Recap of the week 1/31

During this week of class discussing we talked about a couple of different readings Ricardo, Hunt and mark Lautzenheiser. We also watched a video about to better explain the thoughts and ideals about capitalism.

Recap for 1/31 - Ideas Matter

            This week we examined the ideas of Adam Smith and Thomas Malthus, as well as the capitalist views of David Ricardo. At the end of class on Wednesday Dr. Gannon concluded by discussing that ideas matter. The ideology of capitalism emerged during a time that the world was changing and people began to question feudalism and other dominant ways of thought. People made the decision to reject traditionalist views and create their own enlightened ideas, like Smith, Malthus, and Ricardo.

Growing Pains

     For England to be able to have an industrialist economy that worked, they had to get past some growing pains, which were causing some friction between members of society. The area of concern for the readings of this week was around labor issues.

Recapping the Weeks end

We are a consumer nation, a nation that buys and sale manufactured goods and services everywhere in the world. This is because of what is also known as national economy, each nation somewhat depends on the others to do their parts for the better of the world. If that involve America buying products from China and vise versa, this is called Absolute Advantage. Smith talked about "Absolute Advantage", this is a means of spreading the holed of Mercantilism on a global scale. Trading certain goods for other goods across different nations. Each nation has its on Comparative advantages. Portugal is good and making wine, Britain is good at making beer, they could trade and help each others economic systems but wont do it because there are such high tariffs on the goods.

Brief video on Adam Smith

Here's a link to the video we watched Monday, in case you missed it or want to look at it again (GV login required).

Adopting Capitalism

      By reflecting on this week's readings, the risk taking which began with the agrarian culture to be more innovative, and putting the puzzle together to change the way people produced food had a great impact on the beginning of capitalism. They figured out they had to have larger yields of food with fewer people to produce it. The improvements in farming, was the the major area where capitalism got roots to grow and flourish into what it is today.

 

            This week we dived deeper into the roots of capitalism and how expansionism and globalization played key roles in birthing capitalism. First, there was a definite distinction made between trade and capitalism. Appleby makes a strong attempt to argue how trade and capitalism are not the same. She argues her point, of course using Britain as her example, by describing how trade existed long before capitalism came onto the scene, and yet trade did not lead to the society that capitalism creates.

The Rise of Capitalism in Europe

Thus far, we've been looking at the emergence of a global economy which began (in many ways, at least) around 1500. European voyages of exploration and conquest opened new markets for both exports and imports, to be sure, but perhaps even more importantly, these voyages fundamentally altered the relationships between Europeans and the rest of the world. There had already been trade between Europe, Asia, and the Middle East, for example, but the scale, scope, and tone of that trade changed after 1500. Europeans became conquerors and colonizers; as Stearns points out, many Asian markets were "opened" to European trade only by violence.

Capitalism is?

Capitalism is an economical system, were private owners with the intentions of making profits control trade, industry, and means of production. Capitalism has many different characteristics including capital accumulation, competitive markets, and wage labor. In a capitalistic society businesses are not owned by government, which gives citizens the capability of owning and making a successful business.  

What is Capitalism?

 

 

Capitalism is the economical way of life. The concept is to make money in selling of goods to others. In capitalism anyone has the right to sell to other people, and make as much money as they want to make. The more money someone has the more opportunity you have in the society you live in. The old saying is that "money talks", which means if you have the money you can do just about anything you want to do. Without capitalism there would not have been innovative ideas of how to produce more products, and sell the products to other societies. There is downfalls to how capitalism works, and one is the amount of poverty there is in an capitalistic society. My question is about capitalism is does everyone have a equal chance to opportunities to be able to experience the American Dream.

What is Capitalism?

The word capitalism seems to get thrown around a lot these days. Many seem to be for it, and many seem to be against it. Some are taught the evils and others are taught the good of capitalism. Even the Pope had something to say about capitalism. In order to learn more about it and understand the concept, I first went to dictionary.com to get a definition:

"an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations, especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth"

Capitalism is very much about big business and it's control. Automatically this can set people off, but it can be a good thing if these private individuals and corporations are willing to have their production, distribution, and exchange of wealth in a healthy and giving manner. One great book I started reading years ago that is in defense of capitalism is Arguing with Idiots by Glenn Beck.

What is Capitalism?

Capitalism has to do with trade and production of materials. One of the main goals of capitalism in to make a profit, which is a  common for any business or company. Companies get to determine which products are traded and with which country they will trade with. They also get to determine the prices in which the product or material will be traded for, which usually is set high enough that they will profit from the purchase. It can deal with either private businesses or larger companies.

What is Capitalism?

It is here we find the separation of classes between those who can provide the labor and those who have the means to pay them. We see the growing divisions in today's society between the middle class, being over taxed to pay for the poor, while the wealthy continue to pad their pockets. Capitalism, in it's pure form, with very limited abilities to meddle and only to monitor, can have a very good hand in economics.

The Begining of what Capitalism Means to ME

CAPITALISM:

an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profit, rather than by the state.

 

Now that we know the definition of it what does it mean? In today's world the real definition of capitalism is "I will do whatever it take to make sure that my stock, my company, and my bank account will continue to grow until I am one of the most powerful people around. Major corporations are more about themselves instead of putting that money back into the economy and helping everyone else prosper. Some of you may say that this statement is one that may come across slightly socialistic BUT it is quite the opposite. I believe that making money is the cornerstone of today's society but once we have people in our own country who have to decide between meals for their children or transpiration to and from work too make money to support their kids, where others throw away millions on silly things such as multiple cars and boats simply because they can; that is where I see a problem.

Very Basic Meaning of Capitalism

Capitalism is a particular system on how trade is run in a country. It allows for individual people, or corporations, to own businesses privately, instead of businesses and trade being under the control of state powers. Capitalism allows for people to have more individual freedom and to not be so limited by governmental control. It is also known as a free enterprise, obviously referring to the freedom given to individuals to be able own and run businesses.

What is capitalism?
Capitalism is an economic and political system in which a country's trade and industry are controlled by private owners for profits, rather than by the states.

Welcome!

Welcome to the HIST 380 course blog for Spring, 2014!

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