MS Windows Vista
Get Windows VistaMoving to Windows Vista just got easier. Whether you plan to purchase a new PC or upgrade the one that you currently own, we've got the information you need to make it a smooth transition.Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor Is your Windows XP-based PC ready for Windows Vista? Download and run the Windows Vista Upgrade Advisor to find which edition of Windows Vista is right for you and to see if your current PC is ready to run it.Upgrade paths from previous versions For many, the experience of Windows Vista will begin with the purchase of a new PC. For others, the experience begins by upgrading your current PC, and it's important to know and understand your upgrade options from previous versions of Windows.Find hardware that works with Windows Vista Are you looking to add a new printer, monitor, digital camera, or other devices to your Windows Vista experience? Here's a quick and easy way to find what you're looking for.Ready to buy? Start here Find partner products and special offers for the Windows Vista-related hardware and software you need. Or, explore the Windows Vista area on Windows MarketplacSave more than 60% Here's how you can save more than 60% on Windows Vista Home Premium upgrades for your other household computers after you purchase the Windows Vista Ultimate retail boxed product.Windows Anytime Upgrade When you're ready for more of what Windows Vista has to offer, upgrading to a different edition can be done without ever leaving your home or office. Using Windows Anytime Upgrade is a convenient and affordable way to grow your Windows Vista experience.
Monday, May 14, 2007
Friday, April 27, 2007
International Trade
International Trade
International TradeIn low-income countries, openness to international trade is indispensable for rapid economic growth. Indeed, few developing nations have grown rapidly over time without simultaneous increases in both exports and imports, and virtually all developing countries that have grown rapidly have done so under open trade policies or declining trade protection. India and China are the best recent examples of countries that started with relatively closed trade policy regimes in the 1980s but subsequently achieved accelerating growth while opening up their economies. From the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s, industrial countries also enjoyed rapid growth while dismantling their high post-World War II trade barriers and embracing new technologies.
Japan offers the most dramatic example, but countries such as Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal exhibited similar patterns. Openness to trade promotes growth in a variety of ways. Entrepreneurs are forced to become increasingly efficient since they must compete against the best in the world to survive. Openness also affords access to the best technology and allows countries to specialize in what they do best rather than produce everything on their own.
The fall of the Soviet Union was in no small measure due to its failure to access cutting-edge technologies, compete against world-class producers, and specialize in production. Even as large an economy as the United States today specializes heavily in services, which account for 80 percent of total U.S. output. Of course, openness to trade is not by itself sufficient to promote growth—macroeconomic and political stability and other policies are needed as well—so some countries have opened up their markets and still not seen commensurate increases in economic growth. That has been particularly true of African countries such as the Ivory Coast during the 1980s and 1990s. But such instances hardly disprove the benefits of openness.
Economists do not understand the process of growth well enough to predict precisely when the opportunity will knock on a country’s door. But when it does knock, an open economy is more likely to seize it, whereas a closed one will miss it. Even globalization skeptics such as economists Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz recognize this point; neither chooses trade protection over freer trade. “Rich Countries Are More Protectionist Than Poor Ones” Not even close. On average, poor countries have higher tariff barriers than high-income countries. For instance, rich nations’ tariffs on industrial products average about 3 percent, compared to 13 percent for poor countries. Even in the textiles and clothing sectors, tariffs in developing nations (21 percent) are more than double those in rich countries (8 percent, on average). And while textiles and clothing are subject to import quotas in rich economies, such restrictions are due to be dismantled entirely by January 1, 2005, under existing World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. Of course, not all poor countries are equally protectionist; some are even more open to trade than rich nations. For many years now, Singapore and Hong Kong have been textbook cases of free-trading nations.
Likewise, middle-income economies such as South Korea and Taiwan are not significantly more protectionist than developed countries. But overall, the countries that stand to benefit most from greater competition and openness are those nations that display the highest protection, including most countries in South Asia and some in Africa. The highest tariffs—or “tariff peaks”—in rich countries apply with particular strength to labor-intensive products exported by developing countries. In Canada, the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan, product categories with especially high tariff rates include textiles and clothing as well as leather, rubber, footwear, and travel goods. But developing countries themselves are often quite zealous in protecting their markets from goods exported by other poor nations. Labor-intensive products such as textiles, clothing, leather, and footwear, which developing countries also export to each other, attract high duties in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Malaysia, and
Thailand.
Traditionally, rich economies such as the United States and the EU have been quick to engage in antidumping initiatives—erecting trade barriers against countries that allegedly export goods (or “dump” them) at a price below their own cost of production, however difficult it may be to quantify such a charge. But developing countries have been learning the same tricks and initiating antidumping measures of their own, and now the number of such actions has converged between advanced and poor economies.
For example, according to the “WTO Annual Report 2003,” India now ranks first in the world in initiating new antidumping actions, and third (behind the United States and the EU) in the number of such actions currently in force. Freer Trade Increases Poverty in the Third World Historically, countries that have achieved large reductions in poverty are generally those that have experienced rapid economic growth spurred in significant measure by openness to international trade. Newly industrialized economies such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have all been open to trade during the past four decades and have been entirely free of poverty, according to the dollar-a-day poverty line, for more than a decade.
By contrast, during the 1960s and 1970s, India remained closed to trade, grew approximately 1 percent annually (in per capita terms), and experienced no reduction in poverty during that period. Trade helps produce rapid growth, and rapid growth helps the poor through three channels. First, it leads to what Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati calls the active “pull-up” rather than the passive “trickle-down” effect—sustained growth rapidly absorbs the poor into gainful employment. Second, rapidly growing economies can generate vast fiscal resources that can be used for targeted anti-poverty programs.
And finally, growth that helps raise incomes of poor families improves their ability to access public services such as education and health. The current impression that the freeing of trade has failed the world’s poor is partially rooted in disputable “official” World Bank poverty figures. The bank reports that though the proportion of the poor in developing countries declined from 28.3 percent in 1987 to 23.2 percent in 1999, increased population has left the absolute number of poor unchanged at 1.2 billion. And since that period also witnessed further freeing of trade, some conclude that trade has failed the poor. Yet, independent research by economists Surjit Bhalla in New Delhi and Xavier Sala-i-Martin at Columbia University has persuasively shown that the absolute number of poor declined during 1987–99 by at least 50 million and possibly by much more
International TradeIn low-income countries, openness to international trade is indispensable for rapid economic growth. Indeed, few developing nations have grown rapidly over time without simultaneous increases in both exports and imports, and virtually all developing countries that have grown rapidly have done so under open trade policies or declining trade protection. India and China are the best recent examples of countries that started with relatively closed trade policy regimes in the 1980s but subsequently achieved accelerating growth while opening up their economies. From the mid-1950s through the mid-1970s, industrial countries also enjoyed rapid growth while dismantling their high post-World War II trade barriers and embracing new technologies.
Japan offers the most dramatic example, but countries such as Denmark, France, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, and Portugal exhibited similar patterns. Openness to trade promotes growth in a variety of ways. Entrepreneurs are forced to become increasingly efficient since they must compete against the best in the world to survive. Openness also affords access to the best technology and allows countries to specialize in what they do best rather than produce everything on their own.
The fall of the Soviet Union was in no small measure due to its failure to access cutting-edge technologies, compete against world-class producers, and specialize in production. Even as large an economy as the United States today specializes heavily in services, which account for 80 percent of total U.S. output. Of course, openness to trade is not by itself sufficient to promote growth—macroeconomic and political stability and other policies are needed as well—so some countries have opened up their markets and still not seen commensurate increases in economic growth. That has been particularly true of African countries such as the Ivory Coast during the 1980s and 1990s. But such instances hardly disprove the benefits of openness.
Economists do not understand the process of growth well enough to predict precisely when the opportunity will knock on a country’s door. But when it does knock, an open economy is more likely to seize it, whereas a closed one will miss it. Even globalization skeptics such as economists Dani Rodrik and Joseph Stiglitz recognize this point; neither chooses trade protection over freer trade. “Rich Countries Are More Protectionist Than Poor Ones” Not even close. On average, poor countries have higher tariff barriers than high-income countries. For instance, rich nations’ tariffs on industrial products average about 3 percent, compared to 13 percent for poor countries. Even in the textiles and clothing sectors, tariffs in developing nations (21 percent) are more than double those in rich countries (8 percent, on average). And while textiles and clothing are subject to import quotas in rich economies, such restrictions are due to be dismantled entirely by January 1, 2005, under existing World Trade Organization (WTO) agreements. Of course, not all poor countries are equally protectionist; some are even more open to trade than rich nations. For many years now, Singapore and Hong Kong have been textbook cases of free-trading nations.
Likewise, middle-income economies such as South Korea and Taiwan are not significantly more protectionist than developed countries. But overall, the countries that stand to benefit most from greater competition and openness are those nations that display the highest protection, including most countries in South Asia and some in Africa. The highest tariffs—or “tariff peaks”—in rich countries apply with particular strength to labor-intensive products exported by developing countries. In Canada, the United States, the European Union (EU), and Japan, product categories with especially high tariff rates include textiles and clothing as well as leather, rubber, footwear, and travel goods. But developing countries themselves are often quite zealous in protecting their markets from goods exported by other poor nations. Labor-intensive products such as textiles, clothing, leather, and footwear, which developing countries also export to each other, attract high duties in countries such as Brazil, Mexico, China, India, Malaysia, and
Thailand.
Traditionally, rich economies such as the United States and the EU have been quick to engage in antidumping initiatives—erecting trade barriers against countries that allegedly export goods (or “dump” them) at a price below their own cost of production, however difficult it may be to quantify such a charge. But developing countries have been learning the same tricks and initiating antidumping measures of their own, and now the number of such actions has converged between advanced and poor economies.
For example, according to the “WTO Annual Report 2003,” India now ranks first in the world in initiating new antidumping actions, and third (behind the United States and the EU) in the number of such actions currently in force. Freer Trade Increases Poverty in the Third World Historically, countries that have achieved large reductions in poverty are generally those that have experienced rapid economic growth spurred in significant measure by openness to international trade. Newly industrialized economies such as Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, and Taiwan have all been open to trade during the past four decades and have been entirely free of poverty, according to the dollar-a-day poverty line, for more than a decade.
By contrast, during the 1960s and 1970s, India remained closed to trade, grew approximately 1 percent annually (in per capita terms), and experienced no reduction in poverty during that period. Trade helps produce rapid growth, and rapid growth helps the poor through three channels. First, it leads to what Columbia University economist Jagdish Bhagwati calls the active “pull-up” rather than the passive “trickle-down” effect—sustained growth rapidly absorbs the poor into gainful employment. Second, rapidly growing economies can generate vast fiscal resources that can be used for targeted anti-poverty programs.
And finally, growth that helps raise incomes of poor families improves their ability to access public services such as education and health. The current impression that the freeing of trade has failed the world’s poor is partially rooted in disputable “official” World Bank poverty figures. The bank reports that though the proportion of the poor in developing countries declined from 28.3 percent in 1987 to 23.2 percent in 1999, increased population has left the absolute number of poor unchanged at 1.2 billion. And since that period also witnessed further freeing of trade, some conclude that trade has failed the poor. Yet, independent research by economists Surjit Bhalla in New Delhi and Xavier Sala-i-Martin at Columbia University has persuasively shown that the absolute number of poor declined during 1987–99 by at least 50 million and possibly by much more
Online Trading Information
Online Trading Information
Making trades via the Internet.Investopedia Says: The use of online trading increased dramatically in the mid to late 1990's with the advent of high-speed computers and Internet connections. Stocks, bonds, options, futures, and currencies can all be traded online.Buying and selling securities using the Internet or broker-provided proprietary software that works through the Internet. Online trading is distinguished from Wireless Trading, a nascent area of service where brokerage customers can trade via cell phones, pagers, and hand-held organizers.Currency Trading OnlineFree $50,000 Practice Account With Real-Time Charts, News & Research! www.Forex.comSOGO Online TradingOnline Trading. SOGO, reliable, and trusted. Register today! sogoinvest.com
Finance and Investment TermsDictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 7th edition, by John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, published by Barron's Educational Series, Inc.A useful quick-reference tool for the home or office, the Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms gives concise definitions of terms relating to transactions, tax law, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and lingo of the financial markets. Includes related topics for further reading
Making trades via the Internet.Investopedia Says: The use of online trading increased dramatically in the mid to late 1990's with the advent of high-speed computers and Internet connections. Stocks, bonds, options, futures, and currencies can all be traded online.Buying and selling securities using the Internet or broker-provided proprietary software that works through the Internet. Online trading is distinguished from Wireless Trading, a nascent area of service where brokerage customers can trade via cell phones, pagers, and hand-held organizers.Currency Trading OnlineFree $50,000 Practice Account With Real-Time Charts, News & Research! www.Forex.comSOGO Online TradingOnline Trading. SOGO, reliable, and trusted. Register today! sogoinvest.com
Finance and Investment TermsDictionary of Finance and Investment Terms, 7th edition, by John Downes and Jordan Elliot Goodman, published by Barron's Educational Series, Inc.A useful quick-reference tool for the home or office, the Dictionary of Finance and Investment Terms gives concise definitions of terms relating to transactions, tax law, stocks, bonds and mutual funds, and lingo of the financial markets. Includes related topics for further reading
Online Bank
Online Bank
Benefits Of Online Banking
More Free. Fast. Secure.It's FREE. We don't charge for online banking or to pay bills online from a Bank checking account.It's FAST. There's no complicated software to download or learn. Just register and set up your user name and password, and you're ready to go!it's SECURE. You can bank online ecurity features are designed to guard your personal information. In the unlikely event that a fraudulent online banking transaction occurs while on our siteReasons to sign up for Online BankingGet account information at your convenienceWhy wait for paper statements to balance your checkbook? With Personal Online Banking, you can:See account details for your eligible checking, savings, CD, loan, line of credit and mortgage accounts.Check account balances and payment history.Transfer funds between eligible Washington Mutual deposit accounts—and schedule future transfers.Download account information to Personal Financial Management software, such as Quicken® or Microsoft® Money.Save shredding time (and trees)—if you sign up to receive Online Statements, you can opt to stop getting paper statements in the mail.Pay bills online—free of feesKick the check-writing habit—and kiss envelopes, stamps and stacks of paper goodbye. With our online Personal Bill Pay® service, you can:Pay virtually anyone in the United States from your eligible checking account.Schedule payments in advance—both one-time and recurring payments.Pay multiple bills quickly, from the same screen.See 18 months of your bill payment history.Get a great deal—no matter how many bills you pay each month, Personal Bill Pay service is free (subject to funds availability, of course).Pay bills on time—guaranteedYou won't have to worry about bill payments being late with our Personal Bill Pay service. When you initiate your payment four business days before the due date, you get our On Time Guarantee.
To take part, just remember to:Schedule the first Payment to each Payee four (4) business days before the due date.Schedule the next payments two (2) Business Days before the due date for a Payment that is made electronically and four (4) Business Days before the due date for a Payment made by check.* You will know whether the On Time Guarantee is two (2) business days or four (4) business days before the due date by the Estimated Due Date (Deliver By Date) shown at the time you schedule your payment. (Due date does not include grace period, if any).Provide accurate payment instructions.Make sure you have available funds in your account to cover the payment.Not make a "restricted" payment, such as a court-ordered tax, securities settlement or international payment.Please see our Online Banking Terms & Conditions for full details.Service your accountsNo more mail, phone calls or trips to the bank to service your accounts. Instead, you can just log on to:Order new checks—even order different styles for your checking account!Stop a payment on a deposit account check.Order copies of checks or paper statements.Update your address.Send secure online messages to Washington Mutual
Benefits Of Online Banking
More Free. Fast. Secure.It's FREE. We don't charge for online banking or to pay bills online from a Bank checking account.It's FAST. There's no complicated software to download or learn. Just register and set up your user name and password, and you're ready to go!it's SECURE. You can bank online ecurity features are designed to guard your personal information. In the unlikely event that a fraudulent online banking transaction occurs while on our siteReasons to sign up for Online BankingGet account information at your convenienceWhy wait for paper statements to balance your checkbook? With Personal Online Banking, you can:See account details for your eligible checking, savings, CD, loan, line of credit and mortgage accounts.Check account balances and payment history.Transfer funds between eligible Washington Mutual deposit accounts—and schedule future transfers.Download account information to Personal Financial Management software, such as Quicken® or Microsoft® Money.Save shredding time (and trees)—if you sign up to receive Online Statements, you can opt to stop getting paper statements in the mail.Pay bills online—free of feesKick the check-writing habit—and kiss envelopes, stamps and stacks of paper goodbye. With our online Personal Bill Pay® service, you can:Pay virtually anyone in the United States from your eligible checking account.Schedule payments in advance—both one-time and recurring payments.Pay multiple bills quickly, from the same screen.See 18 months of your bill payment history.Get a great deal—no matter how many bills you pay each month, Personal Bill Pay service is free (subject to funds availability, of course).Pay bills on time—guaranteedYou won't have to worry about bill payments being late with our Personal Bill Pay service. When you initiate your payment four business days before the due date, you get our On Time Guarantee.
To take part, just remember to:Schedule the first Payment to each Payee four (4) business days before the due date.Schedule the next payments two (2) Business Days before the due date for a Payment that is made electronically and four (4) Business Days before the due date for a Payment made by check.* You will know whether the On Time Guarantee is two (2) business days or four (4) business days before the due date by the Estimated Due Date (Deliver By Date) shown at the time you schedule your payment. (Due date does not include grace period, if any).Provide accurate payment instructions.Make sure you have available funds in your account to cover the payment.Not make a "restricted" payment, such as a court-ordered tax, securities settlement or international payment.Please see our Online Banking Terms & Conditions for full details.Service your accountsNo more mail, phone calls or trips to the bank to service your accounts. Instead, you can just log on to:Order new checks—even order different styles for your checking account!Stop a payment on a deposit account check.Order copies of checks or paper statements.Update your address.Send secure online messages to Washington Mutual
Online Trading Information
Online Trading Information
Online Trading
Over 95% of professional money managers in the United States today fail to achieve a return for their investors equal to the returns of the Dow Jones or the S&P 500. Why? They buy as a pack and they sell as a pack. They are emotionally unable to stray from what the majority is doing. As we all know, the majority can be wrong.
Ever notice that most brokerage firm analysts recommend stocks within 10% of their tops? They also never tell you when to sell. Their sell recommendations are only 5% in number of their buy recommendations. Why? Because they get investment banking fees from companies, and you don't want to put a sell on a company that's paying you a fee.
The greatest trading profits are made by buying those companies whose asset structures, debt equity ratios, and corporate structures are solid, but for one reason or another, their stock price has been wiped out. The Street is throwing them away because once a company encounters difficulty, no institution at the end of the quarter, and certainly year end, wants to show them on its position listing.
If you want to make money, big money, buy that which is being thrown away. But first you must be certain that there is merit in the company, that true value still exists over and above the price at which the company is selling. This is what we do. We analyze the company and determine that there is still value. We assure ourselves that this will not be a bankruptcy. We wait for the institutions to complete their destruction of the stock. We watch technically for when we believe the reflex rally will begin.
Then we bring the idea to you. The returns can be very big off the bottom. There is very little competition for what we at StocksAtBottom.com do. Analysts do not dare recommend stocks at the bottom. As stocks approach their tops, analysts pile on. They perceive correctly that this is when things look brightest. Of course they do, but the good news is already reflected in the price of the stock. We e-mail you ideas when the perception is at its bleakest.
We are protected because, in our analysis, we are looking at true value: is there cash? What is the book value? What is the debt to equity ratio? What are the sales forecasts? We listen to what management is saying. SAB checks to see if management is buying on the open market. We check to see what competitors are saying about the company. We listen to vendors when they talk about the company.
The last people we listen to are the analysts on Wall Street. Analysts are biased. They have private agendas that they are concerned with. These agendas include protecting investment banking business, and the potential of acquiring additional investment banking businessThere's an old saying: if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. Of course there's also insanity, which is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If you are unhappy with your results in the market, then you must try something different. Our approach is different and remains unique. When and if the street adopts our approach, we will move to something new.
Online Trading
Over 95% of professional money managers in the United States today fail to achieve a return for their investors equal to the returns of the Dow Jones or the S&P 500. Why? They buy as a pack and they sell as a pack. They are emotionally unable to stray from what the majority is doing. As we all know, the majority can be wrong.
Ever notice that most brokerage firm analysts recommend stocks within 10% of their tops? They also never tell you when to sell. Their sell recommendations are only 5% in number of their buy recommendations. Why? Because they get investment banking fees from companies, and you don't want to put a sell on a company that's paying you a fee.
The greatest trading profits are made by buying those companies whose asset structures, debt equity ratios, and corporate structures are solid, but for one reason or another, their stock price has been wiped out. The Street is throwing them away because once a company encounters difficulty, no institution at the end of the quarter, and certainly year end, wants to show them on its position listing.
If you want to make money, big money, buy that which is being thrown away. But first you must be certain that there is merit in the company, that true value still exists over and above the price at which the company is selling. This is what we do. We analyze the company and determine that there is still value. We assure ourselves that this will not be a bankruptcy. We wait for the institutions to complete their destruction of the stock. We watch technically for when we believe the reflex rally will begin.
Then we bring the idea to you. The returns can be very big off the bottom. There is very little competition for what we at StocksAtBottom.com do. Analysts do not dare recommend stocks at the bottom. As stocks approach their tops, analysts pile on. They perceive correctly that this is when things look brightest. Of course they do, but the good news is already reflected in the price of the stock. We e-mail you ideas when the perception is at its bleakest.
We are protected because, in our analysis, we are looking at true value: is there cash? What is the book value? What is the debt to equity ratio? What are the sales forecasts? We listen to what management is saying. SAB checks to see if management is buying on the open market. We check to see what competitors are saying about the company. We listen to vendors when they talk about the company.
The last people we listen to are the analysts on Wall Street. Analysts are biased. They have private agendas that they are concerned with. These agendas include protecting investment banking business, and the potential of acquiring additional investment banking businessThere's an old saying: if you always do what you always did, you'll always get what you always got. Of course there's also insanity, which is doing the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. If you are unhappy with your results in the market, then you must try something different. Our approach is different and remains unique. When and if the street adopts our approach, we will move to something new.
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