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Advantages of Free Trade in the International Political Economy
Advantages of Free Trade in the International Political Economy
Advantages of Free Trade in the International Political Economy
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Oftentimes, there is the impression that the job market and economy are zero-sum games. If someone gets a job, that is one less job that someone else can get. If one person get one million dollars, that million dollars had to come from somewhere else. There is nothing inherently morally wrong with this brand of thinking. It has led to many developments in society, some of them beneficial. For instance, the American work ethic has been a driving cause of the prosperity that can be found in the US. It drives people to give more than they would otherwise, and that feel that one has any kind of mobility in society is very motivating. Of course, there are also downsides to this way of thinking. Firstly, it tends to breed a lack of trust among people where energy could better be spent elsewhere. …show more content…
Secondly, the American work ethic can work against those that hold it, causing them to burn out from exhaustion. This is obviously wrong. No job should motivate someone to work to exhaustion everyday so that the administration can meet its profit margins. Thirdly and most importantly, while thinking that the job market and the economy are zero-sum games is morally wrong, it is factually wrong. While money and jobs do not appear automatically as a part of life, such things can be made with some effort. Enter the Free Trade Agreement, or FTA for short. While FTA’s can hurt home country production advantage and the prospects of native workers through the process of outsourcing, it brings in many benefits including economic boons such as increased trade with foreign countries, cheaper products for consumers, and decreasing the US trade
In Niall Ferguson’s essay “America’s Oh Sh*t Moment,” he mentioned America’s newfound unemployment work ethic. The statement was quite interesting to me because from my perspective, it is accurate because the majority of Americans do not want to work. They would much rather sit at home all day and watch television. Unfortunately, most can not sacrifice their jobs due to financial circumstances. Furthermore, I will use the idea of work ethic to write my paper by comparing America’s work ethic to India’s. Despite the fact that India is a third world country, most Indians have a stronger work ethic than Americans. Therefore, I will develop an argumentative synthesis to support my thesis based on the information I discover after I conduct thorough research.
Americans have become uncomfortable with producing large amounts of food to feed its people. As a result, they are unable to handle the work load and the harsh working environment that may have to be endured to provide food for the nation. Timmerman explains how “the unemployed U.S workers who stepped into the job lasted less than two weeks…[they] were said to lack the physical stamina and mental toughness to do the job” (Timmerman 209). If the United States relied solely on its own workers, the country may likely starve due to the lack of motivation and skills. Timmerman further explains that regardless of how dangerous their occupation is for example, diving for lobsters in Nicaragua, the workers will continue to pursue their job because of the large amount of money it can bring in. (Timmerman 181) A person risking their life to make decent money shows a drive that perhaps American workers now lack. The United States may have lost this drive when it became comfortable relying on and helping other countries. It has become difficult for America to do the tasks other countries are more accustom to doing. Emerson says to “do your work, and you shall reinforce yourself” but this is not necessarily always true. He is saying to only rely on oneself and not to rely on anyone else. It is okay to seek out help in situations that may not be a strong point. Similarly, I have
Money, money, money, money, money. People just care about the Benjamins, the moolah, the cash, the dough— but is it really essential to the human existence, or does society just accept the systematic oppression that comes with the dog-eat-dog nature of our economic system since it benefits the people on top? Monetary gains are all well and good; however, when does it commence to overtake our lives and when does it become our end goal? Instead of relying on money for food, shelter and our overall well-being, society views it as a tool that gives them power over other people, thus putting one’s economic status on a pedestal and making life a difficult competition. So yes, it is a dog-eat-dog world, but that’s not exactly a healthy perspective
One of the factors that create an imbalance of power within a society is a person's socioeconomic status. Often people with low socioeconomic status are undervalued in society. This imbalance can cause issues with the feelings of security and confidence. Also opportunities and choices can be limited for some people, but expanded to others. People often identify with roles of different socioeconomic status groups, based on their own socioeconomic status, and this can limit creativity and the potential of groups or individuals. If the world believes that people can go from “rags to riches” in America, then there should be an opportunity for all socioeconomic groups.
Despite the phenomenal economic growth many American laborers lived at or below the poverty level. While some advances were made like welfare capitalism, which raised wages, shortened the work week, and instituted paid vacations. Modest company made labor unions emerged in many industries, these unions gave some help to solving labor grievances. But in the end welfare capitalism was only adopted by a few employers and workers still had no control over their fates. Most employers tried to keep their labor costs low and with a nearly endless supply of unskilled workers there were an endless supply of people to fill jobs.
The same article showed other factors that play into the overworked life of an average American, and one of them is the 67% increase in cost of living since 1990(Gilson). Or, the fact that one’s annual salary at minimum wage is merely $15,080. In addition to that, one must have a $30,000 income in order to say that they genuinely have econmic security. So, maybe this is the reason why Americans find themselves having to work longer hours and having to work harder. It is because our economy is relentless, and in order to make a living, things like vacation and days off have to sometimes be put on ho...
The United States is the most developed capitalist economy in the world. The markets within the economy provide profit-motivated companies endless potential in the pursuance of pecuniary accumulation. Throughout the twentieth-century competitive companies have implemented modernized managerial procedures designed to raise profits by reducing unnecessary costs. These cost-saving procedures have had a substantial effect on society and particularly members of the working class. Managers and owners of these competitive and self-motivated companies have consistently worked throughout this century to exploit the most controllable component of the production process: the worker. The worker has been forced by the influence of powerful and affluent business owners to work in conditions hazardous to their well being in addition to preposterously menial compensation. It was the masterful manipulation of society and legislation through strategic objectives that the low-wage workers were coerced into this position of destitute. The strategies of the affluent fragment of society were conceived for the selfish purpose of monetary gain. The campaigns to augment the business position within the capitalist economy were designed to weaken organized labor, reduce corporate costs, gain legislative control and reduce international competition at the expense of the working class. The owners have gained and continue to gain considerable wealth from these strategies. To understand why the owners of the powerful companies operate in such a selfish manner, we must look at particular fundamentals of both capitalism and corporation strategy. Once these rudiments are understood, we ...
As American’s, we are taught at a young age how great it is to be a citizen of the United States. Though Americans today are perceived much differently by people around the world, as they see American as being a money driven country, as they use one word “Capitalism”. What is being said here is, American companies are more interested in turning a profit, by offshoring their businesses to avoid taxes, rather than providing jobs and replenishing the American economy. Companies such as Apple have avoided these taxes by taking out loans to buy back stocks, these loans become tax deductible, and allow them to minimize their tax expenditure. The previously described is known as Globalization. The articles “Sweat, Fire and Ethics” by Bob Jeffcott
The American work ethic is something our country should be proud of. Since the days of George Washington Americans have worked hard for what they believe in, what they need, and what they want. It is our right as Americans to be able to work for these ideals. Without out a strong work ethic our country would crumble. From businessmen to politicians a strong work ethic is necessary to keep our country financially and politically stable.
Jim is a upstanding, hard working, American computer programmer who recently lost his job to a man who doesn’t provide the correct code or patches for the computer programs he builds. This man is living in a far off country providing money that doesn’t benefit Jim or America, now Jim has a nice spot in the unemployment line. This is not how any good employee should be treated, but now many companies are dropping their good employees for cheaper foreign employees. Recent outsourcing is factor in the recent downturn in the U.S. economy.
Although the livable wage has a good intention of decreasing poverty, it is not consistent with the American spirit of capitalism because the livable wage promotes an economy that does not support business. America has always been a business friendly country. America is a business friendly country because of the American belief in a hands-off approach to commerce and the economy. This is called “laissez-faire” economics; the system allows American companies to make decisions that are best for the firm which in turn increases wealth throughout society because it makes an incentive to increase productivity. It also turns out that this system of capitalistic economics is the most efficient at allocating scarce resources. For example, the opposite of capitalism, a command economy, failed in the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union’s economy failed because it tried to allocate resources through central planning, instead of having businesses determine how much of a product to produce. Our system of limited government interference in business has allowed American society to become the wealthiest societies in the world. The lack of government intervention income has become ingrained with t...
A large part of this problem is that many Americans buy into the ploys of capitalism, sacrificing happiness for material gain. “Americans have voluntarily created, and voluntarily maintained, a society which increasingly frustrates and aggravates” them (8). Society’s uncontrolled development results in an artificial sense of scarcity which ensures “a steady flow of output” (78).
Working for a living, it 's the American way, but at what point does the American way become not worth it? What most people don 't see is the hard work that goes behind every single product sold in our stores especially grocery stores. Crop production is the forty third most employed industry in the United States with over six hundred twenty seven thousand employees nation wide (Top 50 Industries). The big picture is that everything in our grocery stores, everything that keeps this nation out of hunger comes from agriculture and crop production. The real numbers to look at would be the number of immigrants that work long hours seven days a week to to keep our crop production alive yet do not show up on the employment statistics. The problem presented is, the U.S government does not require agricultural employers to pay their workers a minimum wage (Avakian, Brad). This leaves workers struggling to live, eat, drink, and support their family yet
The free-rider issue is often seen as a serious problem because of the assumption that a free rider's best self-interest is that they interact with others by force and fraud. If they can get away with the fraud and begin to gain the benefits of others they have reached their first goal. Their next goal is to make some good money or get credit for someone else's hard work before they get caught. Then they get out and are long gone by the time anyone notices. Life in a civilized society allows each of us the opportunity to enjoy the benefits of the work of people with productive ability far greater than our own, but what happens when people begin doing this? They get used to not having to do much work and become lazy. In some cases people look at welfare in this way. If a person is able to get a good job and chooses not to, but instead, to live on our government, this would be considered free riding. This causes a fluctuation in our market and it can have a negative effect. When the benefits go away people do not want to go back to work and eventually will loose their jobs or quit and become a true free rider. Clearly there is an essential difference between cases in which one can't contribute to the benefits one enjoys and cases in which one chooses not to make a contribution that is within one's power. But apart from this distinction, we can differentiate between harmless free riding and the worthless free riding. The free rider wants anything he can get for free and will think nothing of it if he can get away with it. Free riders take advantage of public goods without having to contribute to them. For example, if s...
Let me ask you this: How many of you sitting in here today have parents, even grandparents or siblings, that work a demanding 8-hour day at their jobs? Everyday – every week? Perhaps missing out on birthdays, or other significant events at home because they have to go to work? Working to earn money, to keep a roof over your head and a hot meal on the table every night? Or are they just working to pay taxes? To pay for people to be unemployed? Taxes taken away from their hard earned money, to be sent to the Government, to pay for “unemployment benefits”.