From DSC:
Some potential scenarios of our future. Are there implications for how we educate today’s students? For our curriculum?
From DSC:
I’m not a political science expert and I won’t pretend to be one…but I did study economics and I don’t see what happened leading up to — and including — Tuesday night as any sort of victory or solid deal for America. Delaying the tough decisions is not helping us — the time will come when we have to pay the piper. Eventually, there will be pain. But will that pain start in 2013? I hope so. Because the longer the debt builds, the harder it will be to conquer it and the more pain we’ll need to get through (eventually). In fact, eventually 100% of our taxes will go towards just paying the interest on the debt if we follow the current trajectories. Printing more money won’t help the situation either, as inflation is likely to escalate at that point.
Backing up a bit…here are some resources on what happened on Tuesday night with the Fiscal Cliff in the United States:
From DSC:
The media loves to divide. They hate to unite. Evidently, unity doesn’t pay the bills .
(BTW, to the remaining journalism majors out there — strive to build up and help our country, and try not to feed the flames of division just so that your organizations’ ratings go up. Watch whose agendas are truly being served and the verbiage you use. Unfortunately, as a Christian, I can’t say much for the church, as there are fractions throughout the church as well.)
Getting back to what’s on my mind…delaying the pain is just making the future pain all the worse. Let’s bite the bullet, compromise, work together, and go through the pain now rather than later. If we wait too long, our children will be paying the price for our ways.
As educators, it looks like we need to beef up those parts of the curriculum that deal with collaboration and creative compromise!
Calvin College: The January Series
Presentations begin 12:30 p.m. EST (11:30 a.m. CST, 10:30 a.m. MST, 9:30 a.m. PST)
NOTE: Due to contractual restrictions, a few of these presentations will not be recorded or archived.
More details here, but a listing of the speakers/topics include:
Thursday, January 3
Jeremy Courtney – “Restoring Hearts in Iraq”
Friday, January 4
Sheryl WuDunn – “Half the Sky: Turning Oppression into Opportunity for Women Worldwide”
Monday, January 7
Roberta Green Ahmanson – “Dreams Become Reality: Inspiration through the Arts”
Tuesday, January 8
Jenny Yang – “Welcoming the Stranger: Justice, Compassion and Truth in the Immigration Debate”
Wednesday, January 9
Richard J. Mouw & Robert Millet – “Evangelicals and Mormons: A Conversation and Dialogue”
Thursday, January 10
Peter Diamandis – “Abundance: The Future is Better Than You Think”
Friday, January 11
Captain Scotty Smiley – “Hope Unseen”
Monday, January 14
Jeff Van Duzer – “Why Business Matters to God”
Tuesday, January 15
Rebecca Skloot – “The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks”
Wednesday, January 16
Cokie Roberts – “An Insider’s View of Washington DC”
Thursday, January 17
W. Dwight Armstrong – “Feeding the World and the Future of Farming”
Friday, January 18
Garth Pauley – “Rituals of Democracy: Inaugural Addresses in American History”
Monday, January 21
Robert Robinson – “Celebration through Gospel Music” in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day
Tuesday, January 22
Mike Kim – “North Korea-China: A Modern Day Underground Railroad”
Wednesday, January 23
Chap Clark – “Sticky Faith”in partnership with the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship
Key findings from Executive Excess 2012: The CEO Hands in Uncle Sam’s Pocket — from the Institute for Policy Studies by Sarah Anderson, Chuck Collins, Scott Klinger, Sam Pizzigati
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Key findings:
From DSC:
Considering our corporations are sitting on $1.X trillion, where is our nation’s heart? Priorities? Care for fellow mankind? It seems the “every man for himself” philosophy and manner of living is alive and well here in America. My alma mater would be proud — it’s their philosophy exactly.
Big Brother is watching: Document reveals surveillance of social media, blogs, image-sharing sites — from techland.time.com byGraeme McMillan
From DSC:
As a side comment:
As of 11/20/11 (~2:00pm EST)
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As of 8/24/11:
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From DSC:
With the increase in globalization — and from what I’ve seen happening in the financial systems (i.e. how what happens in Europe affects the financial systems in the U.S./Asia/other and vice versa) — it seems clear that we are all in this boat together. If that’s true, what does that mean for:
Addendum on 11/21/11:
Analysis: In debt row, hints of emerging-economy crises — from Reuters by Pedro Nicolaci da Costa
WASHINGTON | Sun Jul 24, 2011 5:59pm EDT
Debt default. A ratings downgrade. Political deadlock. Such terms, once associated primarily with the developing world, now abound in the mighty United States.
From DSC:
Here is an idea for a project-based learning assignment for Business, Economics, & Political Science Students/Faculty:
Your mission, if you decide to accept it, is to investigate and answer the following questions:
Find out. That’s your assignment. Then…
This tape will self-destruct in 30 seconds…
From DSC:
On February 24th, I saw this piece at Forbes.com — > USA Inc.: Mary Meeker’s Deep Dive Into The Federal Budget
Excerpt:
“By the standards of any public corporation, USA Inc.’s financials are discouraging,” she writes in an introduction to the report. “True, USA Inc. has many fundamental strengths. On an operating basis (excluding Medicare and Medicaid spending and one-time charges, the federal government’s profit and loss statement is solid, with a 4% median net margin over the last 15 years. But cash flow is deep in the red (by almost $1.3 trillion last year, or ~$11,000 per household) and USA Inc.’s net worth is negative and deteriorating. That net worth figure includes the present value of unfunded entitlement liabilities but not hard-to-value assets such as natural resources, the power to tax or mint currency, or what Treasury calls ‘heritage’ or ’stewardship assets’ like National Parks. Nevertheless, the trends are clear, and critical warning signs are evident in nearly every data point we examine.
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She points out that Congressional Budget Office data suggests that by 2025 all of the government’s income will go to entitlement spending and interest payments, leaving nothing for any other expenditures.
From DSC:
The day before, I had seen a video mentioned on TV. From the mentioned URL, I checked the majority of it out. It made me ask, “Is this for real!!!???”
Most likely it is just a sales pitch. But the underlying concept of the growing national U.S. debt is not a joke — and, if not reversed, could have a serious affect on global economies.
As I don’t know, I’m seeking input/feedback from any and all economists out there! If what he is saying is even remotely true, the financial aftershocks will be felt throughout the world. Below are my reflections/questions on that potentially-very-important topic/perspective.
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I’m not sure what I think about a video that I ran across the other day. I’m referring to a video done by Porter Stansbury, founder of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research. I saw the URL posted on a cable TV station, referencing a URL/video at:
While I’m not big on the latter part of the video/piece where he pitches some potential investing solutions and reports, (and, NOTE: I do not mean to endorse any strategy he may be talking about nor is this posting meant to get into investment strategies or advice!)
I studied Economics at Northwestern years ago and several things this gentleman says in this video seemed within reason/feasible. Also, I have heard a variety of economists (here in the United States) through the years voicing their concerns about the enormity of the growing level of federal debt and the amount of our debt being owned by other countries.
(As an aside, people don’t like to hear bad news and we don’t vote the rare politicians into office who actually stand up and tell us what we really need to do to fix whatever mess we were/are in. I’ve noticed that in the world of higher education, many don’t like to hear news of the disruptions already underway either.)
Spiritually speaking, America has pushed the LORD out of the public square for so long, that it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see our nation continue its steep and rapid decline. Throughout history, nations have come and gone…risen and fallen…why should we be any different? (Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD…Psalm 33:12 — and conversely…)
By way of a quick piece of research I did — this page on their website claims that the total outstanding debt of the U.S. Federal government is $14.131 trillion — which appears to be true:
Questions:
It’s very real world and students could work to try and pick apart the various arguments/assertions/implications mentioned therein. Prove if this is a scam or not.