With this in mind, I pose the question: Do you agree with the idea that Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth would be a sufficient solution and government assistance to the poor (social welfare, et cetera) would be a solution to the poverty issue (assuming that it is an issue) in the United States in 2014?
We have looked extensively at the poor living and working conditions of the era at the turn of the century. Poverty was rampant and days consisted of long, unsafe working hours for little pay for a large portion of American society. Many of these reformers (muckrakers, progressives, et cetera) call for government action to help people with these problems. However, Carnegie called on a different group as we read in his Gospel of Wealth. He called on the wealthy, like himself, to distribute their wealth, voluntarily, in ways that would help society.
With this in mind, I pose the question: Do you agree with the idea that Carnegie's Gospel of Wealth would be a sufficient solution and government assistance to the poor (social welfare, et cetera) would be a solution to the poverty issue (assuming that it is an issue) in the United States in 2014?
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We have been discussing the impact of capitalism in the United State. Initially, this system was so beneficial to the American consumer that firms began to look for ways to eliminate the competition created by capitalism (pools, vertical integration, horizontal integration, and eventually, trusts). However, one of the "problems" created by a capitalistic society is that in order to compete with others, firms will lower production costs, among which the most costly is labor. Keeping workers' wages low often results in increased poverty and lowered standard of living. Reformers began to emerge during the late 19th and early 20th Centuries. One of which was a New York native named Jacob Riis, who took it upon himself to photograph the poor and down trodden, in particular immigrants, of New York. With this in mind, look over the pictures from his book, on the link below and answer the following questions:
1. Is capitalism solely to blame for these conditions? 2. Is it the job of government to intervene and help the poor here? As per usual, I'll play the devil's advocate to your responses. |
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