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Congress

Describe the powers that Congress has been given by the Constitution.  Why was Congress designed to be the most powerful of the three branches by the writers of the Constitution?

Explain the major purpose for the creation of the U.S. House of Representatives, and then describe the special powers it was given by the Constitution. 

Explain the major purpose for the creation of the U.S. Senate, and then describe the special powers it was given by the Constitution. 

Describe the powers of the Speaker of the House of Representatives, paying close attention to powers regarding the Rules Committee and conference committees.

Describe the powers of the majority and minority leaders of Congress. 

 Explain the purpose, composition and general procedures of standing committees and why they are so easily influenced by special interests. Questions?

 What is Pork? Why do members of Congress try so hard to get it? Explain which standing committees in Congress have the most pork.

The Presidency

In spite of the fact that the writers of the Constitution intended to make Congress the most powerful branch in modern times the Presidency has become more powerful than Congress. Why is this? Explain. Questions?

Explain the reasons that writers of the Constitution created the Electoral College system to choose the president, rather than having a popular election. Questions?

Explain how the Electoral College works and then explain why it is almost impossible to change it to a popular vote for the president. Questions?

From the Byrnes text explain the intentions of the writers of the Constitution regarding war making powers. Questions?

From the Byrnes text explain the current powers the president has regarding war making. Questions?

From the Byrnes text explain why the presidency has been able to consolidate so much power in its hands relative to war making. Questions?

Explain the powers that the president has in domestic affairs and compare that to the powers he possesses in external affairs. Questions?

Fiscal and Monetary Policy

Explain the following quote from the Byrnes text: “A capitalist or free market economy reinforces the direction it is headed in by its own momentum.” Questions?

How does the federal government borrow money to pay for deficits? Who or what does the government owe this money to? How big is the National Debt? How much per person?  Questions?

Explain what fiscal policy is and how it can be used by government to push the economy in a desired direction. Give a recent example where the government has used fiscal policy in this manner. Questions?

Why is it so tempting for politicians to have a fiscal policy with large deficits? Questions?

What is monetary policy and what government agency controls it? Questions?

 Why was the Federal Reserve created? Describe the Board of Governors, explaining the reasoning for their terms of office. Questions?

What would the Fed do to address concerns of recession? Explain. What has the Fed done recently that illustrates this?  Why are these policies often not completely successful during recessions? Questions?

What would the Fed do to address inflation concerns? Questions?

External or International Policy

Explain this quote from the Byrnes text: “The world will not automatically sort itself out to our liking.” Questions?

Describe briefly the powers the president has to make external or foreign policy. Questions?

Explain what NAFTA is. Questions?

In general what are the benefits to creating free trade agreements? Questions?

In general what are the possible negative effects of free trade agreements to the countries involved? Questions?

Explain why free trade agreements often difficult to negotiate and then maintain. Questions?

In what sense does the United Nations serve the interests of the United States according to the Byrnes text? What influence does the USA have on the United Nations? Questions?

How does the World Bank serve U.S. interests according to the Byrnes text? What influence does the USA have over the World Bank? Questions?

What is the major purpose of the International Monetary Fund? What backs the major currencies of the world today, including the U.S. dollar? How does the IMF serve the interests of the United States and the rest of the world? Questions?

What does the World Trade Organization do, and how is this beneficial to the USA and other countries according to the Byrnes text? Questions?