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You Fix the Budget

The students we are teaching today will be inheriting the deficit tomorrow. It will be their jobs to vote for who will try to solve the problem, or to actually solve the problem themselves. It is time to begin thinking about factors involving the deficit today. In fact, a committee, nicknamed the supercommittee because of their power, are currently trying to come up with a solution before the top tier income earners have to forget about their tax breaks, and other Bush era tax initiatives.

Using this infographic, created by the NY Times, and any other documentable information available to students, have the students try to solve the budget problems. Encourage them to come up with other solutions, and maybe even contact your local representatives with your ideas. This will teach students how they are involved in the government’s decisions, and the power they have. We vote for representatives, so let them represent us!

I have also included a link to an entertaining video (a version of which I originally saw at least 5 years ago, and so I can not testify to the current accurateness). This video uses oreos to show how money is being spent. It encourages us to care about where our tax dollars go, and shows us ways to fix it. This video is a political video, and some students may not agree. But it does open ones eyes to a certain budget and how other countries use their money in the same category. Ask your students to write down what they think about the video (to avoid a debate with possible ill feelings), and have students try to decide if it is right or left leaning, by placing a marker on a line. It is important to figure out which side an article leans towards in order to figure out its goal, and thus get the full truth out of it.

Blog: http://goo.gl/cVt9K

Infographic: http://goo.gl/1dABI

Oreo Video: http://www.truemajority.com/oreos/ This video can also be found aside from its TrueMajority.org website by searching “oreo budget.” There are also real life videos in which people do this (a great activity for those students who are tactile learners), and some peoples reaction to the movement.


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