Thursday, November 8, 2012
Week 12
Please focus on items that have to do with the whole economy (not just one product) and on items that seem substantial (not cute or weird human interest stories). https://news.google.com/ and http://www.google.com/finance might be a good place to go for news about the economy.
You should focus on news stories that have something to do with the fluctuations in the economy.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
Some very interesting and sobering insights. My biggest concerns with the article are concerning the bit on immigration. I agree that perhaps it is time to "lighten up" slightly with our laws, because frankly waiting seventeen years to get a visa is ridiculous. That does not mean, however, that people should be allowed to walk in with no strings attached, as it were. America has a lot to offer; that does not equivocate, however, to offering it blindly. Granting citizenship on the condition of making good grades seems a bit too risky; I just think the entering process should be made simpler, especially when so many families have a lot to offer.
ReplyDeleteI agree with the ideas proposed regarding housing and saving; however, I do not think the plan for immigration is just, or economically beneficial. The notion of allowing illegal immigrants to stay in the US, along with the suggestion of offering them a guest-worker program, would not be a wise decision. Not only do illegal immigrants take away jobs from American citizens, they do not even pay taxes. On top of that, illegal aliens receive billions of dollars of free benefits; for example, free education, health care, and food stamps. Also, illegal immigrants currently make up 30% of the population in both state and federal prisons. Of course immigration is a positive thing; the US boasts the fact that it is a “melting pot” of cultures, languages, and ethnicity. However, the notion that the government should allow illegals to reside in America, with the acceptation of those fleeing from natural disaster or oppressive leadership, is unconstitutional. In my opinion, illegal immigrants should not be allowed to reside in the US. Instead, government officials should make the citizenship application process quicker and clearer, thereby enabling hard-working and upstanding individuals into America.
ReplyDeleteI agree with your ideas on housing and debt, savings and immigration, I felt that your section on jobs was lacking in giving a clear salutations to the problem. It gave a general idea of how to become confident, but no real plan. I thought the generous guest-worker program was a great idea; it would increase the number of workers in the county. The only thing with that is people are going to say that they are taking American jobs. When in reality they would take those jobs that are out there but stick up Americans refuse to work.
ReplyDeleteOn the notion of job creation and opportunity, I completely agree: if we are ever to climb out of the financial hole that we as a nation successfully dug ourselves into we need to create more jobs. There is a reason we are not even back at the economic level we were at before the recession hit: the economy is not creating enough jobs. This needs to change.
ReplyDeleteOn the notion of saving I completely agree: Americans are too used to living in luxurious conditions. Also as this election proves, Americans are drawn to quick and easy money that they are capable of spending now, rather than saving up money for long term investments. If we are to ever enter into better economic times, Americans need to start acting like they are currently in the midst of hard times. We cannot spend continue to spend money like we actually have it.
But on the notion of immigration I do not agree at all. I am all for America holding true to a title she has been called for several centuries now – the Land of Opportunity. America is and always a country that offers a better life to those who want one. But in order to become a citizen of a country, you must follow her laws. And this includes immigration laws. People have been coming to this country for generations: Irishmen, Italians, Polacks, the list goes on and on. But they all did it legally. They all went through the due process that is required in becoming a citizen of United States of America. Yes, America needs to present herself as a welcoming nation, but she also cannot disregard her immigration laws that have stood in place AND WORKED EFFECTIVELY for generations.
John and to all those who mentioned the immigration issue. I would argue the Dr. Martinez is in fact correct on this point. Immigration is supposed to keep out criminal and terrorists. In many cases it takes people YEARS to become citizens. This is not "effective" and we spend tons of tax dollars on the issue. We do need to restucture to create a cheaper more efficient way of immigration.
DeleteAn addition al point about cutting spending. I do not believe that the recent military cuts are a correct move. The government need to cut spending yes, but from things that don’t make a profit or boost GDP. The development of military technology has huge boosts to the economy. There was a story on the new about a year back about a town that went from one of the highest employment rates to the highest unemployment rate over night. Why? The US government decided to cut the production of submarines. This town had for generations neither manufactured subs and neither new how to do more nor were they equipped to do so. They lost their jobs, all the plants and refineries across the nation that were involved in production also lost their business. When 25 Los-Angeles class attack submarines cost 63 billion to make, when the government stops purchasing that GDP drops. Then when we cut the man power in the military tens of thousands of soldiers are unemployed. Plus when we withdraw from the Middle East and hand it over to the reins of chaos we allow oil prices to sky rocket. We need to cut spending yes, but not at the expense of employment, GDP, gas prices, and national security.
ReplyDeleteI agree that America's current immigration laws have major flaws. I also believe that it is good that our country allows immigrants to work here. The idea of a "guest-worker program" would help balance the amount of illegal immigrants by making it easier to enter the country. However, there should be a balance to the duration of time the immigrant worker is allowed in America. The cap should be around two years, and it should also be renewable.
ReplyDeleteIn respect to the foreign students, i believe America dosen't need to invite the students to stay. They could offer job options, but the general foreign student wants to receive his or her degree and then return home. They travel to America for a better education so that they can use it at home.
I agree with the bit about saving and the need for jobs. In order to save, we must all pitch in and sort of make it a group effort. It is very true that we really need to bump up our job creation in order to heal the economy.
ReplyDeleteI also agree with what the article says about immigration. The current laws that are in place are a bit extreme. America needs immigrants and they need a America. There are a lot of things that different people from different countries can bring to America that would be beneficial to economic growth. Now, it’s true that we can’t just let anyone into the country we have to have some kind of law in place. Otherwise, the world would be chaos
I agree with your notion that we need to create more jobs: America needs more jobs. My question is now: How do we create these jobs? Although you say it’s not impossible, I believe it will be quite a stretch, especially with the way America “comforts” their unemployed citizens… I can think of many examples where Americans in fact make more money living off of un-employment wages than they were working a full time job. I do believe it is a responsibility of the government to help those who are un-employed, but by encouraging Americans to keep their unemployment with these lofty payments – we are basically creating an incentive to keep un-employments.
ReplyDeleteI believe that a great way to improve our economy in the job market is to target small businesses, by making it easier for them to grow and succeed. As you said, “Businesses need to feel that government is on their side, encouraging competition, growth, and risk-taking, not second-guessing, limiting, or restricting economic activity.”
In regards to saving, this is actually something that I’m concerned for my generation in particular. What’s going to happen when the government just simply runs out of funds and doesn’t have anything saved? Spending shouldn’t be totally cut off, yet it definitely needs to be regulated, otherwise it will come back and haunt my generation and could potentially lead our country into the ground. I agree with your notion that families cannot completely depend on the government to fix their problems – they must start to make the change within their own homes as well.
Immigrants are generally a very good thing for this country. We need them economically, and to help produce our culture as our American society. I don’t think we should revise these laws to fit the needs of immigrants. Every person as a chance to get into this country legally, following the laws this country has set in place, we don’t need to re-form these laws to make it easier for people who are currently here ILLEGALY to stay here. If one wants to enter this country, they should follow the laws we already have set in place as a country.
http://money.cnn.com/2012/11/12/news/economy/eurozone-greece-bailout/index.html?iid=SF_E_Lead
ReplyDeleteIn the article I read it said that the Eurozone is giving Greece two more years to meet their fiscal targets. The Euro group, which gets together finance minister from the 17 eurozone nations and European Central Bank, said that the new asceticism measures. The budget that Greece adopted for 2013 has shown the resolve of the recession. Greece was forced to get a second bailout because it was buckling under the weight of debt that has projected to hit 190% of gross domestic product. Antonis Samaras, prime minister of Greece has spent the last for month with International creditors to agree to revise the targets so that they can bring the debt to a substantial level. The Europgroup on Moday praised Greece for their new mechanism to avoid any more slippage.
I agree with the notion towards changing something in the way we approach fixing the unemployment rate. The only issue I have is understanding what you mean by 'restricting and limiting economic activity.' Also, by the government boosting the business confidence, wouldn't that result to higher taxes (or greater debt) as the government financially show these businesses that its there to back them up? It seems overall to me that you are stating that there much reform is needed which I agree with. Having the government have a stricter budget would be ideal, as I would imagine it be able to facilitate our efforts to pay off our debts. America as a whole should have somewhat of a general budget for the people an the government. I agree with you to a certain extent on immigration. The only problem I have with is the most recent approach to these immigrants. Making each and every immigrant here a citizen, in my opinion, would result in more people leaving their current low paying jobs to search for better/higher paying jobs, creating a higher unemployment rate. That is my only concern with immigration.
ReplyDeleteAll in all I agree with most of the topics discussed in the article. I agree with the fact that in order for the economy to start growing in America, the key component is jobs. It is scary to see how much work needs to be done in order for America to start building up the work force. I believe that it is going to be extremely hard to build up business confidence. The American people are struggling with the jobs they do or do not have already. I believe that it would be hard for them to start up a small business. I agree with the section on housing and debt. I believe that the American people are afraid of the economy right now, and they will be until they can get their debt under control. It is the American people after all that will stimulate the economy. I believe that the government does need to start saving, but I also believe that the American people are not buying. A lot of people are in debt, not because they are not being smart with their money, but because they have just hit hard times. I agree completely about immigration.
ReplyDeleteDr. Martinez is fortunate to have my agreement on this. That is, my agreement in general. With regards to jobs, housing, and saving, I am in full consensus. Immigration, however, I take issue with. I leave all racism, bigotry, or any type of prejudice out of my reasoning (as some accuse the Republican party of). But the bottom line is that illegal immigrants (mostly from Mexico) have taken jobs and healthcare when they are not even citizens. History in America has proven harsh for immigrants. But America is a competitive nation full of people striving to succeed. There are thousands of people waiting in line to legally join this beautiful country. Why should they be second to those entering illegally? I do not accuse Dr. Martinez of promoting illegal immigration. He is a reasonable man. But I do not accuse America of discouraging immigration. Only it does to illegal immigration.
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteIn terms of jobs, I agree that the government needs to aid capitalists, but I think that at this point, it is of chief importance to note that practically all our manufacturing happens overseas. Americans seem to think that manufacturing is below us, that we should be working more honorable service jobs, which make more money. Even if that is the case, is it healthy for us to be so dependent (and in debt to) the countries where we've outsourced (maybe China for example...)? Domestic manufacturing, although it might be a little less cost effective for the capitalist at first, would drastically help the economy, especially with unemployment numbers.
ReplyDeleteSecondly, as John Comden noted already, cleaning up the American budget is a must, but that does not necessarily mean huge cuts in military expenses, especially defense. America has a phenomenal military set up and losing any ground could mean huge issues. Are there some ways that the defense budget could be tidied up? I’m sure there are, but that does not mean, however, that we should cut large portions, because it is easier.