Nov 30, 2010

SMG Week 7

Things are starting to get interesting as we head to the finish line. The top five....

1. Mountain View High...$184,114.36
2. Loganville Middle...$171,260.92
3. Hightower Trail Middle...$160,301.45
4. Youth Middle School...$148,535.93
5. Parkview High...$145,678.25

December 10th is coming up on us fast.

Nov 24, 2010

Thanks

Thanksgiving....the one and only time each year when I wished I was the
home economics teacher instead of the economics teacher.


Nov 23, 2010

GCEE Winter-Spring 2011

The 2011 GCEE workshop schedule is now up and running at www.gcee.org. Go take a peak to see what workshops would be a good fit for you. As always, we have workshops for teachers at elementary, middle and high school. We will be out there delivering content and materials from Albany to Macon to Savannah to Valdosta to Rome to Atlanta and many points in between.

Let us know if you have any questions.

Nov 22, 2010

Econ Photo Shoot

A good sign that your nation's currency is in bad shape.


SMG Week 6

The more things change the more they stay the same. Your week six Stock Market Game rankings...

1. Loganville Middle...$169,653.19
2. Mountain View High...$159,070.58
3. Oliver Elementary...$142,884.82
4. Youth Middle School...$142,852.95
5. Hightower Trail Middle...$140,860.03

Nov 16, 2010

Budget Cutting Fun!

The NY Times has this nice little interactive feature that allows you to close that Godzilla sized budget gap. Go ahead Mr./Mrs. Smarty Pants, give it a try. What say you? Was it easy or hard to get done what our elected officials simply cannot seem to do on their own?

Take the kids to a computer lab and let them have a crack at this. I bet they find it more interesting than that lecture you just gave on the advantages and disadvantages of insurance.

Nov 15, 2010

SMG Week 5

Half way there and we continue to have movement in the top 5. Some go up... while others head in the other direction.

Your current rankings-

1. Mountain View High (Gwinnett Co.) $162,727.52
2. Parkview High (Gwinnett Co.) $155,703.51
3. Parkview High (Gwinnett Co.) $149,598.85
4. Loganville Middle (Walton Co.) 143,339.46
5. Hightower Trail Middle (Cobb Co.) $142,255.45

Nov 11, 2010

The Curious Case of Brazilian Cotton Subsidies

A nice follow up to yesterday's farm subsidy post. Want to really get the kids fired up? Drop this little doozy of a story on their desks. That's right, we are subsidizing US cotton growers AND Brazilian cotton growers as well. I feel like this should entitle me to a free week vacation on Ipanema beach or something.

Ah, the tangled web we weave when we start doling out those farm subsidies.....Special Econ blog tip of the hat to Mark Jeffrey for sending this article along!


Nov 10, 2010

Farm Subsidy

Looking for a better way to discuss subsidies with your students? This website may help you "bring it home" to the state where your students reside. It's easy to tell students that farm subsidies add up to a large chunk of change but this site will allow you to be a bit more specific with just how large that chunk really is.

According to the site, everything in Texas really is bigger....including the amount of farm subsidies they are pulling in each year. The Lone Star state is not so "lone", ranking #1 on the list of most heavily subsidized farm states.

Georgia ranks 16th in the nation, with 30% of all farmers receiving subsidy payments.


Nov 9, 2010

Call Centers



The call center dilemma. Sure, the workers get paid quite a bit less than their US counterparts, but are they really helping the customers or are they just making a bad situation worse?

The lady with the hammer tells her story.

Nov 8, 2010

SMG Week 4

You wanted movement...I've got your movement. Your weekly rankings.

1. Parkview High...$202,215.00
2. Mountain View High...$166,462.00
3. Loganville Middle...$153,009.00
4. Oliver Elementary...$151,860.00
5. Parkview High...$148,361.00

Nov 2, 2010

SMG Week 3

Ladies and gentlemen....your top five.

1. Loganville Middle...........$152,115.99
2. Mountain View High......$148,742.66
3. Parkview High................$136,415.68
4. Youth Middle..................$130,263.72
5. Long Cane Middle..........$129,248.59

Nov 1, 2010

Numbers

Put this one in the "really cool and useful" website column. At some point in the semester you will be asked a question that can be answered right here.