Elementary, High School, College

For the entire day yesterday, July 26, our website experienced several downtimes and displayed various connection errors. I checked and apparently, the reason was that a lot of people were searching for news regarding the suspension of classes due to typhoon Juaning. Our post two years ago, entitled July 27 – Classes in NCR suspended was the most-viewed article and total site visitors more than doubled yesterday because of that.
However, that post was made in 2009. The good (?) news, though, is that classes are also suspended today, July 27, 2011 in all educational levels in areas under storm signals number 1 and 2.

Photos & Videos of Fake Apple Store in China

Just when we thought China has produced a fake version of almost anything — from mobile phones to designer bags to apparel and even branded cars! — here comes another one that can be added to that list: a fake Apple Store.

An American blogger, who goes by the name BirdAbroad, recently posted in her blog photos and a video of the rip-off Apple store. According to the blog entry, the store is located in the city of Kunming, capital of China’s southwestern Yunnan province.

The similarities with authorized Apple stores are uncanny, with the blogger describing in detail:

[PHOTO] Giant tuko (tokay gecko) sold for $20 million?

Tuko for sale!
We buy geckos for millions of pesos!
You’ve probably seen such lines in classified ads websites, watched the reports on TV about the supposed “tuko trading,” or heard the rumor from a neighbor or friend, but is it really true?
Can tokay geckos or tuko — supposedly with their medicinal properties that can cure AIDS or HIV — really be sold for hundreds of thousands or even millions of pesos?
PinoyMoneyTalk did a bit of online research and it seems to us that the current frenzy over the sale and trade of tuko in the Philippines stemmed from a news report published more than a year ago in an Indonesian newspaper claiming that a 64-kg gecko was sold for $20 million.

MySpace sold for 'only' $35 million; Justin Timberlake joins as investor

The dominance of social networking site Facebook has produced a bunch of winners and losers online.
Among the winners are Zynga, a games maker on the Facebook platform, that will soon have an initial public offering (IPO) estimated to raise around $1 billion for the company. Losers include former social networking site giant Friendster that has now rebranded itself and, most recently, MySpace, which was sold by News Corp. at a heavy loss for only $35 million.
History of MySpace
In July 2005, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation acquired MySpace at a staggering price of $580 million.

Top 100 Popular Blogs in the Philippines (June 2011)

Top 100 Most Popular Blogs in the Philippines (June 2011) During the first six months of 2011, we assessed the performance of more than 200 blogs using four (4) measures related to Website Traffic and User Engagement. The result: a list of the Top 100 Popular Blogs in the Philippines.

As we’ve explained before, high traffic alone does not make a site popular. A truly popular site has HIGH-QUALITY TRAFFIC, which is a combination of high number of visitors and high level of interaction between the user and the site. A detailed explanation of these metrics can be found in our post 100 Most Popular Blogs in the Philippines in 2010.

IPO of Zynga, maker of FarmVille, to produce new billionaires

The dot-coms are back. In recent months, several websites have underwent initial public offering (IPO) raising billions of dollars for their owners and investors.

In May 2011, professional networking site LinkedIn went public and its price surged 109% over the IPO price on the first trading day. The company is currently valued at $9 billion.

The most-awaited tech-related IPO is no doubt Facebook. The social networking site, which boasts of more than 600 million users as of January 2011, is estimated to have a value of $50 billion.

But before the Facebook IPO craze starts, a Facebook games maker has already decided to be ahead of the game. Zynga, maker of popular Facebook games such as Farmville, Cityville and Zynga Poker, filed paperwork today paving the way for their upcoming IPO.

James Ryan Jonas

Pinoy Money Talk