Deck 14: Is Everything for Sale?: The Future of the Free Market

Question 1

How does capitalism harm us? List ten ways in which capitalism has harmed you specifically. Now list ten specific ways in which it has helped you.

Answer 1

No Answer

Question 2

Is consumption a vice? What is the difference between ordinary consumption and conspicuous consumption?

Answer 2

No Answer

Question 3

What is the meaning and morality of money? Is it good, bad, both, or neither? Explain your answer.

Answer 3

No Answer

Question 4

What are the basic values of capitalism (efficiency, for example, has sometimes been offered as a candidate, as has freedom)? List as many as you can think of. Can you imagine another form of wealth distribution that would preserve these values? Which values would be lost in a communist society? In a slave-owning society?

Question 5

Argue that present-day America has some parallels with a slave-owning society. Now show three flaws with your argument. Is there any virtue to your argument at all? Must all societies have some form of a (albeit watered-down) slave class? Explain your answer.

Question 6

Has capitalism triumphed? If so, why has capitalism triumphed? Explain your answer with reference to this chapter.

Question 7

Argue that all forms of property should be eliminated from society.

Question 8

What are the greatest dangers of capitalism? How can capitalism be improved to deal with these dangers?

Question 9

How can America become "more capitalist"? Would this be a good thing? Why or why not?

Question 10

Consider the insider trading scandal involving employees of SAC Capital and the Elan Alzheimer's drug trials, and answer the following questions: What is insider trading? Should it be forbidden? What laws or policies would you recommend to deter insider trading?

Question 11

Suppose a visitor from another planet arrived on your doorstep and wanted a field manual for developing an ethical capitalist society back in her world. What would you tell the alien? What are the basic moral challenges presented by capitalism?

Question 12

__________ points out that there are boundaries in regards to riches.

A) Aristotle
B) Mill
C) Stanley
D) Marx
E) None of the above

Question 13

How many uses does a "thing" have, according to Aristotle?

A) None
B) Infinite
C) One
D) Two
E) Three

Question 14

The use of what artifact was the tool by which men first began "crafting" wealth?

A) Coin
B) Paper
C) Seashell
D) Talents
E) Dollar

Question 15

Smith was the economist who advocated what economic theory?

A) Communism
B) Capitalism
C) Machine analogy
D) Socialism
E) Profit-focused

Question 16

Philosophy is the trade of what, according to Smith?

A) Fancy words
B) Sharp tongues
C) Speculation
D) Action
E) Ideas

Question 17

Smith points out that a common item, such as a workman's coat, is actually quite:

A) Complex
B) Simple
C) Expensive
D) Valuable
E) None of the above

Question 18

Smith thought that the division of labor, which is essential to industrial capitalism, would cause workers to do what?

A) Become complacent and enjoyable
B) Become irritated and hostile
C) Become impaired morally and intellectually
D) Become sick and tired
E) Become more ambitious

Question 19

Marx argues that a thing's usefulness, or utility, is what?

A) Often overused
B) Often misunderstood
C) Lacking in a separate existence in itself
D) Not essential for economic growth
E) All of the above

Question 20

Heilbroner believes that in relation to capitalism, socialism was:

A) A serious economic threat
B) A respected rival
C) A necessary counterbalance
D) Never an economic threat
E) Completely irrelevant

Question 21

A commodity, for Marx, is what?

A) Just a commodity
B) Nothing but an illusion
C) A mysterious thing
D) The building block of a society
E) The most valuable thing

Question 22

Heilbroner compares capitalism to an imperial or communist regime in what way?

A) There is little freedom for the poor.
B) It requires uncritical acceptance of a basic principle: economic growth.
C) It has a strict hierarchy and class system.
D) It is impossible for the system ever to be changed once in place.
E) The system is inherently unfair and unjust.

Question 23

Mill distinguishes between two types of government interference:

A) Coercion and punishment
B) Coercion and enforcement
C) Authoritative and giving advice
D) Authoritative and punishment
E) None of the above

Question 24

Mill does NOT believe that the consumer is what?

A) Smart enough
B) Wise in the ways of business
C) Always right
D) Powerful enough
E) A competent judge

Question 25

The problem Keynes calls "the economic problem" is what?

A) The struggle for subsistence, making a living
B) Conspicuous consumption, acquiring wealth
C) Inflation, keeping an economy balanced
D) Unemployment and poverty
E) Economic pessimism, lack of consumer trust

Question 26

Keynes believes that the economic situation of future generations will change in what way?

A) They will be poorer.
B) They will work longer hours.
C) Their work and leisure will be very different from our own.
D) They won't have to work very hard, if at all.
E) None of the above; their situation will be similar to our own.

Question 27

Schumacher points out that spiritual health and material well-being are what?

A) Mutually exclusive
B) Not enemies
C) Fading dreams
D) A paradox
E) Goods

Question 28

Buddhist ideas about work include which of these ideas?

A) Work gives you a chance to use your abilities.
B) Work gives you a chance to work with other people.
C) Work should be organized to produce goods as efficiently as possible.
D) Both (a) and (b)
E) All of (a), (b), and (c)

Question 29

According to Amartya Sen, what can cause famines?

A) A drop in the food supply
B) Unemployment leading to poverty
C) A lack of social safety nets to help the poor
D) Either (b) or (c)
E) Any of (a), (b), or (c).

Question 30

Bell argues that the deepest challenge to Western society should be characterized as a cultural:

A) Melding
B) Conflict
C) Contradiction
D) War
E) Assimilation

Question 31

Bell believes that capitalism demands contradictory attitudes toward:

A) Saving and spending
B) Work and education
C) Work and money
D) Work and leisure
E) Leisure and education

Question 32

What is the "Puritan ethic," according to Bell?

A) The idea that we should all be Protestants or have Protestant values
B) The values of prudence, hard work, and delayed gratification
C) A demand for pleasure and play
D) Our interest in being informed consumers
E) Our interest in being free citizens

Question 33

What did Frank expect to happen after the economic disasters he mentions?

A) Nothing; he expected "business as usual."
B) An economic apocalypse; he was surprised that the world kept running.
C) Bank managers to be fired; he was offended that no one was held accountable.
D) Politicians to be voted out; he was angry that elected officials didn't stop the disasters.
E) Journalists and pundits to be fired; he was surprised that no one predicted the disasters.

Question 34

What is Frank's conclusion about the mistakes leading to the economic disasters?

A) They could not have been avoided anyway and are no one's fault.
B) The mistakes are widespread throughout the organizations and professions he mentions.
C) They are part of a conspiracy going right to the top.
D) They were flukes, one-time errors that will never be repeated.
E) They are part of a grand plan for world domination.

Question 35

Kuttner argues that in the search for principles on which to reinvent a mixed economy, one must begin by according great respect to:

A) The government
B) Personal dignity
C) The flag
D) The nation
E) The market

Question 36

What does Kuttner mean by a "mixed economy"?

A) An economy based on many different industries
B) An economy that is laissez-faire
C) An economy that is mostly socialist, with some freedom
D) An economy that is mostly free market, with some regulation
E) An economy in which anyone is allowed to participate freely.

Question 37

What is Kuttner's opinion of a purely unregulated market?

A) In practice, it is unsustainable.
B) It is the only kind of market that will work.
C) It is morally wrong.
D) It is the only kind of market that is morally right.
E) Both (b) and (d)

Question 38

According to Sheelah Kolhatkar, in 2006 the 25^th-highest earning hedge fund manager made __________.

A) $10 million.
B) $20 million.
C) $100 million.
D) $140 million.
E) $240 million.

Question 39

Information that allows you to make money trading is called

A) An ace up the sleeve.
B) An edge.
C) An asset.
D) A position.
E) None of the above.

Question 40

Aristotle thought that wealth-getting related to household management had a limit.

Question 41

Smith thought that the division of labor was a hindrance to capitalism.

Question 42

Smith thought that the improvements to machinery were insignificant to the cause of capitalism.

Question 43

Smith was optimistic about the future of capitalism, according to Heilbroner.

Question 44

Marx points out that commodities are not actually products of labor.

Question 45

Marx thought that a commodity's usefulness was essentially bound to the commodity.

Question 46

Heilbroner believes that for capitalism to work, everyone must uncritically accept the ideal of economic growth.

Question 47

Authoritative interference from government is when the government issues a command for something to be done.

Question 48

Keynes believes that technological progress has been more or less steady throughout recorded history.

Question 49

Keynes refers to "technological unemployment" as a problem that occurs when one's technical skills become out of date and don't get updated with training.

Question 50

Buddhist teachings would separate material gain and spiritual well-being.

Question 51

Sen believes that economics must take note of the fact that many around the world still live in poverty.

Question 52

From a Buddhist perspective, production that uses national resources to fill local needs is the most rational way to live economically.

Question 53

Bell's "cultural contradiction" is between selfishness and charity.

Question 54

According to Bell, capitalism encourages a demand for pleasure and the consumption of consumer goods.

Question 55

Kuttner advocates a completely free, unregulated market.

Question 56

A "mixed economy" is mostly free but with some government intervention.

Question 57

When the Securities Exchange Commission calculates illegal profits made in illicit trading activities, it includes illegally avoided losses in that total.

Question 58

In order to secure a conviction on insider trading charges, the prosecution must prove that the defendant knew the information was insider information and that the person from a company who provided it was getting a benefit for it.

Question 59

The most hated sort of wealth-getting was, in Aristotle's time, __________, because it made money without the use of a natural object.

Question 60

Aristotle makes a distinction between household management and __________ in regard to wealth-getting.

Question 61

Smith's point about the workman's coat is the amount of ____________ involved in making it.

Question 62

Heilbroner points out that Smith's analysis had a(n) "__________" to this supposedly optimistic analysis.

Question 63

Smith thought that liberty was more important than __________ growth.

Question 64

Marx points out that the "mystical character" of commodities doesn't originate in their __________.

Question 65

Heilbroner notes that the question is not whether capitalism can work, but whether or not it can __________.

Question 66

Mill points out that in his day (and this is even more true in our own), __________ could not be paid for from the "common wages" of unskilled labor.

Question 67

Schumacher shows that remaining "faithful to their heritage" is a crucial part of developing a sound economic theory for __________ countries.

Question 68

Mill claims two types of government interference: giving advice and __________ interference.

Question 69

Schumacher's article draws a distinction between a tool that enhances a worker's ability and a _____________ that replaces the worker's ability.

Question 70

Sen believes that economists should pay more attention to _____________.

Question 71

Bell points out that the relationship between socioeconomic structure and __________ is one of the most complicated of all problems for the sociologist.

Question 72

According to Bell, capitalism encourages a Puritanism toward ______________ but also a contradictory demand for _____________.

Question 73

Kuttner believes that __________ and the free market that is characteristic of it are now seen as triumphant.

Question 74

Even though markets do sometimes fail, political interference can only __________ those failures, according to Kuttner.

Question 75

On Wall Street, information used to make lucrative trades that is readily and legally available to the public is called __________.