Take this NFTE survey

Follow this link to take the NFTE pre-course survey. If that doesn't work, copy and paste this URL into your browser: http://www.nftesurveys.com/survey/289847/163b/
This is an anonymous survey. Please only identify yourself by your initials

Creating Wealth through Trade Survey

Navigate to this link to update the results of our classroom activity: Creating Wealth Through Trade:

Remember the following rules:

1. The bag number you started with is your number throughout the survey: ONLY ENTER YOUR OPINIONS IN YOUR OWN ROW!
2. Only enter whole numbers during each round.
   
3. Your opinion of the value of your 'good' is on a scale of 1 to 5: ONE IS THE WORST and FIVE IS THE BEST.
4. Do not go back and change your opinion of previous rounds of trading.

PowerPoint guidelines for Business plan

Here are ideas of slides you could incorporate into your presentation of your Business to potential investors.

1. Company name, logo/picture & partners company slogan/motto
2. Intro: Why an investment in your company is such a good idea.
3. Describe the business: what does your company do?
4. Describe the market? What is the competition like?
5. Why is your firm going to be successful? What makes you unique?
6. Financial projections (how much $ will your company make & when?)
7. Start-up expenses and capitalization (how much $ do you need to start?
8. What did your break-even analysis reveal about how soon the investors’ money will be earned?
9. Summary: Close the deal: ask for the investment capital.

Costs for your start-up business

Start building a spreadsheet to estimate your costs for your business. They will fall into these three broad categories:

1. FIXED COSTS: Items you have to pay for every month: Rent, Utilities, Insurance, Full-time Employees, Insurance etc.
2. VARIABLE COSTS: Items that vary with your volume of sales: Hot Dogs, Buns, Mustard, etc.
3. START-UP COSTS: Items you need to buy only once (aka one-time costs): Hot dog truck, Cooking utensils, Pots, etc..

Chart interpretation exercise

1. Study these charts.




2. Choose one and upload it onto your Blog




3. Make a comment or draw a conclusion about it.

The red line on the graph from 1929 to 2008 equals the population in the USA between the ages of 45 anf 54.

Post research links here

Use the "Comments" option below to post a link to helpful research sites.

Here is a link to Google document online spreadsheet.
See if you can update our empty columns in sheet1

Internet research project of economic statistics

In this project, you will be collecting and analyzing historical economic data. We will be using Excel to produce charts similar to our 'Piggy Bank' simple interest assignment. Instead of projecting forward, we will be looking back to answer the question:

What was the better investment choice in 1988 for the typical American worker?

• a passbook savings account with a savings and loan, or
• investing in the Dow Jones Industrial average

Stage one of the process: Data Collection
You need to find various sources of historic economic data for the years 1988 - 2007. You will be populating columns of an Excel spreadsheet by year. The top row should be 1988 and the bottom row 2007.

Your research should populate the following column elements (from left to right):

1. Median household income in the USA that year. Link to census page
2. Average savings rate for Americans (as a percentage of wages) that year
3. Inflation rate for that year
4. Closing value of the Dow Jones Industrial average for that year. Link to DOW figures
5. Average passbook savings interest rate for that year

You may collaborate with other(s) from your class on this project. Start collecting your data and populating your spreadsheet. Try to come up with formulas that will help you make your data chart meaningful.

Savings calculator

Go to our class section on E-Chalk and download the "Savings Calculator" I created (Excel). Complete the assignment based on the instructions in the first tab of the sheet.

Stimulus Plan II

The Senate is currently working out the details of the Economic Stimulus Bill. Changes are being made to the House Bill that was passed last week.

Your task:

1. Review this video: http://www.cnbc.com/id/15840232?video=1026584967 or read this article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/29082942


2. Define these two terms on your Blog: pork barrel and earmark (within the context of legislation).


3. Read this article to compare the House and Senate Bills. List a key difference between the two on your Blog
4. Explore shovelwatch to see if you can identify the Earmarks or Pork in the bill. Describe your favorite example of earmarks or pork on your blog. Another good place to find complaints about over-spending on this bill is in Libertarian Congressman, and Preidential Candidate, Ron Paul's weekly newsletter.

Obama's Economic Stimulus Plan

Read one online article and one online opinion piece outlining Obama's Economic Recovery Plan.

On your Blog:
1. Summarize the key points of Obama's Plan (create hyperlink to background article)

Reuters article

Boston Globe Blog with quick summary and some comments

2. Summarize the key supporting argument or criticism from the opinion piece (create hyperlink to opinion column).

Sample Opinion pieces:

New Republic

NPR radio piece about negative response from some Democrats

Time Magazine analysis