Posted: June 8th, 2015

Economics

Economics

There is an opportunity for Extra Credit in our class! Watch one or more of the videos listed below and write a 2-page typewritten, double-spaced paper briefly describing the video and how it relates to economics.

These extra credit video assignments are graded and worth a possible 2 extra credit points. The grade is based on: 1) their readability and organization, 2) editing and grammar and 3) analysis of the video and its relationship to economics. Please note that you can do more than one video assignment, but no more than 20 points can be accumulated as extra credit for this class. The last day this extra credit assignment will be accepted is the last day of lecture.

Documentaries:             Description:                                              Where to find:
Bill Moyers Reports: Earth on Edge    A look at the challenges facing the global environment.    http://digital.films.com/play/Z58SPW

Capitalism: A Love Story    Examines the impact of corporate dominance on the everyday lives of Americans (and by default, the rest of the world).    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rgcdtOcfqfc

Challenge to America Series

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Old Ways, New Game:

In very human ways, this program shows the stakes of the global economic competition for individual Americans and for the nation.  It also shows how major American companies are faring in their battles with Japanese and German competition.

The Culture Of Commerce:

This program explores the systemic differences between the individualistic capitalism of America and Britain and the communitarian capitalism of Japan and Germany, which embrace more collaborative relations between labor and management, government and business, and even among businesses.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h210ThGhqO4
CIA: The Shocking Stories Behind the Headlines    Public disclosure laws have opened up the CIA files, disclosing secret wars, coup plots and covert agents. (2 disc set)
Colombia’s Pipeline War    PBS Frontline: Most US citizens are aware of the US military presence in Colombia, but most believe we are there fighting the war on drugs.  Few realize that we are there protecting our oil interests, and that our military presence has threatened local Colombian communities and the environment.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPYMGr4prEM

Commanding  Heights

Three part video series: The history of economic thought from the start of the 20th century through the 1980’s is examined by looking at real-world historical events from the Great Depression to Energy Crisis and oil embargoes of the 1970s’.
Part I: The Battle of Ideas: debate of the role of government following the turmoil of WWI. John Maynard Keynes and Friedrich von Hayek.

Part II: Agony of Reform: failure of government controlled economy in the 1980’s.

Part III: New Rules of the Game: WTO Seattle, debate of globalization.    Part 1
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w9ms2WOZi74

Part 2
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N9pn3iQU02w

Part 3
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYf6gn_x-Zk

The Corporation    Highly recommended video on the history of corporations and their impact on society.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KMNZXV7jOG0

The Diamond Empire

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D537    PBS Frontline: Are diamonds so expensive because they are scarce?  NO!  They are expensive because the industry is monopolized by one company, DeBeers, that withholds diamonds from the market in an effort to keep prices high. Learn more about the amazing history of the diamond industry, how powerful producers eliminate competitors, keep costs low through slave-like labor conditions, and how they manipulate consumer with advertising.      https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s4c1p_DMkIw

Dodging Doomsday: Life Beyond Malthus

363.9
D645    Can the Earth support ever increasing numbers of people?  Are there environmental limits to population growth?  This video looks at the causes and effects of population growth in both rich and poor nations, and takes a new look at the dismal predictions of Reverend Malthus almost 200 years ago.    Media Center.
Drug Wars    Two part video series by PBS Frontline.  America’s war on drugs from both sides of the battlefield.    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL8E1A723ED5133DFB

Food, Inc.    An unflattering look inside America’s corporate controlled food industry.    http://putlocker.tn/food-inc/

Global Capitalism and the Moral Imperative

Moral leaders warn that global laissez-fair is producing consequences similar to those of the 19th century, where gaps between rich and poor kept thousands in abject poverty for generations. Who in the world community will care for the needs of the poor, and how will it be accomplished    Media Center.
Globalization: Winners & Losers

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G562    How is “business without borders” affecting the world? Globalization has raised the standard of living for some in developing countries, but shortsightedness, including environmental negligence and human exploitation, raises serious questions about the pros and cons of the global marketplace.    http://digital.films.com/play/URCHB8

Hooked on Oil

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H782    Are Americans addicted to oil?  This documentary exposes the economic, environmental and social problems with America’s over-reliance on oil and reveals some exciting new energy technologies for the future

Media Center.
Inside Burma: Land of Fear

959.105
I59    Burma has been a secret country since a brutal military dictatorship seized power in 1963. With the support of foreign investors, this regime has forced work from slave laborers and political prisoners while imprisoning a popular democratically elected president. (Gold Award Winner, Worldfest)     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xcexd802ck

Inside Job    Award-winning documentary exploring the origins of the 2008 financial meltdown.    https://vimeo.com/27292661

Life & Debt    Highly recommended: A look at how “free trade” is adversely affecting farmers in Jamaica.      http://www.snagfilms.com/films/title/life_and_debt

Masters of Money    BBC documentary focusing on three of the most important economic figures of our time: Keynes, Hayek, and Marx.     Keynes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ukQRMRTeG6s

Hayek: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hnppsk5m-9A

Marx: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CfF6oSUkF2s

All in English audio
Chinese substitute
Modern Meat – Frontline (PBS)    A look at meat, the safety of America’s meat supply, and the way modern meat today is produced in a highly mechanized, centralized beef industry.    https://vimeo.com/72831010

The Myth of the Liberal Media

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M999    Is the free press really “free” or is it for sale to the highest bidder? Do liberals really control what the news reports, or are corporations and powerful money interests dictating what and how news is covered.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E8oHl3ooeZo

NOW with Bill Moyers: Benjamin Barber on Globalization
Media center.
http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/12212007/watch.html
Planet Neighborhood

333.72
P712    3 Parts:

Community: A video demonstration of how active citizens in several American communities have addressed challenges of urban blight and environmental decay, creating cleaner, economically vibrant and more livable communities. (part three in series)

Home: A video demonstration of how homeowners, architects, builders and inventors utilize “green” technologies and innovative design in the construction of new homes and retrofitting of the old.

Work: Environmental challenges surround the places in which we work and the cars we use to get there.  Featured are a look at “sick building syndrome and “green” Manhattan skyscraper that even supplies its own air.    Media Center.
Must purchase
Road to Palestine    The Israeli-Pakistani conflict involves modern day people who have been unwillingly uprooted from their land, but the roots of the conflict extend as far back as ancient times and to the Nazi holocaust in WWII.  This video looks at the impact on the lives of modern day people who have been affected by this conflict.    Playlist Part 1-6: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL85C7C64BCB0B9AB5

Running Out of Time

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R943    Are you overworking to be able to afford less and less leisure time? This provocative and entertaining documentary explores the growing problem of “time famine” in America, and proposes solutions to overworking.
must purchase
Showdown In Seattle: Five Days That Shook The WTO

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S559    In December 1999 the world came to Seattle.  This program features a non-corporate perspective and in-depth analysis you won’t find anywhere else.  The issues of the WTO and a reflection of the week’s events are discussed.    https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL11964855A2E04464
(playlist of 5 videos)
Surviving the Bottom Line

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S963    Four Part Series: This PBS series explores the impact of the increased global competition on American workers, and reveals the costs of globalization as well as possible alternatives to sacrificing workers in the name of ‘free trade’.

Part I: Running With The Bulls: behind the scenes on Wall Street.
Part II: Living on the Fault Line: focuses on San Diego, the ‘City of the Future’.
Part III: Learning to Survive: examines education reform.
Part IV: Beating the Bottom Line: examples of how creative partnerships among management, labor and communities are creating both profits and greater job security.    Media Center.
Part 1 transcript: http://www.hedricksmith.com/site_bottomline/html/e1_trans.html (episode 1 of 2)

Part 2 transcript:
http://www.hedricksmith.com/site_bottomline/html/living.html

Part 3: http://www.hedricksmith.com/site_bottomline/html/learning.html

Part 4:
http://www.hedricksmith.com/site_bottomline/html/beating.html

Taken for a Ride    How the auto and oil industries shaped America.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JQWRAoL0vk

Trading Democracy    Everyone’s heard about NAFTA – the North American Free Trade Agreement – and all the talk about jobs. But almost no one heard about one obscure section of NAFTA – Chapter 11 – except for multinational corporations who are using it to challenge democracy.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3lE1u1SSVK8
WAL-MART: The high cost of low prices    Highly recommended video on some of the social costs of Wal-Mart.    Media Center. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RXmnBbUjsPs

The War behind Closed Doors –Frontline     The hidden story of what was really driving the Bush administration to war with Iraq.    http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/iraq/view/

Who killed the Electric Car?    Award-winning documentary explores the creation and subsequent destruction of the battery electric vehicle in the U.S.    Media Center. https://archive.org/details/WhoKilledTheElectricCar123