“The Economy, Stupid” George Carville, campaign manager for Bill Clinton 8.5: Summarize key political and economic issues of the last 25 years, including continuing dependence on foreign oil; trade agreements and globalization; health and education reforms; increases in economic disparity and recession; tax policy; the national surplus, debt and deficits; immigration; presidential resignation/impeachment; and the elections of 2000 and 2008

Vocabulary National Budget: yearly amount of money the government expects to spend Trillion in 2012 National Deficit: amount the government is negative at the end of the year Trillion in 2012 National Surplus: The total money earned minus spending for the year - a positive number - has not happened since Bush the II National Debt: Overall money the government owes - a negative number about $16.3 Trillion 11/27/12 Globalization: Impeach: to formally bring up on charges - only the House can do this Resign: to formally step down from a position, not the same as impeach

Globalization def: the process of bringing world economies closer to one another Ex. Oil and Technology (internet and electronics) Where are most of your clothes made?

Trade European Union: developed a common market and a common currency The western hemisphere followed with North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) which attempted to increase trade by eliminating trade barriers (tariffs) Who would benefit the most from this?

Outsourcing With no tariffs it is cheaper to produce items in foreign countries and import the items Remember, the US has a minimum wage So, what happens to the American worker? Because of technology (computers, the internet, , pagers and cell phones) service jobs could be moved overseas to India

Immigration Immigrants are willing to work menial jobs for very low wages What other time periods does this remind you of? So, the average American wants to tighten immigration for fear of losing a job

Workers Workers face growing competition from overseas, new immigrants, mechanization and politics Business continue to move from the “Rust Belt” to the “Sun Belt” Why? Right-to-work Are workers prepared? No Child Left Behind - a way to make sure students be successful once they enter the workforce

Need for Healthcare Both parents have to work Increases need for services/tertiary (day-care, fast food) leads to an increased obesity rate - healthcare People live longer more expensive healthcare for elderly People lose jobs in manufacturing to overseas competition cannot afford healthcare

Presidents Reagan: spent too much money on defense and accumulated a huge national debt Bush the I: Won a war, but raised taxes Clinton: 1992 defeated Bush on proposal of balanced budget

Clinton Passed a deficit reduction plan that included a tax increase, spending cuts and the earned income tax credit (people who earn too little) Economic Prosperity/Growth = low unemployment Bi-partisanship led to Clinton being continuously investigated Republican House impeached Clinton Clinton would not resign Senate tried and found Not Guilty Clinton remained in office When Clinton left office there was a budget surplus and national debt would have been paid off in years

Bush the II Election of Bush/Gore -hotly contested coming down to one state...Florida Bush actually lost the popular vote (1 of 4 to do so) Tax cuts for the wealthy increased the economic disparity and created a budget crisis 9/11: Defense spending increased Housing bubble burst Unemployment topped 10% The Great Recession had already started

Obama Won 2008 and st African American Passed a 2nd stimulus package Conservatives objected to the deficit spending but did not want to repeal Bush tax cuts to the wealthy to bring in more revenue to help balance budget Partisanship (battles between the parties) makes compromise difficult Supposedly the Great Recession has ended, but... unemployment is still high disparity of income is still high No compromises out of Washington D.C.