Friday, January 31, 2020

What Is Economics Essay Example for Free

What Is Economics Essay Quoting Michael Yates, â€Å"The subject matter of economics is the production and distribution of output†¦Ã¢â‚¬  (Yates, 2003). So what does this say to me? Simplifying, this says to me that Economics is a way of explaining the world. With studies dating as far back as Aristotle’s interest in the various forms of state, how can one ever fully understand the complexities of economic thought and how could one definition ever sum up the entirety of what economists endeavour to understand? Meikle, Scott, 1995) The study of economics attempts to understand and to explain how and why the wealth of the world is produced, distributed, and consumed. It examines everything from global and local markets, class structures and wealth distribution, the role of government and politicians, supply and demand of products and services, the division of labour, and countless other factors that affect how and why the productions systems of the world economy function the way they do. Arguably, one of the most influential factors in defining the subject matter of economics is the division of labour. By influential I am not stating that I am of the opinion that the current distribution of labour it is positive factor to our current economic climate, just that it is an influential one. Although the famous theorist Adam Smith argued that economic growth, as a result of the productivity improvements gained, was rooted in the division of labour (Smith, 1776). He, among others, also came to acknowledge the many downsides of a deepening division of labour (Walker, 1886 Smith, 1776 Marx, 1847). Labour is distributed not only between countries and companies but also within each individual company. The wage disparity between middle and lower class and the wealth distribution between labourers and capitalists (business owners) that results from a deepening division of labour plays a much more significant role in determining what is produced, by whom it is produced, who is able to purchase these produced goods and services, and ultimately the subject matter of economics then one would initially assume. The division of labour does not only refer to the dividing of complex tasks into simple tasks so that many, easily replaceable labourers, complete one task over and over to produce a product, (associated mainly with the industrial revolution); the division of labour refers to the division of labour between organizations. In modern times, labourers from individual organizations produce goods for another organization rather than directly for a consumer. That organization then uses those goods, combined with their own, to produce a final product. This deepening of the division of labour resulted in the progressive substitution of self-sufficient production with industrial production and market exchange. (Schmidt, 2009) These worldwide networks and interdependencies between organizations, combined with the division of labour within the individual organization, further the disconnect between workers and the ownership of their work. They lose pride of workmanship, close personal relationships, direct access to the means of production, and they become â€Å"a mere appendage to the cold, implacable, pace-setting machine† (Hunt Sherman, 1986). Their work, or labour, is owned by the capitalist that owns the organization in which they work and they are left virtually powerless to control the economy in which they live. The labour of a CEO differs substantially from that of a production worker in an automotive factory, and so does the wealth accumulated by that labourer and the CEO and eventually, their heirs. The ‘labourer’ who accumulates the most wealth has the most influence over the means of production. This labourer, once they own the means of production and are able to determine what is produced and the method of production comes to be termed a ‘capitalist’. A capitalist makes no secret that goods will not be produced and dollars will not be invested in production capital, regardless of people’s needs, because production decisions in a capitalist economy are based primarily on profit (Hunt Sherman, 1986). This capitalist, and the wealth they accumulate, also has significant influence over the political economy that sets the stage for capitalism to continue to thrive and to encourage capitalist accumulation and further the deepening of the division of labour. It is in this way that capitalism and the division of labour drives our production economy and influences the global markets and the modern subject matter of economics.

Thursday, January 23, 2020

N. Scott Momadays House Made of Dawn Essay -- Momaday House Made Dawn

N. Scott Momaday's House Made of Dawn House Made of Dawn, the novel that began the AMERICAN INDIAN LITERARY RENAISSANCE, is Scott Momaday's masterpiece. He originally conceived the work as a series of poems, but under the tutelage of Wallace Stegner at Stanford, Momaday reconceived the work first as a set of stories, then as a novel. House is the story of Abel, an Indian from the Pueblo Momaday calls "Walatowa," a fictionalized version of Jemez Pueblo in New Mexico, where Momaday grew up. Abel returns from World War II a victim of what we would call today "post-traumatic stress syndrome." He is unable to speak, even to his grandfather, Francisco, who raised him. Abel, who is drunk when his grandfather picks him up on the return to the reservation, is based in part on a veteran that Momaday knew at Jemez, but also in part on Ira Hayes, the Pima Marine who raised the flag at Mt. Suribachi, and was memorialized in the statue that became the symbol of the Marine Corps. Hayes couldn't adjust to civilian life, and died drunk in a ditch on the reservation. The Indian veteran who is a hero in war but cannot find a niche in civilian life when he returns to America has become an archetype. Abel's name (Momaday only gives him one) suggests the biblical victim, and many readers assume the Cain who lays him low to be white society. But readers should remember that in the Bible Cain is Abel's brother, and the characters in House Made of Dative who cause Abel the most harm are indeed his fellow Indians. Furthermore, Abel's troubles begin even before his stint in the army. He is illegitimate, and as a result has always been an outsider at Walatowa. The war exacerbates his problems, but they started at his birth. Abel's first t... ...se of hendiadys, simple clauses linked with "and:" "The feasting had begun, and there was a lull on the town." Faulkner’s influence can be seen in the stream of consciousness passages and the use of the bear as a symbol of the wilderness. But Momaday's novel is distinctly Indian as well. Cherokee novelist and critic Louis OWENS says: "What has matured with Momaday is not merely an undeniable facility with the techniques and tropes of modernism, but more significantly the profound awareness of conflicting epistemologies [Euro-American and Indian]. . Momaday's novel represents more fully than any Native American novel before it the "assertion of a different perspective (92)." Works Cited Momaday, N. Scott. House Made of Dawn. New York: Harper, 1968. Owens, Lewis. Other Destinies: Understanding the American Indian Novel. Norman, OK: U Oklahoma P, 1994.

Wednesday, January 15, 2020

Coming full circle Essay

You could almost say that Leadership, the US Army, the Quality Circle (Editors, 2007), and the Baldrige Criteria (Commerce, 2006) have a shared history: Having established above the importance of leadership in all aspects of life in that it is found in the military as well as in the civilian: business even in the spiritual (servant-leadership) or religious—it was the US Army which took the lead in the formation of â€Å"quality circles† during the Second World War in the 1940s to ensure that the US produce large quantities of war materiel of best quality (Anonymous, 2002). It even took a US Professor, W.Edwards Deming (Editors, 2007), of Western culture, to teach the Japanese, of Eastern culture, to this concept of â€Å"quality circles† (Anonymous, 2002; Editors, 2007; Jarvis, 2006; Swinton, 2007), catapulting Japan slowly but surely to Asian world power status and endearing Prof. Deming to the Japanese who honored him with a prestigious award after his name, the Deming Award. Faced with slack economic progress in the 1970s, the US government set up the Baldrige Criteria/Awards to catch up and to try to lead again in the world’s industries (Commerce, 2001, , 2005, , 2006, , 2007a, , 2007b, , 2007c). In effect, it cannot be avoided if the Baldrige Awards is compared with the Deming Award in Japan. All things besides, the Baldrige Criteria attempts to accurately measure those seven (7) identified aspects (more about later) which contribute to organizational success. Even this year 2007 (Commerce, 2007b), many modifications have been in place in the Baldrige Criteria to keep up with new challenges met, showing how dynamic the Baldrige Method is. It now took the Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve ESGR (E. S. G. R., 2007), a US Department of Defense agency working for the US Armed Forces to take the lead in possibly showing other applications of readily available Baldrige Criteria raw scores. Statement of the Thesis Problem Attempting to prove that when Leadership Scores Category are high as measured by the Baldrige Criteria, then the other six (6) Category areas measure high as well, such as Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Measurement; Human Resource Focus; Process Management; and Business Results and to show a correlation as such. Hypotheses Hypotheses to be tested: 1. Leadership scores category are significantly correlated with the scores of the other six category areas. 2. Significant multiple regression equation exists between leadership scores (Y, dependent variable) and the scores of the six category areas (X, independent variables). Objectives of the Thesis 1. To determine the difference between Leaders (or Senior Leaders) and Others (or Junior Leaders) using performance excellence criteria of the Baldrige framework. 2. To determine which of the different concerns contribute to leadership. Materials and Methods The Survey Data Provider The set of raw data used as the primary research of this paper provided the basis for the Report (Peacock, 2006) submitted by Gartman and Associates, a Baldrige-accredited contractor duly authorized to conduct the Baldrige survey using the 2006 Baldrige Criteria as the framework. This criterion is the de facto criteria of performance excellence used globally by manufacturing, service, small business, health care, education, and nonprofit/government for improving organizational performance. The criteria has seven focus areas: Leadership; Strategic Planning; Customer and Market Focus; Measurement, Analysis, and Knowledge Management; Human Resources Focus; Process Management; and Business Results. The Survey Date and the Target Institution. During the week of 4 through 8 December 2006, Gartman and Associates performed a high-level, initial â€Å"quick look† assessment of the National Committee for Employer Support of the Guard and Reserve, ESGR (E. S. G. R. , 2007). Employer Support for the Guard and Reserve (ESGR) is a Department of Defense (DoD) organization of the United States of America (USA). It is a staff group within the Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Reserve Affairs (OASD/RA), which is in itself a part of the Office of the Secretary of Defense. The nation’s Reserve components, referring to the total of all National Guard members and Reserve forces from all branches of the military, (Laurent, 2006) comprise approximately 46 percent of the total available military manpower of the USA’s Armed Forces . The current National Defense Strategy indicates that the National Guard and Reserve will be full partners in the fully integrated Total Force. The USA Reserve Forces will spend more time away from the workplace defending the nation, supporting a demanding operations tempo and training, take note, to maintain their mission readiness. In this environment, civilian employers play a critical role in the defense of the nation by complying with existing employment laws protecting the rights of workers who serve in the Reserve component. ESGR was established in 1972 to promote cooperation and understanding between Reserve component members and their civilian employers and to assist in the resolution of conflicts arising from an employee’s military commitment. ESGR is the lead DoD organization for this mission under DoD Directive 1250. 1.

Tuesday, January 7, 2020

Human Rights Violations North Korea Essay - 1432 Words

It is widely acknowledged that North Korea would be the most isolated country on this planet. Obviously, the word â€Å"isolated † reveals a serious of problems in North Korea which has led to various human rights violations. Recently, some of the mysterious situations in North Korea became evident and now outsiders can have a peek into the reality of this situation. Such evidence includes censorship and limitation of movement,unreasonable punishments and laws,and disoriented development. Follow the step of time,People in North Korea keep suffering unstoppably from the isolation of this country.The isolation raised by the government harmfully impacts civilians’ lives in many aspects such as undeveloped life quality, lacking of freedom which represents through limitation of normal movements.To be more specific, there are a large amount of people in North Korea annually considering to escape from this country to the South Korea and even China.Why do they choose the method of escaping?The reason is that they cannot take the plane or train to the other countries because of the harsh laws. The method they always choose to escape really shocks me because they have to endure extremely cold water by swimming across the river between the borders of both countries. In fact,once their behaviors of escaping have been seen by the soldier, they have to sustain the most strict and terrible punishments. The worst of all is the result that the escaper may be secretly executed and then theShow MoreRelatedHuman Rights Violations of North Korea4952 Words   |  20 PagesINTRODUCTION North Korea is possibly the least accessible, and the most brutal and repressive country in the world. (Martin, 2006) Since its formation after World War II very little information has left the country. What has left are the defectors and the stories of horrible atrocities against humanity the government is bestowing upon its citizens. Classified as a democracy, it is just a mask hiding the Kim Dynastys totalitarian ways. With its ideology of Juche, they have relied as littleRead MoreNorth Korean Human Rights Violations1249 Words   |  5 PagesNorth Korea has become infamous for its many atrocities to humanity. This country is well known for its fear-inducing communist political structure which has oppressed the entirety of its people for many years and still today under the rule of the Kim family. 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As a result, North Korean citizens don’t know anything about the events happeningRead MoreNorth Kore A Communist State Under Totalitarian Dictatorship1400 Words   |  6 Pages The words â€Å"North Korea† has almost an eerie connotation to it, there is hardly any good news that follow after those words. North Korea also known as, DPRK which stands for Democratic People’s Republic of Korea is a communist state under totalitarian dictatorship led by Kim Jung-Un. According to Leila Haddou, â€Å"DPRK is one of the few countries that still participates in the death penalty, but unlike North Korea, many countries and states that have the death penalty have not had any executions inRead MoreThe Collapse Of North Korean State Essay1285 Words   |  6 Pagespossibility of the collapse of the North Korean state in the next 5-7 years by examining the influence and impact of relevant geopolitical factors/conditions. 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He escaped North Korea in August 2013 and returned to South Korea September the same year† (BBC13). In the current status with North Korea some people do not know why there is conflict between North Korea and the rest of the world, or as to what they did to enrage the world. The big problem with North Korea is that, in accords with the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, they have violated many of the basic rights of t he individual