Tuesday, April 20, 2010

WH II Honors: 21 April 2010

Prayer
Current Events:

The Truth About Germany: Multiculturalism

In this week's episode, our roving reporter Michael Wigge dispels notions about the stereotypical German by looking at the more than 15 million people living in Germany who hail from a different ethnic background. To get a first-hand look at multiculturalism as experienced in Germany, Wigge goes straight to the capital Berlin which is home to residents from 190 different countries. He meets the German soul, hip-hop and reggae band "Culcha Candela" whose 7 members come from 5 different countries and speak four different languages. He also explores Berlin's working-class neighborhood Wedding where one in three inhabitants are either foreign-born or second-generation immigrants. Here he asks Germans as well as members of the country's largest ethnic minority group, the Turkish community, how much they actually know about one another.





Chapter 17 The West Between the Wars 1919-1939

The Rise of Dictators

Read a detailed account of the life of Hitler

Cf. http://library.thinkquest.org/19092/hitler.html

Test yourself on how Hitler came to power

Cf. http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/riseofhitler/index.htm

Nazi propaganda posters: Election, Sower of peace, 'One People, One Nation, One Leader,' Saving for a Volkswagen, Jews, Anti-Bolshevism.

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nazi_propaganda_gallery.shtml

Hitler and His Views Cf. http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/iText/products/0-13-133374-7/audio.html?fname=audio/audio_WH07Y03252.mov

Rise of Nazism
Victory of Nazism

The Nazi State

The State and Terror

Once in power, Hitler and the Nazis moved to build a new Germany. Like Mussolini, Hitler appealed to nationalism by recalling past glories. Germany’s First Reich, or empire, was the medieval Holy Roman Empire. The Second Reich was the empire forged by Bismarck in 1871. Under Hitler’s new Third Reich, he boasted, the German master race would dominate Europe for a thousand years.

To achieve his goals, Hitler organized an efficient but brutal totalitarian rule. Nazis controlled all areas of German life—from government to religion to education. Elite, black-uniformed system of troops, called the SS, enforced the Führer’s will. His secret police, the Gestapo (guh stah poh), rooted out opposition. The masses, relieved by belief in the Nazis’ promises, cheered Hitler’s accomplishments in ending unemployment and reviving German power. Those who worried about Hitler’s terror apparatus quickly became its victims or were cowed into silence in fear for their own safety.

Economic Policies

To combat the Great Depression, Hitler launched large public works programs (as did Britain and the United States). Tens of thousands of people were put to work building highways and housing or replanting forests. Hitler also began a crash program to rearm Germany and schemed to unite Germany and Austria. Both measures were a strong repudiation, or rejection, of the hated Versailles treaty.

Spectacles and Organizations

To build for the future, the Nazis indoctrinated young people with their ideology. In passionate speeches, the Führer spewed his message of racism. He urged young Germans to destroy their so-called enemies without mercy. On hikes and in camps, the “Hitler Youth” pledged absolute loyalty to Germany and undertook physical fitness programs to prepare for war. School courses and textbooks were rewritten to reflect Nazi racial views.

Triumph of the Will - Hitler Youth Rally 2


Fr Joseph Ratzinger, a priest amidst the Nazis


When Joseph Ratzinger was a child, Cardinal Michael von Faulhaber of Munich visited his parish. Young Joseph was so impressed that he set out to become either an artist or a Cardinal when he grew up.

Those first impressions led to playing with the idea of becoming priest.

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger, the Pope's brother

"We had a small house altar, which our uncle had made for us. We also had paraments, albs that is, and tunicals. The seamstress who sowed the dresses for my mother and my sister, sewed these paraments, practically tunicals for us. It was great fun. And we paid attention to how it is done in church, to be able to re-enact it as accurately as possible."

The age of fun and games was over and soon the time came for big decisions. In 1939, at the age of only 12, Joseph Ratzinger entered the Freising seminary.

There he lived through the most difficult years of World War II. One of the consequences of the war was the interruption of the school year.

In 1943, 16-year-old Joseph was called up to duty, like all his fellow classmates and friends, and assigned tasks in Munich's anti-aircraft defense.

One night, an SS official woke everyone up in the barracks where the soldiers were sleeping. Playing on their fear and fatigue, the official tried to convince them to enroll as volunteers in the SS. Joseph said no because he wanted to become a priest. The official humiliated and made fun of him.

Monsignor Thomas Frauenlob
Former dean, Minor Seminary, Traunstein, Germany
"He always said that his calling to become priest came very early. But it was in this confrontation with National Socialism, this huge lie which took hold, that he moved to becoming a priest."

When we returned to Freising after the war in January 1946, his seminary was in ruins. That's why the first task for future priests was to rebuild it.

Monsignor Georg Ratzinger
Pope's brother
"Rebuild is saying too much. It was very seriously damaged, run-down and dirty. But there my brother and I helped rebuild it."

They studied hard in the seminary in Freising and later at the University of Munich until June 29, 1951, when Cardinal Faulhaber, the same man that so impressed Ratzinger as a child, ordained him a priest in the cathedral of Freising.

It was an unforgettable moment that Joseph Ratzinger remembers as the most important day of his life.

The Nazis also sought to purge, or purify, German culture. They denounced modern art, saying that it was corrupted by Jewish influences. They condemned jazz because of its African roots. Instead, the Nazis glorified old German myths such as those re-created in the operas of Richard Wagner (vahg nur).

Hitler despised Christianity as “weak” and “flabby.” He sought to replace religion with his racial creed. To control the churches, the Nazis combined all Protestant sects into a single state church. They closed Catholic schools and muzzled the Catholic clergy. Although many clergy either supported the new regime or remained silent, some courageously spoke out against Hitler.

—Martin Niemöller, quoted in Time magazine

Martin Niemöller, a Lutheran minister, preached against ruthless Nazi policies and was ultimately jailed. He later observed:

“[The Nazis] came first for the Communists, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Communist. Then they came for the Jews, and I didn’t speak up because I wasn’t a Jew. Then they came for the Catholics, and I didn’t speak up because I was a Protestant. Then they came for me, and by that time there was no one left to speak up.”

Cf. http://www.pearsonsuccessnet.com/snpapp/iText/products/0-13-133374-7/audio.html?fname=audio/audio_WH07Y03233.mov

Women and Nazism

Like Fascists in Italy, Nazis sought to limit women’s roles. Women were dismissed from upper-level jobs and turned away from universities. To raise the birthrate, Nazis offered “pure-blooded Aryan” women rewards for having more children. Still, Hitler’s goal to keep women in the home and out of the workforce applied mainly to the privileged. As German industry expanded, women factory workers were needed.

To understand this material, refer to the Women in Nazi Germany diagram.

Anti-Semitic Policies

In his fanatical anti-Semitism, Hitler set out to drive Jews from Germany. In 1935, the Nazis passed the Nuremberg Laws, which deprived Jews of German citizenship and placed severe restrictions on them. They were prohibited from marrying non-Jews, attending or teaching at German schools or universities, holding government jobs, practicing law or medicine, or publishing books. Nazis beat and robbed Jews and roused mobs to do the same. Many German Jews fled, seeking refuge in other countries.

On November 7, 1938, a young Jew whose parents had been mistreated in Germany shot and wounded a German diplomat in Paris. Hitler used the incident as an excuse to stage an attack on all Jews. Kristallnacht (krih stahl nahkt), or the “Night of Broken Glass,” took place on November 9 and 10. Nazi-led mobs attacked Jewish communities all over Germany, Austria, and the annexed portions of Czechoslovakia. Before long, Hitler and his henchmen were making even more sinister plans for what they called the “Final Solution”—the extermination of all Jews.

To understand this material, refer to the
Jews in Nazi Germany diagram.

Reading Check

Summarizing

What steps did Hitler take to establish a Nazi totalitarian state in Germany?

Preview

Section 4 Cultural and Intellectual Trends

Mass Culture: Radio and Movies

Reading Check

Explaining

Why was the radio an important propaganda tool for the Nazis?

Mass Leisure

Reading Check

Examining

How did the "Strength through Joy" program help to support the Nazi regime?

Artistic and Literary Trends

Art: Nightmares and New Visions

Literature: The Search for the Unconscious

Reading Check

Examining

Why were artists and writers after World War I attracted to Freud's theory of the unconscious?

The Heroic Age of Physics

Reading Check

Explaining

How did Heisenberg's uncertainty principle challenge the Newtonian worldview?

Ch. 17 References


The Great Depression

Photo Essay on the Great Depression

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/tools/browser12.html

Diaries of people who lived during the Depression

Cf. http://teacher.scholastic.com/activities/our_america/great_depression/

People and events of the Dust Bowl

Cf. http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/americanexperience/films/dustbowl/

Original photographs from the times

Cf. http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fatop1.html

Cf. Click on links to view original documents from Mussolini's life and times.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g3/

Weimar:

Cf.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/weimaract.shtml

Nazis:

Cf.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/germany/nazisact.shtml


Click on "Germany Image Gallery" for the slideshow.

Cf. http://www.worldwar2database.com/cgi-bin/slideviewer.cgi?list=preludegermany.slides

Read a detailed account of the life of Hitler

Cf. http://library.thinkquest.org/19092/hitler.html

Test yourself on how Hitler came to power

Cf. http://www.schoolhistory.co.uk/lessons/riseofhitler/index.htm

Nazi propaganda posters: Election, Sower of peace, 'One People, One Nation, One Leader,' Saving for a Volkswagen, Jews, Anti-Bolshevism.

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwtwo/nazi_propaganda_gallery.shtml

Soviet Russia

Stalin and Industrialization of the USSR
See original documents and learn more about Stalin's methods.

Cf. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/education/heroesvillains/g4/

View Soviet posters

Cf. http://www.internationalposter.com/country-primers/soviet-posters.aspx

Review Stalin's takeover of power from the BBC:

Cf. http://www.bbc.co.uk/schools/gcsebitesize/history/mwh/russia/stalinsact.shtml

Find out more about jazz

Cf. http://www.smithsonianjazz.org/class/whatsjazz/wij_start.asp

Hitler Youth Anthem: Es zittern die morschen Knochen

This is the official song of the youth wing of the NSDAP, the Hitler Youth.


Television broadcasting in The Third Reich


Joseph Goebbels - Götterdämmerung (Wagner)


Hitler Speeches and Wagner Music, from the documentary "Triumph of the Will", footages of Hitler's speeches with Wagner (Ride of the Valkyries).


How To Take Effective Notes
Email to gmsmith@shanahan.org

Wednesday: p. 551, Connecting to the Past, #1-3

AP Economics: 21 April 2010

Prayer
Current Events (none today):




The 50 Question Ch. 20 Multiple Choice Test is today. Put your name on both the Scantron and the Test; you may write on the Test. If you finish early you may take out non-Economic material.

We will pick up where we began in Chapter 25.

Chapter Overview
This chapter presents the analysis of absolute and comparative advantage and employs supply and demand analysis to explain the determination of the terms of trade. Arguments regarding free trade and globalization are discussed. The chapter concludes with a section on the dynamics of trade as illustrated by trade in cashmere.
Chapter Outline


Milton Friedman - Free to Choose 1990 - 1 of 5 The Power of the Market PL 2/5


The Dynamics of Trade: Cashmere
Ideas for Capturing Your Classroom Audience

Chapter Checkpoints

The Terms of Trade
Question: When the government imposes a quota on a specific imported product,
who benefits and who loses?

The point is to check that students can: understand the costs and benefits of
restraints on trade and compare the effects of tariffs and quotas.
Arguments Against Free Trade
Question: “The biggest gains in export, imports, employment, and wages all
occurred during the 1990s, which was one of our greatest periods of economic
growth. Thus it is clear that trade benefits both consumers and the economy.”
Evaluate this statement.

The point is to check that students can: understand that trade benefits some and
imposes costs to others. This discussion also highlights the importance of context
in evaluating situations and policies (meaning, what gets attention in a recession
may not get attention when the economy is stronger).
Extended Examples in the Chapter

Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions
Question 4 references a study by Scott C. Bradford, Paul L. Grieco, and Gary Clyde
Hufbauer titled “The Payoff to America from Global Integration,” in C. Fred
Bergsten and the Institute for International Economics, The United States and the
World Economy (Washington: Institute for International Economics, 2005), Chapter
2. A follow-up article is available on the Institute’s site at http://www.petersoninstitute.
org/publications/papers/paper.cfm?ResearchID=738.
For Further Analysis
Comparing the Welfare Effects of Tariffs and Quotas
This example, as presented in the student handout at the end of this chapter, can be used as a small group exercise or as an individual exercise. It is designed to complement the text’s material on the effects of tariffs and quotas. It requires students to employ the welfare analysis used in previous chapters (you may want to assign the review from Chapter 13 in conjunction with this assignment. The handout focuses on calculating changes in consumer surplus but it is not difficult to extend it to calculations of producer surplus and deadweight losses if you wish.

Tips from a Colleague
Students tend to want simple statements like “free trade is a good thing,” and
sometimes are frustrated with having to weigh the costs and benefits. They also
may not appreciate that the degree of “protectionism” in the United States waxes
and wanes with changing circumstances, particularly having to do with jobs. You
may wish to have students investigate the positions on trade of different members
of Congress by way of making comparisons depending on the interests of the
states they represent.

Cf. http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=ba72470b-90a4-9919-a9db-74c4df1eeead
Remarks by Sen. Specter: A Bill of Rights: Protecting American Workers from Illegal Trade

Based on your understanding of free trade and objections to free trade how do you classify Senator Spector? Is he in favor of free trade or is he protectionist?


References

Milton Friedman - Free to Choose 1990 - 1 of 5 The Power of the Market PL 2/5


Chapter 26 Preview

Chapter 26 Open Economy Macroeconomics
Chapter Overview
After covering the balance of payments, this chapter examines how exchange rates
are determined and then relates them back to the current and capital accounts.
Fixed and flexible exchange rate systems are then discussed in the context of monetary and fiscal policy effectiveness in an open economy.
Chapter Outline
The Balance of Payments
The Current Account
Imports and Exports
Income
Transfers
The Capital Account
Checkpoint: The Balance of Payments
Exchange Rates
Defining Exchange Rates
Nominal Exchange Rates
Real Exchange Rates
Purchasing Power Parity
Exchange Rate Determination
A Market for Foreign Exchange
Flexible Exchange Rates
Currency Appreciation and Depreciation
Determinants of Exchange Rates
Exchange Rates and the Current Account
Changes in Inflation Rates
Changes in Domestic Disposable Income
Exchange Rates and the Capital Account
Interest Rate Changes
Exchange Rate Changes
Exchange Rates and Aggregate Supply and Demand
Checkpoint: Exchange Rates
Monetary and Fiscal Policy in an Open Economy
Fixed and Flexible Exchange Rate Systems
Policies Under Fixed Exchange Rates
Policies Under Flexible Exchange Rates
Checkpoint: Monetary and Fiscal Policy in an Open Economy
Ideas for Capturing Your Classroom Audience
Here is a true story. On a flight from the United States to France the cabin crew
announced that wine, beer, etc. could be purchased for either 5 U.S. dollars or 4
euros. Who got the better deal, the people paying in U.S. currency or the people
paying in euros? This is a very simple example of purchasing power parity.
Play a game of name that currency.Pick a country (or a currency) and see if anyone can identify the currency (or country). Illustrate the various currencies of the world by visiting a Web site such as http://www.x-rates.com/. Among other things, this site provides you with the opportunity to calculate values in different currencies and generate graphs of currencies relative to each other over different periods of time.
Put it in context. Illustrate U.S. International Trade in Goods and Services with
the graph on this Foreign Trade Statistics page from the U.S. Census Bureau. This
will give students an overview of the size of U.S. trade. The page is located at:
http://www.census.gov/indicator/www/ustrade.html.
Trade data is available on the Web site of the Bureau of Economic Analysis at
http://www.bea.gov/International/Index.htm.
Do some international comparison shopping. Visit the Web sites of Amazon.com
in the United States and in the United Kingdom (www.amazon.com.uk). Find the
price in pounds and then translate it to U.S. dollars using the current exchange
rate. You can also do this by pointing out the two prices, one in Canadian dollars
and one in U.S. dollars, listed for greeting cards and paperback books.
Chapter Checkpoints
The Balance of Payments
Question: Ronald McKinnon, writing in the April 20, 2006 issue of The Wall Street
Journal, notes, China's saving is even higher than its own extraordinary high
domestic investment of 40% of GDP. . . . The result is that China (like many other
countries in Asia) naturally runs an overall current account surplus. . . .Why would this be true? (Hint: look back at the discussion on the relationship between federal and trade deficits in the chapter on Deficits and the Public Debt.)

The point is to check that students can: apply the extended “leakages and injections” approach to the analysis of the cited article.
Exchange Rates
Question: If China were to revalue its currency by 10% so in effect the yuan appreciated by 10%, would this have an impact on the U.S. current account?

The point is to check that students can: integrate the understanding of the effect of changes in currency values on imports and exports and therefore on the current account.
Monetary and Fiscal Policy in an Open Economy
Question: The United States seems to rely more on monetary policy to maintain stable prices, low interest rates, low unemployment, and healthy economic growth.
Does the fact that the United States has really embraced global trade (imports and
exports combined are over 25% of gross domestic product) and we have a flexible
(floating) exchange rate help explain why monetary policy seems more important
than fiscal policy?

The point is to check that students can: understand how the exchange rate system
(fixed or flexible) impacts the effectiveness of monetary and fiscal policy.
Examples Used in the End-of-Chapter Questions
Question 2 refers to remittances. For a map illustrating the amounts of remittances to various countries see the Web site of the Multilateral Investment Fund from the Inter-American Development Bank. The site is located on the Web at: http://www.iadb.org/mif/remesas_map.cfm?language=English&parid=5&item1d=2.
Question 4 asks “how are most exchange rates determined?” and the answer is by
supply and demand in free markets. China has been viewed as an exception, but in
2005 the Chinese government took an important step toward allowing its currency
to float. For more information see the story by Peter S. Goodman in The
Washington Post titled, “China Ends Fixed-Rate Currency: Administration Hails
Policy Shift” (July 22, 2005, page A01, available on the Web at: http://www .washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/07/21/AR2005072100351.html.
Question 11 refers to the devaluation of Zimbabwe’s currency in mid-2006. But they
“only” (in simple terms) removed three 0’s. Turkey, in January 2005, took six 0’s off in the “redenomination” of their currency. Learn more about Turkey (and how things have worked out) on this site from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/1833730.stm.
For Further Analysis
Using the AS/AD Model to Explore the Impacts of Changes in the Value of the
Dollar
The example provided in the student handout can be used as an in-class small group
exercise or as an individual in-class exercise. It is designed to complement and
extend the text’s material exchange rates and their effect on the U.S. economy using the AS/AD model. The exercise begins with the analysis described by Figure 4 in the chapter and then has students consider the opposite case (of dollar appreciation).
The exercise concludes asking students to evaluate the differing effects and
address the question of “what’s better” for the U.S. economy: a strong dollar or a
weak dollar?
The format of the exercise asks students to demonstrate their understanding by
analyzing a reverse situation to that described in the text. It also provides a chance to introduce students to the debates about economics and to get them to think about whether appreciation or depreciation is better for an economy and whether it benefits or hurts certain portions of society.
If you wish to elaborate on the analysis you can ask students to consider financial effects such as capital flows and the interest rate; this material is covered in the chapter. You may wish to supplement the assignment with current articles about the value of the dollar and views as to whether the U.S. government should “manage” the dollar more than it does at present. Other points that could be addressed include how long the long run really is and whether the short-run effects may swamp the long run. Stone’s section in microeconomics about the different definitions of time in economics is very useful.
Web-Based Exercise
This example can be used as a small group exercise or as an individual exercise. The exercise provides an opportunity for students to apply the material in the chapter about purchasing power parity and the Big Mac Index to get a feel for forecasting exchange rates. The exercise asks students to look at the Big Mac Index data from some previous period(s) and see if the currencies noted as “overvalued” subsequently depreciated and if those noted as “undervalued” subsequently appreciated.
You can change how extensive this assignment is by adding more past periods of
time or supplementing the Big Mac data with articles about various currencies
explaining the factors affecting them.
Students may also be intrigued by The Economist’s “lattenomics” that uses
Starbucks coffee instead of burgers. A video clip and explanation are among the
resources on the site at http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/Index.cfm.
PPP and the Big Mac
As described in the text, the Big Mac Index published by The Economist has always
been meant to be a humorous and intuitive way to explain purchasing power parity.
However, as simple as it is, the Big Mac Index has been pretty good at predicting the future course of some currencies. Visit the Web site for the Big Mac Index at
http://www.economist.com/markets/Bigmac/Index.cfm and answer the following:
Collect data to answer the following:
1) Pick three currencies that were listed as overvalued at the time and three
that were listed as undervalued. Have those currencies subsequently moved
in the indicated directions?
2) Describe the limitations of the Big Mac Index.

Tips from a Colleague
The most challenging part of this chapter is the material on the current and capital accounts. Students are likely to understand that if we import more than we export we have a trade deficit, but the logic of why this results in a capital account surplus is likely to elude them. You might consider a simple intuitive illustration of swapping goods. Offer to trade an inexpensive stick pen for a student’s hat or other item which has an obviously higher value. Explain that such a direct swap of goods would be similar to imports and exports. When the student suggests that the goods being traded are not equal in value, offer different amounts of money (hypothetically) to make up the difference. Explain that the willingness of someone to take U.S. money to make up the difference is analogous to the increased holdings of U.S. assets by foreigners that make up the capital account.

Email HW to gmsmith@shanahan.org


1. Be sure to review Chapters 20-24 (we will have Tests on this material as well, TBA). Some students have asked to be tested as close as possible after covering the material.

2. Ch. 25

Students tend to want simple statements like “free trade is a good thing,” and
sometimes are frustrated with having to weigh the costs and benefits. They also
may not appreciate that the degree of “protectionism” in the United States waxes
and wanes with changing circumstances, particularly having to do with jobs. You
may wish to have students investigate the positions on trade of different members
of Congress by way of making comparisons depending on the interests of the
states they represent.

Cf. http://specter.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=NewsRoom.NewsReleases&ContentRecord_id=ba72470b-90a4-9919-a9db-74c4df1eeead
Remarks by Sen. Specter: A Bill of Rights: Protecting American Workers from Illegal Trade

Based on your understanding of free trade and objections to free trade how do you classify Senator Spector? Is he in favor of free trade or is he protectionist?

3. As review for HW, typical questions that you may encounter on the actual AP Economics Macro Test are included daily:

Review Questions (Princeton):

12. Kevin wants shoes and grows turnips. Lisa wants turnips and makes sheet metal. Bob wants sheet metal and makes shoes. Which function of money will cater most directly to the situation at hand?

a) Store of value
b) Unit of exchange
c) Medium of exchange
d) Means of deferred payment
e) Standard measure

13. Classical economists believe

a) in the quantity theory of money--that both the velocity and the quantity of goods and services sold per period are fairly stable
b) there is a serious risk of a liquidity trap because the demand curve for money is relatively flat
c) that the government should make every effort to fine-tune the economy
d) that the aggregate supply curve is L-shaped
e) that an increase in the money supply has a small and indirect effect on total spending

14. The aggregate supply curve will shift to the right in response to

a) a decrease in the labor supply
b) an increase in investment in capital
c) an increase in corporate taxes
d) a decrease in the availability of education and training
e) natural disasters