Laurence Shames states in his article, The More Factor, “Frontier; opportunity; more. This has been the American trinity from the very start.” Shames starts his article by giving the example of speculators who built provisional towns in Texas during the 1880’s. These businessmen would buy land; then they would then hire workers to lay out a Main Street, build a few makeshift buildings, and finally move out. After the town was built and deserted by the workers, the speculators would hire people to hand out brochures in other parts of the State or would even bribe people to move into the towns as a way to increase the town’s population and the odds of having the railroad run through it. Why did the speculators do all this? The author says, “Two
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When some Powerball ticket jackpots are over half a billion dollars, people do not use their intuitive logic and realize that their odds of winning are minuscule. Similarly, the fantasy sports leagues can turn an average football fan into a millionaire simply by “drafting” athletes. My cousin recently paid a nine dollar entry fee into one of these one-day fantasy football leagues, and by the end of the day he had won sixty-six thousand dollars. Along with this, he was entered into a different league with the chance to win two million dollars! The second reason the speculators kept on building is that there was an idea that America would keep on booming. This presumption of America’s continued success lead to the habit of more- a state of mind that seemed to suggest you could not get wiped out in America and there is always money …show more content…
He uses productivity growth, “the single most telling and least distortable gauge of changes in real wealth,” to prove his point. The numbers showed that from 1947 to 1965, productivity growth advanced by an annual 3.3 percent. This means that for every hour an American worker puts in, they contribut 3.3 cents worth or more to every American dollar. From 1967 to the early 1980s that number dropped to a mere 0.2 percent. The author goes on to add that, “Real wealth was ceasing to expand just at the moment when the members of that unprecedented population bulge known as the baby boom were entering what should have been their peak years of income expansion.” Shames gives all of theses facts so people can make the connection that if America’s more is decreasing, then American values will have to adapt and expand to fill the gap where almost automatic gains were previously. Shames states “a growth of in responsibility and happiness- will have to fulfill our need to believe that our possibilities are still expanding.” I completely agree with this statement because I believe when optimism is high so is productivity. According to Joe Robinson, on worktolive.org, “Research shows that optimism can prevent depression, increase social connection, boost performance on the job, increase success, and make you more resilient in the face of
When some Powerball ticket jackpots are over half a billion dollars, people do not use their intuitive logic and realize that their odds of winning are minuscule. Similarly, the fantasy sports leagues can turn an average football fan into a millionaire simply by “drafting” athletes. My cousin recently paid a nine dollar entry fee into one of these one-day fantasy football leagues, and by the end of the day he had won sixty-six thousand dollars. Along with this, he was entered into a different league with the chance to win two million dollars! The second reason the speculators kept on building is that there was an idea that America would keep on booming. This presumption of America’s continued success lead to the habit of more- a state of mind that seemed to suggest you could not get wiped out in America and there is always money …show more content…
He uses productivity growth, “the single most telling and least distortable gauge of changes in real wealth,” to prove his point. The numbers showed that from 1947 to 1965, productivity growth advanced by an annual 3.3 percent. This means that for every hour an American worker puts in, they contribut 3.3 cents worth or more to every American dollar. From 1967 to the early 1980s that number dropped to a mere 0.2 percent. The author goes on to add that, “Real wealth was ceasing to expand just at the moment when the members of that unprecedented population bulge known as the baby boom were entering what should have been their peak years of income expansion.” Shames gives all of theses facts so people can make the connection that if America’s more is decreasing, then American values will have to adapt and expand to fill the gap where almost automatic gains were previously. Shames states “a growth of in responsibility and happiness- will have to fulfill our need to believe that our possibilities are still expanding.” I completely agree with this statement because I believe when optimism is high so is productivity. According to Joe Robinson, on worktolive.org, “Research shows that optimism can prevent depression, increase social connection, boost performance on the job, increase success, and make you more resilient in the face of