RS 8 GDP

Before this series of clips and articles I knew very little of GDP other than what the letters stood for. After these readings and clips I feel more confident in my knowledge of what GDP is. I think in times of economic stress like we are going through right now it is more important to have some knowledge of what GDP is. Knowing what GDP and other statistics like it are in times like these can help you stay more in tune with whether the economy is trending up or down.

Another important thing that I didn't know about GDP was how it relates to each one of us. Year after year the US produces a huge number for GDP but I didn't know how it relates to each of us US citizens. The GDP per capita is a very important aspect of GDP  because it shows approximately how much we are all making per year and how those who are in less favorable financial situations are involved.

I didn't realize before these readings and clips what GDP was and what its importance to us is. I knew what it stood for but I did not know what its application to our country and to each of us individually was. After these articles I feel comfortable with what GDP and I have a better understanding of how it applies to everyone and our everyday lives. It is important in times like this where the economy is struggling to be more in tune with what is going on on a larger scale in the country and learning more about GDP has helped me do that.

http://www.google.com/publicdata/explore?ds=d5bncppjof8f9_&met_y=ny_gdp_mktp_cd&idim=country:USA&dl=en&hl=en&q=gdp

RS 7 School Kills Creativity

I liked the topic of this talk because it seems like something we can all relate to. We have all been in school for such a long time at this point a lot of the time it seems like we are going through the motions. Our parents drive us to get good grades and do some of the things that Ken Robinson says, like discourage us from failure. This discouragement of being wrong and of failure is handicapping younger generations for the future. Older generations were allowed to go out and explore and fail at things, because that's how you learn what to do and what not to do. 

I like Ken Robinson's explanation of our education systems and how they are centered around academic ability and not the things that we want to do. As kids we were guided to do the things that the world looks for in us and not the things that we enjoyed doing because we were told that we wouldn't get jobs doing those things. We need to do pursue something that we can get a job in. He also explains how in his time a college degree meant you could get a job easily, but now you need to become more and more specialized to meet the demands of society. 

I think his view of intelligence is accurate because it shows that our society only values special traits. People mistake academic ability for intelligence and those who are good in school and the subjects we emphasize are encouraged by the system, while those who are good in other subjects but not those we emphasize are discouraged by the system. 

Ken Robinson does a very good job of arguing his case here because the arguments he presents are very accurate once you think about it. We seem to be going through the motions in school a lot and pursuing the things that we believe will get us jobs and make our parents happy. Accounting is a very popular major because that's where people believe the jobs are. I wish the system had not become so business like and that there was more emphasis on pursuing things you enjoy. We are steered towards things that the systems values because the system "mines" our minds for these things that we have learned. It thoughts like these that make me agree with Ken Robinson and believe that schools are killing our creativity. 

The story he told at the end of the talk was something I enjoyed. He told a story of a girl who couldn't sit still. Her mom thought something was wrong but her and a doctor discovered that she needed some encouragement and needed to be put in the right environment to flourish. She became a dancer and had great success at it. The people who run the system need to be more open to the fact that people thrive in different systems and not just their system.

RS 6 Personality Sorter

Personality test results

Ta-dah, your personality type is ISFJ!

Introverted (I) 54%	Extraverted (E) 46%
Sensing (S) 73%	Intuitive (N) 27%
Feeling (F) 60%	Thinking (T) 40%
Judging (J) 77%	Perceiving (P) 23%

We are lucky that Protectors make up as much as ten percent the population, because their primary interest is in the safety and security of those they care about - their family, their circle of friends, their students, their patients, their boss, their fellow-workers, or their employees. Protectors have an extraordinary sense of loyalty and responsibility in their makeup, and seem fulfilled in the degree they can shield others from the dirt and dangers of the world. Speculating and experimenting do not intrigue Protectors, who prefer to make do with time-honored and time-tested products and procedures rather than change to new. At work Protectors are seldom happy in situations where the rules are constantly changing, or where long-established ways of doing things are not respected. For their part, Protectors value tradition, both in the culture and in their family. Protectors believe deeply in the stability of social ranking conferred by birth, titles, offices, and credentials. And they cherish family history and enjoy caring for family property, from houses to heirlooms.

Wanting to be of service to others, Protectors find great satisfaction in assisting the downtrodden, and can deal with disability and neediness in others better than any other type. They are not as outgoing and talkative as the Provider Guardians [ESFJs], and their shyness is often misjudged as stiffness, even coldness, when in truth Protectors are warm-hearted and sympathetic, giving happily of themselves to those in need.

Their reserve ought really to be seen as an expression of their sincerity and seriousness of purpose. The most diligent of all the types, Protectors are willing to work long, hard hours quietly doing all the thankless jobs that others manage to avoid. Protectors are quite happy working alone; in fact, in positions of authority they may try to do everything themselves rather than direct others to get the job done. Thoroughness and frugality are also virtues for them. When Protectors undertake a task, they will complete it if humanly possible. They also know better than any other type the value of a dollar, and they abhor the squandering or misuse of money. To save, to put something aside against an unpredictable future, to prepare for emergencies-these are actions near and dear to the Protector's heart. For all these reasons, Protectors are frequently overworked, just as they are frequently misunderstood and undervalued. Their contributions, and also their economies, are often taken for granted, and they rarely get the gratitude they deserve.

RS 5 Inside the Meltdown

This documentary was very informative and clarified a lot to me about what was behind the meltdown of the market and all of these high powered firms.

The meeting that is talked about at the beginning of the documentary is very eye opening. Hearing people say things like, "the economy could melt down in a few days" is a really strange and scary thing to hear. For my whole life until then, The US seemed so strong and impervious to things like this, but this showed everyone that we were not and this documentary opened my eyes to the problems that were behind the meltdown. 

All I really knew before this was what caused the meltdown, but I only knew the cause and not why. It was shocking to watch the anatomy of the downfall of major banks like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers, but it was interesting to find the cause. The problem of all the mortgages they were giving out and people buying on credit created a monster that would crush them once the housing bubble burst. The "toxic assets" they were holding was what caused their downfall and what caused the government to eventually get involved to save the economy. 

One term I found really interesting was systemic risk. I never realized how the fall of one major firm could effect all the others around it and that the market is so interconnected now. The fact that the market is so interconnected now was a major factor in the downfall once the major firms started to fail. The major players on Wall Street that were involved in this were aware of systemic risk and they eventually realized it was happening and that it wasn't just a few firms that were at risk, it was the entire American economy. 

Although government action on Wall Street is rare and frowned upon by many, once they realized that there was systemic risk, they should have gotten involved. They became aware that this problem was a market wide problem and they should have gotten to work on a plan sooner than they did. The delay in government action allowed the market to slide further towards a meltdown while those in charge mulled over what they should do. 

After Bear Stearns was sold and Lehman Brothers failed several plans were discussed. It took a while to decide on a plan, but eventually the secretary of the Treasury decided on government injections into the economy. He disagreed with this decision, but although he did, an action should have been decided on sooner. 

The toxic assets like huge mortgages that were dragging down big firms, combined with the leaders being unsure of what to do to solve the problem is what led to meltdown of our economy and it is a meltdown that we are still trying very hard to recover from. 

RS 4 A Former Lobbyist Tells All

This podcast was helpful for me understanding a little more about politics because, before I listened to this, I didn't not know what exactly a lobbyist was and how they do what they do. It was interesting to me to hear the process of what lobbyists do and how they support they bills they are lobbying for. I did not know that lobbyists worked for trade organizations or lobbying organizations specifically and I did not know that there was a whole big process to getting the support of the people you are lobbying to.

http://www.sovereignunderground.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/09/congressseal1.jpg

 I also never realized that they were so important in the lives of those in Washington and those who sit in Congress. Because the people who sit on Congress are always looking forward to their next election, they will always need money for their campaigns and that will leave a place for the lobbyists, because the lobbyists will have someone to entice with a big fundraiser and money to support their next campaign.

Another interesting note was that the lobbyist they had in the studio said that some of the bills he lobbied for were completely ridiculous. It seems completely ridiculous to spend so much time, effort and money on something that you don't believe in. 


The ending was the most surprising and confusing part of this. It caught my attention when they said Jimmy Williams "wants to destroy the system that made him rich". I thought it was crazy when they said he wanted to go all the way to the constitution to ban money from politics. Although they said that the Supreme Court has ruled several times that money in politics is protected, it is an interesting thing to think about and Mr. Williams plan to get money out of politics is very creative and referred to as "crazy". His idea was to gather a lot of trade organizations and lobbyists so they can all get behind one bill or amendment and push that through the process of ratification. This podcast clarified a lot about what goes on in a specific part of politics and has helped me to understand more of what goes on in Washington and why money plays such an important role in everything.

RS 3 My Learning Style

I just took the survey and my results were" 


The results of Matt Graziano's learning inventory are:

Visual/Nonverbal 36 Visual/Verbal 30 Auditory 34 Kinesthetic 32

Your primary learning style is:

The Visual/ Nonverbal Learning Style

 
You learn best when information is presented visually and in a picture or design format. In a classroom setting, you benefit from instructors who use visual aids such as film, video, maps and charts. You benefit from information obtained from the pictures and diagrams in textbooks. You tend to like to work in a quiet room and may not like to work in study groups. When trying to remember something, you can often visualize a picture of it in your mind. You may have an artistic side that enjoys activities having to do with visual art and design.