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**4 economists, 4 bailouts**

In less than a decade, the United States government, in some way shape or form, has “bailed out” several industries to either prevent, or delay an immediate collapse. Such bailouts date back to 1970 (http://www.propublica.org/special/government-bailouts). The ones of most recent memory include the airline bailout after 9/11, and the auto, insurance, and bank industry bailouts of 2008-2009.

The core question to be answered through completing this project is:

**How would ___(economist we’ve studied)___ respond to the US government bailout of the __(industry)__ ? Why? Would the economic thinker approve? Disapprove? Alter the bailout? Be specific with both your answer and your reasoning.**  Your group must answer the assigned question in light of the information presented to us by:

a.“What’s Your Consumption Factor?,” b. The Club of Rome, c. JFK Library Federal Budget Simulation, d. and //Worldly Philosophers// or class readings from Wallerstein.

That is to say, you need incorporate these in some way, shape, or form…You can be a proponent of their contents or offer counterarguments, which may support the answer to the project’s ultimate question. Regardless, a, b, c, and d, need to be utilized, at minimum, as do four additional sources. You should be using/citing any and all resources out there to help craft your argument(s).

The class will be divided into four groups. Each group will be randomly assigned an economist (Smith, Malthus, Ricardo, Wallerstein) and randomly assigned an industry bailout (airline, auto, insurance, bank).

Your Task: In small groups, construct a Wiki-Page that: a. gives a thesis with regard to the question you are assigned b. provides an effective overview of the assigned government bailout and assigned economist c. provides several pieces of evidence to support why your assigned economist would or would not approve of the assigned bailout d. utilizes text, graphics, and video (with or without sound)

In an effort to not only go green, but embrace the collaborative Web 2.0 technologies of today I'm asking you to post your collaborative work on this wiki-page, so that you and your group members will have constant access to your work. It's easy! Now that you are an administrator of this page, you can go to the edit function and work on your page.

Basic requirements include incorporation of the resources given to you and assigned, but I also encourage you to embed videos, narration and other “bells and whistles” to make the page more inviting. Play with the functions! vocaroo.com allows you to record and embed your voice. Use the little //widget// function above to embed a Youtube video. Include a graphic organizer from //webspiration//. Upload a PowerPoint. Go e-crazy! Check out this link for other Web 2.0 tools, http://www.go2web20.net/.

ONLY ONE PERSON CAN EDIT THE PAGE AT A TIME! I would recommend finding sources or creating text individually and THEN loading them up to the page one at a time.

You will ultimately be showing this to the class on our presentation days. (No more than 20 minutes per group to present your Wiki.)  Also create a handout for the class that you can hand out the day of presentations- ONE PAGE ONLY. The handout should cover the core concepts and ideas presented by your wiki and // will serve as class notes //  for other members of your class.


 * Be sure to cite all sources using MLA format. See easybib.com for details. Failure to cite sources will result in earning a zero on the assignment. **