Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith and “Communist Manifesto” by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels both address selfishness and its effect on society through social and economic means. In Wealth of Nations, Smith defines wealth as the productivity of a nation and the aspects of a commercial society. “The Communist Manifesto” criticizes the idea behind a capitalist society and talks about the class struggle between the working class and the owners of the means of production. Wealth of Nations and “The Communist Manifesto” both analyze how the selfishness of people affects society, however while Wealth of Nations claims selfishness causes increased productivity and increases wages for all, “The Communist Manifesto” argues that selfishness causes injustice …show more content…
In fact, “by directing that industry in such a manner as its produce may be of the greatest value, he intends only his own gain” (CR 88) wanting to maximize his profit while minimizing his costs. So, instead of increasing the wages of their workers, they would instead keep their wages low and keep the money they earned. The owner wants an “industry that produces the greatest value” (CR 88) which would lead one to infer that they just should not give the workers a salary. However, although the company owners “neither intends to promote the public interest, nor knows how much he is promoting it” (CR 88) because of the need to raise the wages of workers. The industry owners end up being “led by an invisible hand to promote an end which was no part of his intention” (CR 88) which pushes the owners to increase the wages of factory workers to allow them to be able to purchase more products, thus further supporting industries. So, although industry owners can restrict the wages given to the workers, it would only hinder society because they are limiting the amount of money that is in circulation, so the owners are forced to give the employers an increased
Between late June and early July of 1892, 3,500 men began a strike against the nation’s largest steel producing company: Carnegie Steel. The dispute began over a rather serious situation: the lowering of wages from 25 dollars a ton to 22 dollars a ton, a 30 percent difference. This happened due to the lowering market prices of steel during the time. Where steel could be once sold for 25 dollars a ton, it fell to only being sold for 22 dollars, which meant that, due to a 3 year agreement that kept wages at a set rate, workers received 25 dollars for only 22 dollars’ worth of steel. Therefore it is understandable that Carnegie would lower the wages of the factory workers, since “the monthly payroll of the company amounts to $200,000, sometimes exceeding that amount”, while the company actually produced less than that in profits.
Now, that the workers had a comparable wage the workers were able to purchase more goods and services in the economy. Consequently, raising the average salary of the entire steel mill community’s economy. Now, needless to say, this did not last
In theory, raising the minimum wage would lessen America’s dependence on such benefits. If workers are making more money, Hanauer says that workers are spending more, and increasing the demand for more workers as opposed to cutting jobs. Hanauer closes his essay by telling the reader to see the economy as Henry Ford did; an effective economy is one that works for all not just part of the country. ANALYSIS: After reading Nicolas Hanauer’s essay on raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, I take an affirmative stance on this issue. The main reason for siding with Hanauer is that he is thinking about how many people can get an upper hand with a wage increase.
In an effort to stop communism from spreading, the United States and its allies practiced containment. Containment is the act of keeping something harmful under control, this meant that the United States and its allies will get involved if they needed in order to stop communism from spreading. The U.S and its allies managed to help several countries from falling into communism, but they also suffered their hardships and lost many men during a war to protect their allie, South Korea. On February 1946, the United States, State Department received a telegram, the telegram seemed to give of two warnings.
On average a worker would make a few dollars a week, which lead a factory worker from Texas to write President Roosevelt, “ I can’t see for my life President why a man must toil & work his life out in Such factories 10 long hours ever day except Sunday for a small sum of 15 cents to 35 cents per hour & pay the high cost of honest & deason living expences,” (pg 171). This reality of people working for nothing needed to come to a conclusion. In order for the people to receive a higher hourly wage the government needs to implement a law that dictates the minimum amount of money a worker gets paid hourly. This amount needs to be determined based on the cost of living, and in order to prevent people from working for little to nothing in the future it needs to fluctuate with the cost of living. Owners of factories and other business will be upset and not follow the law, and that is why the government will need to be strict and enforce this minimum wage law.
As the workers earn more money, the product they provide increases in worth. Large companies such as McDonald’s and Walmart charge more money for the products consumers buy due to the increase in labor cost (Hawkins). The consumers will have more money from their minimum wage jobs, but products they wish to purchase will cost more leaving the workers at the same place they started. Due to The United States’ supply and demand economy by raising the minimum wage the dollar will decrease in value. Large corporations will not cut their company’s profit or their own paychecks to pay employees more.
Imagine there is a standard, a standard that all labor, service, and other unskilled sectors of employment adhere to. That standard is to only pay the minimum compensation for their employee’s time. Many people, in America, know this as minimum wage. Minimum wage is not sufficient for any person working full time, a 40-hour workweek, to have a large enough income that is considered a living wage or even an income that provides the standard of living. There are two economic principles that are relevant to this topic.
Families as a whole will argue the point that an increase in minimum wages will allow families the abilities to put more food on their tables, while providing the base necessities need in the family. However, most analyses of the minimum wage focus on its unintended employment consequences. (Freeman, 1996) Some major companies have agreed to increase the minimum wages in some States, nevertheless, the amount that the wages have been increased by is not enough to get a family from beneath poverty. Proven the fact that job markets in some cases are not working in the best interest of their employees.
In Andrew Ure’s “The Philosophy of Manufactures,” he shows his support for the Industrial Revolution. Ure believed that all of the improvements in technology made workers’ lives easier. The new technology allows workers to produce more products in less amount of time, which would equal greater productivity, which would then equal more wealth for companies and for the country. Ure makes an argument that the people who work in factories have better lives than those who live and work on farms, because of the advanced technology that factory workers have access to. Ure also presents the argument that factory workers are not necessarily treated unfairly just because they do not receive breaks while at work.
Foundations of Sociology (SOC10010) Mid-Term Essay: Question: ‘’Discuss three main ideas from the Communist Manifesto.’’ Answer: In this essay I have been asked to discuss three main ideas from the ‘’Communist Manifesto’’, written by Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels. To do this I will summarise three main ideas from the text and critically analyse them.
Many politicians, business owners, and citizens hold fast to the belief that heightening the salary attached to minimum wage positions will yield negative benefits for our society. This opinion is supported by three vital view-points. The first can be found in the news article, “The Argument Against Raising Minimum Wage.” It expresses how the enlargement of this payment will take a toll on employment. The document reasons that if the amount of money employees earn is expanded, companies will be less likely to hire as many workers (Huppke).
During the Obama administration there has been a call to rise the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. Those who support the rise claim it is a only “fair” for workers to have a “living wage”. Those who against the rise of the minimum wage say it would have a negative effect on business, small business especially. Business should not mandated to provide to provide a minimum wage based on the governments’ say. In fact I believe the minimum wage should not be raised at all.
Karl Marx was a German philosopher and economist in the 18th century. He is known for his book the Communist Manifesto that was published in 1848. Marx believed that a revolution of the working classes would over throw the capitalist order and creates a classless society. The Industrial Revolutions led to the proletarianization; his partner Friedrich Engels explained why the changes created by the proletarianization of the worker would develop into a huge problem for industrial societies. I do believe that Karl Marx’s vision of communism in the Communist Manifesto could re-emerge as a popular and workable philosophy of social, economic, and political organization.
Poverty is intolerable, and its continued existence in the de jure richest country in the world must be urgently battled; verily, the elimination of the utter misery and inhumanity that is poverty is worth the scraping a few dollars off of a company’s overall profit. That opponents posit businesses’ apparent smothering by the reasonable exactions of the workers proves their callous pedantry. The minimum wage must be raised for the sake of all poor and working class people in the country, as all will be elevated by its
Adam Smith, David Ricardo or Karl Marx are known for many as the pioneers of contemporary economies. Their Work and researches were the bases of most of nowadays economic models used by countries around the world. Adam Smith, David Ricardo and their followers were labeled as the classical economists when later on Karl Marx and his followers were labeled as the Marxists. These two economic schools were some of the biggest in history, but yet differed in many ways. Through this paper, we would discuss the says of the Classical and Marxism schools concerning their views on wages, their different opinions about the theory of value, their sides about capital accumulation and finally the different point of view of the schools regarding the diminishing returns.