...Elijah Bowie Allen Williams ENG 110-01 19 September 2014 Making it in America Adam Davidson, broadcast and print journalist, and a specialist in major economic trends argues in his essay “Making It In America”, first published in 2012, that the industrial shift has created opportunities for some workers while eliminating opportunities for many others. Davidson has pieced together an emotionally compelling article however he does not use any form of citation he instead bases his argument solely off of opinions and stories, particularly the story of Madelyn, and the organization of the article is long winded and could sidetrack the reader. Davidson introduces his main point by means of means of discussing, Madelyn “Maddie” Parlier, a young adult single mom of two kids who finds herself struggling with economic issues while working at the Greenville Standard Motor Products’. While conversing with Maddie she states she's “noticed that robotic arms and other machines seem to keep replacing people on the factory floor and is worried that this could happen to her” (Davidson 318). From here Davidson gives us a “statistic”: Depending on which stats you believe, the United States is either the No. 1 or No. 2 manufacturer in the world. Whatever the country’s current rank, its manufacturing output continues to grow strongly, in the past decade alone, output from American factories, adjusted for inflation, has risen by means of a third. Yet the success of American manufacturers...
Words: 884 - Pages: 4
...Shakilya Dorsey 40682 February 4, 2016 Making It in America It’s your high school graduation day and you are sitting in your chair, with feelings of accomplishment. Your parents have told you that the clock is ticketing on your current living space and you don’t want to go to college or the military. You have been told by your parents, teachers, and friends that life will be a struggle without a college education or military background. Therefore, you will be placed in the category of “The unskilled laborer.” During the 19th century, the American economic engine made the transition from an argricultltural based economy to one of industrialization. Factories sprung up and fueled an age of prosperity for many that were considered “unskilled laborers.” Throughout much of the 20th century, simultaneous technological improvements in both agriculture and industry happened to create conditions that were favorable for people with less skills. The development of mass production allowed low- skilled farmers to move to the city, get a job in a factory and typically make more money than they ever had on a farm. What economist deemed the “Great Compression” – (the time when the income of the unskilled came closest to the income of the skilled), raised the standard of living for unskilled laborers. A few things have changed since the dawn of the 21st century. America is walking the transition from an Industrial/ manufactory based economy to that of information and knowledge. The duel...
Words: 705 - Pages: 3
...Making It in America Summary In the article “Making It in America,” Adam Davidson interviewed employees at Standard Motor Products. According to Davidson “The industrial shift from workers to machines have created high opportunities for some and limited jobs for others.” Adam received a tour of the plant from Toni Scalzitti, manager. He interviewed Maddie Parlier, an unskilled worker. She had little education and no experience. Since Maddie was quick and effective, this job was perfect for her. If Maddie had a higher education, she would have had a better job and higher wage. However, during her senior year of high school, she ended up pregnant which forced her to take a local job. Her job was to run the laser-welding machine which only required her to place parts in the machine and press a button to make sure it welded correctly, then pass it to the next machine. Since this is an unskilled job there is a chance she will get replaced by a new machine. In the last thirty years computers or machinery have replaced many of the workers because they are less cost effective, and produce more products at a faster rate. In this case, Maddie held her job because she saved the company money by less product damage. Luke Hutchins, another worker, is considered one of the highest skilled machine operators because he has six full semesters of experience, not only computer language but, machine tooling. By the time he was hired, he already obtained “two years of technical schoolwork and five...
Words: 342 - Pages: 2
...Hot, Flat, and Crowded: Book Report By: Matthew R. King International Management 04/11/16 After carefully reading Hot, Flat, and Crowded; I was able to form a relationship with the author Thomas Friedman. Hot, Flat, and Crowded speaks directly with the reader about issues going on in our world. Global warming is a major issues that Freidman presents, and he presents actions on what we should do as a civilization to counter the affects of global warming. Hot, Flat, and Crowded is all about creating a more sustainable world to live in, but too many people, organizations, and businesses are not taking the appropriate time to follow the actions that Freidman suggests. We have to change the way we operate as people and as businesses, because we are harming our environment our ecosystem cannot keep up physically with the way we are living. Also some adverse effects are adding to the destroying of our environment, ozone layers, and our ecosystems. The energy we use everyday is growing at a significantly higher rate every year, and our ecosystem cannot keep up with our usage. “Planet's surface temperature may warm up in response to a doubling of carbon dioxide -- a byproduct of fossil fuel burning -- they typically predict a rise of between 2.1 and 4.7 degrees Celsius.” Earth could become hotter than thought, study warns. (n.d.). The use of more and more energy is producing twice as much carbon dioxide emissions to be released and it’s beginning to pollute the atmosphere at a...
Words: 1127 - Pages: 5
...The whole concept of making America great again is just a big myth. You can’t make something that never was great. Great again. We came to the United States to be free and to be the people that we are or wanted to be. When we got over here there were people already here. We care about them so much that we stole their land and put them in reservations. I just love the way we treated those people we should just start moving into people’s homes just to prove how great we truly are. Then from us stealing land we decided that just to make America, even greater we should start to enslave people so they could do all the hard work and we could do what we do best – get other people to do what we should be doing for ourselves. Enslaving everyone will...
Words: 302 - Pages: 2
...Slavery played an important role in the making of America. The reason Americans had slave was because they were in need people to work their farm. Things that were by the slaves such as cotton was traded across the world. This helped expand the United States and brought new items and culture. Without the hardship of the African slaves the Americans would have had a really difficult time growing their crops because they were not as experiences as the Africans. The Slavery book required a lot of steps, writing ,thinking. In the process of creating the slavery book, I used ICLEAR. ICLEAR is a system that the Preuss School UCSD used to help students know when they are done with an assignment. One of the ICLEAR that I used in this project was research. In order to complete every section of the project we had to do research to a specific topic by either using the internet, our 8th grade textbook, or books. An example of this would be Chapter 1. This chapter required a lot of researching on how slavery started in the United States. Another ICLEAR I used was collaboration. There was a lot of communication between the teacher and the student or student to student. An example was when...
Words: 675 - Pages: 3
...In his book “The Epic of America,” historian James Truslow Adams wrote, “It is not a dream of motor cars and high wages merely, but a dream of social order in which each man and each woman shall be able to attain to the fullest stature of which they are innately capable, and be recognized by others for what they are, regardless of the fortuitous circumstances of birth or position” (214-215). Many believe that making it in America coincides with living the American Dream. To most, the American Dream is an idea highly possible for Americans to secure a better material life for themselves through hard work. However, hard work and perseverance are not the only factors that contribute to making it in America. The path to making it in America can be altered by race, birth, and low wages. Firstly, the factor of race can determine whether or not a person is able to make it in America. For example, an Indian restaurant decides to hire potential employees. What are the chances that the employee will be Indian? There is a higher chance that an Indian person would get hired at an Indian restaurant rather than a white person. In Horatio Alger from the book Rereading America, Harlon Dalton asks, “Is merit all we care about in deciding who gets what share of life's goodies?” (264). It is not just merit that decides who gets what. Harlon Dalton provides support by asking, “Does anyone, for example, honestly believe that any Supreme Court justice in recent memory was nominated solely on the...
Words: 962 - Pages: 4
...Hidden Wonders of Meat in Corporate America I believe that people should eat meat over being vegetarian since it can greatly benefit the economy and makes billions of dollars every year supporting a huge amount of jobs. Meat greatly aids one’s personal health as well, you can only get the amino acids to synthesize the protein from meat. As a matter of fact, in America its easier to find a meal with meat than without. For thousands of years we have had no problem in finding ways to make a meal, with meat or without. Until now. In 1847 the idea of vegetarianism came upon us, but until 1971 it didn’t take much authority in America. This new healthier lifestyle introduced to the growing corporate America made us question how we ate, and if it would affect our personal health, and future wellbeing....
Words: 844 - Pages: 4
...appointed chief operating officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, was thinking about a number of organizational issues that presented challenges to Shangri-La's rapid expansion strategy. There werethree major issues at hand: (1) the company was expanding into high-wage economies in Europe and North America; (2) the company was expanding its presence in China-a country where front-line employees were not used to exercising decision-making authority; and (3) newcomers in the Chinese hotel market were poaching Shangri-La's staff and driving up wages in historically low-waged markets. As a COO, Bridle needed to ensure that Shangri-La's signature standards of "Asian Hospitality" were maintained during this expansion. In November 2006, Symon Bridle, the newly appointed chief operating officer of Shangri-La Hotels and Resorts, was thinking about a number of organizational issues that presented challenges to Shangri-La's rapid expansion strategy. There were three major issues at hand: (1) the company was expanding into high-wage economies in Europe and North America; (2) the company was expanding its presence in China-a country where front-line employees were not used to exercising decision-making authority; and (3) newcomers in the Chinese hotel market were poaching Shangri-La's staff and driving up wages in historically low-waged markts. As a COO, Bridle needed to ensure that Shangri-La's signature standards of "Asian Hospitality" were maintained during this expansion. In November...
Words: 1557 - Pages: 7
...state is not a new concept or term to us; rather this notion has kept repeating itself throughout the record. In today’s practical world, great powers are searching extensively and aggressively for opportunities to attain power over others, with hegemony being their ultimate goal. In present realistic and anarchic world system, power is all that matters to selfish and domination oriented states. In a very similar way, China, which has been making success by leaps and bounds, is in time aiming to gain the position of super power, the position which in the present day is being enjoyed and exercised by the United States of America. With around 1.3billion population; estimating for one-fifth of the world’s entire population, with world’s largest armed forces, China, while contributing about 13percent to the world economy, is at present the fastest developing country across the sphere, with raw potentials to becoming a super power down the line. (China: The 21st Century Super Power, September, 2005) China, for past few decades, has been observed making substantial progress in almost every sphere, not only with an aim to improve its international front, but also to maximize its share of international power and gain a position that is desired by a few of the known competing great powers. China has been implementing and devising a mix of very optimal agendas and policies to influence the world and counter the western capitalist approach. The fast paced and significant rise of China since...
Words: 3274 - Pages: 14
...1. Why has the Mall of America been such a marketing success so far? Mall of America has been such a marketing success so far because it presents a unique shopping experience while also offering exciting entertainment. Mall of America is completely different than any other mall in the country. It is more than just a mall. Mall of America is a destination. Because of the uniqueness of this mall it attracts more than 40 million visitors a year. With the mix of retail and entertainment Mall of America really become a destination. Mall of America is 4.2 million square feet. But the architecture was built in a way where each street is a different architecture. So you really walk from street to street and you experience a different feel each avenue. It is the one-stop complex offering retail shopping, guest service, convenience, a huge variety of entertainment and fun for all. Guest services include high school, hospital and a wedding chapel. This mall has something to offer for everyone. 2. What (a) retail and (b) consumer trends have occurred since Mall of America was opened in 1992 that it should consider when making future plans? Mall of America team is constantly looking at what attracts people and adding to that. They are constantly looking at new stores, new attractions, and new events. For example, the Mall of America holds more than 400 events each year including book signings, an inventors fair, fashion shows, and live Cirque du Soleil performances. However, I...
Words: 377 - Pages: 2
...1 The Making of Modern America Robin Mccreery Western Governors University WGU Student ID#000322893 The Making of Modern America 2 In America Feminism, the quest for women’s Equality is part of women’s collective desire to be recognized as participating members of our society. The equality movement was rife with ongoing struggles women faced to find equality in the public’s eye. After the Great Depression and 2 world wars, people looked for fulfillment in their private lives; an expression of their commitment to both home and family with distinctive roles divided between men and women. Career choices for women were limited leaving many women with the feeling of dissatisfaction outside social defined gender roles, a feeling of Isolation; a wanting for more. (Mary B. Norton, Jane Kamensky, Carol Sheriff, David W. Blight, Howard F. Chudacoff, Fredrick Logevall, Beth Bailey, and Debra Michales, 2015). In both “The Problem has no name” and “Giving Women the Business” women of late twentieth century (60’s, 70’s, and 80’s) had to deal with trying to balance the choices between being Independent , achieving self-satisfaction, and the reality of the two. Betty Friedan was an inspiring writer, known for her role as one of the founders of the National Organization for Women (NOW), a social activist, housewife, and freelance writer who launched the second wave of the feminist movement with the publication of her book “The Feminine Mystique”...
Words: 1192 - Pages: 5
...Milton Friedman’s America Reviewing the video from Milton Friedman has given quite an insight on how he feels about what America was, what America has become, and what America should be. He focuses his ideas around legal and illegal immigrants and how the laws affect America when dealing with them as a working class. In some sense, the comments that he made were a bit insulting, while on the other hand, the comments were a bit amusing at best. These views are view that I would expect a comedian to address in stand-up than what I would expect a public speaker to verbalize to bluntly. He starts be addressing how immigrants today differ from the immigrants from a few decades ago. He states that in the 40’s the immigrants were welcomed because they came to America looking to work and were willing to take the jobs that no other American wanted. These jobs included agriculture and other labor intensive jobs. He then continued by saying that illegal immigrants were the ones that would take on these jobs, but as states began to legalize immigration, it made possible the ability for immigrants to come to America and become civilian who are able to stay at home and receive a check legally. He is against this because he feels that now immigrants are coming to America legally to get a free check instead of coming to America illegally to earn a living. I don’t believe he is saying to drive immigrant out by making immigration illegal. However, he is saying that illegal immigrants...
Words: 942 - Pages: 4
...I chose the beyond the line question, “Do you think that the change of candy over the years has impacted America in a positive or negative way?” In the book How candy conquered America by Lauren Tarshis, candy and sugar were very expensive in the early 1800s, so only the very wealthy could afford lots of sugar. But then, in the year 1847, Oliver Chase created an amazing invention. Oliver was a pharmacist in Boston, and he had been tinkering with his lozenge - making machine for four months. Lozenges were tablets filled with remedies or “cures” for sicknesses. They were very hard to make, because lozenges were very hard to make by hand. Finally, Chase’s lozenge-making machine worked, and Chase became very delighted, because now, he could make lozenges with the pull of a lever. But then, Oliver Chase encountered another idea-an idea that would change America forever! Why not use his machine to make only candy? As it turned out, it was a great idea, and Oliver’s candies, which he called “Chase Lozenges”, became a big hit, because now, everyone could afford candy, not just the wealthy people. Oliver Chase’s lozenge-making machine was a critical invention for the candy-making industry, not only because he could mass-produce candy, but...
Words: 689 - Pages: 3
...The Founding Fathers did much more than just providing America with freedom from her mother country. They helped secure the United States’ fragile government, making it one of the strongest in the world. These men have united together to help bring the new nation back on its feet after a victorious yet harmful war. Many great men and women helped in the establishment of a stable government after the adoption of the Constitution, but two of the most well known ones include John Adams and Thomas Jefferson. John Adams had seen the young nation struggling to free herself from her mother country. He was there at the birth of a new nation’s Constitution. And he was present when he fought to provide America with a stable government. When Adams succeeded...
Words: 698 - Pages: 3
