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.

Home / Markets / Industries / Media

Tuesday, July 22, 2008

Corus announces key senior management changes

Email this Story | Respond to Editor | Print

Comtex

TORONTO, Jul 22, 2008 (Canada NewsWire via COMTEX) ----Corus Entertainment Inc. (TSX: CJR.B; NYSE: CJR) announced today a number of changes to senior management positions:

Effective September 2, 2008, John Cassaday will assume, in addition to his current role as President and CEO, operating responsibility for Corus Radio on an interim basis. This reporting structure change follows the July 16 announcement that John Hayes will step down as President, Corus Radio effective August 31, 2008. Going forward, Mario Cecchini, Chris Pandoff, Doug Rutherford and Bryan Ellis, who will become Vice Presidents for Quebec, Ontario, the West and Planning respectively, will report directly to John Cassaday. Doug Rutherford will retain direct responsibility for the Edmonton Radio cluster. All cluster General Managers across Canada will report directly to the appropriate Regional Vice President.

Effective August 5, 2008, Scott Dyer will assume the role of Chief Technology Officer for the Company, reporting to John Cassaday. Dyer will lead all of the Company's divisional and corporate technological undertakings. In this role, he will have operational and strategic responsibility for hardware, software, personnel and technical resources for Corus' core and new media/new platform businesses. He will also oversee the technological aspects of the Company's move to its new corporate headquarters and broadcast facility next year.

Effective August 5, 2008, Doug Murphy will assume the role of President, Nelvana, EVP and General Manager, Corus Kids, reporting to Paul Robertson, President, Corus Television. In this role, Murphy will oversee all of the Company's kids business globally, including YTV, Treehouse, Discovery Kids, Nelvana, KidsCo, qubo and Kids Can Press.

About Corus Entertainment Inc.

Corus Entertainment Inc. is a Canadian-based media and entertainment company. Corus is a market leader in specialty television and radio with additional assets in pay television, advertising and digital audio services, television broadcasting, children's book publishing and children's animation. The company's multimedia entertainment brands include YTV, Treehouse, W Network, Movie Central, Nelvana, Kids Can Press and radio stations including CKNW, CKOI and Q107. Corus creates engaging branded entertainment experiences for its audiences across multiple platforms. A publicly traded company, Corus is listed on the Toronto (CJR.B) and New York (CJR) exchanges. Experience Corus on the web at www.corusent.com.

SOURCE: Corus Entertainment Inc.

SOURCE: News - Media

Tracy Ewing, Vice President, Communications, Corus Entertainment Inc.,
   (416) 642-3792

Copyright (C) 2008 CNW Group. All rights reserved. **********************************************************************
   As of Friday, 07-18-2008 23:59, the latest Comtex SmarTrend� Alert, an automated pattern recognition system, indicated a DOWNTREND
   on 02-07-2008 for CJR @ $22.74. For more information on SmarTrend, contact your market data provider or go to www.mysmartrend.com
   SmarTrend is a registered trademark of Comtex News Network, Inc. Copyright � 2004-2008 Comtex News Network, Inc. All rights
   reserved.