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Zach Costa James DeChiara Jon Freedberg Michael Shafran

Challenge:
The purpose of our project is to inform others on the influence that capitalism has on American life.

Guiding Questions

 * 1) How many students in Pascack Valley High School know and understand the capitalistic system?
 * 2) How does capitalism help Americans achieve the "American dream"?
 * 3) What are the dangers of capitalism in the United States?

Guiding Activities

 * 1) Take a survey of English students. The question we will pose is as follows: //What do you think about capitalism?//
 * 2) Research using the internet and various sources for the history and what capitalism is.
 * 3) List the Pros and Cons of Capitalism.
 * 4) Look at current stock market graphs and how it has affected people's lives and hence, the American dream.

Links
American Dream and the Constitution American Dream [|History of Capitalism] [|A Brief History of the Stock Market] Graphs link: Graph

Go To:
Stock Graphs Survey of Capitalism What is Capitalism? History of Capitalism The Stock Market Solution Paragraphs

Stock Market Graphs
Below are two images of the Dow Jones Industrial (DJI) average. The DJI was founded in 1896 by Charles Dow. It is a stock market index, meaning it is a method of measuring the stock market. The DJI consists of 30 companies including AT&T, IBM, Johnson and Johnson, Verizon Communications, and Wal-Mart. The first graph depicts the DJI in its history starting with the years just before the great depression. The second graph shows the DJI in recent yeards during our recession. As observed in this graph above, the Dow Jones Industrial has grown enormously since the Great Depression. Today, capitalism lets individuals invest in a certain stock and therefore lets them own a part of private enterprise. When this stock grows, people can sell there stocks making a large profit. As shown in this graph, if someone invested in a particular company in the DJI in 1980 the cost of the stock would have been low. Now, they sell the stock at high price and make a large profit.



The graph above shows the dangers of capitalism. Since a stock holder's money is dependent on the success of the company, the stock can easily crash and the stock holder will lose their money. Recessions, such as the one suffered in the previous year's, can be caused by many factors, one being panic and the urge to quickly sell a stock.

Possible Answers: Yes, No, I don't know

 * Good || Bad || No Idea ||
 * 25 || 6 || 10 ||

Interpretation of the Survey:
//The purpose of the survey was to find out what Pascack Valley High School students thought about capitalism or if they knew what capitalism is at all. The question was “What do you think about capitalism?” It was a multiple-choice question with three answers- “Good”, “Bad”, and “I do not know what capitalism is.” After taking a small set of data, two major surprises were brought to the attention of the researchers. The first was that many students did not know enough about capitalism to pick one of the first two responses. This claim is represented in the way the students reacted to the test question, and the high number of “I do not know” responses. The second surprise was related to the initial, verbal responses to the question. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there are students in Pascack Valley who know a lot about capitalism, and refused to give an immediate response. These test subjects demanded further clarification of the question, as well as, asking for a point of view of the question. They yelled at the researchers. After clarification that the survey was only asking for an immediate, simple response, most of those people chose one of the given options. The researchers feel that the data from the survey is not an accurate measure of PV’s opinion of capitalism. The group should not further discuss the numerical data of the survey for this reason. To resolve these errors in the data, the research group must either restructure the question and/or increase the size of the study to maximize the amount of data collected. In addition to the future of this survey, the group will educate students about capitalism, as a result of the large amount of unfamiliarity about the topic.//

The Definition of Capitalism
Capitalism is defined as “an economic system in which investment in and ownership of the means of production, distribution, and exchange of wealth is made and maintained chiefly by private individuals or corporations especially as contrasted to cooperatively or state-owned means of wealth.” Capitalism has been the economic system in the United States for almost all of its history. Capitalism is a major part of why the United States have been one of the most economically successful countries in the world. In the United States capitalistic system, the government is mostly “hands off” to private business. This causes ups and downs in the economy, which are known as, prosperity in good times, recession in downturns and depressions in the worst of times. There is also recovery, the time after a recession, which normally leads to prosperity.

The History of Capitalism:
Capitalism was preceded by Mercantilism. Mercantilism was an attempt to make trade imbalances between nations, which allowed some nations to prosper at the expenses of others. Adam Smith, who was a Scottish philosopher in the 1700's, figured out that mercantilism was a regressive system for the economy. Smith wanted an open market, which led to the first thoughts of capitalism. As the ideas of Capitalism were arriving, industrialism was kicking in to gear. This allowed owners of corporations to gain massive amounts of wealth and the government kept out of the economy. Capitalism grew all over the world, especially in the US. The US had the purest type of capitalism with almost no government regulation.

The Stock Market:
The stock market is a public market in which individuals can invest in company shares. The stock market goes hand in hand with the idea of capitalism and free enterprise. With the option to invest in.html share, one controls where their money lies. The largest stock market in America is the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). In the NYSE brokers exchange stocks when clients buy and sell shares. Individuals who are investing in stocks, attempt to buy stocks at a low price and sell them at a higher price. A great deal of money could be lost by a person if the stock they have invested in drops. In recessions, most of the stocks available in the stock market drop, causing many investors to lose money. A common cause of slight recessions, and even large recessions is simply panic. When people panic, they sell their stocks because they do not want to have their money in it when the stock crashes. When this happens, more and more people start to sell their stocks. There is now more supply than demand, and the price of the company's stock plummets. This generally causes a recession the company, which can lead to the complete failure of the company.



Solution Paragraph
== The American dream is often defined as being successful, prosperous, and owning land. However, in order to reach the American dream, one must work very hard for most of their life. They also must be smart, and not wildly spend money in ten different directions. I firmly believe that capitalism in America benefits the American way, and those looking to achieve the American Dream. Capitalism is a “social system based on the principle of individual rights (capitalism.org).” In technical terms, this means that production and distribution are privately owned and operated for private profit, without intervention from higher authorities, such as the government. When taking a poll in two classes at Pascack Valley high school, it was discovered that not everyone knew what capitalism is. This is a problem considering that knowledge of the capitalistic system could benefit people greatly, with options such as investing. Of the thirty-one people who knew what capitalism was, twenty-five said it was an overall good. However, there are many dangers of capitalism. As Peter Drier states from the Huffington Post, “America seems to be holding its breath, trying to decide what kind of society it wants to be (Drier).” He also goes on to say, “the current recession deepens the anxiety and pain (Drier).” Drier is correct in the fact that capitalism can lead to recessions, but these are simply market fluctuations. Overall, capitalism expands private enterprise to the individual looking to profit and live out the American dream. For example, if one works hard for years and earns money, they should have the option to invest in an area that they think it will grow, opposed to being slammed by higher taxes. Investing in a capitalistic system gives one the opportunity to save their own money. This allows people to work hard, and earn enough money to live out the American dream. With hard work, and smart moves, capitalism can extremely benefit one’s hopes to live the American dream. ==