I Hate A's

Based on all of my scholarly experiences in school, I would say that what needs to be changed the most is grades. I hate them. I hate the stress there is to get A's, and when you think about it the entire "grading system" is really just this huge abstract concept that we are now so dependent on that they have come to define school, our success in it, and our level of competence. So let's just get rid of them! Now before I go further I realize how implausible this is for widespread use, but it is, in my opinion, the best way to fix the system. First off, we'd need something to replace grades and I'd say that real world experience is as good as any. In order to do this though we would need to get a lot more teachers, create tiny classes with a maximum of 15-20 people in them, and learn through the teacher's method of choice (I personally prefer the Socratic method or the "Here's a problem fix it with no help, and then when you fail I'll tell you how you should have done it" method) and then be tested on our ability to go out and apply everything we've learned in a unit in a unique project that we create on our own to demonstrate a concept. For instance, if in English the unit's on persuasive methods have us persuade a stranger to do community service or in Physics demonstrate all aspects of momentum through creating a perfectly inelasic collision. Then the teacher keeps notes on each student's performance, effort, and capability and decides which tier class (Top, middle, or bottom) to place the student in.

Fixing the Economy For Dummies

How to fix the US Economy.

Option 1: Stimulate

Step 1: Instead of trying to fund tons of unemployment programs, pump money back into corporations and businesses (like Wall Street financials, etc.) to help them help the nation. They'd primarily help by hiring more people by creating new programs, enhancing existing programs, and growing.

Step 2: When you try this and it doesn't really work try it again! It's bound to work sometime if you just do it over and over and over again!

Option 2: Create

Step 1: Think of some super cool industry that the US currently doesn't have, or is still in the early developing stages.

Step 2: Pump tons of money into existing and new companies in it to stimulate its growth.

Step 3: Leave alone for a while and just let it do its thing. Pretty soon it should grow huge and hire tons of people. Look at Japan's robotics industry for example.

Option 3: Capitalism

Step 1: Don't do anything! Stop funding existing government programs that are deeply involved in the economy (except for the regulatory ones) and then leave capitalism to its own devices. See the Great Depression and Harry Truman for examples.

Option 4: Communism

Step 1: When all of the above fails. Look to the Soviets, Marx, and Stalin/Lenin for examples.

Economics (but not really)

First things first. We need more oil. The first thing we have to do is blow the middle east off the map, wait a few years, and come in and drill all of their oil. While our president may balk at destroying his homeland, it needs to be done. The next thing would be instead of deporting illegal immegrants, we enslave them, and use the free manpower to produce cheap products to sell all over the world. We also need to get rid of wellfare and medicare, we are a capitalist country after all and don't need any of that communist stuff. Lastly, I propose that we legalize prostitution, pimping, and every of drugs, with a heavy tax. Thank you, and I will be running next election.

What is economy?

I don't understand anything about the economy at all. It's just one of those things you hear about constantly but never know enough about to understand it. I would love to take a class about economics. Until then, I know nothing. If someone were to force me to be president and fix the economy, I would certainly would not legalize drugs or prostitution like so many other people would. Money is not worth giving up the health of Americans and the well being of women. One thing I would hope to do is stimulate the renewable energy industry. It would help create jobs and sustain them as long as we are dependent on those forms of energy for our homes and cars.

Assignment 20: School

Based on your time spent in in school, what needs to be changed the most?

(Thank you, Zea Wang, Alex Atwood, and Connor Lakofka!)

Minimum of 150 words - due Sunday, March 4 at 11:59 pm

Fixing the national debt

It's no mystery that our country has a ridiculous amount of debt, grossly huge even. We've spent exorbitant amounts of money that we don't have on hand on pursuits that don't help anyone, and we've got a huge problem with income. So, there are two sides to the problem. Expenditures and Income.

Here's how you fix the income: Fix the tax code. For many years, the richest of the rich have been able to exploit the tax system to get away with paying either NO taxes, or an extremely small amount of taxes. This has to be fixed, and a more fair and equitable system put in place. The loopholes that the rich and wealthy use have got to be plugged up. For this to happen, there's going to have to be a big change in policy which will be opposed by these fat cats, and don't forget that they own a lot of politicians, too. So you'd need to get them out of the way while you fix that damage.

As for expenditures, we've got two important factors. Long term and Short term. Short term, we can easily cut our military. We don't need to rule the world any more, in fact, we should be content with a military only twice the size of the next biggest country, not one three times the size of the rest of the world put together. Long term? We've got to figure out what to do with medicaid and medicare, because we're about to have a huge influx of elderly people that need medical assistance, and that's going to send the economy down the tubes even farther.

Fixing the national debt

The only way that will successfully work to eliminate the national debt would have to be a hybrid approach to the issue. The first step to fixing this and the most obvious would be to raise taxes. However we all know the Americans hate paying taxes. They only thing that might help this would be a process that indicates your taxes are going directly to helping the national debt. Americans are more likely to agree to pay more if they know exactly where their money is going.

Another option would be to put a stricter budget on certain government programs. The spending that is being done by these programs is growing at a greater rate then the United States economy. The income generated from taxes cannot keep up with the rate that these programs are spending. So the most logical approach would be a combination of the two. Taxes would have to be raised but also spending by these programs would have to decrease as well. Americans would also be more willing to accept both of these processes if they know exactly where their money is going and what programs they will be helping, or if it is going directly to the national debt.

Clearly no one knows

I'll take a shot at it. Here we go in order to fix our debt we first have to decrease our spending. For me there are two glaring areas that i think we could cut spending. The first one is not relying on foreign oil. It kills us. Let's find a nice compromise as to where its pretty environmentally friendly and lets drill away. It would lower gas prices tremndously and although it wouldn't last forever it would give us the needed time to find another source of energy while saving money.

The other thing that irritates me is whenever there is some natural disaster the United States feels that they are obligated to go drop X million dollars on that country. We have our own problems with money. And if we wish to ever pay off this debt we can't keep spending.

The last thing that seems to look promising but will get us in trouble is printing money. The last thing we need is inflation and that is what will happen.

At the rate we are going my grandchildren will still be trying to pay off this debt.

How do you fix a problem like the national debt?

When you hear the phrase "national debt", do you cringe a little? Or do you roll your eyes and accept it? Or do you watch it as it looms over your head, as Poe's narrator did in "The Pit and the Pendulum"?
No matter how we react to the national debt, it's still alive and well, and it is in dire need of a solution. The most intelligent politicians in the country can't figure it out (or those that can are largely ignored). So the real question is: how do you fix a problem so big?

And the answer is simple: jobs.

It's common sense that people won't buy the country's goods if they can't afford them. And why can't they afford them? They have no jobs. The policy of mercantilism goes on the prospect that the most prosperous country produces more (exports) than it takes in (imports). If we have more people producing goods (or even buying the products), the economy will no doubt resurrect itself.

But is that the only thing that we need to do? Certainly not. In fact, there's a list spanning the whole continent with reasons why our economy's bad. I'd say that, as a country, we need to get on that.

How about you?

Blog Redo

Saying the word recession to a politician is like a wizard saying Voldemort, you plain and simple just don't say it, that is because the recession is so important but so hard to fix and most likely the only solution is time. however, there are some actions that could help boost the economy in the mean time. One very simple and very effective way would be to legalize marijuana, it is already legal as a medical treatment in three states (I think it's three). If it was legalized it would be a huge boost in each states economy in just pure sales, but it could also be taxed even heavier than tobacco. This would have the same effect as when Prohibition was stopped, which effectively stopped the recession of its time. Another not so easy but definitely needed change is that we need to bring the money back into the US, and stop importing so many goods from other countries. This would be a hard task to quit importing so much from countries such as China, but if we instilled a small "tariff" or tax on non-American goods then the people would start buying more US products and after a short period of time manufacturers would come back to the US due to the increase in money and the economy would not just jump back up but it would flourish.

Economy

The United States of American has a lot of work to do in order to decimate the increasing debt. The luxurious American lifestyle is what has dug us into this hole. Constant borrowing and the lack of satisfaction are the main culprits to blame for our downfall. We need to all live within our means; it is simple, you don't spend money that you don't have.
My plan to decrease the national debt is to decrease our number or imports and bring industry back to America. This increase of available jobs will jumpstart spending. America was the most successful when it remained self sufficient. Our country needs to survive on its own. I also believe that we need to stop the power hungry congress men. America should its engagement in foreign affairs. The turmoil is just too much to bare. I don't even know what to say.

Education and Economy

The best way to fix our nation's economic woes could be solved by education. I sound like a broken record at this point, but it really is the key to many of lifes problems, finance not least among them. The economy has gone in cycles since the beginning of our country, it's just boom and bust. In the 19th century, land specualtion was the vice, in the twenties it was the consumer credit, yet when the housing market was soaring, the masses rushed to purchase their brand new subarbian shangrai-la. It is a little bit sad that we need to teach people that buying a a house worth five hundred thousand dollars on a annual income of thirty- five isnt the best move. But when all you hear from the media, your peers, your family members is that the economy is just marvelous, the uneducated lose their common sense. People did not need to trade in their car for the new top of the line model, they didnt need to invest so heavily in a company that was riding the high. The common man doesnt need to be Keynesian wizard. But if he understood the basic concept of a bubble then we would all be better off.

I Just the Whole Economy

The economy is, to say at the least, worse for wear. Now, things are looking grim, but if we all pitch in we can make the Coleton D. Cuddy Time Traveler's Fund a reality. The idea is to take ALL of our money (and I mean all of it) and spend it on time travel research. Once the United States has a grip on time travel, its simple. Sell all of our future stuff to past America, not only reviving our economy in our dimension but, according to the multiverse theory, creating a branch in time travel in which America is decades, or even centuries, ahead of the other people of the world. This America would be so much better off that they'd be able to regenerate all the money they spent on our future money and prosper.
Now, you may be asking ourselves, "Coleton, it sounds completely logical, except what if we can't figure time travel out?". This is a perfectly understandable skepticism. But it was the feeling of adventure and curiosity that led us to the New World 500 years ago, and to the skies 100 years ago, and to space 50 years ago. So now its time to turn to your fellow patriotic American and say "Hey, let's put all of our money into a time machine and SAVE THIS NATION."

Fix the Economy

To fix the economy, I would do many things. Some of these things require some large changes in the workings of government. In order to fix the nation's economy, we need to first learn to compromise our beliefs. It is an undeniable fact that America is divided on issues often by partisan ideals; this cannot persist if we are to advance on and bring harmony to our national wallet. Next, I would legalize and regulate marijuana and hemp production; both of these resources could open up a new market in our economy and would clear out tons of spending on the prison system. I would also put casinos on the moon. Not only would this create a large proportion of travel and gambling fund profit, but this would also create class one society with a globally connected economy. (I almost put an apostrophe on 'casinos'; I should be shot)

Here's my 150 words

tax increases on the one percent, removal of tax breaks on outsourcing companies, ending Afghanistan, regulated taxed marijuana, public works and infrastructure, education initiatives, shortened copyright terms, enhanced unemployment insurance, solar energy, protective tariffs, increased exports, bonds, vastly reduced military, easier citizenship and work visas for Latin-Americans, lowered but still acceptable minimum wage, taxed churches, mosques, temples, etc., reliance on domestic and not foreign oil, free unpaid internet, free liberated internet, simplified business creation, corporations are not people, sell all the gold in fort knox, public transit systems, wind farms, dam power, led light bulbs, digitized paperwork, cheaper college tuition, pennies are decimated, regulated mortgage information, safety nets, car standards, buy local, bike everywhere, recycle, decreased use of credit, increased economic mobility, charity, competently revised medicare, competently revised medicaid, libre software in government, hybrid buses, disallowing external money in elections, de-privatized fed, gay marriage, corporate bonuses nixed.

yard sale... (just kidding about that one).

Fixing the Economy for Dummies

Note: This is not serious.

Right now, we’re drowning slowly under $14.79 trillion of debt. Congress has spent the last few years cooperating in a fruitful way to find an answer that will make everyone happy, and I’m sure they’ll come up with a plan soon, but if not, I have a solution.

It’s simple. We kill the Batman.

Ignore that. We can actually use easy math and perfectly sound logic to solve the debt! I’m right because I have a high amount of ethos because I’m right. Don’t doubt me.

My idea is to use the smelted down materials of coins to fund the United States Debt.

Currently, we have about 200 billion pennies in circulation right now. Most pennies are either made of zinc or copper; from 1962 to 1982, they were about 95 percent copper and 5 percent zinc, and since 1982, they’ve been about 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5 percent copper. Also, we don’t really care about older pennies, since they’re probably in antique stores or something. According to the internet (which is never wrong), the average age of the penny is 20 years with a standard deviation of 10 years. That means that about 84.1% of pennies are post-1982, and 15.7% of pennies were made between 1962 and 1982.

Therefore, about 168,200,000,000 pennies are 97.5 percent zinc and 2.5% copper. With each penny being about 441.8 mm³, that would be about 88,360 m³ of pennies (enough to fill 35 Olympic swimming pools!). That’s about 3.08 grams of zinc and 99mg of copper in each 1982+ penny. That’s about 518,100 metric tons of zinc and 16,652 metric tons of copper. For the 31,400,000,000 pennies that were made between 1962 and 1982, I’ve calculated it to be about 118,000 metric tons of copper and 4,950 metric tons of zinc.

In total, we’d have 523,050 metric tons of zinc and 134,652 metric tons of copper. At the current exchange rate of about $7230.99 per metric ton of copper, we’d have about $973.7 million dollars in copper; with an exchange rate of $3400.00 per metric ton of zinc, we have $1,778.37 million dollars in zinc. That’s a total of $2,752,070,000 from the metal.

You might be asking, “Wait a second; don’t we only have about 200 billion pennies? That’s only $2 billion in how much they’re worth!”

That’s the point! That’s a profit of 752 million! Using pure and indisputable logic, we can only assume that if we convert all of our currency into pennies and do the same, that we can eventually make infinity dollars! And to think that this is all it takes!

Warning: This does not actually work. If we were to melt down pennies and sell all of the raw materials, it would eventually cost us more to turn them into raw materials than it would be worth in the end. Additionally, with the influx of copper and zinc, the prices would drop for both, eventually leading us to a net loss in money. One more thing – if we converted all of our money into pennies, we’d have to buy the copper to make it, which would also lead to a loss in profit. Too bad it doesn’t actually work. Our best bet would actually be to cut down on spending and increase taxes (Boo! Hiss!), and try to take a long-term approach to slowly rebuild the economy. But hey, I’m just a disclaimer. Ignore me.

debt, smh

Ignore that last post by me. This is the real one.

The economy is a mess and the national debt is huge! There isn't one answer and one simple solution. It is complex and would take a long time and extreme brainstorming, but here are my thoughts. First of all, we can raise sales taxes and national salary taxes. This will give the goverenment more money. Next, we need to have a more strict credit system and not let people who are suspicious borrow a lot of money. That risks them not paying the government back. Only people that banks can one hundred percwent trust to pay them back on time should be allowed to borrow money. Also, new jobs need to be created in more areas. Jobs can be created for people by giving the unemployed training and get jobs and this would lead to more spending. This would help and new jobs and more spending would lead to more money for the US goverenment through taxes. Also, the companies cannot overproduce and lead to deflation. Finally, we need to be on better terms with other countries like China. We owe a lot of money to other countries, so being friendlier with them can help a lot. That is my plan for now.

the economy

All anybody has right now are just a bunch of hypotheses on how to fix the economy. No one has any actual answers. I, for one, certainly do not possess the answer to this issue either, but I can give it my best shot. First, we must realize that there are two main problems that have to be tackled: spending and reform. It is absolutely necessary that the United States reduces it spending on a variety of programs. Such programs could include military expenses, education and other, and primarily entitlement programs. Entitlement programs include such things as Medicare, Medicaid, and social security, which make up over 50% of our budget. It is essential that these programs be reformed. Cutting back may mean that, for example, a 65 year old may have to defer to a later age to receive proper benefits. The second order of business has to do with revenue. Basically, the United States needs an effective tax reform to address revenue shortfalls, and stemming from that we must reform the corporate tax code and the individual income tax. But really...who am I to know how to fix the economy? I'm just a kid.

Economy

Why don't we just take the debt crisis, and PUSH IT SOMEWHERE ELSE?

When I saw this week's prompt, my heart just sank. If there is one thing that shoots clear over my head, its economics. But I'll give it my best shot.

Quite honestly, some of the most reasonable solutions I can come up with include:

1. The idea to tax the wealthy.
2. All members of Congress and the Senate take a pay cut for a few years.
3. Not to mention the billions of dollars our government spends on air, water, and roadways. If everyone who owned a vehicle that had an impact on the environment purchased some sticker or special license (renewed every year for approximately $20) it would most certainly take us our of our deficit.
4. Employing people for public works projects, such as building and restoring bridges.
5. Promote businesses in the U.S. by establishing a program that supports U.S. companies with U.S. employees. We need to create more jobs.
6. Establish a PREVENTATIVE MAINTENANCE MEDICAL CARE SYSTEM. NOT a national health care system.
7. We could even go as far as legalizing marijuana and taxing the heck out of it.

These are the most simplified ideas I could come up with. I honestly do not have the knowledge base to provide much further justification.

Collaboration with APUSH? (i think so)

Right now in AP US history we are talking about the great depression. America is not at that point, yet. America never wants to go back to the, shall we say, "dark ages". the solution to the problem then was to pump money into the economy, to create jobs and jump start consumer spending. this to should be the approach we have today. Obama has been trying to do this, and has done it well. The great depression, by no means, was fixed in three years, it took a while for the economy to reach its fabled glory once more. Obama in the last couple of years has been following the same model as FDR, and it is working. The Keynesian economics will work,America just has to be patient and stop scolding Obama. in time the economy will jump back and the debt will once again recede.

if that doesnt work, well then let us create another world war. World War two was also a driving factor in rebooting our economy, this "war" with al-quaeda is not the massive ground assault that was world war two. im sure if we went to war with persay north korea that world war three would be upon us. if one doesnt mind a nuclear fall out then the clear road to go is to insight world war three, that should get us out of the recession.

#economyprobs

How to fix the economy? That’s a good question. If government officials can’t figure this out, I don’t understand how teenagers would be able to think of anything better. However, if I was in charge of fixing this problem, I would find small deserted islands all around the world and make them famous tourist destinations. Then, all of the extremely rich people in the world would travel to these islands and the United States would charge a ton of money to stay there. Over time, when one island gets boring, the U.S. can find another or begin to make islands. Then, people could purchase these islands and all of the money would go into paying off the U.S. debt. There are many people in this world who have more money than they know what to do with and this would be a new fun way to spend money and have fun. This would not be for everyone to experience and no tax cuts would be given to supporters of these islands, but it would be pure profit for our country (minus the cost of making the island). Is this idea realistic? Probably not. But at least it sounds like fun.

Mmmmmmm...Pie

Ahah! Here's something I can sink my teeth into.
Above you can see a chart of the discretionary spending by the federal government for 2012. Discretionary Spending is the kind that the president negotiates with Congress annually, not the kind that Congress votes into law.
Why do I care more about Discretionary Spending? Because it can be changed quickly and easily, without an act of Congress. I only have 3 suggestions.

1. See that Military Spending section? It's a hog. Cut it down to size.
   I'm not advocating a total elimination of the military budget. We still need a means of defense. But anyone seasoned in history understands that a bigger military does not guarantee a safer country. If that were the case, somebody would have conquered Switzerland and Liechtenstein a looooong time ago. And nowadays, with a global economy, that's even truer. Nobody wants to go to war with the U.S. because we are such a massive consumer that it would crush everyone's economy if we lost our vitality.
   That being said, we need to set aside enough money to protect our homeland. But NOT to occupy any other countries. That just makes us enemies. A threat like the Taliban is like a virus; it's much easier to protect yourself than it is to try to find every virus in the world and kill it.
   Speak softly and carry a big stick.
   
   
2. Fatten up the Education budget.
   Who do you think creates the next generation of defense, as well as the next generation of . . . everything? Scholars. Professionals. People who take advantage of a complete education. People talk about China's unfair monetary policy and exploitation of U.S. consumption, but guess who's thinking up all those diabolical plans to dominate Uncle Sam? China's ridiculously superior students. The U.S.'s reputation as a leader in education only extends to universities. I won't go into how we should allocate education funding, but for starters we definitely need a lot more of it. It is the ultimate intelligent investment.
   
   
3. Eliminate private-government interaction.
   This one has nothing to do with the pie chart above. I hope somebody remembers all the sins and lies I discussed in my final speech, but if you don't here's a quick explanation of why corporations and government need a restraining order.
   We are under the impression that the people we elect are working to serve us, their constituents. We vote, we join interest groups, we exercise our rights, as we should. But if at any point in time a lobbyist or corporation influences our representatives, our democracy breaks. It is no longer a democracy but a totally different kind of government--a plutocracy. As soon as we eliminate all corporate-government interaction, then our government would have no reason to spend money for anything other than the interest of the majority of people. It isn't perfect, but it's the closest to it.

It's the Economy, Stupid

Now did I just call my peers stupid? Of course not.

Americans care about the economy. In fact, they care about it so much, it's the number 2 result when you type in Google "how to fix the" - right after the red ring of death. When an entire nation is that eager and motivated to fix such a problem, who I am to not offer my five cents?

Even though I'm sure the nice folks at Washington are doing their best to forgo their differences and compromise to solve this issue, right after those men finish arguing over what the best course of action is for a woman's body.

Well, I know one thing is for certain. We can not touch the 725 billion nation defense budget. Because you know those terrorists are coming for us. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, it may not be in the next ten years, but you can bet your sweet bippy they're coming. September 11 is just the start.

It doesn't matter if Osama is dead. It doesn't matter if al-Qaeda is in decline. It doesn't matter if it's statistically 8 times more likely for you to be killed by policemen than terrorists. We need to be protected from those dang Muslims.

So how do we fix the economy? Education cuts, of course. Our kids are smart enough as it is. Right now, America is ranked ~20th in education worldwide. There's like 196 countries in the world. We are almost in the top 10%! Take that, Nigeria! Our kids are smarter than your kids.

Don't worry, the Kentucky government has already taken the initiative on this. This year, our brilliant leader Steve Beshear is cutting 50 million dollars from the education budget to fund a creationist amusement park featuring a 500 foot by 75 foot recreation of Noah's Ark.

That is exactly what I'm talking about! Beshear has the right idea. Those stupid kids can learn how to integrate functions on their own time. My man Noah fit on his boat:
- 8 people
- 17,400 birds
- 12,000 reptiles
- 9,000 mammals
- 5,000 amphibians
- 2,000,000 insects
- a year supply of food for everyone

The amount of historical accuracy in this recreation is mind-blowing. It is important that we get our priorities straight, and celebrate what a great guy Noah was. Heck, I bet if Noah was alive today, he could fix the economy!

How do we get out of a $14 trillion debt? Honestly, I have no idea, but I know it'll take a very long time. Perhaps the tax cuts might have contributed to our debt, or maybe the spending on defense and stuff. Obviously it's easier to spend than to gain. However, perhaps if we somehow stop everything we're doing and focus on rebuilding our economy, the debt will slowly go away.

Since I know nothing about our government, my suggestions are all based on natural instinct. If I owe someone money, I would make sure to pay them back as soon as possible. I would stop all these complicated things, like tax cuts and trust funds (no idea what would happen if that did occur). Everything should be simple; we fix our budget and do one thing at a time each year, instead of splitting it up on so many different areas of concern. Our nation's birthday isn't Gemini, so we can't multitask.

Perhaps we should establish better relations with other countries, or totally annihilate them to establish dominance. But then that would just lead to other conflicts. I think we should just isolate ourselves for a while, just enough to erase half our debt or something. Basically, we need to be more independent, and stop with other affairs. While it's not morally just for us to ignore everything, we should look out for ourselves first. Then, after we're financially stable, we can help or interact with other countries. I have no idea what would happen if my plan were to occur.