The Headlines Say It ALL

The headlines say it all:

Cairo Erupts in Jubilation
Revolution in Egypt
Mubarek is Gone
Egypt is Free

Reporters and leaders around the world kept repeating that “history was unfolding before our eyes” as the world watched the people of Egypt, young, old, from all walks of life, come forward and march through the streets of Cairo with the goal of freedom. We must celebrate this great victory and hope that the days ahead will be filled with progress as the Egyptians try to figure out how to shape their new democracy. Thirty years of dictatorial rule are over and the hard work of fashioning a civil society is ahead. While the world watches to see what transpires, other leaders in the Middle East are already under pressure to open their societies. This is truly a turning point in history!

Did you make any money?

This week we looked at the causes of the 1929 stock market crash and ensuing Depression. Investors got caught up in get-rich-quick attitudes and bought stock on margin in hopes of making huge sums of money. Consumers over-extended themselves by buying on the installment plan many items they could not afford. And farmers struggled to make loan payments when the demand from Europe dried up. The result was the crash of 1929. You worked on a stock chart from 1929 and one from today. You quickly saw that money could be made if you bought your stock on a low day and sold at a high, but how was an investor to know when that would happen? You have to be smart about money. If you are prudent and have a plan you can amass a comfortable sum of money (more on that next week when I show you how to be a millionaire by the age of 65). You need to know how money can help you meet your goals in life but it also can bring misery if you don’t follow some simple rules of spending and saving.

Comparisons between then and now

As we studied the economic situation of 1929 and today, we learned many new vocabulary terms. We talked about the Bull and Bear markets, speculation, collateral and buying on margin. These terms are important for you to know and to use as we talk about economic issues. Your current event, which is due on Tuesday, must be on a business or economic issue. In addition to the regular summary and analysis you also need to identify new vocabulary words and meanings from the article.

Our UpFront article gave us a good comparison between 1929 and the current economic slowdown. You could see that our current slowdown could have been much worse but the government took steps to avert such a sharp turn down. Many of the New Deal programs that were put into place after the election of President Roosevelt are still with us today. It is hard to think how families survived the 1929 Depression without unemployment insurance, Federal Depositors Insurance, or Social Security. If you have family members who like to reminisce, ask them how their families survived this period – and whether they knew of people who did not.
We also finished watching The Crash of 1929. In addition to news from this year, you heard from people who lived through this time and how their lives changed with the crash.

This week you also had a quiz on chapter 22, section 1. If you missed the quiz, you have 5 days to come by and take it. Don’t delay.

Next week we will look at the social effects of the Depression and you are to complete activity 6 on your syllabus. You were also given a reading to prepare for our accountable talk discussion on Wednesday. Some of you have an opinion piece from Bob Herbert of The New York Times and others have an article from The Economist (Admiral Wisecup’s favorite magazine). We will do a family reenactment lesson where you will decide how your family is going to survive the Depression…how will you try to increase your income and what can you do to decrease your expenditures? What are your priorities? How do your individual family decisions then affect the community?

Final Assessment

We will finish the week with an in-class writing assignment. The goal is to complete the study of the Depression so you can go off on February break with no homework. I know you will keep up with current events but there will be no assigned work if we can complete our assignments next week.

Obama “Hoovervilles”?

While reading the NYT this morning, I came across this headline that caught my eye so I am passing it on to you. Mitt Romney, who is expected to be running for the Republican nomination for president in 2012, compared the lines of unemployed today with the Hoovervilles of the past. “These job fairs and unemployment lines are President Obama’s Hoovervilles!” Next week during our accountable talk activity, let’s see if your assessment is the same as Mitt Romney’s.

In-School Field Trip

On Monday we have two more guest speakers from the Naval War College. We will be hearing from officers from Germany and Kazakhstan. Please sign in with your advisory teacher and then come to room 212.