Economics/Personal Finance

Wednesday, October 19, 2011

NBA - New League???

Read this article and comment on your thoughts about the NBA and the contents of this story.

This article is due October 21

Monday, October 10, 2011

Recession officially over, but US incomes kept falling

Read the following link that matches with our chapter 23 in class. This article will give us a nice spring board to begin conversations about the current data and what this tells us about the health of our economy.

After reading this article make 3 points supporting your belief about the health of our economy. Use the article and the data to support your points.

This article is due October 14th.

Sunday, October 9, 2011

House of Cards

Tuesday, October 4, 2011

The Case for Saturday School

What is your opinion about China's educational system, Saturday school plan, in comparison to the United States? How do you believe a 4 day school week would impact education? Discuss the impact on education if we added Saturday school?

This article is due October 7th.

Tuesday, September 27, 2011

Is Cursive Writing a Skill Your Generation Needs?

Read this article about cursive writing. The article points out arguments from both sides about this skill and its importance. What are your thoughts? Do people in today's world need this skill? or do you support the philosophy that this is a skill that just needs to fade away?

This article is due Friday, September 30th.

Monday, September 19, 2011

The Wall Street Journal Classroom Edition

How much information do you want advertisers to have about you? What are the benefits and drawbacks for you of making that information available? How might the information benefit advertisers?

This article is due September 23. 2011

Sunday, September 18, 2011

International trade: Absolute and comparative advantage

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

How Stores Lead You To Spend

Wall Street Journal, recently posted this article about strategies used by stores to get us to spend our money. Do you think these strategies work? Which strategies work most on you? Do you think its fair they use these strategies? Would you use these type of strategies if you had your own busiess
Due Date is Friday, September 16th

Friday, September 2, 2011

Music Festivals Take Center Stage

The Wall Street Journal recently posted this article about the music industry. Read this article and answer the following.

1. Describe your usage and buying habits from the music industry. Have you attended any concerts this year? If yes, explain what you attended..... was it one band or several. Why did you choose to attend that concert? Was the concert worth the cost? Second, if you have not attended any concerts explain why... costs? don't like concerts? other? Third, discuss do you listen to the radio for music, Pandora, pay to upload songs? buy CD's? Buy vinyl records? Share with friends? Fourth-- have you attended a music festival? If so, what? What were you thoughts about attending that versus a single concert?
What trend does the article see happening in the music industry and how do you believe that might impact you?

This article is due September 9th.

Friday, August 26, 2011

September 2nd Article: "Creating Your Own Job"

Click on the title above and you will find an article about a few students your age that have taken creating a job into their own hands. Wall Street Journal Student Edition outlines their stories. Read the article and choose at least TWO of the following to discuss. A. Do you know a high school student that has started their own business? If so, what was the business idea? To your knowledge have they been successful? B. Discuss whether or not you have found a job this summer or not? Has the slow economy impacted your desire and ability to find a job? C. Which story from the article did you find the most interesting? and Why? D. Do you know someone that started their own business? If so, what was it?

This article is due September 2nd.

Sunday, August 21, 2011

Say It's Not So..... Another Recession???

Just when we had hope that we wouldn't have to hear the term recession for a few years........ hmmm, well it appears that the term is back. Read this article to find out what the experts are talking about. Why do economists believe that we could be heading into another recession? What specifically do they list as possible factors? What is your opinion of this article and its contents? and how might this impact you and your family or town?

This article is due, Friday, August 26th.

Welcome Back : School Year 2011-2012

Welcome Back. We may have just returned from break, but by no means was it a peaceful summer for our government and economy. In order for us to discuss and understand what is Economics and how it relates to you and your life, we must include current events. This blog will allow me to post weekly articles that I believe represents units we are or will be covering. So, when each of you ask yourself, "why do I need to take this class?"..... let's just say that you will quickly see that this class is not about a textbook-- this class is about your everyday life. So let's get started.

Each of you have received directions concerning the blog, but let's review the main points. 1. Must read and post about one article per week. 2. Due date is Friday of each week. Unless we are off for a holiday, then it is due the last school day of that week. 3. If you for some reason do not get the article posted by the due date-- you have one week to catch up for reduced points. Every day they are late-- the reduction increases. 4. Not completing weekly articles will hurt your grade!! 5. Must use appropriate language and comments on all blog posts-- keep in mind that they world can ready your comment-- but the world can NOT contact you directly. 6. Each of you will record your log in information to be kept in a protected binder by the teacher-- just in case you might forget your sign in information and trust me-- lots of people do forget it. 7. You will need to use a gmail email account and you must be invited to join the blog. This will be explained in class. 8. IF your parents are opposed to you posting online, please see me for an alternative way to complete the assignment. 9. Doing these articles are not optional-- they are a must in order to be successful in this course.