The Government Should Intervene Essays

The Government Should Intervene Essays The Government Should Intervene Paper The Government Should Intervene Paper The three most important ways the government should intervene with the economy is through social programs, health and safety controls and environment protection. Government funded social programs are essential for an economy and a country as a whole to prosper. Some of the social-insurance programs in place are welfare, pension and disability. Some citizens are unable to work because of old age, a disability or unemployment. There has to be government support to help people get through hard times, or retirement. Health care that is available to everyone, no matter who you are, is also important. In the United States some people can’t receive proper treatment due to the extreme costs. This produces huge amounts of money for the capitalists in health care, however it is an un-fair system of health care. The Canadian health care system, even though it doesn’t produce the profit, as does the United States health care system, keeps its citizens healthy due to the â€Å"free† health care. Environment protection is also another key factor a government must take into consideration. In many capitalists pursuit for profit corners are cut on the environment. The Canadian government has many good laws for environmental protection such as tree re-planting. Without this our forests would be completely depleted. The three least important ways the government should intervene with the economy is through the private sector, innovation and makes production more efficient. The private sector has to be government free, except for some regulations such as minimum wage and fair-ness laws (prevent false advertising and un-fair hiring). For an economy to prosper to its maximum potential it must have as little government intervention so it can play itself out. This is usually always a good thing because it gives consumer choice, dollar voting and competition. However, these positives virtues may also turn bad, such as competition. If competition becomes so intense that one company owns all of the means of production for that product then that company can control the market. By controlling the market they are free to charge whatever they want for their product, this is known as a monopoly. With private ownership comes efficiency because producers want to maximize their profit by keeping their overhead costs low. The government must also intervene as little as possible with the innovation industry, except to place safety laws such as testing on animals. If a person is going to create a new product there can’t be so many laws that the person is narrowed down to one or two products. The choice has to be unlimited so the innovator can create whatever the consumers are demanding.

Biography of Mary Custis Lee, Gen. Robert E. Lees Wife

Biography of Mary Custis Lee, Gen. Robert E. Lee's Wife Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee  (October 1, 1808–November 5, 1873) was the  great-granddaughter of Martha Washington  and  the wife of Robert E. Lee. She played a part in the American Civil War, and her family legacy home became the site of Arlington National Cemetery. Fast Facts: Mary Custis Lee Known For: Wife of Civil War general Robert E. Lee and great-granddaughter of Martha WashingtonAlso Known As: Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee  Born: October 1, 1807 in Annefield  in  Boyce, VirginiaParents: George Washington Parke Custis, Mary Lee Fitzhugh CustisDied: November 5, 1873 in Lexington, VirginiaPublished Works: Recollections and Private Memoirs of Washington, by his Adopted Son George Washington Parke Custis, with a Memoir of this Author by his Daughter (edited and published)Spouse: Robert E. Lee (m.  1831–October. 12, 1870)Children: George Washington Custis, William Henry Fitzhugh, Robert E. Lee Jr., Eleanor Agnes, Anne Carter, Mildred Childe, Mary CustisNotable Quote: â€Å"I rode out to my dear old home, so changed it seemed but as a dream of the past. I could not have realized that it was Arlington but for the few old oaks they had spared, the trees planted on the lawn by the Gen’l myself which are raising their tall branches to the Heaven which seems to smile on the desecration around them.† Early Years Marys father George Washington Parke Custis was the adopted son and the step-grandson of George Washington. Mary was his only surviving child, and thus his heir. Educated at home, Mary showed talent in painting. She was courted by many men including Sam Houston but rejected his suit. She accepted the proposal of marriage in 1830 from Robert E. Lee, a distant relative shed known from childhood, after his graduation from West Point. (They had common ancestors Robert Carter I, Richard Lee II and William Randolph, making them respectively third cousins, third cousins once removed, and fourth cousins.) They were married in the parlor at her family home, Arlington House, on June 30, 1831. Highly religious from a young age, Mary Custis Lee was often troubled by illness. As the wife of a military officer, she traveled with him, though she was most happy at her family home in Arlington, Virginia. Eventually, the Lees had seven children, with Mary often suffering from illness and various disabilities including rheumatoid arthritis. She was known as a hostess and for her painting and gardening. When her husband went to Washington, she preferred to remain at home. She avoided Washingtons social circles but was avidly interested in politics and discussed matters with her father and later her husband. The Lee family enslaved many people of African descent. Mary assumed that eventually theyd all be freed, and taught the women to read, write, and sew so that they could support themselves after emancipation. Civil War When Virginia joined the Confederate States of America at the beginning of the Civil War, Robert E. Lee resigned his commission with the federal army and accepted a commission in the army of Virginia. With some delay, Mary Custis Lee, whose illness confined her much of the time to a wheelchair, was convinced to pack up many of the familys belongings and move out of the home at Arlington because its nearness to Washington, D.C., would make it a target for confiscation by the Union forces. And thats what happened, for failure to pay taxes- though an attempt to pay the taxes was apparently refused. She spent many years after the war ended trying to regain possession of her Arlington home: Poor Virginia is being pressed on every side, yet I trust God will yet deliver us. I do not allow myself to think of my dear old home. Would that it had been razed to the ground or submerged in the Potomac rather than have fallen into such hands. From Richmond where she spent much of the war, Mary and her daughters knitted socks and sent them to her husband to distribute to soldiers in the Confederate Army. Later Years and Death Robert returned after the surrender of the Confederacy, and Mary moved with Robert to Lexington, Virginia, where he became president of Washington College (later renamed Washington and Lee University). During the war, many of the family possessions inherited from the Washingtons were buried for safety. After the war, many were found to have been damaged, but some- the silver, some carpets, some letters among them- survived. Those that had been left in the Arlington home were declared by Congress to be the property of the American people. Neither Robert E. Lee nor Mary Custis Lee survived many years after the end of the Civil War. He died in 1870. Arthritis plagued Mary Custis Lee in her later years, and she died in Lexington on Nov. 5, 1873- after making one trip to see her old Arlington home. In 1882, the U.S. Supreme Court in a ruling returned the home to the family;  Mary and Roberts son Custis sold it right  back to the government. Mary Custis Lee is buried with her husband on the Washington and Lee University campus in Lexington, Virginia. Sources â€Å"The Life of Mary Custis Lee.†Ã‚  EHISTORY.â€Å"Mary Anna Randolph Custis Lee.†Ã‚  National Parks Service, U.S. Department of the Interior.Pryor, Elizabeth Brown. â€Å"Mary Randolph Custis Lee (1807–1873).†Ã‚  Lee, Mary Randolph Custis (1807–1873), Encyclopediavirginia.org.