The+College+to+Help+RI's+economy

By Kara Proctor Completed January 6, 2010 Class: Day 1/Period 3
 * Rhode Island's Economic Crisis and One Possible Solution

1) ****Introduction to the problem** a) The background and definition to the exact problem and why you chose to address this problem  Rhode Island has a horrible unemployment rate, second in the USA only to Michigan. While Michigan’s unemployment rate has skyrocketed to surpass 15 percent, Rhode Island trails close behind with a staggering unemployment rate of 13 percent. Michigan’s horrendous unemployment rate is in a sense understandable. As the American auto industry collapses under the strain of foreign manufactures (i.e. Honda, Toyota, Volkswagen ...) Michigan’s economy crumbles. Rhode Island’s financial collapse, however, steams from a less obvious root. I choose to focus on this problem because an unstable economy affects everyone. The global recession may have hit the nation hard, but obviously Rhode Island has weathered the storm less efficiently than its state counterparts. Rhode Island’s economy is in dire need of help to stand up and get moving again. **2) ****Strategies employed** a) A step-by-step narrative of the way that your group addressed the problem  To fix this problem, I knew I needed to research the root cause of Rhode Island’s bad economy, as well as strategies employed in the past to pull communities/countries out of recessions. First, I research the core causes of economic recession. I found that recession is directly linked to consumer confidence, as consumer confidence is directly tied to the economy. Consumer confidence is officaly defined as a consumers optomism about the economy. I found that consumer confidence sinks dramaticly as unemployment rises. This is because families in the community have less expendable income to put into the economy. Compaines that produce/market products of bigger expense (such as car, tv, or relestate), suffer the greatest blows from this drop in consumer confidence. As companies loss bussiness, their profits drop and sometimes thier supply will execeed thier products demand. This makes companies drop thier prices out of desperation to sell. This cuts into profit even more and thus many companies are than forced to lay off workers and downsize thier operations. Now even more familes have less expendable income to put into the economy and consumer confidence drops again and the vicious cycle continues. But why is Rhode Island struggling even more than the rest of the USA? Rhode Island starts the year 2010 with a stagnant economy and a staggering 13.1 precent unemployment rate. It is predicted Rhode Island will be in $650 million in debt by January 2010. Rhode Island's troubles can be explained however. Rhode Island's banks still allows citezens to overdraw money from their account, as long as they pay a strict price for this priveledge (this price is pulled from the empty bank account too). The citizen will pay the bank back over time through a strict morgage. The problem is that with increasing unemployment, many people are unable to pay the banks back through their morgages. Another problem in Rhode Island is our steadily declining educated work force. This means more high paying jobs are being sent over to other states. This also leads to a cut in Rhode Island State Revenue because RI is recieving less money through income tax. Rising unemployment also cuts into Rhode Island State Revenue from income tax. Rhode Island's income tax revenue for 2009 was down $118 million from 2008. Rhode Island has a large population of aging citezens that recieve pensions through the state. This further cuts into state revenue. Rhode Island always has relied on small bussiness and manufacuring. These bussiness are the ones that are always hit the hardest by a recession, and thus Rhode Islands over-reliance on small bussiness and manufacturing has been one of it's must painful mistakes. After I'd learned all this through my research, I turned my attention to what coumunities/nations have done to pull themselves out of recession. The best example financal reform I could think of was FDR's New Deal in 1932. HIs 3 main focuses were relief, recovery, and reform. Rooservelt focused on creating jobs and educating the population so that they could persue more high paying, stabler jobs. Through the CCC, enrollies recieved the equivalent to a college education as they worked to improve our country's infrastructure, plant trees, and improve national parks. THe CCC helped to better the nation as a whole. More research into FRD and his new deal taught me that to get out of any recession, new jobs must be made available. However, people must be qualified to take on these new positions and that requires education. Therefor I believe that buildig another state funded college, as long as it was largely self sufficient, would greatly help Rhode Islands economy. Not only would the college provide students with a greater education so that they can persue more substantial careers, the college would employ thousands of people in construction, maintenance, teaching, plumbing, and engineering. The college would also bring more people to the area it was built. This would stimulate bussiness in that area. In order for the college to be largely self sufficient, the college could offer vocational programs in mechanical, cosmetic, metal molding, and other such fields. The students enrolled in these vocational programs would get practical experiance by practicing on paying costumers through stores opened and run by the college. The profits from thesse stores would go to the school. b) Include discussion about which steps were successes and what you may do differently next time  I originally had not done enough research to support my idea. Many times throughout this project, I had to take a step back and return to research. If I where to do this project again, I would make sure to have complete research before starting my project. I also would make sure to contact more state officials and get their opinions on my ideas. So far, I have not contacted any state officials, though I did ask the opinions of many of my peers and my family. I think my finished idea however holds some merit and could some day be possible. **3) **  **Outcomes of the project** a) A discussion of your achievements and limitations  So far, my greatest achievement has been the amount of research I have gathered to back my project. I also have planed my project very well. My greatest limitation for this project will be that many poeple will not be willing to experiment with my idea because if it were to fail, the amount of money that had gone into the project would be lost. b) Suggestions for what could be done next  <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">I need to contact state and college representatives and ask their opinions about my idea. THis would allow me to make the final tweaks in my project. I also need to creat leaflets explaining my ideas to pass out to the public. I plan to creat a poster board to explain my ideas in a visual way. I also plan to write a letter to the editor of the Providence Journal. I have much preperation to do before I present my project. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">**4)** **Reflections on the Project** a) Each member of the group must submit a reflection which includes their thoughts about: i) what they learned about democracy from participating on this project ii) what they learned about themselves from working on this project iii) what they learned about cooperating with others from working on this project

<span style="color: #007eff; font-family: 'Palatino Linotype','Book Antiqua',Palatino,serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">(I worked on this project alone) This project taught me that citezen ideas can carry merit if that citezen prepares corectly.I learned that democracy is more aobut compromise and less about one individuals ideas. I also am now aware of the role public aproval plays in polictics and in society. This project taught me a lo about how the economy works and the way state revenues are generated and distributed. This project helped me to realize that I enjoy learning about how government systems and the economy works. I never before had taken much intrest in the economy. I enjoyed piecing together steps that lead up to Rhode Island's recession and analyzing the root causes of economic downturn. This project may inspire my to persue a policitcal career. <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"><span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;"> <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">
 * Works Cited **
 * <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Morin, Bruce, and Krause Nancy . "Closed-Door Meeting about Budget Crisis: RI Financial Crisis Looks Even Worse ." //Providence Journal// 11 November 2008.<projo.com>
 * <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Krause, Nancy. "Rhode Island Economy in Dire Situation." //Providence Journal// 24 Nov 2008.<projo.com>
 * <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Flynn, Micheal. "Roots of the Crisis ." //Providence Journal// 1 Oct 2008.<projo.com>
 * <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">Gedan, Benjamin."Jobless Rate Hits 10.3 Percent in R.I.".//Providence Journal//" 3 March 2009.<projo.com>
 * <span style="color: #8a1e89; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">"Naional Unemployment Rates."//Economic News Releases//".3 Dec 2009. U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Web. 3 Dec 2009.

a) Each portfolio must include a minimum of one artifact from each of the following sub sections. You should include all artifacts that were actually created and you may also add ones which you did not use but could have used. i) __Public Education__ (1) Leaflets, Flyers, Posters, (2) Newsletters (3) Reports (4) Public Hearings, Candidates nights (5) Film or video screenings (6) Internet, blogs, Pod casts ii) __Direct Action__ (1) Boycotting/Buycotting (2) Picketing (3) Demonstrations and Protests (4) Strikes (5) Nonviolent Civil Disobedience iii) __Citizen Lobbying__ (1) Writing a bill & finding a sponsor (2) Testifying at committee hearings (3) Persuading Legislators iv) __The Media__ (1) Letters to the Editor (2) Op-Ed Articles (3) Earning Media in Feature Articles (4) Call-in shows/ Guest Shows (5) PSAs (6) Radio Shows (7) News Releases / News Conferences (8) Media Events <span style="color: #ff0000; font-family: 'Arial Black',Gadget,sans-serif;">b) For students working alone there must be one entry per category c) For group with 3 or less members there must be two entries per category d) For groups with 4-5 members there must be three entries per category **6)** **Format of the portfolio** a) Please compile the portfolio in a professional manner i) Title & Date ii) Credits: Contributors, Class Period, Date iii) __Introduction to the problem__ iv) __Strategies employed__ v) __Outcomes of the project__ vi) __Reflections on the Project__ vii) __Appendix: Ways of Acting__ b) All entries should be typed, double spaced, 1” margins, and Times New Roman c) All media productions (audio or video) should be saved on a CD/DVD and should have descriptions entered into the Appendix d) All contributors to your project should be credited
 * <span style="color: #000000; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif;">5) ** **Appendix: Ways of Acting**
 * e) **** All portfolios will be uploaded to [|http://nkdemocracyproject.wikispaces.com] **