Tuesday, April 3, 2012

T,R 8:25am

16 comments:

Diego Pinzon said...

Everything is up for sale because we will buy anything. If relativism says that what is right is if you approve of it, than the same can be said about marketing and purchasing. If I want it, I will buy it. Thus if I bought it, I must think it is right for it to be sold to me.

In a market economy, demand is the driving force behind companies producing more supply.

I highly disagree with Sue Bond when she says "A poor woman 'choosing' to sell her ova or rent out her uterus so her family can have somewhere to live or her children get an education is not a 'choice'. Rich women don't make these 'choices', because they don't have to. " IF A POOR WOMAN SELLS HER OVA WHO IS THERE TO PURCHASE IT? ANOTHER POOR WOMAN? NO! A RICH WOMAN!

sorry to yell but that was so blatantly flawed.

We sell it. We buy it. In the end, like our friend Jean-Paul Sartre said "We are our choices."

AAA said...

us as humans we put a price on almost everything maybe even inculding our souls, which would make sense accoring to the saying, "sold his/her to the devil" so i think everything is for sale even though it shouldnt be the case.

- andy ermilus

Dayron Miranda said...

I can’t disagree with Sandel about the important character played by bankers and Wall Street executives in the economic resection affecting us nowadays. However, I would like to emphasize on the social part, the public debate, because bankers and executive are not the only responsible, we as a society in general are also overwhelming desire for more, and even worst we are ignorant about the subject. “Take the most that you can, let them worry from getting back,” is music for our hearing sense, and we use it as an anthem to justify our unjustified expenses. Let’s change our old house, old car, old furniture and old phone that we bought last year. It is that mentality, what betray us, and set us in the crisis. We already know that famous people, singers, actors, and professional players make millions and millions of dollars every year, but we prefer to annul building a school rather than build a Marlin’s Stadium ($515 millions). It is time to stop being egocentric and dig deeper into moral concepts before “American Dream” becomes “American Nightmare”

Anonymous said...

I agree with a lot that Dayron has said. I think greed from bankers and Wall Street got to where it is because we, the average citizen, allowed them to (steal billions of dollars from their "clients"). I certainly think that bankers and Wall Street need to reign in their greed, take responsibility for their actions, and conduct business with a significantly greater amount of integrity. But I think the average citizen needs to do the same. We allow bankers, Wall Street, Ponzi schemers, politicians,etc to get away with their lack of integrity and morals. It's not like it only happened once and we were taken by surprise, but it has happened to the general public many times. When do we stop pointing our fingers at them and start pointing at ourselves. It comes back to the old saying, "Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me again, shame on me." The degradation of morals, dignity, and integrity, combined with greed (not just bankers, politicians, etc) is the main factor in most of the problems that we now face.

-Blair Mrachek

Denise Monteiro said...

I agree with they said, we are a generation of consumers. Our society always wants to have the newest products, cars, phones, clothes and so on. The people don’t know the value of things; they don’t care about spending all their income in unnecessary things. The problem is not only the Wall Street; it is also the people too. For instance, the people that bought the houses and lost them on the crisis, if they had bought a home that they could really afford, it would not have happened. Also, the banks did not care much about it. They wanted to sell their loans and make money. The big companies will always do whatever they want, they even control the government. We do need to have, like you said, more public debate and show that we, the citizens, have a voice.

Isaac Camargo said...

I would have to agree with Sue that greed was the major factor that led to irresponsible risk-taking. Greed may not increase but it is the force that spreads markets into new areas. People are always looking for new ways to increase growth and expanding is usually the best way. Greed was what motivated the Wall Street firms to place bets on bets, to invest borrowed money and to not fully weigh the consequences of those bets. Though the crisis was major, it was definitely a well-needed correction that happens daily in the market place, just not as massive as the 2007, 2000, 1987... 1930 crashes. Greed is what pushes the market up and fear is what drives it down. To conclude, I do not frown upon greed as it is a key factor in any striving company or country, I just agree with Sue that it is what drove the market to take irresponsible risk-taking. As with everything, excessive greediness will do more harm than good.

-Isaac Camargo

Anonymous said...

Morality is the distinction between right and wrong and what is right to some is not right to others. How is this possible? It is possible through religion, culture, society, etc. From 20th century to 21st century civilization has evolved tremendously. People’s beliefs began to not be by religion but through free will. What makes a person free is what he/she would like to do in their life. To be free there are limitations but with money one can do just about anything in the world.
The way of working for money is different to everyone. Some people want fast cash and no strings attach so they do what religious people believe is morally corrupt. Due to the free will we have been provided, people think of inhumane things to do such as selling space in the air to pollute for large companies. Also, instead of charging, society is paying people to do certain things such as paying children to read or human guinea pigs. These all result to dependency. If society gives money to do certain things then you are no longer doing what you want but what you need to do to survive with money. If the incentive of reading is getting paid than there is no reason to read for fun.
As the world progresses, mankind finds new discoveries, more things to sell or provide. We have evolved quickly after learning about the wheel and things don’t ever slow down. When there is a New Year people want to see new things. Lets take the company Apple as an example, it started with computers then developed to phones, tablets, televisions, and laptops. Apple created the phone “iPhone” and since it was made they have refined it yearly. Sadly, society buys the yearly upgrade because it has one new feature. The want of an object is no longer felt like a want but a need. I have seen people lost without their phones, but we once lived in a world with only nature. I don’t understand why people put a price to anything they can think of without caring how ridicules it is, as long as they can benefit from it in some way it is worth everything. Soon people will regulate walking or breathing and the money we earn will be for life or death.

-Rebecca Soza

Anonymous said...

Greed was the motivation for the bankers in wallstreet but I will argue that they only got away with it because the government let them.

Even so, those who took the mortgages were irresponsible; its their fault. Its your job to educate yourself, lets not get caught up in pointing fingers when the truth is that the government was corrupt (they let it happen), but nothing stopped us from taking loans we couldn't afford.
-Jonathan Kohn

Daniel Gonzalez said...

I believe the increasingly self-centered attitude of this country (America) has been clearly contributing to recent socio-economic collapse (from my perspective). I feel we are taking many of the negative aspects of capitalism, such as valuing one's personal gain over others' well-being, without appreciating what makes capitalism work in some of the "best" countries on earth, as far as GDP and Standard of Living are concerned. With our culture so entrenched on the idea that we should place ourselves and our own immediate interests above others, our society is becoming increasingly alienated from itself, and the populace is becoming increasingly hostile towards other members of society. In contrast, the social ambiance of countries like Switzerland, Norway, Finland, and Germany has been successful in toning down capitalistic vibes, like "everything has a price" and "my interests supersede others'," by seeking pleasure and fulfillment from things other than making as much money in as little time as possible.
As long as we continue on this cut-throat trail to making money and bringing others around us down, I think our society (and possibly our economy) will be going down with them.

Anonymous said...

Everything for sale, how right they are. Marketing is more prevalent in our society than it ever was before and it's all because of the "mean the green" , money rules the world, everything we do is for the almighty dollar. Wether we want to admit it or not, selfishness and greed is what makes out country great, it defines us. We as American's want to have our hands on everything, we all want to live some sort of the american dream.
In contrast of what we discussed in class I do believe that egoism is right as evidence of our world today. Let's take a look at why everything is for sale. I think it's mainly because of egoism. Wall Street banker's aside there is a need for money in this world, the more money you have the more comfortably you can live. Some however are not content with what they have and are never satisfied which is why I think everything is for sale. We all are looking to make a quick buck. Fortune 500 companies have mastered this on a large scale by purchasing and making available products and advertisement which confront you around every corner and once they become a dominant figure in the public is when they have you. As I've said before money rules the world and money is power.

--Desmond Ford

Anonymous said...

I agree with Dayron and Blair. Overall, as consumers we allow ourselves to get lied to by bankers and wall street. Greed drives them to do what they do. Both the market and the consumers are at fault.

-Rosseline Diaz

Jonathan F said...

While I agree that greed took a part in the collapse. I attribute it more to arrogance and lack of foresight from the individual. Ignorance. We pay off loans with more loans. Government does this, Corporations do this, and individuals do this. I don't agree that the debate should be about where markets belong and where they don't. That just creates more regulation and less breathing, less space for people to grow and learn. Instead, make an effort to bring people to a realization about them.

America is often in a war between the rich and poor. It should be the intelligent vs ignorant. And when Intelligence has won, you will be poor because you have chosen it.

Anonymous said...

The fact that just about anything can be bought these days only shows me how much the gap between classes is widening. The wealthy are able to buy just about anything because they have the money to do it. The poor in this world are the one that suffer for it. The only reason they are willing to sell just about anything is because they are so starved for income. The wealthy are definitely the one's at fault here. For a perfect example of just how bad this situation is getting, you only need to look at our politicians. Candidates spend millions of dollars to run there campaign. That money spent has a big impact on whether or not a candidate is going to win.
-Scott

Anonymous said...

http://imgur.com/500JM

Cami029 said...

Totally agree with Denise that our society thrives on buying the latest product out there. Its like our society has the need to consume really worthless and things we as individuals don't necessarily need. The whole issue with wallstreet and banks, is that money drives these people. It's like money is what controls their every thought and action. They want more money and get money from us the people, and we in a way let them. This society is so brain washed with trying to have the next big car, or the latest iphone, that they don't even think about whether they could even afford such things.

Stephanie Weisson said...

I tend to agree with Sandel...the desire to own and to have has spiraled out of control from Wall Street to our own closets. Is this greed? I believe it is. More and More we see people needing "more." We do not need 100 pairs of designer shoes in our closets but every month at the store we see a new pair, which is prettier than the one we bought last month. Same goes for cellphones, electronics, cars, and
megamansions...I think we have become an irresponsible society who tends to focus more on what we have than who we are. We are judged for the wrong reasons. Women prefer to go out on a date with a guy in a
porsche than a guy in a 1980 ford. The guy with the ford may be a great guy, but, bottom line he drives an old car. It is sad were society has gone these last few decades. In Wall Street most of the irresponsible acts committed were done in the name of "MORE"..more money, more goods, more power, more fame...Will it ever stop with people? I do not think so. Greed has existed since the beginning of time. You give man something to desire and there will always be greed. You can try to stop it but I believe you cant. As long as Man exists, Greed will follow.