Exploration Presentation
By: Nicky, Trinity and Alysiah
Mercantilism
Capitalism
Columbian Exchange
Internet
Pros and Cons
Mercantilism
Pros
-It promotes the independent spirit. The theory of mercantilism states that people can really do what they can to make a living. There is no limit or restriction as to what someone can or cannot do. With a good idea and a good ability to do hard work, anyone is able to do whatever it is to earn a profit.
-It creates economic stability, since everyone in the system is working towards a goal, there is a constant profit coming in through natural checks or balances. With this system, everyone would be able to thrive successfully with the help of others.
-It provides an opportunity to eliminate poverty. If everyone is participating within a system of mercantilism, then each person has the opportunity to eliminate poverty and live in relative comfort.
-It naturally reduces the amount of unemployments since there are many stages in collecting recourses which require a vast amount of helpers. Finding, collecting, and selling natural materials open up more job opportunities.
-The development of natural recourses are encouraged completely. Natural materials are quite important and wanted most when it came to trading, it left a lot of waste in other foreign countries so using mercantilism, they will be able to research other ways in order to support their mother countries.
-Not every idea is profitable. If a person has an idea that doesn't quite fit in the economic cycle, they can lose a lot of money in the mercantilism system. They could be excluded from the system and this can quickly lead to poverty.
-The system itself must be exclusionary or more confidential in order for it to be successful. This means your international trading options are limited and might cause a certain nation or territory to end up in suffering since there is a lack of recourses that are able to be traded with them.
-The amount of recourses that are hoarded are seen as encouraged. People might feel as if they earned great materials so they won't be able to give them up. Also for the wealthier, they have lost the inspiration to give to the less fortunate ones so they keep their materials to the extent of hoarding.
-The risk of natural material loss is at risk. It is inevitable that the recourse they count on most will run out. Even though more recourses are made as they are being sold, they will never last forever, slowly increasing the risk of loosing their materials needed for trading.
-The system could just be inefficient in itself. Trading goods back and forth from colonies and mother countries is quite expensive. The shipment prices are gradually inflating more than needed. This can result in disturbances in between shipping since the vulnerability is at a high standing.
Capitalism
-Private ownership gives people more freedom and prevents interference from the government. It let's people own land, investments, and goods without anyone telling them different.
-Individuals are free to fun businesses in a capitalistic society. Anyone can start a business and make decisions for that business as well as receive profits from the business.
-Corporations and individuals can compete at free markets by changing the prices on their own goods to affect the amount of profit that is received.
-Political Freedom made it so that people can make their own choices. The government does not control or own the right to decide on production or what the price is for goods. This creates a society which can make political decisions based on what the people want, rather than what the government controls.
-Since the people and companies control the goods, supply and demand is controlled by what is needed and wanted by the people who purchase the goods.
-People might abuse the system, which is caused by the amount of freedom that is given. People could take advantage of the system by using unfair practices in the labor field, paying less than they should to make a proper profit, or not allowing unions who have unsafe working conditions.
-Bigger companies can take over. Once a company grows to become popular and grow, they can overpower smaller businesses and even push them out which can also be a threat to individuals since the prices are raised and products are limited.
-Money is not being distributed evenly to those who work probably just as hard. In this society, there are different classes for those who don't receive as much, those who are neutral, and the bigger companies who dominate the smaller ones.
Capitalism and the Internet has advanced throughout the year. Back in the day, capitalism made it so that corporations would be limited to investors who had money to risk, because there is no guarantee a corporation will succeed and no recourse should it fail. Today this isn’t true. Because inflation continually devours the value of money, everyone is forced to risk their money for investments. As for the internet currently, many people would probably agree with me when I say it is a big enhancement in our every day life. Internet can be used to communicate with many people around the world and for doing research which is incredibly useful. But to every great invention, there is always a downside. For internet, there are bad things like cyberbullying which occurs more frequently than you might think. Not everything can be great even if they seem like it, like the internet.
With the information that we have gathered, we can use it to make the world a better place. Things like slave trade might not be known for being the biggest current problem, but it is happening and it needs to be prevented. Other unnoticed things like child labor can and should also be helped or reduced. Lastly, items such as clothes and other products are being made and imported from poor countries that don’t really have anything and in return, they aren't gaining much with the amount of information that we have, we can use it to try and stop slave trade, and other Economic problems.