AP+US+History


 * Activity #3**

Would Wikipedia be a reliable source to use?

 * 1) What is capitalism?
 * 2) What form of capitalism does the United States practice? What are the details of this form of capitalism?
 * 3) Why does the U.S. practice capitalism – why is it the system that the founders of the United States established?
 * 4) What are the positives and negatives of having this economic system?
 * 5) What is democracy?
 * 6) What form of democracy does the United States practice? What are the details of this form of democracy?
 * 7) Why does the U.S. practice democracy – why is it the system that the founders established?
 * 8) What are the positives and negatives of having this system?
 * 9) Please watch Michael Moore’s 2009 documentary “Capitalism: A Love Story” and summarize 4 or 5 of his main points. Also, please critique his arguments – what does he leave out, what problems do you find with his approach, etc. Make sure you relate the film to your earlier research on capitalism and democracy. //(So please do these steps in order, so this film should be viewed after you’ve done the work for #1-8)//
 * 10) What is the relationship between capitalism and democracy? How do they work together, how do their principles coincide and how do they oppose each other?

1. Capitalism is a type of economic system in which a corporation is owned by a private owner instead of the government. The owner controls the production, distribution, and prices of their products for their profit.

2. The United States practices a mixed economy. Mixed economies have characteristics of both capitalism and socialism. This means that any enterprise can be either privately owned (capitalism) or publicly owned (socialism). Mixed economies have their freedoms and restrictions to businesses. Freedoms include the right to hire and fire people, the right to communicate and protest peacefully. The restrictions for companies reflect laws such as environmental regulations and labor regulations. The businesses in mixed economies also have to pay taxes. The money from taxes is then redistributed so that people benefit, not just those in corporations.

3. The founders of the United States created Capitalism with the idea that America was a free country. Under England’s rule they were burdened by harsh taxes and controlled trade. They wanted to give people the freedom that they did not have under England’s rule, by encouraging businesses and trade. Capitalism is still practiced today because it has a similar idea to a Democracy. Democracy gives Americans freedoms stated in the Bill of Rights such as freedom of speech and freedom of assembly. The freedom of ownership in Capitalism is similar to the concept of Democracy.

4. PROS:

- Ownerships have their freedoms for their businesses.

- Competition enables people to have the chance to make money.

- Economic growth because people are able to make money.

CONS:

- Taxes is not equally redistributed because of everyone’s different salaries.

- During an economic crisis, lower and middle class suffer more than the higher class.

- The loss of natural resources because of the demand of production.

5. Democracy is a type of government that is determined by the people. Democracy is either direct or representative. In a direct democracy each person has an individual vote in their government. With representative democracy, citizens elect someone and delegate governmental duties to them.

6. The United States practices Representative Democracy by electing representatives to act in their government for them.

- Power is given to elected representatives, such as a president.

- The power of a representative is to be balanced so that no one person has too much power, as in the Constitution.

- Citizens elect the legislative and executive branch of their government but not the judiciary branch.

7. A Representative Democracy was first established in place of a monarchy. Under the rule of monarchs, colonist were abiding by rules, laws, and paying taxes to England. In order to gain their Independence they fought in the Revolutionary War. After the war, the Constitution of the United States was created. The Constitution is the structure for government in relation to states and citizens. The Constitution includes the duties but the limitations that a leader will have over the country and the Bill of Rights of rights for citizens. America still practices Representative Democracy because it was the structure of government and relation to citizenship that was established after the United States gained independence.

8. PROS:

- Decisions are made faster because votes are chosen by the majority of people.

- No single person is given too much power (checks and balances).

- Citizens are able to participate in the government.

CONS:

- There is no solution for the minority of votes.

- Not every citizen will participate in the government, such as Election Day.

- People who are “poorly informed” about the government does not vote for what is best.

9 . In “Capitalism: A Love Story”, Michael Moore, documents the effects of Capitalism in America. Although his approach of the issue was factual and assertive, it was also his bias. Obviously, rich people do have an advantage over poor people financially. However in the government (voting), the lower and middle class citizens have more power. It is nearly impossible for the rich people to overtake the government in votes, unless they are in cahoots with people in the government. Essentially like Don Regan and his policies that gave enterprises more power politically. Maybe it is only the greedy that take advantage of other people’s misfortunes. If a rich person opens up a business and employees people without jobs that could potentially decrease the unemployment rate, because people would be working. That helps the government and working class people. Although this is unjust, people need to be aware of what they are signing off on. A person could loose millions of dollars worth of health insurance money to a company because they are not careful about it. The simplest things can encourage greed and self-indulgence because nowadays people always want more than what they have. This is unlike Dr. Jonas Sulk who discovered the Polio vaccine but never accepted the rights for it.
 * In the corporate world, rich people have an advantage over poor people. However the majority of people in the government are between lower to middle class.
 * Capitalism takes advantage of everyone's misfortunes so that the people who have everything can have more.
 * Corporations in the United States are able to get away with a lot of things. An example of this is the “dead peasant insurance” policies. When the employee signs over their life insurance to the company they work for, it is company that claims the money if the employee dies.
 * It is possible that the latest generations of people are more empowered by money than anything else. The years prior to Ronald Regan’s presidency, people such as Dr. Jonas Salk were not viewed as selfish people. Post Regan, everything is finance and not for the bettering of things.

10. Capitalism and Democracy have similar and different concepts to each other. A similar idea of Capitalism and Democracy is individual decision. Capitalism is a system of private ownership and a "natural right" to all people, because it is someone's choice to open a business. Democracy is a person's choice of who they vote for and a right for all citizens. Also both Capitalism and Democracy are influenced by the people. During a presidential campaign, people will vote for who they want as president. This is similar to when someone buys a product, the purchase acts as a "vote" for the company to keep producing more of that product. The systems are intended on being beneficial to America's economy, although that is not always guaranteed. The purpose of Democracy is to ensure no single person gets to much power. However in Capitalism there is no prevention of any group of people getting more power than another. For that reason, Democracy and Capitalism are in ways contradicting to the ideas of each other.

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