POLITICS

Scenario submission for Grundtvig Workshop

Grundtvig Workshop on Collaborative Learning and

Sharing about Politics

POLITICS

Capitalism: Good or bad?

15 November 2010Athens, Greece

Nikolaos Marianos

POLITICS

Scenario DescriptionTopicEconomy

TitleCapitalism: Good or bad?

Short descriptionThis scenario provides information about capitalism. A

lot of people argue that capitalism is the appropriate system for the development of a nation and its people, while other suggest that this system leads in widening the gap between the poor and the rich. There is a lot of debate.

POLITICS

Scenario DescriptionList of activities

Activity 1: Find a video in YouTube (or elsewhere) that presents a view on the debate about capitalism and provide your comments.

Activity 2: Find a related interview or an article in a blog, wiki or a forum and comment on the presented opinions.

Activity 3: Search the web and present the information you found about capitalism.

Activity 4: Search in Flickr or another image sharing web site to find a related image (with a non commercial license) and write a few words to present your views about capitalism.

POLITICS

Activity 1

Learning tasks: Find a video in YouTube (or elsewhere) that presents a view on the debate about capitalism and provide your comments.

Tools/resources: YouTube or other video sharing web space.

Duration: 30 minutes

POLITICS

Screenshot of Video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=76frHHpoNFs

POLITICS

Comments on video

This video shows an interview about capitalism and whether it is directly associated with greed. Phil Donahue equates greed with capitalism and the late economist Milton Friedman argues that greed is not related to any specific economical system. Friedman regards free enterprise as the best economic system ever developed by civilization and cites history as the proof of his contention. His thoughts make absolute sense to me. A system can not be greedy, people are. In my opinion the only examples where the lower income classes were happy, can be found when fair people where leading them and setting the rules. A different system is not the solution to the problems of the people, if the people in charge are greedy and selfish.

POLITICS

Activity 2

Learning tasks: Find a related interview or an article in a blog, wiki or a forum and comment on the presented opinions.

Tools/resources: Blogs, Wikis, Forums

Duration: 30 minutes

POLITICS

Screenshot of Article http://kasamaproject.org/2009/09/27/michael-moore-interview-of-

capitalism-a-love-story/

POLITICS

Related article or discussion

This is an interview of Michael Moore about his movie "Capitalism: A Love Story”. He explains that the core of his movie is the fact that the economic system we have is unjust and it’s not democratic at all. He proposes to deal with this economic system and try to restructure it in a way that benefits people and not the richest one percent. He talks about the official position of the American Congress which states that we don’t need to get rid of capitalism, just change a few rules, and we’ll get everything back in shape. He pinpoints that they didn't change a thing since the big economy crash. While I agree with their position I can't agree with their lack of action. We need to change a lot of rules and regulations and it would be advisable to make these changes the soonest possible.

POLITICS

Activity 3

Learning tasks: Search the web and find some useful information about capitalism.

Tools/resources: The entire Web

Duration: 30 minutes

POLITICS

Screenshot of Web Page http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalism

POLITICS

Useful InformationCapitalism is an economic system in which the means of production are privately owned and operated for a private profit; decisions regarding supply, demand, price, distribution, and investments are made by private actors in the market; profit is distributed to owners who invest in businesses, and wages are paid to workers employed by businesses and companies. Capitalism as a deliberate system of a mixed economy developed incrementally from the 16th century in Europe, although proto-capitalist organizations existed in the ancient world, and early aspects of merchant capitalism flourished during the Late Middle Ages. Capitalism became dominant in the Western world following the demise of feudalism. Capitalism gradually spread throughout Europe, and in the 19th and 20th centuries, it provided the main means of industrialization throughout much of the world. Today, the capitalist system is the world's most dominant economic model.

POLITICS

Activity 4

Learning tasks: Search in Flickr or another image sharing web site to find a related image (with a non commercial license) and write a few words to present your views about capitalism.

Tools/resources: Flickr or other picture sharing web space

Duration: 15 minutes

POLITICS

Picture http://www.flickr.com/photos/badjonni/2333970839

POLITICS

Wrap up – Expression of Personal View/ Opinion

My personal opinion is that there is not an easy answer to the question whether capitalism is the best economic system or not. While the people in my country feel that there is great injustice in the economic system that we have, it is not clear whether this is due to the system itself or the people that are implementing it and set the rules and regulations of the market. Do we need a different and more fair system or do we need more fair people to implement capitalism in the form it was intended?