In a recent article in the Chicago Tribune titled. "College students pay to work at unpaid internships in the Summer", it discusses how college students are now paying different companies so they can get internships in the summer and so they do not have to apply at a million places without a response. Internship placement companies such as the University of Dreams and the Washington Center are having college students apply and pay a fee for internships in their major in order to build up their resume for the future. One student paid almost $8,000 to the University of Dreams for an internship in New York City while other students do not feel the need in wasting so much money for something they could easily get through hard work. Some students feel that they get lazy and forget to apply to certain internships and lose opportunities and with these companies helping them look for these internships, they have a better shot among other people. While these internships are amazing opportunities for the future and an investment towards your future goals, is getting paid nothing while you pay almost the cost of tuition for a semester really worth it? One student in this article is trying to find ways to fund this investment for her future, but is it worth it if you could find something closer to home that will pay you for your efforts. I know it is hard to put out your resumes at a million different places and wait for a response to at least one place, but the hard work behind the effort shows you how prepared you will be in the future when it comes to looking for a job.
To me, this article could relate to Milton Friedman's idea about how economic freedom is part of total freedom because of free choice. These students are getting stripped away the chance to make money for their work and instead of them getting paid almost $8000 for their work, they have to pay that for an opportunity that could come free through hard work. Even though the government is not playing a role in this situation, some students are having their economic freedom taken away by students who are willing to pay that much money for an internship that other students could get a chance at if it was free. Students who can not afford to pay that kind of money are losing the chance of getting these amazing opportunities, but maybe instead of not getting paid for that work, they could find something else. But what happens if these students want those opportunities, they are made to settle for something lower that in the end could lead them nowhere. Just like in class, when we talked about not being able to have that extra money from our paycheck because it was being put in a retirement fund for us without our decision, these students are facing the same dilemma. They are not having the decision about these internships because they are given to the students who are willing to pay almost $9,000.
When it comes to our economic freedom and our free choice, these companies are not taking into affect, the students who can not afford that type of money even if they had some financial help. They are not looking at what if other students wanted a shot at these internships, but they can not afford to pay for their services. Students are getting stripped away their economic freedom just like we can not smoke Cuban cigars because of the government. People will always find a way to take away our economic freedom through some type of action, but some people can always stand their ground and fight back.
Here's the link to this article: www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-0301-intens-story--20100301,0,1567115.story
Monday, March 1, 2010
Sunday, February 14, 2010
Marx in the News
In a recent article in the SunTimes, it discusses how workers were disrupting business in Ikea stores across all France because they were demanding a salary increase of 4 percent. This labor dispute all started in a Swedish Ikea and has forced one Ikea in France to shutdown while the negotiations take place. There have been 26 stores disrupted by this while only one was shutdown due to the workers disrupts in front of customers. The Ikea spokesperson in France has said that the workers would receive a 2 percent salary increase with the a 1 percent merits increase, but the decision would not be finally until the union delegates met on Monday.
This article describes Marx's attitude about labor and how when production increases, there is a decrease in wages which strongly affects the workers and especially in this scenario. Workers are fighting for a fair salary increase because they feel with the increase in the company's sales, they should also profit it from it. They are the ones selling the products and making the customers interest while some are probably doing the actual labor. While I feel workers should profit from the production increases, Marx feels when production does increase, workers are going to get depreciated because he feels there is no way to increase the production without decreasing wages. So if these workers were fighting in Marx's time, they would not receive an increase in wages because he knew in order to make more products for other people, he needs to depreciate his workers no matter how hard they were working.
I knew if I was working so hard to produce products for other people, I would want my wages increased in order to reflect my work. But our labor power equals time and we are going to get paid for our time instead of the actual products we produce. Marx feels that workers are never going to get appreciated for their labor because production is always going to be increasing.
The link to the article: www.suntimes.com/news/world/2046671,france-ikea-strike-021310.article
This article describes Marx's attitude about labor and how when production increases, there is a decrease in wages which strongly affects the workers and especially in this scenario. Workers are fighting for a fair salary increase because they feel with the increase in the company's sales, they should also profit it from it. They are the ones selling the products and making the customers interest while some are probably doing the actual labor. While I feel workers should profit from the production increases, Marx feels when production does increase, workers are going to get depreciated because he feels there is no way to increase the production without decreasing wages. So if these workers were fighting in Marx's time, they would not receive an increase in wages because he knew in order to make more products for other people, he needs to depreciate his workers no matter how hard they were working.
I knew if I was working so hard to produce products for other people, I would want my wages increased in order to reflect my work. But our labor power equals time and we are going to get paid for our time instead of the actual products we produce. Marx feels that workers are never going to get appreciated for their labor because production is always going to be increasing.
The link to the article: www.suntimes.com/news/world/2046671,france-ikea-strike-021310.article
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Locke in the News
In an article that I read in the Chicago Suntimes titled, "Target aiming at Carson's site?", it discusses how the Target Corportion has become interested in buying the old Carson's store on State Street. They are discussing the opportunity of placing a Target which would include a grocery section. The old Carson's store has had many offers from different companies, but no one has actually bought the entire store, people only have offices on some of the floors which includes a Stir-fry resturant. The Carsons closed in 2007 because it was not producing enough sales for the company. The entire building is 1 million square feet. By owning this property, Target could expand their private property and add value to their company.
This article relates to Locke in the sense that when we have common property and when people put labor into it, it becomes their own property which is what Target is thinking about doing to this store. They are going to put the labor into this store in order to change it to a Target store which offer people alot of different things and possibly make their grocery shopping alot easier. This common property is going to become their own property through labor. Locke also says that when we buy something, we are buying the labor that comes associated with that property. So if Target decides to buy this entire building, they are buying all the labor that comes with it from the previous businesses.
Heres the link to the article: www.suntimes.com/business/1995196,CST-NWS-target17.article
This article relates to Locke in the sense that when we have common property and when people put labor into it, it becomes their own property which is what Target is thinking about doing to this store. They are going to put the labor into this store in order to change it to a Target store which offer people alot of different things and possibly make their grocery shopping alot easier. This common property is going to become their own property through labor. Locke also says that when we buy something, we are buying the labor that comes associated with that property. So if Target decides to buy this entire building, they are buying all the labor that comes with it from the previous businesses.
Heres the link to the article: www.suntimes.com/business/1995196,CST-NWS-target17.article
Monday, January 18, 2010
Aristotle in the News
In an article from Cnnmoney.com, it discusses how Tylenol recently had to recall some medications that had an "unusual moldy, musty, mildew-like" odor. It says how the FDA is having a hard discussion with the Johnson and Johnson Company trying to figure out with all the warnings and compliments they had from customers, why did this recall happen so late? The division, McNeil-PPC, which manufactured most of the products had compliments back in 2008, but did nothing about it because it was a very low number of customers. The FDA is being very hard on this division because so many people have gotten sick over the past few years and with all the warning letters they received, they acted very slowly because they did not want to lose profits or the division. With this second recall of Tylenol products, Johnson and Johnson is looking very bad to everyone in the medication industry.
The ethical issue of not being true to the customers and warning them of the hazards of using the products so they do not lose their products is very true to what Aristotle has said in Book 1 of Politics. He says, "intent upon living only, and not upon living well" which is very true in this article. Johnson and Johnson Company realized if they told customers of the potential harm a medication that is designed to relieve their pain was instead causing them more harm, they would lose their profits and be sued. They were trying to live well instead of just living because they wanted to be better than everyone else. They do not believe what Aristotle said about just living, they wanted to push themselves an extra mile to achieve their own set of happiness. I believe by not warning the public, they have caused more harm to themselves in the long-run because now people will have a hard time trusting them when it comes to medication.
The ethical issue of not being true to the customers and warning them of the hazards of using the products so they do not lose their products is very true to what Aristotle has said in Book 1 of Politics. He says, "intent upon living only, and not upon living well" which is very true in this article. Johnson and Johnson Company realized if they told customers of the potential harm a medication that is designed to relieve their pain was instead causing them more harm, they would lose their profits and be sued. They were trying to live well instead of just living because they wanted to be better than everyone else. They do not believe what Aristotle said about just living, they wanted to push themselves an extra mile to achieve their own set of happiness. I believe by not warning the public, they have caused more harm to themselves in the long-run because now people will have a hard time trusting them when it comes to medication.
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