Harris Worthman, Chapter 9, Question 2

Live long and prosper... or don't and help the rest of us out. The rise of the planet of the elderly is soon to come. This is even worse than apes. When that happens everywhere will look like Florida, but not in a good way. Unfortunately for the USA we are also having less children as well as living longer, so when we get old there will be far less people paying for our retirement. In the 1960's there were five workers for every one retiree. In 2032 it is estimated to be two... What we need to start doing is taking retirement funds from the shuffle board and backgammon companies. If the US doesn't do something soon things will only get worse. I don't want to see more 👵 than 👩 if you know what I mean.

Scott Stewart, chapter 9, question 6

The fact that a higher gdp doesn't result in people being happier is suprising. Despite the saying that money doesn't buy happiness we tend to think that people with more money are happier people. It is almost ironic that people in america have worked so hard to better themselves and theynare less happy then theynwere before. The moral of the story really is mo' money, mo' problems.

Jonathan Webb, Chapter 9, Question 6

   A couple passages that interested me were where he mentioned how recessions can hurt other countries and also spending less hurts the economy even more while in a recession. It makes sense how a majors economy in the world can have an effect on others, but it's so interesting on how it happens. How these big consumers stop consuming from that country, but really they're hurting the economy even more. He even said in the book, if he decides to hold off buying a car till the next  year because of how bad the economy is at that time, he just made his friend or someone else become unemployed. I have no clue all the details on how spending more during a recession helps the economy but I would love to learn more about it. Seems very interesting and hopefully this csn help us and even myself hoe to react to the next recession.

Maddie Binning, Chapter 9, Question #2

I think the issue of measuring the economy through the GDP is one that is important for my generation especially. As wealth gaps grow, the unrepresented disparity between the rich and the poor is an economic factor that must be considered when measuring success. In addition, as negative externalities associated with the environment become a more pressing issue. The problem doesn't lie necessarily in the model of the GDP, but it can be deceiving if the population believes a high GDP means pure economic success when there are many issues underlying. This is especially important for younger generations because mismanagement of negative externalities will more than likely be detrimental later on in our timeline as a country.

Griffin Pontius chapter 9 question 6

       While reading chapter 9, there is a passage that talks about how economists asked people to record in journals what they are doing at various times and how it makes them feel.  The author goes further into saying how many things that we do (like a long commute to a petter paying job) might not be worth it.  Sure we get more money, but in the end, it takes away from our happiness making us less happy overall.  While one might get paid more, but that longer commute takes away from our time of relaxing, exercising, or chatting with friends, yet we still choose the better paying job.
       This struck me as significant because it shows how crazy we are for money.  We choose money over happiness, and it's almost disgusting.  I feel like we focus on money to much,  there are a few people I know that can say that they are happy, regardless of the circumstances.  One person I know is a fishing guide up north named Jeff, he's a great guy and a great fishermen at that.  But, there was a time where the bank was about to foreclose on his house, and he didn't care because he was happy, he's doing what he loves over what rakes in a bigger pay check, and he is one of the happiest people I know.

Chapter 9 Question 6

While reading Naked Economics a passage that stuck with me is when Wheelan mentioned how recessions can spread across borders. I often wonder why politicians care so much or take so much interest in foreign policies and dealing with international trade etc, the answer is because those countries simply effect us. "If other powerful countries fall into recession, they stop buying our goods and services- and vice versa"(205). We need to stop thinking of this world as a competition between each country but as we are a team working together, because overall we kinda are a team. By us buying goods from Mexico there economy is stronger and same with china and Japan. Wheelan mentions how the U.S. consumes the most goods in the world, that is a huge effect on the exporting  economies around the world. In conclusion major economies around the world effect countries around the world in positive and negative ways. So when answering why to take so much interest in other countries economies we have a clear answer by Wheelan.

Olivia Barr, Chapter 9, Question 7

After reading this chapter I've learned that accurately calculating national economic progress, and avoiding recessions is much more complex that it might appear to be. It is easy to suggest that raising taxes, adding jobs, or cutting certain government programs are simple answers to fighting economic downturns, but in reality these things can accelerate a recession. Adding jobs is helpful in raising the GDP, but if everyone has work then there is more demand for goods and services which causes prices to go up, which intern acts as a deterrent for people who would otherwise be putting their income back into the economy. Additionally, adding jobs may look good for the GDP, but the fact of the matter is that the GDP can make notable gains, but the economic well being of the country could be no better off. There are many important factors of "economic progress" that are not factored into the GDP that allow for much discrepancy between what the numbers say and what the actual situation is from the top to the bottom categories of working people and families. It is also very difficult to predict when an economic downturn will start, or even what caused it, but one thing that has been identified is that it is within human logic that if we are unsure of something we will be less likely to do it, and this applies to the economy; unfortunately, this can act as a catalyst in the formation of recession during a time of economic instability. In short, combating recessions is much more complex than the general public might want to believe, but from what I have learned from this chapter, we might be able to make large steps in preventing them if we are able to calculate economic progress in a much more holistic manner capable of accounting for nuanced and underlying factors of progress, and fight intrinsic human logic in situations of uncertainty so as to prevent economic stability from being a self-fulfilling prophecy.

Darby Quast, Chapter 9, Question 6

One thing that stood out to me while reading chapter 9 was how much people care about the GDP.  It's in the news almost every day and is used as a tool to determine how well an economy is doing.  I find this odd because there are so many factors that are missing when the GDP is calculated.  For example, it does not include factors like economic activity that is not paid for such as working at home or environmental degradation.  Once Chinas environmental damages (around 64 billion dollars) was calculated into the GDP growth it went down from 10% to around 7%.  It  also does not take into account wealth distribution.  This means that if a country had some people who were extremely rich and some who were very poor, its GDP could still look good even though that might not necessarily be the case.  After learning all these different factors that are not accounted for while calculating GDP I find it interesting how inaccurate it can be when determining the health of the economy.

Max Hobrough, Chapter 9, question 7

There is a very real issue in our economy due to the ever changing economy. There are so many issues that can lead to this major issue of a false economy and these things will catch up with us over time and lead to economic failure. So to prevent this I believe the government should just let the economy do its thing and not try to interrupt the economic cycle that is actually necessary for a flowing economy. The issue with this is that many people will get angered if the government just stands by and let's all crap hit the fan, but instead what usually happens are tax cuts which are an artificial and temporary stimulant to keep an economy progressing. Like the author said these recessions are actually good in the long run because they get rid of all of the businesses that are not meant to survive, sort of like natural selection but in the business world.

Zach Du, Chapter 9, Question 6

The quote of the official at the Dallas Fed in this chapter caught my attention: "Making money takes time, so when we shop, we're really spending time. The real cost of living isn't measured in dollars and cents but in the hours and minutes we must work to live". Here's an example: each pair of stockings costs 25 cents in 1900, and the average salary is about 14.8 cents per hour; this means people have to work for 1hr 41min to afford a pair. In 2000, a pair of stocking costs 4 dollar which is way more expansive than that of 1900; but people's average salary grow to 13 dollar per hour, which means people can buy a pair of stocking every 18min (195). This example illustrates the idea that the hours and minutes we work to live are the real cost of living.

Gunnar Nelson, Chapter 9, Question 4

In the opening pages of chapter 9, Wheelan defines GDP- as gross domestic product- which is the total value of all goods and services produced in the Economy. However as Sophie said in her blog, " GDP only looks at thing from a numerical and financial perspective." Wheelan also advocates that GDP is not taking all aspects of an economy into the picture, such as natural disasters, or environmental degradation. " If an industry pollutes in the process of manufacturing products, and the government pays to clean up the mess, both activities add to GDP." However there are some solutions to the problem regarding GDP. China's state Environmental Protection Administration has begun to calculate GDP through " Green GDP ", which evaluate economic growth by subtracting the costs of environmental damage. The United Nations has also implimented a new calculation, which I find to be further of use and accuracy. The Human Development Index (HDI) uses GDP, life expectancy, literacy, and education to calculate the overall health of a nations economy. Overall I think that the HDI is an accurate display of both present and future economic health.

Julia Carle, Chapter 9, question #7

In chapter nine of Naked Economics, I learned about the cycle of recession and recovery. Also the causes of recessions and recoveries and how we today, measure our modern economy. I also got a clearer picture of what gross domestic product (GDP) means, and why it's such an important factor in the economy and the way it runs. I've heard the term GDP several times before, but it was a completely foreign idea to me. Now I can understand that it is simply just the percentage of how much we grew or how much we shrunk as a result of the goods and services produced. The idea of the cycle of recession and recovery also is very interesting to me. It is very much so accurate in that all economies at one point in time are extremely prosperous but then they hit rock bottom. The book even used the U.S. Depression as an example of rock bottom. After this chapter of the book, I have a much better understanding as to why economies have this recurring cycle year after year.

Peter Webster Chapter 9 Question 7

The thing I found most interesting was how one person's thrifty spending during a financial crisis has such a big effect on others. I never thought about that. I assumed that during a financial crisis everyone SHOULD be saving their money, but in fact that is not the case. "My thrift-a decision to curtail my advertising budget or to buy a car next year instead of this year-may cost you your job, which will in turn hurt my business!" Wheelan says that the problem in those crisis situations is the nation's attitude. "If we all believe it will get better, then it will get better." If everyone assumes the economy will continue to be awful, they won't spend regularly. But in order to restore a good economy, people need to spend.

Angela Scharf, Chapter 9, Q. 6

The passage that struck me as interesting was the explanation of Gross Domestic Product. Essentially it is weighing the productivity and total output of a country. The percents that headlines always advertise (etc. the economy dropped 2.1 percent) is referencing the GDP growth. The consumption of the total country is constrained by what they can produce in turn. Inflation has to be factored into the GDP, which by definition is the increase in prices and the fall of the value on money; this is called the real GDP. An example of this is if a country's GDP increases by 12 percent, and the inflation also rises by 12 percent then the economy hasn't actually produced more of anything. The GDP per capita also has to be factored in because of general difference in population. This GDP was interesting because it explains the typical "today the economy dropped ____ percent" that's always advertised on the news.

Sophie Gunderson, Chapter 9, Question 7

Before reading Chapter 9 of Naked Economics, I would not have been able to confidently explain what GDP is. Although I knew it existed and was related to the economy, nobody ever explained to me what it was and I never thought to ask. After reading about it extensively, I find it extremely interesting. I am a very big math person so I like the idea of thinking logically and looking at things from a logical perspective like how the GDP is calculated. However, Charles Wheelan pointed out how GDP only looks at things from a numerical and financial perspective. It tends to leave out the happiness of the citizens, the environmental outcomes that the growth effected, and many more factors. This made me consider how many things can be left out of many ideas in life when I look at it from just a logical or numerical perspective. Overall, this chapter made me realize that stepping back and taking into consideration the different factors on a seemingly simple answer is incredibly important and essential.

Elena Gutierrez, Chapter 9, Question 6

The passage where Wheelan wrote about behavioral economics was interesting to me. Specifically Wheelan wrote about a study that behavioral economists conducted that asked its participants to journal about various things that they do throughout the day and how they felt while doing it. The experiment's results were not surprising. People felt the least happy while driving to work in the morning, and the most happy when engaging in "intimate relations" with their significant other. On an emotional economic level, Wheelan wondered if the joyless commute to work was worth the income that a person recieves from their job. In other words Wheelan was wondering when the emotional cost of doing something would surpass the economical benefit. My question now is to what extent are people willing to give up their happiness for material gain? 

Jona Bakke, Chapter 9, Question #6

One passage that I found particularly significant is when Wheelan explains the paradox that follows a recession. He says, "Our natural (and rational) reaction to precarious economic times is to become more cautious with our spending, which makes our collective situation worse" (Wheelan 202). When people decrease their economic activity in times of trouble, they are actually adding to the economic downfall. The result of a population's reaction to a recession may actually cause more damage than the recession itself. Wheelan explains that if people believe the economy will get worse and act accordingly, then it will get worse. And if people believe it will get better, then it will get better.

I was not aware of this concept before reading the chapter and I found it very interesting that a simple decision to spend or not to spend can have such an effect on the economy, and a reaction that seems rational can actually be quite detrimental. This idea further proves the importance of learning economics. If more people knew about the role of a population's reactions to a recession and expectations of the economy, then they could act accordingly and help prevent the economy from plummeting further.

Nathalie Heidema, Chapter 9, Question #7

What I learned in this chapter is the importance of GDP and its flaws, and other economic indicators.

GDP is everywhere. Every day they appear in newspapers, TV news or in discussions among people. What does it exactly mean? It "represents the total value of all goods and services produced". However, it does not take into account the distribution of income, the environmental degradation nor does it count any economic activity that is not paid for. Although it's such an imperfect measurement of how well off we perceive ourselves to be, it is still popular and essential in the economic world. It does not show us our happiness, but it shows how well (or bad) a country is doing in general. Take USA and India, for example, the GDP of America per capita is $47 000, India has around $2900. So it really tells us how big a difference it is to live in one country or another. India is indeed poor and 100 000 people are suffering there from a disease that costs $3 to cure. And I can tell that I've seen so much waste of food in the US as never before. I cannot even think about how many poor Indian kids it could feed. Moreover, my host family's dog goes more often to the hairdresser's (or doggy stylist?) than most Slovak women do. That's how big the difference really is. 

Other significant economic indicators are: unemployment, poverty, income inequality, size of government, budget deficit/surplus, current deficit/surplus, national savings, demographics and the total national happiness. So if Barrack Obama would wake up from a coma, along with the GDP these would be the first things he would ask for.

Hammer Rita, chapter 9, question 7

In chapter 9, Wheelan begins by explaining GDP and the rise and fall of it. He explains the fact that things essentially aren't getting more expensive as their prices increase. Wheelan uses the example of one's grandma complaining about the price of a chicken. He points out that the time it takes to earn the amount of money to buy the chicken has decreased significantly from two hours and thirty seven minutes (1919) to thirteen minutes (present day). Even though it's logical to say the chicken got more expensive as we say the same for gas, clothes, and other goods, it really hasn't. It's all just a different, more logical way of thinking that I have failed at. It's weird to think that as we see the prices of goods and services increase, our economy is actually growing; we are making things more efficiently and therefore have time to give our attention to other ideas.

Olivia Barr, Chapter 6, Question 2

The issues raised in this chapter directly effect my life in a multitude of ways. Firstly, in going to Minnehaha and continuing my education after I graduate, my parents are investing in me gaining human capital that will benefit me in the long run. The choices I make (or do not make) will also have an effect on my human capital because I have the choice to work hard in college, and continue building my human capital, or as Mr.Hoffner said (roughly) I could squander the opportunities I've had and "go chewbacca with all the freedom, drink my way out, and only have a ton of student debt and STDs to show for it." In the future the decisions I make now, and in the near future will mean the difference between living paycheck to paycheck, or living comfortably with a good job and a nice house, and being able to provide opportunity for my children to distinguish themselves in the job market by providing them with a quality education, and the values that will lead them to take education, and a good work ethic seriously. I think these effects are affirmative because I trust myself to make the right decisions, but for some these could be very frightening if they doubt that they have the will power to make good decisions going forward that would lead to them having a lack of human capital, and thus the prospect of struggling in their future.

Taylor Bye, Chapter 9, Question #6

Wheelan starts out this chapter with the President getting chucked in the head by a horseshoe and waking up from a nine month coma induced by this encounter with the horseshoe, asking about the "numbers" of the country. This might've been just a humorous anecdote but he uses this joke he wrote lo those many years ago when he was a speech writer for the governor of Maine to illustrate what matters when measuring the success of America's economy.

Wheelan claims that if the President were actually to have had his head hit by a horseshoe and slip into a coma for nine months, the first national number he would inquire about upon his coming to would be the gross domestic product or the GDP, which is the measure of the total worth of all the goods and services produced in the nation. Wheelan then goes on to explain how this is just one of many ways to measure the health of the economy. 

The passage I'm going to write about is actually going to be in two, but only because I think they both link together. Two other ways the President would be able to tell if America's economy was going down the toilet or staying firmly on the sink counter (weird metaphor, I know, but you get my drift) are poverty and economic inequality. 

Funny enough, my dad and I had a lengthy debate about whether poverty was necessitated by society today on the ride home from school. This was also explored in last class' reading assignment. But I digress into the idea that poverty is relative. This is where I think the tagline for this chapter, "is my economy bigger than your economy?" is so appropriate. Poverty is measured by the poverty line but, as we saw in today's class' chart, the poverty line can be moved. In comparison to the "rich", the poor are getting poorer but in comparison to how poor the poor were in the '90's compared to the 2000's, the poor were actually getting "richer". Which leads me to the next part of this passage that I found fascinating: economic inequality.

This too was a topic I had previously discussed today, other than in class. It's one of the potential debate topics for this season. With that being said, I can assume that this is quite a debatable topic. It goes back to our pie metaphor. It's not just the size of the pie (like the gap between the poor and the rich) but also the slice (like the "then" and "now" of the poverty situation in America). 

I believe these two topics intertwine so readily is because the relativity of poverty can create a greater, or smaller, degree of economic inequality. And atop that, the idea that we take these two very organic, very changeable factors and rest the success rate of the country upon their shoulders is utterly astonishing and fascinating. It makes sense, of course, but it amazes me that such a big, important structure (America) is built on such fluctuating numbers. 

Olivia Barr, Chapter 8, Question 3

The implications on my future could go two ways; in one situation I could be part of an interest group, in which case I would greatly benefit from earmarks (also known as "pork fat") in legislature; contrarily, I could be part of the general public, and have my tax dollars be used to fund an interest group from Mississippi that is concerned with gun rights, even though I am against liberal gun laws. In the long run, I fear that the influence of special interest groups could lead to even more inefficient use of tax dollars, and painful government reforms in response to this issue. It is concerning to me that special interest groups have become such an intrinsic aspect of politics because it seems like it could easily lead to massive, widespread corruption of lawmakers running for office. Conclusively, I would argue that it is plausible that if the government put an end to "pork fat," then the money that would have been allocated to these special interest groups could substantially aid the repayment of the national debt over time.

Harris Worthman, chapter 6, question 6

Jobs are hard to get. But making a job isn't hard at all. All you have to do is look for a way to save time. If it allows someone to focus their energy better on something productive then everyone wins! In chapter 6 of Naked Economics, Charles Wheelan makes this point. He gives an example of a man going to a small farming town to sell plows. "The agronomist can support himself; the farmers have more to eat, even after paying for their new plows..." What this country needs if we want more jobs is more people motivated and capable of finding better ways of doing things.