Free Or Equal Questions:

1. If the government gives everybody the same freedom to work

and reap the rewards, some will do better than others. The
result will be Equality of opportunity, but not Equality of
outcome.
2. Immigrants who arrived in the late-1800s/early-1900s found
that America was truly a land of opportunity. Describe the
factors these immigrants encountered which helped them
thrive.
3.
They found rewards for hard work and opportunity. They
also found no regulations to restrict them from doing what
they wanted to. They had the opportunity to work in already
current factories to make money. They found no regulations
about where they could work and what they could do for work.
4. Although Hong Kong had no prospects, no natural resources &
little land that could be cultivated, it became an economic
powerhouse. How?
Hong Kong was given economic freedom. They had no
tariffs or regulations so the economy could evolve in a natural
way. They also had no restrictions on trade so they did not
have to pay money to import or export.
5.

Free markets have spread around the world. At the same

time, weve seen the fastest human progress ever, and it has
been led by the countries that opened up their economies. In
fact, average incomes around the world have almost doubled.
Globally, extreme poverty has been more than halved since
Milton Friedman did his series in 1980. Amazingly, 730 million

people have been liberated from poverty.

6. Explain how the lead pencil & the smart phone are examples of
invisible hands.

A lead pencil and a smart phone are examples of invisible

hands because they both have a limited market where
companies can raise or lower prices when compared to
supply and demand. When other companies come out
with the same thing, they have to lower their price to
compete. Same thing goes with the smart phone. When
smart phones first came out they were a delicacy for
those who were extremely rich, now they are so common,
prices have to be low so the companies can still make
money, while not allowing other companies to create the
same device. People seek out the cheapest construction
it will take to produce the product no matter where they
have to go.
7. Explain the concept of creative destruction as described in
the Free or Equal video
Creative destruction is when a new product comes out,
that is better than the old, and it essentially completely
replaces the old, or destroys it. The documentary uses
cell phones as an example, creatively destroying the land
line telephone.
8. Explain why are Swedish entrepreneurs the oldest in the
world, as described in the Free or Equal video?
The young people are not starting new businesses. Their
young business people are moving to other countries
where the outcomes are higher and taxes are lower. Most
of their old businesses are almost 100 years old.
9. They (the Founding Fathers) were a wise and learned group of
people. They had learned the lesson of history. The great
danger to freedom is the Concentration of power, especially in
the hands of a government. They were determined to protect
the citizens of the new United States of America from that
danger. And they crafted their Constitution with that in mind.

10.

As Milton Friedman said, The society that puts equality

before freedom will End up with neither. The society that puts
freedom before equality will end up with a great measure of
both.
11.

Would you approve of this method in calculating your

final grade? Why or why not?

2. Would this differ from fair shares for all economically?
Why or why not?
I would not approve this method for calculating my final
grade. For me, I average As, Bs, and Cs and I work hard for
my grade. Those people who get less than a C usually do not
work hard for their grade. They either do not show up to class
or simply do not turn in any homework. They also tend to not
learn anything or even try in their classes. They usually end up
with a bad grade by doing this, essentially bringing it upon
themselves to do badly.
On the other hand, I think it depends on which aspect you
look at it. If you are getting a bad grade, I am sure you would
love the idea of distributing grades equally. If you are getting
good grades, I am sure you would hate having to share youre
a with someone with is receiving an F. The way you look at it
plays a huge roll in which answer you get, but I think it would
be unfair to all parties if that is how grades were calculated.
I think this is similar to the fair shares for all economy. In
that sort of economy, the government taxes higher in order to
increase benefits for people who cannot usually afford them.
This is the same thing as taking a good grade and distributing
it to someone with a less grade.

Reflective Writing:

This assignment helped me think critically and creatively by helping

me think outside the box when it comes to our economy. It helped me
realized how our economy is structured as a whole, as well as learn exactly
how our economy works. It has also helped me realize how much our
economy has evolved since the early 1900s as well as how much it has
evolved since the 1980s. It has helped me think about the ways economies
succeed and fail on a large scale.
This assignment has also helped me create the skills I need to be civilly
engaged with not only the topic, but with other people as well. This
assignment helped me stay engaged through the entire video by asking
questions that actually make me think, and learn from the video. It has
helped me realize that the more you can be engaged, the more likely you will
be to learn something.