Realities of Free Trade: Concepts, Practices, and Politics in Consumer Society - Assignment Example

 Simon Nelson Patten Patten lived between 1852 and 1922 (Magnusson 83). He developed and economic view that was contrary to other economists regarding the availability of resources. In his perception, Patten believed that the change in the economic status would result to the creation of more resources hence instead of focusing on the creation of more resources people would be planning on how to use of what is already available. Abundant production would result from advancement in manufacturing techniques to the extent that people will have more than enough for their needs (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 142). However, he pointed out that the only limiting factor to achievement of this state would be communal effort in creating resources. This is because it would not be easy to bring people together to produce the required commodities. The Man Nobody Knows “The Man Nobody Knows” is a book that was written by an American author named Bruce Fairchild Barton in 1925 (Jay 123). In this book, Bruce has described Jesus as the pioneer of trade and strongly presented Jesus as a determined businessman who committed his time and effort, made numerous business tours across many parts of the world. He successfully formed business organization with his twelve helpers he had personally selected from business arena. The aim of the book was to attract attention from the Christian community. Fordism Fordism refers to the insight Henry Ford had on a new economic and social structures in which there would be enormous creation of uniform industrial commodities between 1940s and 1960s (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 112). Henry predicted that there would be excess utilization of resources in the market, and this would result to revolution of the terms of work over time. The G.I. Bill of Rights The G. I. Bill of rights refers to the servicemen’s Readjustment Act of 1944 established to provide repayments to the ex-soldiers of the Second World War (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 135). These repayments included subsidized mortgages and loans for purchasing land or starting a business. In addition, the ex-soldiers would be given free training by the state. The bill aimed at promoting the living standards for the soldiers who were actively participated in the Second World War. Brownies in the Philippines Brownies of Philippines refer to a string of hilarious sections of books and comic strips published by Palmer Cox around 1904 (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 173). The publications were about cunning yet sympathetic charmed gnome. One of the books containing these caricatures was named brownies. Also, due to popularity of those caricatures, Eastman Kodak named one of their cameras Brownie cameras. The Simple Life (Wagner) “The simple life” is a name of one of the Charles Wagner’s publications. Charles was transformed French pastor who wrote numerous religious publications in 1904 (Magnusson 115). His publications helped in transforming religion in those days. He acted as a moral leader and engaged in charitable activities. His philosophies brought him close to other religious men from different backgrounds. The simple life publication won a lot of favor from spiritual and moral leaders like President Theodore Roosevelt of United States among others. Prohibition Prohibition refers to the Act of law which illegalized manufacturing, use or trade of alcoholic substances in 1920s (Jay 98). This term refers to the historical moments when that rule was enforced to stop production, shipping or trade of alcoholic drinks. The act applied to nations of European background and the rest of the world. However, some parts of United States did not apply this rule hence they established powerful businesses dealing with alcohol. The nations started manufacturing and selling alcohol as the rules diminished gradually by 1920s and 30s. Billy Sunday Bill Sunday was born in America and lived between 1862 and 1935 (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 189). He participated in athletics and gained a lot of fame in baseball. Later, he joined evangelism and gained fame for attracting the largest followers ever in history. He also became affluent and enjoyed time with rich people. Bill upheld Christian principles till his death. The Edsel Edsel refers to a car model t was developed and manufactured by Ford Motor Company in late 1950s and early 1960s (Jay 123). Ford management had a prospected to command large market with this car model especially from American clients. They expected to beat General Motor Company and Chrysler, but their plans did not work well. However, the demand for that model was low hence the company suffered a terrible loss of investment in modeling, manufacturing and promotion of this model. Office of War Mobilization Office of War Mobilization refers to a sovereign organization that was established in 1943 by the executive order 9347 in United Sates (Magnusson 126). It was established by the government during the Second World War to take care of government organizations that were engaged in the war. The organization was put under the leadership of James F. Byrnes who was previously a senator and justice of the Supreme Court. Byrnes was an outstanding leader of this organization, and this earned him a name “assistant president.” Question Two Consumer economy refers to the market which is motivated by expenditure of the buyers as a proportion of gross domestic product, as opposed to other significant components of gross domestic products (Edwards 95). In the early 1920s, American culture was influenced by renowned innovations in Jazz music, fashion, architecture, use of radios, videos, automobiles, telephone and electricity as a result of excellent economic boom (Magnusson 124). In the same period, laws were enacted to allow women to participate in voting activities and take careers of their preference alongside their family duties. During that period, the law prohibited use of alcoholic substance either for consumption or commercial. Some Americans engaged in deliberate criminal activities during the same era due to liberty and wealth people enjoyed during that period (Edwards 111). In the same period, there was significant movement of people from remote areas to towns either in search for jobs or for better living environment. For example, many black Americans moved from south to Northern towns where there were better services (Magnusson 113). Many people engaged in innovations which resulted to establishments of businesses and industries, the issue of “protection of property right” came into play in order to secure their businesses (Magnusson 101). Rivalry intensified among the citizens as more people desired for better goods and services. People struggled to advance their lives through the establishment of businesses and creation of art. The desire to live superior lives resulted to selfishness since many people struggled to outperform their rivals in many areas and especially in business, fashion, use luxurious products like cars and so on (Edwards 113). People also settled according to their status and the needs of the poor were abandoned. Consumerism resulted to settlement of people according to their social status. This caused segregation in the community since different groups of people were identified with the type of goods they consumed or owned (Magnusson 126). Consumerism had a damaging impact on the surroundings because it required massive production of goods hence increase in industrial emissions, effluence and global warming. The rise of activism, consumer protection and regulations imposed restrictions on massive generation and utilization of wealth in the 1920s in America (Edwards 73). The consumer activist argued that the economy would be strained due to the overproduction and overconsumption beyond the production capacity of the economy. This is because such a move would compromise the sustainability of the creation of resources in the nation. The government established agencies to curb business malpractices and ensure fair business practices (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 147). The issues raised by criticism of consumerism also led to the formation of anti-consumerism movements that worked against mass consumption. Question 3 The great depression was the period before Second World War in which there was severe economic meltdown across the globe (Edwards 127). This economic crisis was triggered by the terrible decline in the value of stocks in 1929 in United States. This impacted the rest of the nations negatively decline both in earnings, government tax revenues, business earnings and general drop in the value of the commodities. This also resulted to massive unemployment among the people of various nations since the economy could not absorb more workers, and in some nations most people were retrenched. Farming was greatly affected due to decline in the prices of crops due to decline in consumer earnings and the rising unemployment (Jay 93). However, commence of the 2nd world war resulted to the end of famous economic crisis starting from 1939. The war attracted many nations across the world and governments released a lot of cash as their input in the war. This resulted to increase in value of prices across the globe. Also, businesses became lively with the increase in government contracts to acquire supplies for the war (Jay 102). The government created many jobs by deploying more soldiers to participate in the war and other administrative positions following the increasing demand for workers. Therefore, the Second World War resulted to the termination of great economic crisis across the globe. In United States, the government established a number of strategies to strengthen the economy and mitigate the effect of economic crisis (Jay 97). For example, the government, through National Recovery Administration (NRA) established control measures to prevent the occurrence of decline in worth of the currency as a result of increasing rivalry among the producers (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 151). The government established wage bills to ensure that all workers were remunerated appropriately and ensure that the employers did not exploit their workers. Regarding the issue of declining demand by the consumers, the government of United States encouraged the formation of trade unions and labour movements to ensure hike in wages and salaries for the employees (Magnusson 132). The effect of increased earnings would result to a stronger economy due to mass spending by the consumers (Jones, Rhys, and Michael 159). Another strategy was decreasing the farm output in order to encourage an increase in prices of the farm produce. Finally, the government encouraged businesses to work together with state agencies in order to establish regulations for protecting business against unhealthy rivalry. The government set up various measures to promote economic advancement. These strategies brought hope for the recovery of the economy through the creation of employment opportunities, sustainability of the business and creation of resources in the economy as well as regulating consumer spending (Jay 104). Works Cited Edwards, Tim. Contradictions of Consumption: Concepts, Practices, and Politics in Consumer Society. Open University Press: Philadelphia, 2000. 12-195. Magnusson, Lars. The Tradition of Free Trade. Routledge: New York, 2004. 54-134. Jay, Peter.The Wealth of Man. Public Affairs: New York, 2000. 73-165. Jones, Martin, Jones Rhys, and Woods Michael. Introduction to Political Geography: Space, Place and Politics. Routledge: London, 2004. 23-157. Read More