ePortfolio Assignment - Free To Choose by Milton & Rose Friedman

1. According to the authors, Adam Smith wrote of three (3) essential roles of government. a. What are the three (3) roles? b. What is the fourth role of government that the authors added to Adam Smiths list? Role #1: The protection of individuals in society from Coercion whether it comes from outside or from fellow citizens. Role #2: No voluntary exchange that is at all complicated or extends over any considerable period of time can be free from ambiguity. Role #3: A valid duty of government directed to preserving and strengthening a free society; justify unlimited extensions of government power. Role #4: Duty to protect members of the community who cannot be regarded as responsible individuals. 2. What are the four (4) arguments in favor of tariffs? Argument #1: The alleged need to protect the high standard of American workers from the unfair competition of workers in Japan and Korea or Hong Kong who are willing to work for a much lower wage. National Security in other wards. Argument #2: Infant Industry a potential industry which, if one established and assisted during growing pains, could compete an equal terms in the world market. Argument #3: Begger-thy-Neighbor a country that is a major producer of a product, or that can join with a small number of other producers that together control a major share of production, may be able to take advantage of its monopoly position by raising the price of the product. Argument #4: Free trade would be fine if all other countries practiced free trade but that so long as they do not, the United States cannot afford to. 3. To solve the problem of welfare programs, the authors proposed two (2) essential components of reform. What are they? Component #1: Reform the present welfare system by replacing the ragbag of specific programs with a single comprehensive program of income supplements in cash-a-negative income tax linked to the positive income tax.

ePortfolio Assignment - Free To Choose by Milton & Rose Friedman

Component #2: Unwind social security while melting present commitments and gradually requiring people to make their own arrangements for their own retirement. 4. What are the (3) types of equality discussed by the authors? Component #1: Equality before God Component #2: Equality of Opportunity Component #3: Equality of Outcome 5. The authors wrote that liberty is enhanced when government promotes personal equality or equality of opportunity. Alternatively, when the government promotes fair shares for all, liberty is reduced. Using the fair shares for all concept to calculate class grades, all students would receive an average grade (C+). This would be accomplished by taking points away from students earning As & Bs to give to students earning Ds & Es. Distributing points equally would result in fair grades for all. a. Would you approve of this method in calculating your final grade? Why or why not? I would not approve of this method because in my mind it almost falls in the same category as cheating but by being acceptable. If everyone in school could work as little or as much as their fellow student, then where is the self pride and dignity. I like the feeling of accomplishment and especially hard-earned accomplishment. If I could just do nothing, and get by in school because my fellow class mate was working their butt off then where is my self satisfaction. This method reminds me, of people sitting on the side lines in life and just accepting just making it by. I am a person that knows and understands, that with hard work comes great rewards. I am a new home owner, and I am working by butt off by working two jobs, and going to school in order to get the extras that I want in life. And most importantly to try to get these on my own, rather then looking in every corner for a hand out. I am trying to do my best in school, not just for the transcript with good grades, but because of the self pride. The feeling of knowing that it was well earned and I tried my hardest to make it. If the fair grades for all was in place in schools, then I believe I would pass up the opportunity to go to school. I do not like doing group projects in school because I feel like there is always at least one person in the group that is not willing to do anything, but still expects to get the good grade. That person is

ePortfolio Assignment - Free To Choose by Milton & Rose Friedman

okay with allowing everyone else to try their hardest to get the assignment at a good grade, while he/she just sits back and enjoys the scenery. b. How would this differ from fair shares for all economically? For example, whats the difference between a successful student being required to give up some of his/her hard-earned grade & a successful business person being expected to give more of his/her hard-earned income? If you support redistribution of income & wealth, shouldnt you also be willing to redistribute academic grades? After all, many of your fellow students may not have had the advantages in education & upbringing that youve had. I do not think this method would differ much from being in regards to grades or economically. My family owns a successful company that was started by my grandpa in 1975, since then my uncles have become apart of the company. My grandpa started this company on his own, and from the ground up. Granted, in todays economy starting a new business is a lot more of a risk and more expensive. And I also understand that everyones upbringing is much different. But if the fair shares for all was in effect, then what would motivate my family to become the successful business they have become, or any business? I try to live by the fact that you have to take a risk in order to know that you would fail. And I think that a lot of people are so scared to fail (which why shouldnt they be), that they do not try. But at the same time how will you ever know if you would succeed or fail unless you try. If the fair shares for all was present in the business world, then I think the outcome would be much like the outcome of grades. Why would someone be willing to start their own business and make it as successful as possible, if they had to share their income, experience, etc. with all the people that are just sitting at home and have no motivation. Reflective Writing Compose 2-3 paragraphs explaining how reading Free To Choose helped you achieve at least 2 of the following SLCC Learning Outcomes. a. Acquire Substantive Knowledge b. Communicate Effectively c. Think Critically d. Become Civically Engaged By reading Free To Choose it helped me, communicate effectively and to become civically engaged. My grandpa is very big on history, and politics. He is always going off on tangents explaining to me what happened in the past, currently and whats going to happen in the present. When ever he talks about to me, I can never follow him and I barely understand what he is talking about.

ePortfolio Assignment - Free To Choose by Milton & Rose Friedman

After reading this book, I feel like I will be able to communicate effectively with my grandpa and even others along the way. And will be able to know more of what they are talking about. I am horrible with remembering any type of history, and while this book was still hard to follow there were concepts that I really focused on that I found rather interesting. Free To Choose, made me want to read more books along the same subject and understand things a lot better. And by that I feel like it helped me want to become more civically engaged and interested in how everything we have now was originated, and how some concepts and theories have stuck throughout all these years.