In class/homework: Harper High (Part 1)

Date assigned
Friday, March 15


Assignment
Listen to the first of two This American Life episodes about Harper High in Chicago (link here).  Answer the following questions:

In the richest country in the world, how is this happening?  Has the government failed this community?  Has this community failed itself?  Should the government be doing more for this community?  If so, what should the government be doing?  Increasing police presence?  Increasing school funding?  Trying to increase job opportunities for the adults in the area to raise the socioeconomic status?  Trying to create programs for kids to get involved in so they won't join gangs?  What's the answer here?  What would your prescription for this neighborhood be?

Write at least a page, typed and double spaced, considering the above questions.


Due date
Monday, March 18

In class: Democracy Now

Date assigned
Wednesday, March 13


Assignment
Watch the March 13 Democracy Now headlines (link).  Take notes on the various issues that Amy Goodman reports.


Due date
Wednesday, March 13, end of class

Economics: Day 3

Date
Monday, March 11


Pages covered
Period 5: 9-13
Period 6: 9-13
Period 8: 9-13


Topics covered

Period 5: Production-possibility frontier, guns vs. butter, necessities vs. luxuries, current-consumption goods vs. investment in capital goods, opportunity costs

Period 6: Resource allocation, inputs, outputs, factors of production (land - natural resources like land, sand, oil, mining, and environmental health; labor - human time spent on production; and capital - investment in the future of the economy in the form of factories, machinery, roads, etc.), production-possibility frontier (weapons production up and car production down in WWII), guns vs. butter, necessities vs. luxuries, current-consumption goods vs. investment in capital goods, opportunity costs

Period 8: Production-possibility frontier, guns vs. butter, necessities vs. luxuries, current-consumption goods vs. investment in capital goods, opportunity costs


Watched
Tax dollars at war: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kFeduoDWKj4

In class: Rand Paul filibuster

Wyden joins: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iaO2y7Jw-PI

Paul ends after almost 13 hours: http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/03/07/rand-paul-filibuster-longest-senate-thurmond/1970291/

Vote tracking for Brennan's confirmation: http://politics.nytimes.com/congress/votes/113/senate/1/32

Merkley's statement: http://ggsidedocs.blogspot.com/2013/03/jeff-merkley-on-brennan.html

Economics: Day 2

Date
Friday, March 8


Pages covered
Period 5: 9
Period 6: 7-9
Period 8: 8-9


Topics covered

Period 5: Eisenhower (choosing weapons means not choosing social benefits), resource allocation, inputs, outputs, factors of production (land - natural resources like land, sand, oil, mining, and environmental health; labor - human time spent on production; and capital - investment in the future of the economy in the form of factories, machinery, roads, etc.), production-possibility frontier (weapons production up and car production down in WWII)

Period 6: The 3 problems of economic organization (What goods are produced?  How are goods produced?  Who gets the goods?), market economy, laissez-faire, command economy, mixed economy, Eisenhower (choosing weapons means not choosing social benefits)

Period 8: Market economy, laissez-faire, command economy, mixed economy, Eisenhower (choosing weapons means not choosing social benefits), resource allocation, inputs, outputs, factors of production (land - natural resources like land, sand, oil, mining, and environmental health; labor - human time spent on production; and capital - investment in the future of the economy in the form of factories, machinery, roads, etc.), production-possibility frontier (weapons production up and car production down in WWII)

Economics: Day 1

Date
Wednesday, March 6


Pages covered
Period 5: 3-8
Period 6: 3-6
Period 8: 3-7


Topics covered:

Period 5: Scarcity, efficiency, economic goods, Adam Smith, cottage industry, John Maynard Keynes, Great Depression, post hoc fallacy, "keep other things constant", fallacy of composition, tariffs, the 3 problems of economic organization (What goods are produced?  How are goods produced?  Who gets the goods?), market economy, laissez-faire, command economy, mixed economy

Period 6: Scarcity, efficiency, economic goods, Adam Smith, cottage industry, John Maynard Keynes, Great Depression, post hoc fallacy, "keep other things constant", fallacy of composition, tariffs

Period 8: Scarcity, efficiency, economic goods, Adam Smith, cottage industry, John Maynard Keynes, Great Depression, post hoc fallacy, "keep other things constant", fallacy of composition, tariffs, the 3 problems of economic organization (What goods are produced?  How are goods produced?  Who gets the goods?)

In class/homework: "Escape Fire"

Date assigned

Wednesday, February 27

Assignment

Watch the film "Escape Fire" in class.  (If you missed it in class, it's going to be on CNN on March 10.)  In at least 1.5 pages typed (2 pages if handwritten) answer the following questions:

1) Summarize the issues that the filmmakers view as problematic in the American healthcare system:

• Overmedication

• Overtreatment

• Doctors paid on the fee-for-service model

• Disease management (Shannon Brownlee quote - "We have a very profitable disease-care system... it doesn't want you to die and it doesn't want you to get well.  It just wants you to keep coming back.")

• Medicine as a business (Steven Nissen quote - "When medicine became a business we lost our moral compass.")

• Others

2) Summarize the solutions that the filmmakers argue are needed to fix the problems in the American healthcare system.

• Treating the whole person

• Changing what we teach in medical school

• Behaviors (Roy Litten quote - "I eat the regular food...eggs, sausage, grits, bacon.")

• Rewarding behavior (Safeway CEO Steve Burd quote - "Behavior becomes a form of currency for people to accomplish their lifestyle changes.")

• Others

3) Why is the film called Escape Fire?  Why do you think the filmmakers chose that metaphor as their central theme?

4) Why is healthcare such a politically-charged issue?  Why do you think it's so hard for Congress to come to a consensus about healthcare?  Is there any hope that Democrats and Republicans can work together to do what's best for sick Americans?

5) What can the civilian healthcare system learn from the innovations of the American military?

6) How could the American government invest in schools to improve the future health of our nation's citizenry and cut down on future healthcare expenditures?

Due date

Wednesday, March 6