Final Exam Flashcards
(26 cards)
Bretton Woods System
int. monetary system based on a fixed exchange rate (pegged to gold)
- stability in exchange rates + relations w/countries
- avoiding speculative practices + long-term investments incentivized
LATER = floating exchange rate - rate of currency set by supply and demand
Implications:
- lifitng capital controls
- capital: more mobile, convertable+global
- surge in outflow of american capital
- beginning of competitive currency devaluations
- intensification of competition for american manufacturing
- new volatility to the global economy
Andrew Carnegie
PROBLEM not distribution BUT administration of wealth to secure prosperity for corps/elite
–> opposed inheritance
rich man = trustee (owning wealth on behalf of someone)
- taxation = increasing tax on monied people after death to put the money into use or would sit idle
- charity (poor for a reason - Darwinism)
- philanthropy - should depend on aggregation of wealth [corporate scale] to invest in city
- called on the wealthy to use their wealth to improve society
*inequality + class strife
Congress of Industrial Organizations
- organized based on industry instead of craft primarily due to workers not reaping the gains of producing the goods (wages low)
^ ALL workers in the entire industry, regardless of skill level who’ve been ignored by most unions - supported FDR + ND
- revolutionized the American labor movement by organizing unskilled workers across industries
^ expanded union membership + improved working conditions
**SIGNFICANCE = shift in power dyanmics between employers & employees (more employee focused)
- contributed to…improved wages, benefits, and safer working conditions + overall labor improvements for industrial workers
Corporate Property
- rise of a new social economic unit…corporations take place as the household and gov
^ growth of inequality – disparities between consumer and corps - foundation for businesses/corps to participate in the free market = driving force for capitalistic behavior
—> incentive to invest (in assets) to generate profits
—> market competition - price pressures = better products/services
—> capital accumulation - maximizing productivity
—> shareholder value - companies maximzing returns for shareholders
Crop Lien
(exploitive system) legal claim for a debt through crops that favored creditors (through contracts)
- upcountry store keepers demanded cash/cotton = farmers devoted more time to produce –> less time to produce necessities
–> impacted farmers’ economic stability – in a constant cycle of debt – high interest rates + inflated prices for necessary farming goods
- allowed farmers to obtain supplies on credit from merchants –> debt was paid after crops harvested/bought to market
- wealthy planter class contained former slaves and poor white people in debt
(landowners and merchants) - consequence: farmers would owe more than their crop was worth (economic slavery replaced legal slavery) + hindered economic progress in the south = no tech or market advancements
^ evident today in the south –> rural areas grapple with poverty and limited access to resources
Charles Macune
- advocated for farmers’ rights = subtreasury plan –> low-cost credit to farmers through government owned warehouses (store/receieve loans based on value = financial support)
-believed black/white farmers go through the same processes (produce same crops_ = go hand-in-hand and shouldn’t be separated (business wise)
–> racailly together to solve debt problems
- central problem = debt –> fix = come racially together (economically)
Cherokees, Chickasaws, Choctaws, and Creeks
- actively adapted to the market economy by adopting european practices
^ private property ownership, large-scale agriculture, & participation in trade + slavery - developed extensive economic ties w/whites and/or assimilated into settler culture
- land (value) variations + contract of sale - different promises
^ speculators took advantage of Indian tribes to sell land below-value - failed to prevent their displacement during the Indian removal era
Chicago Stockyard
(animal-industrial complex) –> important for the economic development of CHI
- transformed America’s relationship to meat
^ Industrialized meat production / distribution - changing relationship between consumers and meat
^ before: meat was from local farms + butchered by farmer/local market
^ Stockyards made it possible for meat to be shipped from across the country to the consumer as packaged cut meat
–> Prosperity from railroads / refrigerated rail cars
- influenced attitudes toward animals – how we thought about food; tourist attraction
^ workers’ impact = needs/safety issues - beginning of mass industrialization = assembly line
Henry George
- agrarian radical – concerned with ownership of poverty
- concerned about how people own land as a financial asset (speculation) + rising rents by monopolizing people
–> Believe in a 100% tax on rising rent on land not improved + redistribute collectively to people (“single tax”) - problem: workers have to pay high prices while having low wages
- remedy problem of progress and poverty = single tax
- believed people should own the value they produce themselves + economic value of land should belong equally to all
Skidmore comparison:
- unequal inheritance of land = every should have an equal right to indepndence
Glass-Steagall Act
- creation of a strict separation between commercial banking (lending to consumers) & and investment banking (market for bonds/stocks) to PREVENT BANK FAILURES
^ preventing commercial banks from engaging in risky investments w/the aim of stabilizing financial system by minimizing conflicts of interest
- considered crucial for a stable capitalist economy
^ protect consumers’ deposited money + maintaining trust in banking system
Grain Elevator
(tech) for storing grain –> sorting into different grades/categories
^ helped move grain efficiently, in less time through rails
- helped reduce price fluctuations & storage issues
**SIGNIFICANCE: farmers were being alienated from controlling their own products/goods
^ owned a certain quality of grain, NOT the actual product
^ Grain became monetized (rights to sell become a commodity)
- made speculation possible –> buying wheat in the future
Johnson v. M’Intosh
natives have a legal right to occupy land BUT US gov has the power (underlying claim) to acquire land (right of discovery)
–> the conquerer has the right to the land (whoever discovered it first) = discovery gave exclusive rights to acquire land by conquest
- recognized the exclusive power of gov
John Maynard Keynes
scarcity problem - labor isn’t catching up to the present
^ purchasing power + rich people problem
–> purchasing power CRUCIAL to sustain producitity + prosperity
- tech unemployment = low demand for workers –> rise in machinery taking over
- advocates working less, earning more PLUS federal spending to mitigate downturns in business cycles
- focused on distributing wealth, NOT accumulating
- emphasized gov intervention to promote demand through spending, ESPECIALLY during economic downturn
^ Countercyclical spending = increasing spending, cutting taxes to stimulate the economy - military Keynesian = increasing military spending to stimulate economic growth
Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC)
ability to influence oil prices / oil market stability and the global economy
- restrictions in oil production (1973-1979) led to an increase in oil prices
implications:
- inflation
- gas rationing
- slowdown in productivity growth (deindustrialization)
- recession (high unemployment)
Powell Memo
- outlines ways businesses should defend/counterattack against broad attacks
^ Defending corporate interests through collective action interests (b/c this attack is a threat to ALL business leaders) - “free enterprise” = more freedom w/in businesses = undue regulations/gov restraints
- students, courts, shareholders, public, costs, & politics = vehicles for anti-capitalist sentiment impacting free enterprise system
^ attack from left-wing radicals - relation to neoliberalism = corporations with unlimited rights – no restraints (focusing politically)
Prospective Payment System
- incentivizes cost-efficiency & quality control w/in a market based healthcare system
- [medicare/medicaid] provides hospitals a fixed amount per patient diagnosis, regardless of the actual cost of treatment
^ operates more efficiently to maximize profits
^ minimizes unnecessary services + optimizes resource allocation
^ Acute care = minimizes the length of stay - medicare/Medicaid tells hospitals how much it costs instead of the other way around
^ before = cost-plus system that added markups to the fixed total, giving hospitals more leeway for gain (long-term care)
** SIGNIFICANCE: commodifying treatment
- emphasizing the most expensive treatments to maximize profits
^ inequality (hospital consolidation) –> MARKET COMPETITION (community vs. academic hospitals)
Franklin D Roosevelt
- recognized the massive inequality
^ Crisis won’t fix itself – favored unions - viewed corporations as tyrants (economic royalists)
^ People are hurting, similar to how colonists were treated by royalists in the American Revolution - privileged capitalists ruling over others
^ calling for freedom from the tyranny of businesses - people are suffering over special privilege in the marketplace
^ no free purchasing power + power in the hands of a few (NEED MORE representation) - combatted the Great Depression
Sharecropping
Landowner allows tenant (poor farmers) to use their land in return for a share of their crops produced working the land
- exploited labor + black farmers –> unfair contracts + laws making it difficult to sell crops/move away
- Gave freed black people a sense of autonomy after the end of slavery + ability to work toward owning their own land
IN ESSENCE = a system that allowed landowners to control land and labor that trapped the workforce (tenants) in a cycle of debt + limited economic mobility
BUT still contributed to the capitalistic system by selling agricultural goods
HIGHLIGHTED power imbalances and inequalities (social hierarchy)
Substantive Due Process
property rights can’t be infringed by the gov w/o due process (5/14th amendments)
–> right to contract as a protected interest
- gov recognized corps. as an entity AND as individuals (essentially giving corps the same rights as people)
- those running corps are actors in their own right…movement away from restrictions
–> courts striked down labor laws regulating workers’ conditions = favoring corps at the expense of workers
–> courts viewed the freedom to enter into contracts as a fundamental right
^ used by corps to challenge regulations
**economic inequality – disproportionately benefiting large corps and limiting gov regulation in the market
Subtreasury Plan
(farmers alliance + populist party)
- sought to revolutionize rural credit
^ burdens/profits of agricultural credit from local lenders to gov
–> providing farmers w/greater access to cheap capital/loans secured by their crops/land - create more fair markets
^ more competition/financial independence for farmers
–> storing crops in gov-owned warehouses until prices were favorable to sell + recevive paper money in equivalence to the market price of what was stored
——> low-interest gov loans
——> Certificates of deposits could be taken to the country store to “cash in” instead of borrowing money - propelled farmers to create a new political party
- fed gov substituted banks - poor farmers dependent
Volcker Shock
—federal reserve—
- raised interest rates to combat high inflation = led to recession –> not enough money circulating (no purchasing power) b/c of high unemployment
EFFECT = discouraged demand and slowed US economy –> credit became more expensive for households/businesses
^ economic inequality, shift to serve sector from manufacturing
Workers’ Compensation
** Acknowledging dangers of job can lead to injury = employers will pay workers for time off until their recovery to avoid unnecessary lawsuits
- ends the hassle of lawsuits to not interfere w/business
- evolved during the progressive era
^ response to dangerous working coditios + lack of adequare protection for injured workers - reduces employer liability
- prevents financial harships for injured employees
- increased incentive for safer workplace conditions
- economic & social stability between employers/employees (reducing disruptions)
United Steelworkers of America
- union representing workers in many industries
- believed fair wages are essential to a thriving capitalist economy
- worked to preserve jobs, increase wages, and improve working conditions through legislation
National Recovery Administration
(shift away from laissez-faire economics)
- major [direct] government intervention to regulate industries by establishing ‘codes’ to stabilize the economy
- patriotism: every business needs to compete for its fraction + how to solve problems
- aim: fair trade practices, minimum wages, maximum hours, right to collective bargaining
–> increased labor unionization - effort to prevent [self] destructive price competition + overproduction
- broker state…gov acting as a broker between industries
- opposition: favored big corps. – set standards unachievable by small corps. & didn’t effectively stimulate economic recovery
