If We’re Going to Socialize the Losses
September 7th, 2008 by SocProf and tagged economics
Can we stop privatizing the profits as well? Where are the big advocates of the invisible hands and "the market will solve everything"?
Posted in Economy | 4 Comments »
September 7th, 2008 at 10:05 am
Well stated! I think that the logic of ruthless capitalism is the ultimate problem here. The principle of profit over people really disturbs me.Yesterdays, I had a lengthy and fruitfuldiscussion with a South Korean who told me about the major concerns about U.S. Beef being send to his country without the necessary regulation in place. His countries leaders have also bought into the principle of profits over the health and risk concerns of people. I think that we need a serious public re-examination on what grounds profits can be produced in our society.
September 7th, 2008 at 10:10 am
Second part:
Socializing the profits shows the double standard of govt. providing further corporate welfare for the financial fat cats who trust too much in the holy cow of financial markets. It appears that the holy cow is now naked and showing its true nature. It appears that we are heading more and more into direction of state capitalism. Likewise, if we are going to help in that sense, we don’t we go ahead and also fund a universal health care system?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:13 am
Cases like these certainly expose the emptiness of the free market rhetoric, or the hypocrisy of its proponents.
And indeed, regarding double standards, why should corporations receive protection from the state but not individuals? Why are workers basically left to fend for themselves when laid off?
Where is the dependency argument that used to be applied to welfare recipients when it comes to corporations?
September 7th, 2008 at 10:52 am
C,
Just sharing some of current Sociology Teaching Methods.What works for you? In-call Assignments? Library Treasure Hunts? Memos?
Here goes a Structured Discussion Thing that I am currently using for this week i n my Social Problems class.
Class Structured Discussion #1
Class Structured Discussion FAQ’s
What are class structured discussions?
In an effort to better understand our society’s social problems — we will need to hold fruitful class discussions in an organized manner. Everyone will be expected to participate in the discussion and share with the class their memos and/or reactions on the subject. Hence, students should prepare themselves and have read the material before the discussion takes place! If you do not yet have a textbook, you should carefully print-out or study the reading stuff in the DISCUSSION FOLDER on Blackboard.
How are the discussions graded?
First, I will kindly ask for early volunteers to briefly elaborate on the questions that pertain to our structured discussion .The first five students who decide to respond will receive 5 bonus points added to their overall grade .After that, everyone will be individually called on – and the quality of your memo and/or will be noted during your minute or two discussion of the information. This is not get up in front of the class stuff! Rather, it is simply providing your research if called on and when called on. 25 memo points will be given for bringing in the appropriately researched information. I will make sure that everyone has an opportunity to do this. If you don’t raise your hand and don’t try to respond to someone (i.e. NOT discussing or showing any interest with the theme) –or you discuss it in a way that makes me think you haven’t read anything, you will not receive these 25 memo points.
What happens if I miss?
You can replace only *Two* structured discussions throughout the semester and if you miss on the scheduled days I will they require a 2-page typed paper about the subjects we discussed. After excessive misses, you will be asked to write a larger 1000 word paper on the entire chapter or scholarly article provided by the instructor. You should come to my office hours if you are going to miss!
So on to the first fruitful discussion!
We will start this on Wednesday, September 10th
The subject will be — Poverty, Wealth, and Social Inequality
The structured discussion will mostly center on the following points taken from Chapter 2 and extra hand-outs:
• Discussion on how social class affects people’s life chances(e.g. “Working Poor”).
• Discussion on the concentration of wealth and income in the United States today.
• Discussion on progressive and regressive taxes.
• Discussion on the “poverty line” and the “poverty gap.”
• Discussion on poverty statistics according to age, race, gender, family patterns, and residence.
• Discussion on the “FEMINIZATION OF POVERTY”
• Discussion on current child poverty statistics(e.g. UN REPORT).
• Discussion about the underclass with other dimensions of poverty in America.
• Discussion on social problems in the United States that are linked to poverty.
• Discussion on of the history of social welfare in the United States.
• Discussion on the Ulrich Beck article “Capitalism without Work”..
• Discussion on the structural-functional, symbolic-interaction, and Marxist paradigms to the issue of poverty.
• Discussion on criticisms of the functionalist, Marxist, and symbolic interaction perspectives on poverty. .
• Discussion on “liberal” (Democratic) and “conservative” (Republican) perspectives on the subject.