Friday, November 28, 2008

Global Economic Downturn Making the World a More Dangerous Place?

This is the perfect article for both World History and Government students. The author makes the argument that as the global economy gets worse, security risks for the United States become greater. Historically, this is always true. As economic conditions worsen for some groups, jobs become less available, and people have few means of supporting themselves and their families, people act out on their frustrations and fears, and violence is the result. Consider this pattern as you read the article:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/14/AR2008111403864.html?referrer=emailarticle

Can you think of any other times in history when economic problems have resulted in more violence? Describe them in your answer.

In light of the perceived increased security threats to the U.S. and around the world, what should be the U.S. response to these circumstances?

The U.S. is currently experiencing our own economic downturn and running a national debt in excess of $10 trillion. Do we have the ability to beef up our security by devoting more money to intelligence and defense capability? Explain your answer.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Bonjour, Mrs. Stotler. I think that we do have the ability to do anything we put our minds to, even if the country is in debt, they would just take money from other places. One has to wonder where the money is going that we are paying out, also. I do think that the US should try and respond to violence, which would probably deal with more violence because that's the only thing that the voilencers are going to respond to. There are probably some events that have happened in the past, back when the world hardly had technology, when peasents and slaves revolted because they didn't have enough to feed their children or themselves.

Anonymous said...

I think that we are going to be a target for attack because the incoming administration is anti-war and will probably cut the military and intelligence budgets. I feel that that was what happened during the Clinton administration, that was the reason for the 9/11 attcks. I think that we are falling down the ladder of being a world power because we have helped other countries for so long we have forgotten how to help ourselves. Maybe we will be able to take this recession as an opportunity to put our own country and people back on track.

Anonymous said...

I agree with this article. During the Great Depression, people were always stealing or killing,or even cheating their way into gettin one of the few jobs that were left.It's in our natureto fight for what we want, and in some cases we can even go backtoour primal instincts. When peple desperatly need something,they will doanything in their power to get.We've seen examples of it all throughout history.Some of which include, WWII and Nazi Germany. Even the are that Hurricane Katrina affected. I think that if our economy gets worse, so willthe rate of crime. If we don't take some sort of action soon, the United Sates will become progressivleymore dangerous. Every time a country in in a deep economic drought, the peopleof that country go out and fix it. Examples of that include the French Revolution and other revolts. Ifour country ends up becoming that unstable then we are going to be the main target for more terrorist attacks.