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Unfortunately it was taken of a picture phone, so the quality is crummy, thus making the finished project look terrible... but I promise it actually looks great in real life. ;) Next tat... might just be that "Don't Tread on Me" chestpiece that I've been working on the design for. :)
On 2/22, we expanded on inflation and deflation, and he told us how to add and subtract money from the economy, as needed, and the two "toolboxes" used to do so. The fiscal toobox, he said, is made up of Congross and the Executive Branch of the government. They regulate the money by introducing legislation to change tax rates, start programs, and build roads. The monetary toobox is controlled by the Federal Bank, and its roles are as a check clearing house, bank lender, to alter reserve requirements, and to alter interest rates. He explained (as shown below) how altering reserve requirements and interest rates can change the amount of money in the economy.
This is the kind of boring, uninteresting thing we do in class now. Only, I usually don't draw pictures. In fact, I usually don't even take notes. I only like to note about what I want to share with you guys, and this is the kind of stuff I don't think is interesting enough to bore you with. Except for the pictures. That's kinda cool.
So... I definately haven't been posting Econ Notes for a while, and let me explain. Please.
I have a term paper due in Mr. Z's class within the next few weeks. It is 12 pages long, single-spaced, 12 pt. Times New Roman font. A stock analysis paper...
Everything we've been covering in class is stuff for that paper, basically. Nothing interesting, just math and vocabulary. Things are starting to pick up now, though, so I have a few sets of notes to show off. I can't help my laziness though, and going through and trying to figure out what I meant when I wrote my notes in the first place can be rather toilsome, so I thought you guys would like to do it for me. Good luck!
Okay, so I'll help out a bit. As you can see, on 2/13 we talked about boom times and depressions. He explained how both can lead to rioting and "anarchy." He also talked about how the Gross domestic product is not an accurate way to measure the standard of living of a country because there are many factors it does not take into account. For example, even though the standard of living as measured by the gross domestic product of Norway is lower than in the United States, Norway has the highest quality of life index, while the United States has the eigth highest. We also talked about Canada (Mr. Z is Canadian, and quite the Canada lover) and why we should all want to move there. He also offered his three word definition of Libertarianism. Our class blonde, on political affiliations: Mr Z: I'm a libertarian. M: You mean there's another one?!
Econ Notes January 13, 2006
Today Mr. Z started the class with a simple statement: Dont always believe what you hear on the TV/Radio/Newspaper, etc. He said that people oftentimes exaggerate statistics. He gave several examples (which are irrelevant, and I won't list unless you really want to know), and then he read a chapter of Freakonomics called Why Do Drug Dealers Still Live With Their Moms? It told about a college student who, in order to study the behavior of low-income families, had accidentally stumbled upon a crack-dealing gang. He decided to stick around for six years, until the gang got itself into a bunch of problems. Fearing that the gang was going to be broken up for good, one of the leaders passed its financial records over to the college student. The records showed the exact breakdown of how each employee got paid, from the few elite men on the very top who got paid very very very well to the "footsoldiers" that he had been living with. It turned out that the way it was broken down, the majority of the workers were paid three to four dollars under minimum wage. This evidence was used to answer that ultimate question: Why do drug dealers live with their moms? As it turns out, they don't make the kind of money that the media tries to say that they do.
The rest of the class was educational, but uneventful. Mr. Z taught us how to understand supply and demand and how to maximize profits by figuring out the equilibrium (The selling price and quantity to order at which you'll make the most profit... or more simply put, where the supply and demand curves meet perfectly).
Mr. Z quote of the day: "I'd vote democrat... if someone held a gun to my head. (pause) I'm a libertarian." Don't you just love it when a statement causes everyone in the room to give you a blank stare and not say anything? My guess is that they were just too scared to say, "What the hell is a libertarian?"
On another note, I've been asked, "Why do you refer to your teacher as Mr. Z? Why not call him by his name?" The answer: If he values his privacy, he certainly wouldn't like it much if I was throwing his name out all over the Internet. Not revealing his name is my way of showing respect for him, and I would also expect the same thing from him in return.
Econ Notes January 12,2006
Today's lessons were about how the government spends its... ahem.... our money and how business owners make their money.
Mr. Z says:
Taxpayers expect the that the government should spend money wisely. The government has certain responsibilities, and all of those responsiblities should lead to one thing: to benefit the people as a whole. Unfortunately, the government often spends money in such a way that taxpayers do not agree with.
Today he drew a chart that he called the "Guns and Roses Chart." He said that government could chose to spend all its resources on "guns", all of its money on "roses" (making it clear that you could change those words as you see fit - military and state parks, for instance), or allot certain amounts for both. Mr. Z says that how the U.S. spends money falls in between the two lines on his G&R chart. Please see my crappy MS Paint version.
Next, Mr. Z decided to show us how capitalism works... *smirk* He drew this chart for us:
His explaination: The owner of a business hires employees. The more employess he hires, the more money the business will (hopefully) make. Of the net income, the business owner, who does nothing and is rarely on the site at all, gets the chunk of money shown at the top of the chart. That leaves the other part to be split among his hardworking employees. One of my fellow students makes this point: If it weren't for the owner making the business to begin with, these people wouldn't have a job at all. Besides, if they feel they're not getting paid enough, in our country they have the freedom to find work elsewhere. To my surprise, Mr. Z agrees with Kamron and tells him he is finally getting what this class is all about. But then he goes back to his ranting. He says that business owners are against minimum wage because it decreases their profits. In his words, "To them, it means the difference between a Hummer and a Cadillac at the end of the year."
He dismissed class on that note.
Mr. Z threw out the the textbook. Well, he told us never to bring it to class again. He said that he prints out notes for us once a week, and we're to use those. I've started reading the book anyway, just so I would know what I'm missing out on, and surprisingly, it's not a bad book. I've read a pretty good explaination of what a pure market economy is, and its pros and cons. It has a good quote by Adam Smith which states that:
although each individual pursues his or her self-interest, the "invisible hand" of market competition promotes the general welfare.
Strangest thing, though... the word capitalism is used only once in the entire book, and that's in a small margin note from The Wall Street Journal which says:
Capitalism is supposed to be the one economic system that puts consumers at the center. [Note: Capitalism is another term for market economy.]
Enough about the book. This blog is not about the book; it's about how I'm being taught, and today's lesson is most "interesting."
Lesson 1: Capitalism is evil. Capitalists care only about themselves and about maximizing revenue. In order to maximize revenue, they need the cheapest labor they can get which leads to slavery. Slavery is evil.
Lesson 2: Communism just does't work. In order to have a working communist society, everyone must be virtuous and willing to do their alloted share of work. It is completely against human nature. Case and point: all those stupid hippie communes. Karl Marx was naive.
Lesson 3: There is no such thing as pure capitalism or pure communism. America just keeps getting bogged down with more laws and regulations, and it's becoming more socialist. Societies which used to be communist are now allowing people to run businesses. Eventually everyone will end up being stuck in the middle.
Today we also had a little scenario to work on. Martha is 23 years old and has two children, ages 7 and 2. She works at Wal-Mart for $5.75 and hour. After rent and taxes, she only has a little over $300 to spend on daycare, groceries, utilities, etc. The minimum wage is $5.15 (obviously not Florida), and Congress is considering raising it to $6.15. Should Congress raise the minimum wage? Will Martha be able to meet her needs? We came to the conclusion that it didn't matter to poor Martha anyway. Mr. Z then asked if anyone had the mindset that someone in an earlier class shared. "Screw Martha. Let her take care of herself. Why should I have to worry about the Marthas of the world?" I kept my mouth shut, but now I wish I hadn't.
I guess now would be a good time to explain that I'm terrifed of Mr. Z since he became an econ teacher. Back when he saw my "Capitalism Heals" shirt, he laughed at me and told me I'd learn the truth when I got into his class. I'm a person that usually stands up for what I believe in, but he is way beyond intimidating, and I have to admit: I will lose my words if he makes me explain myself. Give me time and a pencil, and I will write the most convincing paper you've ever seen, but I am not a debator at all, and it certainly doesn't help that Mr. Z is a practicing lawyer who finds me to be an excellent persuasive essayist. My anarcho-capitalist shirt is officially in hiding for the next week or so.
My economics teacher, a libertarian, had a few copies of a book laying around the classroom which he has been reading to us from. He offered to lend me the book, Freakanomics by Steven D. Levitt and Stephen J. Dubner, for the weekend. Anybody know anything about this book? So far what he's read has been interesting. He started off Tuesday with reading the top names for low-income children, and today he read an excerpt explaining why drug dealers still live with their moms. I'll be reading this over the next few days, so I'll share my experiences throughout and afterward.
Love punk rock, but hate the statists that dominate the genre? Get ready for Against Me! They are a band out of Gainesville, Florida that has made it pretty big lately, with their alt rock hit, Don't Lose Touch.
This band will surely steal your heart with such anthems as Baby, I'm an Anarchist, Cliche Guevera, The Price of Freedom, and Those Anarcho Punks are Mysterious.
Unfortunately, they're on tour in New Zealand right now. Damn.
It's about time.
Ah, the joys of high school! Ha. Just when I thought it couldn't get anymore "interesting," I started my second term, and began Economics. Not only that, but the class is taught by one of my favorite teachers, Mr. Z.
Back when I was a freshman, Mr. Z was considered to be one of those English stumbling blocks. I was warned of him well before I was ever warned of Teter. I ended up in his honors class, and I thoroughly enjoyed it. Mr. Z taught (and still does teach) in a way which encouraged his students to voice their own opinions. He refused to give students answers, instead making them figure it out for themselves. He basically threw out all conventional English instruction, and instead focused on politics. To say the least, the class was fun, interesting, and a valuable way for us to assert ourselves.
The next year I had Mr. Z as a teacher in a standard English class, and nearly a third of the class failed. They couldn't grasp the fact that he wasn't like other teachers. They had always been taught to give the teacher whatever answer they thought he wanted to hear, but with Mr. Z, the correct answer was the one which the student truly thought was right and could support.
This year is Economics, and with that I'd like to start my new blog project, Econ Notes, about the class and about how the subject is being taught in one public high school. I expect to not always agree with what I'm being taught, but with Mr. Z, I know that that there will at least be an interesting twist.
- The Memorandum -
This is part of a memorandum that Mr. Z sent out on January 10th, our first day back to school.
Greetings... I believe that my function and obligation as your teacher goes substantially beyond the obvious and/or what may be considered the usual or ordinary. Yes, you will indeed be learning economics and analyzing economic questions and problems...but you will learn much, much more! I will teach you to ask questions and to question preconceived notions. I will teach you to problem-solve and to get into the minds of the people responsible for making economic policy decisions in America and abroad. I will teach you to analyze the economic options available to each of you and make the choices that will benefit you the most. But most importantly, I will teach you to think!
With that in mind, let us see where this class takes me!
* Keep in mind that the notes that I take in this class are what Mr. Z says, and not neccesarily what I think of as being right.
Hey there! There's nothing that we here at Bureaucrash like more than receiving input and ideas from crashers! We especially love getting new images, and we want it to be as easy as possible for you to share your ideas with the rest of the network. Follow these steps and soon you'll be famous for your artistic genius:
1. On the left "Create A..." box click on image 2. Give it a descriptive title 3. Select the appropriate category, if needed a. If under propaganda you select e-card, please make sure it is 468 x 180 pixels b. If it is a desktop, please make sure it is either 1024 x 768, 800 x 600 or, preferably, both. Other standard screen sizes are also welcome. 4. Under image click browse and find your masterpiece on your hard drive 5. A description isn't necessary since a picture is worth a thousands words, but feel free to include one if you so wish 6. Click submit 7. Sit back and bask in your own glory
