New Release: Morality in the Marketplace

How do we know right from wrong? Scottish philosopher Adam Smith came up with the idea of the Impartial Spectator, someone who watches and judges us and our behavior. But what about businesses? Is there any morality there?

We have a new release at izzit.org - Morality in the Marketplace.

Click here to select this new teaching unit as your Free Annual Video (FAV)

Click here to purchase this DVD.

Don't forget you can also stream this new teaching unit directly from izzit.org OR download the video to get away from pesky ads.

The Invisible Hand - New Release

The Invisible Hand isn’t so invisible after all! 

The entire global economy boils down to two people: a buyer and a seller. And the system works best when the seller has the buyer’s best interests at heart. But even if the seller is acting strictly in his own interest, good things happen – we get what we want! 

Over 200 years ago, a Scottish philosopher named Adam Smith came up with revolutionary ideas about how things work. Those ideas are easy to see in the world around us. 


Visit a bakery in Scotland to witness supply and demand, and to learn how businesses know the prices at which they can sell their products and what they should offer customers. Then go to eBay to see the Invisible Hand in action, showing how economic systems can self-regulate without a “Man of Systems” micro-managing every transaction, and how trust and reputation are critical to sellers. 

Click here to choose as your FAV (Free Annual Video). Click here to purchase.

No Longer OutCastes - Another New Release

As seen on public television!!

In India, those born into the lowest caste are breaking barriers! Find out how by watching our new video.

No Longer OutCastes is available for immediate downloading or streaming from www.izzit.org! You can also stream this program from our YouTube channel, Vimeo channel and Roku channel (internet connection and Roku streaming devices are necessary).

NEW RELEASE....

We have another NEW RELEASE....

People, Power & Prosperity!!

As seen on public television!!!

Developing nations turn on the power! 

Electricity is so much a part of our daily routine in the developed world that it’s hard to imagine life without it. It’s much more than just lights and television, or the internet...electricity plays a factor in health and well-being. 

Travel to Issidan Izdar, a tiny village in the Atlas Mountains in Morocco to see what life is like without power. Then visit the neighboring village of Tamayousst, which connected to a power grid several years ago, to see what a difference electric makes in daily life for those in developing parts of world. 

Some fear this increased demand for energy will harm the planet. But what about the harm to people who live without it? Can we object to the developing world’s rise out of poverty and increased standard of living? 

Click here for instant download or visit our website to learn more here.

New Releases and Another POGO.....

Not only do we have another POGO (pick one, get one) special, we also have two NEW RELEASES!!!

Pick one of this pair, and we will automatically send you the other as a bonus.

POGO runs from February 2nd to February 27th.

What's Taxing About Taxes?

April 15th makes people crazy! Who pays? How much? Flat? Progressive? Learn more about taxes.

Where Did My Money Go?

Paycheck sticker shock! Where did that money go? Discover the myriad of taxes in everyday life.

Click here to learn more about this special!

New Release: 4 Ways to Spend Money, The Musical

Olivia's fallen in love...with economics! She's fascinated by Milton Friedman's premise that there are only 4 ways to spend money. In this glee-ful high school musical, she shares the specifics about how people spend money differently, depending on whose money they're spending, and who they're spending it on.

Click here to watch the entire video and order as your FAV (Free annual video). Click here to purchase.

Another New Release - Check out Recalculating!

In September, for back-to-school, we decided that releasing one new video wasn't enough. We thought that educators might like a choice of options for the new school year. So we released two new videos!

Recalculating is set in India, and it can help your students understand that technology sometimes has uses far beyond what we normally think of for them.

In the national forests of Gujarat, India, the tribal people have been seen as encroachers, thieves who dare to produce food for their families on land claimed by the government. Rama Bhai and his family have worked land in the Sagai village for generations. The technology we use to find our way to unfamiliar places came to their rescue. Learn how GPS operates, and how it, along with Google Maps, saved the day for some of the poorest of the poor in India.

Click here to choose as a FAV  (or to watch via streaming!)

Click here to purchase

After a long wait, it's HERE!

We have been teasing you all like crazy, but the time has come....The new Pups of Liberty: The Dog-claraton of Independence video is finally available. And...you can watch the whole video, right now, via streaming on the izzit.org website!

After the Boston Tea-Bone Party, the Pups of Liberty continue to assert themselves against Catland. But the Royal TomCat refuses their requests for representation in the government and issues orders that make life miserable in the 13 Ameri-canine colonies.

You will witness Paul Ruffere’s famous midnight run to warn the MinuteMutts at Lexington and Concord. Join Anne Kennel and Bonejamin Franklin in Philadelphia. Be there as Thomas Jefferhound writes, and the Continental Congress votes on, the Dog-claration of Independence, starting the Revolutionary War and putting America on the path to freedom.

Click here to choose as a FAV (or to watch via streaming!)

Click here to purchase

We also have an activity book that contains 48 pages of activities centered on the adventures of our Pups.

The activity book has a special introductory offer of$4.95. Sale ends September 30th! A perfect addition to the Pups of Liberty: Dog-claration of IndependenceDVD!

Click here to purchase this activity book.

New Release: "Personal Best"

Freedom and equality are spelled out in the U.S. Declaration of Independence. Signed in 1776, it says "all men are created equal.

Those words weren't always backed up with action. Numerous groups experienced discrimination that prevented individuals from achieving their personal best. The 13th and 14th Amendments to the Constitution outlawed slavery and guaranteed equal protection under the law.

But segregation and discrimination against various groups continued afterwards, in blatant violation of the Constitution. Other steps have been taken to rectify it. But those steps have had unintended consequences.

Are the words in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution now reality? How can each individual achieve their Personal Best? Explore this topic with our new DVD. To learn more about it, click here or watch the clip.

New release - Bee the Change!

We have a new release! Bee the Change showcases the story of two small family businesses in Chile: a beekeeper, and a woman who runs a micro-factory to make textiles. It gives Chilean history, and shows how increased economic freedom has made more opportunities for people, especially the poor. If you teach Spanish, this DVD has folks speaking in Spanish. (It's dubbed over with translators speaking English.)








Check out the photo of our film crew in protective bee suits! That must have been quite an interesting shoot!

New release - Monkey Business!



There’s no business like…monkey business? 

 

Our new izzit.org teaching unit follows Katarina Rybarikova and her family in Slovakia as they pursue Katarina’s dream of bringing the Paul Frank brand, with its distinctive monkey logo, to Europe. As a child growing up in communist controlled Czechoslovakia, she experienced very little freedom or economic opportunity.  Even after liberation from the Soviet Union and the split into two separate countries, times were tough. But with the right economic changes, things are looking up for Katarina and her family!

 

The DVD is recommended for grades 7-12, and covers a variety of topics, from Communism and Democracy, to Paternalism and Individual Responsibility. It includes a bonus interview with the authors of the Fraser Institute’s Economic Freedom of the World Report, explaining how the index works and the correlations they’ve discovered between economic freedom and people’s well-being. It also covers the U.S. decline on the index, and likely reasons for the change.

 

Big Shipping Day!

It's shipping day today at izzit.org, and this week was a big one - over 3600 DVDs going out today! Each of those mailing bags (we had to use the big bags this week) holds about 100 DVDs.

Half of those are our newly updated The Great Depression 2.0!

We had two teams running shipping this week, and it took us about 3 1/2 hours to get them all prepared to go out.

Here's hoping we have more great weeks like this one. (So don't forget to tell your teaching friends about us!)



Our new DVD, The Great Depression 2.0, is flying off the shelves! Just last week, more than half our inventory was selected by teachers eager for this useful, updated tool for their classroom.

But don't worry - we've already ordered more copies! So if you've been looking for a video to help you teach the Great Depression, look no longer. The Great Depression 2.0 is available now!

Perhaps you've been using the original version of our DVD.  Please visit the product's webpage to see the updated Teacher's Guide. (If you're eligible to pick a DVD, you can choose the new version, The Great Depression 2.0, because our website considers it an entirely different product.)

Have you gotten your free izzit.org DVD yet this year? *



*(Offer available to all US K-12 teachers.)

New Release & Contest!

Welcome back!

 Summer zoomed past us and by now, most of you are back to the classroom. We’ve got some great stuff coming up for you.

Great Depression 2.0 is our first “new” release for the year. It’s actually an updated version of our popular Great Depression DVD. We found that there was some confusion on some of the main points, so we’ve updated it to clarify. It’s got a new introduction, a new conclusion, and the Teacher Guide has also been updated. (If you selected the original version and are eligible to choose another FREE DVD, you can select Great Depression 2.0 – it’s considered a different product by our system, so it will allow you to choose the updated version.)

Want to win a 7” Kindle Fire HD tablet? Check out our Back-to-School contest!  There’s no essay involved, but we do want to know about your summer vacation!

As for me…during one of my summer road trips, I visited the Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park in Grand Rapids, MI. It was beautiful! So head over to our contest page, read the rules, and tell us about something you did this summer to enter!