Garfield Scholars Talk Economy At The Federal Reserve
Garfield Scholars visited the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland on Monday, Sept. 19, to tour the facilities and hear a briefing from Mark Sneiderman, Chair of the Policy Committee of the Cleveland Fed.
Sneiderman gave the students a report on the economy, discussing the federal open market committee, labor market, inflation, budget problems and monetary policy.
Garfield Scholar Michael Carey ’12, an economics major who attended the trip, said Sneiderman discussed the ways the Great Recession (2007-2009) is behaving in comparison to U.S. recessions of the past.
“On the news you hear, ‘this is the worst thing that’s happened since the Depression,’” Carey said, “but in all reality, on unemployment and loss of GDP (gross domestic product), this recession is not misbehaving in any way that’s incredibly unlike other recessions in the past.”
On the other hand, Carey said, Sneiderman explained that the recent recession is unlike others, in that quantitative easing hasn’t worked.
As an economics major who has been in college during a time of recession, Carey said he’s gained a lot from discussions like this one, that relate real-life happenings to the way things are “supposed” to go in economic theory.
“It’s kind of an exciting time to be learning,” he said. “You take theory in the classroom, and everything works out perfectly, but then you apply it to the real world, and theory has holes in it.”
The Garfield Scholars program is a competitive program through which a select group of students actively participate in the seminars through the Garfield Institute of Public Leadership, engage public leaders on and off campus and demonstrate scholarship.
Reflections on the Reagan Primary Debates
There is no better way to take the temperature of the ‘out party’ in a presidential election year than attending a primary debate of the major candidates. While attending the Reagan Library debate last week I can assure you that if I had stuck a thermometer into the room of debate attendees mercury would’ve shot out the end point the audience was so volatile. Despite being a relatively older audience the passion against the sitting president was palpable, and the candidates on stage, in providing a good gladiator style battle against each other slaked the audiences thirst but only for a time.
However attending a debate doesn’t only provide you with a feeling about the state of one party, but also about the overall messages and policy positions that are going to mark the territory of the opposition party going forward. The Republican field, now lead by Texas Governor Rick Perry are pretty dead set on cutting taxes further, repealing just about everything that President Obama has ever done and continuing the war(s) in the Middel East. Oddly enough from the perspective of the Garfield Institute the candidates had little or nothing to offer the millions of young and diverse Americans that will make up a key element of next year’s campaign.
No one on stage had anything to say about college loans, tuition fees, and only made scant references to public schools. No one spoke of polices that would specifically help a graduating college senior who is looking to work in her home community but has to leave because her loans are too high to be a public school teacher. No one on stage discussed how a 26 year old in Law School can get adequate medical coverage, let alone the 21 year old returning from Afghanistan desperate for work with a wife and a newborn on the way.
While the election is almost a year away, the debates are providing the public with the narrative for the election and thus far young people do not appear to be on the Republican agenda. (Unless you count Mitt Romney and Rick Perry’s arguments about Social Security?) This year the Garfield Institute will be at the forefront of putting youth issues on the table not for political purposes to ensure that this critical class of voters has a voice in the coming election.
Civility: Thriving or Dying in American Public Discourse?
The Garfield Institute hosted a lively discussion on civility in American politics. The videos below are from the event.
2012 Election Analysis from Dr. Johnson
Below you will find up to date commentary on the 2012 election cycle from Scholar in Residence Dr. Jason Johnson.
An interview with Marcia Fudge
Iowa Caucuses:
Election Day 2010 Re-Cap
Scholar in residence Jason Johnson and the panelists discuss the long term implications of the 2010 election cycle. The panelists and audience debate the future for politics in Ohio from many different viewpoints.
Garfield Scholar Published
Chuck Kraus ’10, a history major and political science minor at Hiram, has had a revised version of his senior thesis published in “The Chinese Historical Review.” The article, titled “Creating a Soviet ‘Semi-Colony’? Sino-Soviet Cooperation and its Demise in Xinjiang, 1949-1955” is being published in the Fall 2010 edition. His article will be available shortly here on pages 129-165. Chuck is currently pursuing graduate studies at George Washington University.
Nuclear Power, Nuclear Proliferation, and Nuclear Disarmament
Dr. Scott Sagan discusses the current issues surrounding nuclear power and the proliferation of new weapons, while outlining the potential for disarmament through extranational efforts. Below are the videos from the event.
A New Source of Energy? Environmental and Economic Prospects
Leaders in the discussion of America’s energy future share their insights and concerns with Hiram College, with a main presentation on the potential of coal gasification. Participants in the seminar are as follows: Mark Shanahan, Director, The Ohio Quality Development Authority, James Bartis, Senior Policy Researcher, RAND Corporation Environment, Energy & Economic Development Program, Louis Circeo, Ph.D., Principal Research Scientist, Electro-Optical Systems Laboratory, Georgia Institute of Technology, Thomas Hoffman, Senior V.P., External Affairs, CONSOL Energy, Inc. Below are the videos from the event.
Latin America: Economic & Political Integration
This conference focused on the issues of Latin America through the eyes of diplomats from both North and South America. The topics centered on economic integration and broadened to discussions of western hemisphere relations. The speakers from this conference were: Jorge Castañeda, Ph.D., Foreign Minister of Mexico, 2000-2003, Ambassador Roberto Flores Bermúdez, Ambassador of Honduras to the U.S. from May 2006-2009, Ambassador Craig Kelly, Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Western Hemisphere Affairs, U.S. Department of State, James Creagan, Director of the Center for International Studies, University of the Incarnate Word. Below are the videos of the event.
Examining the Financial Crisis
A discussion covering the causes and remedies for the latest US economic crisis. Phil Gramm, who was a part of the financial deregulation process, speaks candidly about what happened to cause the crisis and why deregulation is still the answer. The panel consisted of the following: Former Senator Phil Gramm, Vice Chairman, UBS Investment Bank since December 2002, Mark Sniderman, Executive Vice President and CPO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland, Craig Moser, Professor of Economics, Hiram College. Below are the videos of the event.