America has been referred to as the Land of Plenty and the Land of Opportunity which has led to untold millions of people immigrating here. In contrast, people in most other countries have to make life or death economic decisions because of the lack of economic opportunity.
To what degree has American life effected the way we make economic choices?
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Due to the enormous ammount of economy freedom in America, it has had a tremendous affect on the decisions that Americans make with their incomes. I say that, because many citizens splurg on items that we all have came to recognize as wants or unnecessary items. Where as for countries in depression or economic crisis, suffer from not having items that they really do need. So even though America is called the Land of Plenty and Land of Opportunities, people have taken advantage of the sources provided here in America as accesories more important than needs.
ReplyDeleteSince we have so many great opprotunities in America our chances are better at being some what successful in life. Many other countries suffer due to lack of opprotunity or income. I don't really blame immagrates for wanting to come here because their just trying to better their chances at life. They want to be more healthy, and successful like most of us. As a country we are extremely spoiled in alot of ways. For example Lots of times we take advantage of things that other countries don't even have. Other than being so spoiled we are a country full of opprotunities and there is no place I'd rather be :-)
ReplyDeleteas Americans. We waste things that is needed in other countries. Since we are wasting money we are now in huge debt. Money is just an object in America, and it effect us in every way. Schools need books and other materials that will help children, but we cant really afford that. As a country we dont make good finacial desicions.
ReplyDeleteWell I think that economics has a effected us in many ways because Americans spend unnecessary money on their wants. Such as, cell phones, cars, and other high-tech things. With this money we could be helping countries worldwide that need assistance with health and food. I mean if I just had a hundred dollars I wouldn't donate half of it to charity. It's the right thing to do but as a teen if you receive any money you spend it for things you want; Unlike the government who are using our money to send more troops across the world we should be using that money to bring them home. Back when my grandmother or mother was younger America was probably called the "Land of Plenty" and "Land of Opportunity" but now that we are in recession people have less money because there are fewer jobs. If economy keeps going down hill like it has then we will become one of those countries that will have to make those hard decisions to support our families.
ReplyDeletedue to us having so much economic freedom we use that to our advantage and we have made so many chocies bad and good for example cellphone and cars many countries dont have that and we do so with us being able to have all this money we use it unessacarly such as using so much money on thing wanted not thing neede like food and water,we use it on clothe and shoes and the government use there money wisely such as using themoney for the war,and other countries need money for food and water,we need to learn from those countries that arent in a big war debt
ReplyDeleteAmerica's economic situations have both positive and negative effects on its citizens. Americans spend billions and billions of dollars a year on simple desires (wants), such as cell phones, fast food, and expensive vehicle.We have become spoiled by these items which is leading to our ultimate downfall. Individuals spend way too much money on extravagant items when only the basics are what's really needed.
ReplyDeleteAlthough America's economic situation has negative effects, it renders some positive ones as well. Americans have said to be the ultimate dream amkers and shakers and I totally agree with this stereotype. We have access to some of the best technology and education. We have the means to shape the entire world. If Americans can reevaluate their own economic situations and only purchase the things we need and can afford, we could begin to mend the whole country's situation.
With so many oppotunities here in America, people from different countries have come here for a better life. It has been said that money makes the world go around and thats no exception for the United States. Without money, things that you want most in life such as a big house, fast cars, and expensive cell phones, can not be obtained. The United States may be called the land of oppotunity but you have to be the one to make those oppotunities happen. There are some people in the U. S. who have had plenty of opppotunities but didn't take advantage of it. Everyday we make economic choices. By having to make so many economic choices, people do not always make the right choices. Things such as cars, cell phones, and t.v. are luxuries. If people could see that food, water and shelter is the basic needs for survival than people would be able to make better economic decisions.
ReplyDeleteAmerican life has effected the way we make economic choices by allowing us to squander our money on wants as well as needs. This country has been known to house a lot of 'spoiled' rich people who tend to buy things just because they are able to. As a country we are able to spend more money on luxuries than most other countries. This is most likely why those untold millions of people immagrated to this country. They hope that they too will be able to live well and afford these luxuries because they know that the economy of the U.S. will give them more of a chance to be successful than the economy of the country from which they originated from.
ReplyDeleteAmerican life has effected the way we make economic decisions by letting us be able to spend our money on things we rather want than need. We as Americans are spoiled rotten. For instance, I was watching Dr. Phil one day and there was a married couple who absolutely spent all their money on things they absolutely did not need. The wife spent her money on designer clothes, shoes and purses.She had almost fifty pairs of shoes and still has shoes still in the shoebox. The husband spent about his whole paycheck on tools he didn't even take out the pack and use. They both filed for bankruptcy twice each.
ReplyDeleteThis is an example of how sometimes the wealthy abuse their money. This breaks our economy. In other countries, countries that thrive in poverty,the little money that they do have they spend it on the neccesities of life/survival. I also believe that most Americans take our stable economy for granted. We need to use our money more wisely. I'm pretty sure if countries that are in proverty had our advantage and stabilized economy that they will be using the money much more wisely.
So far these responses are quite thoughtful. I enjoyed reading each one. It is clear that substantial progress has been made with regard to the manner in which each of you analyze issues. Keep up the good work. I would like to see you all carefully proofread your work before clicking Post Comment in order to edit avoidable spelling and grammar flaws. I look forward to reading more great writing.
ReplyDeleteAs a country America has done financially better than most countries that have been established well before us. Immigrants look at our country as "The Land Of Opportunity" because we have so much freedom, and all you need is the right amount of perseverance to do well. America has not suffered nearly as much as most countries that has spent years under suppresion and communism. So I think it is wrong when citizens take our economy, our country's success for granted. When people in other countries have to decide between medicine or food for their children, then look at our petty dilemmas like choosing between two high priced cars it makes us look like spoiled brats. I believe this is why so many people in this country are having such hard time in our present economic situation, because they are so used to being able to go and buy what they want, when they want. We as a people need to know the difference between wants and needs, and make wiser choices when it comes down to the way we spend our money.
ReplyDeleteIn a way, we as a country have to make life or death decisions. Sure we may have more economic opportunities compared to other countries, but in my opinion, there is not much of a difference. When our economy is bad as it is now, we lose more of our opportunities that we had years before. Americans are known for taking advantage of such opportunities, which has allowed us to spend money on what we desire compared to what we need. Well, I and no one else can say Americans have spent more money on wants then needs. Everyone is different. The way we choose to spend our money is based on how the economy is going. Since people are questioning whether we are in a recession or not, the way American lives their life and spend money has change drastically compared to years before the “recession”. Wealthy or well-off people may spend more money on what they want compared to what they need, but not as much as they used to do, due to economy. The rich are compelled to learn how to adjust their money like an average citizen, due to the government using them to bail the economy out. As middle class citizens, they are compelled to adjust to a budget that focus on what is necessary for them to not struggle due to higher prices and taxes. As a citizen who may be poor, they are forced to only spend money on what they need and not what they want. As I am trying to say, there are a few people who can afford to spend money on what they want compared to what they need. I no longer consider America as a land of plenty, since we are slowly losing what we had worked so hard to gain. America may still be the land of opportunity to those who are used to not having as much as America offers. This is what draws immigrants, illegal aliens, and tourist to America.
ReplyDelete~I really don’t think a cell phone can be considered just a want. Cell phones can also be considered a need. In New York, there were a group of teenagers walking home from a long day at work. It was a cold dark night, when the teens overheard two men arguing with each other. One of the men had turned the heated argument into a deadly killing. The teens heard the gun shots and quickly ran away from the scene. The man shooting shot at the teens killing one. One of the teens had called the police using a cell phone, which only saved her and the other friend’s life. Had there been no cell phone, they may not have received help as fast as they did. That is why I believe cell phones can be a need when used correctly. Cell phones become a want when you have a house phone at home or if you are using it to text, IM, email and/or for internet purposes. Television can be classified as a want and a need. Television becomes a need when receiving information about what is going on in the world. Sure there are other ways to receive information, but with a TV. you don’t have to leave your home. The real want when it comes to television is cable. You don’t need cable. That is extra money that can go to a better waste when buying what you need. So today, as Americans, most of us are compelled to spend the money we are left after taxes, bills and etcetera, to what we need to survive the financial crisis.
In America we have so many choices and opportunities. True we are one of the countries with a greater supply of things, but just because we have more than other countries that doesn't make us any different. We still have to make life or death decisions and we still have to make a living to get the necessities to survive. We are also one of the countries who have took advantage of all the stuff we get, instead of people working hard to get the necessities they work hard to get wants/luxuries/desires, things you can definitely survive without. Why do you think so many people are homeless, strung out on drugs, stuck on money, killing one another, and robbing banks. Mainly because they have no way else to survive without. Once an addiction always an addiction. It's harder to break an addiction then to catch one.
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ReplyDeleteI disagree. I don't think people are strung out on drugs, because they could not afford the luxuries they wanted. I think people are more strung out of drugs, because of what is going on with their life and they believe it is the only way to cope with their life. People are probably killing other people for the same reasons or maybe just jealous. The most killings are those who commit suicide, due to being convicted of fraud or losing massive amounts of money. People are not robbing banks, just to fulfill the needs to have luxury. They are robbing banks, because there is less money coming into their homes and they feel like that is the easiest way to make quick cash. When the economy is not at its best, people will do anything to get money.
ReplyDeleteWell the item (TV.) I listed is not needed for living, but is needed to understand and learn what is going on in America and how it may affect the life you are living now. We all may not make the best financial decisions possible, but most of us figure out a way to balance our needs to our wants or what we consider our wants and needs. It is not that we are a spoiled country, we are just used to having more than others, which is one reason why we are in the situation that we are in with money. Not pointing fingers, but we didn't have a great budget to bring with. For years, it seems like there was more money going towards America’s wants than needs. Now it has finally caught up with us. Even though no one wants to acknowledge that. Everyone knows it. You can tell by the increase in prices, which has driven most citizens to go without their basic needs. The decrease in sales, which has cause sellers to lose money and start saving. The increase in taxes, and bills, which has cause citizens to slowly lose interest in spending money on anything that is not have importance. What does all of this mean? Due to the lack of citizens buying items unnecessary and the country wasting money buying these items to sell, America is not much of a land of plenty anymore.There is not much here, due to everyone trying to get what they can why it is still here.
ReplyDeleteAmerican life is affected by the way we make economic choices because of what we have in both pros and cons. With our land having so many opportunities and abundant amounts of resources, people leaving from a harder economy to join ours can often turn their lives around and live better than they ever thought. Cons for our American life are sometimes people hold what we have for granted and become lazy and don't want to do anything when they have better lives than people in more rural countries have ever had or imagined. All in all our country is not perfect, we are going through our own crisis with high unemployment rates and a low stock market. While more people are becoming poor and other rich, decreasing the middle class, "our" poor is a dream come true to some people in different countries who truly have nothing.
ReplyDeleteAs Americans, we all have a modicum of wealth and choice. Americans don't need to worry about spending all of their money supplying the basic needs for themselves or their family, and with our capitalistic economy, many products are produced that serve no purpose other than to entertain or please. With this type of economy, I believe that most, if not all, Americans have become a lot softer than they used to be. By this, I mean that people consider many more pleasure or entertainment items as "needs", and don't know how to buckle down when times are hard.
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We think to much on what we want rather than what we need. We as people of North Carolina have become spoiled with the things that the economy brings forward. There are both positve and negative effects on citizens today. What we are found to realize is that there are more things to society than just our wants. So, that all is well we need to make our good decisions outway our bad ones when it come to economic stability throughout one another. It's time to make the best of what we have instead of putting it to waste.
ReplyDeleteAmericans are exceedingly wasteful. over the years many products that have been released in the market are for mere pleasure and entertainment. i.e cellphones, ipods, televisions, ect. all the the things that were not meant to take over our lives have almost done it. We were referred to the land of plenty and opportunity because almost anybody can do anything and make a living. In the '50s people really knew how to live without certain things (luxuries) and focus on the important and vital NEEDS not wants. Now a days we aren't as strong willed and do not know how to control ourselves in tough situations.
ReplyDeletebecause of all our oppurtunities we sometime take advantage of it and can be referred to as spoiled, which our ecomnomic decisions are baed on, (spoiled spending).
ReplyDeleteTo what degree has American life effected the way we make economic choices? as americans we enjoy the luxury of being able to buy anything we want,whenever we want. an example would be buying a newer ipod when you already have an ipod. simply put, americans are spoiled. these decisions have effected our choices by buying what we WANT instead of what we NEED.
ReplyDeleteAmerican Life is more like a celebrity life, everyone wants to have the best shoes, nicest shirts, and dopest jeans, and the newest gadjets like touchscreen phones and MP3's. all of that money could have gone into saving into a bank, using it for the future (CoLlEgE). besides you dont really need all that fancy stuff.
As Americans I think that we have so much freedom, and we like to get the fine and fancy things in life instead of doing what we need to do and basicly paying attention to our priorities, things that we need. We are looked at as the "Land Of Plenty", people neeed to stop being so spoiled and do things that they need to more than what they want to do.
ReplyDeleteThe average american will spend their money on wants as well as needs. Its just the way of the american society nowadays. I think that we are not thinking and taking our freedom and our resources for granted. Many people do not even realized the importance of savoring what we have in this life. Many people do not even realize that some people somewhere in this life have no money to spend on their wants, only on their needs. All these famous people, as well as the regular average people buying up the car dealerships and clothing stores. But, i have nothing against buying what you want because maybe you never had it before, but needs are more important.
ReplyDeletePeople live their lives based on economics choices two of them are needs and wants. People complain on how much money they lose beacause more than half of the money was spent on their wants. But when you live a life in wealth, wants come first, it doesn't matter to you because you have the money. Living poorly, it does matter, your needs are always first espeacially in these economic times people have to buckle down.
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