Remember that I need postings every week, so if you need to go back and pick up last week's discussion go ahead.
Prosperity was instrumental in:
Providing a motive for exploration -- Columbus was followed back to the New World because there was gold. Puritans came from England with the promise of being land owners.
Sparking the revolution -- Many of the complaints raised in the Declaration of Independence were economic. The Tea Party was in response to a corporate bailout, after all.
Bringing people out of the east and across the plains to the west coast. -- Sure they believed in Manifest Destiny, but it took the promise of wealth to get people to act on it.
Launching the gilded age. -- Robber barons, tycoons, and the advance of technology led to decades of prosperity.
The Great Depression became the formative experience for multiple generations. (What ended the Depression -- FDR, World War II, or just better weather -- became an interesting discussion.)
The American message in the Cold War was western-style prosperity for all.
After the Cold War, we entered the era of bubbles. Beanie Babies, Internet stocks, Real-estate flipping, sub-prime mortgages. American economic theory since 1989 has been that people can consume as much as they want and not have to worry about paying off the debt. (A significant number of home foreclosures have been on people who put their credit card bills on their home mortgages.)
QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION
1. When has America acted against its political interests in the quest for prosperity?
2. Can an American politician get elected if he tells people not to consume so much?
3. Which is more important to Americans – personal prosperity or collective opportunity?
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question #2 Can an American politician get elected if HE tells people not to consume so much?
ReplyDeleteprobably not because it is basically "in our blood" to spend millions of $$$$$$ a year. so everyone would probably vote for the other person.
(hint hint the HE on the second line. HE because of Hillary Clinton running for president.)J.T. Mayes
the HE is supposed to say on the first line.
ReplyDeleteJ.T.
@ all
ReplyDeleteI think that collective prosperity is of major importance to some Americans, but to others personal prosperity is most important
Question#2
ReplyDeletei dont think that an american politician could get elected if he tells people not to consume so much because pretty much all americans are greedy and we want to hear the opposit of that and plus most presidents get elected when they tell you what you want to hear.
@Chewie
ReplyDeletei agree with your comment completely
I think personal prosperity is more important to most Americans.
ReplyDeleteI think that the third question is kind of a catch twenty-two situation. On the one hand, the early Americans did all that they could to help others and theirselves at the same time. Today it's more of a me,me society where self is more important than the whole.
ReplyDelete