Taxes- How Does The Government Spend Money?

The government puts out taxes for us to pay so we can in turn pay for certain services that we may not know we use. When it comes to the Internet, the federal government appears to be putting its money to good use. There are hundreds of government and government-related websites, and the list keeps growing and improving. From contact numbers and voting records on your local elected officials, to down loadable tax forms and important pamphlets, there is an enormous amount of free, useful information available, all care of the U.S. government.Taxpayers in high-income households get the least benefit from their tax dollars — while people in the lowest-income bracket get an eight-to-one windfall. The government is spending 51%, which is $1,228 billion, on the military.

Savings and Debt

This article from the New York Times is discussing how easy it is for many Americans to become in debt. Americans spent one in seven of their take-home dollars on debt payments last year, up from one in nine in 1980. People tend to get into debt so easily because few consumers are able to calculate the true costs of something. I find it easy to believe that it is so easy to be in debt because many people enjoy spending money they do not yet have. When people attempt to get out of debt, on most occasions they dig themselves a deeper hole. Credit cards also help build up debt. People feel that they can spend more money than they actually can. Credit card debt is now at over $880 billion according to the Federal Reserve Bank. Penalty fees are at $17.1 billion in 2006. Another reason for the amount of debt created by Americans, is that fees and penalties are confusing and hard to understand. People just know they are getting a credit card and that they can spend money before actually seeing it.

Critique of GDP Podcast

I viewed Corina and Ivona's GDP Podcast. The content and information provided in the podcast was very interesting and informative. I learned more about GDP by listening to the podcast. The recording is a little bit quiet but their words are clear and listenable. I enjoyed the dialoguebecause it seemed like they were just having a regular conversation about GDP and as if they were not reading the information off of something. The images are good but i don't think there are enough pictures. They do contribute and and match the verbal content, however there are additional images that could have been included to make the podcast better. I really like the style of this podcast. It felt as if they were just speaking with one another without a written dialogue. I found it very interesting and creative. I learned different things from this podcast that i did not previously know. It was extremely educational. My favorite part of the podcast is towards the end when the two women are kind of arguing about drug dealers in each of their countries. I found that very funny and entertaining. This is a link to Corina and Ivona's Podcast.

U.S. Trade Deficit: Getting Better?

The article from The New York Times is called 'Rising Exports Putting Dent In Trade Gap." The article states that many companies will rely heavily on generating more than half of their sales through foreign countries. A trade deficit is defined as a negative difference between the monetary value of exports and imports in an economy over a certain period of time. The U.S. trade deficit is likely to go down in the future because the United States is sending more American-made products to different countries across the world. Due to the weak dollar, Americans goods and services are more competitive in foreign markets. Some examples of products that America is sending all over the world are vehicles created by general Motors, KFC, diesel engines, factory machinery, earth-moving equipment and the digital components used to build a modern telecommunications backbone. A weak dollar can in fact be a good thing for the Untied States because it has became more expensive to buy for European countries.

Student Loans - Beware

People take out student loans to help pay for the expensive costs of being a college student. These culinary school students took out such large loans because some culinary schools may have two-year programs that may cost up to $48,000. Many culinary students come from blue-collar families and do not have the financial experience to navigate the world of college costs, Ms. Sykes Hendee said. “The majority of students are the first people going to college in their families,” she said. “It’s not the rich and famous going to culinary school.” I think student loans are a good idea if you are almost 100% positive that you will have a steady income straight out of college. At this moment, i do not plan to take out a student loan but if the situation occur es in which it would be a good idea than i will in the future.