True or false- Capitalism?

     In a recent article published by The New York Times, Jennifer Schuessler descibed a piece of art work that was displayed in Times Square on Friday. "Times Square Art Project Keeps Score on Capitalism" spoke of several different views on capitalism. Steve Lambert made a 20 foot by 9 foot sign that read "Capitalism works for me!" Attached to one end was a number that showed the number of votes that claimed the statement was true, and on the other end was a number that showed the claims that the statement was false. Lambert explained that his invention was a way of opening the lid to the conversation over capitalism. He stated that too many people get frightened by the topic and will run away when capitalism is mentioned. His assumption proved to be true. It took quite a while for people to build the courage to publicize their opinion. Finally a brave 18 year old pressed false and explained that although capitalism may work for a few people, it would not work for the greater amount. The next voter claimed just the opposite, however. He claimed that competition is better for everyone, and voted true to capitalism. Soon enough, a pattern had developed. Those in the working class voted false, whereas the more "prosperous" class tended to vote true.
     One of the ideas that we have discussed in class is that the U.S. values a raise in salary, a job promotion, and working a person's way to the top. In other words, the reason our economy has been successful is due to competition among the workers. Many people view capitalism as the competition needed for an economy to work. Those that voted true are correct, just as much as those who voted false are correct. A competition is needed for people to work hard and to help our economy improve upon itself. With no government interference however, we would see the rise of monopolies, and perhaps the rich taking over. In our economy today, we have little government interference so that private owner's may run things how they wish; until that owner begins to abuse their power, however. Capitalist ideas, as well as entrepreneurship's, are important in order to keep our economy growing and keep it from shutting down. Steve Lambert's artwork will be displayed again October 6-9 in New York and we will find out more opinions of those in the U.S. 

Duryodhana

     On September 13, 2013, The New York Times publshed an article titled "Legal Tussle Over Statue Turns Nasty" written by Tom Mashberg. This article tells of a legal battle over a statue of Duryodhana, a "hulking Hindu warrior." The U.S claimed that one of the world's largest auction houses is attempting to make money off of a looted artifact. The argument over the statue has led to the halt of the movement of the statue and the U.S. government believes they should take sole responsibility for the return of the Hindu statue since it was supposedly a stolen artifact. This claim was troubling because an Hungarian art collector by the name of Istvan Zelnik had offered to buy the statue for one million dollars and later donate it back to Cambodia. Now that the case is in court everyone involved is digging for evidence to prove whether the statue was stolen, and whether the United States is responsible for it's return to Cambodia, or not. The issue is put on hold in anticipation for the next court date which is scheduled for October 14.

     As I read this article I began to wonder about how much power our government has. In the United States we are thought to have economic freedom, but as our government is fighting for "sole credit for the statue's return" one can't help but wonder why? Why must our government spend so much time and money over how a piece of artwork gets returned to its home? We are blessed to live in an economy where we can choose what we want to do with our lives and have the economic freedom we do. As I read this article however, I began questioning how well our government considers economic equity. Are we distributing our money, as scarce of a resource as it is, in the most important areas?



Article: http://www.nytimes.com/2013/09/14/arts/design/legal-tussle-over-statue-turns-nasty.html?ref=arts&_r=0