Module 1 Discussion
Katep50
Reply.docxTrey Austin
Friday15 May at 19:16
Part 1
Hello! My name is Trey Austin and I’m from Loveland, Ohio. I chose to attend UC Clermont for a few reasons. The tuition is incredibly affordable, the campus is close to my home, and it is the most accessible place for me to complete courses while working. I am currently a pre-secondary education major, I plan to transition into the college of criminal justice, education, and human services at main campus this upcoming fall. I hope to graduate in the spring of 2022 and become certified to teach shortly after. I currently work at UPS. I hope to be a high school teacher, obtain my masters (or more) in history, and possibly teach at a university later in life. My main hobby consists of playing sports. I played soccer all throughout high school, I also played for a college in New York and played here at UC Clermont. I also enjoy playing sports like golf, basketball, tennis, and many others for fun. I am also a history buff, obviously it is a big part of why I plan to become a history teacher. I took an intro to economics course in high school and have completed the microeconomics course here at UC Clermont. Math and economics are my worst subjects in terms of understanding and retainment of information, so I only have somewhat of a foundational knowledge on the subject. I am familiar with curves, surplus’, and other economic concepts. I would like to understand how economies work and which strategies are best for producing and adding to a healthy economy.
Part 2
https://www.bbc.com/news/business-52671992 (Links to an external site.)
I read an article from BBC.com titled “Coronavirus 'could cost global economy $8.8tn' says ADB.” ABD, an insurance and financial services company, released harrowing estimates detailing possible net losses for the world economy. These losses could be anywhere from $5.8 trillion to $8.8 trillion. This equates to 6.4%-9.7% of the world’s economic output. The article went on to describe many of the strategies used by banks across the globe, some of these include lowering interest rates and “rolling out massive stimulus measures” (BBC.com). Many of the larger issues we face caused by COVID-19 (things like high rates of unemployment and increase of debt) are also touched on and updated in this article. I found the implications of what this means for the world economy to be most interesting. The majority of Americans like myself are only aware of the domestic issues we face. I have not paid much attention to foreign and worldwide economic issues caused by COVID-19, reading about them and understanding the implications of the hurt the world may face as a result was news to me (in a bad way).
These videos are truly fascinating insights on economic systems, namely the free market. This reminded me of the lecture from Dr. Krome in my first world history class of the semester. He explained how when we as Americans consume products (his example used root beer), we are doing it indirectly in a global sense. Without this system, this is not possible. This is how the economy functions. These videos also helped me to understand the level of complexity that is the economy. It is not just a system that can be produced by one thing. Like the pencil, it is takes a global effort to produce and sustain an economy. Friedman uses the example of a car. We don’t realize how intricate a car is until it breaks down at 3AM. Understanding economics as a complex system with countless intricacies which must be individually studied is the strategy one must have for an adequate understanding on this subject.
Kelly Schmidt
11 May 202011 May at 15:00
Part 1
Hi, my name is Kelly Schmidt. I am from New Richmond, Ohio which is about 30 minutes east of Cincinnati down the river. I am in the Medical Sciences program through the College of Medicine. I am a 3rd year in the fall. I chose UC because of my program; it is a very good program and very advantageous for applying to Medical School. I also chose UC because in high school I did CCP through UC Clermont and was able to get tons of credit for courses and could make sure that I was able to keep those credits in college and not have to repeat courses. My degree goals are to go to Medical School after undergrad. I currently work at Crunch Fitness Newport and in the Emergency Room at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital as a PCA. My career goals are to be an Emergency Room Physician. My hobbies are fitness and reading. I enjoy working out and hanging out with my friends, two things that I have not been able to do too much of lately. One thing I would like to share about myself is that I went to the Galapagos Islands after my senior year of high school and it was very cool. I got to see the tortoises. I have not taken an economics class before; I have taken almost exclusively the hard sciences since coming to college and decided I should take an econ class because I had space in my schedule. My best friend is an accounting major and she recommended to take Macro so here I am. I would like to learn more about trade and how the world economy works. I do not know much about economics, so I am not even sure what I want to learn, I just want to learn some new stuff that isn’t Biochem or Anatomy.
Part 2
1. I chose an article about unemployment in the US during COVID-19. In the month of April 20.5 Million jobs were lost and the US has an unemployment rate of 14.7%. This record unemployment is from the coronavirus pandemic, and this pandemic is going to have lasting damage on the economy. April 2020 held the lowest number of adults with a job at 51.3% This article talks about how the numbers of unemployment don’t even come close to describing the economic distress currently happening. One great point mentioned was that 80% were temporarily laid off, and they expect to be able to return to work once the quarantine sanctions are taken away. This job loss has been across all industries, from hotels, to food to retail stores. All areas of the economy have been hit because they are all so connected and in the intertwined. The article stresses that it will take a while for the economy to bounce back after the pandemic, it will not be able to go back to normal once this pandemic is over and life will start again. Economists have predicted that the unemployment rate will fall over the summer, as states reopen, and people return to work.
2. The most interesting thing that I found about this article was that all of this happened in a matter of weeks, while according to the article, usually takes months to play out to get to this degree. I found this article to interest me because it is currently going on and I am only 19 years old and have just started my adult life and there is going to be a very big recession likely after the epidemic is over.
Part 3
3. A key thing I learned from these videos is that everything is connected. Simple items, like even a pencil cannot exist without so many other things existing. It really opened up my eyes to see how truly interconnected the world is and how the world is so dependent on so many places and people in order to function as we do today. Another key thing I learned from this video is how much work is human labor, and how much people still have to do today, even though we so often talk about losing jobs to technology and machinery.
4. The information in these videos helps to better understand economics because it presents how connected the world is, and if any one step stops working then the whole production has to stop until everything is fixed. It shows how even food workers are a dependent part of the economy and no job or sector is less than one because it is not considered as prestigious of a job.
