Section A30: Current Economic Controversies
Note: To take this course, you must also enroll in English 101 Section B30.
In the richest country in the world, why are there 45 million Americans without health insurance? Why is Social Security projected to go bankrupt before you retire? Why is the distribution of income getting more unequal? Why are the rich getting tax cuts while social programs are being cut and inner city schools are failing? Why are people rioting in response to the actions of the World Trade Organization? And why aren't we doing more to slow global warming? Understanding why these and many other economic problems exist in this era of economic prosperity is only the first part of the responsibility of United States policymakers. The second and much more controversial part of their job description is to propose reforms that carefully balance the costs and benefits of their policies on their constituents. What are the "best" spending reforms, tax reforms and regulatory reforms being proposed by today's policymakers? In this course we will look at a wide range of economic issues with the goal of learning how to evaluate these issues critically and objectively. Different economic perspectives and theories will be presented, discussed and debated.