Need help with an economics paper

[AndyP]

I'm not a huge fan of economics mainly because I don't understand everything that goes along with it very well. I have a fairly big paper due for my poli sci class and I was assigned the topic of the two candidates economic plans; how are they different, and how they speak of each others plans, and what the news says about their plans. My question for everyone here is: what specific topics should I narrow my economics paper down to?? It has to be around 12-15 pages. I was thinking outsourcing/jobs, the deficit, and tax cuts. Unfortunately this has to be a fair and balanced paper, not Fox News fair and balanced either.
I'm overwhelmed, where should I start? :cry:
Thanks

[AntiFascist]

1. Pete Peterson on the Federal Deficit....

Here's an excellent interview I saw on "Now with Bill Moyers" of a fiscal conservative with no party bias, but he argues that tax cuts together with the growing deficit are "immoral" in how they treat future generations:

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/peterson.html

I don't think of Lou Dobb's as being democratically biased, but he has a lot to say about how outsourcing is destroying America.

www.cnn.com/lou

Click on his favorite book list. (Interesting that Kitty Kelly's book made the list.)

[Viking12]

2. Do research first, then write

It is much easier to write once you know the topic, read and take notes, then read some more, then start writing. There are many newspaper articles on the plans. Use Lexis-Nexis. There are also some decent analyses on the web by blogger economists -- Brad DeLong and Max Sawicky come to mind.

[mckara]

3. How About Privatization of...

Social Security, the military, prisons, etc.? Who benefits and how the public is getting screwed (my contention)? I know many modern economists believe the public sector can't accomplish their goals as efficiently as the private sector, but so far, privatization has only proven to be a convenient way of looting the treasury. Read what Paul Krugman has to say about the subject. I recently read The Making of Modern Economics by Mark Skousen. You might want to read the last few chapters to get an idea of what modern economists say about the most efficient economic models and compare and contrast they with their practical application.
Just a thought, I hope it's helpful.

[flyingfysh]

4. get the Krugman book

Get "The Great Unravelling", by Paul Krugman, available everywhere in paperback.

[cliss]

5. You can pick 1 economic plan that the candidates

have talked about. Say: Social security, or health care. Both of these are explosive topics and they promise to become more prominent over the next few years.

Step 1: print what Bush has stated about the topic. (Of course, keep in mind that what he SAYS is very different from what he DOES) but that's not the scope of your paper. You want to be able to look at their vision of what they are proposing, and anchor the plans to Economic Reality.

Step 2: Go back to your textbook and look at the Macroeconomic reality of these programs. Use quotes. Show how they are probably both unrealistic, and here's why....."....".

Step 3: Use other economist's opinions, like Milton Friedman, or some other well-known economist. Now add in some stuff like "Alan Greenslime seems to feel.....that Social Security will not be able to sustain itself until the year 2030, or some such quote. Go to the Internet to get lots of good quotes. Just use the search function, and you will hit the Mother Lode.

Good luck! I've got a B.A. in Economics + halfway to a Master's degree in Econ. I know that a lot of what the candidates say is just nothing but Bull-crap, and it shouldn't be too difficult to prove it with economic theories and graphs.

[AndyP]

6. I think I'm going to do an overview

because I'm sure my prof wants to here what they plan to do. But, I also have to disucss what they say about eachother's plans and what the media says about them so I think I will sharpen my focus when I do that part of the paper. Thanks for the start:)

[Name removed]

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