Zantetsken
I've been sorta keeping an eye on the news for around a year, as well as blogs and other unofficial opinions. People generally make it sound like the US isn't doing so well. I heard a lot about foreclosed homes, even on the news on the TV while I was in the US. I also hear people are not very happy with Obama. One snarky comment was something like "Yeah, he gave us 'change' alright. I've got nothing BUT change in my pocket now!" The person I heard this from denied any particular economic issues within the US around a year ago, though, disregarding that 14 trillion (and constantly growing) national debt and saying that every other country is in the same boat.
So, how do you feel about the US economy? Is it going down or is it getting better? Do you think it's better or worse than Canada? I know the news tends to exaggerate things and only report the bad stuff, so I'd like to hear some opinions from individuals. If you live in the US, please post your state, too.
Answer
USA has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP about two-thirds that of the leading euro-zone economies. Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, mainly in agricultural and unskilled jobs. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP. The US economy grew by nearly 4.0% per year between 2003 and 2007, due partly to infrastructural spending related to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and in part to an increased availability of credit, which has sustained record levels of consumer spending. But the economy went into recession in 2009 as a result of the world financial crisis, tightening credit conditions, and Washington DCs' failure to address a growing budget deficit, which was triggered by falling state revenues, and increased government expenditures. The economy contracted by 2% in 2009, and 4.8% in 2010. US violated the EU's Growth and Stability Pact budget deficit criterion of no more than 3% of GDP from 2001 to 2006, but finally met that criterion in 2007-08, before exceeding it again in 2009, with the deficit reaching 15.4% of GDP. Austerity measures reduced the deficit to 10.5% of GDP in 2010. Public debt, inflation, and unemployment are above the euro-zone average while per capita income is below; unemployment rose to 12% in 2010. Eroding public finances, a credibility gap stemming from inaccurate and misreported statistics, and consistent underperformance on following through with reforms prompted major credit rating agencies in late 2009 to downgrade USA's international debt rating, and has led the country into a financial crisis. Under intense pressure by the EU and international market participants, the government has adopted a medium-term austerity program that includes cutting government spending, reducing the size of the public sector, decreasing tax evasion, reforming the health care and pension systems, and improving competitiveness through structural reforms to the labor and product markets. Athens, however, faces long-term challenges to push through unpopular reforms in the face of often vocal opposition from the country's powerful labor unions and the general public. US labor unions are striking over new austerity measures, but the strikes so far have had a limited impact on the government's will to adopt reforms. An uptick in widespread unrest, however, could challenge the government's ability to implement reforms and meet budget targets, and could also lead to rioting or violence. In April 2010 a leading credit agency assigned US debt its lowest possible credit rating; in May, the International Monetary Fund and Eurozone governments provided US emergency short- and medium-term loans worth $147 billion so that the country could make debt repayments to creditors. In exchange for the largest bailout ever assembled, the government announced combined spending cuts and tax increases totaling $40 billion over three years, on top of the tough austerity measures already taken. US, however, struggled to boost revenues and cut spending to meet 2010 targets set by the EU and the IMF, especially after Eurostat - the EU's statistical office - revised upward US's deficit and debt numbers for 2009 and 2010. Greece's lenders are calling on Athens to step up efforts in 2011 to increase tax collection, shore up public enterprises, and rein in health spending, and are planning to give Greece more time to repay its EU-IMF loan. Greece responded by introducing major structural reforms, but investors still question whether Greece can sustain fiscal efforts in the face of a bleak economic outlook and public discontent.
USA has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 40% of GDP and with per capita GDP about two-thirds that of the leading euro-zone economies. Tourism provides 15% of GDP. Immigrants make up nearly one-fifth of the work force, mainly in agricultural and unskilled jobs. Greece is a major beneficiary of EU aid, equal to about 3.3% of annual GDP. The US economy grew by nearly 4.0% per year between 2003 and 2007, due partly to infrastructural spending related to the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, and in part to an increased availability of credit, which has sustained record levels of consumer spending. But the economy went into recession in 2009 as a result of the world financial crisis, tightening credit conditions, and Washington DCs' failure to address a growing budget deficit, which was triggered by falling state revenues, and increased government expenditures. The economy contracted by 2% in 2009, and 4.8% in 2010. US violated the EU's Growth and Stability Pact budget deficit criterion of no more than 3% of GDP from 2001 to 2006, but finally met that criterion in 2007-08, before exceeding it again in 2009, with the deficit reaching 15.4% of GDP. Austerity measures reduced the deficit to 10.5% of GDP in 2010. Public debt, inflation, and unemployment are above the euro-zone average while per capita income is below; unemployment rose to 12% in 2010. Eroding public finances, a credibility gap stemming from inaccurate and misreported statistics, and consistent underperformance on following through with reforms prompted major credit rating agencies in late 2009 to downgrade USA's international debt rating, and has led the country into a financial crisis. Under intense pressure by the EU and international market participants, the government has adopted a medium-term austerity program that includes cutting government spending, reducing the size of the public sector, decreasing tax evasion, reforming the health care and pension systems, and improving competitiveness through structural reforms to the labor and product markets. Athens, however, faces long-term challenges to push through unpopular reforms in the face of often vocal opposition from the country's powerful labor unions and the general public. US labor unions are striking over new austerity measures, but the strikes so far have had a limited impact on the government's will to adopt reforms. An uptick in widespread unrest, however, could challenge the government's ability to implement reforms and meet budget targets, and could also lead to rioting or violence. In April 2010 a leading credit agency assigned US debt its lowest possible credit rating; in May, the International Monetary Fund and Eurozone governments provided US emergency short- and medium-term loans worth $147 billion so that the country could make debt repayments to creditors. In exchange for the largest bailout ever assembled, the government announced combined spending cuts and tax increases totaling $40 billion over three years, on top of the tough austerity measures already taken. US, however, struggled to boost revenues and cut spending to meet 2010 targets set by the EU and the IMF, especially after Eurostat - the EU's statistical office - revised upward US's deficit and debt numbers for 2009 and 2010. Greece's lenders are calling on Athens to step up efforts in 2011 to increase tax collection, shore up public enterprises, and rein in health spending, and are planning to give Greece more time to repay its EU-IMF loan. Greece responded by introducing major structural reforms, but investors still question whether Greece can sustain fiscal efforts in the face of a bleak economic outlook and public discontent.
Dell Studio 17 or Sony Vaio VGN-FW590?
Alvin
I Want a good laptop that is fast in loading programs including high graphic games, and can multi task like Bitcomet, the same time playing a game and also something else. A laptop that doesnt have that much problems and will not crash and freeze often, and can last a long time, i heard the best brand for a laptop is Sony, but i also heard it over heats too much.
Dell Studio 17
Base Studio 17 Laptop PCS17HN [224-6922]
Operating System Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium, 64bit, English W7HP6E [330-6222][330-6363][420-6436][420-6576][420-7938][420-9100][421-0092][421-0187][421-0323][421-1737]
Processor Intel® Core⢠i7-720QM Quad Core Processor @ 1.6GHz (2.8GHz Turbo Mode, 6MB Cache) 720QM [317-2448]
Memory 4GB Shared Dual Channel DDR3 at 1333MHz 4G2D133 [317-2714]
Built-in Keyboard Options Back-lit Keyboard BCKLIT [330-4433]
LCD Panel 17.3â Full HD (1080p) B+RG LED Display with TrueLife⢠and Camera CH1080L [313-8043][421-1009]
Video Card 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4650 ATI4650 [330-5790]
Hard Drive 500GB SATA HDD (7200rpm) 500G72 [341-9983]
System Color Black Chainlink BLKWLAN [313-8044]
Adobe Reader Software Adobe® Acrobat® Reader 9.0 ADOBER [410-1883]
Combo or DVD+RW Drive Slot Load Blu-ray Disc (BD) Combo (Reads BD and Writes to DVD/CD) W7BDCMB [313-8871][421-1362][421-1445][421-1583]
Sound Card Soundblaster X-Fi Hi Def Audio - Software Enabled SBXFI [421-2000]
Wireless Networking Cards Dell Wireless 1520 802.11n Half Mini-card DW1520 [430-0701]
Office Productivity Software (Pre-Installed) Microsoft® Works 9 IOHSWKE [421-0304]
Anti-Virus/Security Suite (Pre-installed) McAfee Security Center with VirusScan, Firewall, Spyware Removal, 15-Months MC1015M [410-2185]
Battery Options 85 Whr Lithium Ion Battery (9 cell) 9BAT [312-0949]
Service 3Yr Ltd Hardware Warranty, InHome Service after Remote Diagnosis SB3OS [412-0360][903-6248][903-6367][904-0472][904-5650][950-3339][950-5442][960-2780]
Support 1Yr LoJack for Laptops Theft Protection DHSLJ1 [420-8655][467-7771][991-1179]
Service 1 Dell Online Backup 2GB for 1 year DOB2GB [420-9518][988-0099][988-7707]
Mobile Broadband No Internal Mobile Broadband NOMBB [330-4532]
Entertainment and Editing Software WildTangent Games WLDTNG [420-9352]
DataSafe (Services Owned) Dell Remote Access, free basic service
Subtotal: $1614 (including tax and shipping)
OR
Sony Vaio VGN-FW590
* Standard Capacity Battery (VGP-BPS13)
* Blu-ray Disc⢠playback
* No Fresh Start
* 4GB (2GBx2) DDR2-SDRAM-800 (Reg. price $20.00)
* Microsoft® Works
* Engraving
* No additional Finance Software
* No additional Video Editing Software
* ATI Mobility Radeon⢠HD 4650 graphics with 1GB dedicated video RAM
* Intel® Core⢠2 Duo Processor T9600 (2.80GHz) (Reg. price $300.00)
* No additional Photo Editing Software
* 16.4" VAIO extra-wide HD display (1920x1080)
* Backstage⢠VIP Protection⢠Suite (Recommended) [Save $80](Reg. price $99.99)
* Chocolate Brown
* Genuine Microsoft® Windows® 7 Home Premium
* 250GB SATA Hard Disk Drive (5400rpm)
Subtotal: $1423(including tax and shipping)
In comparison i like Dell's quad, and its DDR3 4G Ram rather than Sony's Dual core 9600, and its DDR2 4G RAM, not to mention dells screen is bigger than sony's. Sony definitely has a better looking design tho, but does dell's quad and DDR3 ram really have a big difference on my requirements? or at least an agreeable amount of affect ? Which would you professionals prefer?
or should i just upgrade the FW590 to a 9900 CPU or upgrade its ram or upgrade the Studio 17 more? or something like that. i really hope to get the best of the best answer because im using my money for rent on this, and hope it would be the best choice.
I need an answer before X mas because the deals end, i really need help thank you.
Answer
I recommend you a free software which can help you convert Copy DVD to your local hard drive
It is "Next Video Converter". It is easy to use, you only need one click to copy whole DVD to hard drive.
Beside backup DVD, Next Video Converter can also help you Convert Video, Rip DVD and Donwload YouTube Video to most popular video formats including DVIX, Xv iD, MOVE, RM, RM VB, MPEG, VB, DVD, MV, and AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod, PSP, PS3, iPhone, XBox360, Zune, Apple TV, Archos, iRiver PMP, Epson Player, Creative Zen, Rubi Blue, Sony Walkman, Commodore PMX, Palm TX, Game Boy, SmartDisk, Windows Mobile Smart phone, Nokia, BlackBerry, Ketti, LG, Sony-Ericssonon, Samsung mobile phone, etc.
Next Video Converter is aslo a free DVD ripper and video converter with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed, and excellent video quality etc.
I recommend you a free software which can help you convert Copy DVD to your local hard drive
It is "Next Video Converter". It is easy to use, you only need one click to copy whole DVD to hard drive.
Beside backup DVD, Next Video Converter can also help you Convert Video, Rip DVD and Donwload YouTube Video to most popular video formats including DVIX, Xv iD, MOVE, RM, RM VB, MPEG, VB, DVD, MV, and AVI to MPEG-4 movie format for iPod, PSP, PS3, iPhone, XBox360, Zune, Apple TV, Archos, iRiver PMP, Epson Player, Creative Zen, Rubi Blue, Sony Walkman, Commodore PMX, Palm TX, Game Boy, SmartDisk, Windows Mobile Smart phone, Nokia, BlackBerry, Ketti, LG, Sony-Ericssonon, Samsung mobile phone, etc.
Next Video Converter is aslo a free DVD ripper and video converter with easy-to-use graphical interface, fast converting speed, and excellent video quality etc.
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