Blog #35 – Dangerous Age of Abundance
During the Socratic Seminars on Tuesday, we discussed a few pages of Henry Luce’s book, The Dangerous Age of Abundance. There were some issues that we were stuck on or could have dug deeper into, including:
1. His quotes like: “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
“The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.”
“Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.”
“Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.”
2. Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism – a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.
3. Luce’s recommendations for improving the American corporations (listed on the last page of the handout).
Pick one of the three topics and further expound on it (if you choose #1, do at least 3 quotes).
Due Friday before class, 5/11/12 (revised due date). 300 words minimum.
Wikipedia page on Henry Luce – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Henry_Luce
The Henry Luce Foundation – http://www.hluce.org/home.aspx
PBS article on Henry Luce – http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/episodes/henry-luce/henry-r-luce-and-the-rise-of-the-american-news-media/650/
1. “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars and to a world population of 5-10 billion people? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” – I think that if our population grows any larger, we will not be able to remain “in any joyful sense human and free”. Once the population expands to the point that Earth’s carrying capacity is strained, an increase in carbon emissions has caused climate change, and we’re running dangeriously low on fresh water, certain freedoms we take for granted now will be in danger. For example, the right to reproduce, to spend certain amounts of energy, and and more will be restrained. Travel will be a sought-after privilege because gas will be in such high demand (provided we do not have an alternative energy source). Already, this is the case in certain countries. But if the population increases too much, it will be the case everywhere…“Our problems are not of failure but of success.” – I like this quote because it is a very optimistic view of the world, but I also dislike it because it is relatively close minded and naïve. First, I think that it was good of the author to acknowledge that Americans were very well-off at the time. They were very prosperous, and they had a democratic government, and there was no war taking place on American soil. The list could go on and on. So I think that it was good in the respect that he wasn’t complaining about the prosperity exactly. He was discussing how lucky we are to have problems stemming from the prosperity rather than the alternatives. But I think that he was looking at America too broadly. He was looking at the country as a single entity, rather than composed of many different classes, races, and viewpoints. He looked solely at the middle class – there were still many people living in poverty. He should have acknowledged that problem before spending his energy trying to solve problems that would only affect corporations. Also, he was looking at it from only an economical standpoint. I know that’s what the speech was about, but he made it sound like America was golden without remembering the racism that was occurring and minorities were struggling for civil rights. The country was struggling to overcome it’s failures in that department. Overall, I think this sentence was appropriate for the purpose of the speech, but he shouldn’t have made it so general. America was definitely not successful in all respects and he was not seeing the whole picture, with ALL of its details…. “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.” – I agree with this statement. Science and technology are remarkable, but they are also extremely dangerous. If a scientist wants to publish a process that could lead to the creation of weapons, and needlessly endanger millions of people, should he/she be allowed to publish that information into the community of scientists, simply for the sake of knowledge? For example, scientists discovered how to transmit certain mutations of the bird flu more easily, which poses a huge threat to biosecurity and could enable biological weapons that could yield enormous damage. The US government and the researchers are debating whether or not to release the papers. This could be a very dangerous tool, so it needs to be regulated. I think that there should be a partnership between knowledgeable, experienced scientists and the government to protect the welfare of the people while continuing to advance science. I don’t think that corporations should be involved at all though, because they often put money before safety.
Henry Luce makes many interesting points and arguments in the pages from his book, The Dangerous Age of Abundance. One thing that was interesting was Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism. I believe that we as Americans do make too many useless things and we have become slaves to the producer economy. This is true because there are many products made that do not help people or improve anything and are just made for people to show off. This means we just make things so other countries can see us as a top dog in producing when in actuality most of the products are useless. We have become slaves to the producer economy for reasons of this matter. Luce did try to make America to seem all high and mighty by putting down Galbraith’s critiques but the critiques are right to a lot of people including myself. Now you can look at this in another way by saying we make more products that are improvements to the older products that are made. For example, people may want to upgrade their phone and get a smartphone because it is a new form of tech for them. So they go out and buy the new phone and another one comes out a week later. Then this new one is said to be an improvement to the phone the person just bought and should be way better type of phone. Then more and more improvement phones come out on different carriers so you have many more products produced. These products were produced for reasons like improving the old phones, style, and people’s everyday lives. Then again, that is still a slave to the producer economy because people may go out and keep buying these different phones. Just like when the iPhone 4 came out, then the 4s came out which really wasn’t an improvement but people still bought it because it is an Apple product. Now that deals with how companies advertise their products and people buy thing for that reason. Most advertisements trick people to buying something they really don’t need but it makes them look better just like how America as a whole makes more and more products just to look bigger and better.
1. In the quote, “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”, Henry Luce makes a valid point that how much expansion is really necessary. Once we are at a prosperous level, how much really can be done to affect our country? Once we are at that point as a nation, if we ever get there, I feel stronger that once we help all of the impoverished families within our country with food and healthcare, then we should go into other countries in need and really set up a sturdy government and then systems like food distribution and so forth. Another strong point is made when he says, “The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.” People who are corrupted by the thought of having it all destroy the system of a free enterprise. Running scams, secret dealings in the stock market trade and many other sketchy things make even non-corrupt people turn into that Wall Street banker that ruins it for the rest of us. There needs to be less of a ratio between the worker/manager wage rates like we talked about in our “debate”. There are many variations of this next quote: “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” Many great minds have said that failure is just as important as success, for example, Benjamin Franklin and Albert Einstein. This quote however really means that too much success can lead to corrupt people higher up in large, private owned businesses and even some ways in the government. Failure is a key way to understand the overall sense of accomplishment because the only way to really perfect something is by running multiple tests of trial and error. Three more words.
2. Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism – a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.
It is my belief that Luce is on spot when he criticizes Galbraiths statements that our economy produces too much useless stuff. I agree that the point Luce makes is valid; it’s just that he doesn’t necessarily back up his claims. Galbraiths point is impossible, because if the “stuff” were useless, it wouldn’t have enough value to be consistently sold to the consumers in America. Consumers buy the products they like, or need. If the products were useless-inferring they are not liked or needed, there is no evidence that supports the idea that they would stay in business. This can be applied to his second claim as well. Galbraith calls America a producer based economy, but just like stated in the first answer, the consumers make the choices that affect the producers. We have not become slaves of the producer economy, but we have become free because of the consumer economy in that we have choices in what we buy. If America truly were a producer-based economy, then the producers would have more control over the people of our nation. In reality, we have seen the consumer destroy the producer throughout history. Even established companies have had products fail because of their consumer outlook. We can examine empirical evidence on these occurrences. For instance, we saw New Coke fail miserably due to its consumer outlook. Don’t forget about the Arch Deluxe McDonalds burger, or worse Heinz EZ Squirt, the green ketchup. These are all products from established companies that failed because the consumer chose to not buy them. Our economy sometimes produces useless stuff- but it doesn’t last. The consumer binds the producer, and not the other way around.
I personally agree that we make too much useless stuff. People want all the little things that are new. In reality they do not need these things, but since we are “Americans” we like to have all the newest crap and always want to be on top or be the most advanced in everything. I agree that we have become slaves to the producer economy because there are lines outside stores whenever something new comes out and it was the same back in the day. When TV’s became popular and the new sets were coming out, everyone went to go get one because they wanted to be like the rest of the society. It’s just like today with Apple; they create new things and everyone drops what they have and go out and get the newest and greatest thing. While this isn’t bad, it’s just how our society has become. In my opinion we have all done this but people can spend their money how ever they want. I think Luce had this big criticism because he didn’t like how the US was advancing in their sales tactics and luring consumers in with their slick advertising to by their products which half of the time they don’t even need! Luce saying the stuff is useless is a little extreme because if it was really useless no body would be going out and buying these items if they were “useless”. I feel like he could have been better off saying that most of the items aren’t needed and their just little extra items that the advertiser persuades you to think that you need it more than you do. I don’t think we can ever stop doing this because now as the world advances with technology people always want their technology to be up to date and most likely will go out and buy these new updates items.
Luce makes four points for improving the management of American corporations. They’re better management, increase take home pay, private enterprise produces too many things that the public doesn’t use so we should cut back on that, and private enterprise should start to take over some things done by the government. Out of these points I feel like the most important one is better management. He talks about how management got sloppy during the recession and has to be cleaned up. This point makes a lot of sense because how will workers do their jobs if the people who are telling them what to do are not doing their job well. The workers will do the wrong things, or just won’t do anything. Another point Luce makes is increasing the take home pay of able bodied men, and also increasing the gap of pay between that of an average worker and management. This is a solid point because it would create an initiative for managers to work hard and keep things in order if they were very clearly separated from the average working man as far as pay goes. This would help with his first point of tightening up the management. He talks that the quality of goods should be increased which ties into better management because if you are managing your employees to do the right thing they will make higher quality goods. Luce’s last point is the private sector should take over some goods and services being provided by the government. This shows Luce’s trust in the private enterprise with the future of America because he says that although the Government will have to be worked with, extensions of the government shouldn’t be working on the projects themselves. In all Luce points to the importance of better management, goods and increase in the things the private sector does, and a decrease in what the public sector does.
I agree with Galbraith’s opinion that we make too many useless goods. In today’s world, companies have one goal which is to make money. Companies such as apple and LG make new devices every year that are supposed to be better than the previous device. For an example the iPhone 4s which came out in 2011 had very little difference with the iPhone 4, yet four million people bought it in the first day. Half now a days half the people who buy apple products buy it because of the name, and don’t care or eve check out the actually features of the devices that they buy. Also companies are trying to reel people in with useless stuff like headphones that cost over 400 dollars. Headphone s has one purpose and one purpose only, to allow users to listen to music through their respective devices. Consumers can buy headphones for 10 dollars that work just as good as 400 dollar headphones. People have become to obsessed, and materialistic in today’s world. People camp out for days in the cold to be the first to buy the newest gadget or gizmo. The device will still be there in 2 weeks if does what is days it does and sells good. There is absolute no reason to camp outside for an electronic device. If thi what we consumers have come to then we have truly become slaves to our producer economy. Capitalism needs to change in one kind of way so we can live in a world we headphone s don’t cost 300 dollars. The internet has also contributed to our slavery to the producer economy because it allows our goods to be delivered right to our front door. Online shopping has also put useless goods in our faces with constant adds on web pages, and advertisement video’s for videos.
1. In his speech, Luce makes a variety of insightful and uncannily accurate predictions. In some aspects, he pretty much nailed economical issues fifty years ago, and their effects on the future.
– “But we are rich—so now what? Get richer—and then what?” We’ve done exactly that. Recessions and economic variations aside, the United States has continued to prosper and prosper, with no inherent means of stopping. There’s no way for the United States to slow down and stop ‘getting richer’ without completely tanking our economy. As Americans, we are accustomed to being rich—taking that away, however gradually, would likely completely overthrow American culture, politics, etc. Furthermore, since we have ‘gotten richer,’ in inference from Luce’s standards, is the current recession the “then what” the author refers to? Have we gotten so rich that it’s all downhill from here?
– “Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” This is largely a matter of opinion. From the gist of the article and Luce’s role as an economist, it seems like he means freedom in the business world, not necessarily ‘free’ in the sense of literal, personal freedom. In a way, I think Luce might be arguing his beliefs on the issue of ‘corporate personhood.’ If Luce’s projection of outgrowing freedom is applied to the business world and thus corporations, then do corporations, business entities made up of people, outgrow the freedoms of the individual as they expand to hundred of thousands, if not more, workers? The growth of a group of individuals should not hinder the freedom of the individuals within the group, and in this sense, I agree with Luce. On the other hand, the question of humanity in regard to corporate and business growth is an entirely different issue. As technology becomes more and more prominent, inter-office relations become less and less personal. Emails overtake phone calls, conference calls; meetings. With this lack of face-to-face contact, a sense of humanity is unarguably lost. To bring it back to the context of the article—the business world is growing, and will likely continue to do so. With this growth, freedom should not be compromised, nor should humanity. Fortunately, politics keeps the issue of freedom at the foreground; unfortunately, the rampage of innovation we embarked upon at the start of the Cold War kind of destroyed our ability to talk to one another. Furthermore, although we may be free as individuals, the size and influence of our country never renders the United States completely free from obligation. In a world so inter-connected, it’s nearly impossible for a single country to be completely independent. While this may compromise the ‘freedom’ Luce refers to, does it restore the humanity? This quote is truly a matter of the reader’s perspective regarding to what Luce was aiming his statement at.
– “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” America’s issues truly do stem from our successes rather than our failures. After the ‘success’ of WWI’s economy boost, the consequent crash showcased the problems that rapid expansion had cost us. Our ‘success’ in developing the nuclear bomb brought the problem of the Cold War, arms race, technological competition, etc. At the time period, America was prosperous. This prosperity brought cultural ignorance, economic arrogance, and hugely invasive politics. Success has been notorious for changing America’s values, and our problems are likely to stem from this.
To expand on option 2; “a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.” I do personally believe that we produce too much of one product that we don’t need. As stated before in 3rd hour’s Socratic seminar, “we don’t need ten different iPods…” and I do agree with that statement. The iPod, or in the other case, the “useless things”, is just a want, not a need. If we produced more needs then this over production wouldn’t be a problem. The “wants” that are produced aren’t always affordable to the society, so not as many can buy it, so it causes too many to be produced. The other causes of our useless production are competition with other countries. We want to “out run” the other nations with our production, but we don’t stop to think a second about the cause and effects. We are spending money that ends up going down the drain, while in the meantime; our citizen’s lives are getting worse and worse. Expanding on his second statement; “we’ve become slaves to the producer economy”, we did in fact. Our brains have switched our thoughts to “I need this, this, this, and this”, thereby giving the producers a profit from us, or in other words, we have become their slaves. The producers know what the customers want and what the customers will spend money on, so they make those things for us, in a way, keeping us on a leash.
2. With Luce’s point about becoming slaves of our own production and that we also produce way too many useless things. I agree 100% with his point. I understand why we would want to compete with other nations by producing more stuff to get more money, but we have to think more about the outcomes of producing so much stuff. All were really doing is wasting money by producing useless stuff that no one wil probably even buy. I don’t understand why we wouldn’t take a little more time to actual think about what were making and make something that can actually benifit the United States. The U.S. has always wnated to be the best and we’ve let that get in the way of quality and now we just focus on quantity which is the wrong way to go about it. We have become slaves in our own production in the sense that we would do whatever it takes just to have something to show to the world, even if its not impressive. Luce says we need to make a smaller gap between managers and workers and also we need to make sure everyone has freedom and satisfaction. But if continue to have greed and think of ourselves, the gap will continue to grow and grow and before we know it, there will be very little freedom left. So we need to open up our minds for new ideas and it will open the door for hundreds of new oppurtunities for jobs, products, and peoples freedom.
“But we are rich-so now what? Get richer- and then what?” There will always be something new to create, to invest in, to do because there is a never ending list of opportunities. America can still explore space and create new technologies that either help advance our country or make people happy customers. When Luce states this, he didn’t know about the possibility of a computer, or iPod, or cellular phone. So for him to state that sooner or later it will all stop and we won’t have anything to do, he’s wrong. For better or for worse, there will always be something new and different. “Our problems are problems not of failure, but of success.” This statement is so very opinionated that it is neither wrong nor right. I believe that problems come from not success or failure but the wrong use of what we (the people of the world) have and how we control it. Yes, failure can bring problems to countries, but our true crisis is when we have something that can harm people and use it in the wrong way. For example, when Japan and Germany were using their armies to weaker countries that was what brought real issues. They were using what they had to hurt others and only benefit themselves. Greediness will never work in a world like ours because there will always be people for the greater good. To bring it back to the main point, failure and success can trigger big dilemmas but it is only when one uses their abilities for the worse that true problems occur. “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power-and the obligation- to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible- and require- vast organization.” Luce is really right on when he wrote this statement. Ever since nuclear weapons were made, our world has been threatened by both their freedom and their lives. When the Soviets were holding nuclear weapons, our country went into full meltdown and we looking into many people’s lives. This corrupted their right of privacy and freedom of speech and what they believed in. It shouldn’t have mattered if someone was communist or not but because we were threatened by Science and what it had created, that mattered. Science can create new ideas which can kill many people. We (as humans) need to be able to keep science within a realm of peace to make sure freedom can be given to everyone.
Luce’s criticisms are interesting. You can see the two sides very clearly, black and white. Luce is very pro-work and Galbraith has a more conservative style to his points. These two people, very influential in their era represented two sides of this ever growing argument about how much is too much. It is really truly sensible to only make as much as you need and not have excess, but that’s not all that the economy was at that time. This was the first time, after the depression that we were actually producing goods, buying goods and expanding our economy. The statement that Luce made about our main business not being business, but freedom is correct in this sense. We truly explored our freedom especially in business. Everyone who participated in this felt like they could produce as much as they want because the economy was great and everyone was buying. The whole business culture of that time really encouraged it. The point about us being slaves to the producer economy is also very two-sided. Luce argues about this being the triumph of business. Having jobs, working for your life and producing. Luce, being the business man he is, can make that statement, given his position. Luce is a business magazine writer. He wants to encourage the diligence of the workers of America. The whole point of him criticizing the work of Galbraith is to show that, the American people are really benefitting from the whole post war abundance. One thing I have in criticism of Luce’s criticisms is the fact that he talks about how if we aren’t careful and conserve and try to be ready for the waves of people and prosperity we may have could be bad. This is similar to Galbraith’s points, and yet he criticizes them. The same time that he is saying we should conserve, he also criticizes the ones saying the same thing. Just something to think about
2) At that time period, I agree with Galbraith’s assessment of American business, we were just making things to show that we can make things, not because they are useful. Yes, many things that Americans make are very useful and help make life much better, but there are also many things that seem useless. We have become slaves to the production economy, just making things not really thinking about how they can improve our life style, but just to show people that America was on top, and that we were the best when it came to business. This is where I think Luce comes into play with his criticism. In this whole speech he was commenting about how well off America is, and how amazing it is; he basically thinks America the best, no debate, no questions asked. When he saw that some American had attacked American business, which he thought was going so well, it must have made him mad because he just thought we were the top tier: the desirable economy. This is why I think he criticized Galbraith, not because of what he said, but because he attacked American business, and wasn’t saying that it was ideal, or perfect like Luce thought it was. But today in the modern day world, I think America has just gotten into improving everything we produce. After we make one model of something, we fix all the problems and make a newer sexier model, then fix the problem of that model and make another model and so on until the public is bored with the product. We just produce new things because we think that fixing the glitches of the old product will fix everything, which is true, or false, depending how you look at it. Is making so many generations of every electronic ever produced really necessary? No it isn’t, but it shows that we are always trying to improve for better or for worse. But nothing will really change until we stop improving and start innovating; until America makes something that stuns the world.
#1
-“But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”
Here Henry Luce is questioning what we do after we become rich. Well that’s thing you can never be overly rich, especially in America. There will always be someone that has it better than you or more than and you will continually strive to get there. So if someone has more money than you it will seem like you are not nearly rich enough and can stand to earn some more dough, while in reality you are one of the wealthiest people around. So as a society we just keep reaching and reaching for more and more money, it’s a vicious circle that is never ending.
-“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
Of course we can continue to increase our Gross National Product; there is always more room to expand. But I do not think that with our world’s population rapidly increasing that we will be able to remain joyful and free. I mean there is only so much Earth to go around, and once all of its resources are gone then we are pretty done for. Like in Wall-E, the planet used up all of its resources and the planet literally turned into a dump.
– “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.” I agree with Luce on that science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because we continue to create deadly weapons that could completely wipe out entire cities, especially during this time period with the Cold War just beginning. Like if the Soviets were to drop an Atomic bomb on us then the country would be in a huge panic, especially if it was dropped on New York City, Washington DC, or any other major city.
1. One of Luce’s quotes from The Dangerous Age of Abundance was “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” This statement made me think about the truth behind this statement. I interpreted this statement as Luce pointing out since America is a successful country, it is in risk of losing this success. Sometimes, when people or products become so successful that they stop trying as hard once they’re on top and believe that they’re the best. I also think that Luce is trying to say that very rich and powerful people are the cause of our problems in America because they have the power to disrupt the peace of our society. In Luce’s statement, “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” I think that he is not only questioning what life would be like with these conditions and how our morals will change. Luce is saying that if all we care about is expanding, constantly improving our society, and making more of everything then we will lose sight in any possible reason to live otherwise, or be human. Another quote from Luce is “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” I think that this quote is related with the quote I used above because Luce is questioning what is in store next. He is asking the reader to question if this society that we’ve created for ourselves is one that has a purpose. In our society, the main goal of everyone seems to make money. It is a never ending quest for more money that leads to nothing.
1.One of Luce’s quotes from The Dangerous Age of Abundance was “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” This statement made me think about the truth behind this statement. I interpreted this statement as Luce pointing out since America is a successful country, it is in risk of losing this success. Sometimes, when people or products become so successful that they stop trying as hard once they’re on top and believe that they’re the best. I also think that Luce is trying to say that very rich and powerful people are the cause of our problems in America because they have the power to disrupt the peace of our society. In Luce’s statement, “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” I think that he is not only questioning what life would be like with these conditions and how our morals will change. Luce is saying that if all we care about is expanding, constantly improving our society, and making more of everything then we will lose sight in any possible reason to live otherwise, or be human. Another quote from Luce is “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” I think that this quote is related with the quote I used above because Luce is questioning what is in store next. He is asking the reader to question if this society that we’ve created for ourselves is one that has a purpose. In our society, the main goal of everyone seems to make money. It is a never ending quest for more money that leads to nothing.
3. In the article, Henry Luce makes four suggestions on how to improve American Corporations, fixing bad management, increase pay and strive for excellence, make quality goods, and Private Enterprise should be involved in services to the people.
1. Luce’s first point is how management should be greatly improved. Luce’s point can be applied to today’s life as well. How many times have you had unsatisfactory service at a restaurant or when using a product? It is important that Corporations keep management in tip top shape and make sure that service is not careless, sloppy, or soft. Corporation’s need to have the right people in charge and if they do not, then they need to get rid of them. When there is good management, then the quality of the product and the efficiency that it made with would be increased greatly.
2. His second point addresses how there should be an increase in pay of all able men. He believes that there is too much equality when it comes to pay day. He is concerned for the managers that are younger or right below the top management position. He believes that America can make this work because we want excellence. So we want the best people in every field to be in charge. He also talks about how rewards play an enormous role in the organization of society, which is true because many people work for money and without that motivation no one would strive to do their work well. If you pay the top people, then people will work to get to the top by doing their job to the best of their ability. He tells Galbraith to give 1% of the GNP to the most highly skilled person; this reward would give people something to work towards.
3. His third suggestion is how only things that are important should be made. He says people are making too many useless items of low quality. There are too many bad services and goods and that we should be worried about the lack of quality. He talks how it should be a businessman’s responsibility to create excellence in both the quality of goods as well as the service of the business. Using the example of buying a house, he says that a man should get a nice house for a cheap price. Also, that he should be offered a better house for a higher price. Luce is saying that Americans should be getting the best quality for their product.
4. Lastly, Luce explains how many services that are usually provided by the government, such as roads, atomic power, and urban renewal, should all be taken upon by Private Enterprise. This view gives more power to these businesses and is as far away from laissez-faire as possible. It is important that businesses and government join together to improve daily life as long as it doesn’t get out of hand and give too much power to these big businesses.
2. I think that we do make a lot of useless stuff in America; especially our generation. Every few months they have a newer version of the same thing but with a few more features on it, or its smaller, it is really unnecessary. Everyone always wants something that is new and more complicated; it may help our economy to have all these things being made but we don’t necessarily need them. The first thing we do when we see something that looks cool is say “I want that”. Advertising and Companies have found a way to make us think that we want what they are selling, that we have to have a certain product. They have found a way to make us think we are younger, older or cooler with their product. Which brings me to the point that we are slaves of the producer economy because someone will buy just about anything, if it is advertised a certain way. The economy for producers and companies was fine because they were getting a nice income from their customers.
When we buy useless stuff we are just cheating ourselves out of money. The country today has so much useless stuff that a lot of people buy. I can see why it was said that we have too much useless stuff. Back in the 1950’s people were just spending money to treat themselves as though they were rich because they had been in two world wars and a depression since the century started and they were tired. This is understandable but it was taken a little too far. Everyone should have bought things they needed and saved their money for necessities but they didn’t, they bought things that looked nice or “hip”. Companies decided to use this to their advantage and made people think they were going to be cool if they bought a certain product.
1st Quote- “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” This quote reminds me of situations in movies where the whole movie the characters are striving to reach or achieve a goal and they finally achieve it but the movies not over, so now we are like “Now What?” When America came out of The Great Depression there was nowhere to go but up. Then the 1950’s hit and we are flying high in the sky, what’s there to do now, go higher!, maybe even space (AHAHAH punny cause that’s what we did). But anyways, that’s I guess where Americans selfish materialistic ways came from because now everyday there were new ways to be on top and improve say with the latest appliances or the newest car. We used to settle for what worked and now we were riding like bad asses in the latest Ford car.
2nd Quote- “The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.” Nudge Nudge wink wink elbow elbow the stupid Wall Street bankers that are made a catrillion bazillion dollars before the economy was in a recession and broke the laws are stretched the rules to earn a little extra dough (ahhh still happening). People who become powerful I believe become addicted to this wealth and power and lifestyle and begin to think they are above the law. Which right now it seems like the Wall Street bankers might be considering if I’m not mistaken none of them have even been tried.
3rd Quote- “Our problems are problems not of failure but success” This quote by Henry R. Luce was sparked by the extreme amount of prosperity that the United States of America was experiencing after World War 2. It was a unique type of situation that America had not encountered in quite some time. This dilemma seems spoiled and ungrateful to find problems during such prosperity but they did exist. With all this power corruption happens. Problems from our success was that we were the world’s leading nation with the most power and we had to be careful with everything we did because our success with the atomic bomb made other countries make nukes and they were all starting to point straight towards us. With this much power, the United States had put a target on their backs.
1.Luce in his article brings up points such as
“But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
“The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.”
“Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.”
Well the first two can be grouped together. He is basically saying “now that we have accomplished all of our goals, what do we do?” Do we just set higher, but similar goals or do we make new goals? If we make new goals what new goals as a civilization have we not done or if we set higher goals can we continue to go higher without becoming slaves to success? He is inquiring what happens after “happily ever after”. Well as most married couples know, dating probably was great, but the first year was difficult. Likewise with capitalism, it was great when in courted with prosperity, but now that capitalism and prosperity have settled down hand in hand we see the flaws. American life during this time frame took a turn. It was normal to think and focus on making money and fulfilling your role then spending quality time with your family showing your true, yet hopefully still working on improving, self. Morals took a back seat for money. It also set the mind frame that you are entitled to a certain lifestyle. Many grown adults that I know believe that they are entitled to work for a high pay for minimum to no effort.
The last two can also be grouped together. Their main theme is that now we have to deal with our “wrong” prosperity. Are we making money by selling products that are degrading society? Is our success causing our social problems? Yes, I believe when you are less sure of your daily bread, people tend to be more humble and mindful. When my family was not well off we seemed to become stronger as a family and have more stories to tell. Our life was much more member able; so there was less of a useless feeling. Now the problems we have are because of success. Luce brings up another point again, if we change what we are producing can we improve our society? We would have a healthier environment if we had changed our producing habits and fuel consumption in the 60s. Yet, certain jobs, such as my fathers, would not be available. So far none of the “eco-friendly cars” can substitute a gas car that my father requires for his long days on the road. So I think changing what we are producing is very hypothetical scenario. There will forever be drawbacks and advantages.
“But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”
Luce is correct in this statement. It is the American way to never be satisfied with what they have, but it hasn’t always been like that. Before the ‘age of abundance’, Americans were simpler; they were happier with less because they didn’t know anything else. However, since the rise of consumerism less hasn’t been enough. It was around the time that it became pertinent to keep up with the Jonses. It began a vicious circle- to never stop wanting more. We continue to acquire things, and get more money, but are never happy.
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
We cannot go on expanding and expanding. Already we are running out of resources and space; gas prices are skyrocketing today because there simply isn’t enough to go around anymore. Our world has become one of competition today. It is one where Americans feel like they have to be the strongest, richest country around. With all that competition has come a sense of hostility and fear in the world. We are constantly worried that we will be out done by another country, and feel as if we are never good enough.
“Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.”
When Americans created the first H-Bomb, it was considered a success. We successfully created a weapon of mass destruction that threatened not only our safety, but other countries as well. How is it that something considered successful turned out to be a threat?
Caitlyn Dolan Hour 1
Blog #35, Expounding on Luce
1. “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
During our Socratic Seminar, I made a comment on this quote. The group that I was observing had brought it up, but focused solely on the economic capabilities questioned. However, what interested me was the moral and ethical question that Henry Luce posed: will our vast and rapid growth overtake society and humanity if it continues? This is incredibly hard to answer: at the time, this speech brought to the surface many ideas and feelings that had been swept aside with the prosperity and newfound freedom from war in the 1950s. Despite the undercurrents this speech might have quickened, the growth of the United States during this area overshadowed everything else. We were “wealthy, fat, and complacent”, our growth was something welcomed and not questioned. Like Luce stated, we expected to be rich and successful, so our richness and success was expected: America expected to expand and expand to a GNP of a trillion dollars and to a world population of 5 to 10 billion people. This brings us to the question not of whether or not we could do it (we already have), but whether or not we could retain our humanity while we did it. Personally, I think that our hold on humanity is slipping, and had already started fading in the 1950s. True, we were joyful, but our joy (and huge amounts of fear racked up by the Cold War) came from conformity and having what the other guy had: going unnoticed. Being restricted to societal norms is far from free, and creating carbon copies of young, attractive, pleasant white families in suburbia is far from human. Our alienation began there, and advances in technology today that limit human, face-to-face interaction have further separated us from our nature.
2. “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.”
There are two ways that this quote can be approached. One: our problems came from our success. Yes, America was wealthy and happy, but there were serious issues in our society. The racism and discrimination that blacks faced was caused by the overflow of whites into affluent areas. Not everybody was happy, not everybody was wealthy, and the wealthy getting wealthier and refusing to share it caused class gaps. The American Dream to protect out wealth and conform also caused unnecessary fear when that wealth and security was threatened. Two: our current success inhibited future success. If we were a smaller country with poorer people and resources, we would work so much harder to get ahead. Because we were essentially failing at nothing during the 1950s: profiting business, economic growth, strong military, and a booming population, we had nothing to work for and that caused us to fall behind. Our pride in ourselves prevented us from excelling, or realizing our setback in science and education, especially.
3. “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.”
That science and education the United States fell behind on in the 1950s was also an enormous threat to American freedom. Luce spends a chunk of his article complaining that the “business of America is freedom” and that the intelligence we were striving for was a threat to that freedom, which was so defining of our nation. I agree with Luce. Science involves reconciling into vast organization to produce WMDs and that vast organization threatens freedom within itself (think big corporations today or political machines) and in society. The arms race that spiked in the Cold War caused fear and chaos, and a tighter rein on information in America. The more dangerous scientific discoveries make our world, the less free our world will become. The stronger a country is, the stronger its government needs to be.
Luce’s recommendations for improving the American corporations were to battle against bad management and to increase the pay for able men. When Luce talks about battling against bad management, he illiterates on the last page of the article that the management should not be lazy, sloppy and soft. He says that the American Business corporations are efficient and they should become more efficient for future challenges. When he illiterates on the fight for the increased pay for able bodied men, he is basically saying that good money gives you good workers which results in a better product which leads to a better economy. Luce later on in the article discusses how poor management workers are paid more than the able bodied, hard working workers, and how the American corporate world discriminates against ability, going against our doctrines of equality of opportunity. During the Socratic seminar we discussed how this treatment is fair because of the hard work it takes to get to the management positions, plus the responsibility that comes with the management position so if you calculate it the pay management positions receives adds up to the work they get. What I think Luce is telling us is that the work ethic of management has been slack therefore the workers and the managers should be paid the same since the workers pick up the mangers slack in the end. All of this results in the idea of positively functioning work space in corporate America during his time. I believe the ideas presented in the articled can be portrayed in today’s economic world. From this article you learn that countries with a constant production of products being shipped all over the world creates a good economy. Luce on the last page describes how the everyday worker can get a bigger share of the success, and how by doing that the success could probably keep going if companies play by the rules.
“But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” What he is saying completely makes sense. Since we were the wealthiest nation back then, we had little goals to accomplish. We produced half the goods in the world, we were the wealthiest so now what are we supposed to do? On the other hand, poorer countries can guide themselves. They can see us as a role model and try to be like us. They can also create goals to make more money and to produce more. But since we the wealthiest country, we do not know what to do next.
“Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” He is saying that since we are a huge wealthy nation, we tend to expand and grow our economy. There is a certain limit to which a country can grow for many reasons. There cannot be enough resources for every citizen, there can be lacking space for everyone etc. He also says that our big mistake is that we only think about advancing our technology and always improve and improve since we are a successful nation. But if a country is poor, and not as fortunate as us, arises from mistakes. Like Luce says if we are poor we would know what to do-we would have to get richer. It is easy to grow and develop a nation through mistakes because that is how we learn.
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” He is saying that there is a limit into which a nation can grow. He predicts that the growing of economies cannot go forever and therefore will collapse. The world will become over populated, and there will not be enough resources to produce or to give to the people in order to live. He states that are we actually able to have a GDP in the trillions and a world population in the billions. As we can see, we have reached that. But problems will arise in the future because we cannot expand forever. There is a certain point in which we have to stop since there are limited amounts of resources.
2. I would have to agree with Galbraith when it comes to critiquing American Capitalism. I think that our nation was spending too much time, money, and resources on producing things such as liquor and T.V. that weren’t helping our nation get ahead and were much rather, hurting our nation when they could have been spending more money and resources on important things like education. Not only were the things being produced hurting us, but the large of amount of production taking place wasn’t helping either and was only occurring because there was nothing stopping us and we wanted to prove ourselves as the major producers of the world. Today, there are products being produced and imported that are quite helpful to everyday life in the U.S. but its also true that there are products being produced and imported in large numbers that are unnecessary and are as Galbraith said, only being produced to keep our ‘economic machine turning’, and to be seen at a superior level when being compared to our competitors. I think America should be focusing on and putting money towards other things besides production and importing right now, at a time when production or importation is growing at a faster rate than people are buying. However, Luce said that Galbraith’s ideas left out the basic problem of human freedom. Luce believed that Galbraith was trying to take away human freedom with his proposals of radical change. Although Luce may be right, that doesn’t prove that Galbraith isn’t also right. Luce didn’t really contradict Galbraith’s two solid points, he merely disagreed with them and didn’t state why. In my opinion, I think one of the reasons that Luce attacked Galbraith and his points was because the points were insulting American Business in which Luce put all of his pride and couldn’t stand to see it being ripped on or torn down.
I know that it sounds very corny, and even more cliche, but money is very limited in how much it can actually buy. Sure, it can buy iphones, clothes, and even power, but in retrospect, these things seem trivial; however, I am by no means saying that I’m going to go live in the woods for a while for shits and giggles….Anyways, I think this is his point when he says “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars and to a world population of 5-10 billion people? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”. What he seems to be saying is that people can’t, as corny as it sounds, buy happiness. With all these material items and technological advancements, how can we possibly maintain our humanity? How can we get so big and maintain our individualism? And he was kind of correct. The economic boom of the 50’s brought with it not only money, but this sense of conformity…A sort of communism, if you will. People had the same houses, the same clothes, and were even expected to keep the same jobs until the retire. Which brings me to my next quote: “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”. To me, this quote says that the money, while bringing with it a numerous benefits, isn’t fulfilling enough. There must be something more to life than just doing the same exact job from 9-6 every day, coming home to the same smiling stepford housewife and seemingly picture perfect life. It’s actually kind of depressing, which seems to be his point.
3. I agree with Luce’s first recommendation to improve American corporations, which is to improve management. bad management. I agree that increasing stability at an upper level will “trickle-down” per say. Secondly, I agree with Luce’s point that managers should be payed more (in order to achieve number one) as an incentive, but i do not agree with the degree more they should be paid. Third, he suggests that America should raise the quality of goods that we produce (some how this is a counter argument to America producing stuff it doesnt need?? Im not really sure, but whatever). I also, agree with this. I think that is important that we stop out sourcing our jobs in order to deal with problems at home and in order to make America a major producer again and not just a consumer. I think this can be achieved by increasing the quality of production in American factories. This, however, is not necessarily better for business or consumers. Out sourcing jobs is cheap for businesses and lowers prices for the consumer, and even though it I think that the benefits out weigh the costs and agree with Luce that it should be done, i dont agree for the same reason. Finally, although I generally am in favor of a bigger government (lets just say i dont exactly trust people whose job it is to make lots of money), especially in business, I do agree with Luce’s recommendations for improving the American Corporations. Private Enterprise should find ways to take on more things that are provided by the government. These private enterprises would still be regulated by the government, but they would no longer be under complete control and responsibility of the government. If things like atomic power, roads, urban renewal, and sea water, privatizing them could increase the productivity and the quality. Roads are constantly being redone and if a private company came in to do them, they would be more equipped to do a better job that would last longer and take less time to repair.
1. This is stating that we are rich and do not know what we are going to do about it. Should we keep getting richer and richer or finally realize that money is not everything. Luce does not think there is much of a point in getting richer and richer. A quote that describes this is “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” It seems that trying to get richer is just a waist of time. Money is not what makes people happy. It doesn’t matter that you have the most expensive stuff. In the time you are getting richer it just takes away from the time you could be using to do more with life.
“Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” This quote broken down is informing us upon on even when we fail we are successful. It could also have a meaning of in our times of failure there are all types of problems that we have, but even when there is failure in the problem we have success somewhere. It just has to be understood that even though our country has done some great things there are still many problems and failures that have happened everywhere.
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” Yes I do think we can keep increasing our GNP because if it has been going up more and more it will have to keep going up. There is not much sense in it going down from where it is at. Yes I defiantly think the world population is going to keep going up. When you look at china and India there populations alone are growing insanely good. There was a thing I heard that the entire world population can fit comfortably into Texas.
1.) “The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.” In my opinion this quote is entirely ture. Free Enterprise could maybe work in an ideal society, but in most societies, it will never work. Everyone in America looks to live out the American dream. The American dream is the hope of, one day, becoming wealthy and successful independently. The only problem is that this distributes the wealth very unequally. Only few people are able to become extremely wealthy. Some fall into in the middle class, and others are in the lower class. The people in the lower class have a ridiculously smaller amount than the people in the upper class. This seperates the rich from the poor, and allows the rich to become corrupt and almost control the cash flow. In my opinion this is definitely the wrong kind of wealth.
The statement made by Henry Luce, “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the atomic age make possible – and require – vast organization,” still holds true today. Everyone in the world should have the right to be safe at home, but since the creation of nuclear weaponry, no one has had that right. Nuclear weapons are way too powerful, and only ten of them could send the world into a nuclear winter. Almost everything inside of the blast radius of a nuke is destroyed. This leaves everyone in fear of being completely obliterated. Being in constant fear doesn’t sound similar to being free to me.
The quote, “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” reflects how America’s problems are caused by over production, and success. The main goal for most is to accumulate a large amount of wealth, and that’s exactly what Americans do. The rich keep on getting richer, while the poor keep on getting poorer. The fact that 1% of Americans contribute to most of America’s wealth makes me uncomfortable. The wealth should be distributed more evenly; instead of having the rich continously dominate America’s wealth.
“But we are rich—so now what? Get richer—and then what?”
In this statement Luce is asking what we should do after we are rich. Do we continue to work towards increasing our wealth? Well, in my perspective, those who are fortunate enough to create a comfortable life for themselves should really invest some time and effort into spreading that wealth instead of increasing their own wealth. Perhaps if they are so well off that it’s unnecessary for them to continue to work they could retire and create this job oppurtunity for other candidates. However, if they continue to work I believe that cutting out a portion of their pay and donating it to charities and community service or nature projects would be putting it to good use. Although it does sound rather communist to give away a certain percentage of your pay, it’s really not. It’s simply charity and working towards the greater good of the community. Another issue of the prosperity of our nation is the population in regards to our planet’s limited natural resources. Majority of people on this world are ignorant and naive when it comes to consuming energy and other natural resources. If this attitude doesn’t change, given that the population will continue to increase at an exponential rate, Earth will find itself in great predicament. First of all, the capacity limit of the world has already been strained at our current whopping seven billion. Therefore, as our population increases at an alarming rate are constantly straining it further. Soon enough it’s going to give away, and all the privileges that we take for granted will disappear around us. These privileges include fresh water, energy sources, fuel, oil, wood (trees), and other natural resources. Everything will have to start being limited. Restrictions will be put on all sorts of things, even our reproduction rights! I predict that if we don’t modify our ways immediately, the government will be forced to restrict the amount of kids we’re allowed. It is inevitable that everyone will be outraged if this occurs, which will spur rebellion and civil wars. The first step towards preventing these issues is by spreading awareness and concern. In many cases, these predicaments have never even crossed a person’s mind. If it has, perhaps they ignored it. I mean it’s not happening now to the extent where our privileges are being taken away. It’s only our grandchildren and their grandchildren. This attitude will not be tolerated if we are to save the future generations. Therefore not only the awareness should be spread, but also the concern. We need to enlighten people of the reality of the consequences of this crisis.
Luce’s recommendations for improving the American corporations which are first continuous battle wages against bad management, second corporations and all forms of business must make a fight to increase the take-home pay of able men, third Galbraith’s charge that private industry produces relatively too much stuff that doesn’t do people any good, lastly much those goods and services we think of as being provided by government. I agree with some of these improvements that Luce is recommending but by taking out the others America would be what it is today. If you change this delicate system it will break down like in the 1920’s. I agree that bad management causes problems in trying to have a good business. I disagree taking away the other aspects of business like private business. People come to America for freedom and that get to start or make their life anyway they want that is allowed in the American system. But when people do crate a successful business that controls a large part of the economic the government should step in little. They should also be helping the small, local, and private business as well. Luce points are strong and get straight to the point but we probably wouldn’t change our form on open monopoly in America because of just on person’s opinion. Another point I lied to touch on is this quote by Luce, “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” this is a great way to start and to prove his argument, I agree with this statement but I disagree on some of Luce’s ideas I have stated earlier. But America was in a slump coming out of world War Two into the cold war there had to be something that would spark the American economy again this could be it. The idea was there and corporations did help America get back on track as well as the same system America has had back then, now and will have the same one forever. That’s we America is all about.
1. Quote 1: “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?”
I think that Luce has it wrong here. Americans want and need money to live. The point is getting rich is so people can have better lives. There will always be something to spend money on in America at the rate that it is accelerating at, so Americans won’t just be hording up money, they will be consistently spending it on needs and wants. There are many places for money to go once you’ve got it, and just because you get rich it doesn’t always necessarily mean that you will stay rich. Many Americans at the time-and today-still needed money because they were poor, couldn’t find a job, didn’t have food every day, etc. Getting America richer would have benefited many Americans and would have made their lives more livable.
2. Quote 2: “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.”
I think what Luce is trying to say is that we have had more issues from succeeding than from failing. I disagree. America has had many many problems from failure which have resulted in deadly consequences. What is so problematic about success? Being wealthy doesn’t cause that much of an issue, nor does good government help or helping feed people, etc. How is succeeding so bad that it cause misery and problems and failure? It doesn’t. Luce needed to realize that it’s good to be successful and just because you are doesn’t mean that you will always get a big head about it.
3. Quote 3: “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.”
Just because America does something on a large scale doesn’t mean that it can’t be organized. Science was helping America speed ahead it discoveries and advances that really helped out the country. America was discovering more about the way things worked and uncovering mysteries from science. I don’t think that science gave us any more power than we already had. How would it make us more powerful? Also, doing things large-scale might get them done faster and waste less time. The atomic age may not have been as organized as Luce would have liked, but I don’t think that science had that big of an influence or impact on it.
1. When Luce says the quote, “But we are rich… and then what?” he is asking what America’s goal is now that we have become a world power and we have such great wealth. He points out that a poorer country’s main goal is to get rich in order to solve their problems. America, on the other hand, has already reached this goal. Now we have to think about what we want to do with the money we have. Is it going to go towards an important cause, is it going to go towards building nuclear weapons, or are we going to just keep building up the wealth?
Luce says that “our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” Although I have never thought of it that way, I somewhat agree with his thought. He is saying that it is evident that now poverty and failure are not problems we need to deal with. We need to focus on what we will do in the future. We already have a large GNP and we have expanded our power all over the world. Of course having this wealth is a blessing, but it comes with its problems, too. What does one nation do with this wealth? Will such continuing expansion make anyone any happier, or will it end up being more of a burden? These are the questions Americans were asking themselves at the time.
In another quote, Luce says that the advancement of science in the Atomic Age requires America to get ahead with weapons and other technology. It was no longer an option to gradually gain more knowledge of science. As Luce says, science can be a great force that is very helpful to our nation. But, it also adds pressure to any country that is able to expand their knowledge on science. An example is the Space Race, in which the United States and the Soviets raced to build the highest quality space shuttles and satellites in the fastest amount of time. When the Soviets sent Sputnik into space, the U.S. felt compelled and obligated to beat them to the moon, and make other major achievements first. This expansion of knowledge of science poses a threat to freedom by causing fear of the Space Race, as well as a potential nuclear war.
2. As a capitalist country that desperately wants to expand economically, we will sometimes want to produce useless things. I agree with Henry’s point on increasing the quality of all goods and services, as it will reflect the well being of human society. Being a capitalist country also means that we have to stay on the top of our game in order to compete with the large economies (China). If we could get rid of the many useless products that our industry produces, it could benefit us with economic satisfaction. Some of which that can be improved are atomic power, roads, use of sea water, etc….. If private enterprises can take on this challenge, it will have such a positive impact on society. Henry not only points out the quality of our products but the quantity as well. Henry criticized Galbraith by saying that the U.S.’s industry produces too much useless things that people really don’t need. I totally agree with Henry’s criticism, for example: industries try to produce high price efficient houses, which at the time didn’t seem ideal. Henry’s other point on how “We have become slaves to the producer economy”. In this quote Henry is trying to emphasis how much we work to produce goods for our economy. I wouldn’t use the word slave, considering we as Americans thrive for a better economy. It’s safe to say that we work hard for our country and we are “slaves” of the economy. Henry also mentions manager positions and their aspects. For example: if a worker gets paid $4,000 and someone on a managers position gets paid $40,000. some people think that it’s not fair because the worker works twice as hard. I would disagree because people in a manager’s position still have to work hard (in most circumstances) and they also have higher levels of educations. Another thing that Henry points out are the financial rewards from working as “slaves” for our economy. most people are not satisfied with their financial status, but still work for our great country.
2. I agree with Galbraith’s statements that we produce too many useless things and are slaves of the producer economy. I think Luce was a little too narrow minded to realize that. We produce more electronics that we medical supplies, doesn’t that just seem wrong? If America didn’t produce so much unnecessary matierials and we went “back to the basics” maybe this economy would start looking up. Maybe less of Nike shoe factorys and more factorys generating textbooks. America is so materialistic and companies have found ways to use that to it advantage. Like Starbucks coffee sells a tall latte for $4, something I could make at home but instead I have been trained to say “I want a Starbucks.” These days we aren’t so much of slaves of the producer economy because we send most of our work over seas. Chinas production and factory’s control our economy I guess making us seem weaker and possibly “slaves”. In Detroit we could be seen as slaves of the economy because so much of our lives are based on the auto industry. If something goes wrong with the auto production we are the first place to feel the effects. So I agree with Galbiraths points and believe that Luce needed to think a little bit longer before trying to refute these points.
2. I completely understand and believe that we have become slaves to the produces economy becuase yes we do produce to much, for lack of a better word crap. Thats what happens when you live in a free market economy anyone and everyone want to sell things and make money. This happens becuase we can it is allowed these sort of things are suppose to happen in a free market capitalist economy. Since there are very few regulations in comparison to to a socialist economy were only enough to get by is produced and made. So in a free market alot of people make a lot of stuff. Its the American way to get rich to become wealthy and the high risk high reward approach if you can make an item that everyone likes then heck yes you can get lots of cash. But, with this you have people that fail and lose lots of money and go through hardships that is where the high risk part comes in. If you have these sort of economys then good things can happen and bad things can happen its all a matter of in some cases luck and someimes skill. But, these factors dont exist in a socialist regime cause instead of taking the high risk high reward people take the middle road and just be normal. You wont strike rich but you wont destroy yourself financialy, mentally or emotionaly. You will consistantly be the same. So, then there is no slave to producer economy aspect you just have 1 approach is the straight line have enough and keep enough to get by and you will be ok. So in the long run what comes with being a capitalistic free market economy is the idea that yes you will have unnecessary stuff its just gonna happen cause this is America and is suppose to happen. So if you live in a country that isnt like it I would easily assume that then, you will not run into the problems as frequently and constantly as the United states of Americas producer economy problem.
“But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” Henry Luce discusses how much expansion we still need or are able to do. Once we are at our peak of civilization, what else can be done ? if we ever manage to get to that point as a nation, I believe that once we help all of the families without homes in our country by giving or donating food, clothing, and a place to stay then we should go to other countries, some possibly third world, in need and establish a strong government and then develop ways of giving like clothing and food drives. Also a good point he makes is when he says, “The charge now is that Free Enterprise spreads too much of the wrong kind of wealth and thereby corrupts and debases.” People who are debauched by the thought of a free enterprise being destroyed. Running scams, secret dealings in the stock market trade and many other odd things make even the straightest people turn into that Wall Street banker that ruins it for the rest of them. There needs to be less of a ratio between the worker and manager pay rates. There are many contexts of this quote: “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” Many great thinkers and people have said that success and failure are just as important as the other. For example, Sir Isaac Newton and Galileo. This quote really means however that too much success can lead to corruption higher up in large, private owned businesses and even into the government. With failure comes a greater knowledge of success and what it really means. It helps us appreciate even the tiniest wins and accomplishments.
Luce has four main recommendations for improving the Corporation. A continuous battle against bad management, the fight to increase the take-home pay of able men, businessmen having the duty to raise the quality of his goods and services, and finally Private Enterprises taking on more of the tasks that are provided by the government. The most important point out of the four points listed would have to be the continuous battle against bad management. I mean think about it. Luce brings up the example that bad management had increased after the recession had hit us. Management had gotten careless, wasteful and sloppy. If management was this bad, the workers wouldn’t want to work hard to accomplish their job/goal of the company. They would see the laziness of management and not give a rat’s ass (excuse my language) of what they were doing. This belief strongly correlates to Luce’s second point on how a fight must be made to increase the take-home pay of able men. If the worker is making $4,000, than the management should make $40,000. Luce is criticizing that the spread of money between the two jobs must be greater. A job in management will need more responsibility and is more important than the job of the worker. “My concern is primarily for younger managers and those in positions of great responsibility just below the top. To discriminate against ability as brutally as we do is a denial of the doctrine of equality of opportunity”. With this spread of money between the two jobs, management will work extremely hard and actually do their job, while they organize and lead the workers to follow them and do the same. “Now it may seem as if a proposal to increase greatly the take-home pay of managers is hopelessly impractical in our mass democracy. I don’t believe it is hopeless because I don’t believe Americans want a mass democracy of mediocre people. The new word coming into the American vocabulary is excellence. We tell ourselves that we must pursue and achieve excellence in every field”. Always strive for excellence to achieve greater feats and overcome the barrier that this idea is not possible. That is what Luce believes the American people have the power and the responsibility of doing.
3. In Luce’s article, The Dangerous Age of Abundance, Henry R. Luce proposes four methods to improve American corporations. These methods included: eradicating bad management, increasing the pay of men and increasing the pay gap between managers and average workers, increasing the yield and usefulness of American goods from private industries, and finally expanding the privatization of American companies. Luce was quite the idealist and his many proposals would have varied affects on the American economy- both positive and negative.
Eradicating bad management was one of Luce’s brightest ideas. American industry is often plagued by greedy and corrupt CEOs, managers, ect, that are only concerned with making as much of a profit as possible. These “bad managers”, as Luce calls them, are not concerned about the American economy or the welfare of company workers. A common entity of many American companies that reflects this bad management is outsourcing. Outsourcing does not only take away jobs from deserving American workers, but it forces America to become dependent on other countries to produce its’ goods. Poor management does not only refer to sloppy and careless leaders, it also references to immoral and corrupt leaders that American companies have endured for decades. If bad managers were eliminated as Luce proposed, America’s economy and rate of production would improve, as well as the life of the average American worker.
Luce’s second proposal, to increase the pay of men and widen the pay gap between middle management and workers, was wise as well. This proposal was born from careful insight, and if analyzed carefully, this proposal could greatly improve American industry. It is widely understood that people are motivated by money, and if wages were increased the productivity of American workers would inevitably increase as well. Increased productivity would speed up the efficiency of American companies and could only improve the economy. Widening the pay gap between middle managers and workers could speed up things as well because of simple principals of motivation. Widening the pay gap does not mean paying workers less, it means increasing the wages of middle managers. These managers are often promoted from lower worker positions, and if their salary is raised substantially after a promotion they will be driven to work harder- an idea that goes back to bad management. Bad management in higher positions of a company- CEOs ect, – is often caused by corruption and greed; however, bad management in lower tiers of a company is often caused by a lack of motivation. These lower level managers, or “middle men”, work more closely to workers; therefore, they are more in touch with the people that power to company to prosper. This close proximity to lower level workers should be taken advantage of instead of being neglected by treating middle men- who often work a lot harder than workers- like their elevated position makes no difference in the grand spectrum of things. CEO’s are not the only company workers that deserve high wages, middle men managers keep the company going, and they should be treated thus so.
Luce’s next charge to companies was an encouragement to produce more goods, and of these goods- useful products that Americans can benefit from. All too often the American market is flooded by defective and useless products. These products are not only defective and sometimes dangerous but they reduce the credibility of the American good. If American companies produced an abundance of sturdy and useful products, Americans would be encouraged to buy them, and more importantly keep buying them. This would increase profits in American companies and give them a reputation of sturdy and dependent products. A positive product reputation does not only increase American consumerism, but it can have a far reaching affect as well. If America is known for its’ great products, other nations would be encouraged to buy our goods, and eventually America could once again become a production superpower of the world.
Luce’s fourth and final suggestion to American corporations was to expand the privatization of all American industries. Of all Luce’s suggestions, this suggestion is doomed for failure when the condition of American corporations is considered. Many American companies are plagued by corruption, mad management and outsourcing. Allowing these companies to assume control of goods and services that the government provides such as the harnessing of energy and public schools, would allow these detrimental forces to take hold in these industries imperative to American life. It is understandable that Luce wanted to shy away from communistic government control, but the American corporation is simply too flawed to assume control of every aspect of America’s goods and services. These key industries that the government controls should be left to the government, unless American corporations are perfected- an extremely doubtful and improbable hope.
As seen from Luce’s suggestions, he was an extremely opinionated man. However, when his proposals are further analyzed, some could completely transform America for the better while others could harm it in unforeseen and dangerous ways.
2. Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism – a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.
I agree with him, Luce is right. We make too much unnecessary items. Now, I do think that by becoming slaves to our consumer economy did help us. We now have a much higher quality of life and many everyday luxuries, like peanut butter. But, I would like to point out that this seems to happen at an unsustainable rate. Think of an exponential decay graph with the left side being risk in everyday life and the bottom being time. The first advancements we made as a civilization radically reduces our risk of dying every day. Fire, that was the first huge step down on the graph. The issue comes that when everything being made is only being made because it can. Then we end up with crocs and other fad-ish items that have no practical use. Any invention, or discovery, or new ideas cannot make the same effect. They only add to the clutter we already live in and the invention wouldn’t only add to our collective decrease to risk minimally. I would also like to add the fact that because our economy is based on a linear production, use, disposal “cycle” then we always have to keep producing. You see in that cycle there isn’t a significant reuse, or re-cycle part. America is not the kind of country that allows people to not buy things. We are slaves to our producer economy the same way an ocelot or tiger is a slave to its prey in the jungle. We do it this way because as an individual we don’t have the means to change it and we need to do it to survive. If a person decided they weren’t going to buy anything, ever again, then they would die. People need food, water and housing. In America you buy everything you need with currency, there’s no getting around it.
1. Henry Luce said many things in this article that are quote worthy and should be thought about. One example that really stuck out to me was “But we are rich- so what now? Get richer – and then what?” In my eyes, here, he states a valid point. In our peak times, most of America got richer, and yet happiness doesn’t revolve around money. While it can make life more interesting, is that really what the human desires, or do they just long for a stable home, food supply, and companionship? But if everyone DID get rich, wouldn’t all of the prices of the items get inflated, and wouldn’t we be in the same spot that we were in today? To be honest, I think that after you become “super rich”, you should donate some of the money to homeless shelters or figure out how to help the poor right here in America. Odd idea, but I’m sure that we could try to give people a better quality of life.
Another quote that stuck out on me was “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars and to a world population of 5-10 billion people? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain any joyful sense human and free?”. These are yet more valid questions from Luce. There is only so much you can sacrifice for wealth until you begin to make your life horrid for yourself. Sure, it is good if you got into a profession that you enjoy; however, I have seen many good men get worn out and weary just because of having to work too much for a job. Another point I would like to make is how can the Earth withstand this many people without dying out on us if we continue out on this trend? We’re already feeling the effects of a more polluted world, and there is less and less space for the next and next expanding generations. We are already building homes on piles of trash in order to use landfill land for housing, and then what? Soon, we’ll be out of land made by natural means! In a few generations down once we continue on this path, I bet that a majority of the people will either have to live in small apartments or on landfills. That is not a magical thought to think about, even though it comes after a state of endless wealth.
For my final quote, I would like to point your eyes to the quote “Nor do we think about that bust that will follow boom”. When reading this quote, I thought of an interesting question. Is it even possible to balance a state of bust and a state of boom, or can we somehow find that middle ground? Due to the American Way, I seriously doubt that we could find that perfect balance. Of course we want riches as far as the eye can see! Of course people will have children in times of prosperity! However, there must be some way to regulate this in order to increase the length of a boom, or even lessen the blow of a bust. One day, someone may figure out how to do this. However, it may just happen in a different country under a different style of government. Perhaps it is the capitalist’s way of having a bust after every boom and nothing quite in between. We’re used to dominating after all, not holding back and accepting a medium. However, we may never know if the world would have been a better place if we did find and accept that happy medium.
I totally agree with Luce’s criticism of Gallbraith’s critiques of American capitalism. The reason why I strongly favor Luce’s opinions is because first off when Luce states that A. “We make too much useless stuff” he is 100% correct, America is spending their hard earned money in projects developing things that the U.S can’t really put to use now such as (now) the U.S is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, such as $750,000 on a new soccer field in Guatemala Bay for inmates, that’s really stupid. He may have also been referring to the past FDR administration spending on the new deal and all those useless agencies that were supposedly going to help us get out of the depression. I’m not saying that the administration was full of idiots but they didn’t deeply go into thought of, if is this really worth taxpayer’s dollars and that if it was really benefiting the economy.
I also agree with Luce’s criticism, because when he stated that “we’ve become slaves to the producer economy”, I feel that he tried to get people to understand that during the consumer culture that was when the U.S went on a mega shopping spree spending billions on consumer products. He says that we are slaves to this because he observed how we always want the hot new stuff, and unfortunately they will never stop making new stuff, so technically we are mice trapped in a box waiting for the freshest cheese. Some of the ways how I feel that we can build a possibility of breaking from this consumer containment is, American citizens can develop a financial budget, stop spending money on pricey new materialistic things and rather on necessities, and also the consumer businesses can come to their senses and stop developing useless things and not come out with new products every month, let the current products gain some fame.
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Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism
I totally agree with Luce’s criticism of Gallbraith’s
critiques of American capitalism. The reason why I strongly favor Luce’s opinions is because first off when Luce states that A. “We make too much useless stuff” he is 100% correct, America is spending their hard earned money in projects developing things that the U.S can’t really put to use now such as (now) the U.S is spending hundreds of thousands of dollars, such as $750,000 on a new soccer field in Guatemala Bay for inmates, that’s really stupid. He may have also been referring to the past FDR administration spending on the new deal and all those useless agencies that were supposedly going to help us get out of the depression. I’m not saying that the administration was full of idiots but they didn’t deeply go into thought of, if is this really worth taxpayer’s dollars and that if it was really benefiting the economy.
I also agree with Luce’s criticism, because when he stated that “we’ve become slaves to the producer economy”, I feel that he tried to get people to understand that during the consumer culture that was when the U.S went on a mega shopping spree spending billions on consumer products. He says that we are slaves to this because he observed how we always want the hot new stuff, and unfortunately they will never stop making new stuff, so technically we are mice trapped in a box waiting for the freshest cheese. Some of the ways how I feel that we can build a possibility of breaking from this consumer containment is, American citizens can develop a financial budget, stop spending money on pricey new materialistic things and rather on necessities, and also the consumer businesses can come to their senses and stop developing useless things and not come out with new products every month, let the current products gain some fame.
2. Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism—a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.
I agree with Galbraith’s critiques of American business at that time period. We were just making goods to show that we could make them, but not always because they were useful. I think Americans just wanted to show that they had the power to create this many goods and get the money back for them, from consumers. Sure, many things that Americans produce are very useful and have a purpose to make life better, but there are also many things that we make which seem completely unnecessary. For example, all the infomercials that are shown on TV always have some type of pointless product being sold on them. They try to convince the consumers that they need this product, by using a certain type of “brainwashing” techniques. We, as American consumers, have become the slaves to the producer economy. This means we make things just to make them and show the world that Americans can be, and still are, on top of the “economic food chain”. In Luce’s whole speech, he was basically saying how he thought America was so amazing and how well off all it citizens were; he thought it was the best, no questions asked. I think this is why he criticized someone like Galbraith, not because of what he did or said, but because he attacked American business and he didn’t think it was as perfect as Luce thought it was. But today in the modern world, Americans are constantly improving the products in which we first produced. We just produce new things without completely taking away the other ones, because we think that the new ones will just take away all our previous problems. I think America has to keep improving and innovating the products, to stay on top of the economic food chain.
A couple things really hit home during the Socratic seminar this past week. The economy of the US is something to marvel at, but there are many flaws to our tremendous economic system. When describing his views and opinions on the economy, Henry Luce said, “Our problems are problems not of failure but of success.” To me, this quote defines American economics and really sets forth that although this country is amazing in many aspects, it is also flawed in many ways. While our country was founded on many ideals that were made to secure and develop this country into what it is today, the success and improvement of the country is also one of the exact things that make up our imperfect society. Henry Luce also said, “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale.” This also perfectly describes that our advancements can and have lead us to make terrible mistakes. Our own freedoms are at stake when we as a country take things too far. Our technology has evolved and improved at an exponential rate, and it could potentially end up harming us. During the Cold War, everyone was fearful of the atomic warfare when scientists of other countries had also begun making the deadly weapons, and there is no doubt that history can repeat itself. Expansion is a good thing, but sometimes it goes too far. Henry Luce also thought about how far America goes into its economy and what comes out of it when he said, “But we are rich – so now what? Get richer – and then what?” The economic state of this country is unprecedented, but why is it that we are aiming for such high ideals, and we don’t even work out some of the problems we have now? We keep working for the ideal of advancing what we have, but how far can that really go? And after establishing ourselves as a “rich” country, where do we go from there? These solid are points that I believe Henry Luce thought about, and I also think that he is right to question if the future of America when we has issues likes the ones we have today.
2. I completely agree with Professor Galbraith. We were making too much useless stuff, and had become slaves to the producer economy. During that time period, America was making things just to show its superiority over other countries. The American economy exploded after WWII. It was by far the best in the world. In order to show it off, Americans started producing as much as they could, and much of it was unnecessary. This is where television came into play. It gave even the most pointless items a “gotta-have-it” feeling. But if you really thought about the item you were racing out the door to buy, you would realize that you didn’t really need it. Sure, a good amount of products that were produced were helpful like the T.V. (the single greatest invention of all time). But a lot were stupid and unnecessary, like Band-Aid dispensers. Products were mass produced with the sole purpose of making a profit. However, we should have been paying more attention to something that would have long-lasting benefits, like improving the education system. The American people had become the slaves of the producer economy. They were going to work every day breaking their backs in order to mass produce products, and they shouldn’t be. The mindset was that if we can, we should. Because of this, Americans produced for the sake of production. Like I said earlier, efforts would be better used on something that would be beneficial in the long run. Luce attacks Galbraith because Galbraith found a problem with America’s “perfect” capitalist system. Luce completely disagrees with him, but never gives any evidence against Galbraith’s claim. Luce thinks that American Business is flawless, so when Galbraith found a hole, Luce tried to prove him wrong. Luce, however, fails to do so. He never answers Galbraith directly. Back then, we were making too much useless stuff, and we still do now. There are tons of commercials and other advertisements for things that we don’t need. I think there are less today, but still a lot of pointless products are being made.
Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s critiques of American capitalism – a. we make too much useless stuff; b. we’ve become slaves to the producer economy. I agree with Luce. Although he does not explain it in his book, The Dangerous Age of Abundance, Luce’s criticism of Galbraith’s statements are in fact, relevant. America produces goods that are essential for the people of America. And even if they are not the most important products, or things that you don’t need and not necessities in life, they still serve a purpose. When a new product is produced it helps America by creating jobs and stimulating the economy. Silly Bandz. They serve no purpose but create jobs and stimulate the economy. The same can be said for Pillow Pets. At first glance they mean nothing, but in all reality, they add to the economy because they circulate money and supply jobs. Galbraith’s argument that the American people becoming slaves to the producer economy is entirely invalid. The producers give jobs to the consumers and don’t hold them back. Instead of becoming slaves of the producer economy, those employed by the producers become free, because they are allowed to buy products and enjoy life with their well earned money. Thus stimulating the economy and supporting the producers. Without the consumers there would be no support. There is a symbiotic relationship between consumer and producer. It is one affecting the other. As the producers distribute the product, the consumer buys them. The people get what they want and the business gets money. Luce doesn’t bring up these points when he attacks Galbraith’s arguments but they should definitely be considered. Not everyone wears a Snuggie, but to those who do, it is an important product. The same can be said for the workers who help make those Snuggie’s every day.
The quote “we make too much useless stuff” is 100% logical. The United States is obsessed with having the next greatest thing. This causes us the make more than we need and spend more than we need to. Things that we make to out do each other is becoming more and more useless because they aren’t being used for less things because even though you can use it for more things you only use it for a very short amount of time, then something newer comes out and your old one is put aside to just sit and take up space. The United States has so much useless stuff that a lot of people buy. The quote” we’ve become slaves to the producer economy.” is a strong way of putting it. I don’t think that we are “slaves” but more of a “servant” because we have the choice to stop buying and creating things until we need something better. The more The product is advertised the more we want it. Companies and corporations have found a hypnagogic way to make us want their product more and more. Because Americans are obsessed with having a new better thing when an advertisement comes on the tv and we see how much better it is than the product we have currently out hearts and minds instantly sink into the thought and feeling that be need to have that product. With a newer and better device or product coming out every few months it’s not matter that we are said to have too much useless stuff and that we are slaves to companies that want us to buy their product.
“Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people (we’re at 7 billion)? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?”
We cannot go on expanding and expanding. Already we are running out of resources and space; gas prices are skyrocketing today because there simply isn’t enough to go around anymore. Our world has become one of competition today. It is one where Americans feel like they have to be the strongest, richest country around. With all that competition has come a sense of hostility and fear in the world. We are constantly worried that we will be out done by another country, and feel as if we are never good enough.
Henry Luce makes a good point when he says “our problems are problems of not failure but success.” I agree with luce, many of the problems that America has to face, deal with the advancments we have made in science and technology. While creation of the atomic bomb is considered to be a success, yet it brought destruction to Japan and fueled the Cold War. Also you can look at America overall, our success as a nation has created the problem of America trying to be the worlds problem solver. His second quote, “Can we go on expanding and expanding to a GNP of a trillion dollars (beat that in 1960s, @ $14.5 trillion last year) and to a world population of 5-10 billion people? Can we go on getting bigger and bigger and still remain in any joyful sense human and free?” is interesting. I believe that we have already reached that point. Our expansion cuases problems with the envornment our own citezens and other nations. “Science sets up an enormous threat to freedom because it has given us the power – and the obligation – to do things on a huge scale. The conditions of the Atomic Age make possible – and require – vast organization.” I think this goes hand in hand with the first two quotes. The success of our scientists in the nuclear age and the arms race with the soviet union forced us to continue expanding and creating weapons that cause mass destruction. These weapons require great care and orginization to make sure they are used proporly by America and other nuclear capable nations. These bombs also threaten our freedom, just imagine what would happen if America were to be struck by an atomic bomb.