National+Deficit-+What+Should+We+Do?

Powerpoint Overview from the New York Times Learning Network

[|1) Read Articlle: ok you fix the budget]

Questions:
 * 1) What would Congress have to agree to in order to cut the federal deficit by one-third? Do you think David Leonhardt is suggesting that Congress will do these things? Why or why not?
 * 2) What is the goal of The Times’s Budget Puzzle? Why might it be a useful and instructive tool for American citizens?
 * 3) What does the “medium-term deficit” mean and how is it different from the “long-term deficit”? Why does Mr. Leonhardt think that it is important to think about the federal deficit as two smaller deficits? Do you agree or disagree?
 * 4) How does America’s federal deficit compare with the deficits of other countries? How does it compare with a sustainable deficit? Does thinking about the federal deficit in these contexts help you to understand what the current federal deficit means for the American economy?
 * 5) What are your first instincts about which taxes you would increase or implement and which spending you would cut if you were in charge of dealing with the federal deficit?

2) Define Terms Using this Website [|Terms Website]

4) Figure out your cuts individually- [|My Budget Cuts] Write answers to the following questions: 1)What percentage of your savings was from tax increases? 2) What percentage was from spending cuts? 3) What was the easiest decision that you made? Why was the decision easy for you to make? 4) What was the hardest decision? Why was that decision hard? 5 ) What was one thing you learned from trying to solve the deficit using the puzzle?

5) Discuss with your group While each group member is presenting, the others must write down at least one question to ask of the presenter (examples: “Don’t you think that cutting military spending so much would leave the United States vulnerable to attack? Wouldn’t it be safer to cut health care spending?” Or “You cut so much health care and Social Security spending. How are people going to survive when they can no longer work? Wouldn’t it be more humane to tax the wealthy?”

6) Write a letter to your Congress person- What I would do to cut the deficit is. . . [|Writing your Congressional Member]


 * Going Further** | Individually, students write persuasive [|letters to their representative in Congress] arguing for one of the tax increases or spending cuts that they proposed and defended in class.

Develop a business letter. Copy and past the correct address from the websites above. Send it to my gmail- craigrushxu@gmail.com

1st paragraph- Why is the Deficit important to you? 2nd paragraph- What program would you cut/ or what type of taxes would you raise from the sheet? Why?

Along with the resources that they used in class, have students gather more information about proposals to increase taxes and cut spending from the Room for Debate blog’s [|“16 Ways to Cut the Deficit”] and the [|draft proposal from the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform]. They might also read David Leonhardt’s follow-up post on Economix, [|“Soaking the Rich, Cutting the Deficit.”] Students’ letters must include the following:
 * 1) A description of the current state of the federal deficit
 * 2) A description of the tax increase or spending cut that you are proposing and a discussion of how much this proposal would affect the deficit in the medium and long term
 * 3) At least three reasons why this approach is fair, just, appropriate or better than alternative approaches
 * 4) A brief listing of other things that you think should be done to tackle the deficit
 * 5) Citations of at least three sources