In the last two web logs many students have written about greed, in class Yanek asked, "How much is enough?" This week we are going to take a jump from American History back into current events, you may find a connection.
In class you have been given two readings about Obama's proposals, which proposals do you think are most important and why. Do you have any other proposals for easing the economic crisis?
Your task for this web log is to draft a letter to the president-elect on the proposal that you favor (either Obama's, your own, or another student's).
After next week's revisions you are invited to prepare a final copy for mailing to president-elect Obama.
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25 comments:
Dear President Barack Obama,
I have read some of your proposals to fix the economic crisis. The one that I think is the best is "eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits." I think this is the best one because if you're now unemployed, you don't have the money to pay for the taxes and are giving back the money that the government gave you to help you pay for necessities. The government gives you money so you can pay for the things you need when you don't have a job. By taxing that money, the government is taking back the money it gave you to live on. That seems unfair to help Americans out and then take some of the money back.
I have thought about other ways to solve the economic crisis. My idea is to do something about the banks selling loans to each other. One bank might buy a loan that might never be payed back because the person might file bankruptcy. Then that bank will loose money on that deal. This could cause that bank to also go out of business. One solution could be that there should be an agency that handles all of the bank's loans, paybacks, closures and bankruptcies. It could keep banks from making bad decisions.
Hope You Succeed,
Ian Mankes Age 12
Dear President Barack Obama,
I read some of your ideas for changing America's economic crisis. The ideas were pretty good.It is true that George Bush has ruined our economy. He dug a deep hole for us and it will take you a while to refill it. I strongly agree and think that it's a good plan to have a $3000 tax credit for employers that hire new people. This is good because that will encourage people to find jobs. This can make the economy buy more stuff since the more workers, the more work is given out, so there will be more supplies being made. This supports the statement:"Supply and Demand". The more supplies the less demand so it will priced less so it can be affordable. If demand is high, that won't be a problem since there are more workers to make more supplies, and sellers can make more money.
Your other ideas like allowing Americans to borrow retirement savings without tax penalty is a great idea too. But the con about it is that people might retire sooner and less people will work. Eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits is also good. This means people won't have to pay taxes if they aren't employed so there will be less homeless people. Doubling the $50billion loan on automakers is a little bit overboard in my opinion. Then again automakers sell alot of cars for a high price so they might be able to come back with money.
I know that you have some more ideas but these were the first few that came into my mind. I read some of your other ideas and they were good though. I hope you can fix our economy. Thanks and good luck.
Victor Liang
Dear President Elect Barack Obama,
I have read your proposals and I think two of the most important once in my oppinion are "a 90-day moratorium on most home forclosures"and the "forbidding financial institutions or banks that get goverment help from foreclosing on homeowners who are making some payment,even if not the full amount." As the economy strikes down so do peoples wallets.And if they own a house they may not be able to pay off the house as quickly as they thought. Lets take for instance one the estimated one in five homeowners whose mortage payments exceed the reduced value of their homes--an unprecedented situation that could add to vacant homes across America.If people have no homes than they live where? Also if houses are vacant and all the people live in apartments then house sellers and realestate workers would fail to get payments. Isn't the house the most important place in the world? My proposal in addition to that is to-
1. Make a 90-day non forecloser to people who cant pay off there house bills and need to find a place to live. In addition they will be able to pay off some payments even if not all and keep the house as long as they keep paying a minumal payment every month.If that is solved some people keep their houses and some have to live in an apartment realestate workers will have a job to make banks will get loans back and apartment building owners will get jobs aswell. Now if lets say instead of raising the intrest rate why not lowering it so homeowners and buisness owners who owe loans can pay off there dues quicker and banks can get that money back. So in that way everyone is happy. Lowering intrest rate can get people to pay off there dues quicker.And stay out there dept.
Sinceraly,
Miriam Avrutin
Dear President-elect Obama,
The economy is in deep,deep trouble. Banks are closing down, homes are being foreclosed on, the automobile industry may lose three giant American companies if the government doesn't bail them out and thousands of Americans are losing there jobs and their savings for retirement. In my opinion I find that very unfair! On January 20th, 2009 you will be the country's leader in charge of fixing this crisis. I've read over some of your proposals in fixing our broken economic system. The proposal I find most favorable was eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits. I find this proposal most interesting because it's unfair for people who lose their jobs to pay taxes on money given to them from the government through their former employers to specifically help them survive as they search for a new job. People who lose their jobs should not have to suffer more or face bankruptcy. They rely on that money to pay their rent or mortgage and buy food and clothing. Why should the government give unemployment benefits on the one hand and then tax it and make it less on the other hand. I strongly agree with your proposal to eliminate income tax on unemployment benefits, and hope you will push this idea through congress quickly. One idea I would propose to you is to try and create new jobs focused on community service. For example, people who are temporarily out of work due to companies closing could be hired to clean the environment or re-trained in other skills to help them find different kinds of jobs. This means that you would have to put money into a program that assists people in learning new skills - but it will increase their chances of finding a new job and not rely on unemployment benefits.
Good luck.
Nicholas Safier
Dear MR.President elect Barack Hussein Obama,
I have read your proposals and many of them interest me. There is one that i find to be the most interesting. The $3,000 tax credit for employers for each new person they hire. With more employments going up, less unemployments will show. And the 3,000 dollar tax credit for each employer divides the actual tax between more people than just one. With this in hand, people will look forward for more employments in jobs and less money will be deployed on just one person. This makes almost everyone happy. But i have one question, will this be put everywhere in America or only in just the mostly unemployed states? Everyone must get a fair share of this proposal. Thats what i think.
Sincerely, your pal Jonathan Suris
Dear President Barack Obama,
As I read your proposals, I came across one that was important, "Eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits". I think that if someone is unemployed for any reason, they should be able to get unemployment benefits that exclude tax. This way they can afford necessities. After all, that is the only money they have to live on.
We are in an economical crisis. We need to fix as soon as possible! I have an idea that might help fix it. My idea is that banks should be more careful of giving out loans. I think the banks should create a file for every person that needs a loan and every bank should have an application for loans. The file should contain any debts, an application for the loan, any crime records and identifications. This way the loan can be paid back and the person won’t have any bad credit history.
Fixing the economy would be a dream for Americans. Hopefully, you can better the economy and fix the problem. So, we don’t have to struggle anymore.
From,
Tina Brodnikova- A seventh grader that believes in you
Dear President Elect Barack Obama,
After reading over some of your proposals I came across one that I think is the best one is Allowing Americans to borrow from retirement savings without a tax penalty. I think that this is a very important proposal because people are suffering right now because of the bad ecomomy and what happened to American stocks. Everyday Americans now dont have money to pay taxes but will need to tolive here. What had happened in the stock area affectecd many Americans because it cause them to lose their job.Citizens in Americans that lost their jobs proably were ready to borrow money can now because of this proposal they dont have to pay taxes. This is even better because if this proposal did not exist people would have to pay taxes but I ask with what money they lost their job right? That is why I am for our presidency for the next 4 and hopefully 8 years.
A very concerned 7th grade citizen,
Sharena Austin
Dear President Elect Barack Obama,
I have read some of your proposals on fixing the ecoomic crisis. Bush has dug a hole deep enough, and I am sure your proposals will help us dig the hole up. Two of the proposals I think are the best are "A 90-day moratorium," and "Eliminating income taxes on unemployment." The 90-day moratorium on most home foreclosures, would help those Americans in danger of losing their homes. This proposal will also give at some banks a two-year tax break for businesses that create new jobs. The proposal also allows people to withdraw up to $10,000 from their retirement accounts without any penalty for the remainder of the year and it would require financial institutions that take government help to agree not to act against homeowners who are trying to make payments, even if not the full amounts. This will help them even more with their house payment and less people would loss their houses. The second best proposal, eliminating income taxes on unemployment, is also considered something I favor. This proposal will let unemployed Americans get the money that the government gave to help pay for any occasions without paying taxes by about $10 billion of the $60 billion would go to eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits and extending it to the long-term unemployed by 13 weeks to 26 weeks. This money is given to you to help pay off for things you need without after you have no job, and this will help many Americans also be able to pay off any house bills. I think this proposal is great. When people get taxed after given the money, its like they didnt get anything, their money gets taken from them. This proposal helps stop that.
I have thought of other ways to help economic crisis. I think we should help stop the extreme volatile of the financial markets in the U.S. and worldwide. Consumer spending is down because people have less money to spend and those who have money are being more conservative with it. The more prices rise, the less people will by goods. So not only will people lose their money, it will worsen joblessness for months or even years. I think prices and even more importantly, taxes, on goods should decrease so people would spend less money on more goods and most Americans wouldn't lose their jobs.
Hope you succeed,
Sarh Aly
Dear President Elect Barack Obama,
I have read your proposals to help fix Americas economic crisis.The proposal i find is best is"Allowing Americans to borrow from retirement savings without tax penalty".I think that this is the best proposal because when Americans can take out their retirement money without being taxed for it,it can help them with the money issues.Lets say your broke and have no money,you can take some money from those savings and not have a tax penalty.I also have a question.What if some Americans don't have retirement savings are they allowed to borrow from other savings?Because of what happened to our economy people lost their jobs and since they lost their jobs they cant pay for their homes.If they were going to borrow money from the banks they wouldnt have money to pay the taxes.And therefore this proposal would be a huge help.
I have an idea to make our economic system solved.If we could either lower or cut the taxes on unemployed workers.By doing this the people wouldn't have a negative balance since they don't have an income,and then we would have less bank loans.
Best Regards,
Michelle Tsvitman
Dear President Elect Barack Obama,
First of all, I would like to congratulate you in winning the 2008 presidential election! We all know you have been thinking of many ideas to help the economic crisis, so I would like to say thank you. I have read some of your ideas and they were all very good and important to the economy. Like, “A $3,000 tax credit for employers for each new person they hire.” is important because this can create more opportunities for jobless people.
Also, “Forbidding financial institutions that get government help from foreclosing on homeowners who are making some payment, even if not the full amount.” is also very important because a lot of home owners face the foreclosures of making some payments. But there is also a question I would like to ask you about that. What exactly is the amount of payment that home owners need to pay to avoid bank foreclosures? Actually, I have a suggestion about that. Why don’t home owners just pay 10% for the first year, 15% the second year, 20% the third year, 25% the fourth year, and 30% the fifth year? After five years, everything goes back to normal. You can just raise the mortgage payment 5% each year. This will give time for home owners to reorganize their financial status. I also have an idea to solve the economical crisis. Why don’t you just lower the income tax? So people don’t have to worry about it that much anymore and they can save up more money to pay their mortgage payment.
I know you will think of new ways to help the economic crisis. You’re the only one that can help us now. We believe you can fix the American economic crisis!
Thanks a lot!
Sincerely,
Elaine Chan, a seventh grade citizen who has faith in you.
Dear President-Elect Barack Obama,
I have read your proposals on fixing the nation's financial and economic crisis. One of your proposals is - a $3,000 tax credit for employers for each new person they hire. I think this proposal will encourage many companies to create new jobs. Also, a 90-day moratorium on most home foreclosures will put people in less danger of losing their homes and give them more time. Another one of your proposals is to eliminate income taxes on unemployment benefits. I believe that people who are unemployed can not pay off debts and lose money. I do hope that you will make your proposals happen and they will better our economy. I think that we need to find a way for banks to stop selling loans & start making better decisions. You should also cut income taxes and I believe that you could help dig our way out of this mess.
Sincerely,
Elizabeth Sangadzhiev
Dear President Obama,
I have examined some of your proposals for the economy. The proposal I like is forbidding financial institutions that get government help from foreclosing on homeowners who are making some payment. This proposal helps a lot of people because they won’t lose their homes. Many homeowners don’t have enough money to make payment. So it’s a good way to give homeowners a better chance to pay. Most of the homeowner’s money are being wasted and used by the banks. Instead of using the money for the economy the banks are using it for themselves. If you were to be a homeowner and you lost your job you wouldn’t be able to pay the full payment. Since the bank used all the money already the bank would have to take away your home to pay up the money you owe.
My question is, “will the government supervise the money that the government is lending the bank?” If the government doesn’t then the bank will misuse the money again. They will not use the money to pump it back into the economy and instead waste it. I think you should have the bank’s money supervised so that it is used wisely. The whole economy is like a cycle. We need the banks to reinvest back into the cycle.
With all due respect,
Justin Yuen
Dear President-elect Obama,
The economy is introuble. Banks are closing down, homes are being foreclosed on, the automobile industry may lose three giant American companies if the government doesn't bail them out and thousands of Americans are losing there jobs and their savings for retirement. In my opinion I find that very unfair! On January 20th, 2009 you will be the country's leader in charge of fixing this crisis. I've read over some of your proposals in fixing our broken economic system. The proposal I find most favorable was eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits. I find this proposal most interesting because it's unfair for people who lose their jobs to pay taxes on money given to them from the government through their former employers to specifically help them survive as they search for a new job. People who lose their jobs should not have to suffer more or face bankruptcy. They rely on that money to pay their rent or mortgage and buy food and clothing. Why should the government give unemployment benefits on the one hand and then tax it and make it less on the other hand. I strongly agree with your proposal to eliminate income tax on unemployment benefits, and hope you will push this idea through congress quickly. One idea I would propose to you is to try and create new jobs focused on community service. For example, people who are temporarily out of work due to companies closing could be hired to clean the environment or re-trained in other skills to help them find different kinds of jobs. This means that you would have to put money into a program that assists people in learning new skills - but it will increase their chances of finding a new job and not rely on unemployment benefits.
Dear Barack Obama,
I have read some of your proposals to change the economic crisis. You had some interesting ideas. the fact that George has spoiled our economy was true, it will be hard to fix the problems he has created.
On Jan. 20th 09 you will be our leader and I hope that you will make a change. My favorite proposals are the $3,000 tax credit for employers for each new person they hire--ameasure intended to encourage job creation. I think that the 3000 dollar tax credit is a good idea because it will insure more people will get hired and there will be less people loosing jobs. My idea for a propasal is to create a job to help the environment that also has good enough pay so people can efford houses cars etc. so if an enployee's companie went out of buissnes they have a choice to help the Earth and still keep their house car etc.
Hope these ideas helped!
Alexander Riveron age 12
Dear President-Elect Barack Obama,
I've read some of your proposals to fix America's economy. The one I think is the most important is the "90-day moratorium on most home foreclosures". I think this proposal is the most important because it might give people time to earn some more money to pay off their debt. Some people need an extra month or two to get the money that's needed. This may help many citizens who have a foreclosure on their home.
An additional proposal I would add is banks giving out loans. Many banks lose money from giving out loans. These loans don't come from anywhere. They come from the wallets of U.S. citizens. If a bank gives a big loan to someone and that person doesn't pay it back to the bank, then they'll lose money. Not only the bank itself, but other people will lose their money, too. To prevent this from happening, banks will need to be more careful with giving out loans. Before giving out a loan to someone, they should check their records. If this person has been in debt numerous times, the bank shouldn't give them a loan unless that person pays off their debts. Another person with a history of many debts but they've paid them all off, the bank should only give them a small loan just in case.
Sincerely,
Oznur Gul
Dear President-Elect Obama,
I have read some of your proposals, and the one that I think is most important and most helpful to me is the forbidding financial institutions (banks) that get government help from foreclosing on homeowners who are making some payment, even if not the full amount. I feel it is very important because it is not fair that people borrow money from a bank to buy a house, and then if they don’t pay it up in time, they would lose their home. If there are 90 days to pay up the money, the people might have enough time to return the money owed, instead of being kicked onto the streets with no money. This is a very good idea, and I support you.
Your humble supporter,
Andrew Yee Age 12
Dear President elect Barack Obama,
I have read your plans to fix the economic crisis that is going on in America. Some of your ideas are very helpful for example the idea to stop taxes for the unemployed. Its good because when the government gives you the money to live they just tax you for everything such as loans. Resulting into bankruptcy putting more Americans on the street or out of their economic class. To tell you the truth your plan to tax the wealthy more and the not so wealthy is a bad idea. For one protests will start among that class and start to rise their price for everything such as the Bill Gates. He will start raising his price for microsoft making the middle class not wanting to buy it. Soon that company will fall and then harm the middle class not able to buy to progress their business giving an even bigger fall.
Thank you for your time,
sincerely, Alex
Dear President elect Barack Obama,
I have read your plans to fix the economic crisis that is going on in America. Some of your ideas are very helpful for example the idea to stop taxes for the unemployed. Its good because when the government gives you the money to live they just tax you for everything such as loans. Resulting into bankruptcy putting more Americans on the street or out of their economic class. To tell you the truth your plan to tax the wealthy more and the not so wealthy is a bad idea. For one protests will start among that class and start to rise their price for everything such as the Bill Gates. He will start raising his price for microsoft making the middle class not wanting to buy it. Soon that company will fall and then harm the middle class not able to buy to progress their business giving an even bigger fall.
Thank you for your time,
sincerely, Alex
Dear President Elect Barack Odama,
I know you are going to be a good president and I hope you can make our economy better. You should lower taxes since many places(like schools) sell stuff to make money, they don't need so much tax. Also, you should convince that they should buy more stuff so too many people won't lose there jobs and not too much so they won't get in dept. And finally, retired/unemployed people shouldn't have to pay tax.
Dear President Obama,
You have a tough situation ahead of you. I read your ideas for the economic crisis, and i also have a few suggestion too. Rather then buying crops from other countries, we can grow and harvest the crops in the states.Bank loans should have a maximum amount of money to loan people. When banks lend to much money, people can't pay all of it.All of that will lead to chaos.
Many Americans are bankrupted and their houses were taken away from them. Taxes are 8.25% that is a lot of money being taken away from us. Some of us don't have jobs, and they don't even have enough money to provide for themselves.
I agree with your idea about getting 3,000 tax credits for employer who hire workers. But what happen to all the product that were not bought the past months. some items could have expired, and the business would loss lots of money.
Many of us kids and adults hope you would help us pull through this economic nightmare. Best wishes to you and your family.
Sincerely,
Tiffany Luong
Alex D. said that President Obama's proposal to tax the wealthy more than the middle class is a bad idea because the wealthy class may decide to protest and raise their prices if they own companies, which will end up harming the middle and lower classes. My question for Alex is: do you think the wealthy class has a bigger responsibility to pay more taxes if they have more money? People in the middle class make an average of $100-$150,000 each year. The wealthy class makes millions of dollars. Even though there are many more people in the middle class the money they make each year to live on is much less than the amount people in the wealthy class may make. In other words, I think the wealthy class can afford to pay more taxes if they are making a lot more money because they won't feel it as much. What do you think?
Dear President Barack Obama,
I would take the time to congratulate you in winning the president election! Everyone in america knows what your plans to solve this economic crisis, I and the rest of America would like to say Thank You. I personally agree with your ideas that your going to try make happen and i know that all of your ideas are going to work and help solve this economic crisis. When you say "eliminating income taxes on unemployment benefits." I agree with Ian i believe that is your best proposal because when your unemployed, you would have no money to pay for tax. You would pay for the taxes and you woulnd't have the money to pay for family needs.
Another, one of your proposal you made "Forbidding finacial institutions that get government help from foreclosing on homeowners who are making some payment, even if not the full amount.” A lot of Americans are facing foreclosures and they're still making payments. They is a lot of questions i would like to ask you about this proposal. How much s the amount of money they have to pay to avoid all of the possible bank foreclousres? I see another way od seeing this proposal Couldn't you just make taxes for each year rase the taxes by like 5-7 percent for four years. The fifth year could decrease by 5 pct, from the second year or it could could be the same again. Another way you could solve the economic crisis is to lower the taxes on all purchased houses or vehicles. So that way people would have more time to pay off there debts.
I believe that you have done a spectacular job so far but there is still much left we have to do as Americans and as President of The United Stares. I personally would like to thank you for making our lives better.
We Appreciate it,
Yours Truly,
Hassan Khan a seventh grader that is here with you one step at a time.
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