Google reported quarterly sales in double digits for the first time in the year. Google is in a turbulent confrontation with China, but the online advertising business of the company is in full flow driving Google far ahead of its rivals.

Google Chief Executive Eric Schmidt said in a conference that they were back in business full blast”. This is after the company reported a fivefold jump in the net income as compared to the earlier year and that its sales grew by 17% the fastest pace in the year. He said that the fourth quarter was an extraordinary end to what was a roller coaster year. He was also optimistic about the future growth prospective.

Amazon.com shares surged after the annual profits of the online retailer soared 42%. This was against the expectations of Wall Street and showed that even in the shaky economy the consumers were comfortable in spending some money through online shopping.

Amazon said that there was no decline in the number of customers despite recession. Recent reports show that Amazon will continue to make profits in the coming months and the revenue in the current quarter is tipped to grow even more than expectations. Hence the company has announced a surprising $2 billion share buyback. This comes out despite the fact that the company’s stocks are trading near its record high.

Per capita income is often used to measure the wealth of a nation’s population, generally in comparison to others. Per capita income is the amount received by each individual, of the annual income of the country. It is reported in units of currency per year and is calculated by dividing the total personal income by the midyear population.

The USA has one of the highest per capita income figures and there are two common ways of presenting per capita income data. The PPP method stands for Purchasing Power Parity and adjusts for the cost of living in each country. The Atlas method is the second method which adjusts the figures for currency values and inflation according to different schemes.

The most common way of calculating using the PPP method is to use the USA as the base for comparing the price of a particular product. This is taken as the base because when done in this way, the figures for USA remain the same for both PPP and Atlas.

United States President Barack Obama served a noticed that he would end tax breaks to American firms that outsource jobs abroad. He mentioned that the step was to restore a sense of fairness and balance to the US tax code by ending the tax breaks for companies that outsource jobs overseas.

The move spells bad news for Indian IT and BPO Sectors but immediate reactions from Indian firms suggest that there is little cause for worry. Around a thousand firms which have outsourced jobs are likely to be affected by the move to scrap a provision in the tax laws that allow them to pay taxes on profits from outsourced jobs. Obama’s fellow democrats had been asking for an abolition of this provision for a long time to stop encouraging American companies to send jobs overseas.

In the recent economic downturn many jobs were lost and with the unemployment rate just below 10% the situation is getting worse. However, there are companies which were loyal to their employees even in these bad times. Shocking, but true! There are 6 companies that never had a layoff as of mid-January.

SAS- this software solutions company has a turnover of as low as 2% and never had layoffs due to economic downturn. The company has avoided layoffs by instituting hiring freezes in all departments except R&D and sales. The company cut back on travel expenses and others by conducting meetings via video conferencing.

The United States of America is experiencing jobs crisis and nearly 16 million Americans are out of work. The number of people applying for unemployment benefits has risen and many others have to take care of themselves with part time jobs. The national crisis demands a clear plan which would create job opportunities for at least 4.6 million people in one year.

The Economic Policy Institute details some of the structural economic problems that include income inequality, the disparity between productivity and pay and unstable financial sector growth. The job crisis needs immediate cure and there is the need for a comprehensive plan to create jobs.