Current Events:
Congressman Michael Brady scolded Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner during a testy hearing on Capitol Hill, telling the former New York Fed chief that he should never have been hired and demanding that the TARP program come to an abrupt end, shortly after GOP Rep. Kevin Brady had called on Geithner to resign.
“The public has lost all confidence in your ability to do the job,” Brady told Geithner during a heated Joint Economic Committee meeting, adding that he had failed to oversee an economic recovery before asking Geithner, “Will you step down from your post?”
Geithner responded by claiming that confidence in the economy was substantially stronger than before Obama took office, to which Brady responded, “Tell all of that to the millions of American who no longer have jobs because of your decisions,” adding, “At some point you have to take some responsibility for your decisions.”
“This is your budget! This is your bailout”, shouted Brady.
Obama pledged to create 3.5 million new jobs by 2010, however, with unemployment running at 10.2 per cent, and with 3.5 million jobs lost, the Obama jobs deficit stands at over 7 million.
Shortly after the fracas, Rep. Michael Burgess confronted Geithner on how TARP funds were used to bail out banks in Europe while the American people suffered with spiraling mortgage defaults and unemployment.
“We’ve got the TARP, it’s supposed to expire, why won’t we let it die a natural death rather than letting it painfully linger?” asked Burgess, to which Geithner responded, “We are working to put TARP out of its misery,” contradicting reports of a “second stimulus” being planned for early 2010.
Geithner’s claim that he was working aggressively to terminate TARP programs was met with Burgess’ response, “Well it looks like money is going out with little or no oversight,” which Geithner denied, despite the fact that Fed chairman Ben Bernanke admitted earlier this year that he didn’t know which foreign banks had received over half a trillion dollars in credit swaps when pressed by Congressman Alan Grayson, who this week introduced an amendment with Ron Paul to secure more oversight on money leaving the U.S. earmarked for foreign banks.
Burgess stressed that small businesses were frightened of adding jobs because they were worried about the potential costs of health care, regulation and the impact of the cap and trade program, stating, “We don’t need another stimulus, we need to provide some tax relief and then get the heck out of the way and the American economy will recover as it has always done.”
Referring to Brady’s comments, Burgess commented, “I don’t think that you should be fired, I thought you should never have been hired.”
“I’ll tell you, my constituents, they’re not just anxious, they are mad, they are fighting mad about what is happening in the economy, they’re fighting mad about what is happening in the stimulus,” concluded Burgess.
Be sure to note on our class calendar, a Test is scheduled for Thursday, Ch. 5 Elasticity, 50 Questions, multiple choice.
Chapter 5 Elasticity
The concept of elasticity is thoroughly covered in this chapter, from the definition, to the calculation, and finally to the application. Price elasticity of demand is covered first, followed by income and price elasticities. The price elasticity of supply is covered, and the chapter concludes with an analysis of tax burdens based on differences in the price elasticities of demand and supply.
We can re-assemble in our small groups to discuss and answer.
If you join Dabbleboard (Cf. http://www.dabbleboard.com/); you can draw your graphs online instead of on the board. You can share graphs and chat online as well as use Dabbleboard for your Small Group collaborations.
Post any questions on the content now that we reviewed the material:
Ch. 5 Objective Review
We are working towards the Test, Ch. 5 Multiple choice; and, we can begin Chapter 6.
Chapter 6 Overview Consumer Choice and Demand
The analysis of consumer choice in this chapter begins with the consideration of the
budget line. Total and marginal utility are then introduced and discussed, and an
incremental process is detailed through which a hypothetical consumer (and the
students) can see the utility-maximizing combination of two goods. The derivation
of the demand curve is then presented and the chapter concludes with a discussion
of consumer surplus. For instructors who wish to use indifference curves in the
analysis of consumer optimization, a detailed appendix is provided.
Ch. 6, Consumer Choice and Demand, PowerPoint presentation.
Handout Ch. 6 questions
HW: gmsmith@shanahan.org
1. Study for what is noted on our class calendar, a Test is scheduled for Thursday, Ch. 5 Elasticity, 50 Questions, multiple choice.
2. In Chapter 6, answer the two Checkpoint questions, p. 147 & pp. 152-153.
