Barack Obama will become the 44th President of the U.S. later this month (1.20). This marks an end to eight years of a federal administration and Congress that operated under the ideology that big government was the problem and privatizing, outsourcing, deregulation, and tax cuts for the rich and for business entities was the best path to prosperity.

The current economic crisis and the reduction of the middle class convinced many voters this past November that those policies don't work and that we need new ones to undo the damage and create a new path to future growth.

President Obama, in his own words, promises not bigger government, but smarter government. He promises government that will address the needs of all Americans through policies that stimulate growth in sectors that have been neglected in the past--alternative energy, conservation, and infrastructure improvements.

These policies are designed to create jobs that can't be outsourced, so incomes will grow and stay in America. When unemployment goes down, tax revenues will go up to help balance the budget in the future period of recovery from the recession.


President-elect Barack H. Obama
(© 2008 Getty Images, Inc.)

The 2008 presidential campaign and Obama's plans has brought a new interest in economics and the federal government's role in creating prosperity. The current crisis draws comparisons with the collapse of the Stock Market in 1929 and the failure of the government to act quickly enough to avoid a deep recession. Obama and the Democratic Congress are prepared to implement economic stimulus policies that were first proposed by John Maynard Keynes, the Depression-era noted economist who influenced the policies of Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

Keynes policies made the role of the federal government as both the saver of last resort in prosperous times and the spender of last resort in recessions. Government stimulus spending and investment would be required when consumers, state governments, and businesses were afraid or unable to spend and invest as was the situation in the 1930s and is today.

Students can learn more about government finance and spending motivated by the current crisis. ProQuest has created hundreds of BookCarts that librarians and teachers can copy and adapt for immediate use by students.

One of these BookCarts, Financing Government--Taxes and Budgets is especially appropriate now. This BookCart is one of a collection of 21 BookCarts that correlate to U.S. Government & Civics courses and textbooks that can also be copied.

Each of the 21 BookCarts in this collection is called a CourseCart because they all correlate to the typical textbook used by teachers to teach U.S. Government & Civics courses.

The collection creates an easy and compelling reason for teachers to assign more inquiry-based learning activities (21st-century skills) for their students. Each of these CourseCarts can be copied by the librarian or the teacher and then easily edited to add (a) additional resources, (b) directions for students, (c) call number of relevant print resources, (d) an optional quiz, and (e) essential questions for critical thinking for students to address.

Teachers or librarians can copy Financing Government--Taxes and Budgets and any other CourseCart from this collection by using the following procedure:

• Logon to the eLibrary CE Teacher Edition.
• Click the BookCart Admin link at the top right of the Teacher Edition.
• Click the ProQuest Carts tab.
• Scroll down the folder list on the left and click U.S. Govt/Civics CourseCarts.
• Locate Financing Government--Taxes and Budgets.
• Click the Copy icon (middle one) in the Actions column to the right of this title.
• Click Return to My Local Carts.
• Repeat to copy other CourseCarts.

Librarians or teachers can edit this BookCart and others to customize it for their students.

To edit each CourseCart for your students to use:

• Click the first new BookCart Title with the prefix "Copy of."
• Delete "Copy of" and then type your name in the Author boxes and your email.
• Type any Essential Questions for your students in the Description box.
• Edit the existing Student Directions for your students to use in the Description box.
• Scroll down and click Save.
• Return to My Local Carts.

Students should create a report of at least 150 words or a presentation of at least seven slides and two minutes that cites at least three resources. Students should address the following essential questions for critical thinking (you can substitute or add others):

• Why is an increased budget deficit not necessarily bad for the economy?
• What are some examples of taxes that would be fairer than the income tax and why?
• What budget items would you increase if you were President Obama and why?
• What budget items would you cut if you were President Obama and why?

Type Obama and fiscal stimulus in the Search box > Type Obama and stimulus in the Document Title box > Click Search

Use our custom ProQuest models for written and PowerPoint-style reports.




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