Post 9, How Does Technology Make the World a Better Place?

Our quality of life has been increased greatly by the benefits of the technological tools we create. From a household blender to a cell phone, technology saves lives and decreases the amount of time we need to spend on mundane, difficult or dangerous activities. In fact its clear that technological development is the most important institution and the pursuit of socially helpful technology should be the highest priority of the culture.  One example of this is the advancement would be how we can connect with friends from around the world with Facebook.  Truthfully we have become too dependent on technology.

Post 8, Mr. Campbell's Hero

His speech on spaghetti sauce really shows how to interact with the American people.  One company Ragu was struggling to make a profit off of its product, so they hired a specialist to determine what was wrong.  So he made up 100s of different types of sauces for the American public to try, and in the end he fund the results showed there was 3 types of sauces people like, which are spicy, original, and chunky.  Since chunky was not out in the market yet it made Ragu's profits increase a lot.  It really shows how the American people's opinion matter, and with out research and polling your company probably wont succeeded.

Post 7, 4 Types of Monopolies

 

The 4 Types of Monopolies

 Natural Monopoly-Natural monopoly is a monopoly that exists when it makes sense to only have one company running it. For example, in New Jersey we have the River Line, which is a train system that runs from Camden to Trenton. It really would make no sense to have more than one train system. So since there is only one train system it controls the whole market for people who need to use the train in that area.

Geographic Monopolies-when there is only one business in the area. In the tow of Columbus, there is a general store so it makes it easy to buy general merchandise. Since it is so close and convenient everyone shops at the general store instead of any other convenience store, plus it is the only one around.

Technological Monopolies-When a company has the legal right to a product. Like when Aspirin first came out there was only one company to produce and distribute the product.  It was that way because it was protected by a patent to be the only one to produce it.

Government Monopolies- the army is an example of a government monopoly.  It is provided for the people and paid for by the people, there is no other company out there that could make an army.

Post 5, Monopoly.....

Mr. Campbell posted: "Please write a blog entry on one monopoly or cartel (oligopolies that cooperate) that you want broken up and how that change would benefit you, your friends, and family."

My Response: I’m going to do the opposite; I believe that there are some monopolies that should ever be broken up.  The NFL should not be broken up because of all the amazing benefits.  First of all, it promotes good will among the US population.  There is so many different players and teams for all of the American population to pick as their “favorite” team/player and cheer them on.  Also, since it is so popular now there is other leagues you can play in so that all kinds of people can participate in football. Moreover, the NFL creates a lot of revenue for businesses and companies like Nike, UnderArmour, Reebok, and many others.

Post 4, 8 Things

1.      The main goal of product differentiation and non price competition is to increase profits.

2.      Many producers spend millions of dollars of advertising to persuade buyers to purchase a particular product or brand.

3.      If sellers compete on factors other than price, they are engaging in non price competition.

4.      Sellers in monopolistic competition try to differentiate, or point out differences, between their products and those of their competitors.

5.      If there are any barriers to enter in a market, sellers cannot compete easily and fully.

6.      In perfect competition, the many buyers and sellers must act independently.

7.      Collusion is illegal and carries heavy fines and prison sentences for those involved.

8.      Another word for the huge monopolies that dominated the era of "big business" is a trust.

Post 3, 5 Things

Here is a list of the products I would buy and the market they would be in:

·         Tires for my car which would be a monopolistic competition because there are a few different types of wheels I could buy.  Also I would need to figure out what kind of tires I would need, and the price would be important factors in the purchasing of my new tires. There are so many buyers and sellers in this market.

·         I would need to also find a place where they could install my tires.  I would be looking for a company that was an oligopoly because there are only 3 or 4 auto places in our area.  Again price would be a major factor in the place I choose.

·         I bought a couple of sweatshirts a few days ago.  I could have gone anywhere to get the same sweatshirt but, I chose Dicks Sporting Goods, so that was a monopolistic competition.  So instead of Dicks I could of went to Modell’s and maybe got a better deal.

·         I’m getting a tattoo today, so I won’t have any money anymore.  This is defiantly a monopolistic competition, but most people don’t want tattoos.  However there still are a lot of tattoo parlors.

·         If I wanted to buy a book o magazine I could go to a million different places, so I believe this is as close as you can get to perfect competition.  There are probably a million authors of books and over a thousand different types of magazines.