The Free Market: Advocates and Critics 4219-SF039
Introduction:
In the United States the free market and private ownership of capital has long been defended as an essential defense against tyranny from government—as something essential for the survival of democracy as well as for the accumulation of wealth and creation of national prosperity.
At the same time there have been those who have criticized the free market as a system that is essentially unfair, exploits workers, creates inequality and hardship for many, and undermines democracy.
This course will explore both the advantages of the free market and examines the arguments against it. We will also examine the empirical evidence to support both sides of the issue.
Particular emphasis will be put on the relationship between government and business, and how the negative effects of the free market have been addressed by attempts at government regulation, progressive taxation, and balancing the interests of capital and labor.
The course will also explore the impact of American culture and tradition on the behavior of both workers and entrepreneurs and their impact on government regulation and taxation. The impact of the peculiar conditions of the United States—its isolation size, openness, and unusual endowment with natural resources will also be examined, as will the role of slavery.
The course will also examine the effect of the rise and fall of concentration of wealth and economic power throughout American history and especially the recent rapid rise in economic inequality.
Course Outline:
First we will consider the historical role of the Market in human economics and how it differs from the concept of the free market. Then we will explore the advantages of the free market, both real and imagined: (1) How is widespread ownership of land and business a protection against government tyranny? What happens when the ownership becomes highly concentrated and unequal? (2) In what way does competition stimulate innovation, efficiency, production? Is innovation always a good idea? Are there sometimes individual and social costs to innovation? Who benefits and who pays the costs of increasing worker productivity and efficiency? (3) How much more variety of goods and services are there because the free market allows people to use their imaginations skills, resources, and desires to make a living to start up new businesses anywhere at any time, helping to meet local needs and local customs, tastes, and preferences? What happens to these unique local businesses when giant manufacturing companies and giant retailers move in? (4) Is the market the most efficient means for distributing scarce resources? What is the definition of efficiency? The assumptions of efficiency? Who benefits? Who pays the costs? (5) Does the free market and competition encourage people to take their personal resources and turn them into more productive uses? (6) How does the free market avoid being harmed by stifling government regulation? Are there times and situations where government regulation is necessary, both for the protection of individuals and society, and for business and business owners? (7) How does the free market compare with central planning? What about worker owned farms, factories, stores, and banking? Government owned enterprises and utilities? (8) Who have been the major advocates of the Free Market? (9) How has the idea of the free market evolved? How does it compare to the concepts of capitalism? Free enterprise? Free trade? (10) What are the assumptions of the Free Market and its advocates? How often do these assumptions actually exist in the real world?
Who have been some of the most important advocates of the Free Market in Europe the US? Among many others we will look at John Locke, Adam Smith, James Madison, Ayn Rand, The US Chamber of Commerce, the National Association of Manufacturers, Lewis F. Powell Jr, Milton Friedman, Alan Greenspan, The National Review, The Heritage Foundation, The Republican Party, Libertarians, The Cato Institute.
Then we will look at the critics of the Free Market over the years, including Karl Marx and the various Marxists, Democrat Socialists in Europe and the US (Norman Thomas), the Trade Union Movement, the Catholic Church in the late 1800s and under Pope Francis today, Social Gospel Protestants from the 1880s, Populists, The Progressive movement in the US in the 1890s and early 1900s, Teddy Roosevelt, Anarchists, Trade Unions, Keynesian economists, FDR, the Coop Movement, and contemporary progressives.
A major part of the course will examine arguments against the free market, including both 21 inescapable moral criticisms of the unregulated free market and 7 long-term practical problems that threaten the system.
Next, we will examine how the past success of the free market (especially after World War II) was supported by religious and other cultural values, private charities, widespread ownership by small businesses and farmers, government regulation, progressive taxation, and government activities—and how these moderating influences have changed over the years with growing concentration of economic ownership, control over government and social institutions, and changing values.
Next we will look at why the free market system has been so widely and uncritically accepted, even by those who suffer most from the way it operates. In a culture that so completely accepts and supports the idea of the free market is it even possible to imagine or support critical thinking and even imagine an alternative?
Finally, we will examine a variety of proposals for reforming or transforming the free market system. Some attention will be given to various political movements and ideas that have been proposed to make the system more equitable and efficient throughout the last 130 years—e.g., populism and the progressive movement, socialism, anarchism, cooperatives, communes, a new free market culture that includes a protection of worker needs (rights for a fair income, housing, health, education and other basic values and protections), a return to family farms and gardens, restoring a postal banking system, breaking up large banks and corporations, restoring anti-trust regulation, and government protection for clean air and water and public health, getting money out of politics, breaking up too-big-to-fail banks and businesses, an end to outsourcing, a transactions tax on Wall Street, more effective taxation of corporations and ending incentives to move jobs abroad, more progressive taxation and closing tax loopholes, major infrastructure investment, economic stimulus packages, more government jobs to fill in when the market fails, an end to privatization, an end to sending jobs abroad, urban renewal, the need to deal with CO2 and global warming, carbon taxes, investment in wind and solar energy and mass transit, retrofitting of housing and factories, more attention to creating a mass media that is more informative and richer in diversity, more investment in public education and universal health care, more attention to protecting the growing number of the elderly, greater public participation in community organizations and a healthy and democratic political life…
Type of course
Prerequisites (description)
Learning outcomes
Purpose of the course: To help the students understand both the advantages and criticisms of the free market system, including (1) the assumptions of the free market system and the conditions under which it has worked, the costs of the system to the environment, the workers, the public, and society, (2) how and why the system has been changing in recent years, and to consider alternative ways of meeting the problems the contemporary system faces, and (3) why the free market system has been so widely and uncritically accepted, even by those who suffer most from the way it operates.
Knowledge
Knows the history of the development of the free market in the United States
Knows the basics of the arguments in favor of the free market in the study of free market economics.
Knows the basics of the arguments critical of the free market in the study of economics
Has a knowledge of the changes that have taken place in the free market and the relations between owners/managers and workers in the last 100 years in the United States
Knows the dynamics of the free market and how it has transformed itself in the last 50 years in the United States
Is aware of the consequences of the growing concentration of ownership and growing inequality in the United States and its consequences for the market and for the lives of people everywhere.
Recognizes the complex ways in which the banks and corporations have managed to increase their power and influence in the United States and world politics.
Is aware of the broad impact of the growing concentration of wealth and power on the functioning of the market and the distribution of income and wealth in the United States and elsewhere in the world
Recognizes the basic relations of ownership and distribution of wealth In the United States
Skills
Is able to analyze the impact of new market forces and propose solutions to problems that they create.
Is able to explain how central the free market has been in changing the real life conditions in American life—economically, socially, culturally.
Has the ability to evaluate the costs and benefits of the market changes for different groups in American society
Has the ability to compare the impact of the concentrated ownership of banks, factories, and the media and their austerity policy preferences in the US with their counterparts in other countries
Competence
Understands the importance and role of American ideas, culture, institutions and environment in developing new economic relationships in the United States and the world economic system
Is prepared for cooperation and group work in understanding the impact of increasingly concentrated market forces on people and societies in the United States and around the world.
Can help others in understanding the importance of market forces in shaping culture and social formations in the United States and the world.
Can help others in understanding the importance of examining the costs and benefits of ongoing changes in the market.
Assessment criteria
Students will be evaluated on the basis of (1) class attendance and participation (25%), (2) a 10 page (double-spaced) term paper dealing with a topic relevant to the course (25%), (3) an annotated bibliography of readings done by the student (25%), (4) a written (fill in the blank) final exam on the last day of the course (25%).
Knowledge
Knows the history of the development of the free market in the United States
Knows the basics of the arguments in favor of the free market in the study of free market economics.
Knows the basics of the arguments critical of the free market in the study of economics
Has a knowledge of the changes that have taken place in the free market and the relations between owners/managers and workers in the last 100 years in the United States
Knows the dynamics of the free market and how it has transformed itself in the last 50 years in the United States
Is aware of the consequences of the growing concentration of ownership and growing inequality in the United States and its consequences for the market and for the lives of people everywhere.
Recognizes the complex ways in which the banks and corporations have managed to increase their power and influence in the United States and world politics.
Is aware of the broad impact of the growing concentration of wealth and power on the functioning of the market and the distribution of income and wealth in the United States and elsewhere in the world
Recognizes the basic relations of ownership and distribution of wealth In the United States
Skills
Is able to analyze the impact of new market forces and propose solutions to problems that they create.
Is able to explain how central the free market has been in changing the real life conditions in American life—economically, socially, culturally.
Has the ability to evaluate the costs and benefits of the market changes for different groups in American society
Has the ability to compare the impact of the concentrated ownership of banks, factories, and the media and their austerity policy preferences in the US with their counterparts in other countries
Competence
Understands the importance and role of American ideas, culture, institutions and environment in developing new economic relationships in the United States and the world economic system
Is prepared for cooperation and group work in understanding the impact of increasingly concentrated market forces on people and societies in the United States and around the world.
Can help others in understanding the importance of market forces in shaping culture and social formations in the United States and the world.
Bibliography
Readings for the course:
Richard D. Wolff, Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It.
Many on-line links, including:
A very well done lecture by the author on his very thought-provoking
book: Richard D. Wolff, Capitalism Hits the Fan: The Global Economic Meltdown and What to Do About It, an hour and 45 minute U-Tube talk, but worth every minute.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TZU3wfjtIJY
Richard Hanauer, billionaire, on job creation,
http://www.upworthy.com/when-they-say-cutting-taxes-on-the-rich-means-job-creation-theyre-lying-just-ask-this-rich-guy?c=ufb2
Excellent overview of government and business regulation history, its ups and downs.
Corporate power, McDomination, Salon, 2/23/14,
http://www.salon.com/2014/02/23/mcdomination_how_corporations_conquered_america_and_ruined_our_health/
Plutocracy the first time around (1870s-80s), Steve Fraser, Moyers 4/6/15,
http://billmoyers.com/2015/04/06/plutocracy-first-time-around/
The corporate conquest of America, Thom Hartmann, Truthout, 4/13/15,
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/376-unequal-protection-the-corporate-conquest-of-america
How big money is buying off private organizations and criticism of big money, Moyers, 4/8/15,
http://billmoyers.com/2015/04/08/big-chill-big-money-buying-criticism-big-money/
The Great American Class War: Plutocracy vs. Democracy, Bill Moyers, 12/13/13,
http://billmoyers.com/2013/12/13/the-great-american-class-war-plutocracy-versus-democracy/
Plutocracy: Political Repression in the US (2015), Films for Action, 11/7/15,
http://www.filmsforaction.org/watch/plutocracy/
Video graphically showing economic inequality in the US, via Mashable, FB 3/3/13,
http://mashable.com/2013/03/02/wealth-inequality/
Another link to the same 6.5 minute video,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPKKQnijnsM&feature=player_embedded
Richard Wilkinson on why inequality is harmful for society and how it affects health, lifespan, trust, etc. TED talk, July 2011:
http://www.ted.com/talks/richard_wilkinson?language=en
Inequality creates more deaths than car crashes, tobacco, and guns combined, Moyers 4/19/14,
http://billmoyers.com/2014/04/19/high-inequality-results-in-more-us-deaths-than-tobacco-car-crashes-and-guns-combined/#.VY1GJPrs9dk.twitter
The human cost of inequality in a neoliberal age, interview with James K Galbraith, Truthout, 11/12/15,
http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/33622-james-k-galbraith-on-the-human-cost-of-inequality-in-the-neoliberal-age
The top 1/10 of 1 percent have as much wealth as the bottom 90% of the population, Bernie Sanders,
http://www.sanders.senate.gov/newsroom/must-read/bernie-sanders-is-right-the-top-01-percent-have-as-much-as-the-bottom-90-percent
The importance of enterprise structure in post-capitalism. Leslie Thatcher interviews Richard Wolff, Truthout, 2/25/14,
http://www.truth-out.org/news/item/22108-richard-wolff-enterprise-structure-is-key-to-the-shape-of-a-post-capitalist-future
Bill Moyers interviews Richard Wolff on Taming Capitalism Run Wild,
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-taming-capitalism-run-wild/
Interesting Truthout article by Richard D. Wolff on the depression era fixes for the crisis of capitalism, the unstated deal that FDR made to substitute giving government jobs in exchange for supporting capitalism and not socialism, and elaboration on the Keynsian vs. neo-classical (now called neo-liberalism) economic debate.
http://truth-out.org/news/item/9026-austerity-vs-keynesian-growth-vs-economic-democracy
Myths of economics 101. Robert Atkinson & Michael Lind, Salon, 7/8/13,
http://www.salon.com/2013/07/08/how_“econ_101”_is_killing_america/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
US wealth distribution, via Robert Reich,
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=769023089776956&set=a.404595876219681.103599.142474049098533&type=1&theater
Capitalism isn’t working, and this is why, Thomas Picketty, The Guardian, 4/12/14,
http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/12/capitalism-isnt-working-thomas-piketty?CMP=fb_gu
Imagine Living in a Socialist USA, Review of new HarperCollins book, Common Dreams, 5/21/14,
http://www.commondreams.org/view/2014/05/21-0
6 things that should never be privatized—running water, prisons, fire departments, social security, medicare, gas and electricity, AlterNet, 5/27/14,
http://www.alternet.org/economy/6-things-should-never-be-privatized?paging=off¤t_page=1#bookmark
Harvard Business Review says today’s businessmen are ignoring the meaning of capitalism, Daily Kos, 6/15/14,
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2014/06/15/1304208/-Harvard-Business-Review-calls-bullshit-on-today-s-capitalists?detail=facebook
Bill Moyers interviews Arthur C. Brooks, Pres, Am. Enterprise Inst., on the Conscience of a Compassionate Conservate, 7/25/14,
http://billmoyers.com/episode/full-show-the-conscience-of-a-compassionate-conservative/
10 reasons to hate capitalism, AlterNet, 8/12/14,
http://www.alternet.org/economy/10-reasons-hate-capitalism
The carnage of capitalism, Paul Buchheit, AlterNet 8/17/14,
http://www.alternet.org/economy/carnage-capitalism
25 images of the free market at work, AlterNet, 2/4/14,
http://www.alternet.org/25-horrifying-images-free-market-work
5 lessons from Naomi Klein’s new book, This Changes Everything: Capitalism vs. the Climate, Moyers,
http://billmoyers.com/2014/09/03/5-crucial-lessons-for-the-left-from-naomi-kleins-new-book/
Socialism and Workers’ Self-Directed Enterprises, Richard D. Wolff, Truthout, 9/21/14,
http://truth-out.org/opinion/item/26323-socialism-and-workers-self-directed-enterprises
The Mondragon alternative to capitalism, Richard Wolff, The Guardian, Films for Action, FB 9/22/14,
http://www.filmsforaction.org/news/yes_there_is_an_alternative_to_capitalism_mondragon_shows_the_way/?utm_content=buffera5826&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_campaign=buffer
What has happened to the American Dream for the world? Common Dreams, 10/30/14,
Statue of Liberty in the Fog, Common Dreams,
http://www.commondreams.org/views/2014/10/30/rise-america-rise
8 biggest victims of America’s predatory capitalist system, Salon, 9/4/13,
http://www.salon.com/2013/09/04/8_biggest_victims_of_americas_predatory_capitalism_partner/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Half Has Never Been Told: Slavery and the Making of American Capitalism—and power, Edward Baptist, Salon, 11/9/14,
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/09/it’s_symbolic_annihilation_of_history_and_it’s_done_for_a_purpose_it_really_enforces_white_supremacy_edward_baptist_on_the_lies_we_tell_about_slavery/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
The hidden history of prosperity, Robert Kuttner, American Prospect, Moyers, 10/8/14, FB 11/9/14,
http://billmoyers.com/2014/10/08/hidden-history-prosperity/
Why people vote against their own economic self-interest, and how the liberals have failed to understand what makes people vote, How right wing churches have turned the 99% into tea partyers, Michael Lerner, Salon, 11/10/14,
http://www.salon.com/2014/11/10/gops_secret_weapon_how_right_wing_churches_turn_the_99_percent_into_the_tea_party/?utm_source=facebook&utm_medium=socialflow
Do we need re re-examine our economic system? Lawrence Mishel, Economic Policy Institute, Moyers, 11/19/14,
http://billmoyers.com/2014/11/19/washington-post-wage-freeze-brain-freeze/
Marcin Jakubowski’s Open Source Ecology Farm in Missouri, and his TED talks on how to make machines (tractors, earth brick making machines) from scratch with his Global Village Construction Set. His TED talks have been translated into 40 languages, including Polish (with subtitles you can select at the beginning of the video)—fascinating:
http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=4&islist=false
His TED talk:
http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/en/marcin_jakubowski.html
The link to Marcin Jakubowski’s Open Ecology page:
http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/Marcin_Jakubowski
Here are the tractor plans:
http://opensourceecology.org/wiki/LifeTrac
Lewis F. Powell, Jr. - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_F._Powell,_Jr.
Jump to Powell Memorandum - [edit]. Based in part on his experiences as a corporate lawyer and as a representative for the tobacco industry with the ...
The Powell Memo (or the Powell Manifesto): Text and Analysis
reclaimdemocracy.org/powell_memo_lewis/
The Powell Memo was first published August 23, 1971. Introduction. In 1971, Lewis Powell, then a corporate lawyer and member of the boards of 11 .
Inequality for All (DVD-2013)
Additional information
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