Analysis Of George Huxley s Brave New World Essay

O?Brien 7 Devon O?Brien Ms. Rafferty H. English IV 22 August 2016 Quotes Connections ?Imagine the folly of allowing people to play elaborate games which do nothing whatever to increase consumption. It?s Madness.? (31) Huxley is known for his remarkable use of tone to properly set the mood in his novel Brave New World. Here, Huxley subtly slips in an excellent example of this. This quote was just enough to bring me out of the fictional world I was immersed in, to remember that it was a satirical work of fiction. It also effectively weaves into the theme of mindless conformity that is ever-present throughout the novel. The characters so absentmindedly subject themselves to the collective social body that it is almost admissible when reading their thoughts in the novel. This quote was such a characteristic thing to say for everyone in the novel that I almost didn?t catch that it was an abnormal thought. This quotation accurately depicts how the characters in this novel view aspects of their life. They simply see no reason behind partaking in anything that does not ?inc rease consumption?, and is therefore an excellent example of Huxley?s effortless use of language in the novel. ?To have dealings with members of the lower castes was always, for Bernard, a most distressing experience.? (64) Here, it is seen through Bernard?s eyes how members of different castes interact with one another. Bernard views members of lower castes as disgustingly inferior to himself;Show MoreRelatedGeorge Orwell s Brave New World1601 Words   |  7 Pagesattempted to predict what the future holds for our society. If one was to narrow their focus on the past century they would see the works and predictions of Aldous Huxley and George Orwell. Both Huxley and Orwell, as one could infer, composed novels that describe future societies and their inner workings. Aldous Huxley, author of Brave New World, where members of society originate from a lab and who’s lives are pre-determined by the controllers. The controllers of Huxley’s futuristic society’s fundamentalRead MoreBrave New World vs Nineteen Eighty Four vs Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?2284 Words   |  10 PagesComparative Essay : Brave New World to Nineteen Eighty-Four and Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? The term dystopia aptly applies to all three of these novels in that each story is set in a future where society is less attractive than it is now. All three books are prefaced with a cataclysmic event that results in a dramatic change in society to address and avoid the perceived problems of present-day. Although each author takes a different approach to the solution, their worlds have striking similaritiesRead MoreThe Absence of Morals in Brave New World Essay1814 Words   |  8 Pagesstate. Huxley, in his novel Brave New World, argues that this is not the case. Through the creation of a type of scientifically led world order, the society has destroyed the one thing that people cherish most, their individualism (Brander 71). They are no longer individuals; they are consumers assimilated into an overall society by the power of genetics. However, that is not all. Baker contends that â€Å"Huxley’s greatest fear was the potential misuse of genetic engineering, but Brave Ne w World also reflectsRead MoreAnalysis Of Ray Bradbury s Fahrenheit 451 Essay2089 Words   |  9 PagesThe analysis of Ray Bradbury s dystopian novel, Fahrenheit 451, shows that literature as books, education and alike is abused and criminalized in the hero’s reality, who is Guy Montag. The novel’s setting is when new things seem to have totally replaced literature, fire fighters set flames instead of putting them out, the ownership of books is deserving of the law and to restrict the standard is to court demise. The oppression of literature through innovation and technology can be analyzed throughRead More Mind Muscle Vs. Mind Mush1680 Words   |  7 Pagesmasses are utterly contemptible. They are incapable of abstract thinking and uninterested in any fact outside the circle of their immediate experience. Their behavior is determined, not by knowledge and reason, but by feelings and unconscious drives. (Huxley, 1958, p.3) If Hitler looked at mankind today with his opinion be the same? Would he succeed at moving the masses to the deplorable deeds as he once succeeded in doing? The instinctive answer would be no, of course not; but, there exist today a constantRead MoreGeorge Orwell s Brave New World, 1984, And King Lear3482 Words   |  14 PagesControl is presented in various ways in Brave New World, 1984, and King Lear. The ways in which the omnipresent governments in 1984 and Brave New World deploy power and control draw significant areas of comparison to each other, as well as contrasting to the presentation of power and control in King Lear. Various methods are utilised in order to exercise power and control in 1984, King Lear, and Brave New World. â€Å"Hypnopaedia† is employed in Brave New World as a method of mass control. Infants areRead MoreNineteen Eighty Four By George Orwell Essay1601 Words   |  7 PagesBook Review for Nineteen Eighty-Four by George Orwell Jason Lee December 12, 2015 SECTION A Date published June 8, 1949 City where published London, England Publisher Secker Warburg Number of pages 267 SECTION B Summary of your book (key details only...address the beginning, middle, and end of the book) Nineteen Eighty-Four takes place in the fictional nationRead MorePolitics Is A Joke ! Essay1638 Words   |  7 PagesPolitics Is A Joke! Or Is It Really? By: Joshua McCray Dr. Kenneth Mulligan Political Science 314I-950 Paper 2 The book â€Å"Politics is A Joke! How TV Comedians Are Remaking Political Life† written by S. Robert Lichter, Jody C. Baumgartner, and Jonathan S. Morris, describes the influence of late night tv show comedians and their role in modern politics. Conan, The Colbert Report, Saturday Night Live, and many late-night comedy shows exist. These shows have played a major role in American politicsRead MoreEssay Utopia4252 Words   |  18 PagesEntitled, ‘DE OPTIMO REIPUBLICATE STATU DEQUE NOVA INSULA UTOPIA, clarissimi disertissimique viri THOMAE MORI inclutae civitatis Londinensis civis et Vicecomitis’, translated into English would read, ‘ON THE BEST STATE OF A COMMONWEALTH AND ON THE NEW ISLAND OF UTOPIA, by the Most Distinguished and Eloquent Author THOMAS MORE Citizen and Undersheriff of the Famous City of London.’. Utopia (Latin: no-place) is a society of great planning and capability. A community where individuals compromisedRead MoreEssay on Analysis of George Orwells 19844218 Words   |  17 PagesAnalysis of George Orwells 1984 War Is Peace. Freedom Is Slavery. Ignorance Is Strength. The party slogan of Ingsoc illustrates the sense of contradiction which characterizes the novel 1984. That the book was taken by many as a condemnation of socialism would have troubled Orwell greatly, had he lived to see the aftermath of his work. 1984 was a warning against totalitarianism and state sponsored brutality driven by excess technology. Socialist idealism in 1984 had turned to a total loss of

Teen Mom and Effects on American Culture Free Essays

American teenagers take a lot of things for granted, but what we don’t take into consideration is what would happen if these things suddenly disappeared. Teenage life consists of school, jobs, driving, friends, sports, and going out with friends. We never consider others’ way of life. We will write a custom essay sample on Teen Mom and Effects on American Culture or any similar topic only for you Order Now In some cultures, they are just fighting to stay alive, while others don’t have the freedom to go out with friends, or play a certain sport. They are so consumed in family life or their future jobs that they have no social life. No one ever thinks what would happen if their way of life was completely turned around. This concept is shown on a reality television show called 16 and Pregnant. It follows a group of teenage girls throughout their pregnancy and a few weeks after. It shows the trials, worries, and changes in these girls’ lives. There is also a follow up show called Teen Mom that follows 4 girls from the first season of the show. I will be expanding on these girls’ lives from the beginning of their pregnancy to their lives now. Maci Bookout was just your ordinary teenage girl. She was an excellent student, played softball, and was very popular. She had big plans to go away for college and be a typical college student.This is the way the typical American is viewed. But things suddenly changed for Maci when she discovered she was pregnant. All her dreams and aspirations soon faded away and she had to consider her life with a baby. Maci comes from a middle upper class family, so concerns for money were minimal, and she didn’t have much of a struggle, other than with her baby’s dad, Ryan. But she couldn’t go away to college; she was just worried about graduating high school. She had to quit softball, and her friends soon turned on her. Her life was completely changed with just one decision.She took her teenage years for granted, but once she became a teen mom, that was all she wanted back. Amber Portwood was a big party girl, who didn’t care what others thought of her. She would party instead of doing homework, and didn’t have many friends that truly cared about her. She viewed life as a big party, and didn’t take it seriously, until she had to. She became pregnant at 16 and her whole life was changed. She dropped out of high school, and moved in with her boyfriend, Gary. They were from a lower class family, so they struggled with money. Gary and Amber soon both were working, and had to leave their aughter with Gary’s mother. It was obvious from the start that Amber and Gary were not meant for each other, because they would often get into fights. Fights started to get physical and Amber soon saw herself sitting home alone while Gary took their daughter and left, after many months of physical abuse. Amber knew she had a problem, and needed help, but she realized it too late. Gary broke up with her and she was alone, and without her daughter. She took her teen years for granted, and instead of living life to the best of her ability, she tried to grow up too fast, and got what she wanted. Farrah Abrams was the popular cheerleader in high school. She had great friends and an amazing boyfriend. She had big dreams of going to culinary school, becoming a chef, and opening her own restaurant. All those dreams were put on hold when she discovered she was pregnant. Things became even worse when the father of her baby, and boyfriend of 1 year, was killed in a car accident. 2 months later, her daughter, Sophia, was born. She had to go through the loss of her boyfriend, and the birth of her daughter. Soon after Sophia’s birth, Farrah began to miss her boyfriend and saw herself going out more, and leaving her baby with her mother.Farrah’s mom constantly had to remind her daughter that she was now a mother and couldn’t just go out with friends anymore. She was from a very wealthy family and had no problems with money, but all her other problems took the place of money problems. Farrah and her mother did not get along very well at all. She was constantly disrespecting her mom, and her mom was constantly nagging her about everything. When Sophia was almost 1 year old, Farrah’s mother punched Farrah. Cops came to the house and arrested her mother, and Farrah didn’t see or speak to her mom for months. Farrah had a successful life planned out for herself, but now she’s unsure of whether or not she’ll ever reach her goals. Catelynn Lowell is an ordinary girl. She doesn’t have any special gifts or talents, she’s just a teenager. She and her boyfriend, Tyler, were dating 3 years when she discovered she was pregnant. Ironically this was a good thing for her. She had no plans or goals for her life, because her mother and step-father (which is Tyler’s real dad) are both drug addicts and have never been strict on Catelynn about anything. Being pregnant made Catelynn realize she needed to do something with her life and not turn into her mother. She and Tyler talked for months, and both decided that they needed to give their daughter, Carly, up for adoption, because there was no way they could raise their daughter in the living situation they were in. Catelynn and Tyler are both from very low class families, and could barely provide for themselves, so they knew their daughter would be very unhappy. While it was a difficult decision, they also knew it was the best one. Catelynn and Tyler will be graduating from high school this year, and have many goals they’re eager to achieve. The similarities and differences between these girls are many.Amber dropped out of high school, and missed out on graduating. Will she ever get her GED? Farrah is the only one who does not have a father in her baby’s life; will her baby ever have a father figure? Maci seems to have it all together, but does is she really happy not being with her first love? Catelynn and Tyler gave their daughter up for adoption, and while it was a smart decision, will they later regret it? All these girls’ lives will be affected forever because of the decisions they’ve made. I believe this show takes the concept of the average American teenager, and adds some reality into it.While not all teen girls become pregnant, it’s amazing to see that this is what it take to make some teens grow up. Other cultures would think that this is just crazy because these girls took for granted the fact that they had people who loved them, a house to live in, and a chance for education. American culture is very different from other cultures, just in the fact that we don’t value things that should be valued, such as family, morals, and God. If we viewed life a little more seriously, and not as a game, then we may be a much stronger, happier nation. How to cite Teen Mom and Effects on American Culture, Papers

Ethics Management Auditing and Developing

Question: Discuss about the Ethics Management for Auditing and Developing. Answer: Introduction A profession is a particular field of specialization in which as a person is adequately trained and experienced to perform functions in this field of study with expertise. An expert performs duties in the field that they have been trained on. To become an accountant, one has to fulfill certain academic, ethical and legal requirements before they are allowed to practice as an accountant (Arens, 2010). Before practicing accounting, it is a requirement that a person must have fulfilled certain academic qualifications to join an accountant training institution There are many ethical requirements in the auditing profession. This report identifies and analyzes an ethical issue that is common in the accounting profession. The report also analyzes past literature and research that has been done on the subject and identifies gaps that need further research to be done. Critical review of what it means to be an accountant Auditing is the independent process of accessing and investigating the final financial statements presented to the shareholders at the annual AGM to verify if the information submitted is true, accurate and represents the genuine and fair financial value of the business or organization in question. There are two types of auditors I.e., internal auditors, and external auditors. The internal auditor is appointed by the shareholders of the organization (Gul Fung, 2014). They have several functions and roles that they perform in an organization. The duties of internal auditors include establishing an internal control system that responds accurately to the needs of the organization, advising the management on various aspect of accounting, determining the relevant accounting methods for an organization depending on its characteristics, reviewing of an organization's internal financial controls and assessing the companys financial risk position (Kretzschmar, (2012). The internal auditors a re answerable to the shareholders and are required to be independent. The external auditors are a statutory requirement for all companies in Australia. All companies must have an external auditor whose responsibility is to investigate the financial report of an organization to make sure they reflect the genuine and fair value of the group. Auditors are required by law to be independent even though sometimes their integrity is compromised by the management of the organizations they audit. This can be very dangerous because an auditor whose integrity is compromised may collaborate with the management of the organization to infringe on the rights of shareholders (Kretzschmar, 2012). The auditing profession has a code of ethics that is followed by all auditors internationally. Auditors are governed by a set of rules and regulations that are able to guide them in their professional practice. The code of ethics for auditors is developed by The Institute of Internal Auditors, Australia (IIAA). Another body that develops the code of conduct for auditors is the Charted Institute of Internal Auditors. In Australia, there is a government body that also set ethical standards of auditors. The Auditing and Assurance Standards Board established under section 336 of the Corporations Act 2001 sets standards and controls quality in the auditing profession (Moller, 2013). Some of the basic ethics for the auditing profession include the following principles; The integrity of auditors establishes trust between the auditor and the client and therefore provides reliance on the judgment made by the auditor. The auditors should be able to do their work without the influence of any forces whether personal needs, internal or external forces. Objectivity. This principle require auditors to exhibit the highest level of objectivity in gathering, analyzing, evaluating and communicating information obtained during the auditing process. Auditors should make an assessment based on all the available information before coming up with a judgment. Another important principle of ethics in auditing is the principle of confidentiality. Auditors should be discrete with the information they obtain from a client during the audit process. The auditor can only share the information when required by law to do so. The ethic principle of competence is also very crucial for auditors. This involves proper application of skills, knowledge and experience in auditing work. This will be the subject of research in this report since an analysis of secondary sources of information reveals very gaps in the competence principle that needs further research. Ethics are very important in the auditing profession. There are various rules and code of conduct guidelines that have been put in place by professional bodies to help control the behavior of auditors (Campbell, 2005). This ethics helps in preserving the image and dignity of the profession. The values also help to protect the rights of clients to prevent them from being abused by auditors. This report analyzes the gaps that exist in ethics in the auditing profession so as to carry out further research to determine how these gaps can be filled. Background of the issue and justification The question of competence in the auditing profession is very crucial in making sure that the accounting information presented to the shareholders and other stakeholders of an organization are accurate and correct. Competence, therefore, is a very basic principle of accounting. The lack of competence even when all the other principles of accounting are met means that the financial reports and records cannot be relied upon by any of the stakeholders (Campbell Houghton,2005). Over the past few years, the issue of competence of shareholders has been arising with many organizations filing complaints about regulatory bodies on issues of competence realized among auditors. Having auditors who are competent in performing their tasks helps in boosting the confidence of the shareholders as well as other stakeholders of the organization. Due to this reason, it is, therefore, important to investigate the importance of competence among auditors and how competence can be enhanced among auditors. A lot of literature has been written on the issues of ethics among auditors and accountants. These issues have been addressed in both books and peer-reviewed journals. In auditing, competence is a very important principle in the ethics of the accounting profession. It is a fundamental principle because auditing is a very sensitive occupation and due to this reason the activities carried out by the auditors have a huge effect on the organization itself and even the stakeholders(Botica Redmayne, 2011). The key to achieving competence in auditing lies in using and adhering to all the international standards of accounting and auditing. This helps the auditor to reduce errors that arise during the verification process and therefore provide high-quality services to the client. According to Pickett (2013), incompetence by auditors can be caused by among other factors lack of proper training for auditors. This means that the auditor may not have been trained well or that they lack experience in real work environment despite being well trained and qualified. Kretzschmar,(2012) argues that many auditors become incompetent because of pure ignorance and lack of due care when going about their auditing work. According to Moller(2013), the issue of incompetence of auditors can be resolved and reduced through improving the level of training of accounts and organizing professional seminars to train and remind auditors of the importance of competence in auditing. Auditors should put a lot of emphasis on following the principles and standards of accounting and be careful in the judgment they make so as to ensure the accounting principle of competence is met(Gay, Simnett, n.d.)The gaps on the research topic are the role of professional bodies in ensuring adherence to the auditing principles and guidelines. The research methodology to be used in this project proposal will include a collection of both secondary and primary data. Interviews will be conducted with members of the acc ounting profession as well as officials of the regulatory bodies. Structured questionnaires will also be used to carry out this research. The secondary sources of information to be utilized in this research includes books and peer-reviewed journals that have been written in the past concerning this subject. The data analysis methods that will be employed in this study will be determined by whether the data collected in quantitative or qualitative. Secondary information will be collected from professional bodies and associations. Data obtained will be analyzed using various methods such as observation and comparison with past trends. The researcher will come up with a scale of measuring data to help in the analysis. The plan for conducting this study will be as presented in the Gantt chart below. Conclusion Ethics are crucial in any profession or field of specialization. Ethics help in governing the behavior of individuals within an organization and give guidelines on how people should go about their professional work. In accounting, ethics are critical. This profession deals with finance, and therefore, it is very vital for people in this business to adhere to the code of ethics. There are various professional bodies some national and others international that register accountants and auditors. These bodies help in regulating the accounting profession and make sure that the laid down procedures are followed. These institutions punish members who fail to adhere to the set guidelines and ethical requirements. References Arens, A. (2010). Essentials of auditing, assurance services and ethics in Australia (1st ed.). Frenchs Forest, N.S.W.: Pearson Australia. Botica Redmayne, N. (2011). Auditing and Assurance Services and Ethics in Australia: An Integrated Approach20111Alvin A. Arens, Peter Best, Greg Shailer, and Brenton Fiedlerd. Auditing and Assurance Services and Ethics in Australia: An Integrated Approach. 2009. 8th ed. Journal Of Accounting Organizational Change, 7(4), 408-410. https://dx.doi.org/10.1108/18325911111182330 Gay, G., Simnett, R. Auditing and assurance services in Australia (1st ed.). Gul, F. A., Fung, Y. K. (2014). Hong Kong auditing: Economic theory practice. Hong Kong: City University of Hong Kong Press. Mruthyunjaya, H. C. (2013). Business ethics and value systems. Place of publication not identified: Prentice-Hall Of India Pv. So?jka, J., Wempe, J. (2000). Business Challenging Business Ethics: New Instruments for Coping with Diversity in International Business: The 12th Annual EBEN Conference. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Pickett, K. H. S. (2013). The internal auditing handbook. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley Campbell, T., Houghton, K. A. (2005). Ethics and auditing. Canberra: ANU E Press. Kaptein, M. (1998). Ethics Management: Auditing and Developing the Ethical Content of Organizations. Dordrecht: Springer Netherlands. Ferrell, O. C., Fraedrich, J., Ferrell, L. (2013). Business ethics: Ethical decision making and cases. Mason, OH: South-Western/Cengage Learning. Kretzschmar, L. (2012). Ethics for accountants and auditors. Cape Town: Oxford University Press Southern Africa. Moeller, R. R. (2013). Brink's modern internal auditing: A common body of knowledge. Hoboken, N.J: Wiley. Ghandar, A., Tsahuridu, E. E., CPA Australia (Organization). (2013). Auditing, assurance and ethics handbook 2013. Frenchs Forest, N. S. W: Pearson Australia.

Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall free essay sample

From the smoothest lines to the screeching, racing notes that resonate like a flock of geese overhead, John Coltrane’s sax has always mesmerized listeners. Forty years after his death, he and the Thelonious Monk Quartet still have a best-selling jazz album. John Coltrane, who emerged as a timid yet strong sideman in the early 1950s and went on to become one of the most influential jazz musicians of the century, always learned from those with whom he played. On this newly released album, the interaction between two of the greatest players of all time is heard: pianist Thelonious Monk and saxophonist John Coltrane. To understand this album, one must know when and why it was recorded. In 1957, after Coltrane was released from the Miles Davis’ Quintet for heroin use, he teamed up with Thelonious Monk. Clean, revitalized and ready to jump back into the music scene, Coltrane learned from Monk and transformed his style in a matter of months. We will write a custom essay sample on Thelonious Monk Quartet with John Coltrane at Carnegie Hall or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page He moved away from his early â€Å"cool† sounds to the wild Coltrane style of â€Å"Giant Steps.† Discovered recently in an unlabeled box in the Library of Congress, this album is the only recording of the Thelonious Monk Quartet with Coltrane that has quality sound. On it we can hear Monk’s multitonal effects influence on Coltrane and the daring leap he was forced to take by playing Monk’s complex songs. This concert is a landmark in jazz history. The first set opens with a solo piano intro to â€Å"Monk’s Mood,† presenting a familiar Monk sound: spare notes, cascading, dreamy scales, and jagged chords that stick out like nails. Next, Coltrane steps in with a clean and beautiful sax, helping with an extended intro. As soon as Shadow Wilson and Ahmed Abdul-Malik enter with bass and drums, the remarkable tightness of the band is evident; each musician learns and plays off the other. They then move into â€Å"Evidence,† a much faster song. Coltrane is able to utilize his speedy solo method, introducing the basis of his â€Å"Sheets of Sound† style. He runs up and down his notes like a staircase, then levels the tune back down for Monk’s solo. A great cut of â€Å"Epistrophy† is played, along with a memorable â€Å"Sweet Lovely† in which Monk plays his superb sax and then accelerates into a zippy tune carried by Coltrane’s explosive solo. This new release is not only a must-have for any serious jazz listener, but a great pick for anyone looking to enter the genre. It can only be hoped that another gem like this will be discovered. . J

SEABURY CONSTRUCTION CORP. V. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION E

SEABURY CONSTRUCTION CORP. V. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION E SEABURY CONSTRUCTION CORP. V. DEPARTMENT OF ENVIRONMENTAL PROTECTION COMMENT The price preference program for minority-owned and woman-owned business enterprises and qualified joint ventures in public works procurement projects with the City of New York was declared invalid by the New York State Supreme Court of New York County.1 The City had implemented a price preference procurement program under the authority of the New York City Charter (?NYC Charter?), which generally requires that all competitive procurements using sealed bids be awarded to the lowest responsible bidder. Section 313(b)(2) of the NYC Charter has an exception to the general rule: The agency letting the contract ? shall ? award the contract to the lowest responsible bidder, unless the mayor shall determine ? that it is in the best interest of the city that a bid other than that of the lowest responsible bidder shall be accepted. In 1991, a new NYC Charter section was added which required the Department of Business Services to promulgate rules to ensure meaningful participation of minority-owned and woman-owned businesses in the City?s procurement procedures. The rules which were promulgated established a 10 percent ?target percentage? for minority-owned and woman-owned businesses, and qualified joint ventures. If a bid from a minority-owned or woman-owned business, or a qualified joint venture was not the lowest bid, but was within the target percentage of the lowest bid, then the purchasing agency would forward that bid and the lowest bid to the Mayor for a determination as to whether it was in the best interest of the City to award the contract to other than the lowest responsible bidder. In early 1993, the Department of Environmental Protection awarded three projects to two companies that were qualified joint ventures. The lowest responsible bidder for these contracts had been submitted by Seabury Construction Corporation (?Seabury?). The two companies awarded the contracts submitted bids which were higher than Seabury?s bids, but were within the 10 percent ?target percentage.? The City?s Chief Procurement Officer, acting for the Mayor, had determined that it was in the City?s best interest to accept the higher bid from the qualified joint ventures. Seabury then sued the City, claiming that NYC Charter ? 313(b)(2) violated section 103(1) of the General Municipal Law (?GML?). The relevant part of GML ? 103(1) reads as follows: Except as otherwise expressly provided by an act of the legislature or by a local law adopted prior to September first, nineteen hundred fifty-three, all contracts for public work involving an expenditure of more than twenty thousand dollars ? shall be awarded by the appropriate officer, board, or agency of a political subdivision ? to the lowest responsible bidder?. The court turned its attention to NYC Charter ? 313(b)(2) in an effort to determine whether that section of the NYC Charter was adopted prior to September 1, 1953. However, both counsel and the court appear to have overlooked a key statutory construction analysis which could have provided a colorable, though likely unsuccessful, argument contrary to the court?s conclusion. GML ? 103 was enacted in 1953.2 The relevant part of the original statute read as follows: Except as otherwise expressly provided by an act of the legislature, or except in an emergency, all contracts for public work involving an expenditure of more than twenty-five hundred dollars ? shall be awarded by the appropriate officer, board, or agency of a political subdivision ? to the lowest responsible bidder?. The phrase, ?or by a local law adopted prior to September first, nineteen hundred fifty-three? is conspicuously absent from the original legislation. The department memorandum relating to the bill includes the following remarks: The primary objective of this bill is to harmonize and to extend the application of laws relating to public bidding on contracts let by counties, cities, towns, villages, school districts and district corporations?. Section 103 will apply ?except as otherwise expressly provided by an act of the legislature?. The quoted phrase was inserted in view of provisions in city charters and other laws of limited application which may prescribe different requirements with respect to public bidding.? The law was then amended in 1955.3 The amended law read as follows: Except as otherwise expressly provided by an act of the legislature or by a local law adopted prior to September first, nineteen hundred fifty-three, or except

Baudrillards ideas on the film The Matrix Essay Example for Free

Baudrillard’s ideas on the film The Matrix Essay Lewis Carroll (50) , Alice in Wonderland (49) , The Matrix (6) company About StudyMoose Contact Careers Help Center Donate a Paper Legal Terms & Conditions Privacy Policy Complaints It has long been a condition of western culture to act for the accumulation of material objects. This is in part due to the capitalist nature of the world within which we live. Marx identifies in ‘The Critique of Capitalism’ the emergence of two new classes of people, namely ‘capitalists’ and ‘labourers’. The term ‘capitalist’ describes any person who has personal ownership of capital, which ‘consists of raw materials, instruments of labour and means of subsistence’ (Marx). In contrast a ‘labourer’ has only the value of his labour (life activity), which he exchanges with the capitalist for a wage and as such ‘the worker sinks to the level of commodity’ (Marx). Because the labourer produces for the capitalist a commodity of greater value than that of his wages and in addition those wages are paid back to the capitalist in return for subsistence, therefore social control in exerted over the working class, whilst providing the capitalist with excess commodity. The labourer consentingly becomes a slave to the system on which he depends. In addition Marx states that as the relation between capitalist and labourer (manufacturer and consumer) develops, so competition between rival capitalists becomes apparent. In effect the capitalist is forced to capture more of the market by selling goods more cheaply by the consolidation and exploitation of labour power e. g. by machinery. Such a strategy ultimately limits the demand for labour and so new industries must be developed for exploitation. These new industries are necessary because capital exists only in relation to its ability to command labour and social control and as such ‘they reciprocally condition the existence of each other’ (Marx). These forced increases in demand and therefore production are evident in the contemporary world market. Important to the development of Capitalism is the use of money which abstracts labour and commodity values to a common unit for the purpose of trade. In effect the labourer discovers that ‘the product of his activity is not the object of his activity’ (Marx) thus a level of abstraction occurs, which was consistent with the modernist values of the time. Karl Marx and early capitalism were mainly concerned with production which remains important but it was Situationist, Guy Debord, who gave the first insights into late capitalism and the theories that best apply to today’s world economics and culture of commodities. Debord, in his book ‘The Society of the Spectacle’, bases his examination of commodities around consumption, media, information and technology. As such Debord suggests that ‘in societies where modern conditions of production prevail, all of life presents itself as an immense accumulation of spectacles. Everything that was directly lived has moved away into a representation. ‘ By this he means to describe the world and its products as mere appearances, where the real meanings and values of commodities are translated into signs. Essentially ‘it is a world vision that has been objectified’ (Debord). Debord explains the phenomenon of the spectacle as resulting from the ever increasing production of capitalism. Because competition between capitalists inevitably leads to an excess of produce, so consumer demand must be increased. Such an increase is controllable by the spectacle as ‘the real consumer becomes a consumer of illusions,’ (Debord) so he can be manipulated to believe he must consume beyond the basic necessity for survival e. g. leisure products. Therefore ‘the spectacle’s form and content are identically the total justification of the existing system’s conditions and goals’ (Debord). The spectacle is mediated in society ‘as information or propaganda, as advertisement or direct entertainment consumption,’ (Debord). The effects of the mediated spectacle tend to lead the consumer to an experience of alienation as the consumers’ want for commodities is dictated to serve and maintain capitalism. In addition the spectacle constantly reinforces itself, for example the television, which is in itself a product of the spectacle that is then used by the capitalist to implement the advertisement of other spectacles. Essentially the ‘spectacle is the nightmare of imprisoned modern society’ (Debord) and explains the transition from the ‘degradation of being into having’ to ‘having into appearing’ (Debord). Jean Baudrillard took Marx’s ‘Critique of Capitalism’ and Debord’s ‘The Society of the Spectacle’ to their conclusions with his own theory of simulation and simulacra. Similar to the idea of the spectacle, Baudrillard describes a world where the subject of everything has been replaced by a semiological value that has become more important than the original, ‘real’ meaning of the object. This object he calls a ‘simulacra’. In ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ Baudrillard adds extra complexity to these ideas by establishing a hierarchy of simulation, which he gives four orders. In the first order the object is a copy of an original and so can be linked to a basic reality, for example a photograph of an actual event. The second order of simulation misrepresents the original subject; in the example the photography has been digitally manipulated in Photoshop to present a non-occurrence. In the third order a reality is recreated from a simulation of an original reality, when in fact, through the process of simulacra, the original has been lost, e. g. a scene is recreated from the digitally manipulated photograph of the original event. Finally, the forth order of simulation is the combined process of the first, second and third order to such an extent that the object bears no relation to reality or the original, for example the photograph has become a virtual reality. In this instance the link between reality and the signifying systems is almost impossible to ascertain, thus creating a ‘hyper-reality’. It is the use of one simulacra as a basis for the formation of another simulacra that shows the first signs of relevance to post modernity. Consequently, in post modernism, everything is understood in relation to everything that has come before, which in design manifests itself in referencing. Post modernism is also concerned with the fact that there is no right or wrong and essentially that no real truth exists. It is of course possible for a sign to make a transition through all four of the orders of simulation, constantly abstracting meaning and widening the gap between simulation and reality. However due to the complexity of repeated abstraction and signification it becomes necessary for an amount of speculation and simplification to occur when examining transitional examples. If we take, for example, the now famous emblem of automotive company Rolls Royce, it becomes apparent the extent to which a symbolic object can be re-simulated, each time loosing a part of it’s original meaning. ‘Spirit of Ecstasy’, designed by sculptor Charles Sykes and mass produced in 1911, is a cast metal emblem representing the figurine of a girl with arms outstretched to hold the folds of her gown blowing in the breeze. To the present day this emblem has been displayed on the bonnets of Rolls Royce cars and is the first order of simulation in terms of it being a representation of a real person from which the sculpture has been modelled. The object also references the figure heads of classic sailing ships in an attempt to convey the automotive product as an elegant, quite and reliable vehicle, which were the mediated associations with the brand during the early development of the company. In this instance the object enters the third order of simulation as a real event (model posing for sculptor) is created from an existing symbolic object (sailing boat figure heads) in order to be recreated as a new symbolic object (Spirit of Ecstasy emblem). At this point it is important to note that this example as an investigation could examine many more stages of referencing prior to the sign’s use as figure heads, though this could prove too difficult and inaccurate, again reinforcing the existence of a hyper-reality. The tea pot, designed by Michael Graves in 1985 for Alessi, brings the symbol to its conclusion. The tea pot employs a plastic emblem of a bird that is attached to the spout of the kettle and creates a whistling noise when the water is boiled. This creates a pun between the whistling of a kettle and the singing of bird but more importantly, its similar visual appearance (i. e. the wings of the bird and the outstretched arms and gown of the girl) makes a reference of Rolls Royce cars. Because during the late 20th century the values associated with Rolls Royce have matured to convey the brand as one of top class and status, so it are these value that are associated with Grave’s tea pot, supposed to the original associations that Rolls Royce was referencing from classic sailing ships. Therefore the product has clearly entered the forth order of simulation is it holds no relation to the original meaning that the original object as sign attempted to represent. Also, by referencing past signs, it can be described as a post modern object. Like Debord, Baudrillard agreed that simulation was important to the survival of capitalism as it, through mediation, can control the level of consumption within society. Baudrillard used the term ‘valorisation’ to describe the process through which symbolic objects attain value. An excellent example of valorisation is Pokemon cards, which are essentially printed illustrations on card and so their use value is very low. However, via mediation, Pokemon cards have been given a simulated symbolic value that has made them desirable and powerful as a commodity. As well as design, Baudrillard’s theory of simulation and simulacra has also proved influential in film making, for example in ‘The Matrix’, directed by the Wachowski brothers. The Matrix is set in the future at a time when the real world has been reduced to a desert waste land by a war between humanity and machines; after the invention of artificial intelligence. Because the machines are dependant on solar power, the humans have caused the equivalent of a nuclear winter by blocking out sunlight. This has caused the machines to retaliate by imprisoning humans in gel filled pods so that energy can be extracted from them in the form of heat. In order to control the humans in this procedure a computer simulated world called the matrix exists, that all of the imprisoned humans are connected to, living their lives in what they believe is the late 20th century, oblivious to the fact that their real bodies are in stasis in the real world. The film therefore acts as a metaphor for contemporary western cultures. Firstly the matrix is an existence of the fourth order of simulation in that it is a system of mere signs that are completely detached from reality, i. e. hyper-reality. Just as in contemporary cultures, the people who live in the matrix are unaware that they are controlled by a system through simulation. â€Å"You are a slave, neo, like everyone else you were born into bondage, born into a prison that you cannot smell or taste or touch, a prison for your mind†¦ What is the matrix? Control. The matrix is a computer generated dream world built to keep us under control in order to change a human being into this† (he holds up a copper battery) (Morpheus talking to Neo, The Matrix). In addition the film suggests that the prisoners of the Matrix are also dependant upon it, to the extent that they will fight to protect it. Baudrillard’s idea of mediasation appears in the film when it is suggested that there was a machine â€Å"spawning a whole race of machines† (Morpheus talking to Neo, The Matrix), thus the social control of the machines (mediation of signs) increasingly exert themselves with every new generation. Interestingly The Matrix seems to offer a solution to simulation and social control by the system, which is one of enlightenment. Once Neo understands the systems and can see the signs (computer code) of the matrix for what they really are, then he can choose to follow a different set of rules thus gaining control of his environment. As well as a theological basis on Baudrillard, The Matrix tends to convey the story via symbolic references and thus is post modern by nature. For example the ‘follow the white rabbit scene’ employs a tattoo of a white rabbit, which is referenced from ‘Alice in Wonderland’ in order to convey the uncertainty in discovering the truth of an alternate reality. In the same scene Neo also opens a copy Baudrillard’s ‘Simulacra and Simulation’ in effect reinforcing links to that element of the film. In conclusion, I have identified the main themes surrounding Baudrillard’s orders of simulacra and simulation, shown how they relate to modern and post modern design and have given contemporary examples of their use in product design and film making. I believe that such an understanding of simulation has served well to better understanding referencing in post modernity. Debord, G., (1977) The Society of the Spectacle, Black & Red Poster, M., (1998) Jean Baudrillard: Selected Writings, Polity Press Tucker, R. C., (1978) The Marx – Engels Reader Second Edition, Norton & Company Hebdige, D., (1994) Hiding in the Light, Routledge http://www.geneseo.edu/~bicket/panop/baudrillard.ht http://www.artisanitorium.thehydden.com/nonfiction/film/matrix.htm Baudrillard’s ideas on the film The Matrix. (2017, Aug 08). We have essays on the following topics that may be of interest to you

Latin America Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words - 2

Latin America - Essay Example In addition, thousands of people moved in to work on the projects, an aspect which further led to degraded environment and global warming. The subdivision of land led to reduced food, turning small holder’s farmers into peasants ( Hobbs, 2008). Mining areas degraded farming lands and destroyed the natural environment for micro-organisms. These developments were both for worse and better of the region. For worse, the natural environment had been destroyed and better, it lead to production of minerals which spurred economic growth. Initially, the entire Latin America was under colonial government which also had many interests in the region. It had an America based United Fruit company which functioned as a unifying factor in the region. The Company owned large tracts of land which covered or spilled in nearly all countries in Latin America. This means that Latin America during colonial time was actually treated like one region geographically ( Hobbs, 2008). As such, the company and thus, the United States had a lot of influence on the regional politics. However, local leaders started changing laws governing land. For instance, the president of Guatemala, Arbenz developed land reform laws that were actually seen as a threat to the existence or interests of the American Based Fruit company. The president did not stay for long; he was ousted in 1954 by a group supported by CIA. This aspect disorganized the politics of the region. In fact, some of the countries in the region have not been so stable in terms of leadership. They also play second fiddle to the US when it comes to international trade treaties. What is more, its institutions have lacked behind of because of the unstable leadership. For instance, Mexico only started maximizing its petroleum potential in 2003, despite having discovered the mineral in 1960 ( Hobbs, 2008). Personally, I think the challenges faced by the region were instigated or triggered by the colonial government. For instance, most of

Family law Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words - 1

Family law - Essay Example The major thrust of new legislation introduced through the Children and Adoption Bill 2005 which is derived from the Family Act of 19963 is to promote parental cooperation in ensuring that the child has contact with both parents. However, allowing primary custodial care to one parent – traditionally the mother – has been viewed as a failure of the legal system to ensure the rights of fathers; â€Å"an exercise in absolute futility† for fathers, as stated by Justice Mamby in the case of D4. In many instances, the underlying hostility the parents feel for each other affects the contact arrangements for the children and creates conditions that are not beneficial for them.6 This is the reason why shared residence appears to offer a viable option whereby a child is able to maintain contact with both parents without their mutual animosity affecting the child’s emotional and psychosocial makeup. Moreover, the separated parents may be living with other partners and the facility of shared residence allows each parent to participate in the care of the child while also being able to carry on with their lives and putting the animosity of the former relationship behind them. As a result, shared residence may be viewed as a means to protect the children from the worst effects of separation and the welfare of children is of primary importance, especially as identified in the Children Act of 1989. The concept of shared residence could therefore offer a solution. A child of divorced parents has two homes, one with each parent, such that both parents are able to offer emotional and financial support. Family Courts have traditionally been guided in their decisions by the provisions of the Children Act of 1989, which states that in any provision or decision made by the Courts, â€Å"the child’s welfare shall be the Court’s paramount consideration.†7 Section 11(4) of the Children Act of 1989

King Henry V and King Richard III Essay Example for Free

King Henry V and King Richard III Essay Henry V and Richard III depicted how two very different men rose to power and assumed the throne of England. Henry was an intelligent, driven young man who sought to reconstruct the civil war ravaged kingdom after the death of his father. Shakespeare presented Richard as a corrupt, sadistic villain who cared nothing for the English people except that they knew and feared his absolute authority. Both men, though, possessed the same focus and determination, which made the comparison and contrast of these two plays that much more drastic. When Henry V came to power, he knew he was responsible for gaining the trust and respect of both the English court and the common man. In order to end wars within the country and regain political stability, Henry decided to lay claim to his land in France. In response to this, the French prince Dauphin snubbed Henry, which launched him into action. With the support of the English people behind him, Henry gathered his troops and planned to invade France. Henry did away with those who plotted against him and his mission and set sail for France. With his tremendous resolve and leadership, the English victoriously fought their way through France despite terrible odds. The English forces were urged to remain focused on the task at hand, and all those who disgraced the kingdom were severely punished. Looting, spying and the like all resulted in death at Henrys command. With the same dedication, however, he took into consideration the concerns of the common soldier and in prayer he gained the power to fulfill his leadership responsibilities and rally his troops. After the English forces defeated the French at the Battle of Agincourt, while outnumbered five-to-one, the opposition finally surrendered. Henry was able to secure peace negotiations and meanwhile married Catherine, the daughter of the French king. Thus, Henry had successfully united two kingdoms. The reign of King Richard III differed greatly. In order to reach the throne,  he secretly plotted to usurp the kingship from his brother Edward and, likewise, to destroy anyone else who posed a threat. Shakespeare described Richard as evil and manipulative, but also brilliant, cunning, and persistent. He was born physically deformed and as a result was very bitter toward those around him, and greatly resented their normalcy and happiness. This hatred translated into tremendous drive and served as motivation as well as justification for most everything he did. Richard began his journey to the throne by marrying a noblewoman, Lady Anne, simply for political reasons. He then took every opportunity that arose to speed Edwards illness and death, including the execution of another brother solely to cause grief and clear the path to the title. When Edward finally died, Richard was temporarily rewarded control of the kingdom until Edwards sons were of age to rule. Richard then searched out and executed those noblemen who had remained loyal to the princes, along with the boys powerful relatives on their mothers side. The heirs and Queen Elizabeth, their mother, were left unprotected and vulnerable. After Richard campaigned and all but assumed his role as king, the boys were murdered. The people of England already despised Richard and feared his tyrannical rule. When Richard found himself without support and facing a possible challenger to the throne, he decided to murder his wife in order to marry his niece Elizabeth. This marriage to Edwards daughter would cement his position as king. Queen Elizabeth, however, had sided with the French challenger, Richmond, and had secretly given him her daughters hand in marriage. When Richmond and his forces invaded England, Richard was killed, just as he had been warned in dreams the night before by the ghosts of all those he had murdered. Richmond was the crowned King Henry VII and vowed peace in the restless kingdom. Both Henry V and Richard III possessed the determination to reach the throne and rule England. Henry introduced himself to the kingdom as a relenting force, in power to protect and provide for the common man. He took his role very seriously and thus became a hero in his kingdom, while instilling fear in the hearts of the opposition. Richard, though, saw his dreams crumble before him as he selfishly and insanely used all those around him as a sort of tool for his acquisition of power. England as a whole rejected him as a leader, and saw no promise for the kingdom under the reign of a power-hungry tyrant. Henry sought to rebuild and England and bring back to it prosperity, and therefore gained the love and respect of the English people. Richard cared only to tend to his own selfish interests and was, as a result, overthrown by his enemies. The fate of there two men seemed to have been determined by what motivated them and with which characteristics they utilized in ruling the kingdom of England.

Importance of Setting and Wallpaper in The Yellow Wallpaper

Importance of Setting and Wallpaper in The Yellow Wallpaper   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Room itself represents the author’s unconscious protective cell that has encased her mind, represented by the woman, for a very long time. This cell is slowly deteriorating and losing control of her thoughts. I believe that this room is set up as a self-defense mechanism when the author herself is put into the asylum. She sets this false wall up to protect her from actually becoming insane and the longer she is in there the more the wall paper begins to deteriorate. This finally leads to her defense weakening until she is left with just madness and insanity. All of the characters throughout the story represent real life people with altered roles in her mind. While she is in the mental institute she blends reality with her subconscious, forming this story from events that are happening all around here in the real world.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the reader is introduced to the woman we find her talking about very strange and unusual happenings occurring around her. She evens states that she has a condition that signifies insanity, but the doctor would never tell her straight to her face that she was insane. She says, â€Å"I think it is due to this nervous condition†(453). This shows that she knows there is something wrong with her. This nervous condition she refers to can only mean that she is having mental problems and is possibly going insane.   We can infer this because during this time period, the doctors did not state that someone was insane because they had no medical proof. Instead they would just tell the patients that they have a nervous condition, and send them away. She says, â€Å"I always fancy I see people walking in the numerous paths and arbors, but... ...f the bad that is going on in her real life, so she would have a happy place to live. With the collapse of her happy place her defense was gone and she had no protection from her insanity anymore. This caused all of her blocked out thoughts to swarm her mind and turn her completely insane. When the doctor found her, he tried to go in and help her. When the doctor finally got in he fainted because he had made so many positive changes with her and was utterly distressed when he found out that it was all for naught. This woman had made a safety net within her mind so that she would not have to deal with the reality of being in an insane asylum, but in the end everything failed and it seems that what she had been protecting herself from finally conquered her. She was then forced to succumb to her breakdown and realize that she was in the insane asylum for the long run. Importance of Setting and Wallpaper in The Yellow Wallpaper Importance of Setting and Wallpaper in The Yellow Wallpaper   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   The Room itself represents the author’s unconscious protective cell that has encased her mind, represented by the woman, for a very long time. This cell is slowly deteriorating and losing control of her thoughts. I believe that this room is set up as a self-defense mechanism when the author herself is put into the asylum. She sets this false wall up to protect her from actually becoming insane and the longer she is in there the more the wall paper begins to deteriorate. This finally leads to her defense weakening until she is left with just madness and insanity. All of the characters throughout the story represent real life people with altered roles in her mind. While she is in the mental institute she blends reality with her subconscious, forming this story from events that are happening all around here in the real world.     Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚   As the reader is introduced to the woman we find her talking about very strange and unusual happenings occurring around her. She evens states that she has a condition that signifies insanity, but the doctor would never tell her straight to her face that she was insane. She says, â€Å"I think it is due to this nervous condition†(453). This shows that she knows there is something wrong with her. This nervous condition she refers to can only mean that she is having mental problems and is possibly going insane.   We can infer this because during this time period, the doctors did not state that someone was insane because they had no medical proof. Instead they would just tell the patients that they have a nervous condition, and send them away. She says, â€Å"I always fancy I see people walking in the numerous paths and arbors, but... ...f the bad that is going on in her real life, so she would have a happy place to live. With the collapse of her happy place her defense was gone and she had no protection from her insanity anymore. This caused all of her blocked out thoughts to swarm her mind and turn her completely insane. When the doctor found her, he tried to go in and help her. When the doctor finally got in he fainted because he had made so many positive changes with her and was utterly distressed when he found out that it was all for naught. This woman had made a safety net within her mind so that she would not have to deal with the reality of being in an insane asylum, but in the end everything failed and it seems that what she had been protecting herself from finally conquered her. She was then forced to succumb to her breakdown and realize that she was in the insane asylum for the long run.

Personal Effectiveness Essay

Organisations today are witnessing high levels of competition. In the advent of the recession we have seen many organisation struggles to survive and some have gone burst. Organisations today are on a look out for employee that can demonstrate their ability to learn and develop innovate ideas, products and services that can give them an edge on competition. With so many graduate and not enough jobs, its all about you and your ability to sell yourself, that can take you to the next level of you career. This establishes the need for Personal development. Understanding the nature of learning, and the different styles in which people learn, is crucial, in order to promote individual personal development and business profitability within organizations credo reference (2009a) What is Personal Development According to Guirdham (2002) Personal development is about satisfying our potential, increasing our ability and continuous improvement at work and life with meaning and satisfaction. This can be distinguished from organisational development which looks at the individual fulfilling organisation needs, while on the other hand Personal development addresses individual work development and lifestyle issues (David and Stephen, 2010). Guirdham (2002, p. 132) goes on to argues that the choice to develop our self is in our own hand. ‘ Other can set the scene, supply role models, give encouragement, provide support, propose methods and means, set up mechanism, give advice, impart knowledge and provide contacts but the learner is a the heart of the development process. Examples of this situation can be seen at work place environment where some certain individuals can make use of a particular technology i. e. computer program and yet another can’t despite working in that organisation for a long while. From the individual perspective, Personal development is about how you deal with life; control your feelings, emotions, and reactions. Personal development enables you acquiring high level of transferable skill; like critical refection, working creatively with others, self-direction, self-disciple, management of time and resource, and learning to deal with all situation in a positive manner. These skills can be transfer to the work place. Guirdham and Tyler (1992) list some of these skills as follows: * Self Management. Involves accountability for own live, and getting to know ourselves. * Learning. acquiring new knowledge, behaviours, skills, values, or preferences and drawing on cognitive, behaviourist and experimental learning theories. * Obtaining and using good quality information. * Recognising, creating and evaluating opportunities. * Performing . satisfying other by what we produce. * Changing. Adapting and assisting other to adapt to change from the environment. For Personal development to be achievable it must be carefully planned, structured and reflected upon, this is otherwise know as Personal Development Planning. This process also involves acquiring skills and knowledge. This brings too the fore the importance of Continuous Learning, which is a learning process that does not cease, and will lead to the process of attainment of personal development (Carter McNamara, 2010). Learning Theories Burns (1995) cited in Lee Dunn (2002) defines learning as ‘a relatively permanent change in behaviour with behaviour including both observable activity and internal processes such as thinking, attitudes and emotions. ’ It also should be noted that learning can be informal of formal. They are four models of learning that are important to work. These are cognitive learning, the behaviourist, experimental and double-loop learning (Guirdham, 2002) Cognitive learning Cognitive Learning is a term usually used in the academic field but of late it has been integrated to organisational learning. Cognitive learning involves acquiring knowledge through present perception and interpreting in the light of past information, which is now stored in the memory for future use. Cognitive learning enables people to learn by using their intuition and perception. Cognitive involves facilitating factors (meaning, motivation, contextual cues) that enable learning process, this will determines if information is stored in the long term or short-term memory (Guirdham, 2002). Behaviourist Learning: This involves learning from experience. Here learning occurs as a result of a reaction to stimuli. The assumption is that human respond to stimuli from the environment (MDP, 2010). Pavlov (1846-1936) was investigating the conditioned reflex, his findings led to the formulation of the theory of classical conditioning, which involved a natural reflex to stimulus (unconditioned) and a new stimulus you want to associated with the response (conditioned) (Guirdham, 2002) . Double-loop Double-loop learning is based on the assumption that they are two types of learning. First is the single-loop which occurs when errors are detected and corrected, however without examining the appropriateness of the current way of learning. Mason (1993) sees considers this non-strategic process of learning. On the other hand, double-loop learning takes place when detection and correction of errors is questioned and modification of exiting norms and assumptions are carried out. Fiol and Lyles (1985) see this as higher level learning. Experimental learning: Kolb’s experiential learning model is another widely used model. This four stage learning process involves learning from experience and reflecting on what has happened, then forming out principles and testing out idea in a new situation see figure 1. 0 (Guirdham, 2002). Figure: Kolb’s experiential learning cycle cited in Dunn (2002) For example if a receptionist is accused of being rude by a client dressed in traditional wear for addressing him as ‘Mr’ rather ‘chief’, then the a learning process is likely to occur whereby the receptionist reflects on the experience, from the refection he then makes he assumption that clients dressed in traditional wears demand to be addressed in line with there culture. At this point he has now completed the conceptualisation stage, the next stage with be testing out his idea by addressing in the demanded way (Guridham, 2002). Reflectors learners make sense of experiences by reflecting on them, and take their time to reflection and make decision (Honey and Mumford 1986, cited in Steve Wheeler, 2001). However the Learning Style is not without its criticisms as problems about its reliability, validity and the learning cycle were found by the Coffield research team (Coffield 2004, cited in Stan d.  Lvie 2009) On the other hand using your preferred learning style will allow you to learn and gain new experience. However, you can make learning more effectual by embracing different learning styles in addition to your preferred learning style. One learning style cannot be considered adequate credo reference (2009b) argues that the use of one learning style put you in the danger of getting in a repetitive cycle, where learning slow down or stop altogether These are the results of your inventory. The scores are out of 20 for each style. A score of 20 indicates you use that style often.

Sentence Outline

The Sentence Outline Topic: Lifestyle Diseases Narrowed Topic:Obesity: The Global Epidemic Purpose:To inform the general public about the dangers associated with obesity Thesis:The increasing prevalence lifestyle diseases such as obesity is a major world health concern, since it affects the physical, mental and economic well-being of those affected. 1. Though obesity is not a typical addiction, its effects on physical health are just as serve as those of alcoholism. A. Obesity is a leading preventable cause of death worldwide. (Barness et al, 2007) B.Obesity increases the risk of many chronic conditions such as heart disease, type 2 diabetes and certain types of cancer. C. Research shows that a person who is 40 percent overweight is twice as prone to die early compared to a person who has average weight. 2. The mental health effects of obesity can be as damaging to your health as the physical effects, according to recent obesity research. A. Mental health struggles caused by being ov erweight include social discrimination low self-esteem, and even suicide. (Pawlik-Kienlen, 2007) B.Obesity may induce feelings of anxiety and depression. C. Obese individuals may develop anti-social behaviour. 3. Obesity is not only a health concern but also an economic phenomenon A. Employers may not want to hire obese people due to higher expected healthcare costs if the employers provide health insurance for their employees. B. The economic effects of obesity may be direct or indirect. C. Estimated medical costs connected to obesity and smoking each account for about 9. 1% of all health expenditures in the United States (Finkelstein, Fiebelkorn, & Wang, 2003).

Animal Farm Essays - British Films, Cold War Films, Animal Farm

Animal Farm Essays - British Films, Cold War Films, Animal Farm Animal Farm The main purpose of satire is to attack, and intensely criticise the target subject. This is superbly carried out in the classic piece of satire, Animal Farm. The main targets at the brunt of this political satire are the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917, and the leaders involved in it. George Orwell successfully condemns these targets through satirical techniques such as irony, fable, and allegory. The immediate object of attack in Orwell's political satire is the society that was created in Russia after the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. The events narrated in Animal Farm obviously and continuously refer to events in another story, the history of the Russian Revolution. In other words, Animal Farm is not only a charming fable (A Fairy Story, as Orwell playfully subtitles it) and a bitter political satire; it is also an allegory. The main target of this allegory is Stalin, represented by Napoleon the pig. He represents the human frailties of any revolution. Orwell believed that although socialism is a good ideal, it could never be successfully adopted due to uncontrollable sins of human nature. For example, although Napoleon seems at first to be a good leader, he is eventually overcome by greed and soon becomes power-hungry. Of course Stalin did too in Russia, leaving the original equality of socialism behind, giving him all the power and living in luxury while the common pheasant suffered. Orwell explains: Somehow it seemed as though the farm had grown richer without making the animals themselves any richer - except of course for the pigs and the dogs. The perennial topic of satire is to point out the frailties of the human condition, and this is one of Orwells central themes in Animal Farm . That its not necessarily the system that is corrupt or faulty, but the individuals in power. Old Major, with all his good intentions, took no note of the crucial fact: whilst his ideals were sound and moral, corrupt individuals found ways and opportunities to exploit those ideals to suit their own purposes. So Orwell successfully points out the frailties of his satirical targets by using the satirical technique of the allegory. Another main satirical technique used to condemn these targets is the use of fable, or storytelling. A fable is a story, usually having a moral in which beasts talk and act like men and women. Orwells characters are both animal and human. The pigs, for example eat mash real pig food but with milk in it that they have grabbed and persuaded the other animals to let them keep (a human action). The dogs growl and bite the way real dogs dobut to support Napoleon's drive for political power. Orwell never forgets this delicate balance between how real animals actually behave and what human qualities his animals are supposed to represent. Lets just say Orwell hadnt used the technique of storytelling, and had painted an objective picture of the evils he describes. The real picture would probably be very depressing and extremely boring. So instead, he offers us a travesty of the situation. The primary reason for this abstraction was to move readers from the concrete reality. So whilst entertaining us through a fantastic setting, he provides us reader with a critical vision towards his targets. It is written for entertainment, but contains sharp and telling comments on the Russian revolution and its leaders, offering 'imaginary gardens with real toads in them'. Part of the fable's humorous charm lies in the simplicity with which the characters are drawn. Each animal character is a type, with one human trait, or two at mosttraits usually associated with that particular kind of animal. Using animals as types is also Orwell's way of keeping his hatred and anger against exploiters under control. Instead of crying, All political bosses are vicious pigs! he keeps his sense of humour by reporting calmly: In future, all questions relating to the working of the farm would be settled by a special committee of pigs. The story of Animal Farm is told in a simple, straightforward style. The sentences are often short and spare: Old Major cleared his throat and began to sing. It was a bitter winter. The story follows

Compare kennedy and johnson Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Compare kennedy and johnson - Research Paper Example However, the idealism that sprouted up amongst the enthusiastic American youth during 1960s eventually turned into a large rebellion. Thus, the decade, although started with high hopes, ended with the horrors of division and disappointment. A comparison between the policies of President Kennedy and President Johnson reveals the similarities and differences that led to their popularity with the masses. John F. Kennedy won presidency over Richard Nixon in the year 1960. He assured a new set of domestic reforms called 'New Frontier' for America that would cover reforms not only at home but also the victory in cold war. However, despite successfully creating his image as an intelligent and energetic leader, he faced legislative failures at the outset of his presidency. On the other hand, he managed to be triumphant in the approval of tariff reductions to promote economic growth in the country. He is mostly remembered for his efforts regarding tax cuts in the economic arena. However, his plans to increase federal aid in the field of education, medical care and urban renewal did not get accomplished. He became the president when the cold war was at its height. Thus, foreign policy initiatives occupy the maximum part of his agenda. John Kennedy succeeded in making himself the central focus of the entire nation and that is quite evident from the reaction of American citizens to his cold blooded murder in 1963. Lyndon Johnson followed John F. Kennedy as the US president. The events leading to the assassination of President Kennedy landed him in the white house. His presidency is marked by the expansion in the roles of federal government. He set to complete the unfinished work of President Kennedy’s New Frontier by constructing his own outstanding reform program which was ultimately called the Great Society. He accumulated the largest reform agenda since the time of Roosevelt’s New Deal. He, later on, won the elections of 1964. This indicated that he had no t just inherited White House but he had actually attained it through his policies and hard work. His government took several steps for the creation of social welfare programs in order to eradicate poverty from the American Society. The most prominent program was called as Medicare, aimed to help the elderly with their medical expenses. His policies regarding the revival of the decaying cities and schools, development of mass-transit system and the subsidization of middle-income housing mark the height of his era. In an attempt to ensure racial equality, President Johnson abolished the national origins systems that gave preference to immigrants from northern Europe over those belonging to the other parts of the world apart from Europe. Both, John F. Kennedy and Johnson were extremely skilled politicians. Kennedy, on one hand, appeared polished and well-educated while, Johnson, on the other hand, was brash and straightforward. Kennedy’s reluctance in politics was outweighed by the Johnson’s accomplishments, thereby making President Johnson’ more successful in pushing his policies through the congress. However, the events in Southeast Asia started to eclipse Johnson’s achievements regarding domestic reforms. The funds meant for the war on poverty were, instead, directed towards the war in Vietnam. By the year 1969, President Johnson’s hopes regarding domest

How does Fitzgerald demonstrate the ideas of the modernist period in Essay

How does Fitzgerald demonstrate the ideas of the modernist period in his story Who is the protagonist and what is the conflict - Essay Example The story is biographical in nature as it includes experiences of Fitzgerald’s own life. The conflict in the story of â€Å"Babylon Revisited† is about the attempt a father makes to gain custody of his daughter Honoria, while fighting a battle against alcoholism. The protagonist in the story is Charlie Wales who amassed a fortune by investing in stocks during the 1920’s great bull market occasion. Charlie was a 35 year old American businessman who quit his job to settle down with his wife Helen in Paris to enjoy his wealth. Unfortunately, due to his weakness for alcohol, and the family’s reckless lifestyle, there was great friction in the family which finally led to his wife’s Helen’s death. Charlie becomes a victim to alcohol abuse and is soon admitted into a sanitarium. His daughter is sent to live with his wife Helen’s sister while he strives to get over his bad habit of drinking. We can definitely sympathize with Charlie because he makes a great attempt to do away with his drinking and after his release from the sanitarium, he once again establishes himself as a businessman after he moved to Prague. References Babylon Revisited www.gutenberg.net.au/fsf/BABYLON-REVISITED.html Babylon Revisited www.enotes.com

Critically evaluate and discuss Balanced Scorecard Essay

Critically evaluate and discuss Balanced Scorecard - Essay Example customer issues, internal business processes, employing activities and share holders concern. Kaplan and Norton labelled the new tool the balanced scorecard. Many organizations have started using balanced scorecard in order to attain efficiency in their processes. Since it considers all the major components in an organization a total efficiency management is possible in an organization. The four components of balanced scorecard are properly managed in order to create a total efficiency. Balanced scorecard is a strategic planning and management system, which is extensively, used in business and industry, government, and non profit organizations for doing the business activities to the vision and strategy of the organization. Balanced scorecard is using for improving the internal and external communications and monitoring the organizational performance against the strategic goals of the organization. In earlier stage it was used for the measuring the simple performance of the organization to a full strategic planning and management. New card is focusing not only the performance measurement but also helping the managers what should be done and what should be measuring for attaining the organizational objectives in competitive basis. ... overall business strategy into specific, quantifiable goals and to monitor the organization's performance in terms of achieving these goals." (Balanced Scorecard Methodology, 2005). Competitive Advantage enables the company to operate in a more efficient manner and higher quality manner than the companies to compete with and which helping the company for getting higher more profit. "A competitive advantage is an advantage over competitors gained by offering consumers greater value, either by means of lower prices or by providing greater benefits and service that justifies higher prices." (Strategy -competitive advantage). Balance score card is focusing the strategy and its results and improving the organizational performance through measuring the measures in a competitive basis, Focusing on a basis of future performance and also which is used as prioritize projects and initiative basis. Kaplan and Norton described in the following manner, "The balanced scorecard retains traditional financial measures. But financial measures tell the story of past events, an adequate story for industrial age companies for which investments in long-term capabilities and customer relationships were not critical for success. These financial measures are inadequate, however, for guiding and evaluating the journey that information age companies must make to create future value through investment in customers, suppliers, employees, processes, technology, and innovation." (Gnanapoo, 2008). According to his perspective Balanced scorecard having the following areas, Learning and growth perspective Customer Perspective Financial Perspective International Business perspective (What is balanced scorecard 2007). The learning and growth perspective is related to the learning and development

Importance of college education Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Importance of college education - Research Paper Example I strongly believe that college education is very important in the sense that it offers better career choices and high wages likely to resolve the social instability prevailing in many families but also presents minorities with chances to climb the social ladder. However, if many people acknowledge the relevance of college education and view it as a meaningful investment, others foreground the risks related to the issue and warn about the potential danger or failure. In fact, college education is often related to high earnings and better career paths and opportunities; nevertheless, some risk factors exist stemming from a potential failure, high rates loans and unstable labor market. This study reveals: â€Å"Going to college seems to be not only profitable, but also affordable given that federal student aid programs provide guaranteed loans and tuition subsidies to needy students. Nevertheless, a number of academically talented young people do not attend a postsecondary institution † (Becker). The controversy about the importance or not of college education may explain why these smart students choose not to further their studies even though the proponents of college education might advise them to believe in the investment. College education is very important because it provides graduates with better career opportunities. Compared to high school graduates or those without any degree, college graduates have a better chance to find a more fulfilling job. Their years spent in college allow them to have a better consideration in the job market, and they may land a very good job that matches their credentials and training. Indeed, college education helps to boost the chances of those who postulate for a job and give them a better impression from recruiters. This critic observes: â€Å"In most modern society today, education has become the key element in the process of social mobility. Educational qualification and the number of years completed at schools have become the most important yardstick needed for occupational attainment† (Yusuf). This connection between college education, especially the number of years spent in school, and better career opportunities has become a reality in most societies in which education is dearly valued and reflects the person’s talent, devotion and skills. These better career opportunities also lead to higher income because the best jobs provide bigger salaries. Therefore, college education gives graduates a better chance to have a high earning compared to those who do not have their qualification. This possibility to acquire more income allows college graduates to appreciate the time they spent in school because it provides them with economic freedom and stability. This economic independence makes college education resemble a sound investment that has become most profitable. This study confirms: â€Å"Education is an investment with high return. In fact, the mean return on education is similar to that of equity, and far greater than the return to bonds or gold. The high return to assets such as equity can be justified by their high risk† (Juud). Comparing college education to equity greater than gold demonstrates the value of such a n education and the opportunity it represents to graduates. This financial aspect that allows people to earn enough money to take care of their expenses and need represents the first step toward achieving a total economic freedom. Analyzing the results of another

Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Developing Countries

Impact of the Global Economic Crisis on Developing Countries Ever growing poverty, unemployment, huge inequality between rich and poor countries are witnessed to the nightmare and failure of world economy first time in the 21st century. The present economic crises across the globe are said to be the result of neo-economic theories such as Thatcher-Regan free market model which dominated world economic philosophy more than 30 years. The series of the current global financial crisis, particularly in USA and the European countries service industry, Automobiles industry and Information Technology and its related services, are become a global threat where it swallows developing countries economies one by one. Many studies said that this is the result of failure of free market model where the government intervention in trade and commerce is negligible. In a free market economic model, there is a close collision among trade, commerce and Politics which leads to manipulation of market by a few market leaders with the cost of a huge number. In this jun cture, this is the time to find out an appropriate solution to cue and accelerate the economic growth. In this paper an earnest attempt is made to study the impact of global economic crisis on developing countries which are often become puppets in the hands of developed countries. This paper speaks in three core areas where the first section deals introduction of the study, the second section deals, heart of this paper, impact of the global economic crisis on developing countries particularly South Asia, Africa and India and the last section speaks out some possible conclusions. Section I Introduction The global financial crisis has become a full-fledged crisis of the real economy as much deeper than the Great Depression of 1930s. The global recession has set in with all its ill effects on employment, loss of livelihood and houses for people around the world. The demand, especially private consumption, is daily being fall at national and international levels. Investment, output, employment and trade are falling sharply worldwide. Poverty is rising, the middle classes are threatened, and the wealthy and retirees find their assets shrinking dramatically. In most developed countries, new waves of bank rescue packages follow the previous, unsuccessful ones. Conservative central bankers of the USA take on risky assets, their balance sheets and prospective losses swell. Some warn of deflation, others worry that fiscal and monetary stimuli will bring back inflation. Even countries that have accumulated high levels of foreign exchange reserves are concerned by capital outflows, while thos e without queue at the IMF. The latest World Economic Outlook (Update in November 2008); suggest that the world economy will grow only at 2% in 2009, with the advanced economies taken together, experiencing negative growth (-0.3%) during the year. The US GDP is projected to contract by 0.7%, Euro Area GDP by 0.5% and UK GDP by 1.3% during 2009. According to the IMF, this will be the first annual contraction, i.e., absolute fall in output, experienced in the advanced economies in the post-war period. All the major capitalist Centers USA, Europe and Japan are simultaneously in recession. The unemployment rate in the US had already risen to 6.7% in November 2008, with 18.7,00,000 people jobs being lost there since November 2007. The unemployment rates in France and Germany had risen to 8.2% and 7.1% respectively by October 2008 (ILO). With the recession deepening in 2009, unemployment in the advanced capitalist economies would rise further. The initial response of the Governments in the advanced capitalist count ries to the financial crisis was to announce bailout packages for the financial companies, which had made enormous losses. Recapitalization of private financial institutions with public funds took the shape of part nationalization of several banks and financial companies. This was accompanied by coordinated interest rate cuts by Central Banks across the world. These financial and monetary policy measures, however, have failed to prevent a deepening recession, which is now generally believed to be the worst ever since the Great Depression. The Governments of the advanced capitalist countries are now falling back upon fiscal interventions to salvage the situation. Even the bastion of neo-liberal orthodoxy, the IMF, has recently called for a large fiscal stimulus totaling 2% of global GDP, to address the crisis. While the $700 billion bailout package announced in the US in October 2008 was primarily meant to compensate the losses made by the private financial institutions and other cor porates. After much debate between Britain and Germany, the EU has also adopted a nearly $ 280 billion fiscal package including tax cuts and public spending plans. The crisis is exposing the hazards of neo-liberal economic policies and the advanced capitalist countries are being compelled to resort to direct State intervention as the way out of the crisis. However, the extent of the crisis is such that these fiscal measures may turn out to be insufficient. There is also apprehension that the extent of financial losses by banks and other private companies are yet to be revealed. More financial shocks would only aggravate the crisis and worsen the prospects of economic recovery. All efforts would be made by the rich capitalist countries to shift the burden of crisis on to the third world and for the ruling classes to shift the burden on to the working class and the peasantry. USA is a Root Cause for Present Crisis The clear victory for Obama was a rejection of the policies of Bush regime. The growing economic crisis which has badly affected the American people was a prime reason for the victory. The American people are more concerned about how Obama will tackle the economic crisis and revive the economy and jobs. History shows that the Depression, it always comes from American Wall Street. A major promoter of globalisation was the Washington consensus based the network of the Wall Street, the US money lending agencies in the Euro-currency markets. Nevertheless, the new US Govt. led by Obama is trying to revive the economy, has approved a special $800 billion fiscal package to be spent over the coming years in short-term, and it is estimated around $10 trillion to spend in the long-term in the areas like infrastructural development and housing projects to create new job opportunity and so on. It means each American will intervene with USD 2.25 thousand for helping to bail out firms threatened b y the fall-out of sub-prime crisis. However, the White House, the Treasury and the Federal Reserve, who were saying that intervention was inevitable to avoid a financial meltdown, were making the case for a specific kind of intervention that favoured Wall Street. Having made huge profits on speculation big finance wanted the State to pick up the losses when the bubble burst. Section II Impact of Global Crisis on Developing Countries Many developing countries are moving into a danger zone. Growth in developing-countries had been expected to reach 6.4 per cent in 2009, but has been marked down to 4.5 per cent. In the coming period, developing countries will see growing fiscal pressures both on the expenditure side (growing demands for social protection, recapitalization, etc) and the revenue side (as exports and economic activity slow). The appropriate response to falling domestic demand may, in some cases, be a measured fiscal stimulus. However, the credit crunch and flight from risk is already reducing the ability of formerly market-access countries to meet their gross financing needs (rolling over amortized debt and financing their net borrowing requirements). Some developing countries will be hit much harder than the average experiencing growth which is negative in per capita or even absolute terms. Coming on the heels of food and fuel price shock, the global financial crisis could significantly set back the fight against poverty. Sharply tighter credit conditions and weaker growth are likely to cut into government revenues and governments ability to invest to meet education, health and gender goals. The poor will be hit hardest. Current estimates suggest that a one per cent decline in developing country growth rates traps an additional 20 million people into poverty. Already 100 million people have been driven into poverty as a result of high food and fuel prices. Already, sharp cuts in capital flows to developing countries are expected. Even if the waves of panic that have inundated credit and equity markets across the world are soon brought under control, deleveraging in financial markets and an extended period of banking-sector consolidation is expected to cut sharply into capital flows into developing countries. Private flows into developing countries are projected to decline from $1 trillion in 2007 to around $530 billion in 2009 (or from 7.7 to 3.0 per cent of developing country GDP). The food and fuel price shocks have already imposed large fiscal costs on developing countries, undermining their ability to respond to fall-out from the financial crisis. Policymakers responding to high food and fuel prices made extensive use of tax reductions to offset higher prices and increased spending on subsidies and income support. Data from a recent IMF survey covering 161 countries shows that nearly 57 per cent of countries reduced taxes on food while 27 per cent reduced taxes on fuels. Almost one in five countries increased food subsidies while 22 per cent increased fuel subsidies. Recent declines in food and fuel prices do not imply that pressures and problems have disappeared. Although most of the hike in commodity prices that occurred in 2007 and the first half of 2008 has dissipated, commodity prices remain above their 2004/05 levels, and currency depreciation is raising the local cost for many food and fuel importing countries. For the very poor, reducing consumption from already very low levels, even for a short period, can have important long-term consequences. The poorest households may have had to reduce the quantity and/or quality of the food, schooling, and basic services they consumed, leading to irreparable damage to the health and education of millions of children. Poor households forced to switch from more expensive to cheaper and less nutritional foodstuffs or cut back on total caloric intake altogether, face weight loss and severe malnutrition. During 2008-09, higher food prices may have increased the number of children suffering permanent cognitive and physical injury due to malnutrition by 44 million. Many of the countries most exposed to rising global food and fuel prices are those with high pre-existing levels of malnutrition. Financial institutions in developing countries are beginning to suffer from a lack of short term liquidity, as retail deposits exit and non-deposit funding dries up. As the effects of the global recession spreads, the impact will be felt on financial sector asset quality, leading to the need for recapitalization of financial institutions. Lack of liquidity will also reveal underlying weaknesses in regulatory frameworks and in the management of financial institutions, requiring regulatory reforms and capacity building. Tight credit markets in developing countries are rapidly affecting the real sector, especially sectors reliant on trade, finance and working capital. Impact on the South Asia While some countries in South Asia had relatively less exposure to the crisis through adverse effects on capital flows, they remain vulnerable to global economic slowdown through export earnings, remittances and external financing of infrastructure. Growth in South Asia decelerated in 2008, falling from 8.6% in 2007 to below 7% based on estimate as of last December 2008. It is projected to decline further to around 6% or below in 2009, before recovering to around 7% in 2010. Even at these reduced growth rates, South Asia stands out compared to the recession in the developed economies. Nevertheless, with 900 million people in developing Asia surviving on $1.25 a day more than half of those in South Asia any tempering of growth is a serious case of concern. We believe, there are four inter-related impacts of global economic downturn on Asia. First, economic slowdown would result in reduction of exports with the attendant effects, not only on export-oriented, value-added industries th emselves, but industries across the value chain. This impact could manifest itself in the form of unemployment and a reduction in GDP. Second by, the impact is being felt through the financial system. By this, we mean that the outflow of foreign direct investment from Asias financial markets result in depressed domestic equity markets and contribute to conservative lending strategies. Third by, impact relates to liquidity in domestic financial markets. If credit availability remains constrained, it is likely to be even more constrained for the lower end of the market, i.e., credit for labor-intensive small and medium enterprises and micro enterprises with its serious impacts. Fourth by, impact, though not fully evident yet, could be on informal social safety nets by virtue of reduced remittances received from overseas migrant workers as the host country economy slows down and capital expenditures are reduced. Impact on African Continent The poorest countries of Africa will be significantly affected by the crisis. African countries will be harmed through slower export growth, reduced remittances and lower commodity prices. The crisis may also lead to a reduction in private investment flows, making weak economies even less able to cope up with internal vulnerabilities and development needs. Some African countries are facing serious macroeconomic imbalances quite independently of the financial crisis, mostly brought on the fuel and food crises-such as Ethiopia having 60 per cent inflation and so on. Burundi, Madagascar, Niger, Timor Leste, Ethiopia, Somalia and Yemen are among the ten most affected countries for both stunting and wasting indicators. All of these countries experienced double-digit food inflation during 2008-09. Impact on the Indian Economy India has already entered into recession though late a little bit compared to west. Indias exports had been expected to reach USD 200 billion by 2008, but unfortunately has been marked down to USD 180 billion in December, 2008 (when it was growing 30.9% during the last six months, but it is reported to 12% in December, 2008). According to Mr. Shaktiwel, President of Federation of Indian Exports Organization (FIEO); Indias export share (which is 20% of the GDP) is going down, and it is expected to be 10 million job losses in March, 2009. Indian exporters have mainly been depending on North American and European markets, and both markets have entered into recession. Indian Govt. has announced an extra rescue package (around $4 billion) for the producers and exporters to revive the economy. The Indian financial system has remained relatively immune from the devastating crisis afflicting the advanced capitalist countries, mainly due to the extant regulations and public sector domination of the financial sector. The stock markets have witnessed a meltdown though, with the FIIs being net sellers worth $13.1 billion in the year 2008, which has also led to a decline in Indias foreign exchange reserves. The real impact of global recession on the Indian economy, however, is mainly being felt in terms of a slowdown in exports and industrial growth. Dollar value of exports in November 2008 ($11.5 billion) was almost 10% lower than that in November 2007 ($12.7 billion). The Index of Industrial Production recorded a 0.4% fall in October 2008 compared to October 2007, with the manufacturing index registering a 1.2% fall. The prices of cash crops have also declined adversely affecting the farmers. Job losses have escalated. At least 1, 00,000 gem trade workers have been rendered jobless in Gujarat. It is estimated that around a million jobs have been lost. As per estimates by Assocham and others in the coming period, job losses will mount to ten million. The economic managers of the Government, who till not so long ago were boasting about attaining 10% GDP growth, have now downgraded their GDP growth forecast to 7% for 2008-09. Economic growth is likely to slow down sharply in 2009. Howeve r, the UPA Government has neither learnt the proper lessons from the financial crisis nor is it willing to shed its neo-liberal dogma and adopt effective steps to deal with the slowdown. The basic demand was for a fiscal package directed at increasing public expenditure in ways, which increases the income and consumption of working people and ensures broad-based growth. Increased public investment in agriculture, expansion of the NREGA, higher allocations for health and education, infrastructure like rural roads, housing for the middle and lower income groups and universalisation of PDS were specifically demanded, apart from a reduction in fuel prices, regulation of organized retail, tariff protection for farmers and small industries and reversal of financial liberalization. A moratorium on job and wage cuts was also demanded. Price rise and food supply Though the rate of inflation is going down, there is no reduction in the prices of food items and other essential commodities. People continue to suffer from high prices in retail items. Petrol and diesel prices were marginally reduced by the Government in early December 2008, by Rs. 5 and Rs. 2 per liter respectively, but the reduction was inadequate considering that crude oil prices have come down to below $50 per barrel from the peak of $147 dollar per barrel in July 2008. Further, reduction of oil prices has to be done by the government. Food insecurity has had a devastating impact leading to increased malnutrition and hunger as a direct result of faulty food policies of successive governments. Deaths due to malnutrition and hunger have taken place in tribal areas in Maharashtra and Jharkhand. With the increased procurement of wheat this year, stocks with the government are at 22 million tonnes; double that of the buffer norm for the month of October. Taken together, the rice and wheat stocks of the government are 29.8 million tonnes against the minimum combined buffer norm of 16.2 million tonnes, a 84 per cent surplus over the required buffer. According to data supplied by the Ministry, between 2005-2006 and 2007-2008, the average annual allocation for Above Poverty Line ration card holders to the states was cut by 73.36 per cent. Yet, the government refuses to restore the allocation preferring instead to sell the stocks to traders at subsidized rates. Inadequate Government Measures The fiscal package announced by the UPA Government on 7th December 2008 increased Plan expenditure by only Rs. 20000 crore, which is less than 0.5% of Indias GDP. Such a weak fiscal stimulus would not succeed in reversing the slowdown and arresting the consequent job losses and growing unemployment in the economy. The Government primarily relied on tax cuts, like the 4% cut in the CENVAT rate, to stimulate the economy. The Government has failed to link the concessions to industry to conditionality preventing layoffs and retrenchment. The State Governments were totally neglected in the fiscal package. With tax revenues falling due to the economic slowdown, the State Governments are experiencing great difficulties in maintaining the desired level of Plan expenditure. A debt relief package for States along with interest rate subsidy on their borrowings, relaxation of fiscal responsibility norms and greater transfer of resources from Centre to States are required, in order to enable the State Governments to step up expenditure to create jobs and expand welfare measures. A second stimulus package was announced by the Government on 2nd January 2009. Not a single rupee of additional spending was announced over and above the amount of Rs. 20,000 crore additional Plan outlay announced on 7th December 2008. In fact, the Government ruled out any further increase in public spending in the current financial year. By announcing that further fiscal measures will only be contained in the annual Plan for the next financial year, the UPA Government is shifting the burden of addressing the economic slowdown on to the next Government, after having imported the global recession into the domestic economy by pursuing neo-liberal policies. The Government is basically trying to salvage the situation by infusing liquidity into the financial system through interest rate cuts and other monetary policy measures. It is also doling out tax concessions to the corporates in order to protect their profits and trying to ensure that they do not abandon their investment plans. Thes e measures would not succeed since recessionary fears have already gripped the private corporate sector as well as middle-class consumers, who are cutting down on investment and consumption spending. Neo-liberal dogma prevents the UPA Government from embarking upon a substantial fiscal intervention that can provide some succor to the slowing economy. What is more disturbing is the fact that in the name of announcing a stimulus package on 2nd January 2009, the UPA Government has pushed further capital account liberalization measures like easing External Commercial Borrowing norms for corporates, especially for the real estate sector. The investment limit for FIIs in corporate bonds has also been raised. This shows that the Government has learnt no lesson from the global financial crisis and continues to repose its faith upon speculative international finance capital. The UPA Governments stubborn refusal to learn from global experiences and its recklessness in pushing ahead with financial liberalization was also visible during the winter session of Parliament when two Bills The Insurance Laws (Amendments) Bill and The Life Insurance Corporation (Amendment) Bill were introduced in the Rajya Sabha and the Lok Sabha respectively on 22nd December 2008. The first legislation seeks to raise the FDI cap in the insurance sector from 26% to 49% and allow the same foreign players, who have played havoc with the global financial system, to expand their control in the Indian insurance sector and gain access to the savings of the people. Another amendment is to allow foreign companies in the reinsurance business. These legislations are meant to keep the process of insurance sector liberalization and privatization alive despite the global shift in favour of public ownership of financial institutions in the wake of financial crisis. It is clear that the response of the UPA Government to the global economic crisis would be limited to defending the interests of big businesses, international finance capital and the affluent sections. On the other hand, the working class is coming under increasing assaults in the form of lay-offs and retrenchment. With a deepening recession, prices of agricultural products particularly, cash crops like coffee, rubber, pepper etc. are falling drastically, adversely affecting the peasantry. The brunt of the crisis will be borne by the peasantry and leads to suicides by farmers are recurring. Small-scale producers and traders, especially those in the unorganized sector, would be badly hit. Section III Is a Practical Solution for the Current ills Possible? Though, on 2 April, 2009, the G-20 summit held in London address the current financial crisis. There is no guaranty of bang of world economy once again. Instead of finding of roots of dearth of the economy, they came with some sops for the global economy. If you go throughout history, one can know that people are not ready to learn. There is no doubt in saying that any financial and monetary measures of the USA and EU will bring more inflation, more devaluation of national currencies, more unemployment, more painful losses of the markets and lower prices of export commodities of the developing and poor countries, more unequal exchange. The society is organized on the principle of division of labour if its health is to be ensured, then all the three dimension of an economy namely; production, exchange and distribution should be taken care of. It is, therefore, necessary that production should be guided not by market forces e.g., demand and supply but the need of the society. There wer e three essential functions to be performed namely; to adept production according to need, to maintain the volume of production up to the limits set by available resources and to distribute equitably the common product among the producers. Production is guided by demand and not by need of the societies and hence it is governed and measured by income, which is very low as compared to need. Again, the level of production is not maintained according to the existing resources. It was carefully directed by the capitalist proprietors who according to their own wishes, controls its volume and size motivated chiefly by the ideal of maximization of profits. Consequently, the distribution of wealth was unjust and there was exploitation of masses by a few. The diminishing purchasing power of working classes, total consumption fails to keep pace with total production leading to unemployment, further diminishing of purchasing power and ultimately to an intensification of crisis. This leads to in the volume of production of those commodities which the labourers are unable to purchase. Consequently, prices go on falling, size of production is reduced, factories are closed and unemployment is created leading to further crisis. Developing countries, particularly India has to spend more on areas like housing projects for low-income urban residents, farmers livelihood and rural infrastructure, the construction of railway, road and airports, education and public health care, ecological construction, technological innovations and disaster relief more systematically. It is an opportunity to change this current global economic and political order. Need to address global imbalances by creating a new global currency, should be widely accepted at international level along with credible insurance mechanisms for countries that forego reserve accumulation and stimulate domestic expansion, along three possible lines: more central bank swap lines; reserve pooling; and a major expansion of IMF resources, together with IMF emphasis on a large, flexible, fast-disbursing facility that would come with little or no conditionality to countries that are adversely affected by global shocks. Accelerate the development of financial systems in emerging markets, in particular local currency bond markets and foreign currency hedging instruments. Promote regional cooperation in the design of common institutional standards for financial market development and work to lift barriers to cross-border asset trade within regions would be helpful to avoid any further economic crisis in future.