Locke’s teachings on economic growth and material prosperity Essay

According to Locke, God gave man common ownership of everything under the sun (10). God at the same time gave man the reason, which He intended him to use so as to convert what was owned communally into individually. Man went ahead in using his God given reason and he reasoned that he can put in some labor – which is his by right, and in so doing, he attached the common property with his own property (reading labor) and in the process converted the ownership from communal to individual’s (Locke12). Man created ownership so as to make what is communally owned useful and at the same time avoid the process of gaining consent of all the other owners. One was only considered a rightful own if the item in his possession was for his enjoyment and not to be spoilt. This does not apply to plants and animals alone, but the same can be put in practice when dealing with land. To avoid conflict between men, God gave every man ability to work, so the piece of land one improved through labor was his for the taking, and the limit of how much one can own was to be determined by how much he can work and the number of his needs. Labor became something very important in that, it was through it that the value of land was measured against and also the more one labored the more his living standard improved. That is the reason as to why Locke proposed that the England day laborers lived well than American King, because the former knew how to increase the value of land through labor and this translated to a better life. What Locke is highlighting is that, among the three: land, nature and labor, the latter comes on top of the former two (16). Skills and inventions are the offshoots of labor and they came to make life even more comfy. With the increase in number of people and animal and the use of money, scarcity of land emerged which drove the value of the land up. Man decided to put some policies so as to avoid conflict that would have arisen due to scarcity of the land the same role played by industry and labor there before (17). To avoid wastage, man came up with the idea of trading of things which would otherwise spoil if not consumed fast and in the process of looking for something durable and valuable. This is how money came in being. The qualities of valuability durability and scarcity made money to be even more important than labor and it did what the latter could not have done: enabling man to expand his possessions. So it is true to say that reached his goal of economic growth and material prosperity through the advert of money. But this is not the only ingredient. As from the above discussion, land, government policies, nature and labor are other requirement. For one to be set on the way of wealth creation, it is paramount to balance all these factors. I do agree with all of Locke arguments for he is capturing the reality of today. The only important ingredient that he has not elaborated in a detailed way is market, which is another important pillar of wealth creation. Without the above ingredients, wealth creation will remain but a pipe dream. All these factors have contributed to unequal ownership of property. This situation has brought forth some challenges, one of it being the emergence of social classes: proletariats, bourgeoisies and aristocrats all of which are in constant conflict. This contributes to high crime rates, prostitution, corruption just to mention but a few vices. Works Cited Locke, John. Second Treatise of Government. 9 Mar. 2008. 11 Aug. 2010. http://www. earlymoderntexts. com/f_rights. html

American Ganster

The film introduces us the life in the Harlem during the 1970s. Denzel Washington plays Frank Lucas and was a typical member of the gangster who prowls the city to kill somebody for a fee. Although he was a ruthless thug he was loved by his people and always had time to take his mother to church. With his cold-blooded and unrelenting character he was hired as the personal driver and right-hand man of Harlem’s drug magnate, Ellsworth â€Å"Bumpy† Johnson. Unknown to him this would lead his life to wealth and then to chaos.For the review, the setting of the movie is perfect and it portrays the real ambiance of the 70s during the time that drugs are rampant and uncontrolled. Director Ridley Scott has indeed perfected this movie to make sure viewers can feel the real surroundings, how the people in Harlem interact and how Frank Lucas and his men ruled over the city. Ridley also properly selected the actors for their role and installed in them the personality that matches th eir role. The movie is believable because it was based on a true story and relays to us the true event and situations during that period.The thesis of this movie can be found in its context. The title itself shows a wider picture of a nation that is disintegrating because of prostitution, illegal gun and drug trade which was rampant during the 6Os and 70s. The significance of the story connects when the US is making war with Vietnam and instigates political influence of President Nixon and his agenda with other countries. Political instability created unsecured connection between nation and this time Vietnam became the source of illegal drug trading and eventually entered the main heart of New York.The Harlem, however, was a place where police cannot penetrate and control because gangsters have been able to arm themselves and repel any force that goes into their territories. The influence of drugs and money has infected the law and New York became inhabited by corrupt police officer s and state officials who are under the payroll of the drug lords. Drugs dictated the status of life and gangsters were ruling everything and everybody. The main theme of this movie is also apparent. Drugs create evil men and evil men create drugs.It is a continuous process and has been a social disease for over a century. What makes drugs to be the roots of evil is the money involve in the trade. Drugs and money always correlate and money can buy and move everything regardless of any political or judicial obstacle. All kinds of crimes emanate from greed of money and money comes from drugs easily. Incidentally, the moral fiber of our law cannot be taken for granted. Somebody out there does not agree with the broken judicial system and will ways to put a stop on this.In this case, Russel Crowe who plays the detective hunts Frank and put him in prison. He plays his role effectively by subjecting Frank to interrogation and strategizes everything to pin him down. Although the illegal tr ade has already infected the police force, it was the incorruptible Crowe who have uprooted the tree that is bearing the fruit. In the end, the good prevails over evil (Scott). Viewers rated this movie with four stars if the basis for the perfect score is five.Accordingly, this movie was like the modern â€Å"Scarface† which story was also based from illegal drug trade, crime and vengeance during the 1930s gangster era. Although the events in this film were not totally different compared to Scarface, the movie also revolve in the subject of illegal trading, crime and corruption. The only difference is the plot of the story which happens in small suburban black area and most of the major stars are also black. Scarface is a fiction but American Gangsters is based from a true story.My own personal view for this film is positively higher than four stars because it caught my interest from the beginning of the story up to its end. It does not compel you to watch the full movie but glued you to the screen absorbing everything that you see. It happens in a real drama and every scene was grippingly awesome and interesting. Denzel Washington, Russel Crowe and the director as well as the people who made this film must be applauded for the job well done. Work Cited American Gangster. 2007. Ridley Scott, et al. , November 2, 2007.

Research Paper Proposal Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words - 1

Research Paper Proposal - Essay Example If we believe that racism is dead and quit looking for it, we are being set up for a repeat of our past. When we no longer openly discuss racism, we allow it to slowly fester beneath the surface of our society. We are ignoring the elephant in the room while it is slowly growing larger and larger. I hope to prove that racism is still alive. I hope to find evidence that society destroyed the old Jim Crow laws and other forms of open racism only to replace them with hidden racism. I want to discover how racism, now that it is no longer openly tolerated in society, has gone underground. I want to discover how, when we no longer discuss racism, it grows outside of our consciousness. I care about the topic of racism because it is a part of our society that I believe will never fully disappear. Humans always make snap judgments based on appearances. This reflex is what allows us to avoid poisonous snakes based on the shape of their heads or the patterns on their backs. But, this same reflex causes us to make snap decisions about people that grow and become racism. These decisions then become a part of our society and become tolerated. Regardless of your race, racism affects every member of our society. Racism keeps our society from making progress by insuring that certain members of our society do not make social progress. If we subjugate members of our population, our society is unable to fully realize its potential. Discoveries that these members may make are nullified by the fact that we tolerate discrimination and racism. Currently, most of our society wants to believe that racism is dead. However, just one example that it is not is the current social status of black members of American society. Historically, the black population has been less wealthy than other members of society. This disparity is a result of slavery and institutional racism. If we are to believe current commentators, education is the path to wealth and

The Watergate Scandal Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2000 words

The Watergate Scandal - Research Paper Example The group of intruders along with the other accused administrative members was put on trial while President Nixon was forced to resign from his office in 1974. This entire series of events is called the â€Å"Watergate Scandal†. The Watergate Scandal â€Å"The Watergate Scandal† was a political scandal which occurred in America in the 1970s decade. It consisted of a series of unlawful events which was later attributed to certain important officials serving under the administration of the then US President Richard Nixon. They had wanted to secure some confidential information which would help them to secure the victory of Nixon in the US Presidential Elections of 1972. After the incident, members of the Nixon government tried to cover up the event and shield the men involved in the crime. Eventually, the US Police arrested the seven officials who had committed the burglary and implicated them on the basis of available evidence. Even, President Nixon was found guilty of a ttempting to shield the incident from being leaked out to the general people. Ultimately, Nixon had to resign from US Presidentship in the year 1974. The Watergate Scandal represented a series of unprecedented political events, which witnessed a US President resigning from his office for the first time in history. On June 16, 1972, seven American citizens planned a burglary in the office headquarters of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) of the USA. The office was situated in the Watergate complex of Washington D.C, in one of the six buildings located over there. On the night of the robbery, the seven men gathered in the Watergate Hotel, situated in the same complex, which gave them easy access to the nearby DNC office. The actual attempt to secure the confidential information was carried out by five men, while two of them stayed back at the hotel to warn the others of any imminent danger. The burglars had also stationed an eighth man in a building, just in front of the DNC off ice, who would also be able to detect any dangerous signals. He was supposed to inform the two men in the hotel who in turn would convey this to the group of five intruders. As the five men made their up to the DNC office on the sixth floor of the concerned building, they placed recording tapes across the doors opening to the stairway on every floor. This would prevent the door from locking, thus leaving a route for the burglars to escape in case of any trouble. However, one of the security guards of the building found out this anomaly and informed the police. The Police arrived immediately and arrested the five men from the DNC office. The policemen were in plain clothes, and so the burglars’ watchmen were not alerted in time to inform the intruders of the lurking danger. The actual identities of the seven men were revealed after their arrest and none of them were common thieves. The group was led by G. Gordin Liddy and E. Howard Hunt, both of whom were former agents of repu ted intelligence agencies of the US. Liddy was a retired agent of the FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation, while Hunt had the experience of working with the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency). They were assisted by five other men in this burglary: James McCord bore the telephone bugs, Bernard Barker carried cameras to secure photographs of the confidential documents, Virgilio Gonzales was responsible for breaking the locks of

The Rainmaker Film Movie Review Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

The Rainmaker Film - Movie Review Example Nevertheless, The Rainmaker did relatively well and its actors got good reviews. Its director, Francis Ford Coppola, who also did the screenplay, got positive comments as well. According to Roger Ebert, "I have enjoyed several of the movies based on Grisham novels ... but I've usually seen the storyteller's craft rather than the novelist's art being reflected. ... By keeping all of the little people in focus, Coppola shows the variety of a young lawyer's life, where every client is necessary and most of them need a lot more than a lawyer." (Ebert) The plot of the movie revolves much around Rudy Baylor, a young lawyer who would have wanted to make it big in very first case that he handles. Being the central figure, the main conflict of the film dwells on his first legal challenge, a case regarding a family's struggle to make an insurance company pay for the surgical operation of a son afflicted with leukemia. While doing so, Baylor also has to deal with the conflict between making money a priority as a lawyer and standing up for the 'small people' against a huge unscrupulous insurance firm, Great Benefit, and its host predatory lawyers led by Leo Drummond. The conflict between making his profession as a milking cow and dignifying it by accommodating a worthy cause of the less-privileged is even made more intense as Baylor is partnered by a six-time bar flunker, Deck Schifflet. Schifflet tries to convince him to do everything, including illegal methods, just to win the case and bag a huge sum of attorney's fees from the defenda nt insurance company. Acknowledging Schifflet's rich experience and his grave lack of it, Baylor later agrees to the suggestions especially when he developed a passion in fighting for the oppressed claimants. At one point the conflict between self-interest and the interests of his lowly clients peaked seemingly when has to take measures in helping the woman he loved, Kelly Riker, from a violently abusive husband. All these conflicts, of course, are resolved at the end of the movie. Baylor and his clients, the Blacks, won the case against Drummond and Great Benefit. This has been done partly because of the Baylor's litigation skills and Schifflet's off-hand tactics. However, an Afro-American judge with a good background in civil rights also contributed much to the victory. Drummond and Great Benefit, in a desperate but wicked move to save the insurance firm's profits filed for bankruptcy and got it. The Blacks never won the amount of money they want to claim. Baylor and Schifflet never got the millions of attorney's fees they worked hard for. Nevertheless, the movie ends with a lesson that a truly worthy cause cannot be bought by any amount of money. Baylor did not get the huge amount he and Schifflet dreamed for but wins friends, respect and a good promising future in the legal profession. As icing on the cake, he also wins Kelly. Matt Damon plays the role of Rudy Baylor. While some roles are tailor-made for an actor, Damon's case in The Rainmaker is different. He just naturally fits the role. He has no physical features that may grant him the usual star qualities according to the standards of Hollywood. His acting is not really as convincing as most other stars. However, in this particular film, Damon's acting fits the role perfectly. Baylor's character is that of freshman lawyer who is lacking in confidence while beset with

Marketing Channels and Logistics Case Study Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 3000 words

Marketing Channels and Logistics - Case Study Example Apart from being technologically uperior to the exiting American car in the egment and on par with the Japanee verion, it wa deigned to offer the amenitie and tyling of an expenive car at a lower price. The built-in value propoition would be value a perceived by it buyer. The timing of aturn' launch alo gave it a fillip, a the economy wa coming out of a receion, when 'value' wa conidered to be everything by the American conumer and the need for an all-American car to be pitted againt foreign make, epecially the Japanee wa widely felt. (Barabba, 2004, 55-109) aturn laid the mot tre on cutomer atifaction. They focued on the cutomer a an individual and their relationhip with their car. The retailer were aked to let the cutomer pend time alone with their car. They made ure that their franchiee were excluive aturn dealer and the howroom were built to pecification provided by the company. Thi enabled the cutomer enjoy the "experience" of buying a car and trike an immediate rapport with the dealer. Their pot-ale ervice experience wa alo a key factor. They developed a feeling of "family" between owner, dealer, and the company. (Barabba, 2004, 55-109) ince the early 1980', General Motor' ale hare in the U.. ... A part of their partnerhip approach GM drew the entire company together - management, worker, dealer and union- and created a 'college' tyle, flat working environment forming the Group of 99 which wa reponible for developing the manufacturing proce and the product of the aturn Corporation. Thi approach gave the labor union a better ay at aturn than they had previouly at General Motor. Thi tructure, rather the lack of it helped build a unique brand identity becaue all the key player became engineer of the brand and thi involvement and enthuiam wa tranferred to the cutomer. (Barabba, 2004, 55-109) The GM Company made ue of the new partnerhip agreement to reet union guideline and reduce the price of the final product, a the additional labor cot were not tranferred to the conumer a with the old guideline. The aturn worker' profit haring wa tied to performance of the aturn Company only. Thi increaed the ownerhip and ene of belonging greatly. Initially GM ued an organizational tructure with independent department. Each department worked independently and toed the idea 'over the wall' to the next department. Thi lowed down the entire proce and extended the time needed to develop new product. tringent time contraint for aturn meant that uch a tructure would be diatrou. (Barabba, 2004, 55-109) To over come thi, concurrent engineering wa ued in the development of aturn. Thi involved multifunctional team which meant there wa greater undertanding of the problem and alo problem olving wa fater. A upply chain i a network of facilitie and ditribution option that perform the function of procurement of material, tranformation of thee material into intermediate and finihed product, and the ditribution of thee finihed product to cutomer. upply chain exit

Religious Feminism Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Religious Feminism - Essay Example The plight of women is generally evident in all spheres of life, both religious and secular. Even in religion, areas of authority are always of a reserve of men who dominate the creation of norms that determine religious traditions. When baby boys are born, it is considered a blessing than when baby girls are born. Most religious images are male which are considered a symbol of holiness while those of females considered idolatry. In this regard, patriarchy and sexism are aspects that present themselves in all spheres of life especially on high grounds religion where it should be least expected. Under religious representations, there are numerous proposals put forward by the feminist groups about language and image representations of God. Among them is the traditional representation of God as of male gender. When people refer to God, the metaphors used in describing the deity in this respect should be changed to show that God transcends human sexes and that the deity should be taken to represent all sexes on equal grounds. In this case the use of the term â€Å"God the Father† is not acceptable according to the feminists. In this regard, other propositions have been put forward to show God as a mother, sister, and friend. This can be seen as the second part in which images of God are supposed to be changed to be female so as to end the general notion that the use of female images symbolize idolatry. The proposition holds that since the deity makes of all of us including male and female, therefore its representation should include images from both sides. Besides, imag es of God as mother would not in any way stereotype God’s feminine traits. Another proposition is that God should be seen as relational. In this context, God should be seen as a central part of human life who is also shares in the experiences of human beings. By this, the deity is also part of women’s

The termination theory versus the deprivation account Essay

The termination theory versus the deprivation account - Essay Example The paper tells that all human beings must die. This is the only thing that we know for a fact. The certainty aside, death still presents many questions to the living that make them curious of what exactly it means to die. Some people believe that death is the end of everything and nothing remains except the memory of a person in the ones he leaves behind. A number of philosophers have focused at length on the philosophy of death and have offered contrasting viewpoints on what their take on death is. The question that many people ask is whether death is evil or not. This is where the contrasting viewpoints arise whether the person believes in some form of immortality or not. One school of thought claims that death is an evil simply because it puts an end to all the good things that we experience in life. The benefits that humans accrue from being alive are activities, desires, perception, thought and all aspects that generally constitute the human life. Despite the misery that fills our lives on occasion, we still have the good times that we treasure and that is the greatest thing about being alive. On a scale, there are many experiences that we go through that are positive and fill us with joy, hope, and all other good emotions we experience. On the contrary, there are experiences in our lives including the death of our loved ones that make our lives worse. For this reason therefore, one would assume that life is a neutral as the good cancel out the bad. However, the good usually outweigh the bad and the result is positive meaning that the experiences of life far outweigh its consequences. The other school of thought is regarded as the termination thesis in which philosophers like Epicurus ascribe to. This school says that as long as we are alive, death is not with us but soon as we die, then we do not exist. The philosophers of this school say that there is nothing to fear in death. PART I The termination thesis is false. This is because it purports that when a person dies, there is no change that occurs except that the person has simply ceased to exist. It also claims that the person’s psychological or moral importance is not eroded due to death. Another argument that the termination thesis makes is that when a person dies, he does not continue to exist as a corpse. The existence of a person is the cornerstone of the termination thesis and it states that if a person continues to exist as a corpse, the person continues to exist and is contrary to the thesis. To die is bad, not because of death itself, but because life as we know it is a good experience and the loss of it is a deprivation. It is not bad because of any positive elements that it might have but because it removes what we consider desirable. PART II The termination theory in my account is false. This however does not mean that the arguments by Epicurus are easy. In any case, it makes the termination theory even harder while making those of the deprivation theory look harder too. The termination theory does not purport that there is no life after death. In fact, neither does the deprivation theory. In the opinion of Epicurus and other like-minded philosophers who support the termination theory, there are a number of points that need to be considered. When a person dies, he ceases to exist. That is the consensus between the two theories. However, the termination theory goes ahead to say that that occurrence cannot be considered as being an evil and as such, people should not fear death. When a tree dies, there is a remaining stump that is still firmly rooted to the ground albeit lifeless. Therefore, when a person cuts the tree off and counts the annual rings, then one can tell the age of the tree when it died. When one looks into the field, you see what was once a tree. If this is the case for all organisms, then, we all cease to exist at some point but the signs of our existence are still visible. There is a transition that is involved in the dea th of

Human Resources Management - Highway Stores Ltd Essay

Human Resources Management - Highway Stores Ltd - Essay Example However, there are areas of significant importance – like training – that have been excluded from the control of Personnel Department and are organized into separate units within the organization. Due to the above phenomenon as well as to the delays in the firm’s development – which have been caused by the dysfunction of the Personnel Department – the examination and the evaluation of the role of the latter have been considered as necessary especially given the extremely competitive conditions that characterize the UK market. Current Personnel Function of Highway Stores Ltd is based in the firm’s head office in Midlands. Furthermore, the specific department comprises a Personnel Manager, a Personnel Officer and 3 Personnel Administrators. The main duties of the staff include the control of all issues related to the firm’s human resource management except the payroll sector which has been incorporated in the Finance Department. The Personnel Function reports directly to the Legal Director. Another significant problem is created by the fact that there is not a specific provision for the training of the head offices’ personnel (training programs as designed and developed by the Training function involves only the employees of the store network). On the other hand, the Personnel function has not proceeded to the design and implementation of a specific problem-solving procedure but there is a standard internal policy that whenever a problem arises, a guidance is issued. Moreover, the lack of appropriate qualifications of the Personnel staff can be viewed as a severe disadvantage of the specific department while due to this fact, most of the problems arising in the human resources field have to be faced by the only qualified person of the department, its Manager. It’s for this reason that Personnel Manager is not available for his managers whenever his intervention is requested by the  Personnel staff.  

Rhetorical Analysis of a Modest Proposal Essay Example for Free

Rhetorical Analysis of a Modest Proposal Essay Swift’s â€Å"A Modest Proposal† written in 1729 was his proposal â€Å"for preventing the children of poor people in Ireland, from being a burden on their parents or country, and for making them beneficial to he publick† (Swift, Title). This proposal included the selling, skinning and buying of babies at the age of one. This proposal that he has come up with is a very inhuman and controversial one when it comes to being socially acceptable. Swift begins his essay by describing walking down a street in Ireland. He describes how you would see, â€Å"beggars of the female sex, followed by three, four, or six children, all in rags, and importuning every passenger for an alms† (Swift, Para. 1). This gives the reader a mental picture of how bad things are for the women he is trying to help. Swift then talks about how there are very many of these poor people in Ireland and how they are not able to be part of the middle or working class. Look more:  how to write satire essay He then proposes his idea that the children could, â€Å"contribute to the feeding, and partly to the cloathing of many thousands† (Swift, Para. 4). In no way, shape, or form is the eating of or the using of children in this manner acceptable. No society would ever find it suitable to eat or make babies into clothes. Dr. Swift has made a proposal that he should know would not work because of the inhumanity that it is asking people in which to participate. Jonathan Swift later tells the reader of how he has, â€Å"computed the charge of nursing a beggars child (in which list I reckon all cottagers, labourers, and four-fifths of the farmers) to be about two shillings per annum, rags included; and I believe no gentleman would repine to give ten shillings for the carcass of a good fat child,† (Swift, Para. 14). This is a good thing that Swift does telling how the mother would stand to make money on selling her child to a man for dinner. Except, I do not believe you couldn’t find a willing mother to sell her child knowing that it would be eaten by a human for a meal. Dr. Swift has made a plan for people with no remorse or thought of their children. The only place this plan could be carried out and continue working is a place with robots that have no feeling or conscious. Swift then makes the statement, â€Å"Those who are more thrifty (as I must confess the times require) may flea the carcass; the skin of which, artificially dressed, will make admirable gloves for ladies, and summer boots for fine gentlemen,† (Swift, Para. 15). He thinks that someone would be able to treat a baby’s skin as an animal’s and make it into a glove or boot without objection to what it is. This is another flaw in his plan. There are people who are against making animals into clothing. Therefore, I am sure that there would be people against the making of clothes from baby. Next, Dr. Swift gives 6 reasons of why he thinks the plan is a good one. His second reason states, â€Å"Secondly, The poorer tenants will have something valuable of their own, which by law may be made liable to a distress, and help to pay their landlords rent, their corn and cattle being already seized, and money a thing unknown,† (Swift, Para. 22). He thinks that poor tenants with children will be able to give their landlords something valuable by giving them their child. No landlord would take a child as a means of money because it just costs more money to them to have the child then without it. In his fourth reason Swift says, â€Å"Fourthly, The constant breeders, besides the gain of eight shillings sterling per annum by the sale of their children, will be rid of the charge of maintaining them after the first year,† (Swift, Para. 24) If the people who like to â€Å"breed† hear of this then they will just think that they will be able to keep having children and selling them instead of having a job. This would cause more jobless people and after so long the supply of the babies would surpass the demand. There then would be poor children hanging on their mothers again in the street defeating the purpose of the plan in the beginning. Fifthly Dr. Swift says, â€Å"This food would likewise bring great custom to taverns, where the vintners will certainly be so prudent as to procure the best receipts for dressing it to perfection; and consequently have their houses frequented by all the fine gentlemen, who justly value themselves upon their knowledge in good eating; and a skilful cook, who understands how to oblige his guests, will contrive to make it as expensive as they please,† (Swift, Para. 5). Again, I refer back to how people would not be able to eat the carcass of an one year old child, but also I think that if you were to find a cook to make this and a person to eat it that it would be at such an outrageous price that the people could not afford to try the meal of the baby. Finally, the last reason I do not think that this plan would work is what is in the final paragraph of the essay-â€Å"I profess, in the sincerity of my heart, that I have not the least personal interest in endeavouring to promote this necessary work, having no other motive than the publick good of my country, by advancing our trade, providing for infants, relieving the poor, and giving some pleasure to the rich. † (Swift, Para. 33). If the person that is proposing the idea at the end of the idea tells you that he has no interest in promoting his own proposal, I believe that it means he thinks that it also will not work and could not be enacted on a society. I am not the only one that is outraged or appalled with the works of Dr. Swift. Patrick Delany also states â€Å"As I have marked the passages that seemed to me most faulty, and gave me most offence, I beg leave to point them out, as they come in my way: without any further preface, or apology. The picture he draws of the Yahoos, is too offensive to be copied, even in the slightest sketch. † (Kathleen, Pg. 132). Delany and I are both offended and disagree with Swift’s works, but as a satire writer this just shows how effective his writing is on his audience. He tries to use outrageous and controversial subjects in order to grab the attention of his readers and keep them reading his papers. This style works very well and is a great way to get your point across. This style has grabbed the attention of all the readers and will continue to grab the attention of all the future readers of his essay.

Thailand: Economic Growth Achievement and Challenges

Thailand: Economic Growth Achievement and Challenges Introduction Thailand is the second largest economy in South East Asia with the population 67.7 million people (CIA 2014). Thailand economies grew at 7 per cent or more for 25 years, in the period of 1960-1997 with no single recession. After big crash, Asian Financial Crises in 1997, Thailand successfully recovered by strong growth contributed by massive export and private consumption (Phongpaichit et.al 2012). Consequently, this growth can lead to increased income per capita of Thailand. As a result, World Bank (2011) changes the classification of Thailand as an upper-middle-income with GNI per capita US$4,210 in 2011. However, after progressing in many macroeconomics indicators and growing importance in Asia’s geopolitics, Thailand experienced a slowdown starting from 2008. The slowdown begins by Global Financial Crisis (GFC) in 2008 affects in the export demand. Then, big flood in 2011 makes a lot of manufacture industries halt their production. Subsequently, political uncertainty makes Thailand experienced economic sluggish down from 7 per cent and stable in medium growth rate 3-4 per cent from 2008-2011 (Phongpaichit et.al 2012). The political unrest, has a direct impact on the tourism industry of Thailand, where the number of foreign visitors went down and impacted on decreasing 2 percentage points of GDP in 2010 (Time 2010). This trend of moderate growth is lower than its ASEAN counterparts like Malaysia, Vietnam and Indonesia as emerging economy that can grow more than 5 per cent. Furthermore, Thailand competitiveness also fallen from rank 28 in 2006 and now rank 38 among 148 countrie s in 2013-2014 (WEF 2013). To be brief, gloom in Thailand economy potentially can be in the long run if there is no change in pro-growth policies with current political volatility. The main culprit of recent decelerate of economic performance is Thailand political unrest. This wavering situation during 2006 to 2011 creates uncertainty, although they have long experience of political conflict during a century. This is because recent coups and power changing escalation is getting worse. According to World Competitiveness Report (WEF 2013) reveals four main problems in Thailand competitiveness is corruption, government instability/coup and policy instability and inefficient government bureaucracy. Other fundamental cause of decreasing trend is human capital quality cannot support dynamic economic demand and subsequently slowing the growth and potential problem in the future development. After long periods Thais society has a challenge of persistent inequality of educational opportunity. Besides, in demographic aspect Thailand society now become an ageing society with the change in population proportion (UNFPA 2006), which is older society is getting higher percentage and a fall in the proportion of productive population which they will work and pay the tax to running the economic activity. Based on UNFPA (2006) prediction, The proportion of senior citizen in total population will rise to 14.0 per cent in 2015, 19.8 per cent in 2025 and approximately 30 per cent by 2050. One most significant aspect that affects the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) declining is because Thailand economy is highly impacted by external shock in large economies such as U.S and European Union. Thailand dependency on export demand from those countries make Thailand economy vulnerable in global shock. Now the government needs new ideas and vigorous innovation capacity to create broader market given the current dynamic global market competition. Key issue: Political uncertainty, inequality of income and education and new capacity for global competition. Options to accelerate growth Thailand current strategy with the philosophy of economy â€Å"Philosophy of Sufficiency Economy† is trying to establish the growth in modest rate (OECD 2013). With that philosophy and considering recent evidence of economic slowdown and political turmoil, Thailand policy-makers have to put some change in their initial policies and institutions towards getting â€Å"sufficient† and sustained growth. A lot of options (but inconclusive) of strategy are provided by consensus like Washington Consensus (cite), Beijing Consensus and Commission on Growth and Development (Commission). Some of the Commission recipes are suitable to Thailand’s situation. Commission (2008) encourages countries to focus on export promotion and industrial policy, ensuring equity and equality of opportunity and redistribution of government (to keep accountability), enhance regional development by encouraging unity not uniformity and leads to labour mobility. Next, countries should fight corruption through competition, feedback and evaluation. Additionally, economist that well known with his middle income trap phenomenon, Kharas and Kohli (2011), suggest that in the middle income countries (including Thailand) to elevate from their level by doing some steps. First, change from diversification to specialization in production. Second, transform from physical accumulation of factors to productivity-led gro wth. Third, from centralized to decentralized economic management. The Priority: Reform in increasing the equity and the quality of education In the case of Thailand, the reform to reducing inequality of access of good education is the most important reform that Royal Thailand Government should implement. This reform is important because three reasons. First, to create equality and improve the quality of education is in line with the Thailand’s vision. Seconds, reducing the gap and disparities are critical to reduce the political instability and break the binding constraint. Third, reform in education equality is a tool for laddering middle-income economy to higher income economy in industrial development towards export. Reform in education equity policy is in line with the vision of Thailand as â€Å"A happy society with equity, fairness and resilience† as narrated in the Thailand’s eleventh Medium Term Plan. Since is well planned by the government, there is no problem in the budget. Education budget is nearly USD 14.7 billion in 2012 that constituted 4 per cent of its GDP in 2011. This number is greater than high income countries in ASEAN like Singapore’s that only 3.2 per cent of its GDP. With such huge figure Thailand doing good performance in school enrolment of every level. Surprisingly, the tertiary education rate is the highest in ASEAN (OECD 2013). However, these decent gross enrolment rate only enjoyed by the youth live in capital, Bangkok. Students who are living in remote and poor region cannot access education facility because the cost of transportation and other non-tuition cost. Thus, the gap between the grades of students from rural and urban areas is far too wide . Another issue is inequality between private and public schools make no incentive for the private sector to provide services in education. OECD estimation shows that cost of schooling in private school is two and half of public sector (OECD, 2013). In creating political stability narrowing the gap between rich and poor in access for education and health are prerequisites. In Thailand context, OECD (2013) reports that the north-eastern region is the area with highest poverty incidence while the central region and Bangkok are the lowest, two poles of political power this day that keep escalating the unrest. This binding constraint among inequality-political unrest-economic slowdown should be broken. Rodrik (1998) finds in his research in how multiple countries suffer severe after 1975 had divided societies and weak conflict-management institutions. Reform in more advance education is required for diversify new domestic demand and new export demands. Advance education also important engines for middle income countries to transform their economy toward service sectors. Based on recent sources of Thailand’s export data shows that real contribution of goods export is 57 per cent compare to service 12 per cent (World Bank 2011) with machinery/electrical, rubber, and transportation as leading commodities (OECD 2013). With those leading commodities Thailand need to diversify into other commodities to get new market. Eichengreen et.al (2013) find that country with high level of participation in secondary and tertiary education has less likely face slowdowns. Similarly, countries with high-technology products have a relative bigger contribution in exports is less vulnerable trapped in economic slow-moving. Study from OECD (2013) reveals that the education index have positive influence in variables that promoting growth like: tota l factor productivity, high-technology exports and competitive industrial performance (CIP). How to realizing this education equalization reform? At first, Royal Thailand government should manage education accountability. Accountability is a key in for the first step in the mission in narrowing education gap. Thailand requires improving and sustaining an effective education system that can be monitored and evaluated. Tangkitvanich (2013) an expert at the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI), asserts there is an inefficiency of education budget into highly spend teacher salaries post that is not translated into improvement in teacher’s performance. This lost can be consequences in equality of opportunity into society. The next stage is directing education in the more skill-mismatch, coherence with agricultural and Industrial Policy. Bhaopichitr (in Parpart 2013), senior economist at the World Bank, argues that Thailand have two problems in education system. First, now Thailand faces shortage of highly skilled workers. Second, the problems in allocation when high skilled labour put in the wrong position. In the Thailand current circumstances, it may be tempting to focus the policy into short-run return. However to maintain focus policy to enhance growth in is better pay-off when calculating long-run political stability and strong human capital as a foundation of growth. Policies that Thais government can do is to encourage upward mobility from the bottom society, i.e poor, in northern and southern regions, invest in regional education development to make sure every citizen get the good quality of education. These reforms should be attached with is coupled reforms in school governance and incentives to promote accountability. This step more likely includes with better social safety net programs. Royal Thailand government need to make sure their investment in education equity is a sound policy reform that transforms the expectations and aspirations of every citizen in Thailand. 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