ECO/372: Macroeconomics
July 8, 2013
Dr. Joe Timmerman
Week 4 Reflection Summary
In week 4, we discussed the problems with the fiscal policy and how we felt about the limits of the fiscal policy. When spending is greater than income there is a deficit; a deficit is a shortfall of revenue payments. Some of the team struggles with understanding when the economy is in a recession, why a deficit is good for the economy. As a team we also reviewed the total debt in the U.S. and were all applauded by the trillion-dollar deficit that we are currently facing. We realize that this a huge issue that needs to be worked on by the Government. Words like “recession,” “deficit,” and “debt,” are tossed around all the time on television by every politician promising plans to fix them, but this class has really helped explain what these words actually mean. A few of learned that there are different types of deficits. A majority of our team seems to have a grasp hold on this information.
The national debt relates to one of our team members in the funeral industry field because it affects all aspects of businesses. The debt of the nation is high, as well as many companies. In her situation, because credit was allowed to be given people, they over extended themselves, and when the economy fell into a black hole, their credit was cut off. They could no longer pay all of their bills. Companies were the same - there were many of our clients or vendors who shut their doors. This had an impact on us in two ways:
1. We could not collect all the money owed to us, and
2. People quit spending money on funerals - they bought very inexpensive items, or turned to cremation instead of burials.
Another team member is in sales and many of her customers are on special payment terms. If this number continues to increase many of her valid customers will not be able to get loans to make payments on their invoices and this will then affect the number of