We've been studying lots of economic problems facing the country: the national debt, falling dollar, skyrocketing oil prices ($128 a barrel - a new historic high as of Friday). We also looked at Detroit's failure to adapt to the increasing demand for hybrids and higher mileage cars. In addition, we looked at the spread of big box stores like Wal-Mart and Target.Price pressure on these stores' suppliers have driven many manufacturing jobs overseas in order to keep prices low. In addition, these big stores have forced many smaller stores in the area to close b/c they don't have the purchasing power that a Wal-Mart does. This eliminates smaller businesses - ones in which people have put their hopes and dreams. These companies have also discouraged unions and employed illegal immigrants in pursuit of cost-cutting. Is the creation of these kinds of huge stores just another step in streamlining the dog-eat-dog world of capitalism?
The national debt will be a burden on ourselves and our children if we don't do something about it soon. We can't keep overspending billions and billions of dollars every year. Can we continue to ignore it? Should we raise taxes or cut spending or both? Why? Here's a link to the Treasury Dept.'s frequently asked questions http://www.treasurydirect.gov/govt/resources/faq/faq_publicdebt.htm
| The Gross National Debt |
Detroit has had a hard time keeping up with the demand for higher mileage cars since they've depended upon the big profits from SUVs. With consumers switching over in a big way to other companies besides the Big 3, what does this mean for Detroit and the state of Michigan?
With fuel prices going up through the roof, inflation has started to kick in a way that we haven't seen since the 1970s - way before you guys were born! Ask yor parents about how much prices went up and the long lines for gas. Just a couple of days ago, Saudi Arabia had agreed to boost its oil production up 300,000 barrels of oil, and Washington said that it would add to the "Strategic Petroleum Reserves" How do we push the country into better energy independence? Is our dependence on foreign oil creating a security nightmare for us because we are stuck in a war in the Middle East?
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? Why?
Due Wednesday, May 21-
150 word minimum
55 comments:
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? Why?
I think the issue that will be the worst potential economic problem is the falling dollar. I think this because many new big companies are coming into towns full of a bunch of smaller family owned companies. The bigger companies usually cause the smaller ones to go out of business because of lower prices and bigger variety and quantity. As more big businesses get brought into a town, one big business could do better then the other and cause that one to go out of business. And this can result in unemployment. Our nation isn’t doing well when it comes to money. We over spend and we do it all the time, especially with our troops in Iraq. In order to get our countries economy up, we should cut our spending.
jourdan g
4th hr
Alex Diaczok
Blog
I think that the biggest problem facing the US today is the outsourcing of jobs. Mostly, because it is affecting the economy in a bad way. Plus it also helps out other countries’ economies and that in turn causes the need for oil in other countries like China and India. And with the oil prices going up, the Big 3 and their SUV’s are having an even tougher time selling their products. With outsourcing it also causes the national debt, somehow. So outsourcing causes all of these huge problems for the USA, and it is like a domino effect. What we need to do is bring the jobs back, so more people can have jobs, and the prices will go up but in the long run it will help out our economy. Our debt I other countries we shrink, and our economy won’t depend as much on cars as much.
The national debt is the worst potential economic problem for America. I think so because if any of our loan sharks (foreign countries) ever call for the money our economy would crash. We are currently about $9 trillion in debt. With the debt so high the country lives in worry of the loan sharks calling in for its money and destroying the American economy. With such a risk like this, this is the biggest problem for the country. Our country should start paying back its debt ad not the bare minimum. If our country continues to pay the bare minimum of the debt will never be relieved. This country should start paying back its debt so the economy could possibly be better. The debt has sent our country in not a state of fear but a state of worry. Even though loan sharks may not call in the debt in fear of damaging their own economy it is best to pay the debt or we could be in harms way.
Raphael Egziabher
U.S. History B
5TH HOUR
The issue that I think that will become the worst economic problem would have to be the countries low economy. More people are put out of a job every day. The gas prices keep on going up every week. A lot of business factories are moving overseas to beat their competition and to get low wage workers, who don’t require health benefits. The more that the prices go up the more people are resisting to buy. Small business are finding it to be more trouble to keep their business running especially when people are not buying as much as they use to. This is an issue that I think that will keep on growing if nothing is really done to stop it.
kathy kakoz
2nd hour
I think national debt is currently the worst problem the United States is facing. If we weren't in debt then none of our other problems would be happening. I think the cause of our huge debt is the war in Iraq. We are spending so much money on military equipment to help win the war that our tax money isn’t going towards helping the economy. Hopefully our new president will realize that we are currently in a recession and need to get out fast, otherwise our country will go downhill. Citizens aren’t spending their money on cars or other corporate products because they are afraid they’ll run out of money. All of the money from taxes isn’t going towards our national debt and it needs to be. If we ever want aid from other countries we need to fix the debt. One way we could resolve this is for celebrities to start donating, not necessarily to the government but to corporations to bring them back up and then helping people see that they can spend their money.
Which of the following is the potentially worst economic challenge we face?
The worst economic challenge we face yet is the horrible debt that the country is in. This is a very bad and very dangerous economic problem. Any of the multiple countries that we have debt in, could just take back their money and our country’s economy would crash. The United States is about 9 trillion dollars in debt and should start and keep trying to pay off the debt as soon as possible and at a steady pace. China is the country that we have our deepest debt with, and if they decided to take their money back, our country would immediately fall apart and chaos and anarchy would erupt in the country. Even though the countries would most likely not recall the debt because it would hurt themselves (other countries would lose trust in them) we should still try to pay off this country’s very deep debt. It would be the safe decision and solution to the worst economic problem of this country.
Trevor Nielsen
2nd Hour
We need to start carpooling a lot more. If ten people are all going to one place but all drive separately we might as well just burn money. If they took 2 cars they would be saving gas and a lot of money. Also we need to make cars with a new type of oil. We need to work on making our own source of gas instead of invading places, drilling holes in Antarctica and starting wars over oil. If we found a new source we wouldn’t have to do these things and have to worry about running out. Also with being in a war with the Middle East who has a ton of oil is not helping us get any oil. We are just making it harder on ourselves to ever get oil from the Middle East. Everyone needs oil daily, with oil there would be no cars, factories, etc. With Michigan weather we can’t ride our bikes everywhere, nor do we have horses. If we don’t hurry and find an alternate source we are seriously in a pickle. There are some people who have some alterative sources but we need to put these in cars today and start making it mandatory to use. Or else no one will ever use this because they might need a new car and people don’t deal well with change. The Government must put this in action or else we all can say goodbye to our cars and our way of life today.
Emma Schwartz 4th Hour
Emily Corless
2nd Hour
The national debt is a huge problem that every generation will have to face. The government has to stop ignoring the fact that their going to have to pay the national debt off. They don’t seem worried about the fact that America could come crashing down. Today, the government is doing nothing about the national debt. If the United States enters a crisis, then the government will start finding ways to pay off the debt. The debt is increasing each and every year. The government should raise the taxes and cut spending. If they raise the taxes and cut spending, the government will be able to pay off the debt faster. America should start paying off the debt now. The longer they wait the larger the national debt will get. If China wanted to destroy American, they could easily do so. The United States owes China about twenty-five percent of the national debt.
Lorne Carter/2nd Hour
I believe the potentially worst economic challenge that America faces is the gross national debt. If Michigan isn’t keeping up with higher mileage cars, others are going to switch over to other companies. This will lead to lost money, and cause car companies to downsize even more. It would be in turn a domino effect. This will cause devastating effects on Michigan’s economy, which in turn affect the U.S.’s economy. A way in which the country can push into a better energy independence is by not relying solely on the Middle East for a majority of our oil reserves. We shouldn’t have one country control what our prices are. We should invest more money into hydroelectricity, windmills, and solar-powering. Our dependence on oil is bad; we should slowly cut off from them controlling us. Because in the end, this relationship is going to get tense, because they are controlling the standard of how much to pay for gas, which in a way is controlling our economy. So, if we stay connected with them, they will begin to control more of our economy; slowly but surely.
The big companies dominating the nation could be one of the biggest economic problems we will face in the future. All of the corporations such as Wal-Mart are putting all of the small businesses in towns out of business. The small businesses cannot compete with the prices that Wal-Mart has on their products, leading customers away from the local stores and into the big stores. Let’s face it, people may have a problem with their corrupt business dealings and the way their employees are treated, but the same people go there because of their unbeatable prices. But what people are missing is that the small businesses are known for giving you good service and good jobs, because families and not stockholders and ceo’s run it. Not only do the corporations that are eliminating the small stores bad because of what they are doing to the small stores, but they are also lowering the value of the dollar because of their cheap prices.
Paul Sidlosky
5th Hour
I think that the national debt is, most definitely, our biggest economic problem. It is the biggest and most important because it controls our whole economy. It includes the money we owe to foreign investors such as China. This creates a problem since China can just take back their money whenever they feel like it. That would devastate our economy. But the only reason they might not be doing it is that we are there number one customer. Still this is a huge problem that should be dealt with soon. Another problem with our huge debt is that it is causing the economy to suffer. As we receive more money from outside sources the debt goes up. We are using a good portion of this money to fund the Iraq war. Which is great, but it won't help us in the long run. It will only topple our economy. So to fix this we need to finish our problems in Iraq. We need to work as hard as we can to give the Iraqis a stable government to lean on. So then we can get out of the war and focus our priorities on the economy. But most importantly our national debt.
Ben Tredwell
5th
1. I think that the gas prices are what are going to potentially be the worst economic problem. The Middle East controls the oil that we receive, and they could cut us off anytime that they wanted to. Also the prices just keep rising and it seems like there will never be an end. Almost everyone in America is dependent on gas for every day transportation, without it our lives would be completely different. Gas is hurting our economy, so why don’t we just spend time on finding a substitute for it. Many companies are working on electric cars, and we already have many options for more fuel-efficient cars. Gas is terrible for the environment as well. So why are we going through all this trouble and spending so much money of gas when we could be working out other options of transportation.
Christy Slowinski
2 hour
I feel that the oil industry and how the gas prices are sky rocketing is going to be the biggest economical problem. The gas prices effect our everyday living and how we travel. The growing prices is going to put families who are on the verge of going poor into major dept. Americans just don’t have enough money to put up with the sky rocketing gas prices. First the people can not deal with the cost and second America is just going more and more in dept because of its gas. We have to sell gas for such high prices because we are in such debt. In this trade off is just constantly going up and getting worse and worse. Our debt keeps going up, our gas prices are going up, and in result there is going to be a breaking point. Possibly a great depression. The gas prices are the root to our economic problems and the root to our debt in my opinion.
Ryan Bertrand
Hour 2
The issue that is the worst economic problem I believe is the nation debt of this country caused by the spending of billions of dollars more than what we have each year. This is with out a doubt a problem that cannot be ignored. Since we are only paying back interest on the three trillion dollar debt, we still owe this amount of money. We have to think about the fact that what if these countries ask us in the future to pay back our debt immediately. If we don’t (which we wouldn’t because we couldn’t possible finance that) that would destroy our already weak economy. The United Sates’ economy could crumble on the spot. The only way to solve this problem is to limit government spending, charge more taxes to the taxpayers, and try to move businesses that have outsourced back into the US so we get their tax money.
Jacob Trunsky
4th hour
The issue in which I think will be the worst potential economic problem for this country is the rising oil prices for many reasons. The most important reason is that people are now being forced to spend more money on gas instead of other things like shopping and going out to eat because they can’t afford to with the gas prices as high as they are. People are not spending as much money out in the community anymore which severely hurts our economy. Another reason is that people are deciding not travel anymore by car or plane because its to expense to fill your car so much on a road trip and plane tickets are very expensive because of the gas in which they to fly. This also hurts our economy because tourism plays a huge role in our economy and not many people traveling that plays a huge role in hurting our economy even more. I think that the rising oil prices are the worst economic problem for this country.
Tyler Howe 4th hour
I think that the worst potential economic problem will be our spending. We keep on spending money that we don’t have and plunging further and further into the abyss of debt. I don’t understand why Pr. Bush is continuing to bring us further into debt; it’s like our economic debt is a lion and we just keep on feeding it and feeding it. According to Roberta Flack, he’s killing us softly with his song. We are presently $9 trillion dollars in debt and we are spending more than our gross income every year; so if right now, for example, China were to ask us for the money we owe, we would not be able to pay it back or if we do then the next thing Americans will be eating is milk and crackers. What I think the government should do is cut our spending and save up the money that they are getting from taxes and pay of our debtors.
Nikita C
4th
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? Why?
I think the falling of our dollar is the United States biggest economic problem right now. I think that is the biggest economic problem because we cannot a lot of things if our dollar is not popular around the world. We need the dollar to be successful in other places so our economy can do well. If our dollar is not doing well than countries won’t buy from us and we will have to keep buying. Our economy cannot keep up like that. And if big companies move into towns with lower prices and kick out smaller businesses that can’t compete. That is why I think our biggest economic problem now is the falling of our dollar.
-Maher Abou-Rass 4th Hour
I think that the skyrocketing price of oil will be the worst potential economic problem. The other problems like national debt and the falling dollar are partly due to the price of oil. When the price of the oil barrel started going up we started to accumulate debt cause of this and the dollar value is falling because people are buying less things because we have less money to buy certain things because more money is going towards gas. We could solve the debt by having certain taxes and we could solve the falling dollar by using less oil. Basically everything goes back to the prices of oil because we need to make more fuel efficient cars and figure out a new kind of fuel. If we have more fuel efficient cars or a different kind of fuel that is cheaper this would start to help our country get back out of debt and get the value of our dollar back up higher.
Derek M.
5th Hour
Right now, there are many problems with the American economy, but one of the worst potential economic is the many big companies, like Wal-Mart and Target, are taking over the smaller businesses. One of the problems with these companies is that there are moving to other countries because it costs less to manufacture there. This may be helpful for the company owners, but there are many American employees that lose their jobs every day because people in other countries will work for less money. The unemployment rate will increase drastically because of this. Also, these companies are driving smaller stores out of business. The smaller stores can’t keep up with companies like Wal-Mart and Target, meaning people shop less and less at these stores. Again, this ruins peoples jobs and causes people to become unemployed, increasing the unemployment rate. If we continue to let these stores take over the business world, not only will be many people be jobless, but eventually, the only place to shop will be these big companies.
Bethany Slon 5th hour
I believe that the inflation due to the price of oil is potentially the worst economic problem we face. Oil is something everyone uses everyday with the price of oil going up, the price of everything is going up. We need oil for transportation and electricity. We basically rely on oil for everything we do. Because of the increase of price in oil, people are going to have to make changes. Most people can’t afford to drive around in SUVs anymore because of the outrageous gas prices. People are moving towards more fuel efficient cars. This has hurt Detroit’s economy because they did not have many fuel efficient cars, forcing us to adapt. The rise in gas prices has also affected us with our electricity bills growing. Many people have to spend more money on bills and less money on other things, causing numerous other businesses to go out of business. The inflation due to the rise in oil prices has really hurt our nation economy, but it is also causing people to use less oil, which will have a positive effect on the environment.
robert g 5th
Michael Guz
4th hour
I think the worst issue America has to face is the low economy and loss of jobs. As shown in Michael Moore's video large amounts of people are being fired from their jobs every day with no help or aid from their company. The companies that go overseas to get their workers for cheap may get better sales, but does two bad things to our economy:they give the family owned and small businesses no chance in competing with the low prices and take away jobs from workers in the United States. On top of it is our trouble with gas. The prices have gone so high that people can't afford other necessities. The ways to adjust to it like public transportation, driving less, and carpooling is ignored by most people. They refuse to change and adjust, even at their own cost. The demand for oil is so high that the companies are taking advantage and have complete control.
I think that the raising petroleum prices are the greatest threat to the American Economy. When you think about it, gas is tied into every industry. All the planes, boats, trucks, and cars required to transport goods all require gas. With the raising gas prices, the transportation cost rise, which in turn cause a raise in prices. We are so dependant on foreign oil that until we come up with a practical alternative fuel source we are at the mercy of the Middle East and other petroleum exporters. This is not only a problem because of the oil but now we are kind of obligated to finish this mess we started in Iraq. We can’t afford to have them on our bad side which i think is really scary for the United States government. I think that this is the most because it effects and controls everything, including the economy.
Sarah Zamler
5th
Nicole Niezogocki
2nd Hour
The worst economic peoblem I think we face is gas prices. I feel this way because we are now paying $65 every time we fill up. People are looking at the gas prices go up and up to $4 a gallon. People need to drive so we have to pay these prices. Along with paying so much money for something every two weeks, we are killing out Earth withever mile we drive. To solve our gas price problems, I have a few suggestions. First, we could create a new car that runs on a feul that can be created by man. We could start to buy Hybred cars until they fine a new kind of gas. Geting a new kind of car can help us in different ways. It will help Earth, and stay clean for our kids and then their kids. Also, it will help save our families money, so we can pay for things other than gas. I think that the gas is the biggest problem, but its a problem that we can fix, and a problem that we should fix.
The falling dollar is one of the major problems the US faces today in my perspective. If the US dollar falls then all trade with other nations gets messed up by costing more to buy imports and exports sell for less. Also with the American dollar people will be spending less here and in other countries where the American dollars are less than theirs. Also in a way we look like a weaker nation to other smaller nations in terms of economically. If the US dollar goes up then the prices for practically everything will go down. More people will want to travel outside of the country and spend money or spend money in America alone. Right now in America we have a lot more people coming on vacation here from out of the country than people leaving on vacation to go on vacation. This isn’t bad really because we have more people spending money here but we are having more people come into the US causing overpopulation possibly in some areas.
Nick Theisen
4th hour
I think the issue that will become the worst economic problem would be the countries low economy. More people are put out of a job every day due to the bad econmy which is making us not have jobs which means we don’t have money for us to have gas in our cars and the gas prices keep going up every week which isn’t helping. A lot of businesses and factories are moving overseas to a better state with a better econmy and with their componies thy can pay there workers, and provide them whith health insurance. When here when you have a cpmpany or a facory you arnt making a enough money to pay your workers the amount of income they deserve and you cant provide their health insurance. The more that the prices go up the more people are resisting to buy. Small business are finding it to be more trouble to keep their business running especially becasue people are not buying as much as they use to. This is an issue that I think that will keep escalating if nothing is done to help stop it.
Gina Kalabat
5th Hour
All of these issues are terrible things that need to be addressed, but I believe that the rising oil prices are the worst of them all. The reason this is the worst is that it applies to multiple problems besides gas. The first problem is that it raises gas prices by a large amount. Gas has gone from barely passing $3.00,and now its around $4.00. Given that the economy is doing so poorly right now, having high gas prices isn’t a helpful thing. Many people must drive less to save money. Also since oil is up, factories are put in a squeeze. They need the oil for machinery and for its byproducts. Since the factories now pay more to run themselves, their products now cost more. Every thing from cans to plastic is now slowly raising in price, and it has nothing to do from inflation! The economy isn’t good. If oil lowered, a lot of good things would occur.
Rob Salton 4th
Which of the following is the potentially worst economic challenge we face? I think that the worst economic challenge we face as a country is the national debt. I think that it is so large that it is going to be really hard to repay, but I think that even if there isn’t something that can be done right now, we should still cut spending and try our hardest not to make the problem worse. The fact that the debt is rising each and every year, is only making the problem worse rather than better. Even though there doesn’t seem to be many options except to ignore the problem, if it continues to be ignored, it will only get worse. In my opinion I think that we should increase taxes and cut spending dramatically.
megan w
4th
I think that the worst economic problem that we are facing that will damage our economy the most is how Detroit and some other big auto industrial cities are not failing to adapt to the increasing demand for hybrid and alternate energy cars. I think this is because it affects the countries economy with the as but also the gas prices and economy related to gas. The cost for cars have been going way up because the auto industries have been doing so bad due to the increasing oil and gas prices and also because there has been many problems with jobs and money itself. If the auto industries start to produce more alternate energy cars that are more efficient and safer for the environment, our economy will greatly benefit from it. We wont have to pay the expensive costs of gasoline but also we wont have to pay for what happens to the environment in the future.
Jason S.
4th hour
The United States is facing many serious problems today that we American citizens may not be able to handle. One of the increasing problems is inflation and the rising prices of gas and oil. This is a pressing matter and should be discussed with the government until someone comes up with a solution. I think this is one of the most important issues because everyone needs fuel, and there is no way of getting around it. Completely cutting out consumption of gas and oil is an extremely unrealistic idea. We need to somehow find a way to decrease fuel consumption, possibly by creating more hybrid vehicles if possible. This would greatly help decrease our need for fuel and slash gas prices, which have reached an all-time high. Major car companies like Ford and GM need to stop making such fuel-deficient trucks and SUV’s, and more small cars that are eco-friendly and receive more miles per gallon.
The worst economic problem is that oil prices keep going up. The price of gasoline is over 4 dollars a gallon. The oil prices are having a large effect on the auto industry. People use to drive SUV’S , large cars with low miles per gallon. Because of oil prices going up people are now buying smaller cars that cost less to run. Smaller cars that cost less to run. Smaller cars are less profitable then larger cars, auto companies are losing billions of dollars. This has caused closing of auto plants, loss of jobs to thousands pf workers, loss of jobs means less taxes to the state and federal government. People that are out of work spend less, lose insurance. All these economic losses can be traded back to the rising of oil.
Justin Laffer
5th
The issue that I think that we have studied to be the worst economic problem is the rise of oil. People use oil as a necessity to there everyday life and having the prices rise is doing anything but benefiting us. When the price of barrels increased we started to have debt because people are buying less things to save towards gas. Most people are conserving their money because they simply just can’t afford to have the same type of lifestyle as they used to have. Car companies are selling ridiculous SUVs that are just an “oil-eater,” they are just eating away gas and hold the worst mpg causing it to effect our environment. Everything basically goes back to the increase price of oil because we need it in order to drive. What we need to do is find an alternative energy source for cars. Not only would that make the demand of oil decrease but it would also improve our environment.
Melanie Shaw
4th hour
In my opinion, of the issues that we have studied lately, the rising oil prices will be the worst potential economic problem. Let’s face it, we are 100% dependent on gasoline. It powers our homes that we wake up in the morning, it powers the production of the clothes that you put on in the morning, it powers the motor vehicle that you take to get to school/work, etc. Literally everything we do today in our world is directly or indirectly connected to oil. Thus, oil has become the foundation of our lives, and, unfortunately, we have become so dependent on it, that we as a society will go to any length to obtain it; even if it means paying over $3.00 a gallon. This ultimately means that the Arab countries that supply us our oil control our fate; they have the ability to help our economy, but more importantly, they have the ability to destroy our economy. And from the looks of it, they are heading for option two. With oil prices skyrocketing to over $125 a barrel, there is no end in sight, and therefore, our future lay in their hands. In conclusion, the rising oil prices is the worst potential economic problem because unlike other economic issues, there is literally no way to control it’s impact.
Tyler Friedman
5th Hour
I think that the rising gas price is the worst problem facing America today. This is because it affects everything else. It affects the shipping business, the transportation business, not to mention the everyday people that soon will not be able to afford to buy gas. Because of rising gas prices the price of living has gone up. When a store buys shirts from a factory the factory has to ship the shirts and pay for gas of the airplane. Then the factory will charge the stores more because of the gas money. Then the store will charge the everyday people more for the shirts due to the gas money. Then everyday people do not have extra money to spend on anything else and this hurts the economy. Small businesses will soon start failing when people can no longer afford to pay the extra money and start going to stores like Wal-Mart and Costco to take advantage of the sales. Look at what has happened to Michigan. Before gas prices rose we were thriving on just the automotive business, particularly big trucks. Now that people want cars that don’t use as much gas Michigan’s entire economy is failing.
Matt Bergin
4th Hour
the issue that i think is the worst potential problem is the falling dollar because when many new bigger/better businesses come into town they force the smaller businesses that maybe arent selling as much, to shut down causeing many people to lose their jobs and cause a high unemployment rate. we should not spend as much because we are already in debt as a nation and over spending would just cause the debt to increase. also we will not be able to purchase as many cheap but good imports from around the world unless our dollar is used and convenient.
ian perfitt
us history 10b 2nd hour
I think the biggest economic issues facing the United States are the rising oil prices, consumption of fossil fuels, and the automotive industry’s failure to adapt to the situation. Money can be made to pay debts, but once the planet’s fossil fuels run out, they’ll be gone for good. Cars are the biggest consumers of fossil fuels and also the biggest problem. Most auto companies, specifically U.S. auto companies, only seem to care about cramming V8 engines into cars that really don’t need them. They should really be investing their more in alternative fuel research. I think the most promising alternative energy source is electricity. During the mid-90s GM made an electric model that was leased to about 2,000 people in California. The car had a top speed of 80 mph and could get up to 150 miles per charge (with 3 hour charge time). They were reasonably priced at $30,000. Since the cars were only leased by GM, not sold, GM decided to take all the cars back one year and destroy them. I’m not sure why. They were probably pressured by oil and other car companies. If electric cars have been done before it’s hard to understand why my money hasn’t been invested in their research. The issue could be resolved if car companies weren’t solely concerned with their profits. Cars aren’t the only issue in the energy crisis. Our country should also try to switch to wind and nuclear energy. Some critics believe nuclear is too risky, but it’s a risk we are going to have to take eventually.
Stefan Rush
4th Hour
The worst economic struggle that we have seen thus far would have to be the oil situation. It's terrible for my family because my father is living the worst nightmare of his life. My father works for General Motors, and he help's create most of the car's. Now that the oil/economy is so bad it is hard for his company to sell any cars. The gas prices are up, which means if you have truck gas prices will go up! General Motors is known for making trucks. It has been semi-hard for my family and I. My father has gone to work every other week. Hopefully this economy will not get worse!
Tommy Syrkett 2nd Hour
I think that the gas economic problem will be the worst economic problem out of all of the ones we studied. The gas prices are the worst problem because gas is used in every industry. No matter what you’re making gas is used whether it’s oil for machines or fuel for your car. Gas is used in American everyday life and since the prices of gas are going up it is creating a ripple effect for the rest of the country’s economy. The prices of almost everything made in the US have gone up and most of it can be traced back to the gasoline problem. Part of the reason gas prices are so high is because the value of the US dollar has decreased over the last 7 years. That is contributing to the gas problem because the gas companies are raising their prices as the US dollar is decreasing in g in value. This problem has been causing widespread inflation which could devastate our economy, which is why the gas economic problem is the biggest problem right now.
Robbie Lewis
5th Hour
I think the biggest economic problem is the large companies such as Wal-Mart. Because we already have a high unemployment rate and with all the illegal immigrants working for lower wages it leaves more and more Americans unemployed and creates yet another economic problem. Also the smaller businesses that are going out of business because of the low prices and larger quantities the larger businesses have. This also causes many of our businesses to go overseas and then we lose that industry as well. With companies going overseas and moving around also causes an issue with the American people because they are put in a hard situation, they either have to pick up and move their whole family somewhere new, and maybe not even just once, or they lose their job and have to try and find another one, where they could eventually be replaced by another new machine. I think that we need to make sure we keep the large businesses like Wal-Mart at bay so that we don’t add another problem.
Jessica Keyes
4th hour
The worst economic challenge we face is the horrible debt that the country is in. This is a very bad and dangerous economic problem. Any of the multiple countries that we have debt in, could just take back their money and our country’s economy would crash. The United States is about $9 trillion in debt and should start and keep trying to pay off the debt as soon as possible and at a steady pace. China is the country that we have our deepest debt with, and if they decided to take their money back, our country would immediately fall apart and chaos would erupt in the country. Even though the countries would most likely not recall the debt because it would hurt themselves. It would be the safe decision and solution to the worst economic problem of this country.
Chris Giles
4th hour
I think that the high gas prices are the worst economic challenge we are facing because there is no way we can avoid it. Unless Americans start riding bicycles to work or taking the bus, there is not really a way to ignore the increasing gas prices. I think the only ways to push the country into better energy independence is to try to limit our gas consumption, and find other ways to get around. If gas prices stay around this price or keep going up, some Americans will not be able to afford gas. It is already giving Americans a hard time, but if the prices keep rising, a lot of people will have to find different ways to get around instead of driving.
Megan K.
Which of the following is the potentially worst economic challenge we face? I think that the worst economic challenge we face as a country is the national debt. I think that it is so large that it is going to be really hard to repay, but I think that even if there isn’t something that can be done right now, we should still cut spending and try our hardest not to make the problem worse. The fact that the debt is rising each and every year, is only making the problem worse rather than better. Even though there doesn’t seem to be many options except to ignore the problem, if it continues to be ignored, it will only get worse. In my opinion I think that we should increase taxes and cut spending dramatically.
Megan W.
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? I think one of the biggest problems and the one I know most about is the spreading of big stores such as wall mart. My mom tries to buy local as much as she can especially when we go up north. There are many smaller stores and a section of chain bigger stores which we try to stay away from. You can get basically the same things or something close to it and feel good about helping the smaller business. The big businesses are taking over and will soon drive many of the smaller mom and pop stores out of business. This is unfortunate but if you really get creative you may think of ways to not go into these stores very often and this will help.
Marin Haffey
5th hr.
i think the rise of gas prices is the worst problem facing Americans today. Cars are what gets people were they need to go. With gas being $4.00 it is very hard for people because not everyone has money to spend. With gas prices being so high it is causing stores to rise up there prices on merchandise because they have no money.The bad thing about store owners doing that is people now exspecially in michigan dont have money and if prices go up less people will buy things because they are using it to buy gas.
ashley davis
5th hour
The falling of the United States dollar is the most important reason why the economy is failing the way it is. If the value of the dollar was worth more than the price of oil wouldn’t be as high. If the price of oil wasn’t as high then major plants such as the ones here in Detroit that make there major merchandise such as SUV’s wouldn’t be under so much pressure. If the pressure was off these major companies than the region of unemployed workers wouldn’t be as high and the money flowing from government to buyer to seller and back to government wouldn’t be that high. The value of a dollar makes all the difference. If the dollar continues to fall as it has been, who knows how much further the debt will incline? Who knows how much more the gas prices will skyrocket? Who knows how much more the American people can take? And what’s worse, with the fall of the dollar, the heightening fears of recession are ever more in looming essence.
Angelina Bertoni – 5th
The issue that we have studied lately that I think will be the worst potential economic problem is Detroit’s car problems. I think that Detroit is the worst potential economic problem because it has a hard time keeping up with the demand for higher mileage cars. Detroit probably has the most trucks or SUVs more than any other state. I think that that will make us the first state to run out of oil for our cars. I think that two things might occur that will help Detroit with the fuel efficiency. The first thing is that I think that the people of Michigan will by a lot more cars with better mileage if the gas price increases anymore. I think that this will happen because more and more money is being wasted on the gas. The second thing that I think will happen is that the Michigan will run out of gas and the economy for Michigan will be ruined because the economy is successful with gas.
Jake Cramer
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? Why? I think that the worst economic problem facing the United States of America right now is the high price of gasoline. The high price of gasoline is affecting every aspect of our nation’s economy and there is very little that can be done short term to change this or solve this problem. The other problems such as the weak dollar or our nations debt are not as bad as the price of gasoline. This is because the debt is not affecting the nation very much right now, even though if we keep spending it will eventually catch up with us. The weak dollar has it’s upsides to, such as more tourism and investing and spending of money in the United States and in US companies. This is why the high price of gasoline is potentially the US’s worst economic problem.
Phil Bolton 5th
I think that gross national debt will be the worst potential economic problem for the United States. The U.S. is already 9 trillion dollars in debt, so the loan sharks (foreign countries) could call any minute and then our economy would just collapse. Such a risk like this one is one of the main reasons why I think that national debt is such a big issue for our country. I think our country should start paying back the debt instead of only paying the bare minimum, because were, not going to go anywhere if we only keep paying that. I also think that if Americans would buy American made cars, then we wouldn’t be in such debt. Instead we are buying mostly foreign cars, and that is why Toyota is the leading car supplier in the world right now. Those are the reasons why I think we are in national debt, and how we need to get out of it.
Andrew Littlefield
5th Hour
Which of these issues that we have studied lately do you think will be the worst potential economic problem? Why?
I think that the worst potential economic problems that we are going to face are going to be because of the falling dollar value and the rising oil prices. I think that the falling dollar is going to affect our economy because the prices of things are going to go up. And since Michigan is loosing jobs because of the auto industry, many families only have one parent working. The falling dollar value and the rising prices are going to make it harder for families to get the things that they need. I also think that the rising oil prices are going to screw up our economy because if the gas prices keep going up then people are going to stop driving cars as much or stop driving at all. if this happenes, then Michigan’s going to suffer because our major export is cars, and if people stop driving cars, then we are not going to need as many people to make them. Anyways, the auto industry is already laying off a lot of their workers. So, I think that the major economic problems that we could face are the oil prices and the falling dollar value.
Carleigh Bechtolt
I think that the Iraq war is economically affect us way too much. I think that we should just withdraw from the war and save our money. The war is causing gas prices to go up and food prices to go up. American needs economic help for real.
2nd hour Rae Williams
I think that the biggest problem would have to be the Economy and the falling dollar. Because of everything that has been going on, the value of our money is dropping which is causing everything else to cost more. If we could control the debt we owe as well as our job market, we might have a chance. Businesses are outsourcing jobs to other countries, which is NOT helping the situation because even though it’s cheaper for them, it’s leaving our citizens jobless and so the money isn’t able to circulate around the country like it’s supposed to. Also, we are depending way too heavily on foreign fuel sources. I think that if we were able to pull away from that, our debt would go down as well as gas prices and we could focus more on jobs and getting rid of national debt. Then the business world should probably stop trying to beat each other out. The more small businesses that close, the more jobs that are lost, the more the economy drops.
~Alexandra Anderson 5th Hour~
The problems that I see in the media the most, and the problem that I hear a lot of people talking about recently, are the rising gas prices. This will be the worst political economic problem because cars are our major means of transportation for everything. This means public transportation, transportation of goods, and transpiration for us. If these prices to provide everything we need to us goes up, then we depend on some other balance to compensate for the increase in prices like tax decreases or raises in prices. One of the limiting factors in this now tough is the current war that is going on in the middle east is using up a lot of our money that could be going towards something to decrease our prices at home. One of the possibilities is to put some of the money they are feeding into the war into the cost of shipping oil internationally, and cut the cost of gas prices.
Ryan L.
The United States is facing many serious problems today that we American citizens may not be able to handle. One of the increasing problems is inflation and the rising prices of gas and oil. This is a pressing matter and should be discussed with the government until someone comes up with a solution. I think this is one of the most important issues because everyone needs fuel, and there is no way of getting around it. Completely cutting out consumption of gas and oil is an extremely unrealistic idea. We need to somehow find a way to decrease fuel consumption, possibly by creating more hybrid vehicles if possible. This would greatly help decrease our need for fuel and slash gas prices, which have reached an all-time high. Major car companies like Ford and GM need to stop making such fuel-deficient trucks and SUV’s, and more small cars that are eco-friendly and receive more miles per gallon.
Claire Hayes
2nd hour
In my opinion the issue that could possibly be the worst economic problem is the rising gas prices. The rising gas has affected many things in the United States and worldwide. Many products have risen in their prices due to the rising gas prices. Gas prices now are at about $4.09 a gallon and gas prices in Europe are at about 9.00 euro which is about $11.00 in the U.S. I believe that car companies need to start going away from creating giant gas guzzling trucks, and should start producing more fuel efficient cars. Michigan should think of producing another alternative for transportation like trains or a subway system. Car companies should also start finding other ways for cars to run on, which will be cheaper and will be better for the environment. Gas prices are still going to go up throughout the summer and many people will be affected and the economy will be affected.
Stefanos T. 2nd Hour
I think that the biggest economic problem that Americans face is the ever rising price of gas and other things as a result of inflation. Our country is already in a recession, and with the prices of things steadily rising, we are buying less. This is bad for our government, so prices are rising even higher. Prices of things need to be dropped so that people will start buying more. With people cutting down on their buying less, there is less money being put into our retirement funds. By the time people of my generation are retiring, there will be no money in a retirement fund for us. I think that overall prices just need to be dropped. This Is not only affecting America, but also other countries. Since the United States dollar is worth so little now, currency in other countries is much more expensive. The amount of traveling to overseas countries has also greatly dropped. If we continue with these high prices for things, another depression might not be as far away as it seems.
Katie B.
if you think about it allot you would think that our economic problem would be gas and other things that we probably need to survuve i uess, but our economic problem is that when we need somehting and report it to the government and even maybe to the presidnet but eveytime we do, our claim is never adressed with any full attention and i guess that is really our biggest problem and also we do ask for things that we never really needed we always asked for things of what we want, but i know now that you cant alwyas get what you want in life, and you just have to deak with it like we have been for the oast 30 years.
Lydie Gaiters
Post a Comment