The New (U.S.) Currency

http://www.moneyfactory.com/newmoney/main.cfm/currency/aboutNotes

Rating: 2, High!

Description: The United States government began issuing currency with new designs and security features beginning with the $20 note on October 9, 2003. The redesigned currency is safer, smarter and more secure: Safer because it is harder to fake and easier to check; Smarter to stay ahead of tech-savvy counterfeiters; and More Secure to protect the integrity of U.S. currency. Learn about it here. Standard 1.6.1 and 12.3.1

Comments: The technology allows viewers to see things not readily apparent with the naked eye.

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 3057

U.S. National Debt Clock

http://www.brillig.com/debt_clock/

Rating: 2, High!

Description: Want to know about national debt? Try this and write down the debt amount. Try again it again a minute later and see the difference in the amount. Standard 12.3.3 economics

Comments: You can also play the National Budget Simulation at http://garnet.berkeley.edu.3333/budget/budget.html

Resource Type: Mix of Text and Graphics.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 3260

Sherman Anti-Trust Act

http://www.factmonster.com/ce6/history/A0844878.html

Rating: 3, Medium.

Description: Sherman Antitrust Act, 1890, was the first law passed by Congress to prohibit trusts. Prior to Sherman, many states had passed similar laws, but they were limited to businesses inside those states. Public opposition to the concentration of economic power in large corporations led Congress to pass the Sherman Act based on the constitutional power of Congress to regulate interstate commerce. Penalties, however, were very low; a fine of $5,000 and imprisonment for one year were set as the maximum penalties for violating the act.Standards 11.2.9 and 12.3.1 economics

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: High.

Resource ID: 2762

Unhappy Returns of Social Security

http://www.libertyhaven.com/theoreticalorphilosophicalissues/economichistory/unhappy.shtml

Rating: 3, Medium.

Description: The Social Security Act was the centerpiece of the New Deal social programs. Yet, when the first monthly benefit checks were mailed in 1940, few could have predicted its growth from just over 200,000 beneficiaries to a roll of over 43 million - about one beneficiary for every 3.4 workers in the economy. The concept behind Social Security was not only to mandate retirement saving throughout the life of the worker, but to pay a guaranteed income in retirement - not from returns on capital investments, but from the pockets of the younger workers. Standards 12.3.1, 12.3.3, and 12.3.2 economics

Comments: This article was written by Robert Dolan for The Freeman, a publication of The Foundation for Economic Education, in February 1999

Resource Type: Secondary Text.

Graphics content: Low.

Resource ID: 3281