Uchenna's Economic blog

Taxes - How Does The Government Spend Money?

2007-06-11T03:34:00.000-07:00

Medicare, military expenses, transportation, education. These are just a few things that the gov. spends money on. They spend money on the war in Iraq, jails and parks. New york mostly spends it's money on education economic growth and medicaid for old people. The government spends most of our money on "the war on terrorism".

Savings and debt.

2007-06-11T03:09:00.000-07:00

The problem with Americans is that we don't know that we are being suckered into getting credit card and racking up debts. They don't think about the interest rate or how high it is. They either don't know or don't care that the interest rates are getting higher and higher making it almost impossible to pay back all at once. So people have to scrounge and save to cover maybe half their debt. Maybe the problem is that the price of products are continually going up but the average income is staying the same.
But saving money isn't a problem in just the USA it's a problem across the world. The saving rates France, Britain, Italy, Germany, and Japan have all gone down.

How does the gov. get money?

2007-06-11T02:50:00.000-07:00

Program", Social security checks, and other government We as a people are charged a lot by both the state and the government(taxes). It is usually put to good use because it can help out the country or you individually. It pays for "The Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children - better known as the WICassisting programs. There is a federal tax which includes income, excise,estate, gift and payroll taxes.There is a tax on inheritances taken by the state(inheritance tax).There is also a thing called property tax which is a tax on important things you need like a car or a house.

Student loans-beware

2007-06-07T14:02:00.000-07:00

Read the article and some of the blog comments about student loans. Why do you think some of these culinary school students took out such large student loans? What is your feeling on student loans? Do you plan on taking out any student loans? If so - for approximately how much?

I think that these culinary students took out such big loans because they thought that when they got out of college they could pay back the amount that they have taken out. Personally i am not a big fan of taking out a loan. It can mess up your financial standing. I don't plan on taking out any student loans because i got a couple of grants.

how to save money

2007-06-06T06:44:00.000-07:00

The article was about how expensive it is after college. It talks about how you should start saving money because it will all eventually add up to a substantial amount. I think that this a very good piece of advice. to save i can cut down on buying Chinese food. I could stand to use less electricity.

US TRADE DEFICIT: Getting better?

2007-05-14T05:52:00.000-07:00

The article talks about the trade deficit and trading all over the world. A Trade deficit is a negative balance of trade as in (for example) trade. The US trade deficit is slated to go down because there will be less trading and we will have more imports than exports. Less people will be employed probably. It doesn't matter you spend, it will still help the economy to go up because the more people spend the higher the economy will get up. China's economy will now improve now that they have McDonald's and KFC to help bring the economy higher.

Compound interest and the rule of 72

2007-03-19T13:37:00.000-07:00

The rule of 72 is like a math formula. It helps to determine how long an investment takes to double. When I say the rule of 72 is like a math formula, is because investors divide 72 an amount of years to get an estimate of how many years it will take for the initial investment to duplicate itself. Interest which is calculated not only on the initial principal but also the accumulated interest of prior periods.

By using a compound interest calculator, we make money not only out of our initial amount of money, but also on the interest we made the first time. It sounds a little confusing but it is not.
Well I'm going to try to explain it in easier words. Let say I invest 100.00 dollars and the interest rate is 10% in one year I will make 200.00 dollars. The second year my interest rate of 10% will apply on the 200.00 dollars not on my initial amount of money.

Insider Trading Scandal - What Happened?

2007-03-19T05:55:00.000-07:00

"There were 13 people arrested on March 1, 2007 accused of trading as insiders. The scheme involved 4 investment bankers, hedge funds, day traders, lawyers and even some supervisors who found out about the trading and blackmailed traders in order for them to keep quiet about the scheme. " Nine of the people involved have been arrested and 4 pleaded guilty to crimes including bribery and securities fraud. The Tactics Used by the traders was really familiar to investigators: tipping traders about potential up/downgrades of stocks, leaking information about stock prices moving and potential stock mergers. Two men that were arrested had met in Grand Centrals "Oyster Bar" to discuss debts owed to one another and exchange cash made from the profits of insider trading. One of the men would give his partner tips on rating changes and in return his partner would make quick changes to his funds and gain a huge profit. Over a 5 year period one of the accused men was said to have made over $5 million in illicit profits.

Critiquing Galvez and Kathy's podcast.

2007-03-16T05:56:00.000-07:00

I am critiquing Galvez and Kathy's Federal Reserve Podcast. This is the link to the podcast.
They do very well. Their information is right and is thoroughly discussed. The recording is good and understandable. The pictures that they put make sense and clearly express what is being said in their podcast.It is creative but slightly boring. I didnt really learn anything because thety have the same informationm as everyone else.

Types of economic systems.

2007-03-02T15:05:00.000-08:00

Traditional economies
Existed in earlier ages. Basic economic decisions were based on tradition and custom not market activity. It is mainly based on farming for survival. It is also based on primitive methods and tools.

Centrally Planned (Command) Economy
The economy is planned and controlled by a central administration. Basically the government is in charge. It can mostly be found in most communist countries. An example is the former China. Businesses are not allowed to do as they feel.

Market Economy
A Market Economy is an economy that operates by voluntary exchange in a free market. It is not planned or controlled by a central authority. Most of the production, distribution and exchange is controlled by individuals and privately owned companies instead of the government. A Market Economy is the opposite of a Central Economy.

Mixed Economy:

A Mixed Economy allows public and private enterprises to operate at the same time. It contains all types of economic systems. It combines elements of capitalism and socialism.

The Difference Between Socialism and Communism:

The difference between Communism and Socialism is that Socialism is an economic system and Communism is a political system. Socialism allows the people to have a say in how the economy works. Communism only gives a few people a say in the economy works. Socialism is liberal and Communism is conservative.In communism you would have to share everything that you have.

Why the stock market crashed?

2007-03-02T14:35:00.000-08:00

China's stock market went down 9 percent which made the rest of the world sell their stocks. This flood selling of stocks caused the stock market togo down 416 points in one day. The Dow has lost about $6 Billion in market value which will send their industrial average into the negatives for the rest of the year. During the Great Depression affected more than the United States. During the Great Depression the stock market crashed and a tremendous amount of people lost most if not all of their money. it took years to get out of the debt.

opportunity costs

2007-03-02T05:55:00.000-08:00

Opportunity costs is the cost we pay when we give up something to get something else. There can be many alternatives that we give up to get something else, but the opportunity cost of a decision is the most desirable alternative we give up to get what we want.

Stock Market Game 1- initial investment strategy

2007-02-12T06:05:00.000-08:00

I plan on buying stock in Apple because there are a lot of new developments coming out this year.I plan on investing in ea games because they are coming out with new games. I want to buy stock in Both DC and Marvel because a lot of people are into comics and both companies are doing big things in the publishing world. I would like to buy stock on Costo and Bj's wholesale stores.i would also like to invest in at least 2 pharmaceutical companies. I would invest in a clothing company. Id also like to buy a small portion of stock in liquor.