September 27
- 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.
- Market Economy: an economy in which decisions regarding investment, production, and distribution are based on market determined supply and demand, and prices of goods and services are determined in a free price system
- Law of Supply: the quantity of a good supplied (i.e., the amount owners or producers offer for sale) rises as the market price rises, and falls as the price falls
- Law of Demand: the quantity of a good demanded falls as the price rises, and vice versa
- GDP: Gross domestic product, represents the monetary value of all goods and services produced within a nation's geographic borders over a specified period of time
Milton Friedman
Triangle Shirtwaist Factory Fire and Bangladesh Factory Collapse
The Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire resulted in the death of over 140 people due to unfit evacuation conditions while the Bangladesh collapse was caused by an unsafe and dilapidated building. Both were meant to be safer, one with unlocked stairways and the other with permanent structural support. Both situations had recognized risk go ignored due to expense and time going into production rather than safety. In both situations, inspectors only found the issues of the buildings in the aftermath, not checking for safe conditions before the disaster began,
|
Forever 21 Labor Practices
Forever 21’s practices include cheap labor in all ends. The company keeps young, usually high-school age, women as their retail workers. These ladies are usually kept in the dark about their employee rights, not understanding that they should be payed for every hour that they work and should be allowed breaks. There have been class action lawsuits for their workers over this topic. The cheap labor doesn’t stop with minimum wage workers. Forever 21 pays some LA clothes makers by production rather than by hourly wages. They refuse to disclose documentation of their labor practices overseas, implying unsafe conditions. Some have condemned them for their sweatshop-like conditions, with a worker in LA claiming to have to be paid by production, merely $.12 per item, while the item is sold for over 100x times more.
They keep their production cheap by using cheap materials in bulk, as shown by their new Forever 21 Red stores. With $8 jeans and $2 shirts, there’s not much questioning in how their clothes are produced as people are content with their cheap prices. The clothing, however, does not last long. Their practices include cheap products to keep the prices low. |
Walmart and the North Face
North Face:
Factory too hot
Women yelled at and sexually assaulted by managers
Mostly women who work there
Aprox 200 people/ section with one bathroom
$.67 for every jacket that sells over $100\
Forced overtime
Walmart:
Low prices = Cutting corners
Target countries with low min wage and low building standards
Loopholes to not pay workers wages
Rana plaza collapse- walmart supplier
China
Live in dorms- charged rent if move out
Taught to give false information to inspectors
Less than $3 a day
Bangladesh
14 hr days 7 days a week
$.13-.17 per hour
Hit by supervisors
Workers have no rights
Honduras
pay/conditions make inspector weep
Not a goal to correct violations
Retaliation for inspector who discovered this
Factory too hot
Women yelled at and sexually assaulted by managers
Mostly women who work there
Aprox 200 people/ section with one bathroom
$.67 for every jacket that sells over $100\
Forced overtime
Walmart:
Low prices = Cutting corners
Target countries with low min wage and low building standards
Loopholes to not pay workers wages
Rana plaza collapse- walmart supplier
China
Live in dorms- charged rent if move out
Taught to give false information to inspectors
Less than $3 a day
Bangladesh
14 hr days 7 days a week
$.13-.17 per hour
Hit by supervisors
Workers have no rights
Honduras
pay/conditions make inspector weep
Not a goal to correct violations
Retaliation for inspector who discovered this
Pro Union
This photo implies that without a union, a company would become too controlling and the people would not be able to defend themselves or fight for better conditions.
This political cartoon states that without a union, there would be no one to fight for the best interest of the employees because managers will look out for themselves, but not their "lesser" counterparts.
This info graphic explains that pay has changed and that union workers aren't overpaid. IT informs of the pay decrease that a regular worker has had and the 8 fold increase of higher ups in corporations or companies that create jobs.
Anti- Union
This photo points out the irony of a labor union made holiday being celebrated with now often outsourced products due to America's decrease in production since the popularity of unions.
This implies that unions put once thriving companies out of business and that they would continue to do so to American businesses.
This meme focuses on the downside of the longer process of having to fire a unionized teacher.
If a teacher is bad, it would be more difficult to fire them and it would take longer.
If a teacher is bad, it would be more difficult to fire them and it would take longer.
Crossing the Picket Line
Workers View- Strikers
|
Company/employers view
|
Labor unrest in China
|
In China, labor unrest is increasing due to the demand of products lessening and the increase of global prices. Their once booming economy has shrunk since its booming time, growing at its slowest race in history. There were over 2,700 strikes in 1015, doubling from the year before.
Recently, there was a steel strike deemed illegal by the Chinese government. People have put their lives in danger to work at a steel plant, but received low pay and poor working conditions. The government has threatened to arrest and charge citizens who participate in the strike. There's been a strike for the Longmay Mining Group, a coal producer. Government Lu Hao has promised negotiations for this strike, but has not publicly commented further. |
Pro- Microlending |
Cons of Microlending |
|
|
Business cycle
Commodities
- commodities are tangible
- finite life-can consume them
- include things that grow in or above ground (e.g. corn and cows)
- things that can be dug up or extracted or refined
- oil, gold, natural gas, silver, etc.
- "Spot price"
- price to pay to buy it right now and have it delivered
- "futures contract"
- producers would come to agreement for commodity to be delivered on a future date
- options:
- merchant can sell the contract to someone who does need it
- farmer can sell contract to other farmer that would deliver that crop instead
- in time, others bought and sold these contracts to make money off of it
- speculators
- entered market
- buy and sell future contracts expecting to profit from any change in price
- make money on bad things happening