Labor Theory of Value-- Marx Assignment

As we all know, or if you don't Marx was a man in the 1800 who basically despised the idea of capitalism and even predicted that one day it would fall. He had many idea's and many theories. One idea was the Labor Theory of Value. It basically means that labor runs capitalism. Which sadly is true. Workers (which is basically everybody) work all day or all night or sometimes both for the big capitalists that own the company, workers make the products that earn their bosses millions and billions of dollars but in return they get little to nothing for their labor. But thats just corporate America. What Marx believed in about the economic structure of capitalism is completely true.

The fall of capitalism, it seems, is always avoided. Why? because the rich would never be able to survive the day where they stop making money. They depend on the labor of the poor. Marx predicted that the fall of capitalism would require a lot of work. Workers would have to form unions, get political help, strike companies, get arrested (possibly beaten depending on the arresting officer and the workers' heritage) and basically gamble the chance of losing your job permanently rather than winning over the big bad rich capitalists. So you can see why many people would choose to stay under the evil rule of capitalism. Maybe Marx underestimated America

Inauguration Day

Well well well, Mr Obama is no longer known as the president elect but now as The President of the Unitd States. The numerous blowout celebrations that they had for Obama went on for days - parades, concerts, long insperational speaches. It all makes you think that America will stand untainted because of Obama. For starters ever since he was elected they (as in media) have been filtering us to think of Obama as Jesus's first cousin. I mean there isn't anything wrong with having a little hope and a little faith in one's county but honestly it can't possibly be realistic for America to go from the Devils Playground to God's Dining Room just because we have a new president. The setup of the inauguration was nice and there were alot of supporters, I personally knew 3 people that had gotten tickets to go to the events that they had hosted all weekend for the new President. Something was pointed out to me after Obama was named the official president. He aggreed with former President Bush about the AWOL. Obama said "We won’t apologize for the AWOL" (or something along these lines). Now what stikes me as weird is that Obama, this possible direct relative of God himself, agrees with the man who eveyone blames for the state of the economy.

There was a guy (I don't recall his name) who said a long prayer before they swore Obama in to official presidency. This man, mentioned Obama's heritage several times during this long christian based prayer. I think that they really want all the people of America to know that Obama is AFRICAN AMERICAN as if they can't see for themselves. But for some reason i got the feeling that this man only repeated PART of Obama's heritage to seem fair. Something like "America is fair, see? We have an AFRICAN AMERICAN President" Ha ha, then theres the whole undertoe of "But, in our defence if he screws things up even more, please remember he's AFRICAN AMERICAN!" Wow, our great America.

Today in 101 -- Winter Posts X-mas and New Years connected to AWOL

This Christmas was especially different and I do believe that it was all because of the lack of money in the economy. I think in general money makes the world go round and as shallow as it seems, money is the heart and soul of America. So in this especially difficult time for our economy America suffers more changes than it expected. Back in 9th grade (give or take) Christmas break was always the best time of the year, free presents, no school, snow. Everyone I remember would always be so excited about this time of the year. December 08' gave a whole new outlook on this and showed a clearer connection to money and Americans. Before school let out I talked to a few students and asked the simple question "Does this feel like Christmas to you?" they would ponder the question thoughtfully then give a confusing "No". Usually I would expect the answer to be something like "Hell yea" or "What other holiday could it be?!" Because America is slowly dwindling down on its $ America is unknowingly changing its attitude. Because money runs everything here like a puppet show -- work -- get money -- spend money -- save money (maybe) -- and the cycle starts all over again. So once something is messed up in this delicate cycle everything goes wrong. Once our economy was messed up, Americans attitudes slowly started to shift without them noticing So Americans who would see Christmas as a great time to spend with family and just relax could very well have a new outlook on life because of the economy and not even know it. All because of money. What’s weird is how even in this financial crisis we still see fit to spend money anyway.

New Years has always been a pretty typical holiday, spending time with my family, having dinner then watching the ball drop while yelling and blowing those cheap little horns. This year was a bit different, for the first time I was actually not with my family on new years. I had my first New Years Eve party. This connects to the AWOL because Americans very often tend to celebrate with partying and having fun with friends. Even though there are exceptions that can be made we all pretty much celebrate the same way, that’s what makes us Americans.

Winter Posts--- BND/Black Friday Anecdote & Analysis * Re-do

Black Friday, yet another excuse to spend money. Americans can't get enough of the holidays. It's like heaven on earth: one day where you can wake up early, trample and push other people to get what you want and spend all of your money. It goes to show how shallow some Americans can be. It shows how Americans work to get what they want. Since this nation is all about making and spending money, all of its holidays revolve around those two facts. In reality Black Friday is within the "normal status" of American holiday's.

Whereas BND is something that basically goes against the way that Americans live. Which is probably why it isn't acknowledged as much as other holidays. It's telling Americans to save their money and not give it to large coprorations. So like everything else that America doesn't like, they don't advertise it they shun it and pretend that it doesn't exist and they cover it up with things that fit the American image.

Winter Posts -- Connecting E-bay to AWOL *Re-do

Lets see, Ebay is basically for spending money , making money , buying junk you don't need , buying junk you need and buying things for history assignments. Anyone can see the clear connection to America and it's number one priority: Capitalism. This website shows the buyer first hand exactly how America works. There was something that I noticed from when I was watching the bracelet. The price kept going up and the supply was low, there was only one bracelet which shows scarcity, because both bidders wanted one item and there wasn't enough of it to go around. But what I thought was more interesting was the sneakiness of the entire operation. This constant fight between two Americans no doubt went back and forth and they would, from what I could see, only bid just enough money to be above of the opponent.

This made me think about corporate America and all the possible sneaky tricks that they could be using to get over on all of their opponents. This website, as pathetic as it may be to some shows down to the "T" how capitalism works. It shows how people get over on other people just to save a few bucks and get what you want. Its sad that a single website can depict a whole nation.

Winter Posts --- Ebay *Re-do

Over the winter break I went to the Ebay website and randomly looked over some of the categories that they had on the home page. To be honest it wasn't really all that appealing. So I typed in something that I knew for sure would interest me: Twilight (A book series) . There were a number of things that came up, I don't really remember all of the items, but a few of them did catch my eye. I saw a bracelet that I had liked alot. There was only one bid on it and the starting price was 17.99. It didn't seem like alot of money for this one item because it was something that I actually wanted.

My mother still protested buying the item so I used the watch this item option. I checked the item two days later and the price had gone up to 19.99 and now had two bidders. A 2 dollar increase didn't really seem like alot but it made me think about how people willingly spend money for things they probably wont need or use. I last checked it on the 2nd and the price had rose 3 cents. It appeared that this bidding game would go on forever because when you want something you can be relentless until you get it.

Winter Posts --- Connecting X-mas to AWOL

This Christmas was especially different and I do believe that it was all because of the lack of money in the economy. I think in general money makes the world go round and as shallow as it seems, money is the heart and soul of America. So in this especially difficult time for our economy America suffers more changes than it expected. Back in 9th grade (give or take) Christmas break was always the best time of the year, free presents, no school, snow. Everyone I remember would always be so excited about this time of the year. December 08' gave a whole new outlook on this and showed a clearer connection to money and Americans. Before school let out I talked to a few students and asked the simple question "Does this feel like Christmas to you?" they would ponder the question thoughtfully then give a confusing "No". Usually i would expect the answer to be something like "Hell yea" or "What other holiday could it be?!" Because America is slowly dwindling down on its $ America is unknowingly changing its attitude. Because money runs everything here like a puppet show -- work -- get money -- spend money -- save money (maybe) -- and the cycle starts all over again. So once something is messed up in this delicate cycle everything goes wrong. Once our economy was messed up, Americans attitudes slowly started to shift without them noticing So Americans who would see Christmas as a great time to spend with family and just relax could very well have a new outlook on life because of the economy and not even know it. All because of money.

Whats weird is how even in this financial crisis we still see fit to spend money anyway.