The Relationship Between Inflation and Unemployment in the Economy--Animal Spirits Revisited

In their book, Animal Spirits: How Human Psychology Drives the Economy and Why it Matters for Global Capitalism, George Akerlof and Robert Shiller show the relationship between inflation and unemployment.  As we move into this second decade of the new millennium, unemployment in the USA is still at 10%.  Inflation is relatively low (no social security increase for cost of living for 2010).  According to the book, zero inflation leads to an increase in unemployment.  When the economy works toward full employment, a nominal amount of inflation--with effective limits and safeguards set by the government--can be expected.

Global Positioning System--Finding Our Way, Finding Each Other

Global Positioning System (GPS)--consists of a network of satellites linked together to pinpoint locations on the planet.  GPS Navigation Devices--produced by Magellan, Garmin, TomTom, Nextar, and others with applications for the iPhone--allow almost everyone to take advantage of the GPS to navigate from place to place using maps.  Multiple users can even find each other using two GPS navigation units.  Many of these (like the iPhone) are hand-held devices and, while they may be used in vehicles, they can also be used by pedestrians.

The Astrolabe  and the Mariner's astrolabe allowed ancient astronomers and navigators to determine positioning using triangulation.  The GPS of today brings this process to pinpoint accuracy.