Lesson 26: Review for Final Exam Part 1

Zoom Meeting Link

Review:

• Welcome back from Spring Break
• Q7: Latin America Maps and Video Review Papers
• Course Evaluations

Presentation:

• Final Exam Review Topics
  • Midterm Topics
  • South America
    • Amazon
      • Hydropower
        • Damocracy
        • Belo Monte
      • Wildfires
      • Jair Bolsanaro
    • Mining
      • Cerro Rico
      • Copper Mine Accident in Chile
      • Lithium Triangle
    • Ecuador
      • Yasuni-ITT
      • Rafael Correa
      • Crude
    • Coca
      • Pablo Escobar
      • Medellin Cartel
      • Cali Cartel
  • Central America
    • US Intervention during Cold War
    • Nicaragua
      • Sandinistas
      • Contras
      • Iran-Contra Affair
      • Daniel Ortega
      • Rosario Murillo
    • El Salvador
      • Oscar Romero
      • School of the Americas
      • MS-13
    • Guatemala
      • 1954 coup d’etat
      • Somoza family rule
      • Rigoberta Menchu
  • Mexico
    • Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo
    • Agriculture
      • Bracero Program
      • NAFTA
    • Border
      • Militarization
      • Immigrant Criminalization
  • North America
    • Keystone XL debate
      • Ogallala Aquifer
      • Canadian Tar Sands
    • 2008 Mortgage Crisis
      • Alan Greenspan
      • Ben Bernanke

Assignment:

• Practice Final Exam Questions

Lesson 25: Investing in the 2020s Global Economy

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• 2008 Mortgage Crisis
• Latin America assignment due today
• No class next week!
• Lecture Recordings

Presentation:

• Outlook for the global economy
  • Bullish long-term (20+ years)
  • Bearish short-term (5-10 years)
  • Drivers of long-term growth
    • Information technologies
    • Medical technologies
    • Globally integrated markets
    • Emerging economies (India, East/Southeast Asia, Latin America)
    • Demographic trends
  • Barriers to long-term growth
    • Automation =Displaced workers  (Economist PDF)
    • Sovereign Debt | Since 19th Century
    • Nationalism
    • Corruption
    • Environmental degradation
  • Reprise of the Roaring 20’s ?
• All investing is value investing (otherwise, it’s speculation)
  • Buy solid businesses at discount prices
  • Most publicly traded companies are overvalued
  • Most US real estate is selling at retail prices (very few discounts)
  • Emerging markets
  • Watch for major price reductions in healthy assets
• Reliable vehicles for wealth accumulation
  • Rental property
  • Productive land (farms, timber, mineral rights, water rights)
  • Profitable businesses (that you own, not where you work)
  • Dividend paying stocks
  • It’s only an asset if it generates positive cash-flow
• Future of money
  • Currencies may be a wild ride
    • US Dollar
    • British Pound
    • Euro
    • Renminbi (Chinese yuan)
    • Japanese Yen
    • IMF basket of reserve currencies
  • Precious metals – as volatile as the currency used for pricing
    • Gold, Silver, et al
  • Cryptocurrencies
    • rhymes with .com boom/bust in 1999-2000
    • only one Amazon.com emerged
    • bubble?
    • Tough competition

• Wealth
  • Essentially, all legal contracts
  • Except commodities (keep them in a safe place!)

• Old white dudes who seem to know what they’re talking about
  • Warren Buffett
  • Gary Shilling
  • Jeremy Grantham
  • Jim Rogers

Assignment:

• Have a great Spring Break!

Lesson 24: Lessons Learned from the 2008 US Mortgage Crisis

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• Keystone XL
• Latin America Map and Video Review
• Schedule
  • Apr 20-22 No class, Spring Break
  • Apr 27-29 Review for Final Exam
  • May 4 Final Exam

• 2008 Mortgage Crisis in the US
  • Monetary Policy
  • Financial Deregulation
  • Housing Market Collapse
  • Recovery
    • Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose
    • Economic Recovery [@ 06:30]
    • Housing Recovery [@ 07:00]
    • Fiscal Policy [@ 10:00]
    • Buffett Rule (Higher tax on income over $1M) [@14:00]
    • Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letters
  • Where to next?
    • Another bubble?
    • Another crisis?
    • 10-2 Yield Spread

Assignment:

• Watch Warren Buffett on Charlie Rose
• Recommended (not required)
  • Berkshire Hathaway Annual Letters
  • Money for Nothing: Inside the Federal Reserve
  • The Big Short

Lesson 23: Keystone XL Pipeline

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• Latin America
• Immigration
• Assignment

Presentation:

• Keystone XL
  • What is the Keystone XL Pipeline? (National Geographic 02:31)
  • How Keystone XL Pipeline Got So Political (NYTimes 05:06)
  • Keystone pipeline project proceeds amidst COVID-19 pandemic (PBS 06:44)
  • Biden Revokes Keystone XL Permit and 21 States Sue (CBS News 04:39)
• Debate
  • Pro (TransCanada)
  • Con (Natural Resource Defense Council)

Assignment:

• Make a map of Latin America.

• Write a 1-2 page paper reviewing one of the videos below and relating it to one or more of our lessons or discussions. Due Thu, Apr 15
  • No (2012, Chile)
  • 7 Boxes (2012, Paraguay)
  • Aguirre, the Wrath of God (1972)
  • Machuca (2004, Spain)
  • Che: Part One (2008, Cuba)

• For extra credit, choose a second video from the list below and write another 1-2 page review with commentary on how it relates to one or more of our lessons.
  • Motorcycle Diaries (2004)
  • Cartel Land (2015)
  • Which Way Home (2009)

• Due Thu, April 15. Submit here

Lesson 22: US-Mexico Relations and Agriculture

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• US Intervention in Central America Part 2
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEAJWs3GiJU (Harvest Empire)
• Which Way Home Documentary Interview (NPR)

Presentation:

• US-Mexico Relations 1810-2010
• Timeline of Agricultural Labor in the U.S.

Lesson 21: US Intervention in Central America Part 2

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• Discussion protocol
• Perceptions of Mexico
• Nicaragua

Presentation:

• Intro to Harvest of Empire (03:00-4:10)
  • https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wEAJWs3GiJU
  • Premise: US interventions in Latin America have resulted in increased levels of emigration/immigration
  • Historic Northern Border of Mexico = Arkansas River https://www.historycolorado.org/exhibit/borderlands
• El Salvador (1:07:30-1:18:45)
  • Salvadoran Military
    • Assassinated Bishop Óscar Romero (recently canonized)
    • Raped and murdered 4 American nuns
    • Slaughtered entire villages
    • Many leaders trained by the US Military, in the US (School of the Americas)
    • Backed and financed by the US govt
  • MS-13
    • Started in LA in the 1980s by Salvadorans who fled civil war
• Guatemala (11:40-18:30)
  • Post-WWII had progressive government enacting land reform
  • CIA infiltration and overthrow of government
  • Brutal repression of political opponents and indigenous population
  • Over 200,000 killed and 50,000 missing during decades of turmoil
  • Majority of victims were indigenous Mayan
    • Nobel Peace Prize winner Rigoberta Menchu
  • Documented evidence that death squads were supported and trained by CIA

Discussion:

• Did these interventions contribute to today’s instability in the region?
• Does the US have any legal/moral obligation to accept immigrants from the region?

Assignment:

• Have a good weekend

Lesson 20: US Intervention in Central America Part 1

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• Ecuador
  • Rafael Correa
  • Why Ecuador
  • Day 1 in Quito
  • Adios Quito
  • View from Ecuador
  • Chilcapamba
• Coca
  • Pablo Escobar
  • Medellin Cartel
  • Cali Cartel
  • Production based in Columbia
  • Distribution based in Mexico
• Drug Cartels
  • How much is Annual Revenue?
  • Origins of Columbia’s Drug Cartels: Narcos (Netflix)
  • Origins of Mexico’s Drug Cartels: Narcos Mexico (Netflix)

Presentation:

• Geography of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean
  • Map Quiz
  • Countries: Mexico, Guatemala, Belize, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti, Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico.
• Diverging American views of Immigrants from Central America
  • Fox News (05:11)
• Nicaragua, Honduras and the Iran-Contra Affair
  • My primary source: Stephen Kinzer
  • Iran-Contra Primer (History Channel, 04:53)
  • Contras based in Honduras, linked to Cocaine trade
  • Not only Nicaragua, Honduras and/or Iran-Contra; one of many similar incidents
• Nicaragua
  • Occupied by US Marine Corp 1927-1933
  • Somoza family dictatorship 1936-1979
  • Sandinista Revolution
  • Reagan administration supports Contras
  • Iran-Contra Scandal
  • Sandinista-Contra conflict killed 50,000+
  • Harvest of Empire (54:00-1:01:40)
  • I visited Nicaragua in 2016
    • Stayed in Grenada
    • Saw the inside of a volcano
    • Day trip to León, capital of the Sandinista revolution
      • Museo Historico de la Revolucion
      • Original campus of Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Nicaragua, UNAN
      • Cathedral of the Assumption Mary, just outside
  • Nicaragua Today – a new revolution?
    • Inside the Nicaraguan Town Resisting President Daniel Ortega (NY Times)
    • Daniel Ortega (President of Nicaragua)
    • Rosario Murillo (Vice President of Nicaragua)

Assignment:

• Watch Harvest of Empire (01:27:02)

Lesson 19: Coca

No Zoom Today

Assignment:

• Watch How Coca Leaves Become Cocaine (National Geographic, 5 min)
• Watch Pablo Escobar – The King of Coke (National Geographic, 84 min)
• Watch The Rise of the Cali Cartel (National Geographic, 5 min)

We’ll be back to regular programming on Tue. Have a good weekend! 🙂

Lesson 18: Ecuador

No Zoom meeting today – watch this video instead!

Review:

• Mining in South America
• Lithium Triangle

Presentation:

• Latin Americas Reliance on Natural Resources
  • Economist Article (PDF download)
• Economic development vs Environmental degradation
  • How do Latin American countries solve this challenge?
  • Yasuni ITT initiative
• Case of Ecuador
  • Profile
  • Population
  • Former President of Ecuador, Rafael Correa
    • Charlie Rose interview
    • Role of Government
    • US Foreign Policy in Latin America

Assignment:

• Read this article about the failure of the Yasuni ITT initiative
• Watch the Charlie Rose interview with Rafael Correa
• Watch Crude

Lesson 17: Mining in South America

Zoom meeting link

Review:

• Midterm
• Hydropower on the Amazon
• Next week

Presentation:

• Mining is a major part of Latin America’s economy
  • Copper Mining in Chile
    • Codelco – largest producer of Copper in the world
    • 2010 Copper Mine Accident and Rescue: Buried Alive
  • World Silver Production
    • #1 Mexico, #3 Peru, #5 Chile, #7 Bolivia
    • Mining in Cerro Rico (Bolivia): Devil’s Miner
• Lithium Triangle
  • Location – Salt Flats – intersection of Chile, Argentina, Bolivia
  • Lithium
    • Metal used in batteries
      • Consumer electronics
      • Automotive industry
      • Lithium – the future of transportation energy?
    • Demand rising
    • Prices rising
    • Compare with other commodities
  • International investment in the Lithium Triangle (18 min)
  • How can Latin America benefit from the Lithium “boom”?
    • Nationalize or Privatize
    • Foreign Investment
    • Value-add industry development

Assignment:

• Watch Buried Alive – Chile Mine Rescue (47 min)
• Optional: Watch The 33