POLI 172 Lecture Notes - Lecture 1: Optical Fiber, Economic Inequality, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
26 Apr 2016
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Document Summary
Americans pride themselves on their free market economy: but when economic problems occur they expect their government to do something, but how much should government do, most accept that government: Has to levy taxes to pay for national security and infrastructure to enable interstate commerce. Must prevent the concentration of economic power in order to promote competition and consumer and worker protections. Must regulate businesses that exploit publicly owned resources for private profit. Distinguished from one another by the degree of government ownership and intervention in the economy through taxing, spending, and regulation of both business and consumption. Most democratic systems in the world have mixed economies. China: more capitalist but not equally more democratic. In the u. s. , greater democracy went hand-in-hand with increased regulation of the economy. Tension between capitalism and democracy: capitalist marketplace rewards and encourages inequities that, if unchecked, threaten democratic beliefs about individual equality, great wealth >greater access to decision makers >potential influence.
