NPTE 2010 Topic Areas Process

[JPS]

*Bump*

11 days remain for submission of topic papers from the community.

I have thus far received zero topic papers from the community.

[zachf]

I decided not to write one because I won't be around for the NPTE.

[etee]

Jason, I just submitted a topic paper to your email. Please PM me if you didn't get it. Thanks,

Emily from UW

[korry]

Originally Posted by JPS

I have thus far received zero topic papers from the community.

Well, I spent much of my night doing it, but after reading Jason's post I felt somewhat compelled to submit a topic paper. It's kind of lame that so many whine about the topic selection process/outcome yet when given an opportunity to actually participate in that process in a rather meaningful way virtually no one makes the effort to do so. Major props to Emily for apparently being the only debater in the United States of America that actually took the time to influence the outcome. I guess Emily and I can complain all we want about the NPTE topics selection process...

[Apologies to anyone who may have submitted a paper without so noting on this discussion board]

[DEADMONEY]

Originally Posted by korry

It's kind of lame that so many whine about the topic selection process/outcome yet when given an opportunity to actually participate in that process in a rather meaningful way virtually no one makes the effort to do so.

I take a cue from the late George Carlin on this one:

"They say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain", but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created."

[wchamberlain]

paper sent. i gave max alderman a chance to bribe me not to submit it. he declined.

[korry]

Originally Posted by DEADMONEY

I take a cue from the late George Carlin on this one:

"They say, "If you don't vote, you have no right to complain", but where's the logic in that? If you vote, and you elect dishonest, incompetent politicians, and they get into office and screw everything up, you are responsible for what they have done. You voted them in. You caused the problem. You have no right to complain.

I, on the other hand, who did not vote -- who did not even leave the house on Election Day -- am in no way responsible for that these politicians have done and have every right to complain about the mess that you created."

C'mon, it's not fair to counter with the late great Master of the Milwaukee Seven. For some nice Carlin quotes on politics:
http://politicalhumor.about.com/od/f...rge-carlin.htm

[Yotie]

paper sent. check the gmail yo.

[WUShasta]

Will Chamberlin if your topic of the economy is chosen I will kill you! Other than you and Lauren NO ONE likes to talk about the economy!

[DoWpE1]

Originally Posted by WUShasta

Will Chamberlin if your topic of the economy is chosen I will kill you! Other than you and Lauren NO ONE likes to talk about the economy!

Hey! I like talking about the economy.

Will I hope your topic was on the economy and it was chosen

[SoCalian]

I've drawn supply and demand graphs at least twice in rounds this year.

[wchamberlain]

Originally Posted by WUShasta

Will Chamberlin if your topic of the economy is chosen I will kill you! Other than you and Lauren NO ONE likes to talk about the economy!

don't worry, it's not about the *US* economy...

[korry]

Originally Posted by wchamberlain

don't worry, it's not about the *US* economy...

My topic paper wasn't about the *US* economy either...

Then again, isn't it all about the US economy???

I'll tell you about mine if you tell me about yours.

Also, what happens if there's only four topic papers for five topic areas?? And does this mean that all four will be used? How is that determined? Maybe these questions have already been answered elsewhere and I missed it???

[wchamberlain]

european economic interdependence.

subtopics:

bailouts (greece, latvia)
pulling out of the euro (spain, italy, ireland, etc.)
new country admission (turkey, macedonia, etc.)
ecb monetary policy
deficit restrictions (i.e. the EU should prevent countries from having deficits beyond x% of GDP.)

[Yotie]

Originally Posted by wchamberlain

european economic interdependence.

subtopics:

bailouts (greece, latvia)
pulling out of the euro (spain, italy, ireland, etc.)
new country admission (turkey, macedonia, etc.)
ecb monetary policy
deficit restrictions (i.e. the EU should prevent countries from having deficits beyond x% of GDP.)

I like! I love a good european economic debate. If you can fake it with american economics, I think that goes out the window with europe.

[korry]

US relations with South America

-econ
-military
-human rights
-energy
-political
-one or two other things (limited to specific countries)

I honestly don't remember much of it, since I wrote it betwen about 2 and 5am this morning. Nevertheless, I've always thought South America has far more going on than we typically give it credit for.

Trivial factoids of the day... did you know there are more Lebanese people in Brazil than in Lebanon?? South America exports more oil than any region outside of OPEC. Brazil was the ninth nation to master the full nuclear cycle. The Andes are the longest mountain range in the world. While the continent contains the vast Amazon rainforest, it also holds the driest place in the world in Chile's Atacama Desert (in some parts, no precipitation has EVER been recorded). La Paz, the capital city of Bolivia is so high up (just over 12k feet above sea level) that many hotel rooms have oxygen masks for visitors. Hugo Chavez likes the color red.

Wicked, eh!?

[Yotie]

Food Quality and Production in the US

Use of GMOs in food production
regulating factory farm practices to prevent superbugs
Ethical treatment of farm animals
Organic farming incentives

[korry]

EU Economics
US Food Quality
US-South American Relations

Not a bad set so far. What you got Emily?

[etee]

Mine's about resource distribution infrastructure in the US. Subtopics are:

implementing smart grid for electricity on a national scale,
creating an electronic quality control grid [an example is RFID tags and electronic tracking software] for food shipments,
increasing alternative fuel infrastructure to be used for vehicles carrying shipments of goods,
improving aging water infrastructure, and
standardizing water distribution policies between state and federal governments


If I have time I'm thinking about writing a second topic about improving the coal industry...subtopics to include:

stopping mountaintop blasting,
reducing emissions,
coal waste regulation and
coal plant conversion projects

I have a ton of work to do in the next couple days, though, so I probably won't have time. If someone else wanted to write it for/with me, I'd appreciate it...

[RSwanson]

i thought about submitting a space topic, but i don't have time to refine it sufficiently. like emily, if someone wants to pick up on this, then i'd be down to work with them on it. here were the subtopics i was thinking about:
subtopics:
-space militarization
-space energy
-international cooperation on ISS
-space exploration
-gps
-international space treaties?

some of these should probably be combined and there should be another good subtopic or two after that, but it is an idea.

the cheetahswan + rachelle will be submitting another topic paper though (mainly zach and rachelle). it's on nukes, and i personally think that all npte debates should be on it.

[Yotie]

In conjunction with Emily, I submitted this topic area as well
Improving the US coal industry

Regulating mining practices (mountaintop removal focus)
Regulating coal emissions
Coal disposal regulations
Coal plant conversion projects.

[JWill]

long beach submitted a sexuality topic.

[LKnoth]

Originally Posted by wchamberlain

european economic interdependence.

subtopics:

bailouts (greece, latvia)
pulling out of the euro (spain, italy, ireland, etc.)
new country admission (turkey, macedonia, etc.)
ecb monetary policy
deficit restrictions (i.e. the EU should prevent countries from having deficits beyond x% of GDP.)

Sigh.

This is much better than debating American economics over and over, and I agree that knowledge on this topic area will be much harder for individuals to fake, making the research and knowledge more crucial. It would be interesting to see what people do with these debates considering the originality and diversion from typical economic topic areas.

Shasta - you have a depth of knowledge on issues I can't stand debating, and issues i don't even believe are real (I know you know what I mean)...but I don't complain! let me and Will have our fun

[ajjenkinsa]

economics are gross.

[boredguy8]

Originally Posted by ajjenkinsa

economics are gross.

China-US trade

China's transition from a nation under colonial rule at the start of the 20th century to one of the leading political, economic, military world powers demands careful attention and thoughtful consideration. The collapse of the USSR and India-Pakistani fighting have allowed the nation to centralize regional dominance over markets, even if cultural control is more hotly contested. But their emergence is not without pains.

While analysis of China-US trade imbalance is not new (giving a depth of literature), President Obama's increased attention to Sino-American trade in recent months makes this a particularly relevant question. Of particular interest in this debate are concerns over free trade (the US has recently stepped up retaliatory tariffs via goods like glossy paper), fiscal policy (both under the People's Bank of China and under the US Treasury / Federal Reserve Board), regional economic impact (ASEAN, lesser developed countries' stability) and more.

Potential resolutional areas include: revaluing the renminbi, limiting sales of T-bills to China, increasing WTO prosecution, giving the IMF oversight over US fiscal policy.

Ultimately, this is a broad topic area with strong views along the entirety of the political spectrum. A breif sampling of analysis:

[1] "Is the renminbi undervalued?" CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, 2006. http://www.cpb.nl/eng/pub/cpbreeksen...66/memo166.pdf
[2] "2009 Annual Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission", Executive Summary. http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/20...ve_summary.pdf
[3] "The Economic State of the Union 2010: What Replaces thhe Debt-Driven Economy?", Manufacturing & Technology news, 2010. http://www.manufacturingnews.com/new...McMillion.html
[4] "China's Role in the Origins of and Response to the Global Recession", Testimoy at the hearing before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2009. http://www.iie.com/publications/pape...esearchID=1165

economy win

[RSwanson]

Originally Posted by boredguy8

China-US trade

China's transition from a nation under colonial rule at the start of the 20th century to one of the leading political, economic, military world powers demands careful attention and thoughtful consideration. The collapse of the USSR and India-Pakistani fighting have allowed the nation to centralize regional dominance over markets, even if cultural control is more hotly contested. But their emergence is not without pains.

While analysis of China-US trade imbalance is not new (giving a depth of literature), President Obama's increased attention to Sino-American trade in recent months makes this a particularly relevant question. Of particular interest in this debate are concerns over free trade (the US has recently stepped up retaliatory tariffs via goods like glossy paper), fiscal policy (both under the People's Bank of China and under the US Treasury / Federal Reserve Board), regional economic impact (ASEAN, lesser developed countries' stability) and more.

Potential resolutional areas include: revaluing the renminbi, limiting sales of T-bills to China, increasing WTO prosecution, giving the IMF oversight over US fiscal policy.

Ultimately, this is a broad topic area with strong views along the entirety of the political spectrum. A breif sampling of analysis:

[1] "Is the renminbi undervalued?" CPB Netherlands Bureau for Economic Policy Analysis, 2006. http://www.cpb.nl/eng/pub/cpbreeksen...66/memo166.pdf
[2] "2009 Annual Report to Congress of the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission", Executive Summary. http://www.uscc.gov/annual_report/20...ve_summary.pdf
[3] "The Economic State of the Union 2010: What Replaces thhe Debt-Driven Economy?", Manufacturing & Technology news, 2010. http://www.manufacturingnews.com/new...McMillion.html
[4] "China's Role in the Origins of and Response to the Global Recession", Testimoy at the hearing before the U.S.-China Economic and Security Review Commission, 2009. http://www.iie.com/publications/pape...esearchID=1165

economy win

assuming this topic area was submitted, YAY! i was getting worried we wouldn't have any china debates.

[tychedasein]

US Nuclear Weapons Policy, including:
Response/use policy
International nuclear agreements
Modernization of the U.S. arsenal/technology
Security umbrella

[RSwanson]

Originally Posted by Yotie

Food Quality and Production in the US

Use of GMOs in food production
regulating factory farm practices to prevent superbugs
Ethical treatment of farm animals
Organic farming incentives

can we maybe add subsidies in here? there's a lot of good debate on ag subs, and a lot of your current areas are a bit small. so maybe we could combine your 2nd and 3rd areas into one on factory farms and then add subsidies?

i personally think food quality/production would be a great domestic topic area (and i think good domestic topics are pretty rare)

[boredguy8]

Originally Posted by RSwanson

assuming this topic area was submitted, YAY! i was getting worried we wouldn't have any china debates.

I e-mailed it today. Not sure when it was due by.

[Yotie]

Originally Posted by RSwanson

can we maybe add subsidies in here? there's a lot of good debate on ag subs, and a lot of your current areas are a bit small. so maybe we could combine your 2nd and 3rd areas into one on factory farms and then add subsidies?

i personally think food quality/production would be a great domestic topic area (and i think good domestic topics are pretty rare)

That's a good idea. I mentioned subsidies under the GMO subtopic, but it could merit it's own subtopic.