Masculinity Romanticized Ideal And Reality - 3052 Words

Kwang Lee Instructor Cardona Humanities Core 1C 27 May, 2015 Masculinity: Romanticized Ideal and Reality Patriarchy, a system in which the father or eldest male is head of the family, has defined manhood ever since the American Revolution. Men were socialized to think of themselves as breadwinners,† providing for the family’s physical, and financial needs and â€Å"women with the round of cooking, house cleaning, and mending,† performing all the domestic chores, including child-care. This difference was essential in creating an image of the Ideal American man. However, the Great Depression heavily challenged and complicated this culture of masculinity. The stock market crash wiped investments clean, businesses failed to function and†¦show more content†¦These analyses, however, consisted of merely idealized images that often were not representative of the actual reality of men’s behaviors. The Great Depression mandated the refocus of cultural masculine ideals, which were revealed through the recruitment posters during WWII, but these idealized beliefs often did not reflect the non-virtuous racism and misogyny of American men portrayed by the historical records of their behavior in the immense automobile industry. To grasp the entirety of the ideal wartime manhood, one must understand the cost and context of the reshaping process. The demand for soldiers was consistently high, and tremendous advancements in weaponry resulted in an incredibly high number of deaths and casualties. The war totaled over 72 million civilian and military deaths, and an evermore number of casualties worldwide. In addition, over three million tons of explosives were dropped by the allies alone, not to mention the tremendous consequential infrastructural damages worldwide. If soldiers survived, they often returned with permanent scars and were seldom given the proper treatment they needed. Many of them lived with amputations, suffering abnormal facial and bodily deformities, and struggling through PTSD, causing harm not only to themselves, but to the wives, children, and society as a whole. Furthermore, the

Mock Trial Plaintif Closing Arguments 2014 Essay - 941 Words

Good evening Your Honor, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, and opposing counsel. Tonight you heard the testimony and evidence in Roughed Grouse High Schools attempt to hide, justify, and deny their negligent actions. In order to prove Roughed Grouse High Schools negligence resulting in the death of Jordan Simon, I, along with my co-counsel, had to prove our case, not beyond a reasonable doubt, but simply by a preponderance of evidence. In other words, if you were to put the evidence favoring the case of the plaintiff and evidence favorable to the defendant on a scale, we the plaintiff would have to make the scales tip ever so slightly in our favor. Ladies and gentlemen of the jury, we have done just that. We have proved to you tonight†¦show more content†¦Roper agrees with the assertion that the school is not solely responsible for preventing substance abuse, it still holds that the RGHS is absolutely responsible for keeping the parents informed and actively involved in figh ting such abuse. Here, the defendant has neglected its obligations once again. Coach Swift even made a pact with his athletes forbidding the flow of information to leave the team. Its a high school track team! What kind of secrets could Coach Swift be keeping that even the parents couldnt know? Restricting high school athletes from being open and honest with their parents?Ladies and gentlemen, that is negligence in its purest form. Next, you heard from Morgan Pearce, Jordan Simons best friend throughout high school. Morgan testified to the increasingly extensive amount of time Jordan Simon spent with Coach Swift. Even so, Morgan was able to testify to Jordans increased strength, lack of focus in class, headaches, and mood swings. Ladies and gentlemen, if Morgan was able to recognize these signs of Jordans steroid abuse, then why did Coach Swift, who spent a significantly greater amount of time with Jordan than even her best friend, neglect to speak up about these symptoms? Even afte r Jordan fainted in Coach Swifts practice right in front of him, Terry Swift neglected to call for emergency help. Ms. Pearce testified that Coach Swift became advised Jordan to call Leonia Hamline, a known EPO user, about what it takes to be a champion. As

Globalization and the Asian Financial Crisis Free Essays

string(43) " Street with the Dow Jones falling by 554\." Globalization and the Asian Financial Crisis The Asian financial crisis is a prime example of an economic meltdown and it exemplifies the effects globalization has during times of widespread economic downturn. According to the Oxford English Dictionary, globalization is â€Å"the integration of national economies into the international economy through trade, foreign direct investment (FDI), capital flows, migration and the spread of technology. † The global economy is becoming further inter-twined and therefore it is very difficult to stop the effects of an economic crisis. We will write a custom essay sample on Globalization and the Asian Financial Crisis or any similar topic only for you Order Now The Asian financial crisis was a major economic crisis that spread throughout several Asian countries. The beginning of the Asian financial crisis can be traced back to July 2, 1997, with many believing the start of the crisis was triggered in Thailand (King 439). On this day, the Thai government floated their currency, the Thai Baht, and it also went to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for â€Å"technical assistance. † One by one, South-East Asian countries such as Thailand, Indonesia, South Korea and Japan saw their economies crash in the wake of heavy foreign investment. An economic boom had made the region an attractive investment proposition for investors for much of the 1990s. From 1990 to 1997, the private capital flow to developing countries rose more than fivefold, from US $42 billion in 1990 to US $256 billion in 1997 (King 441). However, in the summer of 1997, the economic climate changed, on July 2, 1997, the Thai Baht fell around 20% against the US Dollar (King 441). This was seen as the trigger for the crisis, as investors grew nervous, which led to disinvestments on the Baht, resulting into domestic production and development stalling. The reason why this was happening was because many corporations depended on foreign investment and when they dried up, the businesses could not meet their debt repayments, leading to many firms folding across Asia. Within a week of that day in July, the Philippines and Malaysian governments were heavily intervening to defend their currencies. Soon other East Asian countries became involved; Hong Kong, Taiwan, Singapore and others to varying degrees. As global integration was spreading and growing rapidly, the markets were opening up and becoming more liberalized. This enabled these countries to get a huge influx of foreign capital. These countries were targeted by investors because they were classified as â€Å"emerging markets,† meaning that they had rapid growth and industrialization (Hanieh 65). Hence, they seemed to be ideal for investors as they sought after high profits and yields. It must be emphasized that most of the inflows that came were for short term portfolio investment purposes. Private capital inflows coming into the â€Å"emerging markets† were $42 billion, which increased to a gigantic $256 billion in 1997 (Hanieh 70). Ironically, that peak was the same year as the markets crashed. As mentioned previously, most of the inflows were for portfolio purposes; therefore, the stock markets were experiencing high booms and estate prices were also on the rise. Most of the countries had their currency pegging loosely against the US dollar in the run up to the crisis. The informal pegs to the US dollar encouraged capital inflows due to the large interest rate differential. This though, attracted problems too, due to the predictable nominal rates, it encouraged unhedged external borrowing. This asset boom continued to grow and the flow of credit continued to increase. This resulted into Japan, who was already suffering from their lost-decade, into depreciating their currency (Hanieh 74). As a result, this made their currency weaker and doing so, it made the exports of the South-Eastern countries uncompetitive. This was damaging to the rest of the countries to integrate on a global scale. Most of the functions that these countries undertake are producing parts of a production that would be later assembled and completed in countries like Japan or China. As stated earlier, these tiger-economies operated in a fixed exchange rate system; therefore, their central banks needed to keep enough reserves so that they could support the Baht at the fixed exchange rate. As the central banks ploughed money in to support their currency to maintain the exchange rate, business confidence was shattered and spread across other countries. The effect of this was further felt as their exports were much dearer since Japan devalued their currency. The knock-on effect was that foreign investors started to take their money out. Thailand was the major casualty of this and it quickly passed onto its neighbours; thus, the start of the Asian financial crisis. The financial crisis heavily affected three main emerging economies in the global market; Thailand, Indonesia and South Korea (Hanieh 64). These were the hot-bed for foreign investors who sought high returns on their investments. As the fixed currency fell, the more the investors pulled out; thus, worsening the currency further. The central banks tried in vain to hold the exchange rates as the Thai government spent $23 billion buying the Baht to maintain to US dollar peg (King 440). Investors sank money into these economies without knowing the full extent of policies involved; therefore, as the mounting hidden information of the Thai economy came to surface, it resulted in many speculative attacks on the Thai Baht, which finally forced the central bank of Thailand to float the Baht as it was no longer able to defend the itself against the US Dollar. It can be argued that the uncertainty, which is the absence of quality information on which to base investment decisions had increased the investment risk. This resulted in a contagion effect to other Asian countries. Much of the instability in the economy of Thailand was brought about by heavy short-term borrowing that required debt maintenance. The Thai government attempted to shore up shaky investor confidence by officially backing the financial institutions that were heavily indebted aboard. By October 27, 1997 the crisis had spread worldwide and had an impact on a global scale (Prakash 127). On that day, it provoked a substantial response from Wall Street with the Dow Jones falling by 554. You read "Globalization and the Asian Financial Crisis" in category "Papers" 26 points (or 7. 18%), its biggest point fall in history, causing stock exchange officials to suspend trading (Prakash 128). There are several thoughts as to why the Asian financial crisis occurred. One of the clearest problems that can be seen is that of their financial systems. It has been evident that because the sudden influx of capital flows, the financial systems were not capable of handling the vast amounts. The weak financial systems led to poor investments and excessive risks. Negligent oversight of corporations caused consequences in economic downturns that were not a concern in the mid-nineties boom. The macroeconomic policies of the South-East Asian countries made their economies vulnerable to the uncertain confidence of their foreign investors. However, many economists argue that market overreaction and herding caused the plunge of exchange rates, asset prices and economic activity to be more severe than warranted by the initial weak economic conditions. Also, the deeper roots of the economic crisis went back to the early 1990s. Throughout the 1990s, growth in South-East Asia attracted huge capital flows. The account deficit of Thailand had grown from 5. 7% in 1993 to 8. 5% in 1996 (Khan, Islam, Ahmed 177). This was worsened as the domestic production slowed as the account deficit represented an even greater percentage. Much of the instability in the Thailand economy was caused by heavy short term borrowing and as previously stated; the government spent a lot of their reserves to maintain the exchange rate. This created a false sense of security in pretending the economy was stable. However, this support of the highly leveraged private sector by the Thai government lent the appearance of stability towards an unstable system and attracted even more foreign loans. In February 1997, the Thai company Somprasong was unable to make maintenance payments on its high levels of foreign debt. In the face of such instability, Finance One, the largest finance company in Thailand, failed at the end of May (Khan, Islam, Ahmed 182). Most of the lending by the company was made up of risky loans for real estate and stock market margin investment. This political instability resulted in the resignation of the Thai Finance Minister; thus, worsening the situation. The speculative attacks on the Baht forced Thailand to let the currency float on July 2, 1997, a key date in the Asian financial crisis. As an after effect, the currency depreciated further devastated the Thai economy. This forced the Thai government to call on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) for economic help. In August 1997, Thailand was the first country to seek help and the IMF approved a loan for $3. 9 billion (Glassman 126). However, the IMF gave stipulations that the government had to follow. These were maintaining a level of government reserves, increasing the VAT, government cuts and a reorganisation of the financial sector. As the Baht declined sharply, a second bail-out was approved. Indonesia and South Korea also approached the IMF for financial assistance. Another key element that caused the crisis was that in a lot of East Asian countries the capital account was liberalized for inward and outward flows for foreign investors; however, domestic investors could not invest aboard and this meant they could not diversify their risks. Throughout these countries, financial institutions were inadequate. They had poor prudential management of currency risks, credit evaluation and public financial reporting. Rising global credit and liquidity fed vast amounts of capital to badly regulated institutions. Those had limited transparency and poor due diligence from foreign lenders. The poor macroeconomic policies failed to manage these problems and left the countries vulnerable to shocks in many ways. Firstly, widening current account deficits, financed by short-term debt, exposed the economies to sudden reversals in capital flows. Secondly, weaknesses in the under-regulated financial sector fuelled risky lending. A further problem with exacerbated the crisis was the tendency for the government to intervene and bail out floundering companies. These guarantees put further pressure on the global market as the level of debt kept escalating. Together with the depreciating of the currency meant foreign debt proved to be too much of a burden. A further domino effect was evident between the economies. As the currency of the country depreciated, this had a negative effect on the competitiveness of other countries. Therefore, as the Thai Baht was tumbling, their goods became competitive and had a negative effect on other currencies, such as the Rupiah of Indonesia and the Ringgit of Malaysia (Glassman 129). After the Baht was put on the floating exchange rate, the economy of Thailand started to recover and was able to alleviate their debt earlier than they thought in 2003 (King 459). South Korea did manage to recuperate despite its weak financial system. However, Indonesia was especially hurt by firms going bankrupt and the devaluation of the Rupiah made it harder for them to recover. Monetary and Fiscal policies were tightened as countries fought to cope with the financial panic. The countries also raised interest rates in order to attract foreign currency and increase the price of domestic assets. On the other hand, higher rates meant higher repayments and many could not survive their debts. Following the Asian financial crisis, Russia, Mexico and Argentina all suffered economic collapses (King 61). Another factor that is thought to be one of the reasons for the crisis, the Asian currencies appreciated to levels that were too high leading to a crash in the markets. The IMF gave these countries support during these times and in return they wanted the countries to follow three key elements; large official financing packages, structural reforms, and macroeconomic policies that intended to counter the crisis itself (King 463). Structural reforms were seen as the root causes of the crisis. They intervened to shore up institutions and more importantly, improved the financial supervision and regulation. Thus, reducing the likelihood of a crisis reoccurring. Other structures were also altered to help the economies in the long run; they strengthened competition laws and increased transparency. This would help reduce eradicate corruption. Macro policies were harder to implement due to the turbulent market conditions; though, after some initial hesitations, nominal and real interest rates fell to pre-crisis levels. However, Indonesia’s policies steered them off course for a while before it was brought under control in late 1998 (King 464). The Asian financial crisis raised certain important issues that need to be taken into account for the international financial system. It is very important to prevent a crisis from occurring in the first place, because the short term flow of capital can be moved within seconds; therefore, prevention is the best sought achievement/target. Transparency is also important to crisis prevention. At the height of the Asian financial crisis, some unpleasant information was revealed, in particular, on the weaknesses of central banks international reserve positions. The IMF pointed this out as an integral part as closer monitoring of the finance sector could give alerts to any such problems in the future. Another issue that needed to be analyzed after the crisis was that of capital controls. As the countries liberalized the capital accounts, they left many short falls in the regulation of them. Tighter restriction and closer monitoring of the capital flows would have helped the financial institutions to keep greater control. An additional issue that should be noted is what policies the governments used and which ones seemed to be successful in such a crisis. Looking back at the Asian financial crisis, it seems that monetary policy worked. A period of high interest rates and the market pressures eased and interest rates soon fell below pre-crisis levels. In theory, if monetary policies were implemented earlier, it might have contrasted the spread of the crisis. However, the higher interest rates meant that debt repayments were higher and led to widespread insolvencies. These macroeconomic policies are crucial as they can be implemented to the changing economic conditions. The Asian financial crisis has brought a new way of thinking in the world of global finance. There are lessons that were harshly learnt by a few countries; however, the overall effect was a global one. In the contemporary world, one country does not stand by itself, global integration has meant that countries are connected and interlinked. Therefore, as we witnessed from the Asian financial crisis, the end result of poor management of financial institutions can have a drastic impact on the world economy. In the current climate, we are facing a global recession, an expected drop in world trade, all this as a result of a credit boom. The government and regulators must learn from the Asian financial crisis and hopefully they will be able to contain the latest economic crisis. Works Cited Oxford English Dictionary. Oxford University Press 2010. Web. 18 March 2011. McNally, David. Another World is Possible: Globalization Anti-Capitalism. Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada: Arbeiter Ring Publishing. Print. Adam Hanieh. â€Å"Forum of Hierarchies of a Global Market: The South and the Economic Crisis. † Studies in Political Economy Volume 83. (2009): 61 – 81. Print. Michael R. King. â€Å"Who Triggered the Asian Financial Crisis? Review of International Political Economy Volume 8. Issue 3 (2001): 438 – 466. Print. Aseem Prakash. â€Å"The East Asian Crisis and the Globalization Discourse. † Review of International Political Economy Volume 8. Issue 1 (2001): 119 – 146. Print. Saleheen Khan, Faridul Islam, Syed Ahmed. â€Å"The Asian Crisis: An Economic Analysis of the Causes. † The Jo urnal of Developing Areas Volume 39. Issue 1 (2005): 169 – 190. Print. Jim Glassman. â€Å"Economic Crisis in Asia: The Case of Thailand. † Economic Geography Volume 77. Issue 2 (2001): 122 – 147. Print. How to cite Globalization and the Asian Financial Crisis, Papers

Unit 5 Paper Your Explication Final Draft free essay sample

Name Online English A November 11, 2013 Paper Component: Your Explication Middle Paragraphs In the poem â€Å"Ballade of Worldly Wealth,† the author, Andrew Lang describes the truth about money and what it meant to people in the 1800s and 1900s. He uses repetition to clearly explain his ideas. Lang believes that money could either be good or it could be evil, I guess it all depends in how you use it and appreciate it. The people in this poem are priests, soldiers, captains etc. The main idea is about how some and most people only do things for money. The â€Å"Ballad of Worldly Wealth,† is a depiction of how money can bring pride and corruption into our society. The form of this poem is a ballad. A ballads contents include 3 stanzas, at least 8 lines in each stanza, and a refrain (a repeated phrase at the end point of a poem) a refrain in example of the Ballad of Worldly Wealth is â€Å"Youth, and health, and Paradise† The author used artificial imagery to characterize money as both a staple in society, and as the icon of the worlds power and corruption. We will write a custom essay sample on Unit 5 Paper: Your Explication Final Draft or any similar topic specifically for you Do Not WasteYour Time HIRE WRITER Only 13.90 / page There is several rhetoric patterns found in the poem. The rhyme pattern is an End rhyme. Poems with end rhyme are those whose last word of every line ends with a word that rhymes, for example: â€Å"While the tides shall ebb and (flow); Money maketh Evil (show)† Flow and show are two separate words, however both have rhyming sounds. Lang uses words to help create the tone, mood, and emotion. Some more rhetorical pattering are: â€Å"taketh,† â€Å"maketh,† â€Å"to throw,† â€Å"can stow,† â€Å"fro,† â€Å"without a blow,† and â€Å"ebb and flow.† Lang repeats â€Å"These alone can ne’er bestow Youth, and health, and Paradise.† This means that money and treasure can’t bring you to your younger self, healthier self, or take you to Paradise. Which by â€Å"paradise† I’m guessing Lang means heaven. Different patterns in the poem â€Å"Money moves the merchants all,† and â€Å"Money maketh Evil show,† these contain parallel construction because he says money in the beginning. There aren’t really any other rhetorical patterns. The poem has  same endings like taketh, youth, and gaineth. â€Å"Money† is repeated through the poem, because it is the theme. Also displayed is parallel construction, stated above, which is a sentence, idea, or clause that is presented with an opposing idea. In this statement, â€Å"Money moves the merchants all, While the tides shall ebb and flow; Money maketh Evil show, Like the Good, and Truth like lies† it can be seen that the opposition is of that money is what makes the world go round. However money also creates greed, and makes the people see the money as a good thing, when really its all a lie.