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Internet Activities: Economic Policy
 
 
 

Just the Facts, Please

1. The Federal Reserve, (http://www.federalreserve.gov)

  1. What are the duties of the Federal Reserve? In what ways do they fulfill these duties?
  2. Analyze the value of the consumer information available, with regards to credit cards, home mortgages, vehicle leasing, bank complaints and consumer credit.
  3. What is the structure of the banking system?

Compare & Contrast

2. The Dismal Scientist, (http://www.dismalscientist.com/)

  1. Using their dictionary, define the following terms: Consumer Price Index (CPI), Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and Producer Price Index (PPI).
  2. Using the CPI calculator, how has the value of specific goods have changed over time? Use your year of birth and compare that with the most recent data.
  3. Using their Economic Calendar and the three most recent months, what are some of the forecasts made for this time period? Include the data on home sales, factory sales, and jobless claims. Based on this data, what can be predicted about the American economy?
 
   
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Exploration

1. The U.S. Budget for fiscal year 2001, (http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/)

  1. Click onto "the Citizen’s Guide to the Federal Budget".
  2. Where does the money come from? Include revenues and spending.
  3. What is the budget process and why is a surplus important?

2. Council on Economic Affairs (CEA) (http://www.whitehouse.gov/WH/EOP/CEA/html/about.html)

  1. What is the role of the CEA?
  2. Review the document "Changing America." What are the indicators for social and economic well-being? What criteria were used? What themes have emerged in recent decades?

3. The Economic Policy Institute (EPI), (http://epinet.org/subjectpages/trade.html)

  1. Review the article "Quarterly Wage and Employment Series". Examine the relationship between the unemployment rate, labor market, and economy.
  2. What information is offered by this website regarding Social Security?
  3. Why is this website concerned about President George W. Bush’s economic plans?

 4. Go to http://www.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/fy2001/guidetoc.html and you will find a document titled "A Citizen’s Guide to the Federal Budget." This document was written by the Office of Management and Budget out of the Executive Office of the President. It was written to enable citizens to obtain general information about the budgeting process.

  • Select the link to "4. The Budget Surplus and Fiscal Discipline." Read the materials and answer the following questions:
  • Summarize the information in Chart 4-1 about the previous budget deficits and how those deficits have been reversed into surpluses.
  • How did deficits after 1981 change dramatically?"
  • Why have "we been able to move from deficit to balance’? Note discretionary spending.
  • Also, be sure to summarize the data in Chart 4-2. In addition, which three nations eliminated their total government budget deficits in 1997 or 1998?
  • What was the significance of the historic 1997 Balanced Budget Act?

Go to http://w3.access.gpo.gov/usbudget/ and you will be at the Economic Democracy Information Network home page, a web page devoted to understanding economics and public policy issues. Select the link to "Government Budget Info". You will be at the National Budget Simulation web page. Select the link to "Playing the Game" and hit "The Long Version: Getting into the Nitty-Gritty Details." See how you do.

5. Go to the Concord Coalition’s home page (http://www.concordcoalition.org/). You will find here that the Concord Coalition is a "nonpartisan, grassroots organization dedicated to eliminating federal budget deficits while ensuring Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid are secure for all generations."

Answer the following questions based upon this home page:

  • When was the Concord Coalition founded? Who were the founders?

Now hit the link "News Releases." Find the March 8, 2000 release entitled "Concord Coalition Warns Against Fiscal Year 2000 Giveaway." Summarize this article’s key points about protecting the budgetary surplus. Now go back to the home page and hit the "Facing Facts Alerts" link. This will take you to the February 14, 2000 "The Surplus Temptation."

Once again, summarize key points. Be sure to answer why the assertion is made that the "closer you look at the surplus projections, the flimsier they appear."

  
       
   
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