More On Government Spending

Here are some interesting statistics on spending:

Total 2008 U.S. Government spending/budget: $3 trillion
Total 2008 Korean Government spending/budget: $280 billion

Total government spending on education:
U.S. Government: $56 billion (1.8% of total)
Korean Government: $36 billion (12.8% of total)

(Wow. I'm surprised I can read and write. I'd likes to aks u a pew kestions.)

Defense/Military spending:

U.S.: $805 billion (Defense Department + Global War on Terror + Dept. of Homeland Security + Iraq and Afghanistan) LOL!
Korea: $25 billion

Iraq's GDP for 2007 was $100 billion. (5% growth rate)
Afghanistan's GDP for 2007 was $10 billion. (7.5% growth rate)

Now, if Iraq and Afghanistan were companies with stocks that could be purchased...
Based on growth: Iraq's P/E(PER) 5 Afghanistan's P/E(PER) 8
Market value of: Iraq $500 billion Afghanistan $80 billion

So, $580 billion could've purchased the two countries, I mean companies. This is actually pretty reasonable as Google trades at around 8.45 times sales.

Need for Speed?

Was your computer a lot faster when you first bought it?

If you're using Windows XP, you might find this useful. I've tuned a few computers now and thought it would be helpful to post a "How-to" article. (If you run into any problems, just send me an e-mail.) Let's speed up your PC (Windows XP only).

1. You need to download and install the following programs:

Crap Cleaner
This cleans up your hard drive. Deletes useless files and can clean your registry as well. Most of the time when you uninstall a program, there will be remaining "crap" to clean. When installing, do not install the "Yahoo Toolbar."

Disk Defragmenter by Auslogics.

2. After installing the above programs, let's see what's slowing down your computer.
Click the "Start" button and then click "Run." In the run box type: msconfig
and "enter." Next, click on "Startup" and see what programs are automatically starting with Windows. If your computer takes a long time to start up, then disable some or all of these programs. I've disabled everything except my antivirus program and firewall. If you want to find out if the program is necessary or a virus, you can check at the windows process library.

3. Now it's time to tinker with Windows XP. Click the "Start" button and then click "Run." In the run box type: services.msc You will see a list of all Windows processes. You can find which processes can be disabled here. I would go with the "Recommended" list in the middle, just to be safe. By disabling processes, Windows will start faster and run faster.

4. Click the "Start" button and click "My Computer." You will see your hard drives listed there. Left click on your hard drive and go to "Properties." Now, uncheck the box that states "Allow Indexing Service...." and then click "Apply." A lot will be happening here, just click "Ignore All."

5. Run CCleaner and clean out all of your useless files. Also, run the registry cleaner as well.

6. Run the Disk Defragmenter program and your finished.

The next time you start Windows a box may appear. Just click "Don't show me..." and "Okay."

Are you a Republican or a Democrat?

Here are some interesting statistics from Slate (2002) :

Democratic presidents average an annual 12.7% return for the S&P 500.

Republicans averaged only 8% annually for the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average was even better for the Dems. Democrats 13.4% Republicans 8.1%

How about Congress and the S&P 500?

The Senate (when controlled by either party) : Democrats 10.5% Republicans: 9.4%
The House : Democrats 10.9% vs. Republicans 8.1%

How about GDP growth rates? Democratic presidents averaged 5.4% Republicans 1.6%

How about spending?

Here's a graph of the U.S. budget since 1961.
It looks like Nixon and Ford really got the debt snowball rolling. Reagan really took it to new depths. That bastard!

This may surprise you. In 2007 the U.S. government had to pay $243.7 billion in interest payments on debt. Why so much interest? Because the U.S. national debt is over $9 trillion. At least they got a good non-subprime rate of only 2.7%

Our debt runs around 36% of GDP which places the U.S. 65th among all countries. This is right below Cuba's (64th) 37%. lol

How does this affect me?

Well, like most Americans, my money is in stocks. =)
Also, since I am an American, my share of U.S. government debt is $30,694.83
(That's $9 trillion divided among 300 million Americans. What the hell?)

Am I a Republican or a Democrat?

I'm neither, but you can probably guess how a stock investor would vote.

Free NBA Radio

I'm a huge basketball fan. My favorite team is the LA Lakers or "Lakeshow" as some Laker fans like to call them. For this year, the NBA Audio League Pass is free. Just register and you can listen to every single NBA game live.

Free Software

Here's a list of my favorite free programs:

Crap Cleaner
This cleans up your hard drive. Deletes useless files and can clean your registry as well. Most of the time when you uninstall a program, there will be remaining "crap" to clean. When installing, do not install the Yahoo toolbar.

Disk Defragmenter by Auslogics.
This will defragment your hard drive in minutes and speed up your computer. Who doesn't want more speed?

Firewall by Comodo
This firewall was highly rated by PC Magazine. It's much better than the Windows firewall.

Anti-virus by Avast
This program works better than most because you can scan your computer before Windows boots up with the "boot time scan." Must register to get the registration code. Duh!

Audacity
This is a great audio editor. I often use this to edit mp3 files, etc. You will need the lame audio decoder as well. Just google "lame encoder.dll"

Foxit Reader
I don't like large programs that take a lot of space on my hard drive. Adobe Reader takes up way too much space. Foxit Reader is a small file only about 2mb.

uTorrent

Again, I love small software. If you download torrent files, this is the one for you. It's less than 1mb. Only 214kb to be exact. =)

TaxAct

If you're an American citizen, you must file income taxes regardless of where you live, breath, earn money, or sleep. I've been using TaxAct because it's user-friendly, quick, and painless.

VirtualDubMod

This is a great little video editing program.

That's it for now. What's your favorite free program?

Free Education

Stanford eliminates tuition for some students

Students whose families make less than $100,000 will attend school free; about a third of students will be helped.

February 20 2008: 3:29 PM EST

PALO ALTO, Calif. (AP) -- Attending Stanford University next year will be a lot more affordable for some undergraduate students.

The university said Wednesday it plans to eliminate tuition for students with annual family incomes totaling less than $100,000. It also will pay most room and board for students with families making less than $60,000.

Financial aid director Karen Cooper says the move comes as middle-income parents express concern about paying for a Stanford education.

Stanford tuition is expected to rise to $36,000 in the fall. Room and board will cost about $11,000. About a third of the university's 6,700 undergraduates are expected to qualify for the tuition break.

Free Book

Suze Orman is giving away her book Women and Money: Owning the Power to Control Your Destiny. You can download a free copy here:

Link

If you don't know, Suze Orman is a financial expert and hosts a financial planning show.