Analysis of Newspaper Article – New York Times- Marxism (Essay Sample)

SOCIOLOGY Analysis of Newspaper Article – New York Times- Marxism Biden’s new economic scorecard: The price at the pump Student Name Institutional Affiliations Date The Marxism analytical concept concerns the social, political and economic philosophy in examination of the problematic capitalism in the economy of the world. According to Marxism, class struggle continues where proletariats (workers) and the business owners (bourgeoisies) are two conflicting sides which will result in an inevitable revolution due to material or commodity exploitation (Reviews, 2009). In this paper a New York Times newspaper article “ Biden’s New Economic Scorecard: The Price at the Pump” is summarized and analyzed in from a Marxism perspective. Article Summary Article: Biden’s new economic scorecard: The price at the pump- The New York Times This article by Tankersley Jim in the New York Times dated 22nd July 2022, notes how President Joe Biden of the United States has kept boasting after the drop of gasoline down from $5 to $3 per gallon for 38 days. The author notes that Biden and his assistant have been out to magnify the great move to show the downward trajectory of fuel prices. With repeated series of boastings in public when giving speeches, the author notes that it is a risky trend for Biden to advance the obvious boasting. According to the article, it is risky to keep on celebrating the volatile fuel prices for these prices are known to be notorious on how they shoot up and drop down and there were even events which could be out of his control which are likely to push fuel prices high. Biden’s boasting has also been challenged and considered to be ironic since the sustainable efforts to confront global warming are being considered as a big challenge for Biden. The Americans see nothing to be happy about since it is expected that the fuel prices will even triple soon causing them to drive less, focus on constrained-budgets and minimize their consumption on fossils as it has happened before and the trend remains (Tankersley, 2022). The republicans challenge such a celebration since the prices were even lower at the time Biden took office. Further, the article addresses the actions of the administration as ironic because the government has been on pursuit for the unilateral elimination of greenhouse emissions. Part II: Your thoughts and ideas (2paragraphs) Fuel and especially gasoline is a basic commodity which helps to satisfy the needs of man. Such a commodity forms a very fundamental unit of capitalism, which is the form of economy which is based on the intense accumulation of such commodities. As a basic criterion, the value of a commodity is assessed based on its general usefulness and what such a commodity can do as far as satisfying the human needs and wants is concerned. Marx’s theory is privy that the class struggle in Capitalism is as a result of commodities which take the form of capital goods and services. Workers are viewed as commodities which are bought and sold in the market and thus they are not able to wield enough influential power since they do not own the production means (Smith, 2018). The capitalistic nature of the fuel industry in the U.S is that it’s a private sector but regulated by the government in a competitive market economy which is compelling the capitalists or the bourgeoisies to seek for innovation, technological change and inclusion of new products. In what seems to be a monopolistic capitalistic market on how the capitalists leverage technology and innovation, the capitalists can charge lower prices and even make more than average profits. As the other players rise to that due to the spread of the technique which the first capitalist employs, the first one loses their economic edge. In the article, the article and the citizens who react to President Biden’s boasting on lowered fuel prices do not seem to get any achievement out of it because they are aware that the capitalists of the fuel industry will have added value as th...