American Dream Effects

America, the capital of capitalism, was built on the principle of earing a large income if one was determined and put enough effort. This ideal was coined the American Dream which has a direct correlation to capitalism. Capitalism according to Merriam-Webster is a way of organizing an economy so that the things that are used to make and transport products are owned by individual people and companies rather than by a government. People have the opportunity to make all money in the world if they work hard and the government has little control over a business. But is this dream dying out? With the rise in corporations, one can see the detrimental effects that they bring. A corporation is “a large business or organization that under the law

The environment, which is an externality, is effected by the large amount of pollution that corporations produce. An externality is “a secondary or unintended consequence.” (Merriam-Webster) As big business continue to produce vast quantities of goods, they drain natural resources, add tons of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere, and have no consideration for the land humans live on. In the movie The Corporation it is disused that many habitats are being destroyed which cause many species to become extinct. (Landau) For, example corporations are cutting down forests to produce goods. These forests will take decades to regrow and the millions of animals that just had their habitat destroyed will most likely be unable to adapt to a new environment. After years of research, scientists have found out that “every living system is declining.” (Landau) Every inch of the Earth is feeling the effect of pollution. Because of the fossil fuels that are constantly being burnt, has caused the Earth to heat up, air quality goes down, and many other problems. “Many large corporations have opposed climate change treaties seemingly afraid of profit impacts if they have to make substantial changes to how they do business.” (Shah) Corporations will not change the way they produce goods even if it kills our environment, because it might lower profit. The damage that big business brings is horrid and will be irreversible at some

In “third world countries workers only get paid one third of one percent of retain cost.” (Landau) Which means if a good cost one hundred dollars the worker is only earing thirty three cents. Since “the workers are paid nothing” they “will never gain any financial capital.” (Lovel) This lack of payment is what adds to the gap in inequality and shows the insensitive behavior of multinational corporations. The foundation of this problem is the fact that capitalist “think with” their “wallet not” their “hearts.” (Ludwick) A prime example of this is when Monsanto released pesticides in Vietnam, causing horrific birth defects to the native people and some American GI’s. Monsanto had to forfeit millions of dollars but none of the Vietnamese people saw any of it and the corporation never said it was guilty. (Landau) Since the Vietnamese were poor and had no voice they received nothing and the whole situation was looked over.Another example of this is when multinational corporations drained all the oil in Nigeria and “backed the military to harass, even kill, local people who continue to protest at the environmental and other problems the activities of the various oil companies have caused.” (Shah) Corporations are willing to kill their own kind just to make a profit and exploit others to do their dirty