Mahatma Gandhi Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 2500 words

Mahatma Gandhi - Research Paper Example Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi believed that violence merely attracts more violence. He therefore discouraged his true followers from violently engaging the colonial authorities who ruled India before 1947. Gandhi wanted to force the imperialists to consider the harm that their presence in India was doing to the ethnic population. To this end, Gandhi believed that engaging in terrorist acts would not help India’s cause. He read about the concept of non-violent protest, as described by the American, Henry Thoreau, and fashioned his protest movement on precepts that were propagated by Thoreau. During his lifetime, Henry Thoreau was believed to be a dangerous anarchist. This is because he refused to support a government that had rules in place to support institutions such as slavery- which he deeply disapproved of. Thoreau, however, did not try to start a revolution in his time. He was merely trying to convince the public that there could be a more just government if this was demanded by the citizens. Thoreau believed that responsible citizens had the duty to refuse to pay taxes to a corrupt government. Thoreau actually decided not to pay taxes in order to demonstrate this point. He was arrested and confined to jail in 1848 for this action. He disapproved of the actions of the friend that paid his bail. T his experience inspired him to pen the essay ‘Civil Disobedience’, soon after. This proposal on the performance of acts of civil disobedience would be read and implemented years after Thoreau’s death by men like Mohandas Gandhi and Martin Luther King Jr. Thesis Statement: Thoreau’s treatise contributed to the transformation of the world when revolutionary leaders like King and Gandhi used it to launch successful protests against colonialism and institutionalized racism. Mohandas Karamchand Gandhi, who would later simply be known as Mahatma

Phases And Track Of The Business Cycle Economics Essay

Phases And Track Of The Business Cycle Economics Essay Business Cycle, term used by economists to designate a periodic increase and decrease in an economys production and employment. Ever since the Industrial Revolution of the 1800s, the overall level of production in industrialized capitalist countries has varied from high output and employment to low output and employment. Economists started to study business cycles because they have a significant impact on all aspects of an economy. Furthermore, the preparation of this report aims to look at the Business Cycle in general, history of business cycle and examples of long waves, phases of business cycle: recession, depression, expansion and recovery and peak and how to keep track on business cycles in order to to understand why there are ups downs in that nations economy and to learn what can be done to prevent recessions and maintain prosperity Business Cycle: a predictable long-term pattern of alternating periods of economic growth (recovery) and decline (recession), characterized by changing employment, industrial productivity, and interest rates. Also called economic cycle. History of Business Cycle: Many people believe that business cycles exist according to the theories. This has not been a permanent belief. In the 19th century, business cycles werent mentioned at all and it was spells of crises which is interrupting the smooth development of the economy. In later years, both economists and non- economists began to believe in the regularity of such crises, analyzing how they were spaced apart and associated with changing economic structures. Obviously, not every economic cycle operates on the same yardstick. The following classification, originally conjured up by Schumpeter (1939), defines a few of them by their duration (trough to trough or peak to peak) for examples: Seasonal cycles within a year Kitchin cycles 3 years Juglar cycles 9-10 years Kuznets cycles 15-20 years Kondratiev cycles 48-60 years Also, Schumpeter labeled the four-phases of a cycle which are: boom, recession, depression and recovery. Boom, is a rise which lasts until the peak is reached; a recession is the drop from the peak back to the mean; a depression is the slide from the mean down to the trough and a recovery is the rise from the trough back up to the mean. Despite the meanings, these phases cycle are moved up into another boom and thus the beginning of another four-phase cycle. Additionally, if any cycle of whatever duration can be described as going through these four phases, the fluctuations cannot really be described as cycles. Theorists of business cycle believe that the economy goes through like waves of economic activity. However, it causes the economy to exhibit this type of activity has been a source of many disruptive, as a result it become far imaginative and exercises. There are many empirical facts that all business cycle theorists should be acquainted. To begin with, empirical evidence shows that throughout the 19th Century, the price level oscillated heavily while output was much less subject to fluctuations. Thus, the early analysis of cycles was based precisely on their definition as swings in price levels and not output. Nevertheless, during the 20th Century there has normally been a constant upward trend in prices by saving few exceptions. Prices varied, of course, but only around this upward trend. Output, however, oscillated heavily in the 20th century thus what were defined as cyclical were movements in output like: in recessions and depressions. Also, output would increase in the recovery and boom. That means the cycle or even a crisis as a movement in output is a rather recent phenomenon. Lastly, Wesley C.Mitchell dedicated much of his life to measuring and analyzing business cycles, thus it is no surprise that Mitchells NBER has maintained the most widely accepted historical record of business cycles in the United States. Long Waves The NBER does not record Kondratiev Cycles (or long waves) and they dont believe these cycles exist. Even so, these four Kondratiev waves have been identified by going through four phases of boom, recession, depression and recovery (the dates and labels are from Kuznets, 1940) such as: (1) The Industrial Revolution (1787-1842) is the most famous Kondratiev wave: the boom began in about 1787 and turned into a recession at the beginning of the Napoleonic age in 1801 and, in 1814, deepened into a depression. The depression lasted until about 1827 after which there was a recovery until 1842. As is obvious, this Kondratiev rode on the development of textile, iron and other steam-powered industries. (2) The Bourgeois Kondratiev (1843-1897): After 1842, the boom reemerged and a new Kondratiev wave began this one as a result of the railroadization in Northern Europe and America and the accompanying expansion in the coal and iron industries. The boom ended approximately in 1857 when it turned into a recession. The recession turned into a depression into 1870, which lasted until about 1885. The recovery began after that and lasted until 1897. (3) The Neo-Mercantilist Kondratiev (1898-1950?): The boom began about 1898 with the expansion of electric power and the automobile industry and lasted until about 1911. The recession which followed turned into depression in about 1925 which lasted until around 1935. We can assume that this third wave entered into a recovery immediately afterwards which one might suspect lasted until around 1950. (4) The Fourth Kondratiev (1950 2010?). There has been much debate among believers on the dating the Fourth Wave largely because of the confusions generated by the low fluctuation in price levels and the issue of Keynesian policies and hence this debate is yet to be resolved. Perhaps the most acceptable set of dates is that the boom began around 1950 and lasted until about 1974 wherein recession set in. When (and if) this recession fell into its depression phase may be more difficult to ascertain (c.1981?), but what has been more or less agreed upon is that 1992 (or thereabouts) the recovery began and has been projected to give way to a boom and thus a new Kondratiev wave around 2010 or so. The Phases Of The Business Cycle Economists have many different ways of labeling the business cycle. The business cycle may be defined as the changes that occur to the real GDP because of alternating periods of expansion and contraction. The phases are: 1. Recession. A decline in the real GDP occurs for at least two or more quarters. During a recession, business people spend less than they once did. As a result, sales are failing. Businesses do what they can to reduce their spending. They lay off workers, buy less merchandise, and postpone plans to expand. When this happens, business suppliers do what they can to protect themselves. They too lay off workers and reduce spending. Since workers earn less, they spend less, and business income and profits decline still more. Businesses spend even less than before and lay off still more workers. The economy continues to slide. 2. Low Point or Depression. State of the economy where there are large unemployment rates, a decline in annual income, and overproduction. The time of the the real GDP stops there decline and starts expanding to the lowest point. Sooner or later, the recession will reach the bottom of the business cycle. How long the cycle will remain at this low point varies from a matter of weeks to many months. During some depressions, such as the one in the 1930s, the low point has lasted for years. 3. Expansion and Recovery. A period in which the real GDP grows; recovery from a recession. When business begins to improve a bit, firms will hire a few more workers and increase their orders of materials from their suppliers. Increased orders lead other firms to increase production and rehire workers. More employment leads to more consumer spending, further business activity, and still more jobs. Economists describe this upturn in the business cycle as a period of expansion and recovery. 4. Peak. The point of real GDP stops increasing and begins its decline; the highest point. At the top, or peak, of the business cycle, business expansion ends its upward climb. Employment, consumer spending, and production hit their highest levels. A peak, like a depression, can last for a short or long period of time. When the peak lasts for a long time, we are in a period of prosperity. One of the dangers of peak periods is that of inflation. During periods of inflation, prices rise and the value of money declines. Inflation is more of a threat during peak periods because employment and earnings are at high levels. With more money in their pockets, people are willing to spend more than before. In this way, demand is increased and prices rise. Graphically the phases would look like so: How Do Economists Keep Track Of The Business Cycle? For many years, economists have tried to identify why there are ups and downs in that nations economy. They want to learn what can be done to prevent recessions and maintain prosperity. Therefore, they ask the following questions which are: (1) in what phase of the business cycle is our economy at the present time? And (2) Where is the business cycle heading? On the other hand, economists believe that there are five causes of the business cycle. The first cause is changes in capital expenditures. Businesses have expectations of sales growth, when the economy is strong. They invest heavily in capital goods. Although, businesses may decide that they have expanded to their limit, so they begin to pull back on their capital investments and cause an eventual recession. The second cause of the business cycle is inventory adjustments. At the first sign of an economy reaching its peak, there are some businesses that cut back their inventories and then build them back up again at the first sign of a trough. Both actions cause the real GDP to fluctuate. Innovation and imitation are the third causes of the business cycle. Innovations include new products, new inventions, or a new way of performing a task. When a business innovates, it often gains an edge on its competitors because its costs decrease or its sales increase. Whatever the case, profits increase and the business grows. If other business in the same industry wants to keep up, they then copy what the innovator has done (imitation) or they come up with something better. While, Imitation companies usually invest heavily and an investment boom follows, the innovation spreads to another industry and the situation changes. Additional investments are unnecessary and economic activity may slow. The fourth causes of the business cycle are the credit and loan policies of commercial banking. When easy money policies are in effect, interest rates are low and loans are easy to get. They encourage the private sector to borrow and invest, thus stimulating the economy. Eventually the increased demand for loans causes the interest rates to rise, which discourage new borrowers. The economy keeps declining until interest rates fall and the business cycle begins over again. So it wont be slow down and decline. The final cause of the business cycle is external shocks. Shocks such as increases in oil prices, wars, and international conflict, have the potential to either drive the economy up, or down. The economy may benefit when a new supply of natural resources is discovered. Such was the case with Great Britain in the 1970s when an oil field was discovered off its coast in the North Sea. The British economy of course profited seeing that world oil prices were at an all time high, but the high prices hurt the United States at the same time. Conclusion The central idea of business-cycle, that the economy has regular and periodic wavesa cyclelasting for several years, has few adherents today. Perhaps such cycles never existed, or perhaps they once did but no longer do because the government now plays a large and active role in the economy. However, the business-cycle approach remains useful because it is an easy way to introduce a number of macroeconomic topics, including the adjustment process that remains central in macroeconomics. It also provides a transition from our examination of monetary theories to an introduction to Keynesian economics, a very different way of viewing the macroeconomic.

Utilitarianism :: Philosophy essays

Utilitarianism    This was written in responce to the following questions:    What is the principle of utility? Do you regard it as an adequate basis for judging the progress of society or the desirability of different social institutions? What are its virtues and limitations? How would a utilitarian aproach to judging society differ from a more traditional moral approach?    The principle of utility was Jeremy Bentham's idea on how society progresses through maintaining the greatest happiness / good for the greatest number of people. The ideology utilitarianism, was later formed by John Mill who offered the phrase and an explanation with regards to its moral implications. It sounds logical for a society to want the greatest happiness or good for itself. In general we regard individuals who are well (cultured) and who do not do (bad things) to be happy and we respect them for it. However, that depends on what we see (cultured) and (bad things) to mean.    We have already seen that the idea of what is morally correct and the notions of what is (more morally correct) are philosophical, sociological and theological problems that almost every philosopher has tried to answer; and all come up with varying responses. Everyone sees murder as being wrong and as being an act that could not bring happiness or good. However, this does not account for those who like to kill. They are part of society, so does their happiness not matter? Now if you had a population of murderers or even people who did not necessarily kill but liked seeing others kill/killed (maybe on TV or the movies), does their happiness still show a society of progress? I would hope not. To this Mill would say that I was probably right, but that people would not choose to live like that. Instead they would opt for a moral happiness. They would look for the (higher) levels of happiness like knowledge and culture. I would then reply that he has either left our human nature or his timeline for people moving towards a (higher) level of happiness is insane.    I do believe that utilitarianism is the means by which we live; in general people do whatever they want as long as it brings them happiness (at least what they think is happiness). The fact is that we cannot truly equate happiness to being (good) so we cannot use it as means of judging progress.

Alienation in “Black Boy”

Carlos Hernandez Eng. 111 Prof. Weitz 02/18/2009 Causes of Alienation in Black Boy Black Boy demonstrates how the protagonist, Richard Wright, alienated himself from his community because he did not share the same religious and societal beliefs practiced by his community and felt that the questions he had about everyday life would not be answered if he conformed to his degraded position in society. Richard alienated himself from his community because he wanted to find answers to his questions about racism that were not being answered. His desire and capacity for knowledge is discouraged and underestimated by whites and blacks due to living in the Jim Crow South. Religion is also a cause of alienation because Richard does not share the same enthusiasm for religion as the community does. These are all causes of alienation for Richard. The first signs of alienation come as a result of Richard’s curiosity with the world around him. An insatiable sense of curiosity grew in him after learning to read, write, and count to one hundred that he soon became, â€Å"a nuisance by asking far too many questions of everybody. This led him to learn about the relations between whites and blacks. After finding out about the white man beating the black boy he began to ask questions regarding race and why there is a puzzling coexistence between whites and blacks. He asked his mother why that happened and she simply responded by saying, â€Å"You’re too young young to understand. † She did this to dodge this contr oversial topic. He had so many questions regarding this topic and no one in his community was willing to give him a straight, if any, answer. On another occasion, Richard asked his mother if they could look in the white side of the train and noticed his mother becoming irritated. â€Å"I had begun to notice that my mother became irritated when I questioned her about whites and blacks, and I could not quite understand it. † His inquisitive nature and lack of answers lead him to alienate himself from his community by going on his journey to the North in order to answer these questions of racism. Richard’s curiosity led him to desire knowledge. This thirst for knowledge is another cause of alienation for Richard. It results in alienating himself as well as being alienated from the black community. For example, when Granny found out that her tenant, Ella, was reading Bluebeard and His Seven Wives to Richard, she objected to it and forbade her from reading to him on religious grounds by saying, â€Å"That’s the Devil’s work. † When Richard protested, she responded by saying, â€Å"You’re going to burn in Hell. † It seems that her deep religious beliefs did not promote creativity or knowledge. Her disallowance of creativity and expanding his mind only made it more desirable for Richard. He secretly took books from Ella and tried to read them. Another example of this is when he wrote the story in the local black paper. His own classmates did not believe that he had written it himself and thought he had stolen the idea for the story. After this occurrence he said, â€Å"If I had thought anything in writing the story, I had thought that perhaps it would make me more acceptable to them, and now it was cutting me off from them more completely that ever. This experience led him to want to go to the North to pursue a writing career, something he could not do in the South because it was discouraged by whites and could have fatal consequences, and because his community is not all that supportive because of that. In this way he is alienated from his community and alienating himself. His curious nature and thirst for knowledge led him to seek religion to answer the questions he had regarding racism. Religion is an additional source of alienation for Richard. He is constantly being pressured to join the church congregation by his mother, Aunt Addie, and Granny. One of the first unpleasant experiences he had with religion can be found in the first pages of the book. His mother invited their local church’s preacher to dinner and that night’s dinner consisted of soup and fried chicken, a sign that it was a special dinner. Richard refused to eat the soup and while everyone else finished their soup and began eating chicken he became upset, believing that â€Å"the preacher [was] going to eat all the chicken. This dinner had a negative effect on him because he learned that â€Å"the preacher, like his father, was used to having his own way. † Since he disliked his father for abandoning his family, it was natural for him to associate this religious figure with his father and therefore, he saw religion in a negative way. After being persuaded by his classmates to give religion a try, he makes an effort to join the crowd, â⠂¬Å"I was so starved for association with people that I allowed myself to be seduced by it all. although he made an effort, he could not share his family’s rigid Christian fundamentalism, further alienating himself from his family and his community. Richard was not a believer because he â€Å"had not settled in [his] mind whether [he] believed in God or not; his existence or nonexistence never worried [him]. † After going to a revival at the local church and confessing to the other boys that he felt nothing, â€Å" they too admitted that they felt nothing. † This only confirmed his belief that religion led to conformism. He believed this because of the harsh environment in which he had to live that was reluctant to answer the questions he had about society. He realized that the conformist nature of religion would not lead him to finding the answers he sought of racism, nor would it satisfy his desire for knowledge on the issue. Had he succumbed to the wishes of his friends and family he would have given up his individuality and conformed to the way of life available in the South. By not being able to share in his community's religious beliefs, he further alienates himself from the rest of the group because of his nonconformity. Richard Wright alienates himself from his community because he does not share societal and religious beliefs followed by those in his community. He refuses to conform to his degraded position in society. Richard does not accept a fundamentalist Christianity because it is used to obstruct his goal of becoming a writer, primarily by Granny. Although he is an outsider who feels little connection with other people, he still cares for them nonetheless, as it is shown when he decides to go North with the promise to send for his mother and his brother. These are the causes of alienation seen in Black Boy.

Biblical Principles And Fiscal Policy

Biblical principles that deal with Fiscal and Monetary policy clearly spell out the expectations of a believer: the love of money is the root of all evils’. Give that which belongs to Caesar unto him, and that which belongs to God unto Him. This teaches the principle of equity, avoidance of greed and exercise of dependence on God and not such material possessions in pursuit of human goals. This therefore becomes the guiding principles for designing a viable fiscal and monetary policy.In this situation, all appropriate quarters working for the good of the organization are duly taken care of. Besides, such units need also make themselves accountable to the Audit or similar unit: In this vein, the accountability is sustained for the good of the colony. WORTHY PLAN The plan is also structured in such a way that the less privileged is also catered for: such people include the severely handicapped, orphans, the aged.The influence of Biblical principles, in these situations, ensures the policy promotes unity and harmony in the organization/nation. This way, there is reduced incidence of strife, attack on the rich in the society, embezzlement of public funds. It affords the right opportunity to contribute to the installation and maintenance of social amenities. With the weapon of the policy, taxation is not exempted nor evaded. It also provides for the provision of social amenities for the populace, and dilapidated ones are marked accordingly for repairs.Award of such contracts are heavily based on merit and not of favoritism or nepotism. Contractors for such projects are credible people saddled with the responsibility of carrying out such projects with the right materials, durable and long-lasting. All these are aimed at equitable distribution of resources among competent organizations and individuals. GIVING: LAW OF SOWING AND REAPING A 10% of accruable income is also given as tithe to God, as a means of replenishing his household and promoting missionary acti vities.Biblical principles are clear on the question on when and how to spend money; it emphasizes respect for government and so taxes must be paid at the right time, and all promises must be met. Besides, it also emphasizes the importance of giving a portion of accruable profits to God in the form of tithes and offering; this is one spiritual principle based on the ‘Sowing and reaping’. Sowing implies giving to the work of God; this is how every good Christian sees their gains and is also influenced by such in planning fiscal policies.Even certain entrepreneurs understand this principle so much that they provide certain share of money for socio-cultural and religious activities. Some don’t just give; they sponsor crusades, trips, scholarships, salaries and projects. Why do they do this? They understand its implication. What you sow is what you reap; they sow seeds into these organizations and they reap bountiful returns in kind and cash. This is one tested princ iple that company leaders and investment tycoons can attest to: it works excellently.In essence, the role of Biblical principles is such that it promotes accountability, integrity and equity; wealth is not restricted to a particular group of people; everyone is encouraged to engage in fruitful ventures. This is not far from the equality/justice perspective of a Christian, as he sees monetary policy as an avenue to show love and glorify God. In doing this, he understands the importance of equitable distribution of resources in such a way that the concomitant challenges of inequality and fraud are reduced or eliminated.