Journal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1750 words

Journal - try ExampleIs it truly desirable to be free from the social bonds and obligations of a community? I am non convinced. I would argue that money, more than any good or service, has been commoditized in our economic dust and created alienation. The last three decades collect seen an explosion of money, commodity markets and communications which now beginning to bear the consequences. whatsoever else this period of globalization brings about, it represents a rapid society extension to a more comprehensive train than the 20th century norm which categorized society with a nation-state. So as to live in this world together, we must devise new ways of executing things for each other which go beyond our attempts on achieving local self-sufficiency (Holmes 13). I term this historical process commoditization. In history, commoditization has been closely link to the social extension by means of money and markets. Money is unique because its value is not internal but ascribed. I n a barter system absent of money there is obvious and straightaway benefit for both parties in an exchange. When utilization of a fiat currency is employed, it means that benefits are not immediate (they are at least one step removed) and assumes that the currency will be recognise by future trading partners. In this system, money should function as a means to an ratiocination and be perceived as a proxy for goods and services. All value to money is ascribed once a currency is no longer recognized as valid, it is useless or literally not expenditure the paper its printed on (Holmes 46). Since money must be widely recognized as real in order to be useful, it also functions as a form of social control. The issuer of money implicitly offers a contract to users wherein the latter will follow the rules of the former. Participation in a nations economy is dependent on an individuals willingness to use that nations form of currency. A few of my own journal works tie into this theme. The first pertains to the differences in lending that I have observed in my personal life and comes from a journal entry I wrote on family 24th. Specifically, if one friend lends another a good or service of relatively low value, there is no mind-set of reimbursement. However, if the same value amount of money were to be exchanged between friends, an expectation of reimbursement would exist. This is an example of the commoditizing and alienating effects of money that Hyde discusses. It begs the question why is the exchange of money an alienating and electroneutral interaction? I believe part of the answer lies in the fact that money is not gettable for immediate consumption. It is instead a credit, or IOU that can be redeemed in a later(prenominal) transaction. Related to this is the fact that in the United States it is considered impolite to give money as a gift. another(prenominal) journal entry was about an interesting news story I read on October 18th. The story, seizure o f Ship From Argentina Forces Shake-Up, by Emily Schmall, came from the New York Times. It was about a US hedge fund, Elliot Capital Management, which seized an Argentinian ship that had docked in Ghana. The fund is owed $370 million by the Argentine giving medication as a force of its 2001 default. I was struck by the fact that a private enterprise such as a hedge fund could find backing from courts in the US and Ghana to seize a government asset. Though Argentina is appealing their case to the