The governments of many nations, especially the United States of America play a key role in many decisions that affect the lives of many individuals every day. One of the major decisions they make is about education, which affects the literacy of millions of individuals. Illiteracy, defined by the Merriam-Webster dictionary, is: “The quality or state of having little or no education; especially: unable to read or write.” Ha-Joon Chang and Dean Baker both inform us how the government has protocols in place to benefit the rich.
In Ha-Joon Chang’s article “Big Government Makes People More Open to Change,” he argues that a big and a well-established welfare state is better than a smaller less-sufficient one and tied it to the happiness and risk-taking of the citizens. Hence, citizens of the …show more content…
Baker describes two outdated government monopolies; patent and copyright monopolies. He specifically points out how both monopolies negatively affect consumers, but positively affect the producers, by increasing the wealth of the rich and cause us to pay more. Copyright is the law that ensures that the creator of a literary, artistic or musical piece has the right to distribute, reproduce and profit from the piece. Baker vehemently feels this monopoly is absurd because, with all the technology available, we cannot download media for free. While a patent is a right granted by the government to secure that only the inventor of a product can produce, distribute and profit from it. This monopoly mostly applies to the prescription drugs business, as when a drug is put out and patented, the cost of the drug skyrockets, causing us to pay far more than if it was not patented and in a competitive market. These two articles connect through the topic of the government and how it does not do much to support the 99%, i.e. decrease the illiteracy
In Ha-Joon Chang’s article “Big Government Makes People More Open to Change,” he argues that a big and a well-established welfare state is better than a smaller less-sufficient one and tied it to the happiness and risk-taking of the citizens. Hence, citizens of the …show more content…
Baker describes two outdated government monopolies; patent and copyright monopolies. He specifically points out how both monopolies negatively affect consumers, but positively affect the producers, by increasing the wealth of the rich and cause us to pay more. Copyright is the law that ensures that the creator of a literary, artistic or musical piece has the right to distribute, reproduce and profit from the piece. Baker vehemently feels this monopoly is absurd because, with all the technology available, we cannot download media for free. While a patent is a right granted by the government to secure that only the inventor of a product can produce, distribute and profit from it. This monopoly mostly applies to the prescription drugs business, as when a drug is put out and patented, the cost of the drug skyrockets, causing us to pay far more than if it was not patented and in a competitive market. These two articles connect through the topic of the government and how it does not do much to support the 99%, i.e. decrease the illiteracy