Elementary Economics

        Gross Domestic Product
        National Income
        Per Capita Income
        Consumer Price Index
        Unemployment Rate
        Stock Market

Economic Theories

Economic Liberalism  or Classical Laissez Faire Economics

Adam Smith, David Ricardo, Thomas Malthus
There are laws of demand and supply, which regulate the market and government should largely keep its hands off the economy. 

Marxist Theories of Economics

Karl Marx
Business cycle.  Trend towards monopoly.  Division of society into small number of rich capitalists and ever larger number of impoverished proletarians.

Keynsian Economics

John Maynard Keynes
Deficit spending is necessary during severe economic downturns such as the Great Depression of 1929.  Priming the pump.  Developed modern ideas of fiscal and monetary policies.  Keynes advocated government spending rather than tax cuts.  The Welfare State.

Politics, Ideology, and Economics

Politics plays an important role in managing the national economy. 
While economists have developed many theories seeking to predict economic trends,
there is as yet no definitive science of economics in the same way that we have laws of physics, chemistry, or genetics.

There are vast differences between liberals and conservatives, as well as Democrats and Republicans.  But, it should be noted, not all Democrats are Liberal nor are all Republicans Conservative.  The two parties overlap in what might be called the moderate center.

Liberal ________________________________________________Conservative

               Democrats__________________________
                                                     |________________|____________Republicans

Goals for the National Economy

Real Growth in Gross Domestic Product
Growth in Per Capita Income
Little or no Inflation
Full Employment
Balanced Budget
Low Interest Rates
High Consumer Confidence
Declining Poverty Rates
Growing Social Justice between top and bottom 20 percent of
             income distribution
No Recession or Depression
Booming stock market

Tools for Managing the National Economy

Fiscal Policy

Taxing
Spending

Monetary Policy

Money in Circulation
Prime Interest Rate
Margin Requirements
Treasury Activities
Managing the National Debt
Printing More Money

The Business Cycle

        Inflation
        Recession

Increase Spending
                                            Fiscal Policy
Lower Taxes
                                                                                       Recession
Increase Money Supply 
                                            Monetary Policy
Lower Interest Rates

                                                                                                                COUNTER CYCLICAL MOVES

Tighten Money Supply
                                             Monetary Policy
Raise Interest Rates
                                                                                       Inflation
Raise Taxes
                                              Fiscal Policy
Lower Spending

Institutional Structures

The President as Chief Economist
Council of Economic Advisors
Office of Management and Budget
Treasury Department
Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System
Budgetary Process in the U.S. Congress

The Budget of the United States

1.  Tool for Macro-economic management:  Fiscal Policy

2.  Setting Priorities for the Government

3.  Blueprint for Actual Governmental Policies

4.  Tool for Controlling the Bureaucracy

5.  The "Bible" for all Federal Departments, Agencies, Bureaus, etc.

Overview of the Budget

Guns and Butter

Mandatory and Discretionary Spending