Stock Scandals: Corporate (un)accountability in the United States

Directions: Readthe articles below (each is less than one page in length. Reading them in order will make them easiest to understand.)

What Happened to Enron?
http://www.pbs.org/newshour/extra/features/jan-june02/enron_past.html


Lessons of Enron
http://www.csmonitor.com/2002/0116/p1s1-usec.html

AIG is the New Enron
http://features.csmonitor.com/economyrebuild/2009/03/19/aig-is-the-new-enron/



AND

A Whiter Shade of Enron (AIG)
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/04/03/business/yourmoney/03gret.html

A) Use these articles and any outside resources you chose to summarize the American International Group (AIG ) and ENRON scandals.
B) What happened in both cases that outraged so many Americans?
C) How did these events change the stock market and the American public’s view of corporations?
D) In your opinion, how should corporations be held accountable for “white collar crimes”? What can be done to prevent future scandals like these?
E) What questions do you have about these scandals and how they relate to the US economy?

Due Friday March 25 before class. Minimum 250 words.

Resources for upcoming debates

Should all Americans have access to Universal Health Care?

http://healthcare.procon.org/
http://healthcare.procon.org/#Background
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/health-care-reform
http://www.whitehouse.gov/healthreform
http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/health_in

Should the Big Three automakes have been bailed out by the US government? surance_and_managed_care/health_care_reform/index.html
http://www.newser.com/tag/12684/1/health-care-reform.html
http://www.reuters.com/subjects/healthcare
http://bigthreeauto.procon.org/
http://money.cnn.com/news/specials/assignment_detroit/
http://articles.cnn.com/keyword/bailout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/news/auto-bailout
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business/global_car_industry/
(be sure to use the sources about the U.S. as this is a global site.)

Should the government bail out Wall St. to save the financial industry?
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21qanda.html
http://www.teachablemoment.org/high/boombust.html

Blog#4: Exploring the recession in our community

This week's blog/ creative assessment requires that you consider the recession from a personal perspective. You are required to read and summarize TWO news articles related to one aspect of the recession and interview a friend, neighbor or family member (ages 25 and up) to examine the direct impact of this financial crisis.

Your options for the topic are:
-unemployment
-underemployment (people working in positions below their skill level due to lack of other options in the job market)
- debt
- declining sales and business problems (in a specific industry)
- forclosures and the housing crisis
- health care/ insurance costs

Directions -

1) Research, read, summarize and cite two articles on your topic of choice. You will need to find the articles on your own but
good sources for economic news include:

www.wallstreetjournal.com
www.theeconomist.com
www.dollarsandsense.org
www.nytimes.com
www.usatoday.com
www.time.com
www.newsweek.com
www.motherjones.com

Your summaries may be separate or combined and must meet a minimum of 150 words total.
Remember, proper citations for an online news article should follow MLA format:

Author or publication group, "Title of Article." Title of website. Date POSTED.

EXAMPLE:
"Francis, Bridgette , "Exploring the Recession." World Economies and Globalization. March 4, 2011.

2) After your preliminary research, find a friend, neighbor, relative, local business owner, teacher, etc. who is willing
to talk to you about how the topic you have selected has impacted his/ her life. You may want to decide what to research AFTER you've figured out what your interview will be about. Summarize an interview of no fewer than THREE questions
related to your topic.

3) Explain how your subject/ interviewee's responses relate to the articles you read and the material we have covered in class.

Your complete post should be no fewer than 300 words. You may elect to submit this work as a blog post, typed, or in a more
creative format (video, powerpoint, poster, etc.)

This work is due before class on Thursday March 10. WE will be sharing our work in class that Thursday so be prepared and have your work with you or sent to me before school so you can participate in the discussion.

Be mindful that the marking period ends Friday March 11, so this is not a wise assignment to submit late.