Marx+and+Smith+in+the+News

=Marx and Smith in the News!=

There are not that many ideas debated as heavily as Marx and Smith. They creep into everything: Human nature, core values, role of government, and the basic mettle of all social interactions are either seen in a Smithian point of view or the Marxist one.

American politics is not much different. You all are at a fascinating time. You are poised between different ends in the Tea Party Movement and the Occupy Wall Street Movement. Let's examine both and see where Marx and Smith are present in each.

Click here for the unofficial Occupy Wall Street Movement site. This is how the rich get richer and the poor get poorer-The little programs for charity and stuff like that is not true.For example,Africa.The programs go there and talk their leaders into joining them but really controlling them.How?Africa gives them twice as much money then america gives them.So the the little countries are being controlled.they are staying poor.while the rich are getting richer from investments from other countries banks.(lending money on intrest)africa is growing constantly.the person who wants to rule the world would use the rich to controll the poor Antwoin B period 1

i think that life could be like monopoly for capitalist. i also agree with griffin if life were monopoly no one would be having a business. (jheckelman) 2nd period

In this wall street situation rich=power but i think the wealthy poor class would never know how.And never know how they are making the rules.They have been doing this for decades maybe more.It connects to all over the world.I forgot what it was called but all the rulers or presidents from different nations or countries get together and discuss something.I think it was either trade or self interest and investment.

The Occupy Wall Street, Occupy Chicago, and Occupy wherever else movement(s) are definitely Marxist ideas. If Marx were to comment on this, he would say the 1% is the rich, and the 99% is the poor. Basically, they're trying to take the 1% of the wealth, but this will not work out because then everyone's gonna end up with the same amount of money they started out with, like Mr. Kannan said, because they have to distribute 1% of the money to 99% of the people. Rory period 1

I agree with Nick, If real life was like monopoly, it would be as if someone lost the dice. Nobody is really "landing" on big businesses anymore, so no money for them. Griffin Shaw 2nd

I think that Marx would have said that he was not surprised because the big business are starting to go down in power. Nick S. 1st 6)I think Marx would have said that the business's are starting to crash, and that the one percent would lose to this. Then of course he probably knew this would happen.(danny m)

I agree that Marx would not be surprised, but because the rich kept growing in wealth, and the poor continued to be poor. Smith is obviously present in the Occupy Wall Street Movement, because 1% of our society were successful and are rich, while the other 99% are poor. The 99% are everyday people, and this is exactly what Capitalism is saying. Ally Period 1

I agree with Nick and Ally 100%. Marx would have definitely been expecting it. The rich are a continuous growing wealth and the poor are a continuous shrinking poverty. -Caroline Orlin Period: 1
 * please un-shun me!!! :( *

Marx would agree because the 1% of rich people keep getting wealthier and wealthier, and the 99% of poor people are constantly loosing money. –Johana O.

I think that Marx would definitely support this movement. I feel he would because they are the 99% and they are also the antithesis to the rich people. Smith would figure that the movement is wrong because pursuing richness isn't wrong it is just part of our society. Scott period 2

//**I think Marx likes this movement because the rich is getting lots of money while the poor is getting none.**// //**Sofie Period 1 :)**//

I think Marx would have a smug look on his face if he heard about the occupy movement, because the big businesses were finally falling and having to distribute their wealth. Will G 2

I think that Marx would enjoy this movement, he would enjoy it because the majority of people do not get million dollar raises every year. The poor are trying to stop the rich. Henry H, Period 1 I think Marx would support this movement because its talking about how the poor people are ganging up on the rich people, who are making unfair rules.-Aja G Per.1 I see Marx in this movement because the Occupy Wall Street movement is the antithesis of the Tea Party movement and they are very openly battling. The Occupy Wall Street movement is also the antithesis of big business and is a synthesis created by the battle between the rich and poor.i believe Marx would have said that he had seen this coming and that the workers of the world are finally united. Lia 2nd Period.

Marx would have been pretty proud considering that he was the one who saw the "battle" between the rich and poor/ "middle class." This movement is a Marx idea because it is the poor people who are finally standing up for themselves and try to show the public the rich for who they are. It is a Marx idea. - Grace R. per.2

I agree with Grace 100%, Marx would be very proud because the people who are struggling to make money need to speak out. If they don't speak out things will never change. - Jittaun T. period 2

the United States is becoming a marks socioty in the last decade or so the amount of lower class is growing more and more and upper and middle class is getting smaller

I agree with Marx. It is true that the rich are growing, but the poor are growing even more. The rich is the 1% and the normal people are the 99%. - lindsey zw Per:2

I think Marx would like this movement because he knows that not much of the world is not making millions. There is way more people poor and living in boxes, while the rich are looking down on them and laughing while their wearing their all silk robes sipping on the finest wine. Gavin S. 2nd period Click here for an explanation of the Tea Party Movement.

With this in mind, let's post thoughts on where there are examples of Marx and Smith in each philosophy. Maybe, there are some points of similarity. If you are interested in this, click here for an interesting article on the topic. One more link to examine is the outcry against banks, embodied by the Move Your Money project. Click here to find out more information on this.

**The Tea Party represents Marx because Britain had more money and was controlling teh 13 colonies. The colonies were teaming up and rebeling against the taxes on tea. They were the 99% and Britain was the rich 1%.** **Emma Neville** **Period 1**

If you are interested in delving into the idea of Marx/ Smith and labor/ owner relationships, check out this article from Michael Wilbon about the NBA Lockout. Where do you see the Marx/ Smith elements in this article?

Post your thoughts here about each movement and what you see. If you find a link you would like to link our discussion to and is worthwhile, please feel free to do so.

I only saw a tiny bit of Marx in the Tea Party movement. The only part I think I could see him in was their wish to downsize the government. However, the Occupy Wall St. movement, to me, was completely Marx. They wanted the money to be shared with the other 99% of Americans. Cole Period 1

I think that the current NBA lockout and past lockouts in the NHL, MLB, and NFL represent examples of the bourgeoisie taking on the bourgeoisie. It is just an example of the rich trying to get richer. In this case its the super rich owners versus the slightly less rich players.- Duncan period 2

The NBA lockout is very dumb, "I don't want 20 million, I want 40 million." This is a Smith issue. Henry H, Period 1 The NBA lockout is about the rich players and the rich owners wanting more. The lockout connects with Adam Smith because his invisible hand created money that caused the troubles of the NBA today. Henry V, Period 1

I agree with Henry. The NBA lockout relates to Adam Smith because since the players want more money and they continue to debate it shows how much they support the idea of capitalism. -Jittaun period 2

I think the NBA lockout is a marx idea. To fully understand it, you have to look at it not thinking about the money. The players, or "workers," want more of a share of the more wealthy owners money, because the owners don't really do anything. It could be a smith idea, because of how big of a business the NBA is, but I think it's more marx. Also, the rookies or the players in the d-league making the minimum salary are probably hit hard by this. Jordan Mann

Period 2:

I think the two movements have differences but they both claim that they are for the people. The occupy movement is more focused on making capitalism less of a problem. The tea party movement want things from there to be no stimulus packages to there to not be gay marriage. Either way, Smith would not agree with them because they want an end to the modern version of capitalism.

I think the NBA lockout is a Smith v Smith situation. They both want more money. They are both willing to lose money by missing a season. They just want to get their way. They want to be powerful.

-eVaN k.

//__The NBA lockout is stupid. but i agree with evan. The occupy wallstreet movement is definitely Smith. As to what caroline said it is way more than 1% that is rich. Probably closer to 10%. So its the 10% vs 90%__// //__John Danuk 2nd__//

i think the tea party movement is a little bit of both marx and smith. it is Smith because they are against big governments and government actively working in the united sates which is avery smith idea. it is marx because they think taxes should be eliminated. Lia 2nd period.

I think the tea party have a few good concepts, and that those concepts are working towards a Smith reality. By downsizing government, we can assure that people have the chance to do what they love. A lot of their points are very stereotypical and show signs of racism and personal gain. When one of their top 15 beliefs is that English should be the universal language spoken, it sounds like they want to preserve white America. In this article, they call themselves "true patriots". I think that is being a little self-centered. The tea party is against the Marx truth of things. They supply problems but no answers. This could be a big problem for the people who are in financial trouble.-Bob H.

I agree with Evan that the NBA lockout is a Smith v. Smith situation because they both want more money which is the entire problem in this world and nobody really gets it. That is why economy is so messed up now a days because all anybody ever cares about is money. -Julia Barcia Period 2

I think the NBA lockout is both capitalism and socialism because it is a fight between rich people and really rich people (capitalism) and it is also a fight between workers and and owners. Gavin S. 2nd period

The Wall Street Movement would represent Marx's philosophies of his "Workers of the world unite" idea. and that's exactly what the strikers were doing. -- Sage Degand period 2

I agree with Gavin in that it is a big fight between rich people over money, so its capitalism. I also agree with Julia because the whole reason this lockout was caused was because people are fighting over how much money they are going to pay the players...so that's the only thing they are paying attention to. -Elise T.

i agree with elise and gavin. this is just a big fight with rich people over there money. so ding ding ding its got to be capitalism. they were just arguing about how much money they were losing (jheckelman) 2nd period

If the constitution says that we are society is to be equal, but are society is not equal there are more poor people then there are rich people. –Johana O.

jheckelman you have a point but the rules would be like this the rich start with 10,000 and we start with 500 the rich don't pay for the income tax or the other things they don't go to jail and they and every property is owned by them and every space is a pass go and they get 2,000 dollars instead 200 and when you pass go (if your not bankrupt already) you get 20. morgan jurgus

The idea of people forming unions and speaking out against the rich is just a way of saying that this system of 1% rich and 99% poor isn't working. Diego Period 1

I think that Occupy Wall Street is a very Socialist movement. They believe that everyone should have the same amount of wealth.-Duncan period

I agree with with Duncan. Occupy wall street is something Marx would strongly support. John Danuk 2nd

I think that the occupy wall street is not socialist but capitalist just that they want the rich to get hit harder instead of hit others harder. morgan jurgus per2

I don't mean to be rude but DUH! of course Marx would support the occupy movement. That's really obvious. Marx was a socialist and this is a socialist movement. - Raesean Spears

i think that the Occupy Wall Street Movement represents Marx because it limits capitalism. This represents Marx and definitely not Adam Smith.

- Parker Period 1

**I think that Marx would support the Occupy Wall Street because he said that there is nothing holding back the poor from attacking the rich because of how the rich treats the poor.** **Josie Period 1**