Candidate Name:

Civics Group:

SERANGOON JUNIOR COLLEGE

JC2 Mid-Year Examination (2009)

GENERAL PAPER PAPER 2 Insert

Monday 18th May 2009

8006/2

1 hour 30 minutes

INSTRUCTIONS TO CANDIDATES Write your name and CG number in the spaces at the top of this page.

This Insert Booklet consists of 4 printed pages. [Turn over] (SRJC MYE 2009 )Passage A
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Walter Williams writes about the virtue of greed... 1 You can call it greed, selfishness or enlightened self-interest, but the bottom line is that it is these human motivations that get wonderful things done. Unfortunately, many people are naive enough to believe that it is compassion, concern and "feeling another's pain" that is the superior human motivation. As such, we fall easy prey to swindlers, quacks and hustlers. Since it is not considered polite to come out and actually say that greed gets wonderful things done, let me go through a few of the millions of examples. 2 There is probably widespread agreement that it is a wonderful thing that most of us own cars. Is there anyone who believes that the reason we have cars is because Detroit assembly-line workers care about us? It is also wonderful that Texas cattle ranchers make the sacrifices of time and effort caring for steer so that New Yorkers can enjoy a steak now and then. Again, is there anyone who believes that ranchers who make these sacrifices do so out of a concern for and feeling the pain of New Yorkers? 3 The true reason why we enjoy cars, steaks, and millions of other goods and services is because people care mostly about themselves. Now ask yourself: How much steak would New Yorkers have if it all depended on human love, kindness and feeling the pain of others? I'd feel sorry for New Yorkers. 4 This is what Adam Smith, the father of economics, meant in "The Wealth of Nations," when he said, "It is not from the benevolence of the butcher, the brewer or the baker that we expect our dinner, but from their regard to their own interests." Smith also said, "I have never known much good done by those who affected to trade for the public good." In other words, the public good is promoted best by people pursuing their own private interests. This bothers some people because they are more concerned with motives than with results. 5 Tactics broadly condemned as exploitative also serve a valuable social function. Let us look at pricegouging complaints when Hurricane Floyd took aim at the East Coast. After Florida and Georgia governors callously ordered the evacuation of millions of citizens, there were complaints of gasolinestation dealers raising the price of gasoline. Though the gasoline dealers were motivated by profits, their actions served the public interest. 6 "OK, Williams," you say, "explain that one." Say gas prices before the hurricane threat was $1.10 a gallon. You're running low or have a half-tank and just want to fill up. If the price stayed at $1.10, you would fill up. But what if the price rose to $1.75? A lot of people would probably say, "I'm only going 100 miles inland, so I'll make do with the half tank." Or, if you're riding on empty, at $1.75 a gallon you just might decide to buy just a half tank and fill up when you get to your destination 100 miles inland. 7 Here is the question: In the wake of a mass evacuation, which is the preferable state of affairs -people's gas tanks filled half full enabling everyone to get away from the hurricane, or many people with full gas tanks, and gasoline stations out of gas, and people stranded with empty fuel tanks? 8 Free markets, private property rights, voluntary exchange and greed produce preferable outcomes most times and under most conditions. Adapted from The Virtue of Greed by Walter Williams, 2001

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Passage B
John F. Schumaker discusses the philosophies of greed... 1 Chinese philosopher Lao Tzu wrote 2,500 years ago: 'There is no calamity greater than lavish desires, no greater guilt than discontentment and no greater disaster than greed.' If he is right, we've concocted a mighty sick world for ourselves. The infamous 'greedy Eighties' turned out to be a mere dress rehearsal for one of the most spectacular greed surges in history, with jaw-dropping degrees of stock-market folly, corporate skullduggery, decadence, excess and high-octane narcissism. But, just 5 as with the 'lessons of the Eighties', the 'lessons of the late Nineties' fall on deaf ears. The overriding lesson seems to be that greed is sweet for the economy. As human beings continue to be reshaped by consumer culture into restless, dissatisfied, and alldesiring economic pawns, greed is being redefined as a virtue and a legitimate guiding principle for economic prosperity and general happiness. In the process, it is steadily eating away at the 10 cornerstones of civilized society and undermining the visions, values and collective aspirations that made us strong. In his essay The Virtue of Greed', Walter Williams, an economics professor at George Mason University, maintains that without greed, our current economic and social structures would implode. He echoes the view of many economists in saying greed produces preferable economic outcomes most 15 times and under most conditions'. Many economic rationalists agree that greed's proven superiority as the psychological launchpad for economic activity is due to its being the only consistent human motivation. But others point out how greed, and its dying with the most toys' cultural hero system, is infusing children around the globe with self-destructive degrees of materialism, avarice and self-preoccupation. 20 The commercialization of childhood is being led by greedy corporations that put profits before social responsibility and children's health. Over the past two decades, for example, aggressive advertising by the soft-drink industry has seen high-sugar soft-drink consumption double in children aged 6 to 11, a major contributor to the worsening epidemic of childhood obesity and diabetes. Today, with greed still their main moral compass, these companies market an ever-expanding array of caffeinated drinks to 25 children that have health experts worrying about a new wave of youth addiction. More and more mental-health professionals are saying that greed is not nearly as good for people as it is for economies, with some warning that greed is beginning to overwhelm conscience and reason. Moreover, existing levels of constant greed are causing clinical depression and despair in many people. The term pleonexia' is being used to diagnose pathological greed that can contribute to a host 30 of ills, including gambling addiction, compulsive shopping and affluenza'. American psychologist and greed treatment specialist David Farrugia, sees greed as a mistaken, empty and shortsighted goal that contains many seeds of destruction, in particular those that destroy families and marriages. Beyond that, in his article Selfishness, Greed, and Counseling', a chronic orientation toward greed has been shown to result in inflexibility and anxiety, both of which tarnish a person's overall experience of life. 35 Extremes of greed may even make a greed economy sick. For instance, Leon Levy feels that the greed factor in the US has actually gone too far in subduing savings and raising debt, and that consumption and the economy generally will be seriously hampered for some time to come. Unchecked greed can also be so harmful to the environment that it comes back to haunt the economy. In fact, the single largest hitch with greed culture and greed economics is the long-term crushing 40 effects these have on the planet. That is a monumental problem that none of today's greed enthusiasts have been able to solve. The notion that individual greed can serve the common good has wormed its way into political philosophies, even some with long-standing socialistic leanings. The ultimate expression of this illogic
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was seen in the US administration of George W Bush, which pinned most of its hopes on a 45 government-by-greed strategy. But, as anti-greed psychologist Julian Edney argues, there is a fundamental flaw in this method as evidenced most conspicuously in the ever-widening gap between rich and poor: Greed demolishes equity. Simply, you cannot have both unrestrained greed and equality.' According to Edney, the celebration of greed has spawned a schizophrenic haze' that numbs society to the tragic and dangerous consequences of the present apartheid economy'. 50 8 In the end, unchecked greed erodes freedom, undermines the social fabric and is an undemocratic force. Adapted from In Greed we Trust by John F. Schumaker