Katie McGuckin's Blog Post

Katie McGuckin’s Blog Post

Today’s class was a simulation with capitalism through trade and construction. Each group was given the objective of being the first to make all of the items, eventually using all of the materials distributed throughout the groups. My group achieved success because we were able to work well together and progress at a steady pace for most of the activity. While we failed at being the first to finish building all of the structures and were unable to create the book for education, we were successful in more than one way. One factor that lead to our success, was the cooperation between members and effective use of communication when proposing offers to other groups and conveying intentions clearly to ourselves and others. Before every deal, we discussed the offer and what would be given up, deciding if trading would be the best choice. As a result of careful planning, our group was able to hold a monopoly on scissors because we had two of the three available and the other group that had a pair was abrasive, causing others to avoid trade with them. Another reason why my group was prosperous is due to efficiency, because we barely had all four members at the table for long periods of time, since one or two people were constantly proposing or accepting offers from others. This mobility offered a higher rate of progress and allowed two tasks to be completed at once, leaving more time to construct the needed items.

While my group had multiple things that aided us our goal, we also had conflicts that held us back. For example, my group only started out with two pieces of paper and a few paper clips, while other groups had more useful materials such as, other pieces of paper, glue sticks, scissors, and a pen. Since our group had little to use, we were forced to trade immediately to get better supplies and begin building. Another problem, was accidentally trading a seemingly unimportant piece of material to a group that was almost finished, because they offered us a good deal for something we needed. By going through with this deal, we almost gave them the last thing they needed to complete their goal, while we still had more work to do. In addition, we also reached a standstill at the end of the period because we still needed supplies to create the last object, but all other groups were set and were not in need of anything we could’ve given up. The experiment in class revealed success can be traced back to the American dream of accomplishing a goal by hard word and dedication. I though my group was an excellent example of this because we were originally at more of a disadvantage with supplies of lower value, but through strategically making deals and working together, we were able to proceed quickly. Success in capitalism also requires constant overview and careful planning to make sure that a government/ economic and political system doesn’t fail. A system relying on private owners needs to be especially tentative when making deals with others because if the system is not successful, it will not have the state to fall back on.