Owen Ryan, Social Studies Instructor
Century Academy
US History CP Semester 2 Project 4
Answer the questions below in complete sentences by reading the articles posted on the right. This project relates to the essay question for Unit 4 so the more effort you put forth on this assignment the better you should do on your test. This assignment is worth 50 points. If it is not turned in at your appointment the week you take the test, you will receive a zero.
Reading #1: Questions for Discussion
1. Why do Americans buy sneakers made in China? Why aren't these sneakers manufactured in the U.S.?
2. Consider Stiglitz's definition of globalization closely. What examples can you offer of "the closer integration of the countries and peoples of the world"? Why have the costs of transportation and communication come down so dramatically? How has this cost reduction stimulated economic globalization? What "artificial barriers" do you think Stiglitz is referring to?
3. What are some of the pluses and minuses of economic globalization?
4. The U.S. government "subsidizes" American farmers, with most of the "subsidy" going to "mega-farms." What is a subsidy? Why does the government subsidize farmers? What is a mega-farm? Who gets most of the subsidy payments?
5. What organization regulates world trade, and how does it contribute to globalization?
6. Why is growth so important to poorer nations?
Reading #2: Questions for Discussion
1. What evidence can you find of U.S. imports in the room around you (from the clothing you are wearing to objects in the classroom)? What do you know about conditions for workers in the countries where these items were made? How could you find out?
2. Millions of workers around the world labor under terrible conditions. Why are they so terrible?
3. Do you agree with Rosenberg that the Chilean taxi driver is better off working in a chicken-processing plant? with Kristof that the young Cambodian woman would be better off working in a sweatshop? Why or why not?
4. Why don't the women working under miserable conditions in apparel factories in Bangladesh simply quit?
Reading #3: Questions for Discussion
1. Why did Bonnie Long lose her job? What additional losses may she and others like her suffer? Why?
2. What is a "free trade" agreement? Why do you suppose that Mexico, Canada and the U.S. agreed to NAFTA?
3. What are NAFTA's pluses and minuses?
4. Why are so many jobs once performed in the U.S. now being outsourced to other countries?