Week 3 Discussion 1 & 2

Week 3 - Discussion Forum 2

Required Resources

Texts

Gwartney, J. A., Stroup, R. L., Sobel, R. L., & Macpherson, D. A. (2018).  Macroeconomics: Private and public choice  (16th ed.). Retrieved from https://www.cengage.com

· Chapter 9: An Introduction to Basic Macroeconomic Markets

· Chapter 10: Dynamic Change, Economic Fluctuations, and the AD-AS Model

· Chapter 11: Fiscal Policy: the Keynesian View and the Historical Development of Macroeconomics

· Chapter 12: Fiscal Policy, Incentives, and Secondary Effects

Tamny, J. (2015).  Popular economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James can teach you about economics . Retrieved from https://www.redshelf.com

· Chapter 4: It’s the Spending, Stupid: Budget Deficits Really Don’t Matter

· Chapter 22: If They Tell You They Predicted the “Financial Crisis,” They’re Lying

 

Recommended Resources

Text

Tamny, J. (2015).  Popular economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James can teach you about economics . Retrieved from https://www.redshelf.com

· These chapters provide John Tamny’s perspective on a specific fiscal policy: taxes. The author and some other economists are not in favor of higher taxes. He gives the rationale for the government to implement a fiscal policy of lower taxes. This may give you a different perspective and add to your knowledge in answering the Fiscal Policy discussion forum question as well as give more information in working through The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week.

· Chapter 1: Taxes are Nothing More than a Price Placed on Work

· Chapter 2: When We Tax Corporations, We Rob Them of Their Future

· Chapter 10: Conclusion: Bulldoze the U.S. Tax Code

Articles

Colvin, G. (2018, October 1).  How to spot the next financial crisis . Fortune, 9–10. Retrieved from http://fortune.com/

· The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article reflects on some of the causes of the Great Recession. More importantly, the author takes you into the future to discuss when and if another big recession will occur and what some of the triggers might look like. This article may assist you with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week.

Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. (2018, December 13).  The deficit has never been this high when the economy was this strong (Links to an external site.) [Blog post]. Retrieved from http://www.crfb.org/blogs/deficit-has-never-been-high-when-economy-was-strong

· This blog post discusses the current debt high level in relation to business cycles. The debt is climbing in a very healthy economy which is unusual as debt usually grows during down economies and recessions. This is an interesting perspective and may assist you with your Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion forum this week. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Committee for Economic Development. (2018, April 4).  What is the ‘national debt’ and why does it matter? (Links to an external site.) [Report]. Retrieved from https://www.ced.org/reports/what-is-the-national-debt-and-why-does-it-matter

· This report discusses the current debt and clarifies commonly used terms such as “deficit” and “debt.” The report is concise and may assist you with your Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion forum this week. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Davidson, J. (2016, February 11).  How much does America’s huge national debt actually matter? (Links to an external site.) Time. Retrieved from http://time.com/4214269/us-national-debt/

· This article was written in 2016 and gives you the perspective on the debt at that time. The debt has continued to grow larger since that time. The article makes some prediction for future years. The article may assist you with your Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion forum this week. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Holland, J., Leamer, E., & Rivlin, A. (2018, July).  Perspectives on U.S. fiscal policy . Business Economics 53(3), 124–133. https://doi.org/10.1057/s11369-018-0083-3

· The full-text version of this article is available through the Business Insights: Global database in the Ashford University Library. This detailed article discusses fiscal policies and their impact on the national debt. The article covers entitlements, healthcare, and the global bond market. The author artfully weaves these topics in to logically explain the impact of the growing national debt. This article may assist you with your Fiscal Policy and Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion forums this week.

Ponnuru, R. (2018, September 10).  Rethinking the recession: Blame the Fed’s monetary policy . National Review, 70, 26–28. Retrieved from https://www.nationalreview.com/

· The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article evaluates the underlying causes of the Great Recession and looks squarely at the Federal Reserve Bank. This author in part aligns with our textbook but still offers a slightly different perspective. This article may assist you with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week.

Tooze, A. (2018, September).  The forgotten history of the financial crisis: What the world should have learned in 2008 . Foreign Affairs, 97, 199–210. Retrieved from https://www.foreignaffairs.com/

· The full-text version of this article is available through the EBSCOhost database in the Ashford University Library. This article provides some valuable insights into the Great Recession and the lessons to be learned. This article discusses various countries and markets around the world to give you a more global view of the crisis. This article will assist you with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week.

Wallison, P. J. (2009, June 1).  Cause and effect: Government policies and fiscal crisis (Links to an external site.). Retrieved from https://www.aei.org/publication/cause-and-effect/

· This article provides information about the causes of the Great Recession and how government intervention played a strong role in the housing crises and the eventual recession. This article may assist you with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Multimedia

CNBC International. (2018, July 26).  Does U.S. debt matter? | CNBC Explains (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/So2OQW6gR6I

· This short video is narrated by CNBC’s Elizabeth Schulze. She discusses the current U.S. government debt of $21 trillion and the economic impacts. She tackles the question of “does this matter?” This video may assist you with your Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript. Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.) Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

Marginal Revolution University. (2016, August 9).  The Great Recession (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://youtu.be/dI6HNi5I8d4

· This video provides a clear and concise explanation as to how the financial intermediates failed and how this led to the Great Recession. The video presents facts and no political viewpoints. This video may assist you with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript. Accessibility Statement (Links to an external site.) Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

PragerU. (2014, September 29).  How to solve America’s spending problem (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.prageru.com/video/how-to-solve-americas-spending-problem/

· This video provides information about the national debt components and suggests ways to reduce the debt. The video will give you one side of the debate and a conservative view on how the debt could be reduced. This video may assist you with your Government Budget Deficits (Debate) discussion forum this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

PragerU. (2015, June 21).  Should governments bail out big banks? (Links to an external site.) [Video file]. Retrieved from https://www.prageru.com/video/should-government-bail-out-big-banks/

· This video provides a fascinating view on some causes of the Great Recession. This economist debates that deregulation was not the cause, but that bank dependences on government was a major factor. This video adds to the debate and may give you another perspective to assist with your The Great Recession of 2008-2009: Causes and Responses assignment this week. This video has closed captioning and a transcript. Accessibility Statement does not exist. Privacy Policy (Links to an external site.)

INSTRUCTION

Prior to beginning work on this discussion,

· Read Chapter 11 of Macroeconomics: Private and Public Choice.

· Read Chapter 4 of Popular Economics: What the Rolling Stones, Downton Abbey, and LeBron James Can Teach You About Economics.

Let’s cordially debate a controversial and often misunderstood macroeconomic topic. Our huge U.S. government debt (see the latest debt being counted at  U.S. Debt Clock (Links to an external site.)) continues to grow and is constantly in the news.

For your initial post address the following:

· Is the large and increasing national debt an issue we should be concerned about?

· How does John Tamny view the national debt? What is your conclusion? Is this a problem, why or why not? Be sure to support your conclusion with facts.

Your initial response should be a minimum of 200 words. Graduate school students learn to assess the perspectives of several scholars. Support your response with at least one scholarly and/or credible resource in addition to the course text books.