More Cool Tools

One of the things we really like here at Political Calculations^(TM) is when someone else has done the heavy lifting and built tools to do practical math (well, okay, we also like it when they do impractical math too, but only if it's entertaining!) Here are some great tools developed at other places:

How Much Is That?

Did you ever wonder how much a U.S. dollar printed in 1885 would be able to buy today? Or what the price of gold was in any year between 1257 and 2001? Or finding out historic GDP data? Samuel H. Williamson, the economic historian behind eh.net, has put together a great set of tools lets the user answer these questions and more.

Global Financial Data

Keeping on the economic data trend, a great free source of historic data is available in the sample indices at this site, which includes various stock and bond market performance data (total return, yields, etc.)

HomeFair

A long-time favorite, recently redesigned. Organized for the individual getting set to move, HomeFair offers a number of great tools that are conveniently organized in the site's left-hand menu. Tools include regional cost of living comparisons, moving cost estimators, renting versus buying calculators, home affordability, and even a unique lifestyle optimizer, which you may use to find the areas of the U.S. most compatible with yourself!