Dow down 416 pts! - Why?

The Dow Jones Industrial Average went down 416 points on Tuesday because in China the market went down 9%. It interuppted the equilibrium that everyone was in and effected my stocks as well. This disaster brought 416 pts on the Jones Dow making many companies loose millions of dollars. A lot of people sold most of their stocks causing it to decline. The China and U.S are close trading partners and the decrease in China affected the U.S as well. It wasn't as bad as the other famous declines such as the stock market crash during the Great Depression, when all of America fell into depth. During this time, my stocks are doing pretty well because I didn't buy much to begin with, but after everything becomes normal again I might buy more stocks.

Opportunity Costs

Opportunity cost is the cost we pay when we give up something to get something else. Many other ways we give up something to gain a similar profit.

Some examples of oppurtunity costs would be like if you have a job and you give up work to work in another firm to help your family out, ending up making the same amount of money. Or you could just sleep in. Opportunity cost is the most desirable thing given up not the aggregate of the things we gave up.

Types of Economic Systems.

The following as defined by :


-Traditional Economies: A traditional economic system is one in which people's economic roles are the same as those of their parents and grandparents. It's kind of a family economic system which ancestors have installed and future generations carry on, like planting and plowing fields.

-Centrally Planned (Command) Economy: In a command economic system, the main decision maker is the government. The government decides what goods and services are to be produced. They also sell the goods and services.

-Market Economy: A market economic system is one in which a nation's economic decisions are the result of individual decisions by buyers and sellers in the marketplace. People risk the money that they have saved or borrowed in the hope that they will be successful.

-Mixed Economy: Are made up of with some free enterprise and some government ownership. It is usually defined as an economy that contains both private owned and state owned enterprises. Combines socialism and capitalism.

The difference between communism and socialism is that communism is when the government owns and operates almost all of the nation's means of production. While in socialism the government owns and operates many of the nation's major industries-such as banks, airlines, railroads, and power plants-but allows individuals to own other businesses, including stores, farms, and factories.

Stock Market Game - 1 - Initial Investment Strategy

My strategies for the stock market game is to make alot of money and not spend all of it at the same time. The first stocks I want to buy is the HOTT stock which is the Hot Topic stock because I work there and it would be interesting to see the flow. I am considering to buy quite a few stocks that are big right now such as Apple, Google and Pepsi. I might consider buying a mutual fund as well. It's kind of like gambling and I'm willing to take risks, maybe I'll get something positive out of it.Penny stocks seem interesting and I might consider it. One of the reasons I want to win and earn the highest pecentage is because I want to get that 100 at the end of the term added to my grade, which will also bring up my average. This seems like an exciting game :)