Government 1B: Lesson 125 Essay- (1) “What are some factors that have contributed to rising health-care costs in the United States?” (2) “Evaluate this statement: ‘World War II was a time of great prosperity in the United States.'”

The primary reason health care prices are rising is because people don’t care how much it costs to get medical work done. Since the insurance company pays the costs the consumer doesn’t shop around to find lower prices, they do what is convenient. Since the person providing the service knows the consumer doesn’t care about the price he or she will raise the price of getting medical work done.

The statement: “World War II was a great time of prosperity in the United States.” is a false statement. Two out of five Americans worked in fields that produced stuff for the war and government. This means two out of five Americans produced goods that other consumers didn’t want like tanks and planes. The other three out of five Americans that did work in productive fields were taxed so that the government could pay the other two out of five. Then the tanks and planes were used in war and destroyed meaning the resources used to create them were wasted.

Government 1B Lesson 30: Essay- (1) “What is the problem that Ludwig von Mises identified that a socialist economic planning board faces?” (2) “Evaluate this statement: ‘All workers have benefited from the existence of labor unions.'”

The problem that Ludwig von Mises identified was the socialist calculation problem. The problem is that a socialist government can’t calculate profits and losses. This is because they can receive as much money as they need to produce goods by taxing citizens (meaning they have no expenses to make goods). They can charge whatever prices they want because there is no competition. There is no way for them to tell if they are wasting resources because there is no competition or prices.

The statement, “All workers have benefited from the existence of labor unions.”, is a false statement. Many workers would have worked at wages that the union was complaining about, but could not because the government made the employer rehire the union workers. Then when the government forces the employer to rehire the workers and pay them more, he won’t be able to afford to hire as many other workers.

English 1: Lesson 120 Essay- “Describe the differences between Northup’s response to separation from his children and Eliza’s response to separation from her children.”

When Northup realized he had been kidnapped he went into shock. This is where he realized he had been taken from his family. When Eliza was separated from her children she was torn apart and very sad. At first Northup had lost nearly all hope of being freed and returning to his family. Then after a letter was sent to his family he regained his hope and put faith in God. Eliza lost all hope after her children were taken form her. This was because she thought her family would be freed when her master died, but instead she was sold and separated from her children. After having her hope crushed right in her face she lost all faith and went into complete depression. In conclusion, Northup regained faith and stayed strong and Eliza lost all of hers and went into severe depression.

Government 1B: Lesson 115 Essay- “(1) Is ‘income inequality a problem, in your opinion? Why or why not? (2) What are the major assumptions identified at the beginning of the lesson on discrimination that most people make about discrimination? Is there a good reason to doubt these assumptions?”

In my opinion income inequality is not a problem. It is not a problem because people make what they CHOOSE to make. No one is forcing a Wal-Mart employee to work at Wal-Mart at low wages. If he does not like how much he is being made he can try to negotiate with his current employer or try to negotiate with a new one to get better pay. There is no discrimination, just free negotiating, between the employer and the employee as to how much he should be paid.

Here are the assumptions most people make about discrimination: discrimination causes poverty, group characteristics are stereotypes, differences in group incomes are cause by discrimination, and political action is necessary for oppressed groups to advance economically. First off, people choose to be poor. They could have chosen to work harder and/or get a better job. Differences in group incomes are caused by choice not discrimination. An entire ethnic group may choose to be lazy and that is why they will make less. All they have to do is work harder or get a better job. Stereotypes are just true statements about certain groups. Maybe if most of the group wasn’t living off welfare then they wouldn’t be called lazy. The truth hurts, but the truth is not discrimination. People just need to choose to work harder or do better work then there will be no income gap.

Enlish 1: Lesson 115 Essay- “Did Thompson provide persuasive evidence exposing that the South’s slave system was morally evil?”

I think that Thompson did provide persuasive evidence exposing the South’s slave system as morally evil. I was completely convinced that the system was evil after reading his autobiography.

He made it very clear in his autobiography that the slaves were whipped constantly for no reason. He said he could understand if the slave was whipped after messing up badly. The slaves were frequently abused and beaten for little or no reason because there was no way the slaves could protect themselves other than attempting to retaliate or escaping. He showed that on plantations where whippings only occurred for a reason and the slaves could understand they messed up, then the slaves would work harder and produce more.