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National Debt
Student Guide (60 Points)
4-Day Lesson
Name
WE JUST LEARNED to identify the impact of inflation on the economy as an economic indicator.
THE LESSON GOAL IS to
• RECOGNIZE national debt as an economic indicator
• IDENTIFY the current and anticipated future levels of the national debt and entitlement obligations.
• PROPOSE cuts to balance the budget and solve the national debt crisis.
THIS MATTERS TO YOU NOW BECAUSE your generation will be responsible for paying down this debt, and you
will be impacted by our eroding entitlement funds.
1. LOOK at the projected US Debt Clock
URL: http://www.usdebtclock.org/
2. LISTEN as the instructor explains what each debt obligation is.
3. As a class, WATCH Making Sen$e with Paul Solman “'Red Ink' in the Federal Budget: Understanding
Why the U.S. Has So Much Debt”
URL: http://www.econedlink.org/interactives/index.php?iid=267&type=educator
4. LOOK at the historical Federal Debt and Federal Debt per GDP and LISTEN as the instructor explains
each graph
Federal Debt URL: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GFDEBTN
Federal Debt to GDP URL: http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/series/GFDEGDQ188S
5. LISTEN to learn about Bowles-Simpson, the commission the President put together to develop a
solution to our debt crisis.
• Optional: To learn more about Bowles Simpson go here:
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/n/national_commission_on_fiscal_respo
nsibility_and_reform/index.html
• Optional: Read the Bowles-Simpson overview:
http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/taxtopics/Bowles_Simpson_Brief.cfm
6. As a class, REVIEW the entitlement infographic.
7. As a class, REVIEW and DISCUSS what goes into the Federal Budget:
• Discussion questions: Is it possible to balance the budget without raising taxes?
• 26% of the current GDP is government spending. What happens when we cut government spending?
• What happens to the economy when we cut taxes?
• Should we address the national debt/entitlements now with a phase-in plan or now with drastic cuts and tax
increases? Support your answer.
URL: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/special/politics/budget-2010/
ASSESSMENT (60 Points)
• Step 1: REDUCE THE DEBT TO 60% OF GDP BY 2020 and SAVE YOUR WORK (Save as PDF) using the
Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget “Stabilize the Debt” interactive calculator:
http://crfb.org/stabilizethedebt/
* Note – The instructor will show you how to click on the title of the cut so it explains what you are
cutting.
• Step 2: DEVELOP TWO CLASSROOM PROPOSALS. The class will be divided. One third of the students will
represent the Senate, two thirds of the students will represent the House of Representatives. Each group must
work together to develop their own proposal.
• Step 3: DEVELOP ONE CLASSROOM PROPOSAL to vote on.
• Step 4: SAVE the final proposal electronically, it will be uploaded on TeenDollars. Three representatives are
chosen by the students to present the proposal to the instructor and are assessed based on the rubric below.
Category
Step 1
Step 2
Step 3
Step 4
0-5 points
You needed some
assistance (teaching
prompts) or you
distracted other students
and you did not stabilize
the debt by 60% by 2020.
Your group needed some
assistance (teaching
prompts) or you
distracted other students
and you did not stabilize
the debt by 60% by 2020.
6-10 points
You needed some
assistance (teaching
prompts) or you
distracted other students
and stabilized the debt by
60% by 2020.
Your group needed some
assistance (teaching
prompts) or you
distracted other students
and stabilized the debt by
60% by 2020.
11-15 points
You were able to work
independently without
teaching prompts or
distracting other students
and stabilized the debt by
60% by 2020.
Your group was able to
work independently
without teaching
prompts or distracting
other students and
stabilized the debt by
60% by 2020.
Your group needed some Your group needed some Your group was able to
assistance (teaching
assistance (teaching
work independently
prompts) or you
prompts) or you
without teaching
distracted other students distracted other students prompts or distracting
and you did not stabilize
and stabilized the debt by other students and
the debt by 60% by 2020. 60% by 2020.
stabilized the debt by
60% by 2020.
The representatives were The representatives were The representatives were
able to do 1 of the
able to do 2 of the
able to defend each
following 3 things:
following 3 things:
spending cut or tax
Defend each spending cut Defend each spending cut increase; Could articulate
or tax increase; Could
or tax increase; Could
the economic impact it
articulate the economic
articulate the economic
would make on the
impact it would make on impact it would make on current economy;
the current economy;
the current economy;
Defended who the cuts
Defended who the cuts
Defended who the cuts
and tax increases would
and tax increases would
and tax increases would
impact.
impact.
impact.
If you finish any assignment early, CLICK HERE to select an anchor activity. SELECT the activity based on what is
interesting to you, what can further challenge you, or what can extend your learning.
If you would like extend your learning experience outside of the classroom:
• Follow @TeenDollars on Twitter
• Follow @TeenDolares on Twitter (for Spanish speaking students)
• Follow TeenDollars on Instagram
• Visit our TeenDollars website
• Follow TeenDollars on Pinterest
TOMORROW WE WILL LEARN ABOUT unemployment as the fourth economic indicator, and you will take a
short quiz on the four economic indicators.