Capitalism, Dominating the Industry, and Stock Markets

3 QUESTIONS
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Question 2; To what extent do you agree with the statement, “in order to understand the brutality of American capitalism, you have to start with racial slavery?”
“America is a capitalist society” is a mean and fatalistic mantra that hits anyone who dares to question why the American society cannot exercise fairness and equality while dealing with its citizens and foreigners. Those seeking to identify the origin of brutality in the American economy have found answers in culture, religion, and politics. However, scholars have persuasively pointed that slavery birthed the modern-day brutal capitalistic American economy. Like the scholars, I fully agree that it is impossible to understand the cruel nature of American capitalism without considering slavery as its origin.
               By the eve of the civil war, Americans chose cruelty over lawfulness, barbarism over modernity, and totalitarianism over democracy. They inflicted unspeakable torture to nonwhites, especially blacks, for economic gain as they worked in cotton plantations. Nothing mattered to them except their unquenchable thirst and greed for money. At that time, slavery brought tremendous wealth in American states that were unflinchingly willing to use violence and torture to earn free labour from slaves. The cumulative value of slaves exceeded that of all factories and railroads that existed in the country by then. To substantiate the claim, consider that New Orleans had more banking capital than New York due to the cotton economy booming in New Orleans, with slaves as the primary source of labour. The cotton economy boomed in the United States and not in other parts of the world with similar climates and soil types due to the nation's willingness to use slave labour and exercise its insatiable greed for an endless supply of labour and land. At this point, the capitalistic nature of the American economy was born. Since then, Americans in positions of power have never shied away from using any means necessary to accumulate wealth. It is as though the memory of the massive wealth generated by slavery got ingrained in the American DNA and is always passed down to the next generation.
In the 19th Century, cotton was among the most traded commodities. Its demand level always exceeded the available supply because it needed a lot of farmlands. The productivity of cotton farming fields was only a few seasons before the soil became depleted and completely unable to support the crop, creating a recurrent need for new land after every few seasons. After the cotton gin was invented in the early 1970s, the thirst for new farmland spilt out of control. Before the gin was invented, slaves produced more cotton than they could clean. However, with the advent of the cotton gin, it became possible to clean as much cotton as they could grow. Therefore, slave masters sought as much land as possible. As a result, the newly born capitalism caused the United States government to confiscate land from Native Americans in Florida, Alabama, Tennessee, and Georgia using military force. The government would sell an acre of confiscated land at just $1.25. Companies in some states like Mississippi flipped land and would sell it soon after purchase at huge profits. Enslaved workers would fell trees in newly confiscated land, burn the underbrush and prepare the ground for planting. Whole forests were uprooted using axes and bare hands. Lush and twisted masses of vegetation were replaced with cotton causing catastrophic environmental degradation. The greed for money was exerting its will on the land while spoiling the environment for profit, a demonstration of capitalism at its peak as practised by founding American companies involved in the cotton industry. Today, American companies are still incredibly capitalistic and are never remorseful for the pain and suffering they have caused in pursuit of profits. Indeed, it is impossible to understand American capitalism without starting with racial slavery.
               It is indisputable that the seed of capitalism got implanted in the heart of American society during slavery. It is impossible to understand the brutal nature of capitalism in America without mentioning slavery. Capitalism and slavery are like two conjoined twins whose origins are inseparable.
Question 4: What explains why the Ford Motor Company became so dominant in the car industry and why it was then overtaken by General Motors? 
Arguably, the first blueprint of unique global automobile manufacture was provided by the globally acclaimed Ford Motors Company under the leadership of Henry Ford. The uniqueness started with the company's implementation of revolutionary strategies such as pay rise, taking care of employee training, education, and overall well-being of employees. The sturdy, powerful and affordable Model T helped Ford Motors extend its dominance because the model became a favourite among buyers. Despite its popularity, Ford Motors would face stiff competition from new market entrants with solid business strategies and unique automobile models that led to its displacement as the dominant automobile leader. General Motors soon became a leader in the automobile industry by developing a business strategy focused on choice and innovation by acquiring other car companies, destroying its competition. Eventually, the General Motors strategy helped to topple Ford Motors as the dominant automobile leader. This discussion explores the business approach that positioned Ford Motors as the dominant automobile leader and how General Motors Company surpassed Ford.
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