With a historian's keen eye, the task of studying past and linking to present becomes a habit--of both heart and of mind. That said, occasionally there are such parallels between past and present that the comparison is transparent, glaringly obvious. Many connections have been made of late between the Great Depression and today's economic woes, FDR and President Obama, and the New Deal and the Economic Stimulus package. Criticisms leveled against the New Deal--namely that it was rushed, but also that it is not a perfect solution to the problem--were replicated. Rebuttals, too, were recycled. Using a New Deal line, a political commentator pointedly remarked that while a perfect plan might materialize SOMEDAY, the flip-side was that people can't live on SOMEDAY.
If you were unable to catch President's Obama first speech to Congress Tuesday, use this link to familiarize yourself with his arguments--including the importance of the Economic Stimulus package. For fun, click on the red arrow on the left hand side under his picture. This feature breaks his speech into six key areas. Clicking on each word "cloud" will provide a summary of his thoughts and footage dealing with that area. Work your way through the six areas, reading the summaries and watching the footage what goes with it. Lastly, be sure to push the red arrow that says "see Obama's speech as a word cloud." HOORAY, his speech expressed as a WORDLE--with the ideas most frequently mentioned in larger text.
Having familiarized yourself with the Economic Stimulus package and what it's meant to do, watch this clip called "Ballad of an Ordinary Man."
When economic times sour, often, the Ordinary Man gets pinched. In your post, please identify the one measure, as identified in the Economic Stimulus plan, that you believe will BEST help the Ordinary Man. Naturally, you must provide a rationale or reasoning for what you say. Don't forget to identify yourself if you'd like to have extra credit. Should you have any original ideas on what else would best help Mr. Ordinary Man, please include these also.
3 comments:
I believe the new jobs will help the common man the most. there are many reasons why it would help more then any other such as; many people don't want a free hand out, many people would rather work for their food and water, most people will flat out refuse other kinds of help. which is why the new jobs provided by this plan are the most beneficial to the common man.
Brandon Busby p-4
I believe the creation of 3.5 million jobs will best help the Ordinary Man. The way our economy is today, including the dramatic increase of prices on goods, an unemployed person will not last long without a steady income. Obama blamed the recession on past irresponsibility, but i believe it was just not one person or a group of people that can be held responsible. Back in the day, I think we were living in the past and present, and not thinking about how our actions would impact the future. The Ordinary Man needs to keep their hope and stay optimistic about the future of our economy.
Kelsey Shammel
Period 5
I am a firm believer that a strong educational background will help you achieve the knowledge that one needs to obtain to achieve success in life. Yes, there are a few exceptions to that, but generally, what are you going to lose by obtaining more knowledge? I think that President Obama's plan for more college opportunites for American citizen's will greatly enrich our nation. People will start to become, hopefully, more educated in different areas that will be useful in not only their jobs, but also in their life experiences.
Many people today are losing their jobs in the economic crisis. However, more job opportunities is NOT going to solve American's economic problems. One thing that I am disapointed that Mr. President did not touch on, was the responsiblity of individual Americans. I believe that if people started to be more careful with how they spend, then we wouldn't have problems like these. This may not be entirely accurate to what cause our current issue, but hey, spending wisely today ends up with more opportunities for tomarrow.
Joetta Lorenz
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