The current world population is estimated to be 6.6 billion.
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China has the highest population in the world with close to 1.3 billion people.
The second highest is India
with close to 1.1 billon people.
China and India make up for over 36% of the world population or approximately 36 out of every 100 people on earth are from China and India.
The US population is close to 300 million.
Markets higher on hints that Feds may cut interest rates again.
Stock markets rose on the expectation that Feds may cut the interest rate in the coming week.Investors were encouraged to hear Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s comments that he is concerned about the growing problems in the housing market and the credit crisis that may threaten the consumer spending and the economic growth.
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Investors were also relieved to see the oil prices fall to $89 per barrel on the news that the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC) may decide to increase its oil production levels on Dec 5th meeting in
Abu Dhabi.
For now, investors seem to be ignoring the continuing housing market problem, credit crisis, banking sector problem, high oil prices, and sliding dollar, which could slow down the economic growth.The S&P500 gained 40 points, the DOW gained 392 points and the NASDAQ gained 61 points for the week ending November 30th, 2007.
Oil declines to $89/barrel.
Oil prices declined to $89 per barrel on the expectations that OPEC may increase oil production by half a million barrels a day.Today, the world consumes about 85 million barrels a day. US alone consumes up to over 20 million barrels per day, or one fourth (25%) of the world oil consumption.The continued slide of the US dollar is not helping the oil prices either, as the weaker dollar makes the oil import more expensive.
OPEC is a major organization which has two thirds of the world’s oil reserves and accounts for over 40% of the world’s oil production. OPEC is made up of 13 countries, Algeria, Angola, Indonesia, Iran, Iraq, Kuwait, Libya, Nigeria, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Venezuela, and Ecuador(rejoined OPEC in November 2007).Since 1965, the OPEC main office has been based in
Vienna, Austria.
OPEC
Professor's Corner
What does $4.95 + tax means?
Let us say, you bought a gift for $4.95.But the cash register shows that you have to pay $5.25 (with 6% sales tax). What is that extra money you had to pay when you bought the gift?It is called sales tax and it is required to be paid by the consumer.State and local governments charge sales tax at the point of sales on retail goods and services.You, as a consumer pay the sales tax to the retailer, who passes it to the state and local governments.
State and local governments set the tax level and decide on what percentage to charge on the selling price of the goods and services.The tax level and changes to the tax rate are hotly debated and voted by the elected officials and representatives.For example, among the 50 states,
California has the highest sales tax of 7.25% (includes 1% for the local government).The second highest at 7% are Mississippi, New Jersey, Rhode Island, and
Tennessee.The lowest sales tax is 4% that is charged by Alabama, Georgia, Hawaii (only charges to the businesses and not to the consumer), Louisiana, New York, and
Wyoming.There are five states, Alaska, Delaware, Montana, New Hampshire, and
Oregon, with no sales tax.Most of the states do not charge sales tax on food items.There is no national level sales tax.
In the 19th century, several states started to charge some sort of tax.However,
West Virginia, in 1921, was the first state to charge sales tax as we see it today.Since then, other states started to impose the sales tax and continue to do so until today.
Why do state and local governments charge sales tax?Taxes are a major source of income for the state and local governments.For example, besides sales tax, other taxes such as state income tax and real estate tax provide a good source of income for the governments.The collected taxes by the state and local governments help to pay for key services, such as, police, 911 service, fire stations, emergency services, building and maintenance of roads, bridges and public parks, and many more important services that we rely and use frequently.
Holiday SALE!!
$4.95 + Tax
Learn more about...
What is Credit History? Why is it important to have a good credit history? Volume 12.
What is Economy, Business, Workers, Goods, Services, Stock, DOW, S&P500, and NASDAQ in Volume 16.
What is Currency and Foreign Currency Exchange rate? Volume 14. What is stronger or weaker currency? Volume 20. What does the dollar slide mean? Volume 32.
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