Our group talked about how many of these broad topics relate to the others. We also came up with more specific topics that could fit under one of the broad categories. Moving Mountains relates to the broader topic of "On the Margins" because many people in eastern Kentucky communities are ignored for the benefit of the coal industry. The actions of coal companies often disregard the effects they will have on people that live in the area of the coal mine.
I'm interested in exploring the Community/Economics topic, because I have noticed a lot of tension between my two classes this semester: Economics 101 and English 101. My Economics class is mostly from the perspective of capitalism being the model of a healthy economy. However, capitalism is based on a system of using more, buying more, and selling more. Basically, more is always better. If left unchecked, this free market model produces problems that can be seen in many of the articles we have read in English class. We can see that if making more money is the top priority, it often comes at the expense of the well-being of people and the natural environment. This conflict of interests leads to some interesting questions. For example, does a minimum wage law actually harm the people it's supposed to help, as many economists claim, because it messes with the free market economy? They say that hurting the economy ultimately hurts poor people. My question for these economists is, what alternative do they propose? How would it not include some people getting paid a wage they can't live on?
No comments:
Post a Comment