The Crash Course on Capitalism BEGINS!

As of this week, there are only 9 classes that we have left, as one of those classes will be taken for writing Part A next week - which is your writing assignments. We will be doing a crash course this week on capitalism - it's benefits and its pitfalls, which have caused us to develop new economic theories or modify capitalism to protect the majority of citizens. Remember when we learned about John Stuart Mill and a large part of his theory was the balance of rights - yes, you have the rights but within reason; that being that you are not infringing on the rights of others. Before Christmas, we were looking at the implementation of the capitalist theory in the Industrial Revolution, and many great things came about because of it. Look at this case study:

However, following along with Hobbes' view on humanity, when given complete economic freedom, some people used that freedom to better only themselves and did not think of the repercussions of pursuing self-interest would have on others, particularly their workers. In the early industrial era, it really became about the almighty dollar and the means of getting it were not often questioned. It wasn't until the early 1900s where the ideas of workers rights really started to be considered. Traditional capitalists saw this as an infringement on their rights to run a business as they wanted. This week will be dedicated to learning about the inefficiencies of capitalism and how they have been attempted to be corrected.

Homework: Watch Capitalism: A Love Story by Michael Moore - great documentary about capitalism!

Monday:
ISSUE #1 - MONOPOLIES (Not the board game)

• Notes on Monopolies
• Case Study 1: John D. Rockefeller
• Government Reaction
• Case Study 2: Eyeglass Industry
• Government Reaction

Tuesday: 

ISSUE #2 - TREATMENT OF WORKERS

• Workers and rights movements during the Industrial Revolution
• Chartists, Factory Acts, Luddites, etc
• Case Study: Triangle Shirtwaist Fire
• Theodore Roosevelt's Progressive Movement
• Government Reaction: The Square Deal

Wednesday: 

ISSUE #3 - UNPREDICTABILITY OF THE MARKET

• Unregulated market growth - The Roaring Twenties and the Great Depression

• How the Stock Market Crash helped to create a decade of poverty
• First Shift to the Economic Left: Keynesian Economics
• How this would solve the problems from the Great Depression

Thursday:

• The Quickest Rants Ever (ie: limited discussion): Ryan F and Dustin
• Implementation of Keynesian Economics after the Great Depression
• Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal

• The creation of the WELFARE STATE

Friday: 

ISSUE #4 - INCOME GAP

• How capitalism leads to the income gap
• Socialism and communism as a solution to this problem

• How communism works and solves the issues of Capitalism