Economic Freedom

Sorry this is late; I had a few technical difficulties.

Much like how my fellow classmates have written, I have never put much thought in the process needed in order for me to purchase my clothes. Much like a carbon footprint our products move through different channels. Rivoli educated myself when she discussed how used clothing was our country’s biggest export.

In her presentation she did a wonderful job to show how people in our world if given the power to write the rules, will usually write the rules to protect themselves. When she acknowledged our nations “cotton tenure” these farmers are protected by government subsidies, which prohibit capitalism and limit competition in the global economy. This is a very interesting concept, which can be translated into many facets of our world, and culture. There are countless examples in our world today where the people in charge write the rules to only protect themselves, or influence the people to write the rules in their favor. Essentially it is lobbying. Everyone who takes part in this in a global economic sense these people who lobby and change the rules are taking their economic freedom into their own hands. In a sense whoever controls the laws prohibit the economic freedom of others.

One subject in the U.S. news is the current situation within the automobile industry. The big three auto companies consist of Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler. With stock prices below $10 the auto industry was seizing money. In the article here we see how the auto companies received a bailout. This was about 4 months ago. Now almost three months into the New Year we find that they did not manage the bailout money, and need another government handout. They are failing in our economy, and are claiming they need more money to fix their problems. In the end they are just trying to increase their chances of staying in business. However by receiving another government bailout, it will affect every single taxpayer. Our hard earned money is being given out at an alarming rate, and in the end we will only have to pay more taxes. We are in a terrible downward spiral.

Since we are discussing bailouts, I would like to pay attention to a bailout that would have a direct affect on the people who need it most. The housing bailout will help people refinance their mortgages, and give a little bit more freedom to stimulate the economy on their own terms. This Huffington Post article has all of the info. Ravioli’s concept of the tenure professor structure is what I have focused on, and how usually the people lobbying for their own economic freedom prohibit others. In this case with the housing bailout the American people are fighting for their economic freedom, and with this plan they are able to increase their freedom, but not limit anyone else.