It's a Wonderful Life

"It's a Wonderful Life" is a movie that was released almost 60 years ago -- in 1946.  It's about an angel who helps a compassionate but despairingly frustrated businessman by showing what life would have been like if he never existed.

At this time of year I show this movie for several reasons:

1. It's a good study of someone who has dreams of what they want to do but situations in life move them in another direction.
2. It's a good example of how finance in a savings and loan situation works.
3. It demonstrates a "run" on a bank.
4. It does a good job of showing how our great grandparents (and great-great grandparents) weren't really so different from us.  Whether we [or they] are willing to admit it or not.
5. It shows how a good, intelligent, hard-working person can still suffer from depression.
6. It reminds us that we don't always know the difference we are making in others' lives.

There aren't a lot of requirements for this movie other than paying attention and answering questions on the worksheet... so please do.  I have a worksheet for you to complete for the first and second halves of the movie which I will give you in class, but if you are not here and you would like another copy you can download it. (Here)

I'll be showing it in class, but here's an online version that you can watch.  It has poor audio quality, but it's watchable.:

Economics in the News 12/4/14

Ebola Knocked West African Countries Off Development Ladder
Sanctions and Low Oil Prices Push Russias Economy Toward Recession
OPEC Declines Action as World Oil Prices Hit Record Lows

Lab Day: Explore Web Domains and Web Presence

Today we will begin exploring a web presence for our new companies:

• First we will look at GoDaddy.com to see if our business name is available as a web domain
• Next we will create a Gmail account (if we don't have one already)
• Then we will create a blog using either Blog.com or Blogger.com
• Next, we will create a blog for our business and begin adding information about our business
• Finally, we will email Mr. Griffith (griffithr2@k12tn.net) with our blog address.

Packet: Unit 4 (Chapters 10 & 11)

Students received copies of the Unit 4 Packet covering Chapters 10 and 11 today.  Students will have Tuesday and Wednesday to work on the packets.  They are due on Thursday at the start of class.

There may be an addition assignment on Wednesday depending on how productive [and respectful] students are being to the substitute teacher.

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Remember, this is the last full week of Economics.  Make sure you get any missing work in ASAP!

Lunch Questions

Gourmet Cafe Lunch Menu

Hamburger	$2.50
Bologna Sandwich	$1.50
French Fries	$1.50
Chili	$3.50
Garden Salad	$3.00
Milkshake	$4.00
Soft Drink	$1.00
Cookie	$ .25

Your lunch budget is $5.00.

If you have $5 with you, which items would you get for lunch?  Write down how many of each you would buy on a piece of paper under "Lunch: ".  

Quick Poll:

Hamburger	10
Bologna Sandwich	1
French Fries	15
Chili	1
Garden Salad	0
Milkshake	0
Soft Drink	13
Cookie	8

Begin Microsoft Excel

Today we will be working through the creation of a personal budget spreadsheet.  We will use it to keep track of income and spending, and use it to plan purchases, investing, etc.

Do this as realistically as possible as if you were moving out on your own [if you aren't already living on your own] and assume you have a real job and are living in a real house or apartment:

INCOME:

• Income 1
• Income 2
• TOTAL INCOME:

EXPENSES:

• Housing/Rent
• Food
• Car Payment
• Car Insurance
• Travel (Gas, Bridge Tolls, Bus, etc.)
• Utilities (Gas, Electric, Propane, etc.)
• Phone (Home / Cell)
• Internet
• Cable / Satellite TV
• Health Care / Medicine
• Clothing
• Entertainment
• Pets
• Sundries (Toilet Paper, Soap, Laundry Detergent, etc.)
• Furnishings / Kitchenware / Appliances
• School Expenses
• Credit Card Payments
• Child Care
• Savings
• Laundry
• Snacks (Energy Drinks, Candy, Soda, etc.)
• TOTAL EXPENSES:

Obviously you [hopefully] won't have all of these expenses, but for now go ahead and set the spreadsheet up with them in.  When we are finished we will take out items that we KNOW we will never use.  I will never need a "tobacco budget", for example.

After laying out the income and expenses in the first column (A), create columns for each month of the year (B) through (M).  Next, create a "TOTALS" column (N).

Work on formatting your document by bolding and centering the headers, adjusting font styles, right-aligning the incomes and expenses, adding color, etc.

Finally, begin entering your first months data.

If you're having trouble understanding the coordinates in Excel, try to think of them like a Battleship game:

 In this example, the boat that has been hit is at cell E7.  The boat in the bottom-right corner is at cell J10.

Rows are horizontal... like the rows of a theater.  And they are numbered -- row 3, row 4, etc.

Columns are vertical... like columns in a building.  They are lettered -- column A, B, C, etc.