It is normally very effective for people to work in teams and take advantage of different strengths and abilities. One thing I have found here is that nearly every student finds a way to complete their contributions on time if they are part of a team, whereas individual assignments are more likely to be put on the back burner. It is sad that Congress has lost the ability to work as a team because there is just no accountability. We 'grade' them (they have a failing grade, based on the approval rating), but they seem to keep their jobs with all the perks anyway. Even though they refuse to even consider solutions to actual problems because they are too busy with ridiculous amendments, they have no penalties for poor job performance. I think it is just too much, on top of everything else people have to worry about, for every voter to find out what each of their representatives has been up to, especially with all the propaganda mixed with facts. We definitely need some new ideas for our political system!

Please do some research on the U.S. budget, especially the size of the budget deficit and the size of the national debt. What can you say about trends? Is the budget deficit getting larger or smaller? What about the national debt? Why are people so concerned about the size of the national debt?

We started thinking about these two macroeconomics schools of thought at the beginning of the class. Some of you identified more with the Classical position of laissez-faire, and others advocated active government involvement to solve economic problems, following the Keynesian way of thinking. After learning more about the issues in this chapter, what are your thoughts?

The Keynesian approach emphasizes the connection between taxes and aggregate demand. The theory holds that when people get tax cuts, they turn around and spend more, causing AD to shift rightward. This is seen as a way to stimulate the economy, raising output and employment, and helping the economy recover from a recession.
What about the supply side effects of tax cuts? Does anyone have thoughts about whether or not lowering taxes will motivate people to work harder and produce more? If demand and supply are both shifting to the right, what happens to equilibrium price and quantity?

A proposed fiscal policy for 2015 is to double the maximum value of earned income tax credit (EITC) for childless workers in the US. If this passes, workers without children will be able to keep more of their earnings, which should increase the aggregate demand as this group of people has more buying power. This policy might also encourage more people to enter the workforce in order to qualify for the tax credit. Any thoughts on this proposal?