Current Events:
House Votes Against Extending Unemployment Benefits
Transcript by (http://www.newsy.com)
It's a 'Black Friday' without the bargains for the unemployed after House Democrats failed to get enough votes to pass another three-month unemployment benefit extension--a $12.5 billion bill.
Fox News examines both sides of the debate. One contributor says the federal government can't keep picking up the tab for the unemployed while the other side says without benefits, the unemployed will be left out in the cold.
RORY COOPER: "At some point Congress has to come up with a plan. Are we just going to have people on an indefinite spiral of government dependency or are we actually going to create jobs by repealing 'Obamacare' and keeping tax rates where they are."ANDREW STETTNER: "What about the cost of not extending benefits? What is this going to do to counties and towns that are going to have to pick up the cost of people that, frankly, are going to be sleeping in cars on Christmas?"
An article for Utah-based The Spectrum says Congress will likely overturn the vote before breaking for the holidays because it can't justify extending the Bush tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and cutting off benefits for the unemployed just before Christmas.
"The House and Senate are playing hardball and setting their spine for the next two years, which promise to be as dangerous as a rattlesnake in a playpen. [The unemployed] don't figure into their equation. We're the chits they pass back and forth as they bargain and barter for position and power."
A writer for U.S. News says Democrats point the finger at Republicans for blocking the benefits extension, but that message could backfire.
"They've tried it every time these extensions have come up, trundling out tired 'Republicans-are-mean' press releases. Instead, voters got the message that as difficult as choices like these are, Republicans are not interested in adding to the deficit."
Ross Eisenbrey writes in Politico-- Republicans and even some Democrats think workers treat unemployment benefits like a paid vacation, losing motivation to look for work. But Eisenbrey says that argument makes no sense when there aren't even enough jobs for the unemployed to fill.
"Four [out of five won't find work]— no matter how hard they try and no matter how desperate they are. Ending long-term unemployment compensation means that millions of unemployed workers are likely to be cut off from their only means of support... It won't create a single job. It only punishes workers...
So, are lawmakers just a bunch of scrooges, or is it time for the unemployed to fend for themselves?
For Wednesday be sure to consult our Ch. 2 Sec. 3 American Free Enterprise Quiz Prep page.
Chapter 3
Section 1 Forms of Business Organization, p. 61
My Own Business: A course on how to start a business
Chapter 3: Business Organizations
Self-Check Quizzes
Crossword Puzzle
Vocabulary eFlashcards
Show Business is the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston's learning activity on economics and the entertainment industry. The goal is to provide an additional tool for teaching and learning about basic economic concepts, with some economic history snuck in.
Cf. http://www.bos.frb.org/entertainment/index.htm
A music video from School House Rock on investing and Wall Street.
Cf. http://www.shmoop.com/corporations-stocks/botw/resources?d=http://www.gamequarium.org/cgi-bin/search/linfo.cgi?id=3797
Ch. 3 Sec. 2 Business Growth and Expansion
Honors Business Economics Chapter 3 Section 2 Business Growth and Expansion
Growth Through Reinvestment
Main Idea
Growth Through Mergers
In-class assignment: Critical Thinking, Comparing and Contrasting
Working with a partner, choose two businesses to compare (for example, a large grocery chain versus a small neighborhood market, Starbucks versus Dunkin' Donuts, any two restaurants, etc.)
Create a chart with the following headings:
Price
Selection
Knowledgeable Staff
Speed of Service, and so on.
Compare the two of these and any other categories that you think worthwhile to consider.
Chapter 3 Section 3 Nonprofit Organizations
Overview
Economic organizations, such as schools, medical care facilities, and churches, operate like a business, but on a not-for-profit basis to further the benefit of a cause or the welfare of the members. One example is the cooperative, or co-op, a voluntary association formed to carry on some kind of economic activity or benefit its owners. The labor union is another example. Even government can play a direct role in the economy when it produces goods and services. Also, the government plays an indirect role when it grants money in the form of unemployment payments, Social Security, or welfare in order to give some groups purchasing power that they would not otherwise have. In each case, the benefits of a government action or policy should outweigh its costs.
Guide to Reading
Section Preview
Content Vocabulary
nonprofit organization
In-class assignment: working with a partner, fill out the remainder of the chart.
cooperative
co-op
credit union
A non-profit depository institution chartered by the National Credit Union Administration that was established to provide members of specific group, such as employees of a company, with low-cost banking services. However, credit unions have expanded their activities and now provide most of the services of traditional banks, including checkable deposits.
Promo piece for Cooperative Credit Union but typical of many organized along these lines, 2:26
labor union
An organization of workers or employees who act jointly to negotiate with their employers over wages, fringe benefits, working conditions, and other facets of employment. The main function of unions is to provide a balance for the market control exerted over labor by big business.
3 Reasons Public Sector Employees are Killing the Economy, 2:56
In-class assignment: what are the three reasons the public sector is killing the economy according to the video?
collective bargaining
The negotiation process between a union and the company that employs the union's members -- usually going by the moniker of management. The purpose of collective bargaining is to find mutual agreement on wages, fringe benefits, workhours, promotion criteria, grievance procedures, and everything else that has to do with employment. The end result of this process is a collective bargaining agreement, which is a formal contract between management and the union. A negotiation process that breaks down without reaching an agreement might lead to a strike, lockout, or mediation.
professional association
chamber of commerce
Better Business Bureau
A group of businesses and organizations in a local community that seek to eliminate unethical business practices and protect consumers. The first Better Business Bureau was established in 1912 in Minnesota. Today, most local communities (read this as cities) throughout North America have Better Business Bureaus. This private response to questionable business practices should be compare with the government response, the Federal Trade Commission.
public utility
The common term for a firm that provides and important (what some deem as essential) good or service primarily in and urban area and often through the use of an extensive distribution network. Common examples of public utilities are those that produce, provide, and/or distribute electricity, natural gas, local telephone services, cable television services, water, garbage collection, and sewage processing. A key feature is that capital requirements mean that public utilities tend to be natural monopolies. One firm can generally provide the services at a lower average cost that two or more firms. For this reason, public utilities tend to be either government owned and operated or heavily regulated by government.
Academic Vocabulary
Reading Strategy
People in the News
Katrina Volunteer Vacation
Community Organizations and Cooperatives
Main Idea
Community Organizations
Cooperatives
Reading Check
Explaining
How Does a Cooperative Work?
Labor, Professional, and Business Organizations
Labor Unions
Professional Associations
Business Associations
Reading Check
Summarizing
How do professional associations help their members?
Careers
Sociologist
Government
Direct Role of Government
Indirect Role of Government
Reading Check
Evaluating
Do you think one government role is more important than another? Why?
Business Week News clip
Ocean Spray's Creative Juices
In-class assignment: Use a graphic organizer like the one below to identify the different types of nonprofit organizations.
References
Forming Operating a Non-Profit Organization: Overview of a Non-Profit Organization, :51
Watch an introduction to non-profit organizations in this free business start up video from a management expert on non-profit organizations.
Bio: Jim Goettler has extensive experience with organizations requiring a wide variety of management and interpersonal skills including special event coordination, volunteer management, and fiscal oversight.
Filmmaker: Daron Stetner
3 Reasons Public Sector Employees are Killing the Economy
As unemployment stubbornly sticks near 10 percent and any sort of economic recovery seems a long way off, think about this: The one part of the economy that's going gangbusters is government work. Indeed, since the Great Recession started in December 2007, over 8 million jobs have been lost in the private sector while the public sector has added at least 100,000 positions.Ian Hunter, How's Your House, New Orleans Musicians Relief Fund, 4:30
It's time to recognize that public-sector employment is killing the economy for at least three reasons:
1. They cost too much. As USA Today recently noted, federal employees make on average almost $8,000 more than their private-sector counterparts. When you add in benefits, the gap spreads to about $30,000. State and local government workers make around the same as private-sector counterparts, but their health and retirement packages mean they make significantly more in the end.
2. We can't fire them. The private sector has shed positions in response to slackening demand and the economic downturn. That sort of adjustment is painful but necessary, as it allows the economy to adjust to changing circumstances and workers and employers to move into new activities. Because it is guaranteed certain amounts of tax revenue and has a non-market mind-set, the public sector is largely insulated from such forces and keeps or even adds workers despite changed conditions. The result? We keep paying for things that we don't use, need, or want.
3. They create a permanent lobby for expanded government and higher taxes. Look at California, where teacher unions have spent over $211 million dollars on elections in the past decade. One result is that 40 percent of California's budget must be spent on education, regardless of the number and needs of students. Over the last 10 years, taxpayer contributions to public-sector pension funds has increased by 2000 percent!
Such sort of tax-based gladhanding is just getting started.
For the first time in history, the number of public-sector union employees is greater than those in the private sector, so expect to see even more lobbying for the sorts of mandatory raises and permanent job security that most of us can only dream of.
Because the public sector gets its pay and benefits from tax dollars and public debt, every thing it gets means there's less for the rest of us to save, invest, or pay workers with.
With the federal government and most states already neck-deep in red ink, it's time to cut public-sector pay and payrolls and return more money to the private sector. That will help spur the sort of investment and innovation that will get the economy moving and end the recession far faster than paying more and more money to government workers.
"3 Reasons Public-Sector Employees Are Killing The Economy" is produced by Meredith Bragg and Nick Gillespie, who also hosts.
Ian Hunter's "How's Your House" is Downloadable at NOMRF.org to help displaced musicians. Song Courtesy of Yep Roc Records, Video by Grewvia.
References
Figure 3.4 Growth Through Reinvestment, p. 73
Cf. http://glencoe.com/sites/common_assets/socialstudies/in_motion_08/epp/EPP_p73.swf
Corporations: warning, there is one PG-13 word in this video if you use it for reference or if you prefer not to view; it is not required viewing.
According to this video, what is a corporation? What is it composed of? What sort of characteristics are typical of a corporation?
Preview
Unit 2
Prices and Markets
Chapter 4 Demand
(Supply and) Demand, 4:52
Why It Matters
The Big Idea
Section 1 What is Demand?
The demand for a good or service is defined to be the relationship that exists between the price of the good and the quantity demanded in a given time period, ceteris paribus (other things being equal).
Guide to Reading
Section Preview
Content Vocabulary
demand
microeconomics
market economy
demand schedule
demand curve
Deriving the Demand Curve, 2:09
Law of Demand
Introduction to the law of demand, and what it means, 4:44
market demand curve
marginal utility
diminishing marginal utility
Diminishing Marginal Utility, 4:15
Academic Vocabulary
prevail
inversely
Reading Strategy
Products in the News
Wrist Watch
An Introduction to Demand
Main Idea
Economics and You
Demand Illustrated
The Individual Demand Schedule
The Individual Demand Curve
Reading Check
Interpreting
How do you react to a change in the price of an item? How does this illustrate the concept of demand?
The Law of Demand
Main Idea
Economics and You
Why We Call It a "Law"
The Market Demand Curve
Reading Check
Explaining
How does the market demand curve reflect the Law of Demand?
Demand and Marginal Utility
Main Idea
Economics and You
Reading Check
Describing
How does the principle of diminishing marginal utility explain the price we pay for another unit of a good or service?
Review
HW email to gmsmith@shanahan.org or hand in hard copy.
Monday HW
1. (If not done already), p. 86, #21-23;
2. p. 86, #24-26.
For Wednesday be sure to consult our Ch. 2 Sec. American Free Enterprise Quiz Prep page.
Quiz Wednesday Ch. 2 Sec. 3 American Free Enterprise
