BUS 1050 Mid term
Carnegie says that for capitalism to work, we must accept certain inequalities and accept difficult principles. What are they?
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Smith says,: "No regulation of commerce can increase the quantity of industry in any society beyond what its capital can maintain." What does it mean?
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What are the "five excellent things"?
1. Bounteousness Without Cost a. Follow what is the profit of the (or from) people and profit them in return 2. Lead them profitably 3. Teach them 4. Regulate them a. Social not economic 5. Fight them
What does Thoreau's "serfs of the soil" argument question?
1. How someone got forced into the lowest class of cultivators that they must work for every day of their lives. (50+ hours a week.) 2. How they must work every day of their lives and in the end, really have not gotten anything or anywhere doing it.
Describe the two "earth" cosmologies and Tawney's "cosmology."
2 Earth= Heliocentric (sun-centered), Geocentric (earth-centered) Tawney- solipsistic (self-centered)
What are all the benefits the Crown and Church will get from the Columbus mission?
A place for cheap labor, resources, great exchange rate for materials= them using the cheaply acquired gold at home, more land when they conquer them, international support, church will have more followers, cheap labor in the form of slaves.
Which ancient philosopher says: "Men seek after a better notion of wealth and of the art of making money than the mere acquisition of coin, and they are right."
Aristotle
Who says: "of everything which we possess there are two uses, both belonging to the thing as such, but not in the same manner, for one is proper, and the other improper..."
Aristotle
The business mindset of Columbus causes him to say of the Indians that "they are fit to be ordered about and made to work, plant, and do everything else." Tied to his intent to make Christians out of
As the labor aspect of Capitalism
Columbus expresses no remorse about his business project. It is likely that he can justify it by thinking that Spain is doing what "good" thing?
Baptize them, and make them Christians
Explain Emerson's position on production and reinvestment
Both are good, production should focus on spiritualizing the business, any profit should be reinvested in spiritualizing the business and yourself.
Through what the Medieval Church expected to lead people from a barbaric materialism to higher religious principles?
Business and church teachings: in the intermediate
Explain Calvin's relationship to the new Protestant calculus of the 17th century America. Is it an important relationship? If so, why?
Calvin believed that money itself was not the root of all evil but how you used it was. He also believed in Divine Election which is where God determined who was going to heaven and we didn't have much control of it. This evolved by people such as John Winthrop into Work = Wealth =Likelihood of Salvation which started the protestant work ethic. You could work and accumulate money but you couldn't be idle or spend your money on luxury goods.
Who says: "they want to have and take everything...and even though many things were of little value...it was ordered that nothing should be received from them without giving them something in payment."?
Columbus
What economic system would have been the preference of the Medieval Church according to Tawney?
Communism
. Universal equality, universal opportunity, and economic freedom - whose expressed doctrinal beliefs are these?
Confucius
Who says: "It is simply that everyone respectively employs his own ability, and exhausts his own energy to get what he wants. Therefore, when the commodity is cheap, it calls for the demand, and raises its price; and when it is dear, it calls forth its supply."
Confucius
Who says: "money printed your Bible, money builds your churches, money sends your missionaries, and money pays your preachers..."?
Conwell
What does Plato see as necessary to the healthy city?
Division of labor. One person makes each good so the quality goes up, price and cost goes down. A city should produce goods that are needed, not just wanted.
What is Thoreau's position on the older, wiser generations?
Do not listen to the advice of your elders. Their experience is biased.
What are the assumptions of the Catholic Church during the medieval period?
Economic interests are subordinate/second to salvation- all business will operate according to church practices and teachings. 2. Material wealth is acceptable to the degree that it allows you to run your household- security, necessities. Ultimately use to serve others and help one another
Who says: "he is thoroughly related; and is tempted out by this appetites and fancies to the conquest of this and that piece of nature, until he finds his well-being in the use of his planet, and of more planets than his own"
Emerson
Who says: "the forces and the resistance are nature's, but the mind acts in bringing things from they abound to where they are wanted."? What does this mean as "economic theory?
Emerson Economic theory: Emerson is referring to attempting to control nature by creating supply and demand.
Confucian laissez-faire is similar to the laissez-faire of which thinker, who said that "the basis of political economy is non-interference" because wealth brings with its own check and balances where "property rushes from the idle and imbecile to the industrious brave and persevering."? How does it compare to Smithian laissez-faire?
Emerson - Bringing things from where they are abundant to where they are scarce. Again Supply and Demand. These viewpoints are very similar. Smith believes God shouldn't be involved but should be watching over things.
Who says: "spend after your genius and by system. Nature goes by rule, not by sallies and salutations."? What does this mean?
Emerson is saying - Stay in line with your goal, and stay in line with nature to avoid going in the wrong direction
According to Tawney, how did the Catholic Church behave regarding the charging of interest?
Encouraged it. They encouraged you to save money to gain interest on it by loaning it to the bank, the bank gives loans to other people, then gives interest to themselves and to the people who originally saved.
According to Thoreau, what do we need possess for ourselves in order to entertain the true problems of life?
Food, shelter, clothing, fuel- allow us to entertain problems with freedom and prospect of success.
What does Plato think is necessary to a healthy city?
For it to be based upon: needs, interdependence, self interest, division of labor, international trade, marketing, money as primary means of exchange.
Who posits the first "end of history" argument? Describe it and compare with others.
Hagel: Thesis, Anit-thesis and Synthesis= history moves forward (spiralling upwards effect) continuously progressing forward, we move from the way things are, to the way things could be.
Does Confucius favor any kind of regulation? If so, describe it.
He favors social regulation. Do not govern economically. He believes that human nature can be developed to perfection, and no need for laws and regulation to restrain it and retard it. Confucian social legislation is my means of moral, rather than governmental laws.
What was John Calvin's attitude toward wealth?
He sees no problem with reverends and priests making money. Has belief in divine election (god decided before this life whether you're going to heaven or hell)
What does Aristotle say about the philosopher Thales?
He states: 1. If a philosopher wants to acquire money, they can because of their intelligence. 2. Shows us how people acquire money buy making monopolies. 3.Example of the oil presses. Bought low and sold high, was able to to so because of his knowledge; knew that year would be a good harvest year for the olives before everyone else did.
What does Friedman think about "cause-related" marketing?
He thinks it's a joke. If a company engages in cause-related marketing, it is for publicity and money gain in the future.
What, according to Tawney, is the position held by Dante and the Cahorsine monks on finance, or the lending of money?
He was highly against it. " Dante put the Cahorisine monks in Hell"
According to Thoreau, what is important for your job to do, irrespective of the business in which you work?
Help you attain spiritualization and provide for your purpose, not sway you away from it.
What, in Friedman's belief, is the idea of corporate social responsibility?
It is based on the discretion of the stockholders. They can divide. The business itself has no responsibility (CEO, employees, etc.) without the consent of the stockholders. He believed it has not point he felt that it was the stockholders who were to be responsible for any wrong doing in the company. He said they are the ones who put the pressure on the company to maximize their returns.
. What, says Plato, happens to a society that traffics in wants?
It will " swell out its bulk and fill it up with a multitude of things that exceed the requirements of necessity in that state." And then keep pushing and pushing until it goes to war. (you swell so bad with wants you have to go to war to get more) Invades lands of others to get what they want.
What, says Plato, happens to a society that traffics in wants?
It will " swell out its bulk and fill it up with a multitude of things that exceed the requirements of necessity in that state." And then keep pushing and pushing until it goes to war. (you swell so bad with wants you have to go to war to get more) Invades lands of others to get what they want.
What actions suggest that Columbus practiced a kind of business imperialism? How does he serve Spain (what good things does he do for Spain)?
Killing the Caniba, showing and demonstrating their weapons on the shore to the Indians. He took advantage of the exchange value- the exchange was of less value than what the Indians were giving him- gold. Declaring the Carribean as Spain.
What, according to Marx, is the one kind of value that can serve as the basis of commodity pricing in a communist state?
Labor
Is Emerson a laissez-faire, socialist, or Fabian thinker—he tells us. Explain his motives.
Laissez faire because there shouldn't be rules enacted in order to limit business productivity, do not legislate, make eual lays, open the doors of opportunity. He is a capitalist
Describe the Confucian "circle."
Make more-borrow money- it pumps the entire circle: high production= more labor/employment =more money supply/income= greater demand= higher consumption=higher production= repeat circle
Who says: "his vilest and most hateful qualities are the most necessary accomplishments to fit him for the largest, and according to the world, the happiest and most flourishing societies." Attribute this to:
Mandeville
What needs does Mandeville's hive doctrine introduce for economic health of nations?
Marriage between virtue and vice
Compare Maslow's Needs Hierarchy to Thoreau's "Needs Hierarchy."
Maslow and Thoreau's needs are very similar. The lower needs are the same and Thoreau has no higher needs except self- actualization. The lower needs which are food/shelter/clothing/ fuel are the same. Thoreau's Needs (Bottom-Top) Food=>Shelter/Clothing/Fuel=> and Self-Actualization (but one can only achieve "self-actualization" once the basic needs are secured and established) (Thoreau's needs are on an individual bases
How does Emerson describe business and the people who succeed at it?
Nature is an outgrowth of God, business is an outgrowth of nature, therefore, business is an outgrowth of God. Comparative advantage: nations first have it, china: labor us: technology. People have it as well ie brains, common sense, athletes.
What does Aristotle's "shoe" analogy suggest for needs to be real?
Need is natural and proper. It is natural or proper to have the shoe because it is a fulfilling its intended purpose/need, but it is unnatural to buy a second pair because that need has been fulfilled. Second pair: improper and unnatural. Use the shoe for the primary reason it was made for (wear it) and not for a secondary reason (sell it).
What does Weber say about a change of calling—is it under any circumstances?
Okay if "it is useful for the common good or one's own, and not injurious to anyone, and if it does not lead to unfaithfulness in one of the callings. A useful calling is measured in terms of 1) importance of goods produced in it for the community 2) profit with a purpose. If God shows another way to profit, you must accept his gifts.
Who says: "for that there is far more profit for him personally in injustice than in justice is what every man believes."? Why does he say it?
Plato Plato believed man would do his worst given the option. Gyges Story.
What is Marxian "exchange value"?
Price is decided by the market, ie- water is more expensive in the desert.
. Explain Rand's argument for "money is the root of all evil."
She thinks Money is not the root of evil
Explain Rand's argument for "the love of money is the root of all evil."
She thinks if you do wrong things to gain money,that is wrong and shameful.
Who says that empathy tempers self-interest in commerce? Explain his reasoning
Smith...
Carnegie said most able "men" were the ones who would earn a lot of money and this justified their philanthropic leadership. He based this justification on which belief?
Social Darwinism
Who says: "[Man] has what is peculiar to himself, an inclination to the life of the intellect and of society - 'to know the truth about God and to live in communities.' These activities, which form his life according to the law of nature may be regarded...as indifferent or hostile to the life of the spirit. But the characteristic thought is different. It is that of a synthesis."?
Tawney
During the advance of commercialism in the medieval period, according to Tawney, what did Church choose to do as a response to those who would pursue money in business?
Tell them it was okay to pursue the money, but must follow church rules and regulations
Describe Aristotle's "Thales" story. What is the point of his telling it?
Thales was a philosopher who was being mocked of his poverty, he knew by the stars that next year there would be a great harvest of olives so he hired up all the olive presses and when people needed to use them he could set the price at which they had to pay thus showing that a philosopher could be rich if they wanted to. Aristotle showed this to explain a monopoly and how it was used to get gain.
What does Thoreau believe about consumption, especially of luxuries?
That those luxuries are "hindrances to the elevation of mankind", and hold you back. (they consume your life and ride you like a train)
. What does Thoreau mean when he uses the term "serfs of the soil"?
The "lower" or "laboring" class. They are at the bottom, but make up (98%) of the people, and the top 2% benefit from them. Why should men work 50-60 acres when they surely can't consume that much. You are predetermined.
Tawney says that the Church was opposed to a commercial environment in which finance and trade, legitimate social functions, were transformed into an appetite for more moneymaking. In this, to who's thought is Church sentiment similar to?
The Church's opinion on this issue is similar to Marxism. Marx thought about "just price" was ideal. Without having profit, the appetite for making money would diminish and people would just have to make money on labor, which is an acceptable way to make money and still have salvation.
How is the Columbus mission a joint venture and a market development project?
The church and state are stockholders providing the capital, Joint venture with the king of Indians- they get protection and he gets gold. Positive trade relationship... made market penetration with the new world seeing products they've never seen before. Market development: try and sell as much as possible in as many places as possible.
What are the two reasons that the Catholic Church failed to spiritualize commerce? How did it the Church give rise to capitalism?
The church was highly involved in usury & indulgence. They didn't set a good example for people. The Church took advantage of people by making money on where money could be made (in the form of interest).
How did the Catholic Church of the feudal order respond to "social climbing? Why?
The church was opposed to the climbing of the social ladder into the bourgeois because they claimed Christianity was anti bourgeois.
Carnegie points out that capitalism, despite its benefits, presents some serious problems. He calls them the prices we have to pay. What are they?
The employer cutting costs, rigid casts form, capital and labor don't know each other
Marx writes that "in general, the greater the productiveness of labor, the less is the labor time required of an article." What does he mean?
The faster you do the production, the less you'll charge (if only charging by labor cost) so the less you charge. "less it the amount of labor crystallized in that article, and the less is its value." Low labor=low price, high labor=high price.
What are Rand's views about money, love for money, and the phrase "to make money?"
The more money you have, the more this demonstrates your power to control the things around you.
Why does Plato's Republic promote division of labor—what can it do for people?
The result is "that more things are produced, and better and more easily when one man performs one task according to his nature, at the right moment, and at leisure from other occupations." Social division of labor: Each person or company specializes in one thing, that supports another. The businesses will succeed on interdependence. More jobs are created, costs fall due to efficiency, quality increases, profit margin increases over time, usually keep the price up for profit, but in socialist society priced would fall for betterment
What are the "sumptuary laws?" Did they fail or succeed? Why?
The sumptuary laws are "laws that prevent extravagance in private life by limiting expenditure for clothing, food and furniture." Those laws worked at first and failed later once religion conformed to business. People always go into business since business comes before salvation. Everybody made a lot of money but wasn't allowed to spend it for leisure e.g. you are allowed to buy a boat to go fishing so you can provide food but you can't use it to take a day off and have fun. These laws resulted in the Protestant work ethic and built the infrastructure of America.
What would Carnegie accept as good uses to which surplus wealth can be directed?
There are three ways to dispose of surplus wealth. The first is to leave the money to the families of the descendants. The second is to leave it for public uses after death. The third is to spend wealth during their lives. Carnegie thinks the third way to be most beneficial to the elevation of our race.
What does Smith say about regulating imports through monopolies and tariffs?
They are bad- don't promote growth, because they don't let competition in. More companies= more advertising, increase quality, decrease price, increase employment, increase wealth, increase production, increase consumption.
What was the most probable cause for the Church's failure to direct commerce toward a greater emphasis on salvation?
They were to caught up in their own business - everything was for sale, indulgences, monks lent money at high interest rates
. What does it mean to say that this recession (The Great Recession) is a "deleveraging" recession?
This recession involves people's homes and retirement accounts. It is deleveraging because you watch all of your mutual stocks and bonds lose value, which you have no control over.
Who says: "the mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation."
Thoreau
Who says: "yet not the less, in my case, did I think it worth the while to weave them and instead of studying how to make it worth men's while to buy baskets, I studied rather how to avoid the necessity of selling them."
Thoreau
Which types of moneymaking does Aristotle dislike the most?
Usury- unnatural. Money that makes money on itself is doing nothing for society
Describe Smith's "added value" argument.
Value is added when a product's form is changed. Example of wood: tree has very little value; cut the tree down and make planks and the value of the wood has increased; take those planks and make a cupboard out of them and the value increased again.
What did worldly Protestant asceticism mean according to Weber?
We are not allowed to have spontaneous enjoyment, deny yourself of luxuries
According to Tawney, what are the reasons we have acquisitive societies and do not have functional societies?
Wealth supercedes obligation" (Capitalism, we are motivated by obligation but by desires for wealth.
Who says: "The real moral objection [to money] is to relaxation in the security of possession, the enjoyment of wealth with the consequences of idleness and the temptations of the flesh, above all of distraction from the pursuit of a righteous life"
Weber
Explain the "feudal order" as Weber describes it.
Weber saw class based upon three factors. Power, wealth, and prestige
Why does Thoreau go to the woods? Why does he leave the woods?
Went to get away from the vice of work and to find self-actualization in his own way. Wanted to be in Nature. Left because he had obtained all he intended to learn from the experience and was ready to move on.
According to Emerson, how does poverty affect us?
When you're poor, it makes you do anything to get the money- you're immoral and Deceiving.
How do land, labor, capital and entrepreneurialism factor in to the Columbus mission?
With him as the entrepreneur, it creates the 4 necessities of capitalism: Entrepreneur=Columbus, Capital=ships, oars, men, goods to trade, Land= Hispaniola, Labor=Indians)
What is, according to Emerson, the first thing each person must do for himself and to make society more unified and secure?
Work- "know how to earn a blameless livelihood" "Every man is a consumer and out to be a producer" Add to the common wealth
Is there any relationship between "supply and demand" and the "Great Principle" of Confucius? Explain.
Yes, Finance & Cash move to Cost and Production which moves to Labor and then to Income. Out of Income results Demand and Consumption. All of this is centered on Equalized Distribution. Confucius "Therefore, when the commodity is cheap, it calls forth the demand and raises its price and when it is dear, it calls forth supply, and lowers its price." Confucius believes its natural and not needed to be altered by any higher power.
Describe the Protestant objection to money
You can have money, but they don't want to you use it to buy luxuries because it will make you idle, and when you're idle you're not doing the work of god.
How does Emerson view self-advancement in contrast to self-improvement?
You have to be rich to become a better person. Wealth is infantile until you animate it to create a better order (improvement). Use the things God gave you to create more. Emerson is a capitalist and laizze farre conservatist.
Describe Emerson's "animation" argument.
You must animate the things you buy- using them for a purpose to improve yourself. Buy a computer to learn, not play solitaire
(Fill in the blank) Mannheim says that ¬_____ was the utopic "antithesis" of the founding fathers of the United States.
capitalism
. (Fill in the blanks) Tawney argues that acquisitive societies advance but do not improve because they value _________ _________ more than the obligation to perform ___________ ___________.
economic rights economic functions
Fill in the blanks) Conwell says that god wants us to be rich and that those Christians who see business and wealth-getting as antithetical to biblical doctrine simply misunderstand the phrase "the love of money", "cupiditas est malorum radix" which he says does not mean the pursuit of money but rather the _____of money.
idolization
Fill in the blanks) According to Rockefeller Jr. the soundest industrial policy has in mind the welfare of __________ as well as the making of ___________:
labor money
Which professions does Mandeville cite as corrupt but helpful to the hive? Explain his logic.
lawyers, physicians, Government/kings, military/soldier, Philosophers, church priests (Not positive: But I believe Sandomir said something about they don't produce anything physical (or tangible) and provide services that require them to lie, manipulate or took advantage of those in the hive (which is the opposite of "honesty" and "integrity") and yet they still became wealthy and prospered.
(Fill in the blanks) The late Middle Ages Church fathers concluded that material interests were co-equal to spiritual interest but that this was nothing to fear because "the way of religion is to lead the things which are __________ to the things which are _________ through the things which are _________" thus spiritualizing the world of commerce and material interests.
lower higher intermediate
What limits on commerce best describes the warnings of the medieval Church?
make the money you need, make no more, charge just price. You should own your own personal goods but share your land.
Fill in the blanks) Acquisitive societies can be described as ___________ cosmologies which are __________ centered.
solipsistic self
(Fill in the blanks) Friedman claims that corporate executives work singularly for the________ to make as much money as possible for them in accordance with the law and _______:
stockholder ethical customs
If one takes his allegory seriously, what is Mandeville's belief about commercial society?
vice and virtue need to be married
What are Emerson's measures for business?
• Finance (borrow money to make business work) • Accounting (have a system to know what has happened) • Marketing (once you realize a loss move on- marketing will teach you can't manage nature) • Management (hire people you know with whom you can work, match the hire to the corporate culture) • Production (this is where the spirit is found- literal and figurative ascension)
. Which wants does Emerson say cannot be argued down (he provides a list)?
• Window Shopping • Travel • Technology • Fine Arts: Music, Plays
