Political Culture and Public

Policy Issues Interest Groups, Economy,

Foreign Policy, and the Media

Journal #49

1. Do you agree or disagree with the following statements?

a. The decision makers who represent me at all levels of government are knowledgeable enough to make good decisions on their own.

b. Citizens should be allowed to petition their elected officials in any way they choose to make their positions known.

2. Lobbyist: Sounds positive or negative? What do you know already?

Special Interest Groups

Organizations established to carry out specific goals

Types: Economic/business Professional Labor Public Interest (PIRG)/Government watchdog Ideological/Single issue (social, religious)

Influential interest groups

Business: Chamber of Commerce

Labor: AFL-CIO (union)

Professional: American Medical Association American Federation of Teachers

Single Issue: American Association of Retired People (AARP), NOW, PETA

How they influence pubic policy

Researching issues and developing public policy proposals (“think tanks”)

Giving political support to elected officials (electioneering)

Coordinating grassroots organizing at the local level (public opinion)

Lobbying politicians to vote a certain way on bills

Lobbyists

People who persuade officials to vote on their interest group’s behalf

Meeting in the “lobbies” of the chambers

Rules for lobbyists

Registration

Must disclose expenses

Gift ban

Pros and Cons of Lobbies

Influence of money

Narrow interests

Provide specialized information

Keep Americans informed

Kept in balance by competing interests (democratic pluralism)

“The revolving door”

Former politicians who become lobbyists after leaving office

Why might this be a problem?

Journal #50

What were the results of your opinion poll from yesterday?

Were the results surprising? Why or why not?

Presentations

1. Brief overview of your interest group Pick 1-3 interesting facts/points to share

2. Your lobbying strategies and main goal How much $ spent Why you chose the tools you did

3. Audience feedback NOT on the interest group’s topic or cause! On the lobbying strategies used/slogans/etc.

and their effectiveness

Reflection Paragraph

Which tools did you use most often? Did you use more direct lobbying of legislators or more grassroots mobilization? Why? How did you decide which tools to use?

In your specific case, which tools do you think would be most effective in real life?

Discussion

Is lobbying a negative or positive part of the legislative process?

How effective are lobbyists?

What are the best ways for decision makers to acquire information?

Are the laws that currently govern lobbying effective?

“It’s the economy, stupid”

Personal budget

Government budget

Taxes

Stock Market

The Federal Budget

OMB (Office of Management and Budget) helps the president create a budget to submit to Congress each year

Balanced budget: Revenue = expenditures

Surplus: Revenue exceeds expenditures

Deficit: Expenditures exceeds revenue

Deficits + interest = debt

How does the government spend its money?

How does the government get its money?

Taxes: Income Sales Property Social security Corporate Excise tax/sin tax Estate/gift tax (indirect tax) Import tax (tariff)

Tax Brackets

Progressive Income taxes

Regressive Sales tax

How else does the government get its money?

1. Social Security Trust Fund: Holds total of $2.67 trillion debt which is 19% of the total debt.

2. The Federal Reserve: Holds total of $1.63 trillion, 11.3% of the total debt.

3. China: Holds $1.6 trillion, 8% of total debt.

4. US Households: Holds $959.4 billion of Treasury bonds, which is 6.6% of the total US debt.

5. Japan: Holds 6.4% of total US debt.

Debt holders

The Stock Market

You will be creating your own business

To start your business, you will need capital ($)

Instead of borrowing, you can sell parts of your company to investors, who make profit (dividends)

Shares (parts) of ownership in a company = stock

Goal for businesses: Have your share price go up

Goal for shareholders: Buy low, sell high!

Mock Stock Market Roles

Stockbrokers: All start with $40 Goal is to make the most money at the end of

the game (cash plus the end value/price of your stocks)

Companies: All start with 50 shares of stock Goal is to sell the most stock You will need to have a good business plan,

specific details on how the company is run, and good marketing skills

Mock Stock Market Rules

I am the market and I will be handling all of the money and deciding all stock prices!

We will have rounds of trading. During rounds you will: Buy stocks (if you are a stockbroker) Try to convince buyers to buy your stock (if you are a company)

At the end of each round, you will: Sell or hold onto your stocks (stockbrokers) Work on making your company better (companies)

I will change the prices per share of stock for each company based on how well they are performing Higher = company doing well (more potential profit) Lower = company not doing as well (more potential loss)

Modern Media

What should be the role/job of the media in a democracy?

Do you think that the media is doing their job? Why or why not?

What are positive aspects of the media today? Negative characteristics?

Trends in Media Coverage

TV: 24 hr. coverage (CNN), increasingly ideological

Talk radio: Mostly conservative

Internet

Intense competition Dirty laundry Sensationalism

Media conglomerates: Disney/ABC/ESPN; TimeWarner/Turner Broadcasting, Viacom (CBS, MTV, VHI)

Media Bias

“Liberal” media?

Fox News vs. MSNBC

Examples?