GibbsFreeEnergy
September 21st, 2006, 01:57 AM
I'm currently taking a macroeconomics class at the college level and on our class forum (WebCt) we were discussing ways to increase GDP. My idea involved shifting the idols of American society from rap stars and actors to scientists and lab rats. My thoughts on how it can increase GDP are written below. Please understand this was written on a level I was hoping my peers could follow. I didn't know where to post this but I just wanted to hear the opinions of a more educated and respectable population than is present on my classroom forum. Plus, I know we all love science here :)
My argument for the welfare of our current society is clearly based upon
the divide between productive ends in terms of increased producvity and
those of increased leisure. What I'm saying is that if more Americans
put themselves into positions which required them to receive a college
level education, America's economic growth would be ever more
staggering. The amount of ideas present through America's masses remain
dormant in the abyss that is the collective unheard thoughts of
American's minds- ideas striving to be stumbled upon far more often than
they would without a lot more people thinking about them. This represents
a large source of untapped potential.
People with true passion to a highly productive discipline, I'm arguing,
produce a higher
quality output than those who have a job only as a way to
generate for themselves an increased marginal benefit; material goods.
If the added marginal benefit of one's work becomes increased status in
society along with the benefit of material goods/services, more white
collar workers would be created by the allure of white collar positions.
Imagine a society in which our contemporary idols of entertainment were
replaced with scientists and other entities that promote thinking as
vital; not cars, drugs, and money. This type of society, I think, would
become far more productive due to the major change in the labor force's
adequacy to produce an output. Far more ideas would produce far more
goods through many means including more efficient methods to allocate,
isolate, and create new resources. Further, the means of production,
the capital stock, would become far more efficent offering an advance in
output. This is all really speculation and I suppose I'm rambling. I
don't feel I hold an elitist position, but I do believe this would
promote remarkable prosperity for the American economy.
My argument for the welfare of our current society is clearly based upon
the divide between productive ends in terms of increased producvity and
those of increased leisure. What I'm saying is that if more Americans
put themselves into positions which required them to receive a college
level education, America's economic growth would be ever more
staggering. The amount of ideas present through America's masses remain
dormant in the abyss that is the collective unheard thoughts of
American's minds- ideas striving to be stumbled upon far more often than
they would without a lot more people thinking about them. This represents
a large source of untapped potential.
People with true passion to a highly productive discipline, I'm arguing,
produce a higher
quality output than those who have a job only as a way to
generate for themselves an increased marginal benefit; material goods.
If the added marginal benefit of one's work becomes increased status in
society along with the benefit of material goods/services, more white
collar workers would be created by the allure of white collar positions.
Imagine a society in which our contemporary idols of entertainment were
replaced with scientists and other entities that promote thinking as
vital; not cars, drugs, and money. This type of society, I think, would
become far more productive due to the major change in the labor force's
adequacy to produce an output. Far more ideas would produce far more
goods through many means including more efficient methods to allocate,
isolate, and create new resources. Further, the means of production,
the capital stock, would become far more efficent offering an advance in
output. This is all really speculation and I suppose I'm rambling. I
don't feel I hold an elitist position, but I do believe this would
promote remarkable prosperity for the American economy.