In my experimentation and trials and tribulations with this game I have found this basic strategy to be the most helpful/useful.
Military expansion, up to you, personally I don't do it. Taking that into account I bump Defense Spending, Army and Navy Maintenance to minimal. Set Education to whatever you like and if you feel it necessary, which I do, set crime to something, some will say don't raise it, I however do raise it. I set my poor tax at 55% or so, and middle and upper class taxes to 49.22%. I also max my tariffs. After doing this hopefully your country will be making at least some profit which will allow you to build a cash reserve to further improve your economy.
Military expansion, up to you, personally I don't do it. Taking that into account I bump Defense Spending, Army and Navy Maintenance to minimal. Set Education to whatever you like and if you feel it necessary, which I do, set crime to something, some will say don't raise it, I however do raise it. I set my poor tax at 55% or so, and middle and upper class taxes to 49.22%. I also max my tariffs. After doing this hopefully your country will be making at least some profit which will allow you to build a cash reserve to further improve your economy.