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Gross Domestic Product

If you throw all the products we buy and the services we use in one basket, then add up the price tag, that's the Gross Domestic Product, which is the primary metric economists use to assess the economic health of a country or region.

The easy part of calculating GDP is the calculation itself: C+I+G+(X-M)=GDP. Got it? No? Well, add Consumption, Investment by companies, Government purchases, and then take the product of eXports (calling it 'E' would lack sexiness) minus iMports ('I' was taken). Viola! GDP.

Still don't get it? Well, knowing the components helps. Consumption is the biggest component, and it's a tally of the cost of all the goods and services we buy. Investment is what companies spend on the real assets they own, plus the value of the inventory that we haven't gobbled up through consumption. Government purchases are what the Feds pay money for (whether it be highways or fighter jets, though big social programs, like welfare, aren't counted). And then we calculate the difference between the goods and services we¿re sending to other countries and the stuff we're bringing in.

Good. That explains it, except there's a catch. Inflation has a habit of distorting the numbers, so economists talk about either Nominal GDP or Real GDP. In fact, Real GDP isn't necessarily "real" for most folks, since it takes any inflation out. Nominal GDP includes the effects of inflation. (There's something called the implicit price deflator which is a calculation using the two, but we'll spare you the details.)

So, now that we know GDP, why do we want to? Well, it's good to compare different markets. And watching the trend shows whether a given economy is growing (good), stagnating (not so good), or shrinking (very not so good). When GDP goes down two quarters in a row, we're officially in a recession.

For the record, GDP is released at the end of each month, with most reporting ¿preliminary¿ data for the previous month. But you won't get final GDP numbers for the fourth quarter of a year until the very end of the first quarter of the next year. After all, it's not an easy number to calculate.

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University Professor and Tennessee Company Indicted For Arms Export Control Act Violations

 
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KNOXVILLE, Tenn., May 20, 2008 /PRNewswire-USNewswire via COMTEX/ ----A federal grand jury in the Eastern District of Tennessee returned an 18-count indictment today charging J. Reece Roth, a Professor Emeritus at The University of Tennessee, and Atmospheric Glow Technologies Inc. (AGT), a Knoxville-based technology company, with conspiring to defraud the U.S. Air Force and disclose restricted U.S. military data about Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs), or "drones," to foreign nationals without first obtaining the required U.S. government license or approval.

The indictment was announced today by James R. Dedrick, U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Tennessee, and Patrick Rowan, Acting Assistant Attorney General for National Security. Roth, age 70, currently resides in Knoxville, Tennessee. He is anticipated to make his initial court appearance next week before a U.S. Magistrate Judge.

Roth is charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force and violate the Arms Export Control Act; 15 counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act, and one count of wire fraud for defrauding the University of Tennessee. AGT is charged in the indictment with one count of conspiracy to defraud the U.S. Air Force and violate the Arms Export Control Act and 10 counts of violating the Arms Export Control Act.

According to the indictment, between January 2004 and May 2006, Roth and AGT engaged in a conspiracy to transmit export-controlled technical data related to a restricted U.S. Air Force contract to develop plasma actuators for a munitions-type UAV, or "drone," to one of more foreign nationals, including a citizen from the People's Republic of China. The Chinese national was a graduate research assistant at the University of Tennessee. The University of Tennessee was victimized by the conspirators and cooperated throughout with the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) led federal investigation.

Further, according to the indictment, Roth departed for the People's Republic of China in May 2006 and carried multiple documents, which were subject to export controls, containing technical data controlled by the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations and related to the above U.S. Air Force contract.

The indictment also alleges that, in May 2006, Roth directed the wire transmission to an individual in China of a document containing restricted technical data controlled by the International Trafficking in Arms Regulations and related to the above contract.

Violations of the Arms Export Control Act carry a maximum possible penalty of ten years imprisonment and a $1,000,000 fine. Wire fraud carries a maximum possible penalty of 20 years imprisonment and a $250,000 fine, while conspiracy carries a maximum penalty of five years imprisonment and a 250,000 fine.

United States Attorney Russ Dedrick said, "The protection of United States technology is a continuing priority of the Department of Justice and this District."

"Whenever restricted U.S. military data is illegally disclosed to foreign nationals, America's security is put at risk. Today's indictment demonstrates just how seriously we view such violations," said Assistant Attorney General Rowan

These investigations were jointly conducted by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement, U.S. Air Force Office of Special Investigations, and the Department of Commerce Office of Export Enforcement. The case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Jeffrey Theodore and Will Mackie of the United States Attorney's Office for the Eastern District of Tennessee.

For additional information, please contact United States Attorney James R. Dedrick, 865-545-4167, Assistant U.S. Attorney Jeffrey E. Theodore, 865-545-4167, Assistant U.S. Attorney A. William Mackie, 865-545-4167, or Public Information Officer Sharry Dedman-Beard, 865-545-4167.

SOURCE U.S. Department of Justice

http://www.USDOJ.gov 
Copyright (C) 2008 PR Newswire. All rights
   reserved
 
 

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