Money and Credit

The Theory of Money and Credit
Money and Credit is an economics book written by Ludwig von Mises, originally published in German as Theorie des Geldes und der Umlaufsmittel in 1912. Along with Carl Menger's Principles of Economics, and Eugen von Böhm-Bawerk's Capital and Interest, this work was a major contribution to economic theory.

Its first English translation was published in 1934, and Part Four was added by Mises to the English language edition in 1953. In this work, Mises looks at the nature and value of money, and its effect on determining monetary policy. Included is his regression theorem, that tries to explain why money is demanded in its own right, as moneys at first glance do not serve a consumable need. Mises explained that moneys only can come about after there has been a demand for the money commodity in a barter economy.read the story....

Man, Economy, and State:

A Treatise on Economic Principles, first published in 1962, is a book on economics by Murray Rothbard, and is one of the most important books in the Austrian School of economics (others are Ludwig von Mises' The Theory of Money and Credit and Human Action). Economist Walter Block has described this volume as "excruciatingly brilliant.

" Wendy McElroy credits the book as being "solely responsible for turning [her] from the advocacy of limited government to a lifetime of work within the individualist-anarchist tradition."

When originally published in 1962, the final eight chapters were removed for political reasons; these were finally published as Power and Market in 1970. The 2004 edition published by the Ludwig von Mises Institute combines both books in a single volume. This book provides a discussion of both microeconomics and macroeconomics.

To calculate the prices of everything from airfare to books to hotel prices into their home currency, aiding your decision-making.

related articles:


Financial Changes

World Market Watch

Real-Time Stock Symbol Tweets

Real-Time Stock Market Tweets

Real-Time Stock Symbol News

Crude Oil

Currency Converter

Currency Converter

Currency Converter

Make your Realistic Budgeting

A realistic budget is your best weapon against overspending.

If you want to keep your spending under control, it's essential that you make a budget. A budget allows you to get a handle on the flow of your money -- how much you make and how much you spend. With that information in hand, you can make intelligent choices about what to buy with your hard-earned cash.
Make a List of Your Expenses

The first step in making a realistic budget is figuring out where your money goes. To keep track, make an expense record.

Limitations of computer programs.
Unfortunately, most computer programs that track expenses only analyze your check or credit card payments -- they don't record your cash outlays.

Make your own expense record.
Rather than relying on a computer program, keep track of your expenses in a low-tech but comprehensive way: with some paper and a pen. Here's how:

1. Use one sheet of paper per week to record your expenses for two months. By doing this, you'll avoid creating a budget based on a week or a month of unusually high or low expenses.
2. Begin recording your expenses on the first day of a month.
3. Create seven columns on the page, one for each day of the week. Record the date at the top of each column.
4. Carry that sheet with you at all times.
5. Record every expense you pay by cash or cash equivalent -- check, ATM or debit card, or automatic bank withdrawal. When you make a payment on a credit card bill, list the items paid for.
6. At the end of the week, put away the sheet and take out another. Go back to Step 3.
7. At the end of the two months, list seasonal, annual, semi-annual, or quarterly expenses you incur but did not pay during your two-month recording period. The most common are property taxes, car registration and maintenance, magazine subscriptions, tax preparation fees, insurance payments, and seasonal expenses such as summer camp fees or holiday gifts.

related articles:

Net Income
Commodities and Futures
World Market Watch
Best of way to do when making your Budget

Real-Time Stock Symbol Tweets

Stocks News Stock Info

related articles:

World Market Watch
Real-Time Stock Market Tweets
Real-Time Stock Symbol News
Crude Oil

Real-Time Stock Market Tweets

Stock Info Market Monitor

Demand to see your credit score

Experian's refusal to let consumers see their FICO scores, even for a price, hands more power to lenders. Lawmakers might end this outrage -- if we give them a push.

By Liz Pulliam Weston
MSN Money
After years of inaction and neglect, Washington is finally getting serious about protecting people from abusive credit card practices. Consider:

President Barack Obama last week summoned credit card executives to the White House and signaled that credit card reform is on his agenda.

Meanwhile, the "Credit Cardholders' Bill of Rights" is heading for another vote in the House of Representatives.

Regulators already have imposed significant new restrictions on card issuers, although those won't go into effect until mid-2010.

Reforms are long overdue. But all sides are missing a golden opportunity to protect people from abusive credit bureau practices, specifically the bureaus' ability to cut off our access to our own FICO credit scores.

In February, I wrote about how Experian suddenly had decided not to sell FICO scores to consumers anymore, although it continues to sell the scores to lenders. That decision, which has yet to be challenged by regulators or lawmakers, conceals from consumers a vital piece of their credit information.

Crackdown on the credit card industry

You no longer have any idea, before you apply for a mortgage, what kind of interest rate to expect. That's because most mortgage lenders use the middle of your three credit bureau FICO scores to determine rates and terms. Without access to all three FICOs, you can't know what your middle score might be.

You're also at a disadvantage if you are dealing with a lender that subscribes to only one bureau and you live in the western half of the U.S. Lenders that use just one bureau tend to use the one that specializes in their region: for Experian, it's the West and Midwest; Equifax dominates the South and TransUnion the Northeast.

And it's simply unfair that information gathered specifically about you and used for profit is unavailable to you, yet can affect so many corners of your life.

Dow off 51 as swine-flu fears hit stocks

By Charley Blaine and Elizabeth Strott
MSN
Investors dump airline and cruise stocks, worrying that travelers will skip trips to Mexico and the United States. GM will cut 21,000 jobs and slash 40% of dealerships; bondholders are unhappy. Bank stocks drop ahead of stress test results.

Stocks finished lower today because of the swine flu outbreak in Mexico and United States. But the damage was not nearly as bad as feared.

Hotel and airline stocks and the shares of pork producers were hit hard by the news, and financial stocks dropped on economic fears and worries about how much new capital the companies may need.

But as futures trading overnight had suggested, the day could have been much, much worse.

The Dow Jones industrials ($INDU) ended down 51 points, or 0.6%, to 8,025.
The Standard & Poor's 500 Index ($INX) fell 9 points, or 1%, to 856.
The Nasdaq Composite Index ($COMPX) slipped 15 points, or 0.9%, to 1,679.
The Nasdaq-100 Index ($NDX.X), which tracks the largest Nasdaq stocks, slipped 3 points, or 0.2%, to 1,370.

The selling continued a pattern in force since the market rally began on March 10: Stocks have fallen in six of the last seven Mondays and have moved higher at the end of each week.

The market found support near two key levels: The Dow dropped below 8,000 at 1:50 p.m. and quickly rebounded. The S&P 500 finished fairly close to 860. The Dow

While the swine flu outbreak hit travel and a number of food stocks, it boosted shares of the makers of drugs that can help prevent catching the disease.

The worries spread to energy stocks, pushing the price of crude oil lower, and added to the worries about how long the recession will last.

The downturn came despite a 20.7% gain -- to $2.06 -- in shares of General Motors (GM, news, msgs), which announced a new restructuring plan. GM's gain was the largest among the 30 Dow stocks.

Meanwhile, financial stocks were lower on worries about whether the government's stress test will force several large regional banks to raise new capital.
Regions Financial (RF, news, msgs) was down 11.7% to $4.91; KeyCorp (KEY, news, msgs) fell 12% to $6.16.

related articles:

World Market Watch
Real-Time Stock Symbol Tweets
Real-Time Stock Market Tweets
Real-Time Stock Symbol News
World Market Watch

Financial Changes

Consider larger financial changes.
If you continually come up short, you may need to consider some larger changes. For example, you might sell your newer car for an older used car to free yourself from car payments. As you make adjustments to your budget, give careful thought to your priorities. Think about what you value, and be honest with yourself.

Make Adjustments

Review your budget and make adjustments.
Check your figures periodically. If you never have enough money to make ends meet, it's time to adjust some more. Or, if you constantly overspend in one area, change the projected amount for that category and trim the money from another category.

Make a List

Preserve things you cannot live without.
Make a list of things you feel you can't live without, and whittle down your other expenses to accommodate them. For example, you may decide to give up most of your magazine and newspaper subscriptions because you know you'd go nuts if you couldn't go to the movies once a week. If you make room for at least some of the things you love most, you're much more likely to succeed at your plan.