Question

Find three products in your home—food, clothing, appliances, electronics, etc. In your discussion post, list these three products identifying where they were made and where you purchased them.



Speculate how the items arrived at the store. What modes of transportation do you think were used?
Why do some goods and ideas travel more easily than others?
What would happen if we no longer traded with other countries?
How might a particular major historic event have impacted the transportation

Answer 1

I will go with toenail clippers, blankets, and a computer/laptop.
my clippers say they are from north korea my blankets were made by a local quilt shop and my laptop is alianwere witch is a compony out of the US
I think that for the first a boat/plane were used and the second two used a car/truck.
Well if we didnt trade with other countries I would still have my toe nail clippers but i dont think that is the point,
we would no longer have things like gasonline and that would definantly takes some getting used to for most people....
what do you mean by how would a historic event effect the transpotration do you mean like the discovery of a new mode of transportation?

Answer 2

I know a war might make us want to protect our things we are importing like food so it cant be stolen by the oppoant and used to feed their army. or if there was a blockade outside new york we wouldnt want to transport something directly to the east of it.

Answer 3

To add to the answer above:

A pair of jeans - made in China
Computer - made in Taiwan
Flat screen television - made in South Korea

Modes of transportation:
Most likely using huge cargo container ships like the Edith Maersk:
http://www.shipspotting.com/gallery/photo.php?lid=528974

Why some goods/ideas travel more easily than others:
It depends. Clothing can be shipped by bulk in cargo containers supplying hundreds of stores at the same time. The same with computers, though you'll ship fewer televisions or computers than shirts because of size. That's what it usually comes down to - size. The more you can pack into a container, the more you can send to the market. Ideas are far easier to transport because you can call people up, send them via email, or even take a picture using your smart phone and send it around the world that way. There's no "size" cost involved with an idea, just the hope that the other person can understand you and help you with it.

What would happen if we no longer traded with other countries:
That wouldn't be good for the local economy, or in getting certain goods. If trade were suddenly cut off from China, for example, then a lot of things that are made over there just wouldn't end up here - iPhones, iPads, computers, clothing, etc. Any business that works in another country won't be able to get their goods across the border if access were shut down impacting their customers. Oil is another example. If a country we bought oil from decided to no longer trade with us, oil and gas prices would skyrocket here, crippling the local economy and putting incredible hardship on everyone else.

Particular historic event impacted transportation:
The oil embargo in 1973-74 forced gas prices in the United States to nearly double because the cost of importing oil skyrocketed when OPEC protested US support of Israel. It's also a huge example of using oil as an economic and political weapon and showed just how vulnerable the US dependence on oil is. There are old pics of cars lining up like people at gas pumps (gas was eventually rationed, so you could only get so many gallons).

Here's a picture to help illustrate this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/shared/spl/hi/picture_gallery/07/business_rise_and_fall_of_mass_production/html/7.stm