Thursday, May 24, 2007

Taxes-How Does The Government Spend Money?




This is how the government spends its money:

Medicare (17%): The national health insurance programfor people age 65 or older and under 65 with disabilities and peole with permanet kidney failure.
Medicaid (16%): is a program that pays for medical assistance to individuals and families who meet certain eligibility based on income. this is the largest source of medical and health services.
Out of Pocket (13%): payments are made directly by people receiving health care at the time services are used.
Genral Government:Education deparment, Food, nutrition, housing and urban development and other human resources.
Military (51%): is used for veterans benefits, interest in national debt. Military personel housing, construction.


The 3% that is left over is used for special things like jails and other charities.

Wednesday, May 23, 2007

Saving and Debts


The U.S. has the tendency of charging people with the interest because if you make a late payment you have to pay a late fee, and its interest keeps going up. People get in debts easily because they use their credit card too much while the interest is very high and they get even in more debt. Finance charges are dangerous because their interest rates are high and you get a fee if you miss a payment and the interest rates goes even higher. Americans don't save money anymore because the high interest and the debts they are in. The saving rates in America went down in the couple of years because the interest rates were too high and people couldn't pay it off.

Critique of GDP Podcast

The Podcast that I liked was Gisela's and Lissette's (http://mmoloneyiths.com/econ/podcasts/gdp/lissett-gisela.mov). This podcast was very informative and it went straight to the point. It explained the GDP thorougly. The recording was clear and I was able to understand everything they said. The pictures were good and relevant to GDP . This podcast was very creative. Yea I learned a lot of things for like the meaning of GDP and its functions.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

US Trade Deficit: Getting Better?

This article is discusing about the trade deficit and the trading all over the world. Trade deficit is the trading around the world and the debt they are in. The US trade deficit is likely to go down because there will be less trading and we will have more import than exports. And probably we will have less people working. It doesnt matter it could be a dollar you will still help the economy to go up because the more people spend the higher the economy will get up. China now has KFC and McDonalds to help bring the economy higher.

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

Taxes- How Does The Government Get Money?

There are three types of taxes there are federal government taxes, state government taxes, and local government taxes. Government gets it's taxes by deducting it from your check. That is why many people prefer working of the books because they get paid cash and nothing is eported, therefore no tax gets deducted. For example you are working legally if your earn $1,000 with taxes, but after deductions you end up getting like $700. However, if you work of the books (cash) you get the $1000 without any deduction. The advantage of working legally is that you report taxes you can live as retired and when you work of the the books you can't.The government deductes your taxes by taking it away from the pay check.One federal tax is the IRS. The state taxes is when you own a property or business you have to file taxes for that and pay your taxes for that property. Taxes charged on clothing are a state tax.

Student Loans-Beware

Students take out big amonuts of money for "college use", however, sometimes they forget to be responsible and use this money for their personal needs. I am not thinking of taking a loan because I think is very expensive there are other ways to pay for college. Interest on student loans are too high and you end up paying it twice.