Some videos about industrial capitalism

Here you have some videos about Adam Smith's ideas and industrial capitalism. Some of them also include Marx's ideas. We'll study this next week.

On this link you have a short video that explains the concept of capitalism: 

http://www.investopedia.com/video/play/capitalism/

- Adam Smith's ideas, from the Political Theory channel: 

- Crash course, by John Green

This is a video made by a student and it's really complete, although there are some wrong ideas at the end, when she talks about the accomplishment of Marx's predictions:  

- And this is an explanation by David Harvey about crises of capitalism: 

Debate: some questions to think about our current economic system

Source: http://www.socialpolicyconnections.com.au/?p=4119 

As we are studying the consolidation of capitalism in class, I think it could be interesting that you express your opinion about some current news about the predominiant economic system in the world. There have been several interesting interventions about this topic in class and I've thought that maybe some of you would like to think more about it. I've read some recent articles that give an overview of how the economic system works. Here you have the links and some questions to think about: 

- INEQUALITY: A report  by Oxfam says that 1% of the world population holds  half of the global wealth. Next year 1% of the population with own more wealth than the other 99%: 

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2015/jan/19/global-wealth-oxfam-inequality-davos-economic-summit-switzerland

Source: http://www.oxfam.org/es/campanas/iguales/actua-contra-la-desigualdad-logremos-un-sistema-fiscal-mas-justo

My questions: 

How much is it necessary to have a good life? Do people need to accumulate capital in such way? How could wealth be distributed in a better way?

- POVERTY: many people think that poverty is a matter of will and poor people have this situation because they don't make an effort to improve. But the fact is that many poor people are workers, people who struggle, but don't make ends meet. Here you have a link about this fact in Spain. We don't have to look to other countries to find many poor people around:

http://www.eldiario.es/economia/crecimiento-PIB-basta-reducir-pobreza_0_355214906.html

http://www.publico.es/politica/mas-12-millones-espanoles-riesgo.html

My questions: 

Is it fair that people who work don't even get the minimum resources to survive? Do you think poor people have what they deserve?  

- PRIVILEGES: We studied in class that privileges disappeared with the Ancien Régime and now we all are equal before the law. But everyday the news show us cases of privileges, of unequal treatment to people depending on their origin or economic resources. Here you have another recent example: 

http://cincodias.com/cincodias/2015/02/10/economia/1423596666_244639.html

Source: http://www.enemyofdebt.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/06/99-percent.jpg

My question: 

Can we say that privileges have disappeared or are we rather living in a new-feudal society?

- ECONOMIC GROWTH: rulers say that economic growth is good for the country and the people. Economic growth is always measured in terms of  percentage of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP). But there are countries with high economic growth whose population doesn't receive any benefit from this growth.

http://www.expansion.com/2015/01/20/economia/1421724578.html

Source: http://www.ektitli.org/2011/05/13/economic-development-vs-environment/




Source: http://elpais.com/elpais/2015/02/11/vinetas/1423674518_174612.html

My questions: 

What about the people? What happens if economic growth is high, but most of the population can't enjoy it? Is this good for humanity? What if economic growth endangers the survival of some species or the planet?

What would be the alternative for you? Could you think of a better economic system or the features a perfect economic system should have?

Come on! Dare to think!

What happened to Detroit?

Detroit's bankruptcy has been one of the most significant news of this summer. The municipality owes around 20,000 million dollars to around 100,000 creditors

For every dollar the municipality collects, 38 cents are destined to pay the big debt created as a result of the municipal bonds sold to face the expenses of the city. In four years they will have to use 65 cents of each dollar to pay the debt. But how did Detroit get into such a big debt?

There are several reasons: one part of the debt comes from corruption cases. Detroit’s former mayor Kwame Kilpatrick, who ruled from 2002 to 2008, was sentenced to jail for corruption, racketeering, bribery, extortion, tax evasion and fraud. But the main reason for Detroit’s bankruptcy comes from the decline of its economy.  In the 1950s Detroit was the 4^th city of the USA. It reached 2 million inhabitants and was worldly known as Motor City, because of the concentration of automotive industries in the area: Ford, General Motors, Chrysler and a lot of auxiliary industries.  When these big companies started moving production to other parts of the world in the 1970s, unemployment started to increase. Many other companies had to close, as a consequence of the purchasing power reduction and the city started losing population. Detroit has lost around 60% of its population since the 50s. At the moment the inhabitants are around 700,000, 80% of which are black. The unemployment rate is 18.3%, double than the USA rate.

The decline of economic activity and the loss of population have resulted in a reduction of the public incomes. The municipality collects less taxes and has less money to provide public services. Many public buildings have been abandoned:  schools, stations, theaters, concert halls, libraries…Images of public buildings decay and the deterioration of infrastructures show the sad face of past full of life places.

Former school

Former public library

Former police station

Packard Motors Plant

Source of the pictures: The Ruins of Detroit, photo exhibition by Yves Marchand and Romain Meffre: 

http://www.marchandmeffre.com/detroit/index.html

The city’s economic difficulties also affect the inhabitants’ ordinary life. The municipality doesn’t have money for ambulances, police agents or fire workers. The average time of response of the emergency services is 58 minutes. Criminality and insecurity have grown and Detroit is considered to be the most dangerous city in the USA.

The financial situation of the city is so extreme that the emergency manager in charge of reducing the debt of the city has ordered an evaluation of the 60,000 works of art the public museums of the city own. In fact, all the properties of the city are being assessed to know their economic value and put them "in the market". 

http://www.reuters.com/article/2013/08/08/us-usa-detroit-artmuseum-idUSBRE97701F20130808

http://tv.msnbc.com/2013/08/12/would-paris-sell-the-mona-lisa-new-fears-that-detroit-will-sell-its-treasures/

The situation is awful, but there are still some initiatives to start recovering the city, like The Greening of Detroit. 

If you want to learn more about Detroit's decline, read the following link: 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Decline_of_Detroit#1950s_to_1960s_freeway_construction