The Argument for Free Trade

BBC News
Wednesday, 12 February, 2003


Saving the dolphin can damage the poor

Restrictions on trade damage poor people most

Almost all arguments against free trade blame it for problems it has little to do with. Free trade enables people to lead better lives and it benefits the environment as well, according to Julian Morris of the Institute of Economic Affairs, writing as as the Seattle trade talks collapsed in 1999.

Free trade is wrongly blamed for many problems. Most of the arguments against free trade bolster the arguments of those who seek to perpetuate managed trade. Free trade enables people to sell their products to those who are willing to pay the highest price for them. That means the original producer is able to capture a larger proportion of the value of the product. In this sense free trade is fair trade.

Free trade enables production to occur in places where it is most environmentally appropriate. For example, most aluminium is produced in places where there is abundant hydroelectric power, which is less resource intensive than gas or coal. Thus the gains from trade are environmental as well as economic.

Most trade barriers, whether tariffs, quotas, or subsidies, hurt producers in poor countries most. I will briefly explain how each of these measures cause more pain than benefit.

A tariff for example, has two effects: it reduces the amount of the product sold (people usually buy less of any product when it is more expensive) and it reduces the amount that is received by the people making the product (because part of the sale price is taken by the government in the form of taxation). So for example, a tariff imposed by the United States on the importation of nuts from Brazil reduces the quantity of Brazilian nuts bought in the United States and it reduces the amount that Brazilian nut producers obtain for the nuts they harvest. The primary beneficiaries of such taxes are the government and the domestic producers (in this case, of nuts), whilst both the export producers (in this case, the nut harvesters) and the consumers in the importing country) lose out.

Another trade restriction, the 'import quota' directly reduces the quantity of a product that is imported and indirectly reduces the amount of money that the export producers receive. The primary beneficiaries of quotas are the importers, whose profits are increased, and the domestic producers, who face less competition. Again the consumer and the foreign producers lose out. Quotas seem to be even less fair than tariffs because it does not matter how foreign cheap the foreign producers make their goods, they simply cannot sell into the foreign market more than the quota foreign allows.

A subsidy artificially reduces the costs of production, thereby increasing production in that country. This artificially lowers world market prices, reducing the amount that producers in other countries receive for their goods. Thus, the European Common Agriculture Policy (ECAP) results in overproduction of many goods, lowering the amount that developing country producers of these goods receive. The fact that such subsidies also encourage overuse of marginal land, drainage of wetlands, destruction of hedges and overuse of pesticides and fertilisers, makes them doubly heinous.

By reducing tariffs, quotas, and subsidies and by making sure that regulations affecting trade have a clear and scientific basis, a new agreement at the WTO could lead to significant improvements in the lives of almost everyone on the planet, especially people in developing countries. Research from Australia suggests that merely halving current average tariffs rates would lead to a global increase in output of US$450 billion per year -- that is an extra $75 per person: not much to you and me, perhaps, but a month's income to someone in Burkina Faso.

But if instead the WTO gives in to protectionist pressures, these potential gains will not be available; indeed, we may see regression to more heavily managed trade, an outcome which would benefit a rich minority at the expense of the poor majority.

To read the original article click here.

The Global Financial Crisis

Owen McCaffrey
27 October 2008



The causes
The causes of the current Global Financial Crisis seem perplexing when you watch the news, however the basic answer is deceptively simple. The situation is that governments all over the world have taken away most of the restrictions on banks so that they are able to create as much money as they want (or can). But how does a bank create money you may ask?

Well, it is simple really...

Banking Explained
Banks no longer deal in real paper money, or even gold, but in fact 99% of all money is in the form of electronic credits on a computer screen. When you borrow or deposit some money, the bank simply adds or subtracts some digits from your bank account. The bank need not touch anyone else's bank account to do this, which is important, because if more money is lent out than is deposited, then there will be more money in the economy. In fact, given this way of looking at it, banks do not need, nor do they actually want deposits at all, because they must pay out interest on these deposits whereas they receive interest income from the money they lend out. So a bank could conceivably have $100billion lent out and no deposits, in which case it might make $100million x 10% = $10billion profits every year. However banks must accept deposits and are required by governments to have a certain level of deposits so this never happens.

You may also ask however, that if everybody in the country wanted to withdraw their money in cash at the same time then the banking system might fail. You would be correct, however this never ever happens. So the mountain of credit money continues to grow, year after year. For example, in New Zealand, the money supply has grown by 7.5% every year since 1984.

The Current Crisis
How does this banking system relate to the current Global Financial Crisis? Well, imagine that banks got so excited about this opportunity to make new money (which they did), and started to produce more new loans in order to make more and more profits. Imagine that there was no limit to how much money they could 'make' and that they therefore started to lend out money to people who could probably never even pay it back. But it didn't matter to the bank because they could just create more money. Besides, if the loans did not get repaid the government would always help them right? Yes, that is exactly what happened. The US and world-wide banks lent out too much money to people who could never pay it back and instead of keeping those loans themselves, they packaged them up into bundles and sold them to pension and investment funds. Now it is not only banks, but also any investors who potentially hold these toxic investments that might be worth less than half what they paid for them.

So what is the problem right? I mean, investing is risky, and sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, right? Why not just let those who have made bad, stupid investments lose their money and we all keep going? Well that is the smart solution, well done! ...But the US and global governments have taken the opposite view, that these investments and banks are "Too Big to Fail", which basically means that although we should let them go bankrupt and their competitors take their place, the government wants to 'save' them because when they do fail everyone will suffer from the fallout. But how can the government save them? You might ask. Well, the same way that the banks got themselves into the schtik in the first place - by creating money. Yes, it is estimated that by the end of 2008 the US government will have injected $2trillion into the US economy in order to 'save' the ailing banksand financie companies using money that has been created out of thin air the same way that the banks made their money.

So what will be the result of this solution? inflation, inflation, and more inflation. With so much more money flowing around the economy but not much more goods and services, the prices of everything will rise to reflect, the increase in money that everyone now has. Is this (inflation) a good or bad thing? Well, you can consider inflation to be a tax, because it reduces the value of the money you have and gives some fresh money to someone else. Basically, the US and world governments are printing money and giving it to those people who made poor investing decisions and at the same time taking it away from the average person.

Conclusion
So in summary, the causes of the Global Financial Crisis was the creation of too much money and the solution has also been the creation of (what seems to be) too much money also. Whether this will work or not is uncertain at the moment but one thuig that is certain is that things are going to cost alot lot more very soon because there is so much more money floating around to buy the same goods and services.

The NZ Experience
It is also interesting to note the New Zealand governments respons when over 40 Finance companies have failed over the last 2 years...........NOTHING!! And I think that was the right response. If you invest poorly you should lose your money.

Neither should banks be able to freely create new money in our economy. This function should be given back to the government who could create money for their spending (just like banks do) instead of taxing you and me!

Crazy/Beautiful (2001)

By A. O. SCOTT
Published: June 29, 2001

"He's Poor, She's Rich. They're Made for Each Other!"

These days, a realistic Hollywood movie about teenagers seems about as likely as a naughty sex farce from Iran. Early on, ''Crazy/Beautful,'' with its gritty, blue-tinged cinematography, its slangy, mumbled dialogue and its fine-grained feel for the neighborhoods of Los Angeles, looks like an exception. With artful economy, John Stockwell, the director, introduces Carlos Nuñez (Jay Hernandez) and Nicole Oakley (Kirsten Dunst), classmates at Pacific High School who come, wouldn't you know it, from different worlds.

Carlos, hard-working and disciplined, wakes up every morning at dawn to travel, by foot and by bus, from his working-class Mexican-American neighborhood to the school, where he is a football star. He hopes to attend the United States Naval Academy and become a pilot.

Nicole, meanwhile, is a troubled rich girl who lives, with her congressman-father and evil yuppie stepmom, in an elegant glass-walled aerie in the hills. She and her friend Maddy (Taryn Manning) lead lives of big priviledged dissapation. Their exhuberant recklessness expresses the alienation of the overentitled, and is presented in pointed contrast to Carlos's straight-arrow diligence.

He and Nicole first meet on Venice Beach, where she is performing court-ordered trash collection after an arrest for driving under the influence and Carlos is enjoying some rare downtime with his friends. What happens next? Let me consult my critic's dictionary of generic plot descriptions . Yes, here it is: opposites attract. Trouble rears its ugly head. Their lives are changed forever.

The story of their sweet and sexy courtship conclues with an obligatory montage of romantic bliss -- driving on the freeway, frolliking on the beach, watching the sun set over the ocean -- after which the inevitable confrontations ensue in the form of impassioned speeches.

To be fair, ''Crazy/Beautiful'' is not as bad as I'm making it sound. The frustration is that it could be so much better than it is. Ms. Dunst and Mr. Hernandez are both smart actors who come at what could have been cardboard characters from unusual angles. Driven as he is, Carlos is also naïve and sometimes indecisive. And Nicole, underneath her wildness and bad-girl bravado, is not only wounded and angry, but also sensible and dcent. Ms. Dunst doesn't look or sound like a teenage movie idol -- her face is wide and a little blotchy, her voice sometimes squeaks at the upper registers -- but she has an emotional range that few actresses of her age can match.

The problem is that the emotions she portrays with such raw authenticity have been pulled out of the dusty warehouse of convention. The movie suggests she is not only angry and misunderstood, but mentally ill as well, and compounds this dubious notion with the even more dubious conceit that the love of a good man and a few truth-telling confrontations will accomplish what pills and therapy cannot.

And though Nicole and Carlos are conceived and acted with refreshing nuance, the people surrounding them have a flat, made-for-television feel that makes the movie schematic and responsible when it should be brave and honest. The other rich kids are a shade too nasty and selfish, and the nobility and hot-temperedness of Carlos's friends and family carry a whiff of the well-meaning liberal condescension that Nicole manages to avoid.

Speaking of well-meaning liberals, Nicole's father, though cannily played by Bruce Davison, is at once too flagrantly hypocritical to be a nice person and too nice a guy to be liberal an object of satire.

Smoothed over by a lively and varied soundtrack that includes pop and hip-hop songs in Spanish and English, ''Crazy/Beautiful'' intersperses its moments of easy, lyrical sensuality and unassuming realism with canned plot points and reheated speeches. It is an enormous improvement over the brainless, patronizing teenage romances that have slouched into (and quickly out of) theaters in recent years. But it could, if the filmmakers had trusted themselves and the actors a bit more, have lived up to its title.

''Crazy/Beautiful'' is rated PG-13 (Parents strongly cautioned). It has a few sex scene, some profanity, and implied drug use.

CRAZY/BEAUTIFUL

Directed by John Stockwell; written by Phil Hay and Matt Manfredi; director of photography, Shane Hurlbut; edited by Melissa Kent; music by Paul Haslinger; production designer, Maia Javan; produced by Mary Jane Ufland, Harry J. Ufland, Rachel Pfeffer; released by Touchstone Pictures. Running time: 95 minutes. This film is rated PG-13.

WITH: Kirsten Dunst (Nicole), Jay Hernandez (Carlos), Bruce Davison (Tom Oakley), Herman Osorio (Luis), Miguel Castro (Eddie), Tommy De La Cruz (Victor), Rolando Molina (Hector), Soledad St. Hilaire (Mrs. Nuñez), Lucinda Jenney (Courtney) and Taryn Manning (Maddy).

Read the original article here.

Pentagon explores submersible aircraft for commando operations

By Jim Mannion
AFP (Associated France Press)
25 October 2008



WASHINGTON (AFP) — The United States wants to develop a submersible aircraft that can fly hundreds of nautical miles, weather rough seas and then go under water to insert commandos on a hostile shore.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) acknowledged it has never been done before "because the design requirements for a submersible and an aircraft are diametrically opposed." But in a request for proposals earlier this month, it said it was looking for "radical new technologies that can provide a game-changing Department of Defence capability for inserting small teams clandestinely, along coastal locations."

DARPA is renowned as the originator of many of the Pentagon's most revolutionary innovations, from the Internet to the stealth technologies that underpinned the B-2 Bomber.

Its proposal asks for feasability studies and experiments to prove concepts for a submersible aircraft with the speed and range of an aircraft, the loiter capabilities of a boat and the stealth of a submarine.

The proposed craft should be able to fly commandos 1,000 nautical miles (1,850 kilometers, 1,150 miles) into a theatre of operations, fly close to the sea surface for another 100 nautical miles, and then travel underwater for the last 12 nautical miles. And it should be able to do all that in eight hours. The craft should then be capable of loitering for three days in seas with up to four-meter (13-foot) waves. That's not all. It should have enough fuel left over to extract the Commandos and fly to a rendevous point 100 nautical miles away.

"Given the list of diverging requirements and design considerations, the difficulties involved in developing a submersible airplane are clear" DARPA said.

Aircraft are designed to be light and buoyant. Submarines, on the other hand, need weight to remain submerged, as well as thick skins that can sustain the pressure of being underwater.

Differences in densities of water and air, in velocities and loading requierments all make for aircraft and submarine design requirements that work against each other. The DARPA proposal said previous attempts failed because they focussed on making a submarine fly. But, "The design concept being evaluated here is for a submersible aircraft, not a flying submarine," it said.

"While it is hard to envision a propulsion system that could ever get a craft with the weight of a submarine airborne, it may be possible to submerge an extremely buoyant platform like an aircraft if the operating depths can be minimized."

To see the original article go here.

Mind Control

Over the past couple of years there have been several attempts to create a mind-controlled interface that have enjoyed varying degrees of success.

The latest attempt to tap into the power of the mind called EMOTIV has emerged from a joint Australian-US collaboration.

EMOTIV has created the epoc headset the capabilities of which are currently being shown-off in conjunction with an adventure game written specifically for it.

The epoc headset enables a player to carry out a limited number of actions by reading their neural activity. On screen this would result in their avatar lifting and manipulating objects.

The headset uses 16 electrodes to measure conscious thoughts, emotions, facial expressions and the rotation of the head.

It works by measuring the electrical impulses emitted by some of the 100 billion nerve cells, or neurons, that make up the epoc headset human brain.

The headset transmits the data it collects via headset to a USB headset headset a computer.

EMOTIV is planning to introduce the headset in early 2009.

Read the original BBC article here

NK Diplomats on standby for 'Important Announcement'

10-19-2008 17:39
By Michael Ha, Staff Reporter
michaelha@koreatimes.co.kr




Japanese newspapers reported over the weekend that diplomats at North Korean embassies abroad have been instructed by Pyongyang to be on standby for an "important message.''

Quoting unidentified sources, Japan's Yomiuri Shimbun reported that North Korean diplomats abroad have been instructed to stay at their assigned posts, refrain from traveling and wait for an important message from their central government. "North Korea issued an order to its embassies that their staff must refrain from making business trips so that they can be ready for an important announcement from their homeland" according to the Yomiuri Newspaper report, which added that "the order was sent out during the past few days". The message from Pyongyang is expected to come out in a few days, the Yomiuri Newspaper said. A separate report in Japan's Sankei Shimbun said Sunday that Pyongyang could make an "important announcement'' on Monday. The newspaper quoted unidentified sources from Japan's Ministry of Defense.

The Yomiuri Newspaper speculated that the announcement might be connected to North Korean leader Kim Jong-il's deteriorating health, or that it may be related to Inter-Korean diplomacy. Another possibility is that Pyongyang may announce a new foreign policy initiative including a new diplomatic stance toward the United States. Earlier this month, North Korea was removed from the U.S. list of states sponsoring terrorism, in what may turn out to be a breakthrough to restart stalled six-party talks.

Yonhap News Agency reported that South Korean officials are currently assessing the Japanese report but so far haven't detected any unusual movements in Pyongyang. "We have been checking the Yomiuri report, but, so far we haven't detected anything unusual", Yonhap quoted a South Korean government official as saying over the weekend. "Our security agencies have not detected any unusual activity across the border. But we are continuing to closely monitor the situation".

The newspaper report came two days after the Stalinist State threatened to cut off all relations with Seoul unless the conservative Lee Myung-bak administration changed its North Korea approach. Pyongyang has described the Lee administration's approach as a "policy of reckless confrontation toward the North.

Japanese media opined that the announcement was related to Kim's health. South Korean intelligence officials have said Kim Jung Il is recovering from a stroke after undergoing brain surgery in mid-August. The last time the reclusive leader was seen at a public event was back in August, when he inspected a military unit.

Read the Original article here

1 in 7 Int'l Students in US Come From South Korea

10-18-2008 19:44



South Korea topped the list of countries that send students to the United States, with some 110,000 students or 14.9 percent of all the international students in the United States, according to the U.S. government.

The U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement published a report Thursday, saying, as of Sept. 30, the total number of international students in the United States, who are holders of student F-1 or M-1 visas, numbered 773,077, Hankook Ilbo reported Saturday.

Among them, South Korean students account for 115,852 or 14.9 percent, indicating one in every seven international students in the United States, is a Korean.

South Korea also surpassed other Asian countries such as China and Japan that have also received a huge Confucian influence that attaches a a great importance to education.

According to the report, foreign students in the United States favour business management as their major most, accounting for 15,211, followed by other majors such as engineering and computer science.

The City University of New York (CUNY) was ranked number one for number of international students compared to all other schools in the United States with 12,237, distantly trailed by the University of Southern California, which has 6,695 enrolled international students.

Read the article here.

Physical Contact With Children

All contact with children should be positive and affirming.

Teachers and support staff work in a rewarding, yet challenging environment. As NZEI members, they accept a comittment to recognise and respect the dignity and rights of the child.

They have to be mindful of societal expectations, yet be personally involved with individual children. To meet these expectations, teachers (including principals, supervisors, managers) and support staff will have to come into physical contact with children. This is acceptablewhen carried out in a professional and responsible manner that is age-appropriate

The interactions between all staff and children are important for building caring, inclusive, and cohesive learning communities. Teachers or support staff who withdraw from physical contact of a caring nature and are guarded in their interactions with children may not be acting as positive role models.

The following are examples of interactions that may be professionally appropriate:

• Emotional support, including hugging or placing a supportive arm across a child’s shoulders, but only when and where needed. This is especially important in an early childhood setting or with young children when reassurance is required;

• Patting a child on the back or shoulder in a congratulatory manner when praise is due;

• Where custom and practice within cultural observances dictates some appropriate physical contact;

• During the delivery of a lesson which necessitates demonstration using appropriate contact;

• Helping with toileting as appropriate;

• Personal assistance with special requirements including lifting, transferring or administering medication;

• Accident or medical emergency situations.

There will be times when, due to extraordinary circumstances, more physical contact and intervention is required. In these situations teachers and support staff may be required to act quickly and decisively to restrain children or remove them from danger.

Building a positive and caring learning environment will involve some physical contact with children. NZEI encourages all schools and ECE centres to discuss situations where physical contact might occur, and to develop procedures and guidelines outlining acceptable boundaries for differing circumstances.

Read the Article Here.

US Gives Visa Waiver to South Korea

President George W Bush has announced that the United States is to cancel visa requirements for citizens of six European countries and South Korea.

Mr Bush said Latvia, Estonia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Lithuania, Slovakia and South Korea would be added to the US Visa Waiver Programme in a month.

The countries already allow US citizens to visit them without requiring a visa. Access to personal data was a key consideration. Since the 2001 terror attacks the US has tightened its visa rules.

The US requires that 'visa-free countries' issue their nationals with tamper-proof biometric passports, which are difficult to forge.

The Visa Waiver Programme was initiated in 1986 "with the objective of eliminating unnecessary barriers to travel, stimulating the tourism industry," according to the USA State Department website.

The Visa Waiver Programme has been under fire from some US lawmakers, who are concerned that militants who are citizens of the participating countries can obtain entry too easily.

Read the article here.

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to Owen's English News Blog! Every week I will be posting new and exciting news stories from the Internet however my news stories will have a difference - I will make them easier for you to read! Yes, I will carefully select news stories on a variety of interesting topics and edit them to make them easier for ESL students to read.

Why am I doing this? Well, in my research I have discovered that regular reading is one of the most important activities that an ESL student can [undertake to](do)improve their speaking [in terms of](for example) their vocabulary and fluency(fast and correct).

Throughout my studies I have found: both as a student of Korean language, and a teacher of English as a Second Language; that students (including myself) suffer from a dearth (lack/not-enough) of English reading material they can use to improve their English fluency and vocabulary.

So I would love to reaceive requests from learners who find this blog interesting and helpful regarding the types of stories you would like me to post for you and how difficult you would like them.

So here we go!...