...Abby Johnson Mr. Son Mai History 202 September 14, 2011 America’s Greedy Actions The late 19th century was a time when the United States was going through many changes, causing most of the citizens to be greedy for money, land and many other things. During this time period, the Civil War had just ended and reconstruction was taking place. Reconstruction meant improvement in the government and an entire new lifestyle. Because America had new methods of labor, founded natural resources worth a lot of money, and new land to work with, they became greedy and wanted more of whatever they had. In the 19th century, several immigrants came to America for jobs, which led to what is known as today “cheap labor.” Being that so many immigrants were coming across the border for money, every one of them were opposing against each other, causing the outcome to be people working for little pay and the companies were making more money. Greedy Americans would make them work close to ten hours a day for six days a week, while their pay was between a range of ten to twenty cents an hour, depending on each one of their abilities. Because of this, many organizations and unions formed and strikes came about to show Americans that they will not make the middle class their slave. The Knights of Labor, founded by Uriah Smith Stephens, was an organization that accepted skilled and unskilled workers, women, and black people. This association called for eight hours of labor a day, however; this eliminated...
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...Being greedy is the having or showing an intense and selfish desire for something, especially wealth or power. That is all anyone wants now. Nobody cares about anybody anymore. They just want all the power in the world and all the money in the world. They can never be happy with what they have. This is also what political parties want also. All the power to themselves and not sharing any. People start to go crazy for power. That was what was happening with Macbeth. He was told his “future” and he was so greedy that he could not wait for and he wanted it now. In, “George Washington’s views on political parties in America,” the political parties hated still each other, and still hate each other, with such bitterness it turned in to public...
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...Name Instructor Course Date of submission Let America Be America Again By Langston Hughes Theme: Freedom In his poem, let America be America again, Hughes focuses on American freedom and equality. His concern was on the socio-economic division in the American society. Relating the American declaration at independence, Hughes observes that the road to achievement of equality and freedom lost. The country has become corrupt and its leaders and businessmen are greedy. The grabbed land and gold making them wealthier during the common American citizen; the Negros, red Indians, the poor whites and immigrants lavish in poverty (Schmidt, and Lynne, 776). They have not achieved the American promise of freedom. Hughes wrote the poem with the poor and the American dream in mind. He relates the national stratification based on class division to see the possibility of realizing the American dream. According to him, America has turned into a country of the mighty crushing the weak (line 24) and the economic powerhouses accumulate more wealth while the poor lavish in more poverty. Capitalism has embraced the American philosophy and, therefore, it hinders the achievement of the long waited and dreamt for dream; a dream of equality, freedom and wellbeing. Greedy businessmen have altered the American dream. They have substituted equality and brotherhood with capitalism. Their actions have created a society that holds the slogan, ‘everybody for himself but God for us all.’ Nobody cares about...
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...Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain? Professors and poets gave their thought about Columbus through social, intellectual, and geographical influences. Columbus and his crew were cruel and greedy towards the Indians. Columbus enslaved many Indians and tried getting their gold. Columbus was responsible for over 50 million Indian deaths, which many people are not aware of. The Indians welcomed Columbus and his crew willingly to trade what they had for anything Columbus was willing to trade. Columbus started to gather information about a king in an island, which whom possessed large amounts of gold. Finding out this information and discovering gold was way more important to Columbus than building a relationship with the Native Americans....
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...The Chinese Exclusion Act There has been many intrusive stereotypes about many cultures, mainly because they were immigrants and so new to Americans. Theses stereotypes didn’t seem to validate them, but instead it invalidated them, in multiple ways. Many people still perceive different cultures with unfairness. The Chinese one of many cultures, were immigrating to America because of the gold rush. Most moved to American to boosted to financial status. There were many job opportunities for the Chinese so many more immigrants came into America, Eventually taking more and more jobs. Because they were coming to America for jobs and ultimately money, they were put into the stereotype of being greedy or selfish. Americans now felt that there weren’t enough jobs for the locals. The Chinese exclusion act was an act in order to band immigration from America. Because so many Chinese immigrants...
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...corporation is also the world’s largest private employer with approximately 2.2 million employees; the company’s employee roll exceeds the population of over 50 countries in the world including Qatar, Trinidad and Tobago, Iceland and Suriname. Walmart is essentially the largest retailer in the entire world. The company, which is controlled by the Walton family who own a 48% stake, have been bashed in the media time and time again for “failing America.” Applause must be given to the Mega Corporation, they came from being just one department store to a multi-billion dollar corporation however, the treatment of Wal-Mart’s employees and the greediness of Wal-Mart’s owners combine to make it a monster corporation with negative effects on both individuals and competing companies. To be reasonable, we must touch on the benevolence of Wal-Mart because to be a $465 billion dollar corporation they must be doing something correct, right? The children of Wal-Mart's founder, Sam Walton, in contrast to its workers, are billionaires. Does that make them greedy or just lucky? They would not talk to ABC News on the topic but billionaire Ted Turner an American media mogul and philanthropist who is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first...
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...People can better understand human nature from Studying The Crucible. In The Crucible by Arthur Miller there is a group of girls and one of them in Abigail who is the main antagonist in the story. The group of girls was seen in the woods doing “witchcraft”. Abigail and the girls are accused of witchcraft. The group of girls start to name other women in the town like John Proctor's wife. Abigail picks her mainly because she wants John Proctor for herself since John and Abigail had an affair previously. Now the girls accuse other people in the town to draw less attention to them and try to keep their names good. By studying The Crucible and other resources people can better understand that people are greedy and are quick to blame. In “The...
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...The United States only honors two men with federal holidays bearing their names, Martin Luther King Jr., and Christopher Columbus. When we celebrate Columbus Day, we are honoring a man who helped spark a holocaust situation of the people of America and the Atlantic slave trade. Furthermore, Columbus never set foot on the land we call the United States, nor was the first explorer to reach the "new world". Columbus's arrival in the new world was proceeded by the explorer Leif Ericson and others. The true discoverers of the land Columbus encountered are the ancestors of the native people who were living there when he arrived. Unfortunately, the public education system of the United States has failed to teach the entire truth about Christopher Columbus. All they know about is how the three ships sailed across the ocean blue. Little do they know about the mass murder, mass rape, enslavement, torture and the spread of Christianity using their swords. Columbus Day shouldn't be worth celebrating or having parades for. Columbus's "discovery" led directly to torturing and killing innocent souls on the island of Hispaniola. Initially, Bartolome de Las Casas states about the Europeans, "they behaved with such temerity and shamelessness that the most powerful ruler of his island had to see his own wife raped by a Christian officer" (Bartolome de Las Casas). In other words, the Europeans had no feelings towards the Natives and treated them like they owned them, which no one deserves...
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...really a progressive politician, but a conservative disguised as a progressive. Hofstadter claims that the view of Roosevelt as a “trust-buster” who took on corporations of the early twentieth century in the name of public good is false. Apparently, Roosevelt wasn't out to destroy the trusts, but to conserve the American capitalistic system from both the “lurking menace” of greedy business and the “masses”. “Roosevelt’s determination to enter politics and become a member of ‘the governing class’ was not inspired by a program of positive aims, but rather by a vague sense of dedication.” (280) Is Hofstadter’s interpretation of Roosevelt valid? Conservative ideals usually supported the idea of laissez faire, but Roosevelt despised big business and the rich. Hofstadter includes a quote from Roosevelt which states “ The dull purblind folly of the very rich men; their greed and arrogance...and the corruption in business and politics, have tended to produce a very unhealthy condition of excitement and irritation in the popular mind…” (289) This...
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...This infection of greed in American has caused the quality of life to decrease in our society. Source E states, “During the same period, quality of life as measured by the index of social health has decrease by roughly the same percentage.” This statistic proved the quality of life and social health has decreased due to consumerism. America has begun to “base our entire lives, our entire culture, and way of being on the belief that ‘just a little bit more’ will finally buy happiness”(Source E). The American’s “need” for materialistic items has spiraled out of control. Source E states, “The average working woman plays with her children forty minutes a week- and shops six hours.” This move for materialistic items is not only diminishing ones’ quality of life, but it is impeding family...
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...America is well known around the world for its great wealth and prosperity. Many people from other countries come to America in search of religious freedom, happiness, and in general a better life for themselves. America’s economy is based around the system known as capitalism. Capitalism is a system where means of production is privately ran. Meaning the government does not have control over corporations, or prices of goods. Any American can earn money as they see fit. You can start a business selling books, out of your garage, which may turn into the biggest online retailer in existence. Or you could work in a factory, earning a living with your hands. In many ways capitalism is seen as a great system. The people who work hard, usually reap the rewards of their labor. In the novel The Jungle by Upton Sinclair we follow the story of a Lithuanian immigrant Jurgis, and his family, on their struggles in the early nineteenth century America. Jurgis starts to feel like an outcast in this strange new place. The economic system of capitalism makes Jurgis feel...
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...Shimerda was an unhappy man. He misses his homeland where life was comfortable. He was respected. In America he is nobody. The small bit of happiness he did find with his friends died when Pavel dies and Peter leaves. Mrs. Shimerda is greedy and ungrateful. The way she acted in the Burden’s home and took their pot because they had more than she does really irked me. Ambrosch is the oldest son, he’s mean, but he works hard and is determined. I feel he is also greedy. He wants all of Antonia’s money she would make from working for the Harlings. Antonia strong, hard working and kind of a free spirit. She does what she wants and doesn’t feel bad for her decisions. She liked working in the field and even though it wasn't seen as women’s work she did it anyways. Yulka is the Shimerdas other daughter. She does not have a big part. Marek Shimerda is the young son who is physically and mentally handicapped. He also does not have a big role. The family is hardworking, industrious and...
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...Imprisonment of Africans not only made America economically successful, but also helped in creating social classes, helped to aid the colonists in achieving their definition of personal freedom and stopped the indentured servant system. In the 1700s, America was desperate for support from other countries, particularly France. Coincidentally, mainly slaves produced the most valuable cash...
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...Is Wal-Mart good for America? Wal-Mart is one of the most powerful and broadest companies in America. There are more than 5,000 stores worldwide, 100 million shoppers per week and they had $256 billion sales in 2003.Everything is very inexpensive there and they always have the lowest prices. Although that is a good thing, it is bad because it keeps people out of work and the workers get low wages. Global retailers are the most powerful companies in America now. Sam Walton, the creator of Wal-Mart said his formula was, “Buy cheap, sell for less than the other guy and make your profit on high volume and fast turnover.” Wal-Mart can be examined using both structural functional and social conflict theory. Structural functional theory is when society is a complex system of interconnected and interrelated social structures each having a function and working together to promote social stability. One hundred million people shop at Wal-Mart every week. Wal-Mart is very convenient for people to shop at. Most people do not even have to shop at other stores because Wal-Mart has everything. It’s also convenient because it is right around the corner from a lot of customers houses; they don’t have to travel far to find a Wal-Mart store so they save gas. People already know that Wal-Mart has the lowest prices so they don’t have to search for stores with low prices. The items sold are good quality as well as cheap. What more could someone ask for. Wal-Mart is a world leader in logistics and...
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...(2005, Jeffrey Gettleman, http://www.nytimes.com/2005/12/10/nyregion/robert-menendez-a-politician-even-at-20.html) Now in 2015, Menendez is facing charges himself. Is Senator Menendez greedy as portrayed … or is he just sleazy … or was his conduct simply a matter of camaraderie? Senator Menendez is being charged for one count of conspiracy, one count of violating the travel act, eight counts of bribery and three counts of honest services fraud. He was also charged in making false statements. (April 2015, Dept. of Justice) His friend, Dr. Salomon Melgen was charged with him in the indictment. In my opinion, Robert Menendez was neither sleazy nor do I think he was greedy. I think he used his position to help out a friend. He was doing what all corporate America does along with most elected officials. I think that the term sleazy would mean that he would have taken advantage of more people and if he was greedy, he would have profited more from what he was doing. Menendez and Dr. Melgen have been friends for two decades and I truly believe this played into what they did. They have shared birthdays, holidays and even vacations together; maybe they...
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