Monday, November 7, 2011
Blog 11: Epilogue: Have it Your Way
Discuss the 'free market' concept. Eric Schlosser says this concept "has cloaked changes in the nation's economy that bear little relation to real competition or freedom of choice." To what is he referring? (260)Eric Schlosser says on page 261, "Over the past twenty years the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it, as the narrow dictates of the market gain precedence over more important democratic values." Do you agree? Discuss. (261)As discussed in the Epilogue, what suggestions does the author make to remedy some of his criticisms of fast food culture?
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Mahalia Dees
ReplyDeleteThe free market concept is allowing markets and companies in the United States to do whatever they would like, under certain loose regulations set by the federal government. The problem with this kind of regulation is there are ways to get around the laws. Companies may lie on their records to get certain benefits or to look like they are being “green.” Also something must go wrong before a new law is written and passed. When companies began to take advantage of child workers federal lawmakers began to put regulations on American businesses stating that children had to be of certain age, must be paid a certain amount, and could only work a certain number of hours without interrupting their school day. When it comes to businesses, the free market concept resembles the “survival of the fittest” ideas of Charles Darwin. Beyond the fast food industry, most companies in America are in a specific market where they are competing for customers. Usually the largest one gets the most customers and, in turn, buys out the smaller companies within their field or the smaller companies go out of business.
Schlosser’s statement on page 261 states that over the years the United States has made more laws protecting companies rather than protecting consumers, workers, and the environment. I agree that over the years there has been much more regulation for companies. However there has not been enough and/or not for the right reasons. For example, the cost of a product should make up how much it costs to make it, transport it, and with profit. There are a lot of products on the shelves with inflated prices, with profit nearly double the cost of the product itself.
A free market concept embraces the philosophy that good marketing strategy always has the needs and wants of the target market in mind. Market concepts are formed as creative approaches to the problem of how to get a product needed and desire by a group of consumers to be selected and purchased by this group. Awareness of the competition is a crucial consideration when developing a marketing concept for a particular product. For example, two companies could produce canned stew that is very close in price, but if one company communicates its product better in terms of convincing potential purchasers that its brand is the better choice, that product sells better than the competitor's. In order to do that, the marketing concept has to focus on the product’s unique selling proposition. Although marketing communication is by its nature creative, it should always be strategic and thoughtful as well. Advertising should interest and motivate the target audience, while creating a desire for the product. For instance, some advertising attracts attention, but seconds later, the product itself is forgotten. Good marketing keeps products in the target consumer’s mind. Each marketing concept must also fit in with a company's advertising budget. Scholosser's thoughts on this concept refer to the way that free market is hiding the nation's economy that does not have relation to real competition or freedom of choice. It keeps those companies out of the way do not have a way to market to a desired group. They have to ear those hard buck that only come because it is needed. I agree with Scholosser. The American free market gives little freedom to the small businesses and doesn’t allow them to market to the groups of people they want to market to. Also the companies are making more profit by "going green" and using less money to make the products but they inflate the prices so can they make double or even triple of the actual cost.
ReplyDeleteA free market concept allows the market to have lighter regulations than companies in the federal government because free market is controlled by the state. The conflict with free market is that there are always going to be ways around the restrictions because they are so loose. One way to get around these restrictions is to lie to keep certain perks that they normally wouldn’t receive from the government. The definition of a free market free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand, so if the supply and demand of the product is at its peak then the companies are going to find a way to get it to the customer even if that means cheating or lying. In this type of competition knowing your competitor is the key to winning the customers over. For example, Burger King seen McDonalds come out with the McDouble, so they decided to create the Buck Double. This is an example of competitive advertisement because Burger King wouldn’t allow McDonalds to gain the upper hand on customers. Scholosser believes that this concept deals with the way free market is concealing the country’s economy and doesn’t really relate to the freedom to choose. Schlosser’s statement on page 261 states “Over the past twenty years the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it, as the narrow dictates of the market gain precedence over more important democratic values." I agree that over the years the government has weakened the regulations on workers and strengthened the ones on the companies. For example, companies are making more money by going green because it allows them to use less money to make the product, so they can get more profit.
ReplyDeleteANthony Poche
ReplyDeleteThe concept of a free market means that in a more or less democratic society companies are free from control of the government with the exception of a few regulations. Instead of a single giant controlling a product, companies must compete to appeal to consumers and make profit. Free markets are designed to avoid monopolies that would result in price and supply control being granted to a single company or group of companies that work together. When Schlosser comments on this concept he says that there is a lack of “real competition or freedom of choice.” Here he is referring to the few number of companies that control the entire fast food market. The scary thing is that these companies are also producing food that go into the grocery stores. For example, fast food mega-giant McDonald’s has purchased their own slaughterhouses, meat processing plants, and meat packing plants that provide the company with way too much control that sometimes results in the failure of small businesses that may specialize in one of the areas McDonald's has decided to capitalize on.
I do agree with Schlosser’s statement on page 261. The part of his statement that sticks out the most to me is when he says, “An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it...” I, like the author, realize that in reality we do not have as much freedom as we think we do when it comes to choosing where we get our foods from. Most foods are processed and are not organic. Even many of the foods that claim to be organic are not really.
In the epilouge, Schlosser speaks on the real power of the American consumer and how it has yet to be unleashed. His main remedy to the fast food culture is to stop buying it. Then he goes on to say that the heads of these fast food corporations are not necessarily bad people; they are just businessmen and will sell what makes profit. The author encourages us to demand organic, healthy, disease-free food. I think this is a great plan and will prove effective with the right numbers.
Kierra Hitchens
ReplyDeleteThe “free market” concept allows companies to live by a more free way of life. They are allowed to do whatever within small loose regulations controlled by the federal government. When Schlosser says the “free market” concept “has cloaked changes in the nation's economy that bear little relation to real competition or freedom of choice” he’s referring to the food companies that are involved. He’s saying these companies really have no competition so why does the “freedom” really matter. There are so many ways around the “free concept” that these companies can basically do whatever. I agree with Schlosser that "Over the past twenty years the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it, as the narrow dictates of the market gain precedence over more important democratic values” because Schlosser is saying that too often the United States weakens the good and enlarges the bad. Our entire system of things is based on freedom however, the fast food industry destroys the whole idea of freedom. We should be free to eat a burger or any meal and not have to worry about the outcome. Some suggestions the author makes to remedy some of his criticisms of fast food culture are a ban on advertising unhealthy foods to children, provide job training to workers, strict enforcements of minimum wage, overtime, and child labor laws, E. coli test, improve sanitary conditions at the nation’s slaughterhouses. However majority of these are not likely to happen soon. The best remedy given is to make your own choice. You can either sit back and eat the food from a fast food restaurant, or you can simply decide not to eat the food.
Taylor Reuther
ReplyDeleteFree market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. Schlosser discuses this concept of free market, but comes to a conclusion that it does not truly exist. This is because fast food restaurants have eliminated their competition in whole. Fast food has become a monopoly in the United States. The government has no way to control the fast food companies. The companies lie to everyone about their food being healthy and what is actually in their food. They add fillers and things of the sort to make processing cheaper and faster. The United States is making more laws to benefit and protect the companies rather than the consumers of the companies’ foods.
The fast food restaurants have also gone above and beyond all limitations set by anyone on them. They advertise to young children, which is not right because those children barely know right from wrong. All they care about is Ronald McDonald and the toys they get with their food, not the actual energy they get from the food they eat.
Schlosser says that in order to beat out these companies, consumers simply need to stop buying their products and helping them succeed. If no one buys the food, then the companies have to change the way the food is made. This will mean the companies will have to start making healthier food whether they like it or not because that is the only way their business will be successful. These owners are not necessarily bad, they are just business men striving to make money for themselves. What they are doing now is obviously working, so why would they change anything except to make their companies bigger and better. America needs to realize the true power of this whole business lies within the hands of the consumer, and they control what they eat and when to eat it.
Chinedu Echebelem
ReplyDeleteIn the free market concept businesses are governed by the laws of supply and demand, not restrained by government interference, or regulation. The free market is where an array of exchanges takes place in society. An issue with the free market concept is that several companies find loop holes through it to get what they want without neglecting any restrictions put into place. Schlosser mentions how there have been many laws passed that ignore the free market such as, the prohibition of child labor and establishment of a minimum wage.
On page 260, Schlosser is referring to how there are still a few number on companies controlling each market. Wal-Mart controls the supermarket industry and puts many family owned and small town grocery and convenience stores out of business. In relation to the fast food industry, McDonald controls many of the slaughterhouses available.
Yes, I completely agree with Schlosser’s claim on page 261. Workers are completely exploited and their work conditions are horrible. Consumers are more likely to contract some type of disease or infection from these fast food products. These fast food companies are more worried about how to achieve the greatest profit with the highest efficiency and have no regard for their workers, the environment, or their consumers. Schlosser believes Congress should ban advertising that preys on the minds of naïve children, and the enforcing of a strict code of conduct governing the treatment of workers, ranchers, and farmers. Schlosser’s main remedy of the fast food culture is to stop consuming it and giving them business. Schlosser states that as consumer we have the ultimate power and once we realize that we can put a stop to the businessmen of the fast food industry. Once these businessmen realize profits are down, they will make changes to their profits. As consumers we have the power to demand healthier foods.
peter huynh
ReplyDeleteA free market is when markets are free to do whatever they would want under government regulations. When this happens they start to have competition against each other. What they have to do in order to have good competition is by satisfying the consumers. Good markets have to have good prices for customers and by doing this the have to have good supply and demand. A good marketing strategy appeases to the necessities and desires of the people in the community. It targets the consumer’s mind in the process, because of the need to satisfy them. However, there is a problem: the regulations of the “free market” are very loose, therefore there aren’t many stringent laws about it. I agree with the statement on page 261 that says that through the progression of time, the government has severely weakened the freedom, or regulations, of the workers, and strengthened those of the company. The cost of a product may vary, which affects the cost of price that a product may be sold at. The profit may be increased when the producer increases prices to sell it, whether the cost of production increases or not because of the free market. The cost of a product should only be affected due to the cost of production. Profit should not be more than one hundred perfect of the cost of production, or in other words, double.
Anh Phuong Dang
ReplyDeleteA free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. Eric Schlosser writes that the ‘free market’ concept “has cloaked changes in the nation’s economy that bear little relation to real competition or freedom of choice.” He is saying that American corporations have worked hard to avoid the rigors of the market by eliminating and absorbing their rivals. I agree what Schlosser says on page 261 that, "Over the past twenty years the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it, as the narrow dictates of the market gain precedence over more important democratic value,” because the profits of the fast food chains have been made possibly by losses imposed on the rest of society. Many of America’s greatest accomplishments stand in complete defiance of the free market. For example, the prohibition of child labor, the establishment of minimum wage, and the construction of dams, bridges, roads, and churches. As discussed in the Epilogue, the author suggests some of his criticisms of fast food culture. He writes the first step toward meaningful change is by far the easiest: stop buying it. A good boycott, a refusal to buy, can speak much louder than words. Sometimes the most irresistible force is the most mundane.
The free market is market economy that is completely base on supply and demand with little or no government control. Many fast food businesses work in the free market because they are able to control how their food is prepared and priced without any government regulation. These fast food corporations have become monopolies by defeating their competitors. Many fast food companies such as McDonalds beat out most of their competition. I agree with Schlosser quote because the United States government is aware of what is going on with the major food companies however, instead of controlling these fast food restaurants they let them manage themselves. Schlosser explains to his readers how fast food prices reflect how much money the corporations put into preparing their food. Therefore, if the price of the food is extremely low then the meat is extremely unhealthy. For example, most of the fast food on the menu range from a dollar to five dollars and the cheapest thing that is on the menu, hamburgers and fries, causes the most health problems. There are also not many laws that can go against these fast food corporations no matter how unhealthy the food is for people to consume. Schlosser believes as customers that we can put a stop to these fast food corporations and their free market. Schlosser states that one remedy can be that people stop supporting these fast food corporations by not eating fast food. He also suggest the there could be less commercials promoting unhealthy fast food to children. There is also a suggestion that the federal officials and meatpacking executives make stricter laws on meat in the fast food industry. If these remedies were actually in effect there would be a more mutual relationship between the fast food customers and the fast food restaurants. These remedies could work to get a better control on the fast food restaurants.
ReplyDeleteThe free market concept is when the federal government allows companies to compete against each with limited amount of rules and regulations. Unfortunately, some companies abuse this freedom to make profits that are not righteous. For example, a company may lie to the government to get certain benefits over other companies. In this type of market, supply and demand of the customers determine everything; therefore companies will abuse their privileges to get what they want, which is more demand. For example, when two companies create the same product, they compete with each other to see who has the better product, whether it is value or quality.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Schlosser that "the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment." Because of the limited rules and regulations of the fast food industry, it is affecting the employees, consumers and the environment negatively. Because of the greed of these big companies, they are caring less about their consumers and more about the money that goes into their pockets.
In the epilogue, Schlosser's remedy is to halt the purchase of these products. I would have to disagree with him on this because fast food is what makes the world go round at the moment. Even though it is very unhealthy, it is highly unlikely that there will be a big enough power to step up and stop the fast food industry from what it's doing. Although it would be the right thing to do, the great change from not being able to buy fast food would be too much.
The ‘free market’ concept is a concept where the prices are determined by supply and demand, rather than set prices. Because of the fact that this concept does not have a set price, companies and do whatever they want to. This is also because of the loose regulations that the government set. So instead of one huge company selling a product, many companies try their best to appeal to their consumers so they can achieve the most profit. The great thing about the free market concept is that it helps steer the economy away from monopolies. A monopoly is when there is only one company controlling this one product that everyone needs. Monopolies are bad because there is only one company so that one company gets to justify what price they want to sell the product at. It does not matter whether the price is too high or not. When Eric Schlosser says this concept “has cloaked changes in the nation’s economy that bear little relation to real competition or freedom of choice”, he is talking about how companies that control fast food companies are also the companies that control many food that goes into our supermarkets. Schlosser’s statement on page 261 deals with the government weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. I agree with this statement, because too many laws nowadays are passed that protect the companies instead of the customers. This was probably caused by lobbyists and rich people who support the government with donations of money in order to get those laws passed. One of the ways, Schlosser suggests to correct this problem is to not buy it. By not adding to the companies success, the success will soon dissipate.
ReplyDeleteThe free market is a competitive market where prices are determined by supply and demand. All markets are unregulated by any parties other than those involved. The government plays a neutral role neither limiting it nor promoting it. He's referring to how the corporations work to eliminate their competition.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Schlosser's quote (261). Instead of the government stepping in to regulate rules and limitations for the safety of workers and consumers they simply sit back and watch things happen. While the corporations continue to find ways to make more money the consumers and workers are stuck with whatever bad conditions they are given and the government allows to go on.
Schlosser suggests that we as consumers should stop purchasing fast food. He also offers the idea of creating more strict laws on the meats that are used in the fast food industry.
The free market is when supply and demand determines the price of how much a certain item will cost. None of these markets are regulated by anyone on a day to day basis. When it comes to the governments part in this, their role is known to be neutral. Schlosser is referring to corporate America and how they deal with the competition from other workers I do agree with Schlosser's quote (261) because he makes a valid point. The government should be more involved with these companies and how they do their work.
ReplyDeleteThe free market concept is basically giving permission to markets and companies in the United States, with little regulatory implements. They find ways to manipulate and get around the law which always make them seem never at fault. Many companies may lie on records, policies, and accounts. Competition is the key when dealing with the free market. If there is a high supply for a companies’ product then there would be a way to get around certain restrictions. Schlosser refers to the free market concept as “had cloaked changes in the nation’s economy that bear little relation to real competition or freedom of choice”. There are so many ways to get around the free market concept which leave big companies in more control. These markets dictate their company and leave everyone else with limited power. Schlosser also explains if the demand for the product is high companies tend to get away with more things. The fast food industry destroys the meaning of freedom and is now dictators and manipulators into getting whatever they want. The author, Schlosser, also advise that there should be a ban of false advertising to children. He explains that this advertising is false and is catered to naïve children. These industries rely solely on profit and at any means would increase profit rather than safety and quality. Schlosser explains that the customers have the ultimate power and if they are knowledgeable about what’s going on these big industries wouldn’t have as much power. If there profits go down, fast food industries would realize the people want quality and healthy food. Fast food industries would then change their methods and please the customers.
ReplyDeleteDikeyta Bowser
ReplyDeleteSchlosser brings us to the term free market which is driven by the government’s leisure on many companies regulations. Prices of these companies that abide by the free market operate by supply and demand rather than a definite price. These companies are able to work under free market due to the government committing to the sides of the company owners rather than consumers. I personally feel that these companies are owned by the wealthier class of people who has a higher power to suggest many of the laws that protect their company. On a positive note these laws and the free market can be some what beneficial for consumers due to companies’ free will to adjust prices. This will of companies leave competition within the market and consumers are not restricted to one expensive and unfair purchase. The term given to a company that is solely over the specific product is known as a monopoly. We as consumers benefit and are harmed by the free market’s regulations. I agree with Schlosser’s statement that "Over the past twenty years the United States has swung too far in one direction, weakening the regulations that safeguard workers, consumers, and the environment. An economic system promising freedom has too often become a means of denying it, as the narrow dictates of the market gain precedence over more important democratic values." The government has weakened it’s authority over many laws and taken the value that urges citizens to abide by them.