This blog entertains by displaying pictures and cartoons of how the decline in the economy and the rise of inflation is affecting people in the world. It also instills a sense of fear while looking at some of the pictures along with telling the history of the U.S. dollar and how the value of the dollar continues to decrease. The author uses fear of inflation in everyday lives to raise awareness about the economic decline. Therefore, we felt this blog fit the course theme very well, yet it displays creativity for our last blog comments.
7.
ReplyDeleteI think this blog seems to have a major effect on people's knowledge. After reading only one blog I could tell this blogger was stirring up controversy and ideas. After reading a couple more blog posts, it seemed to me that the people's comments confirmed my theory. One blog, titled "$11 Trillion Dollars National Debt Threshold Crossed", was about how the national debt has exceeded 11 trillion dollars and that there is no stopping it now. One skeptic comment says that the US dollar will soon not be excepted and there will be a new currency. With this idea, he is says everyone should switch to gold and silver to prepare for when this happens. He is instilling fear in all Americans who posses US currency. Another comment about this blog post was ultimately saying that our government just pays interest on the debt not the debt itself. He suggests that 20% of tax payers money goes toward this interest. This blog caused a stir of emotions and opinions from many people. This blog uses fear as a tool for relaying their information onto others.
#6
ReplyDeleteThe author in his post titled "Dollar: Faltering Foundation of US Economic Strength" introduces the claim that since the US dollar is no longer backed by a gold standard it is no longer the world's leading currency. The author makes use of logos and pathos to persuade the readers to agree with his argument. An example of the logos used is the many statistics scattered throughout the post concerning the dollar and also the graph that shows how the money supply has continuously increased. The readers generally completely agree with the post and have responded very positively in the comments section.
7
ReplyDeleteLooking at the comments for the cartoon section of the blog, i found that the blogger's intentions for taking rise in taxes, etc. is ineffective. Most of the commments posted for this part of the blog, was more of saying "hello." One particular comment was from a guy who said that the cartoons were funny. It shows that some people don't find rises in taxes, gas prices, etc. to be a serious problem, or the people who commented did't see it as important. So the effectivness of the blog is in question on how much the blogger wants his/her viewer to take money problems seriously.
7. After reading some of the articles on this blog and perusing through some of the political cartoons, I think this blog accomplishes its goal of having an effect on people who read it. It uses fear to its advantage by persuading people to believe that our economy is in a dire state. One of the articles was about the predicament of the dollar and how it is a faltering and will lead to a weakened U.S. economy. He uses the fear of the future U.S. economy and how that will affect our way of life, including a much lower standard of living in line with the rest of the world. He also explains the impact of our spending and habits with the dollar including how foreign nations own much of our debt to incite fear in people. It is a scary concept to think that China itself owns $1 trillion of our debt as well as the possibility that we could be in line with the rest of the world in how we live our daily lives at a much lower level. There are also comments on the articles, although not as many as one would think. The comments are also in agreement showing people agree with what he says so he might not be affecting people’s knowledge as much as it appears. That said, I think it is safe to say he uses this information and his research to incite fear in us about our economy now, and for years to come, therefore achieving his goal of affecting readers’ knowledge.
ReplyDelete1. This blog has a long scroll of comics about the government. If they are meant to entertain the reader or not, it seems very one-sided. They are all bashing Obama and congress in a whole. Which does not provide information about the economy.
ReplyDeleteAlso his disclaimer on the side bar tries for the reader to have some trust in the writer. He gives himself creditability by listing what experience he has with economy, as well as, what degrees he has earned.
The last article is explaining the history of currency in the United States and goes on to saying the value of the dollar will decrease so much that the our style of living will change dramatically and lead to war because of the attempt of having cheap oil. This should scare most readers. He is saying that since our country is continuing to grow in debt it will automatically cause war. This is a large assumption to make and does not have much evidence to support this claim. Although, he does have the fact that there is no real way of disproving so he will probably have trusting readers preparing for this war.
# 6 While browsing through the achieves, I eventually found a very interesting article posted by the author of the blog titled “3rd World America”. Overall, this article causes the reader to feel mixed emotions of sympathy for others, blessed for being an American, and also fear of what may lie ahead. The author begins by stating many of his adventurous opportunities of traveling around the world taking part in many gratifying activities; however, he follows this with the fact that he has also unfortunately witnessed many disturbing sights from his travels. He describes the true images which the media shows little of: people in an incredible state of starvation and poverty, young girls advertising as prostitutes in desperate need of living for another day, families living in dumpsters, etc. The author states, “It was an absolute nightmare and words cannot describe the complete despair and atrocious living conditions of these people.” America, as the author believes, is slowly slipping away becoming much like 3rd world America due to our “its all about me” society. I along with the many other readers that have responded, agree with this article and fear what may lie ahead in the direction our country is heading. Instead of focusing on the important things in life, we are all caught up in the materials and other unimportant things in life as the media influences. Many of our ancestors and founding fathers have fought and died for the foundation of this country, which it is our sole responsibility as Americans of preserving our freedom and carrying out their beliefs. With our country steeply falling in debt, price tags rising, and the monetary value of the American dollar dwindling steadily every day, just where are we heading?
ReplyDelete7.
ReplyDeleteThe blog would affect the opinion of the reader. The blog uses political cartoons to illustrate its point, the overspending of the government. The variety of cartoons portray a wide array of the affects of big government. Taxes and the U.S.'s debt problem are addressed by the use of the man lifting weights. This would allow the reader to believe the U.S. is close to being "buried" underneath the massive overspending of the government. Many of the cartoons also play on job loss. This is proved through the use of the job "Easter Egg" hiding behind the tree. The variety of the topics would allow the blog to attract a wide range of readers. The use of political cartoons would also help to keep these readers interested in the blog. The information does not really provide a solution, but the blog does do an incredible job of getting their viewpoints out to a wide range of people.
#7
ReplyDeleteThe funnies do less of invoking fear and more of making fun of our economy, president, governmental agencies and producing happiness in spite of difficult circumstance. This is obviously a contradictory effect, in light of the potentially upsetting items that the recession may bring to preceding American generations as presented by one funny showing Uncle Sam standing on children appearing to try and "raise the debt ceiling". Most of the comments on the funnies were that displaying joy that had been brought to them having seen and read them, no fear in sight. Because the funnies happened to be the first last thing being posted (first things listed) the website could then be characterized by just those taking away from the maybe more "serious" articles. So if asked if this featured blog actually does anything, I would say it is more of looked at for the funnies potential laugh producing material rather than its articles. When faced with the feelings that the two things can bring the visitor would probably prefer to feel the happiness that laughter can bring.
#7.
ReplyDeleteAfter scrolling through several posts on this blog, I feel that the blog does effect the reader's. Even though the "funnies" or cartoons are not very descriptive I feel that they could make the readers more curious and find out more about what the funny is about. Therefore, these "funnies" are a stepping stone to helping people get a better grasp on what is going on with the government and economy. The article titled "Dollar: Faltering Foundation of US Economic Strength" has a lot of the author's claims but the author supports his claims with evidence. This is important because it shows the reader that the author has support to back up what they said therefore making the blog seem more credible. If something is credible then it is more likely to have an effect on the reader's knowledge.
#1.
ReplyDeleteBasically, the blog mainly used words to describe the features of the blog. The words imply that the blog is very informational to show that the author of the blog is very serious about what he wants to say in his blog. Blue color is very prominent in this blog. We can relate this color to the color of water. Why water? This is because the author wants to relate the characteristic of the water with economic characteristic. Water is never static. It is always moving even though in a slow motion. And that’s why sometimes we didn’t notice whether the water is flowing or not when we look at it. Same goes to our economy. Economy is never stagnant and always fluctuate; upward or downward. And because of the fluctuation, we should know what is happening in our economy. And that is what the author tries to bring through his blog.
5.
ReplyDeleteAlthough “Economicrot” features a large number of political cartoons from various artists without much voice from the editor, the editor speaks to the audience through several lengthy posts, as well as in the “about me” section. In the way that the author dictates his voice toward the audience, he does not mandate information. The author instead offers viable viewpoints of topics discussed throughout the blog. It is also evident that he expects the audience to be reasonably intelligent. Someone without a formal education would probably have a hard time understanding everything being discussed in the blog as well as some of the complex words that are used in the articles. I believe that the author does not expect the audience to hold specific values. Much of the content is open-ended and should be relevant to an array of political viewpoints.
7.
ReplyDeleteI would agree that the blog does communicate its point effectively in a way that affects the reader. The political cartoons, although not the most serious approach, draw in attention that words otherwise would not. Viewers are immediately drawn in to reading through these cartoons, and by doing so they are informed about the issues of this blog. From these cartoons the reader understands that this blog is quite anti-Obama and feels that there needs to be some serious changes in the economy. After receiving this message, readers start to take a deeper look at what the blog has to say. The setup of this blog is very interesting, but the risk was well worth it in my opinion. The visual impact is the attention grabber and opens the door for the rest of the blogs information.
#7
ReplyDeleteThe variety of subject matter incorporated in the cartoons on this blog can attract a wide audience. The majority of the political cartoons attack Barack Obama's actions, or lack of actions, in improving the country's economic crisis. These cartoons, though, serve more as an informative, alerting the public to how bad the situation the country is in. They don't really serve to instill fear in it's viewers, but are still effective because they play on very important issues that affect every citizen in the United States. The economy's status is important to every working, and not-working, American because the economy dictates the overall financial situation of the country. A drizzle down effect branches to every citizen in the United States. This is what makes the country's economic status so important and therefore make these political cartoons so appealing. Though there are no words stating anything, it is implied that Obama, who promised to salvage America from this crisis, is making the situation worse.
#7
ReplyDeleteI believe the cartoons make the blog much more affective. It's because the cartoons bring a much more comical feel to serious. Doing this in turn makes the information being told much more interesting for the reader. So bringing the information to the reader in this, serious matters that are brought up aren't so serious. So overall I believe its a good method in giving out serious information in a less serious matter.
7. reading through the comments it seems that most if not all of the readers of the blog who at least bother to comment are either financial experts themselves, have more than a slight understanding of the economic set up in this country, or are friends of the author. While there is some indication of new blood moving in and reading the blog it also appears that at least from those who are commenting that they are all in agreement with the author which causes me to wonder if maybe he is just preaching to the choir and thus is not really doing anything with this blog except forming a focal point for those who see the world the way he does which while being something is not what I think he fully intends his blogs purpose to be. Lastly in his about me section he claims that he has spent hours studying the economic problem which lets him understand the big picture, which is at odds with the fact that he runs a telecom company and has no formal background or education in economics, which would seem to suggest that he might be missing the big picture. However this is not a fear blog so much as a blog that aims to inform the masses and maybe get them to try to get the government to do soemthing or to at least get them to see that we are headed for trouble.
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