Economic History Interpretations

What connections can you make about our economic past to our economic future? What should we learn about past policy/decisions?

Please include your name with you observation/idea/thought, and the date you edited the thought. You can also comment on the thoughts of others, or add your own ideas to someone else’s theory.

Mr. Dellerba Nov 18

I believe the future of our economic success is dependent upon creating new industries.  In the past, we have colonized…abused..dominated…and even assimilated other societies in order to exploit their resources and people. I believe we should look at developing other industries here in America (ie Green industries) rather than exploiting foreign markets.

-Emily Henstrom Nov 18

I believe that the future of our economic success is dependent on less tampering from the government. For so long we have looked to the government to solve our every problem. For so long we have stood at their door step begging for money and help here and there but the fact of the matter is that this is hurting us; sure it is giving us a little span of time where we can relax but the fact is that if a company/business is going down, all the money from the government is doing is postponing it’s collapse just a little. So much money has gone to failed causes, we need to step back and let what is supposed to happen, happen because overall it will stimulate  the economy and put us back on top.

Rachael Roberts Nov. 18

In Lit we were just talking about how the Great Depression was a horrible time for Americans because the economy was soooooo bad. I think that one of the biggest problems was that the banks weren’t doing enough to keep everyone’s money safe. And there were other problems too that the Gov. had to fix. I also agree with Emily that we need to stop relying on others like the government to fix problems. I think that is one reason that the Republicans are taking over is because the people of America want a change in the economy. That is why we need to do something about it for ourselves.

Priyoshi Kapur Nov. 18 meow!

Time changed the history of America, and so did it to our economy. People such as our previous presidents, as we have seen, may have ruined our economy through different laws or enforcements. The mistakes made in the past will help us learn how to see the outcome of certain economic happenings, such as creating unstabalized banks. The economy of our future will improve by making sure we take careful steps in our thought process and understanding of our economy. I believe that we need to work more on diplomacy and talk economic enforcements out rather than trial and error, because that will lead to many errors in the end. In the end, we might just have this super unstable economy which will lead us to destruction or even suicide. So, let us hold back our money, talk things through with major thought processes, then hand out our money into this economy to help it get better. :)

Sydney Donithorne Nov. 20

             Looking back on America’s economy we find many ups as well as many downs. What is in the future for America’s economy? How much longer are we going to be stuck in this recession? Are we close to crumbling into a 2nd great depression? Like Rachel Roberts said, in Lit. and Comp. 10 we are learning about the great depression. Times were really hard back in those days and no one wants them to happen again. During these times of stress I believe that we depend too much on our government. Our government in the past has almost seemed to rush into spending. This leads to spending too much money on failed causes. The government doesn’t pause and think about where our money is going. With our almost hopeless economy we don’t have time nor the money to spend on other countries. We need to fix ourselves first before we run out into the world to help others. Yes, helping others is important but the truth is we need help ourselves. Today we need to take charge of our future. We have to stand.

Elsa Harder Nov. 21

In our early years we lived off of the land. As society developed we began to become more agrarian, meaning we were using our resources not just to live, but to gain economically. As this need for gain increased we started to see service and manufacturing develop in the economy. As this currently continues, service is displacing agriculture. This is a trend that cannot be changed.

Service can’t be outsourced. We need to add more service jobs in the country. Creating Green industries and jobs are fine, but in a manufacturing state of mind, we can only hold it as long as we control the technology. But technology can’t be limited to only us. We need to create more service jobs in our country that relate to the inability to be outsourced, such as nursing. This can’t be outsourced because the patients are HERE, not in some other country.

Jose Vizcaya Nov. 23

We used to and still do live off our land except now we can import and export goods from other countries to help make our lives easier. We have made huge factories that create items and goods that benefit us in many ways but also harm us in others. Because of the huge desire to make money, the factories that are made to make more goods and items better and faster, has left a huge impact on our enviroment. We have polluted much of our land that we live on and destroyed many forests just to try to make money. Our government doesn’t seem to have done much about it because of the bank problems before. They wouldn’t keep our money safe which would cause people to go bankrupt and now all the goverment seems to care about is making money instead of fixing our economy. We are now in another depression because of it. Our government needs to focus on getting our country out of debt and out of this depression.

Mr Dellerba Nov 30

Some really good ideas here. Interesting to see how hands-off or hands-on approaches are being explored by students. Like your predecessors, the frustration lies in the application of these policies. I would like to explore a concept brought up by Jose. He was talking about the profit motive.  At what point does Free Enterprise cease to be productive for the collective good? At what point should the government have the authority to regulate? Or, should that problem be addressed differently within private industry?