What's going on guys, welcome to a new video. So in this one, I'm going to give you my top five picks for November 2021. So as we get closer to Black Friday and of course closer to Christmas, then time is running out to capitalize on the most profitable time of the year. So to save you guys time, I'm going to give you five proven products and all the information you need to start selling them today. So this is going to include all the data and evidence of how I verify a product. I'm going to be showing you the Google Trends information so you can see just how popular they are. I'm going to be showing you the costs and suppliers and recommended selling prices so you can see how much profit you're making.  And of course I'm going to be showing you the Facebook ads interests that I recommend targeting. Make sure you stay tuned to the end of the video because I am saving the very best product until the last one. This product I'm going to show you has 14,000 shares and nearly 50,000 likes, which is obviously pretty crazy. So with that being said, thanks for tuning in. Hope you guys enjoyed the video. If you do, please make sure you drop a like so I know what sort of content you guys enjoy and then I can produce more things that you guys want to see. And of course, if you do want to see regular content, please consider subscribing. I do upload videos every week and I am at the moment documenting a store I started in October for Q4. And with that being said, let's jump straight into product number one. So product number one is this back pain relief cushion. These sorts of products are super popular right now. Ever since COVID, more and more people are working from home, more and more people are experiencing back pain and looking for products like this. To prove this, let's take a look at this Facebook ad here from a company called Cushion Lab. This very same product is available on AliExpress today. We can see this has nearly 40,000 likes, 15,000 shares and over 8,000 comments. If we take a look at the comments too, they're super positive and it's hardcore evidence that people want to buy a product like this. So for example, there's a comment from somebody called Jerry here who says I got this cushion yesterday and it's simply the best. Then the next comment is from Linda who says I sit for four plus hours, three times a week for dialysis and purchased this cushion after trying a blanket, a pillow and having issues. I love this. There's so many different applications to this pillow that it almost applies to everybody. We also have a comment from Susan. So I got one for my husband and he loves it. Then I broke my hip and had to have a hip replacement. I borrowed my husband's cushion and it was amazingly comfortable for my recovery. And finally, we also have a comment from Sandra who says I bought two of these, one for work and one for home. I can't say enough good things about these. People are absolutely loving this product and there's no two arguments. This is a proven great product that people want to buy. If we check the Google Trends info, we can see the spike in sort of March time 2020 when COVID first kind of got announced and people were forced to work from home. So all of these people who were searching for these things are now working for home. So the demand is going to be higher than ever. As for the numbers, the cost of this product is 14 pounds, 99 delivered. Looking at a few different competitors, the average price is about 44.99 which leaves a profit margin, a healthy profit margin of 30 pounds. If we put these numbers into our breakeven ROAS calculator, so 14.99 selling for 44.99, it gives us a breakeven ROAS of 1.5. As long as the ROAS in your Facebook ad account is higher than this, you know you're making a profit. As for the interests I recommend targeting, I would recommend neutral spine, spine health, home office, old age, home business, office chair and poor posture. Moving on to products number two is this three-in-one wireless charger. This is a variation of a proven seven-figure product. Wireless chargers and charging ducts spike in popularity as we come to the end of the year, specifically towards Christmas because they make such great gifts. Everybody has that person on their Christmas present list that they don't really know what to get and this is what I like to call those kind of generic gift ideas. They fit the price, they apply to pretty much anyone and they're also a decent product so people will be happy to receive them. Another reason why they're making great products is if we take a look at this Facebook ad from a company called Just in Case, a very, very simple Facebook ad that anybody could film. But if we take a look at the engagements, we can see 24,000 likes, 5,500 comments and over 2,000 shares. And if we take a look at the comments, people are asking positive questions about making purchase decisions. So do you ship to Canada? What's the delivery time to the UK? How long does it take for shipping in time for Christmas? We have people like Amy who are saying they definitely want it for Christmas and we've got people tagging their friends saying it's a great Christmas gift idea for themselves. If we take a look at the product listing on AliExpress, so this would be my recommended supplier. I've actually used these guys to sell, charge and docks in the past before, not this exact model, but have used these exact supplier. They're a great supplier and this is backed up by their great reviews as well. We can also see they have stock in the US. If you wanted to do US to US, you can offer faster shipping options. So as we just saw, the cost of the product is 18 pounds 20. The Facebook ad we just saw are selling it for $54.99, but my recommendation would be to go slightly cheaper than this and then around sort of 40 pounds because the cheaper you can kind of afford to sell this for, the more people are gonna buy it as a gift. This leaves a very healthy profit margin of 21 pounds and 79. If we put this into our break-even ROAS calculator, so 18.20 and 39.99 gives us a break-even ROAS of 1.84. To sell these products, my recommended interests would be technology, iOS users, you can filter by what sort of device somebody is using, smartphones, high tech, gadget, mobile device, of course, iPhone and engage shoppers. Product number three is quite an interesting product. It's a crystal sun catcher. Now I was quite skeptical. I must admit when I first saw this product, but when I found the Facebook ad that was advertising it, that put any kind of hesitations or worries to bed. Once this loads up, if we take a look at the engagement and the positive comments from the people, it's just absolutely crazy. So as we can see, search a simple Facebook ad. All they've done is simply film the product, doing what it's supposed to. It's just hanging there with the actual crystals, catching in light, reflecting on the wall, seven seconds long. Anybody can put an ad together like this one. Let's take a look at the engagement. So 15,000 likes, 6,000 comments and over 3,000 shares is safe to say that people are loving this product. And this is backed up by the comments. So Heidi says she's absolutely in love with this. Mary's saying how beautiful it is and that she wants one herself. Amy here has actually commented to say she's bought one. So it just shows people are buying this product. And Nikki here has also said she's ordered one as well as Jane just below, whose pot I've just ordered one of these. Can't wait for it to come. As for the numbers, the cost for this product is 14 pounds then delivered. My recommended selling price would be 39.99. I actually found a number of Shopify stores selling it for nearly double this. Even at 40 pounds though, this leaves a healthy profit margin of 25 pounds and 89 pence. If we put these numbers into our break even rice calculator. So 1410 and 39.99 gives us a break even rice of 1.54. My recommended Facebook ad interests to target with this product will be people who are typically no strangers to shopping online. Because it is the sort of products that kind of fits the bills and impulse buy, then typically people who are interested in online shopping or engaged shoppers or shopping channels like QVC or home shopping or as seen on TV. In my opinion, these are gonna be the people most likely to buy a product like this. Product number four maybe a product you've seen before but just bear with me. I want to show you this Facebook ad I found for this exact products that has 21,000 likes, 8,000 comments over eight and a half thousand comments and over 8,000 shares. The reason why I wanted to feature this product again is because of the Facebook ad. So let's take a look at it now. So what's really interesting about this Facebook ad is that first initial clip of that guy saying it works. He isn't even wearing one of these jackets. Everything else after that is either one or two second clips of user generated content which are really easy to get hold of or they're simply clips of taken from suppliers off of Aliexpress. But as we can see, the results don't lie. 8,000 shares over 8,000 comments and 21,000 likes. This is a product that is extremely trending and probably one of the easiest products to sell right now. Let's take a look at this Google Trend information for the United Kingdom 2004 to present. And we can see in the months of November, 2021, this product is hitting its peak popularity. If you want a product to sell for Q4, this is the one. Another reason for why this is such a great product is because of the numbers. So the cost of this is 14 pounds and six pence delivered. We can see that these guys, even though they've got so much engagement, they're selling it for $90. I've picked a price a bit more modest than this though at 74.99 which leaves a crazy good profit margin of over 60 pounds per sale. If we put this into our break-even RORES calculator, so 74.99 gives us a break-even RORES of 1.23. This is a super low break-even RORES for such an expensive product. What I also love about this product is there's so many different marketing applications for this. So my recommended Facebook interests, just a name two or three would be dog walking, hiking, camping, walking, and pretty much anybody who works outside or likes to spend time outside. And so moving on to last product, last but not least, we have this custom photo necklace. This one has incredible engagement. So while the ad plays in the background, I'm just gonna mention how many engagements this actually has.  But what we can see is such a heartfelt, emotional and just a great product that pretty much applies to anyone because it just hasn't got to be to do with pets. Just hasn't got to be dogs. It doesn't just have to be cats, but it can actually be loved ones that you've lost in your family as well. And if we actually scroll down and take a look at the comments, people are absolutely loving this product. So Leah said, my daughter bought me this for Christmas. So we can see straight away, people are thinking of this as a Christmas gift idea and she finishes her comment by saying she absolutely loves it. Brittany says, I purchased one for my mom and her dad with my grandma's pics in it, grandpa's pics in it, sorry. And I got one for myself with my baby ballerina. So she's got two and says that she actually loves it beyond words. This also would make a great product for TikTok. This would go down with a storm and you could make so much money. Laura commented, I got mine after I lost my cable. I'm assuming this is a pet. He was such a good boy. I came on my key chain, so he's always with me. So as you can see, people aren't just buying this for their dogs or their cats, but also grandparents and lost ones as well. As for the price of this product, it's a super cheap product. It's only gonna cost you in and around four pounds delivered. My recommended selling price would be 24.99, which leaves a healthy profit margin of 21 pounds and 11 pence. If we put this into our break-even rice calculator, so it's 388, whoops, and we also have 24.99, this leaves a break-even rice of 1.18, which is super low. As for my recommended Facebook ad interests, I would start with dog walking, dog behavior, dog grooming and dog toy and focus on those dog owners. And as Wear Felicity has done so well, is get an ad with dogs in it and people actually wearing and featuring the product. And this hands down, it would be the best way of selling this product. And so with that being said, guys, I'm gonna wrap the video up there. They are all five products. If you want to learn and build on top of this and learn how to build a Shopify store to sell these products and go even one step further and have a proven Facebook ad strategy to sell these products, I highly recommend you check out my Ecom Academy Clubhouse. It's a course I created, but it isn't your typical course. It's not gonna cost you anywhere near the ridiculous price tags you see other courses for. It will cost you less than a meal for two. It contains over 170 step-by-step original lessons. All of the content and tools like that breakeven virus calculator you saw are available inside. So if you wanna check that out, check out the links in my video description below. Apart from that, thanks again for watching. Don't forget to drop a like if you enjoyed it. Any questions, any comments, whatever it is, I do read every single one, so just drop them down below and I'll see you in the next video.


Salam and welcome, you're watching the Daily Roundup. People's dispatch is selection of some of the top stories from around the world. First, let's take a look at today's headlines. UN figures on worldwide refugees and displaced people crossed 100 million in 2022. Additional sentences for the Jirboa prison break escapees in Israel. The Palestinian government urges the ICC to investigate Shireen Abu Akle's killing and Chile increases minimum wage by over 14%. First up, the number of people fleeing human rights violations, violence, conflict and persecution has surpassed 100 million in the first half of 2022, the United Nations said on Monday, May 23. According to these UN figures, the number of displaced people around the world had already crossed 90 million by the end of 2021. The sharp rise in the number is a result of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has displaced more than 8 million Ukrainians so far. Six million of those have been forced to take refuge in other countries. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Filippo Grandi, speaking about the figures said, I quote, 100 million is a stark figure, sobering and alarming in equal measure. It's a record that should never have been set, end quote. He added and I quote again, This must serve as a wake-up call to resolve and prevent destructive conflicts, end persecution and address the underlying causes that force innocent people to flee their homes, end quote. The 100 million figure represents 1% of the global population and is equivalent to the 14th most populous country in the world. Other related figures regarding refugees, asylum seekers and displaced persons were also highlighted. The rise in the numbers has also been attributed to the new and intensified fighting in conflicts in countries such as Ethiopia, Burkina Faso, Myanmar, Nigeria, Afghanistan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. According to the numbers, the highest number of refugees continue to come from Syria, followed by Venezuela and Afghanistan. Turkey continues to host the highest number of refugees at 3.7 million, followed by Colombia at close to 1.75 million and Uganda at close to 1.5 million. Another alarming statistic revealed by the UN was that displacement of over 23 million people, mainly in the Asia-Pacific region, was due to natural disasters and weather-related events such as floods, storms, cyclones, which once again put the spotlight on climate change. In our second story, the six Palestinian prisoners who escaped from the high-security Jilboa prison in Israel on the 6th of September last year have been given an additional five years in prison. The five-year sentences will be added to their existing prison terms. Additionally, they were also given eight-month suspended sentences along with fines of 5,000 Israeli shekels, which is about US$1,500 each. The six prisoners who carried out the daring escape are Mahmood Arda, 46, Muhammad Arda, 40, Yakub Qadri, 39, Ayyam Kamamji, 35, Munadil Nufayyat, 26, and Zakaria Zubedi, 49. Four other prisoners being held in the Jilboa prison were charged with aiding the prisoners' escape and given an additional four-year prison term added to their current sentences. They were also charged 2,000 shekels, which is about US$600 each. The Israeli judge who handed down these harsh punishments said that the prison break paralysed Israel for days, threatened public security, and cost a huge amount of money for their recapture. Jilboa was considered to be one of Israel's most high-security and tightly guarded prisons. It caused massive widespread celebration and joy among Palestinians who hailed the escapees as heroes. The six prisoners were recaptured within a span of about a week or two, following which they were brutally beaten and tortured by Israeli prison authorities. They were also placed in solitary confinement and denied medical treatment. The prison break also resulted in other brutal and inhumane measures by Israeli authorities across prisons in the country, with Palestinians being separated based on political affiliation, abruptly moved from one prison to another and denied several basic necessary prison facilities, leading to widespread protests. We move on to our third story now. The Palestinian Foreign Ministry said on Monday that it sent a letter to the International Criminal Court regarding the Israeli human rights violations and war crimes being committed against Palestinians. The letter particularly highlights the recent killing of well-known Palestinian journalist Shireen Abu Akle, which it described, I quote, as a crime of execution." The letter is accompanied with a file including documentation of the killing as well as other crimes and violations. The Palestinian Foreign Minister, Riyad Al-Maliki, called on the ICC to add Shireen's killing to the list of crimes committed by Israel in order to facilitate an official investigation. Abu Akle was killed early this month by Israeli sniper fire while she was covering an Israeli military raid in the city of Janine in the occupied West Bank. Her killing was met with global anger and outrage, with widespread condemnation and calls for investigation and accountability for the killers. Israel recently stated that it would not open a criminal investigation into the killing, however. Palestinians, including her family, have called for an independent international investigation without the participation of the Israeli state. Last month, journalists groups around the world had filed a formal complaint with the ICC regarding Israel's deliberate and systematic targeting of journalists in the occupied Palestinian territories. The complaint was filed on behalf of four Palestinian journalists, Abu Ahmed Hossein, Yasir Murtaja, Muath Amarnay, and Nadeel Ishtaye, who have all been killed or wounded by Israeli forces. And finally, Chile's government on Friday passed into law a 14.3% increase in the minimum wage in the country. The increase is said to be the largest nominal increase in minimum wage in the past close to 30 years. Chile's current president, Gabriel Boric, following the enactment of the law said, and I quote, Our government is deeply committed to promoting decent work, which guarantees that the workers of our country can have a fair income." He further added that the increase will benefit some 850,000 people in the country who are caught in an economy experiencing rising inflation. The annual inflation rate in Chile is above 10%. The highest it's been for again close to 30 years. Additionally, the rate of interest on consumer loans for Chileans has reached over 26% in the middle of May, sorry, the highest it's been since 2015, the Chilean central bank said on Monday. The rise in minimum wage will take place in two stages following its notification in the official gazette. The first raise will be from 350,000 pesos which is about 410 US dollars to 380,000 pesos which is closer to 450 US dollars on the 1st of May and then another raise to 400,000 pesos which takes it up to over 470 US dollars on the 1st of August. This represents a total raise of about 60 US dollars. A third raise will take place in January of next year taking the minimum wage to 410,000 pesos. President Boric has earlier stated that by the end of his term in the year 2026, the minimum wage will be raised to around 585 US dollars. The law passed on Monday also includes clauses for a compensatory monthly contribution to face the increase in the cost of basic food basket. Where it's specified that the CBP contribution will be adjusted month by month based on the annualized inflation of the basic food basket. It further provides for a subsidy of 26 US dollars in May and 30 US dollars in August for around 180,000 small businesses to increase their workers basic incomes. That was bad. That's all we have on this episode of the daily, what is it? Roundup. Again sorry. And that's all we have on this episode of the daily roundup. For more on these stories head to our website peoplesdispatch.org and give us a follow on the social media platform of your choice. Thank you for watching. Goodbye.


Hi everybody, it's Sam at Mixed Up Craft. Thank you for watching my tutorial today. I'm gonna be showing you how to make this panel fold card, concertina panel card. It's just something that I just scored and folded and decorated with lovely papers. And I think it's come together really nicely and it stands up like so. So when you look at it, you see all the papers like that. Looks really nice. You can decorate this how you want. You can put photos on here if you wanted to. It's just, yeah, really fun. You can pop some there as well, but it does show these papers I think really, really lovely. If you wanted to, you could also do something on the back there, but I've kept that just plain. Love the sentiment and everything I've used. So yeah, let me show you, it's very, very quick. The papers I'm using are the Paper Boutique Ocean Breeze. I've got the paper kit and also the decorative papers. Mine are all mixed up now, so I just kind of keep them all together. But in the kit, you get these here. So the papers are the same if you just wanna have them on their own. But that's what I'm using. As always, everything will be linked below. So very, very straightforward. I've cut most of my mats, but I've not done kind of finish one side because I needed to kind of see how it looks actually together before I cut the rest. So I've got all that ready. So you need a piece of 12 by seven. So it will end up being a five by seven card. So it will fit perfectly into your five by seven envelopes. So you wanna score at three and a half, then flip the card over and score at one and a half and seven, okay? And then flip the card back again. Now you wanna fold your seven inch score line like so. So you created a mountain. Then that score line that's next will go this way and then your last one that way.  So you should have that look there. So you wanna have a mountain, valley, mountain, or depending on how you've done it, you might have a valley, mountain, valley. But that's what you need to have is that look. Now it's all down to you to decorate. So I've done some, like I said, some of the mats. I want that one on the backs. I think that's gonna be a nice one to see because you see this paper really nicely and then inside you've got the room to obviously write your message. And I love that bit there with the bird. So I'm gonna have that one there. I've already got my topper. So this one's gonna be, it's a day to celebrate you. So then I've got that to go over there and then the happy birthday. This is just cut from one of the sheets in the pad. You get a couple of pages just full of sentiments. So again, it's just really quick and easy. That is gonna go just inside there. So you've got room to write your message. So this one here measures, this is just a normal mat for a five by seven card. So it is four and three quarters by six and three quarters. Then I've got this one I think I was gonna have in there. But now I'm wondering whether to have it. So you need two of every size apart from that first one actually unless you do wanna do the back. But then I've got that one which I was gonna put there. See how that looks against that. I've got this one that's gonna go there. So you see what I mean?  If you're doing them all the same then it won't matter. But because I've got this paper pad and you've got so many lovely papers I just wanna make sure. So I'm not sure whether that goes. I think I'm gonna have this one inside. So this one measures three and a quarter. But again, you'll need two of them. One for the front, one for the back. But I'm gonna pop my one in there. These ones here, this is one and a quarter. So you'll need two. So I've got the floral and then I've got the anchors that's gonna go inside there. Like so. So I'm just gonna get them stuck down for a minute and then I'll give you the measurements for this last one here. Okay, so I've stuck all of them down. I've also gone ahead and stuck this one down. And this measures the yellow piece is three by four and then the mat is two and three quarters by three and three quarters. Yeah. So I've stuck all that down. Then I have, I already gave the measurements for that one. So I'm gonna have that one, which is the same there. And then I have cut a piece of the blue which was in the center of this one here. Cause this is like a, I guess a border page. So this one, I think will look really nice inside here against the stripe. And then, no, that wasn't in there. Sorry, it's the blue that's in there because I want you to see that. That was it against the floral, like that. Which still looks nice against that. It's a bit plainer, but it still works. And then on this side, because I've got that one there, I'm then gonna have the floral next to it there because I don't know if I like that floral against that floral. I think it's all a bit too, too much on the front. Let's have a quick look. Yeah, I think it's a bit much. I like the blue against it. So I'm gonna stick them down. These ones measure one and three quarters by stick them all down. And then lastly, it's just to stick your topper on. So mine's gonna go there. So I'm gonna add some glue. Just that. Okay, so that's that all done. Also, when I stick this down, I made sure that it's hidden behind that. I've got a bit of a thing. I just don't like seeing when you've wrote something in the card. I don't like you seeing it when it's like being taken out of the envelope, if that makes sense. So if you could just see like to somebody there, that's my own personal kind of thing. I just don't like to see any kind of writing. It's all right once it's open and they've seen it. So obviously if it stood like that and you can see and that's completely, you know, not a problem, that's how it's meant to be. But initially when they take out the envelope, I don't like it to just be all about the card and the decoration. So there you have two very quick. I pretty much cut most of that during that tutorial as well. So it is very, very fast. You can certainly make this within 15 minutes. The top is a really handy as well for speed. So check out the paper boutique. They have so many amazing paper pads. Like it's such a big collection. And I know I've got lots of you hooked on it already. So yeah, I'll share all the links below. If I have missed out any sizes, I don't think I did. But if I have, just check my blog because everything will be listed there as normal. So thank you for watching. Hope you've enjoyed today. Please give me a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel so you get to see more. Thanks for watching. Bye.


Good morning to members of the media. Thank you so much for attending in such large numbers this morning. I am Nicole McDonnell, the Senior Communications Officer for the Government. This press conference this morning is related to a joint report between the Caribbean Development Bank and the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank on Saint Lucia's economy. Today, we have with us the Honourable Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Honourable Dr. Yubaldis Raymond, the Director of Economics for the Caribbean Development Bank, Dr. Justin Rahm. Thank you guys for being with us this morning. We will start by taking statements from both gentlemen. We will start with Dr. Raymond, followed by Dr. Rahm, who will be delivering a presentation this morning. I now introduce you to the Minister in the Ministry of Finance, Dr. Yubaldis Raymond to make an opening statement. Good day and welcome to the members of the media. I wish to also officially welcome Dr. Justin Rahm, Director of Economics with the Caribbean Development Bank. The purpose of this press conference today is to inform the media and the public of the latest developments regarding the Government's thrust towards a comprehensive economic agenda for Saint Lucia. Part of that agenda to stimulate economic growth and development involved the commissioning of a report from the CDB in collaboration with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank. These two agencies were also assisted by the staff of the Research and Policy Unit within the Ministry of Finance, the In and Revenue Department, and the Customs Department. The Government of Saint Lucia received the Caribbean Development Bank report titled Fiscal and Structural Reforms in Saint Lucia Towards a Comprehensive Agenda. And a presentation was made to the Ministry of Finance yesterday. Before we get to what is contained in the reports, I want to put into perspective the rationale behind this document as it pertains to the overall economic vision this new administration has for Saint Lucia. In order to rule out our overall economic vision, we needed to ensure that we had provided the best solutions to put us on the path to success. The objective was to ensure or secure a diagnosis of the state of the economy. We needed to understand where we are and what we were dealing with before all our various tax proposals could be fully implemented. In the interim, we executed a large percentage of five to stay alive, namely the reduction in the increase of the vehicle license fees and the increase in the school transportation and school feeding programs. The amnesty on personal property tax will commence in January 2017 and the reduction in value added tax will be announced in October of this year. I must stress that five to stay alive, although expected to be effective, is part of our comprehensive restructuring of the tax system, which is the purpose of this broad detailed consultation. The economic plan for Saint Lucia proposed by this government hinges on three major policy directions. One, reducing cost of living. Two, spurring economic growth and three, curtailing on the high level of debt. The government's aim is to ensure that we do not place undue burden on public finances and that we address our current debt situation. The CDB report is a guide on the path to achieving those goals. So what does the report tell us? I will leave this or leave it to Dr. Ram to put into perspective. However, a glaring observation in the report is that notwithstanding the recent improvements in the fiscal performance, without certain adjustments, public finances remain on an unsustainable path. The report states in the last decade, the last decade average growth in the economy of Saint Lucia was 0.9%. Over the last five years, the performance of Saint Lucia's economy has been generally weak, with real outputs averaging negative 0.4%. Provisional estimates for 2015 show growth of 1.2%, and preliminary forecasts for 2016 indicate growth of approximately 1.1%. The CDB also utilised various scenarios in order to weigh the effects of tax adjustments on the economy. In the conclusion of the report, the CDB also notes that initial assessment of the fiscal situation shows that there is tremendous scope for improvement. With respect to the debt situation, the report warns that risks abound and with the high concentration of short-term debt. As a government, we are still in the process of reviewing this report and I know the media is eager to know the findings as well. However, this report is not the end of our consultation. Our information gathering continues as we await a further report on the economy and tax reforms from Ernst and Young. I want to assure Saint Lucia that the government is committed to its promises on the economy and in realising the reduction in the cost of living for all our citizens. The consultation is necessary and forms the foundation for our comprehensive growth strategy. Thank you. I now turn you over to Dr. Ram. Who will give you or give a synopsis of the report and make further statements on the fiscal and structural reforms proposed for Saint Lucia? Good morning and thank you very much Minister Rehman. Good morning, moderator Ms. McLeod. Good morning, members of the media. Good morning to Saint Lucia who may be looking at us at this point in time. I want to say first of all that it is with great pride and pleasure that the Caribbean Development Bank is in Saint Lucia at this point in time and providing assistance to the government of Saint Lucia as they seek to chart a path towards fiscal sustainability and also sustainable growth rates into the future. The Caribbean Development Bank along with the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank was tasked with this project to look at what the fiscal accounts are currently like now in Saint Lucia as well as to also come up with some possible ways forward to the government of Saint Lucia as they chart the sustainable path for the Saint Lucia economy. So currently I have a presentation here on our document and it's called fiscal and structural reforms in Saint Lucia Towards a Comprehensive Agenda. As Minister Rehman mentioned in his opening remarks we gave this presentation to the Ministry of Finance yesterday and it is therefore a great pleasure that I now give a presentation to the public. So let me just first of all give you a bit of background as to what and why we have undertaken this particular project for the government of Saint Lucia. I should emphasize here that Saint Lucia like many of the other Caribbean countries and I should say that the Caribbean Development Bank has 19 borne member countries within the Caribbean so that like those other 19 borne member countries or 18 borne member countries, Saint Lucia also exhibits some of the same problems that we see across the region and that is the economy is characterized by low growth reflecting a high concentration in exports as well as very high and growing indebtedness. Now as I said earlier the government of Saint Lucia has articulated a desire to reverse these trends and therefore the CDB was requested to assess the current situation and make recommendations going forward. These charts that I put up here on the screen shows what has been happening within the Caribbean region with respect to gross domestic product real growth rates. The dotted line there shows the Caribbean Development Banks borne member countries and from what you can see there against other comparator regions, Caribbean countries have not been performing very well and so it is very important for us to make this point that Saint Lucia being part of this grouping is also a reflection of deeper structural issues that we find in most Caribbean economies at this point in time. The chart on the right shows the debt-to-GDP ratio of some of our borne member countries at the end of 2015 and as you can see here the Caribbean has some of the most highly indebted nations in the world. At this point in time at the end of 2015 the debt-to-GDP ratio in Saint Lucia as we had estimated was around 75% of gross domestic product. So what's the current state of play? Our analysis has shown that notwithstanding a pickup recently in growth, public finances are on an unsustainable path here in Saint Lucia. There's also a high average cost of borrowing with respect to government debt and we have found this to be about 6% compared to the slow growth of less than 1% in the past 10 years. We have also found that when we look further at the fiscal accounts that there are inadequate primary balances and so without the sufficient primary balances it's very difficult for any government to bring the debt-to-GDP ratio down to a manageable level. Now we should emphasize here that generally we say that if your debt-to-GDP ratio is in excess of 60% of gross domestic product we do believe that that is trending towards an unsustainable debt trajectory. So overall the result in Saint Lucia over the last few years has been a considerable buildup in the debt stock. So that if we project these numbers going forward and this is to say if there's a business as usual scenario if there are no mitigating measures put in place then we see the debt-to-GDP ratio in Saint Lucia by 2030 rising well above 110% of gross domestic product and we think that once the debt-to-GDP ratio attains such levels it becomes even much more difficult for any government to bring the fiscal accounts into some level of equilibrium. So what is required here? We think certainly that the government of Saint Lucia needs to look at fiscal consolidation and this will involve looking at revenue reforms that improve efficiency and collections, public financial management reforms that improve planning and budget management as well as structural reforms to improve competitiveness and increase growth. And there should also be a focus on transformative infrastructure projects along with strategic liability management aimed at containing the costs of debt. Like I mentioned before the effective interest rate currently on Saint Lucia debt is around 6% which is quite high for any government to maintain and so we really need to look at some mechanism that can bring that cost of debt down over the short to medium term. So what are some of the revenue reforms that we have tried to articulate to the government of Saint Lucia? The first of this is omnibus incentives legislation to make the process transparent and uniform. So you really want to take discretion out of policymaking so that any investor coming to Saint Lucia know that they are playing on a level playing field. Reduce the list of vat exempt and zero-rated goods. Complete the restructuring of the Inland Revenue Department and that schedule to be completed by June 2017 and we want to commend the government of Saint Lucia for pushing ahead with this initiative. We also think that it's important to conduct a geomapping exercise to support property tax reform followed by a revaluation exercise. What are some of the reforms that we consider necessary with respect to public financial management? We think that it's important for improved planning process to include a 15 to 20 year vision as a platform for a three to five year medium term development plan and annual budgets. So it's really important for the people and the government of Saint Lucia at this point in time to set out quite clearly what is a vision for the economy as well as for the society. Where do you want to see Saint Lucia in 15 to 20 years time? Once you have that overall vision in mind then it becomes quite easy for you to develop medium term development plans that are about three to five years to help you attain that vision over the long term. So we think at this point in time this is critical that the people and government of Saint Lucia put in place a vision for Saint Lucia. There should also be the implementation of a fiscal responsibility framework that is to say have primary balance or a debt anchor. It's important that, and we have been advocating this across the Caribbean, that governments should ensure that the fiscal accounts are always within some type of equilibrium, that particular thresholds are not overextended or are not passed. It's particularly important for the government to consider this in their current planning exercise. And thirdly, to strengthen the management frameworks for state-owned enterprises. Across the region and in Saint Lucia we have found that the incidence of transfers and subsidies to be too high and there really needs to be some examination of how state-owned enterprises are managed and that in effect must also consider the possible utilization of private resources in the management of these particular enterprises. So structural reforms that we have indicated that could be necessary include the improvement in the doing business environment, including through a review of the institutional and operational arrangements at the port. So that's the port here in Castries. You want to ensure that it is very efficient and at least cost as possible to exporters as well as to importers to get goods and services out of Saint Lucia. As well as for anyone who has to import items into Saint Lucia that there are no delays at the port. So the efficiency of the port is particularly important when we consider the overall competitiveness of an economy. Once we want to encourage the government of Saint Lucia to look at reforms at the port. The passage of insolvency legislation is another area that we think is important and improve property registration by implementing an electronic platform for this so that we remove some of the bureaucratic impediments to setting up businesses. You really want to encourage an entrepreneurial type environment in Saint Lucia as we go forward. So what's the policy scenario of this active policy reforms with adjustment? Where would this take the trajectory of debt over the medium to long term? We have looked at a number of policies that I have mentioned before. What that could mean for the overall debt-to-GDP ratio as well as for the growth rate of the Saint Lucia economy. And we have found that if the government of Saint Lucia was to implement some of these adjustment policies that instead of having us on the trajectory, as I showed the business as usual trajectory, the red line indicated here on the chart, we find that along with improving growth, along with improving the unemployment rates within Saint Lucia, we can also set the fiscal accounts on a sustainable path and get us to 60% debt-to-GDP ratio by 2030, which is the overall stated objective within the Eastern Caribbean currency union. So the Council of Ministers have indicated that this is where they would like all debt-to-GDP ratios within the ECCC region to be by 2030. And we think that government of Saint Lucia can implement sufficient reforms that will put the economy on a sustainable path with respect to growth, but also get the debt-to-GDP ratio down to a manageable level in that timeframe. So what are the next steps that we have identified coming out of this report? It's very important at this point in time that the government of Saint Lucia lead the formulation of a comprehensive homegrown adjustment program with support from, I should say, the Caribbean Development Bank and perhaps the wider donor community as deemed feasible. And this means as, and I would like to re-emphasize and reiterate what Minister Raymond said earlier, that this is really part of a collaboration and really part of a wider consultation, which along with the visioning exercise that I mentioned earlier, should now look at what is the comprehensive reforms that are required to get us onto that sustainable path. This will ensure that there will be economic and fiscal sustainability and it could possibly unlock much needed concessional resources which could be used for inter-alier budget support here in Saint Lucia. Remember earlier I said that currently the interest on debt within Saint Lucia, the effective interest rate is about 6%. We think that with these necessary reforms, Saint Lucia could have access to many more concessional financing that could allow us to bring that effective interest rate down thereby reducing the burden of debt on the government of Saint Lucia and the people of Saint Lucia. Now CDB, we are already providing some support to the government in the area of strategic planning, helping the government think through this particular exercise. We have done this in a number of our borne member countries with considerable success and we look forward to doing the same here in Saint Lucia. Before I finish, I just want to reiterate the Caribbean Development Bank's support for the people and government of Saint Lucia at this point in time. We are here to help. We see a lot of potential here in Saint Lucia and we think that if the right reforms are put in place that the future for Saint Lucia looks very bright. It really is one of the islands that we look on very favorably and we want to ensure that Saint Lucia is on a sustainable path with respect to its economic growth, social sustainability as well as on its fiscal accounts. So I want to thank you very much and I guess now the moderator. Thank you. Thank you Dr. Ham. Thank you very much for that review, basic review of the report. Thank you Dr. Raymond for your opening statement. Now that you've gotten an idea of what the report contains I invite questions from the media. Okay we'll start with Miguel from HTS. Just introduce yourself. Miguel, favorite HTS news was I actually have three questions. Am I alone? That's okay Miguel. Okay. The first one though you said that this has been trending this has been trending for probably about a decade right? So if the government our government or the governments in the region supposedly surround themselves with competent economists why has there been such a sustainable trend as you put it for over a decade? Is it that the government the policy makers themselves, the politicians repeated ignore technical advice and make decisions based on political expediency? Is this a common case around the region? Number two, one of your recommendations I think was it correct me if I'm wrong a decrease in the number of zero rated items. Would this compliment would this be complimented by a reduction in the value added tax or is a reduction in the value added tax recommended? Because basically I'll take from you saying a decrease in the number of zero rated items means an increase in revenue for us from that. So would you recommend a reduction in that? Well just before you get to your third question actually let him answer because they will send out long questions. So we have seen over the last decade or so perhaps even before this there has been a real problem with overall competitiveness within many of our foreign member countries as I mentioned earlier that's because there's a real concentration with respect to exports and most of our countries we find that the main exporter is tourism. And this of course is a sector that is very much susceptible to vagaries in the international global economy. So that it becomes very difficult to weather any global economic storm when you are so concentrated in one sector. So it's not necessarily a reflection of perhaps bad government policies but really the structure of our economies at this point in time. So what we are advocating for here is that the government of St. Lucia along with some of our other foreign member countries think about a comprehensive list of reforms that will ensure that these economies can be fully diversified so that when and it's not a matter of if but when the economic storms come our economies are in a much better place to weather those storms. Now having the ability to weather those storms means that your fiscal accounts will also be on a much more sustainable path because rather than being dependent on one or two sectors primarily for revenues the fiscal accounts are now much more diversified with respect to revenue collection and ensures that when the economic storms come that fiscal accounts do not also go into negative territory but it also means as well that governments must think considerably about where they are spending taxpayers' money. It should be spent efficiently and if it is to help individuals it should be spent on those individuals who need it the most. So it really has to be targeted as well. So what we're advocating here is that really it's time for the people and government of Sindhu should come up with a vision. Where do you want to see your country in 15 or 20 years time? What's that vision that you want and I'm sure for most people you want to see high levels of employment so you want to see most people in well-paid well-played employment earning their way and that is also good for the government as well because once people are working they are paying their taxes as well. It means that the government then has the resources to provide the necessary public services that I'm sure within that vision you as the people of Sindhu would want as well. That means good healthcare, good education well-maintained infrastructure including roads. You know having a good link between the north of the island to the south of the island. If we have more people working then it also has greater resources through increased revenues to pay for some of these. But I also want to emphasize as well that now is a time for us to consider not only in Sindhu but also in the region about how we can encourage the private sector to get more involved in the economy. Yes and that involves public-private partnerships which we normally term as the triple P's. How can we encourage the private sector to invest in our economy? So it's all about looking at that business environment to ensure that we have an environment that is attractive to investors both domestic investors as well as foreign investors as well. The increase in the number of zero-rated items would this be complementary to a reduction in battle? Would you not recommend a reduction in the rate of 50% as it is right now? What we have identified is that there are a number of items that are now exempt from value-added tax and we are saying that perhaps those list of exemptions should be reduced. With respect to a reduction in the value-added tax that is a matter for the government of Sindhu to decide and I'm sure that that will happen through further consultation with the people of Sindhu. For years we've been hearing that our public sector wage bill represents a huge chunk of our expenditure or the expenditure. What would you recommend in that respect? Do we see a situation like Bombay that's where we have a number of public servants laid off or how do we realistically address this situation? Well yes the public sector wage bill as it currently stands does consume quite a lot of government expenditure and the government might need to look at ways in which to make the public service a lot more efficient. It is not necessarily a case of reducing the wage bill but ensuring that you can get more productivity out of the public sector so that whatever you're putting it in terms of your wages and salaries you ensure that that is matched by increases in productivity as well. I want to emphasize here that the public sector is a very important aspect of the economy. The public sector really in what we see as how it should work properly provides the enabling environment for the private sector. So the public sector is working well, is efficient, productive, you're going to see a transformation in your economy as well. So really at this point in time there has to be a dialogue as to how you improve productivity in the public sector how you make it a lot more efficient and that is a much broader discussion so that people can understand that if the public sector is productive and efficient your overall economy will be more efficient and productive as well and provide that enabling environment for the private sector. So that's how I think we want to frame this discussion. Can we have another question? General Novel Choice TV correct me if I'm wrong but I'm noticing the number of the series recommendations both in the opposite direction of what the government had promised the people of St. Lucia such as they said that we should reduce the number of fact exempt product and the government is looking to move that eventually all together as well as the subsidies they mentioned that they are too high and the government recently increased the number of subsidies on transport and the school feeding program. So I'm just wondering if these recommendations would affect the government's decisions or promises going forward. Well these are just recommendations made by the CDB and of course this is part of the whole consultation. When we come to when the point when the time comes for us to decide exactly what we're going to do we're going to look at all the information that is provided to the government through the consultation. Let me just ask Dr. Raymond or Dr. Ram can you speak about the contribution that value added tax now makes to the economy and maybe if you had a chance to review our collections agencies and how things are going there can you speak a little bit about that? Well there is great potential for a revenue increase in St. Lucia and with my consultation with within the Ministry of Finance particularly that of the customs department and the inner revenue department there's lots of money out there but we just have to be more efficient in the collection and even the type of tax that we intend we decide to implement or to go with we have to ensure that it is an efficient tax system or efficient tax. The VAT is supposed to be one when VAT was being sold to the public we said it was a broad based tax it was an efficient tax but the question is the current model is it really efficient with all the exemptions with zero rated items? Is it really? So this is what the government will be looking into if we intend, if we decide we will for sure be reducing the VAT but we will look at the efficiency of it and try to improve the efficiency in terms of collections. We have another question Yes two questions well more like three questions so far as the board members taking a close look a scrutinizing look at the Ministry of Economic Development and the plans they have laid out so far are they feasible? What are your general opinions of the plans if you have taken a look at them and is it something that the board members would be doing as looking at each ministry based on the revenue intake there anticipating throughout their five years in government also your opinion as well what should be the main focus what should concentrate on know that they are new in the government would it be, I know you mentioned tourism we should probably try and diversify but if there is one part of the economy that they should focus on primarily thanks Well the question is for you but I can answer also I'll answer the second one The government is looking at a comprehensive reform because we believe every sector every pillar is important for economic growth and development so it's a broad based comprehensive approach in our development we are very very concerned about the debt level in this country because when you have high debt you need money to pay of your debt so what the government tends to do is to increase taxes and when we increase taxes it has some kind of negative impact or implication in terms of investment because when you increase your taxes it means that you increase your borrowing it increase the risk involved in investment in the country so it shies away for an investment and this is something we really did in this country so we are keen in ensuring that we have a more less I would say complete well let's put it this way we are trying to keep the borrowing on a sustainable path not an unsustainable path and that's why we have engaged in discussions with well I have engaged the ministry of finance more specifically the debt management unit in trying to see how we can re-profile our debt stock what do I mean by that currently almost half of our debt stock is actually short term debt 1.5 billion dollars and the seriousness of this is that we have almost like $337 million in a roll over every year we are paying $180 million a year in interest rates alone so we are looking at the serious debt problem we have in St. Lucia and we are trying to see how best we can reverse that trend of course employment is a very serious problem we have and that's the reason why you have our prime minister is busy trying to see how best he can bring in investors in this country because we are relying a lot on foreign direct investment which has been almost zero close to zero in the last four and a half years so we are trying to see how best we can boost the economy for foreign direct investment we also see consumption as a key factor in promoting economic growth if there is too much taxation or high taxes in the country it will lead to low consumption or lower consumption and that's the reason why we have undertaken the fight to stay alive and this is one part of the many reforms that we have undertaken to see how we can reduce the cost of living in this country because we believe that if you reduce the cost of living there is the potential of increasing consumption and by extension economic activity and by extension economic growth in the country so it's not just one area we are focusing on it's a broad area and of course of the economic sector but there are also some social things so we are also focusing on the social sector the judicial reform so there are lots of stuff we are doing and my government is busy at that Doctor Ram will take the second question from the start just to also support what Minister Raymond says that yes there needs to be fiscal consolidation to ensure that the debt profile of Sinusha is on a sustainable trajectory but we also want to emphasize like I mentioned before that the focus of the government should also be on growth enhancing reforms I always make the point here that there was a quote by a famous economist that says that once you think about the welfare possibilities associated with growth then there is it's the only thing that you would be thinking about for a very long time with high levels of growth it means that as Minister Raymond says you can bring down that very high level of unemployment so that you have this excess capacity in the economy that now starts to move and starts to provide productive activity provides greater levels of consumption in turn provides the government with even more revenues to undertake much more of the type of expenditure that the people of Sinusha really deem important so we really want to emphasize that the reforms that will allow the business community to thrive are very very important so that the private sector really needs to become the engine of growth here so what the government puts in place how it restructures perhaps port operations the type of legislation that it implements to ensure that there is a level playing feel for investors will become very very important in helping attain a sustainable level of growth now what is a sustainable level of growth certainly we think that the government needs to be shooting for growth rates that are certainly in excess of where they are now if you want to make a meaningful dent in the high level of unemployment and to also improve overall levels of poverty within Sinusha so that I think really needs to be the focus focus on reforms that will improve the level of growth over the medium term and that in turn would also help with the fiscal consolidation that we think is very important for the government of Sinusha to focus on at this point in time I think we have another question from Miguel Yes Dr. Raymond I think in 2012 had the 34th meeting of the council for trade and economic development they asked a request was made by Sinusha for a suspension of the CET on pharmaceuticals I think that has been reduced as I think it is that has expired in April a 10% reduction I am aware that as of yesterday it has returned to what it originally obtained prior to this what's next first are we going to be requesting for the reduction of the CET Well who was the one I wasn't to show who was the one who made the request for the reduction can you enlighten me on that one Well it was Sinusha we made that request in 2012 in the finance where the representatives of the co-FC that would be most probably Dr. Anthony absolutely are you aware that it has expired I am not aware of it but in that case though we have had a lot of talk I think when your party was in opposition there was a lot of pressure put for the removal of the value and the value of the medication Obviously you wanted cheaper for the people be looking at maybe asking for again for this for this reduction of the CET as it relates to pharmaceuticals? Well this will be a discussion we must we will have in cabinet for sure and we are quite aware of the high cost of health care in this country so of course we may most likely give consideration to keeping it. Okay do we have any more questions from the media? Okay I would like to just let everybody know that this report we are planning to make it available so you can go through it yourself and any additional questions or concerns you might have we wanted to be open for this discussion we want to create a debate in the country on what is happening and make sure that solutions are involved in the process so I will ask since we have no more questions Dr. Raymond to make a final statement followed by Dr. Rahm. Yes media thank you for coming again the government is very serious about growing this country I mean growing the economy and we believe that we should not be doing it alone we should be able we should be become in consultation with the the public in moving forward to where we have to go so we want to be very open very transparent in achieving the various objectives economic social and economic objectives that we have for for the country and that's the reason why we we we want to be very open very transparent we wanted to be a more a work within collaboration with the public we don't want to be operating from from from our offices we want to come to the public to inform the public as to what we are doing and how we are doing it it's it's it's something that although the public the government or the public rather for the people of St. Lucia elected this government to run the affairs of this country but we believe that the public is also important in in building the country with us and this is just part of just once that this is a spot or the beginning of the process of of engaging the public in in in in moving forward with the development goals of St. Lucia I want to thank the CDB for the work they have done so far I must say to you that the the report is in a draft form and I was informed by the by dr. Ram that the the report will be available maybe in about a week or two in its completed form so public be there with us we will be providing you with the the copy of the reports in about two weeks time we are trying to increase the level of this the level of this course in this country as far as developing the economy is concerned I personally believe that the the level of discussion is very low the quality of discussion is very low so it is the intent of the government to to provide the information and and when the information is provided I'm hoping that we'll have some some heightened quality of of discussion by the public as far as the development of this country is concerned so this is just the beginning thank you dr. okay well I want to say thank you very much to minister Raymond and the government of St. Lucia for the opportunity given to the Caribbean Development Bank as well as the Eastern Caribbean Central Bank in working on this particular initiative with you we think that it it it all goes well when a born member country comes to us and and asks for assistance and I just want to reiterate that we stand willing and and ready to assist further we will be assisting of course with the development of a vision and and and a medium term development planning strategy for the government but we also are here to provide any type of assistance that the government wants we should say as well that you know St. Lucia is part of the Caribbean community and looking at many of these issues really requires a regional perspective as well and I think that the current government of St. Lucia we are very much delighted to see that regional perspective being being being echoed in my presentation I said that there is a problem of low growth and high debt across the region and really we can tackle this best through well thought out domestic policies but also well thought out regional policies as well and so I'm very very pleased that the government of St. Lucia came to the Caribbean Development Bank to ask for assistance thereby we can impart to you the knowledge that we have gained from around the region and internationally as well to help you build a sustainable economy so just to say thank you very much we do see great opportunities for St. Lucia and we really want to ensure that those opportunities are materialized yes over the medium to long term I really want to say that in a few years time I want to be shouting praises about St. Lucia and I think that that's certainly is possible if the right reforms are put in place and and and and we can see this economy on a sustainable part over the long term so thank you very much for the opportunity thank you thank you appreciate it thank you Dr. Ram thank you Dr. Raymond let me just go over we've been talking today to the director of economics for the Caribbean Development Bank Dr. Justin Ram and Minister in the Ministry of Finance Dr. Ubalas Raymond I want to thank the members of the media for attending today and for your great questions as indicated the report will be made available in two weeks a few weeks and it will be available on the government information services website so we will keep you posted on that thank you everybody


Hi everybody, Joe for Jaspy's casewrakes.com coming out to a 2022 tops inception baseball 16 boxes Random team break number two 24-spot break as we comboed all those teams right here. You can see the combos there Diamondbacks guardians Rockies Royals Tigers Astros A's Padres Pirates Rangers Mariners Blue Jays Etc. Etc. And you got a chance at a wax party spot at the end of this break check out the details of our latest promo This is our second wax party promo Should be pretty interesting big. Thanks all these people people right here for getting into the action Appreciate it again. There's all the teams and combos. Let's go Let's roll it randomized names and teams six and a six twelve times twelve of the hard way the only way one two three four five six seven eight nine ten eleven and twelfth and final time Kevin down to Josh after 12 six and a six twelve times for the teams one two three six seven eight nine ten eleven and Twelfth and final time after 12. We've got the Bronx bombers on top of the Yankees down to the Redbirds Here's how it shakes out for everybody Good luck. All right, Kevin. You got the Yankees Jason with the Tigers Astros combo Josh with the Reds Robert with the Phillies and the Pirates Rangers combo Kenneth with the Mariners Blue Jays combo Barry with the Rates nice Logan with the Giants Derek with the White Sox Kenneth with the A's Padres combo Robert with the Red Sox Brett with the Cubs Paul with the oh the O's the Orioles Jimmy with the twins Jose with the Nats Pete. You got the Brew Crew Robert with the Marlin Steve you got my Dodgers Rick with the Braves Peter with the Mets Chris with the Rockies Royals combo David with the Halos Jesse with the Dimebacks Guardians combo and Josh with the St. Louis Cardinals Let's sort this alphabetically by team and let me know if there's a if there's any traits And here's the case right here. We're doing all 16 boxes and we got another random team case Available and up on the site right now if you want to check that out jaskies case breaks.com. We're gonna pause the video When we come back, we're gonna see if there's any trades then the break stick around BRB Alright, welcome back everybody. No deals were done. No trade chatter So let's just go let's see what we can get for everybody. Thanks everybody for getting in Fill this straight up. No filler. We got another random team break up and this is also a wax party break So we'll be giving away a wax party spot at the end. I need this as a reminder Otherwise, I just forget I still might forget if I do that wax party randomizer will be in a separate video Right, so there's four stacks of four to make 16 Good luck everybody a couple cards on the bottom than the hit three cards. No the card. There's the hit Third from the top. All right, there's Matt Manning seven out of 50 for Detroit It'll be for Jason and the auto behind Mookie Betts is Randy Arzaranian nice 13 out of 125 Tampa Bay rays that'll be for a berry nice start Next box Redemption on the bottom any guesses on the redemption For bragging rights How about this? I'll give everyone one guess one guess only Multiple guesses won't count And if you if you guess the redemption First person gets the redemption Ten dollars break credit. All right Reese is Dalbeck Bobby Bobby Bobby Dalbeck, I think I'll give you until I show this last hit All right, there's out of 99 Brandon Marsh for the halos that's gonna be for David So there are people alive in the chat. Okay. Let's just check in and it's a nice patch auto Nick magical Cubs addition this time 71 out of 99 Nice one for the Cubs. That'll be for Brett got randomized the Cubs Blizzard is buried. Hi, Barry. All right Let's close the guess window Hippies the last guess All right, so behind Brandon Crawford Congratulations, you are due to receive a silver signings. That's a one-per-case situation of We should see maybe the city first unless he this player has a long name Short name short city B are a Brandon Marsh angels I don't think anyone guessed Dalbeck Duran Newt bar wander devours Trout Judge Acunia. No, not a not a single guess but David You got randomized the angel that Brandon Marsh silver signings going your way and yes We were guessing for the redemption re all right next box, of course all card ship behind Boba Shet is Jake McCarthy 33 out of 75 for the snakes that will be Jesse and the dime backs Guardians combo Really like the design of this card these cards The geometric patterns in the background look really sharp The autograph on card auto Trevor Rodgers 253 out of 299 for the Marlins Not a really solid rookie year last year Miami Marlins pitching staff. I think take a look at it pretty underrated. I want to say Robert Flores with the fish a thick card here. Yeah, look at that. What is that? T H I C C C C C All right that Adela's Garcia 61 out of 150 will be for the Rangers. That's gonna go to Robert and we have a inception autograph jumbo hat patch card Cal Raleigh Five out of five the MLB logo of his Mariners hat That's strong. Not sure if this is gonna fit in a 180 top loader I have to go into a slider box Mariners That's Kenneth with the Mariners blue jays combo nice and out of fives and under get the world famous train whistle All aboard the big-head express Pretty sweet next box We've got another pick your team we can do on the site ladies and gentlemen that just needs a handful of random number blocks Bots to be sold out Then another pick your team, which I think it's getting close to single digits and we've got another random team break up So take advantage of all that inception on the site. All right. There's Mike Moustakis 275 and behind Ohtani Is a patch auto Jake Berger five out of 50 three color patch and autograph Derek with the white socks. All right, there's Yadir Molina. I think this is Yadis last year Along with his new teammate Albert Pouls is back. It'll be his last year as well So two Cardinals legends Colin there's Warner Franco green parallel for the Rays that'll be for David and Behind that these junior is an orange auto Alfonso Rivas 14 out of 25 for the cubbies Brett with the Chicago Cubs. We are halfway through the 16 box case Another eight boxes. All right, we got it out of 99 show. Hey, Ohtani and behind Tyler glass now Is a nice patch autograph Seth beer? mmm beer seven out of 99 Nice color in that patch there. It's a rookie patch order for Jesse and the Diamondbacks You know we had a beer and a burger. Oh That sounds that's that's my that's what I might have for dinner tonight. Maybe not the beer So it's still still working You think if Jake burger makes it, you know and does well in Chicago that he'll have like a Jake burger burger at the ballpark you would have to write you can't pass up on that promotion 59 out of 150 Giancarlo Stanton for the Yankees. It's gonna go to Kevin and behind Videl Bruhan is Is a patch auto Jared Kalanek 137 out of 199 for the Ems Kenneth with Seattle You went to high school with a girl whose name was hamburger. Did she end up? I mean if you have that name you're destined right to run like a hamburger shop out of college buddy Who's last name is is burger as well? He's a lawyer thoughts on the blue jays. I like the blue jays re I think they're I think they're a great team But that's a tough. That's a tough division with burger again That's a tough division But they've got some some young players that if like Boba shed Vlaigaro Do you know keep evolving as players which you would think they would I mean that could be a really exciting team 80 out of 99 Zach Thompson Miami Marlins It's gonna go to Robert next box. I Think now that this season Were they playing home games in Toronto last season They were right, okay Towards the end of the year, right? Okay, so I think have them having Playing a full season in Toronto at home. That's got a that's got to feel pretty comforting to them That's got to make a difference Yeah, so So if they were already playing pretty well Kind of bouncing around different cities, right? but Now if they're settled at home Could that could be that could be a difference maker as well All right, you're done Alvarez 120 out of 150 for the Stroh's it's gonna go to the Tigers Astros combo That's for Jason final four boxes last quarter of the case This is random team to all card ship and This 24-spot break is probably your best odds to try to win a wax party spot Check out those details on jasky's case rates.com the grand prize is pretty awesome. Check that out All right behind Joey Vado is Luis Gil 108 out of 299 Yankees Kevin I think I read an article somewhere that Joey Vado is using a different bat His his bat knob is like the thick hockey puck style. I Think it's Joey Vado. So like the bat. It's kind of wild sort of So you have your like standard bat, right? But now that bat knob of his Is almost like that now So it's like so it's kind of like a thick sort of hockey puck on the on the bottom of his bat It's supposed to help him barrel up the ball better. I think all right Corbin burns is gonna reveal a Curtis Terry autograph 24 s75 for the Rangers It's the Pirates Rangers combo for Robert. All right next auto is Luke Williams 227 to 299 who's the full smooth? Robert with the fight and fills All right last box Good luck everybody. All right Gavin sheets to 25 for the white socks. That'll be for Derek And the final autograph behind Kyle Lewis is gonna be Lars a new bar 50 out of 125 rookie autograph for the st. Louis Cardinals To be the name of a candy bar if he makes it a new bar St. Louis that'll be Josh Smith. There you go. Josh nice Lars new bar there and there you go ladies and gentlemen That was our random team break now. Let's see who's gonna win that wax party spot Check out the details of that promo on jaskies case breaks calm pretty great stuff We're giving away. All right. Let's copy everybody's names new dice new list and fingers crossed Let's randomize that list three and a six nine times name on top after nine one two three four five six seven eight and nine and final time There's nine right there Yep, three and a six nine times So a lot of sad faces here, especially the number two spot robert Thanks for trying though. The good news is we've got a lot of these wax party breaks We have to do before it unlocks. So keep trying ladies gentlemen keep trying name on top happy times for paul I don't think I called your number all break paul. Yeah, you had the orioles nothing But you've got a chance at something in that wax party promo So check out the details on the website jaskiescasebreaks.com check out the grand prize I'm joe for jaskies. We'll see you next time for the next break. Bye. Bye


I'd like to start by thanking UNECE, the co-organizers of this event, as well as our generous sponsors, Eriksen, and the European Association of Automative Suppliers, CLEPA. So 10 years ago, as I said, I had the pleasure to deliver the opening remarks for the very first edition of this event. I think that 2012 is the wrong year, as quoted by my colleague Reinhardt, and 2002 is not the correct neither. I think it's 2005, not 2002. If you talk about 10 years, we really have to calculate it, so the IT is not very strong in mathematics. Also, we are very strong in study. But anyway, it's true that I delivered the opening remarks for the very first edition of this event. I found memories of that symposium, and I'd like to take this opportunity to thank the organizers of the Geneva Motor Show for the continuous support they have offered us over the last 10 years. So ladies and gentlemen, this year, ITU is celebrating its 150th anniversary. This is a tribute to the extraordinary innovation of the global ICT community over the past a century and a half, and the crucial role that ITU has played in being an impartial and a neutral platform for bringing all stakeholders together. Our 150th anniversary will be a celebration of past achievements, as well as an opportunity to look forward to see how we can best position ourselves to serve the future development of the ICT ecosystem. The ICT ecosystem is always good in scale and complexity, compounded by the accelerating convergence of technologies and industry sectors. Intelligent transport systems, ITS, provide an excellent case study of convergence, and in particular the challenges related to coordinating this convergence. The ICT and automotive sectors are both enormous industries that have to a large degree developed independently. The technologies employed by the two sectors are converging, but mechanisms to coordinate the various elements of this convergence have not developed at the same pace. So that is the purpose of this symposium to open lines of communication, offering a platform for discussion on how the ICT and automotive sectors can better coordinate their contributions to the era of connected route transportation. Efficient collaboration will be essential in realizing the potential of ITS to improve route safety, reduce emissions, and increase the mobility of elderly and persons with disabilities. Today, however, ITS technology is raising a height of supporting standardization activity and regulatory reform, and it remains a significant challenge to engage the immediate relevant players in an impartial standardization effort. ITS is a unique public-private partnership that has been successful in providing an open, neutral platform to build consensus on the policy and the technical considerations, crucial to the development of the ICT ecosystem. ITU standards already provide specification for radio communication between cars and infrastructure, and the standards to reduce driver destruction are under development. But I have to be fair that I got some statistics that ICT may also increase the dangers of risk because people now try to communicate by mobile more from why they are driving. I heard a recent report from US statistics that this accident caused by this competition if it's not a number, it's number two of the cause of route accidents. So that one we have to also to take serious measures to work on those potential risk areas. Furthermore, our location dedicated spectrum to ITS is the subject to a proposal on the agenda of this year's World Radio Communication Conference, WRC 15, which will be taking place in Geneva during November the 4th month. But of course here, I think that it's not compared with some other transport industries like aviation. I think that our route to transport is not as terrible as aviation because this year we were concentrating on the plane tracing topics because last year several airplanes lost and still weren't playing and not found yet. So that is a big concern of everybody. Luckily, we do not have similar problems in our car transport that if a car has accident we can always find a car. But the airplane disappeared and one day airplane we still did not have any chance to understand where they are. There is no hint. So this is a big concern and we will look at that issue. And hopefully, you know, car transportation will not go to that point. But anyway, still, you know, that spectrum used for car route transportations will be somehow to some degree linked with this spectrum requirement from transportation systems. So these are activities that will take under the auspices of the ICT industry and the challenge today is to determine how the separate requirements of the automotive industry can also be accommodated. ICT automotive convergence addresses a number of complex questions around road safety and data ownership and protection, not to mention the uncertainty surrounding insurance liability in the case of accident involving automatic driving. Again, something similar. So at WRC 15 this year in November we will talk about spectrum requested by unmanned aircraft traffic. As you know, we are also talking about unmanned route transport so that we may not have a driver or we have a driver just to talk to people by mobile phone but leave the machine to drive the car. So anyway, that is some kind of potential development we might have to look at it as well. That is unmanned driving transport on route. So car makers expected to have highly automated driving on the route by 2020 but that would depend on enabling regulations that has yet to emerge such as the nature of the rear water of ICTs which advances with such speak and intensity that the standardization and the regulation often fall a few steps behind. So one advantage here is that we have anticipated this need for collaboration. ITU has a productive relationship with the ANECG World Forum for the harmonization of vehicle regulations and together we have enabled constructive dialogue between our communities. We recognize that there is still much to be done but we are very appreciative of this partnership which I believe put us in a strong position to support the intersection of automobiles and ICTs. So let me therefore conclude my short remark by thanking the participants here for your support of ITU's work in this arena. It is thanks to you that we can all look forward to the future networked car.


Hey everyone welcome to your Monday February 17th And we have some news for you about Nintendo and why we actually might need to worry about the supply of Nintendo switch in North America, and this is a big deal since animal crossing New Horizons launches March 20th and Nintendo might be having some issues getting switches to the United States now There is already a supply constraint as announced by Nintendo in Japan In fact many retailers right now in Japan are completely sold out in Nintendo switches And the reason for this is obviously that virus outbreak in China I can't even say it by name because it demonetizes the video, but there is a virus outbreak in China We all know about it. It's been a global issue in some cases. There was actually a case of it really close to my home so it's obviously spreading and While there has been no cases of death in the United States There's been a ton in the in China and obviously they're waiting to try to get that completely under control as the Amount of people infected and the death toll keeps rising every single day So we're kind of keeping some tabs on the global market here And this is affecting Nintendo and while Nintendo switch units for United States are actually made in Vietnam The supplies for those switches still come from China So here's an article from Bloomberg by one of our favorite reporters Takahashi Matsuzuki This is Nintendo is likely to struggle to supply sufficient switch consoles to its US and European markets as soon as April due to a production bottleneck caused by the virus outbreak According to people with knowledge of the company's supply chain Limited component supply coming out of China is affecting output at a Nintendo assembly partner factory in Vietnam Which the gaming giant primarily uses to provide consoles for the US said the people Asking not to be named because of the details are private a shortage of components this month would affect switch units scheduled for arrival in April after existing inventory and current shipments of the console has sold through The potential slowdown would deal a blow to the coyote base company Which is preparing to release a major new installment in the hit animal crossing game franchise on March 20th They're a life blood of the system a little blah Nintendo did apologize earlier this month when it announced its which hardware And accessory shipments in Japan will be constrained by a virus imposed production shutdown in China These products are now out of stock across many Japanese retailers do also in part to aggressive cashback campaigns by local mobile payment Providers do not see any major impact on the shipment to the US currently But we will remain vigilant and take steps if necessary a Nintendo spokesperson told Bloomberg news It's possible the supply will be affected by the virus if it becomes more widespread and prolonged Switchers arriving in the US in February and March won't pose any issues because they've already been dispatched from Asia Said the people familiar with Nintendo's operations But difficulty may arise with the accumulating enough units for the boats departing later this month or next Which would be arriving in the US in April shipments would not completely stop But will be greatly reduced according to one person US is the company's biggest market accounting for 43% of its core business Europe accounts for 27 Japan 21 Etc. Let me see here. It says that suppliers within China factories Which provide components to a wide variety of electronic products said they expect the virus disrupting to last at least a few more weeks Before they can resume full operation speaking on the condition of on amenity They said their primary concern is resuming production too early and finding a coronavirus Infection among their return workers. They need to outbreak on factory floors This exact fear was also voiced by Apple supplier Foxconn in a recent conversation with investors So basically it's going to be almost a month before factories are back to full operation in China Which is going to lead to a slowdown for a month-long slowdown for Nintendo Other people as well, you know other electronic providers are you're gonna see you slowdown as well So basically if you want to guarantee if you're waiting as an example if you're waiting to buy a switch For animal crossing you might want to go get it now because the supply is going to be more and more constrained by the time We get to the end of March So yeah, if you're someone waiting waiting to buy one of these for animal crossing in the United States or Europe It might be a good idea to get one now unless you want to wait until you know April May You know you want to wait till May or June to potentially get one then, you know Whatever, but if you were planning to go on around the launch of animal crossing It's possible there might not be that many available at launch for animal crossing even though they said supply in March Won't be constrained because of this news coming out You know people might be buying switches at a higher rate than normal in the US and Europe Leading to them running out because that's kind of what happened in Japan here See Japan had enough units, you know presumably to get through February, right? They had plenty of units to get through February But because of the news of the supply constraint coming to Japan People went and bought alt switches over the last two weeks and because of that now stores are sold out when normally They would still have units for the rest of the month They don't anymore because people know that they're going to be supply constrained for a month or two So now, you know, they're looking to the United States We now know there is a supply constraint coming up in April Which could lead to a boost in sales for the rest of this month and obviously the beginning of March Which could lead to to basically having no units available except maybe pre-orders for the Animal Crossing bundle or the Animal Crossing switch at the beginning of Or on March 20th, I guess would be when that system comes out. So I'm very curious You know, we don't talk a lot about global events or politics or anything because this isn't really a political matter But this is a matter that does affect Nintendo and it's the first major one I can recall in my adult life anyways Because as a child I didn't pay as close of attention to the stuff But as an adult, this is the first major event I can remember that affects direct manufacturing of The of a Nintendo platform that's really popular now We have seen, you know, the Wii as an example be really supply constrained But that was just due to supply and demand that wasn't due to any major Event happening that was slowing down production It was Nintendo wasn't prepared for the demand and didn't have enough factories running at the time and it took a while from them to catch up This is different. They have enough factories running for switch demand But they just they can't make the supplies or can't make the parts fast enough to actually build a switch Whether it's the NAND flash module, they're waiting on or DDR4 or whatever it happens to be that they're waiting on They can't get enough of them quickly because the factories themselves are operating, you know 20 30 40 50 percent or whatever and a lot of these factories aren't just making parts for Nintendo They're making parts for other companies as well, you know Fox kind of example makes parts for many companies so Yeah, I'm very I'm very saddened by this news a little bit like I don't want to have to this the end of the world that oh my gosh There's gonna be a shortage on switches for a while. In fact, that's good for Nintendo It's gonna be a boon to their sales both before they run out of stock and then immediately when they're able to restock properly That it will also be a boon for sales as well because these shortages lead to more desire for people to buy Systems right now and then more desire to buy them when they're immediately restocked So who knows I mean this could act not be in a boon for Nintendo and they see low sales in April But a huge boost in May when the when the stock comes in and then they end up selling out because now the demand is so high Because people are worried it's gonna be sold out for even longer And obviously, you know the the projection by Foxconn and other companies that they'll be back to making parts in full in three weeks It's still a projection. It could take longer Last I checked the coronavirus over the last you know week or so hasn't necessarily slowed down So I don't know You know what what's gonna happen because it's clearly gonna you know getting outside of that one area in China So I don't know how it's gonna affect You know this stuff moving forward and here's the thing they could all come back to work And resume full production in three weeks only to have an outbreak at one of the factories Nintendo's parts are being made from and then the whole factory gets shut down and quarantined. So that wouldn't be good either So They're playing it safe right now by only having you know select workers still working the lines That they have you know have tested and everything's fine, but You know these factories employ thousands and thousands of people there's a very high chance that a breakout could happen Um, and that's why they're kind of waiting to play in the wait and see game Like when's it going to stop massively spreading? When are they able to treat it well enough that people aren't dying from it so much? I mean, I know there's a lot more people sick than than have died, but they're still a decently high percentage in china at least Um for us in the u.s You know we have to worry more about influenza and stuff that we do that by risk because our Even the people who have had it most of the people have had it clear their system And are fine because we have really really good health care in the united states No matter how much you want to argue about Um The cost of that health care, uh, we do have good health care So, um, we haven't had anyone, you know, even though we've had a low number of cases We haven't even had the same percentage of people Die because we've had zero percent die in the u.s So, um, you know how well china is equipped to deal with the number of cases I mean china is the most popular or the most populated place on the planet Um, so I can't imagine their health care system could handle nearly the amount of people they're having to handle Um, so I don't know you guys let me know what you think about all this down in the comments below Um, are you more likely if you don't own a switch to go pick one up? Or if you were thinking about picking up a switch for somebody else or switch light or whatever Are you more likely to go get one now while the supply is there or uh, are you going to Uh, be worried a little bit now one company that's probably gonna be happy about this is game stop Um, because supply constraints mean people turn to the used market Which means a lot of used switches are going to be selling in april So, uh, there is that and I won't be surprised that the used market ends up selling out On nintendo's refurbished, you know on their website likely selling out because uh animal crossing is a big deal I don't think you know anyone who doesn't think animal crossing is a big deal I don't think understands how popular that franchise has gotten since new leaf Um going into new leaf. It was kind of sort of uh, uh, you know low end zelda popularity two three four million seller After new leaf everything changed 11 plus million in sales There's no reason to believe that this isn't going to cross 10 million on switch eventually If not, you know within a month or two definitely at some point it'll be a 10 million seller on switch Animal crossing new horizon is going to be massive and it's going to push millions and millions of extra switch sales And it is like the de facto game to get for switch to start this year.  Uh, but it is what it is. Uh, the world has to deal with worldwide You know fallout from things like this and it's really uh, nobody's fault at this point This is just the way the world works people get sick and sometimes it affects things and right now It's going to be affecting us gamers in terms of getting supplies in nintendo switch And here's the thing if it's affecting switch, I also still have to wonder in the back of my mind You know, I know sony and microsoft are kind of playing it off like it's not affecting anything But if it's affecting switch supply right now, how can we Expect it to not affect supply of xbox series x and playstation 5 because they use similar factories in china So I I have to wonder uh about all of that But you know what that's for a future debate if and when uh, we could get some news or uh, microsoft and uh sony announce anything about that but uh, anyways, thank you guys so much for tuning in I entertain your obajax from the nintendo prime Hopefully you enjoyed the city if you did drop a like leave a comment below Head to the channel subscribe hit that bell icon and i'll see you in the next video


So thank you very much Professor Leibmeister first of all for coming to Bremen and thank you very much for giving such an excellent keynote speech My question would be what makes crowd working different from regular work. So it's a very basic question, but it's still relevant I think there are mainly three things that make crowd work different from other work settings. First of all, it's a very low Access to work opportunity. So very often you just have to connect to the web open The browser and you're ready to go and work. You don't need to look for work or anything else The second thing is you can use the web. So anywhere any time And the third thing is you choose you choose what to do when to do and how to do it and That's basically what makes it interesting to many people And what would you say are the most relevant research questions right now? I mean research question that are you not working on but what you think that should be answered Hmm Well, one of the grand challenges around crowd work is Just to get a better understanding on how to build good crowd work systems So how to design work systems? that are economically performing well so that leverage on on success in the market and at the same time allowing for good working conditions and for interesting Activities for the people to work with we don't have that much knowledge about that systematic design principles and how to Basically have an engineering view on those social technical systems. So that's one of the grand challenges that I see And do you think it makes sense to have a conference like the one in Bremen where lawyers Psychologists IT people talk together or do you think that they they actually live in different worlds and they shouldn't talk to each other? Well, they definitely do live in different worlds, but that doesn't mean that they shouldn't be working together I think that the phenomenon of interest that the crowd work By definition cannot be addressed by one discipline. So if we want to be in a in a in a good position To understand what is happening there to help others understand what is happening that we need those interdisciplinary collaborations and On the other hand, it's also a challenge to get to a level of a common and shared understanding of what What you're working on what the others are working on so interdisciplinary sounds always very nice, but actually it's very hard To work interdisciplinary in a very well-performing way So that's one of the reasons why I congratulate the University of Bremen of hosting such an event And I wish you all the luck in the world to get to this level where you actually strive As interdisciplinary teams knowing that that is the actual challenge. Thank you very much