The American School System Essay Example for Free

The American School System Essay Education is what keeps a society thriving; its what enables a society to thrive and create productive individuals who can keep the educational process on-going. The whole purpose of education is to enlighten us with truths, and create knowledgeable people. We must ask ourselves, what is the point of creating knowledgeable people? We answer this with a question in return; where would we be without knowledgeable people? In The Republic, Plato extensively analyzes these questions, and helps us come to the conclusion that without education, people would be as clueless as inanimate objects. We can come to the consensus that knowledgeable people are the ones who prosper in life, and overcome lifes harsh obstacles. How do they do it? They are able to do it because they have the ability to think and evaluate. We also asked ourselves where does one receive this knowledge? In todays world, one would receive it through â€Å"education. † And where does one receive the education? At school. Plato had a vision that the attaining of knowledge should be one full of thought, opposing ideas, and intricate study. With that said, I believe that Plato would not think too fondly of the current American public school system! â€Å"Unless a man is able to separate out the idea of the good from all other things and distinguish it in the argument, and, going through every test.. you will deny that such a man knows the good itself, or any other good? † Plato is saying that unless a person is able to distinguish right from wrong, he or she will not know good itself. This ties in with the role of education because education should help us achieve that according to Platos view. Education should assist us in distinguishing right from wrong, good from evil. American public schools arent doing this, and I know this because I go to one. In American schools, its all about memorizing facts, and more facts. Nowhere in between are we taught how to tell from good and evil; how to tell if were being taken advantage of. Its almost as though teachers are scared to teach us this; as though they are confined to teaching us what has been approved by others. Plato states that students and learners should be exposed to many opposing ideas. This is what creates intellectual thinkers. Because American public schools dont offer an environment where students can analyze opposing ideas to their own, Plato would not be satisfied with our educational system. Throughout his allegory, Plato talks about how dialectic is supposed to be introduced to learners in order to challenge them with opposing views and ideas. â€Å" the power of dialectic alone could reveal it to a man experienced in the things we have just went through † Plato is saying that education through the form of dialectic is the most prosperous and intellectual way to learn and teach. American public schools dont offer a lot of dialectic seminars, so Id have to say that Plato would show great disapprobation to the way American public schools are run. Hed think that American public schools are run in a very prosaic manner. Kids inputs are not really valued, resulting in students who are not very ardent towards school. This may be the explanation for why kids are dropping out of school at all-time highs. Plato would also find disappointment in American public schools due to the lack of conspiracy theories, or interfering ideas. Plato was extremely vernal about the teachings of opposing ideas, and conspiracy theories fall directly under that category. Plato would be shocked to see that students believe everything that is taught to them at schools. He would wonder if any of the students had the capacity to think for themselves, and be able to analyze data and determine according to their own accord whether it is truth of false. I know conspiracies are not being taught at American public schools for a fact because whenever I head up to a teacher to talk to them about the possibility of 9/11 being an inside job, they closed their mouths and dare not to say anything. Plato would be astonished that societys very own educators are scared to include conspiracies or other forms of opposing ideas in their teachings. Although there are quite a few reasons for why Plato might think poorly of the American public school system, theres also reason why he might praise it. â€Å"Well then, the study of calculation and geometry and all the preparatory education required for dialectic must be put before them as children.. † Plato is stating that mathematics, and other forms of calculation, are fundamental to education. In todays age, we do place a big emphasis on math. I believe that Plato would be impressed by this. I believe its safe to say that Plato would be quite disappointed with out current public school system. Hed be wondering why the system doesnt place a large enough emphasis on dialectic and the teaching of opposing ideas, or in other words conspiracy theories. I couldnt blame Plato. I agree with most of his points made. I strongly feel that schools should offer new ways of teaching, and new material to teach.

Plaths Suicide: Considering Lazarus

Plaths Suicide: Considering Lazarus Born on October 27, 1932, in Boston, Sylvia Plath mainly wrote confessional poetry. Plaths life was marked by periods of severe depression and multiple suicide attempts. The death of her father and betrayal of her husband forced her into a state of paranoia and motivated her to write poems about her sufferings. In the poem, Lady Lazarus, Plath employs the character of Lady Lazarus to echo the poets self as a way of expressing her mania towards death and suicide. The character of Lady Lazarus attempts to commit suicide every decade. However, each time Herr Doctor revives her and portrays her like the biblical Lazarus and a walking miracle. Through out the poem Lady Lazarus struggles to regain control over her proclaimed art of dying and becomes stronger as the poem progresses. Plath uses figurative language, most specifically allusions to both the bible and to the holocaust, as well as metaphors of her mental illness and instability to illustrate her growing obsession with death and f oreshadow her third attempt at suicide. Ever since her first attempt at suicide in 1953, Plath has displayed a â€Å"long standing† interest in the biblical story of Lazarus. In this poem, Plath uses allusion to the biblical story of Johns Lazarus of Bethany to juxtapose the character of Lady Lazarus with the biblical Lazarus and character of Herr Doktor with Jesus. In the story of Lazarus of Bethany, Jesus astonishingly raises Lazarus from the dead. Similarly, Lady Lazarus is revived by Herr Doktor from each subsequent suicide attempt. However, when Jesus raised Lazarus from dead, not only was it to advertise Gods power but it was also beneficial to both Lazarus and the spectators who were given hope of immortal life. In contrast, when Herr Doktor revives Lady Lazarus he is interfering with Lady Lazaruss proclaimed art of dying. Herr Doktor is actually establishing dominance over her which she must fight to regain control over her life. He is creating power struggle between them which leads to Lady Lazaruss obsessi on with death and suicide. As Theresa Collins points out, Lady Lazarus can be interpreted as a struggle for control [. . .] a dominion prevented by her torturer, Herr Doktor. In addition, Herr Doktor revives Lady Lazarus in front of a crowd and portrays her as â€Å"A sort of walking miracle†¦Ã¢â‚¬  because similar to Jesus he is longing for admiration and acknowledgement from the people whom Plath refers to as â€Å"The peanut-crunching crowd.† Plath uses irony throughout the poem but her most obvious irony is in her proclaimed art of dying. Plath mentions, â€Å"Dying Is an art, like everything else, I do it exceptionally well.† This quote is ironic because even though Plath brags about being talented at committing suicide she always survives. Every ten years she attempts to commit suicide but each time she is revived by the doctors. Plath is thwarted on each attempt by her torturer, Herr Doktor. It is ironic to see that Plath actually does not want to die on her first time because she states that â€Å"I am only thirty. And like the cat I have nine times to die†. On one hand Plath is struggling to regain control over her art and on the other hand she accepts the fact that she will not be able to regain control until her ninth suicide attempt and has actually stopped trying. Plath feels that she is only living to entertain the crowd by miraculously surviving each time. 1 para about the tone of the poem. 3 paras about holocaust 3 paras about life mental disorder and reference Geopolitics of Food | Article Analysis Geopolitics of Food | Article Analysis Hans Goder In a world, which constantly needs more and more food and facing also some ecologic issues, a change in our way of producing and managing the outputs is needed to face the future challenges (population of 2050). As it is a global challenge, it is the role of the international bodies such as the WTO or the FAO to find and implement those changes. But the question is, are those bodies still have the means to response to this challenge. 2. Primary Sources This academic article written by Bezuneh, Mesfin, Yiheyis and Zelealem for the University of Atlanta, published in the Journal of Economic Development in 2014and supported by many other studies related to the same subject, try to see if trades liberalization has a positive effect on the food security in developing country. As 98% of the undernourished persons of the world are in the developing countries where the average of undernourished is around 15% (FAO, 2014), the present article wants to understand the possible correlation (which can be either positive or negative) between food security in countries which are opening their trades (through regulations and agreements) and introducing themselves in the global market. According to this article, food security is not just the amount of food present in the country. It is reach when the population at all-time have the physical, economic and social access to sufficient, nontoxic and nutritious nutriment which encounters their dietary needs for a healthy and proper life (Bezuneh, Mesfin, Yiheyis and Zelealem, 2014) Methodology used: The methodology used in this article is clear and can be compared to the scientific way of studying a subject. The authors chose 37 different developing countries in different regions of the world. Those countries at the time were encountering the opening of their trades to the world. Then, they compared the figures of the food security (based on the per capita daily energy supply (DES)) before and after the trades opening hoping that a clear pattern and correlation would be seen amongst the results. Also, the authors used some other characteristics to see and understand which of the different factors have the most important effect on food security. Those characteristic were for instance, the political stability of the country and time’s evolution. Then they put those characteristics into figures and ratios, in a mathematical and statistical function to compare each characteristics and its effect on the food safety compared to the trades liberalization factor. Then the result and the patterns were represented into chart and table to improve the understanding of the results. As stated, the overall methodology used in this article was the scientific one following the hypothesis, research, study and finally result pattern. Results: The effects of the opening of the market were not as strong as expected. In fact, those effects were slightly positive but not as relevant as we thought. According to the authors, those positive outcomes could have been done by other thing than the trading policies which were not in the study, once those factors were controlled, the outcome came to be, in some cases, even negatives. Again, according to the authors, this result is to be considerate with caution as the factors and so on are difficult to put into figures at this wide range. But at the end of the day, this study sort out that the relationship between food safety and trades liberalization (which is the main objectives of organization such as the world trade organization) could be considerate as weak, which follows the results of previous studies (Stiglitz and Charlton, 2005). Moreover, still according to the study the relationship between the political stability and food security is even stronger. To conclude thi s study shows that the trades’ liberalization is an important factor to help those countries (through economic growth) but it is not to be used on its own. It needs to be completed by other actions and strategies in order to see a real positive outcome at the end. According to another study led by Stiglitz and Charlton in 2005 – 2006 entitle Aid for Trade, the authors, through a structured analysis admit that developed countries, when on the global market war field, benefit from advantages against the developing country. For them, in order for poor county to benefit from the opening of their market they have to benefit from advantages or ‘’aid’’ to counterbalance the equilibrium of positive outcomes for both sides. For the authors, increasing aid is vital for the poor countries if they are to grasp the opportunities provided through trade and meet transition cost (Stiglitz and Charlton, 2006). Moreover, the authors sort out that the adjustment effort in summit such as the Doha round would be too costly for the poor country due to the loss of the preferences that they are benefiting from. Again, as a conclusion, this article state that trade and aid won’t be the great solution for food and development security. It is just one of the multiple factor that can enhance the development of those countries. Both of the articles tend to state that liberalization of trades, which is encouraged by non-governmental bodies to reduce hunger in the world, might not be the solution. Counting just on this factors could arm those economies on a long run basis and worsen the issues. 2. Secondary Sources The article entitled ‘’Trade and Transnational Corporations: the Solution to World Hunger or a Major Part of the Problem?’’ , written by Peter O’Driscoll, expert in the field of developing markets, speaks about the effect of NGO’s such as the World Trade organization and Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations on food insecurity in developing countries. The organizations have as main weapon against this plague of food insecurity the liberalization of trades through opening regulations and the insertion of those countries in the global market. According to this article, effectively, during the liberalization era, the amount of international agricultural trade has increased by 800 million tons per year. Through the article, the authors state that this increase has benefited mostly to the developed country and, in the contrary, destroyed and dislocated developing countries’ agricultural industries. Moreover, the article sort out another critical point, the number of hungry persons in the world between 90 ( pre-liberalized era) and 2002 (post liberalization) has increase by a huge amount around 18 million people. In addition, subsidiaries and economic dependence have worsened the situation. While country such as India use those subsidiaries to feed its population by decreasing prices, it affect the world worldwide as other farmers around the world need to decrease their price in order to be competitive. This reduces their turnover, which can at term led to a huge crisis. De Schutter,O in his study ‘Droit à   l’alimentation : une question de qualità ©, non de quantità ©Ã¢â‚¬â„¢ speaks about the food fundamental right and state that the base of the problem could come from an inequality in the food distribution between the developed countries and the developing countries. To improve this situation, the author doesn’t put the liberalization of trades as the solution. In the contrary De Schutter state that the solution would be to change between a quantitative focused industries to a qualitative based one where the food question will be put as first priority and the economic aspect as the second. For him, doing that won’t reduce the turnover of organization; contrarily it will open new market and provide new opportunities for agriculture based organizations. Moreover, the writer also states that it would be more effective to concentrate resources into improving their own agriculture sector instead of increasing their dependence to the global market. According to Chris Arsenault in his article ‘’Global dependency on food imports makes countries vulnerable’’, the global prices are at their lowest level in five years. But still according to the author, due to population increment and also standards of living improvements, those low prices won’t last long. When those prices will start to go up, the developing countries which are vulnerable and dependent to the global economy will have to face a disastrous crisis. To prevent this, the authors state that government in those countries should be smart and protect their arable earth and try to reduce their dependence on food import. Finally, according to this article, the market has an important role to play but it shouldnt be the final arbiter of who gets food and where it comes from (Arsenault, 2015). The report entitled The State of Food Insecurity in the World of the FAO in 2010 shows us that some part of the non-governmental organization has already understood the importance of the qualitative point of view. In fact, the improvement of the support to livelihoods within the country could be a better solution than trades itself but an re-architecture should be apply for it to be more effective and obtain some long term benefits. This would increase the strength of the country, it development, it stability and so one but a better understanding is required. Moreover, this article do state that doing that would be benefic for the developed country, as those stable country would become interesting markets full of opportunities on the long run. 3. Etat de l’art Those works and articles present in the previous parts of this state of the art represent a brief surrounding of all the ideas and studies present nowadays in this field of study. To sum up, they all tend to say and prove in different way and through different methodology and approach, which can be scientific or not, that trades liberalization and by extension globalization couldn’t and can’t be a good response to food insecurity in poor and developing countries around the world on its own. According to some of those articles, in some cases this facilitation and liberalization could be armful for those weak and dependent economies. As we already know, the fight against food insecurity is led by some non-governmental organization such as the World Trade Organization, the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nation or the World Bank. Those organization, first have their headquarters in developed country such as the United States, where trades, profits and wealth are the priorities. Secondly, they might have a wrong strategy to win this plague. Indeed, those NGOs, since the beginning of this combat, want to answer it through an economic and trade based point of view, which, for De Schutter could be qualified as the quantitatives optics (De Schutter O. 2013) through summit such as the Doha cycle and the Bali one. Concretely, they try in most of the cases to make the developing countries open its barriers and incorporate the global market. In addition, they help those countries to develop their own organization in order, at the end, to make them trade on this global market. But the problem is that, according to many studies, this strategy tends to be more profitable for the developed country (O’Driscoll P, 2014) as they are provide with new markets where competition is easy to handle. For the developing countries, the findings are more mitigated. When they try to enter this huge market, where competition is much bigger and hard, they are obliged to compete by reducing the prices and by doing that they can’t really develop themselves. Moreover, after this opening, those weak countries become highly dependent and vulnerable to the international market. Through that, when some distortions happened within the global economy through the market rules, it strikes even more those countries as their populations are more sensible to price fluctuation and also as their economy is weaker than the developed ones. For example, between 2006 and 2009 the number of undernourished people has increase due to price fluctuations (FAO, 2010) These statements should be taken with precautions. In fact, according to some other articles, the correlation between food insecurity and trades opening is not really clear and strong but this factor stays a key factor for life quality and improvement through economic growth (Stiglitz and Charlton, 2005). Moreover, trades facilitation might be a short-run solution but not a long-run one. What we have to understand is that we can’t just rely of this only factor to be able to reach the objective of 2050 which is to feed 9 billion people. Taking and understanding all those ideas we will use and go further in those study by using and applying them to the core NGOs, and see through a quantitative and qualitative research method if whether or not the existing non-governmental organization are still able to provide effective strategies and solutions to the upcoming challenges through their present point of view or if a rethinking of their entire goals and approaches is needed to provide long terms solutions. To do so, we will structure our thoughts in a specific way. Initially, we will have a deeper look at diverse other information related to the same field and problematic stated earlier to gatherer some crucial inputs. Then, we are going to have a close look to the different bodies present in the world according to the angle chosen and their different actions and outcomes. Finally, founded on the previous assumptions, we will try to sort out the opportunities of the situation and give also, if case is, some concrete solutions and strategies that might improve the present situation. References De Schutter, O. (2013). Droit à   l’alimentation : une question de qualità ©, non de quantità ©. [online] Opinion-internationale.com. Available at: http://www.opinion-internationale.com/2013/11/28/droit-a-lalimentation-une-question-de-qualite-non-de-quantite_20844.html [Accessed 2 Dec. 2014]. Arsenault, C. (2015). Global dependence on food imports leaves countries vulnerable. [online] Reuters. Available at: http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/03/13/us-food-trade-idUSKBN0M92CG20150313 [Accessed 1 May 2015]. ODriscoll, P. (2014). World Hunger Notes Trade and Transnational Corporations: the Solution to World Hunger or a Major Part of the Problem? Peter ODriscoll. [online] Worldhunger.org. Available at: http://www.worldhunger.org/articles/05/global/odriscoll.htm [Accessed 1 May 2015]. Stiglitz, J. and Charlton, A. (2006). Aid for Trade. 1st ed. Commonwealth Secretariat. FAO, (2015). The State of Food Insecurity in the World. 1st ed. FAO. Shah, A. (2015). Foreign Aid for Development Assistance — Global Issues. [online] Globalissues.org. Available at: http://www.globalissues.org/article/35/foreign-aid-development-assistance [Accessed 1 May 2015]. Kumar, R. and Nair, S. (2009). INDIA: STRATEGIES AT THE DOHA DEVELOPMENT AGENDA- JULY AND BEYOND. Geneva, p.4. lOMC, (2013). OMC | Nouvelles 2013 Jours 3, 4 et 5: Un â€Å"Paquet de Bali† voit le jour à   l’issue de consultations-marathon. [online] Wto.org. Available at: https://www.wto.org/french/news_f/news13_f/mc9sum_07dec13_f.htm [Accessed 4 Mar. 2015]. Cho, S. (2006). The WTO Doha Round Negotiation: Suspended Indefinitely | ASIL. [online] Asil.org. Available at: http://www.asil.org/insights/volume/10/issue/22/wto-doha-round-negotiation-suspended-indefinitely [Accessed 2 Mar. 2015]. FAO, (2009). FAO Nouvelles: 2050: 2,3 millliards de bouches de plus à   nourrir. [online] Fao.org. Available at: http://www.fao.org/news/story/fr/item/35656/icode/ [Accessed 10 Mar. 2015].

Link between Household Debt and Savings

Link between Household Debt and Savings Many analysts and business executives are becoming apprehensive with the recent rises in the consumer debt burden, defined as the level of consumer debt relative to ability to repay which may predict an economic growth slowdown. A higher debt reduces the credit worthiness of households who would then experience financial anguish caused by unfavourable economic shock, such as the loss of a job or large uninsured medical expenses. In the event of this situation, they would be less disposed to spend on consumer goods, particularly big ticket items such as automobiles and home computers. Consequently, the reduction in consumer spending would hurt economic growth as firms cut back on the production of consumer goods and laid off workers. Households have spent in excess of income, in part because increased house prices have led to increased household wealth. The rise in house prices reflects an adjustment to sustained low inflation and interest rates, among other factors. However, activity in the housing market cannot be sustained at the pace seen in recent years. As the housing market cools, growth in consumer spending should ease and household saving rise, resulting in a tendency for the current account deficit to fall, everything else equal. The increase in household debt also partly reflects the removal of government controls of the financial system over the past two decades. Based on the results of empirical works of many authors, most studies favour the hypothesis that the causality is from economic growth rate to growth rate of savings. Based on the empirical results, the main conclusion of this study is that income class of a country does play an important role in determining the direction of causality. A rising consumer debt burden also might predict future activities in broad methods of economic activity, such as real gross domestic product. A decline in consumer spending on durable goods would lower real GDP growth because such spending is a large constituent of real GDP. 1.2 Objectives and Organisation of the dissertation Many tests have been carried out by many authors throughout the world to see if there is a link between household debt, household savings and economic growth and hence, analyse its impact on the discussed variables. A panel cross country analysis has been carried out on 25 countries to determine how household savings and debt may act as a deterrent for economic growth. Chapter 2 reviews the literature and empirical evidence pertaining to the works of various authors concerning economic growth, household debt and household savings. The next chapter deals with the review of variables of interest to us, which will be used in the empirical testing part, hence, the household savings as a proportion of disposable income, household debt as a proportion of GDP per capita, growth rate of Real GDP per capita, consumption share of GDP per capita, price level of GDP, investment share of GDP per capita, interest on savings will be scrutinized in the chapter. In Chapter 4, the Haussman tests have been mostly used to predict the impact of these independent and exogenous variables on the dependent variable of economic growth. Finally in Chapter 5, we conclude on the subject and make some policy recommendation and alongside cite some limitations of the work carried out. 2.1 THEORETICAL LITERATURE When there is a positive change in the level of production of a countrys goods and services over a certain point in time, it is referred to as economic growth. It is also influenced by many factors but one of the pinnacles of economic history is the impact household saving and debt has on economic growth. Most working papers and journal articles on cross countries studies assume a positive relationship between household saving and economic growth and an adverse relationship between consumer debt and economic growth. The difference between a households disposable incomes (primarily wages obtained, proceeds of the self-employed and net property returns) and its consumption (spending on products) is known as household saving. When the household saving is divided by household disposable income, the household savings rate is computed. When a household uses more than it obtains as expected income and funds some of the spending through credit (growing debt), through returns coming from the sale of resources, or by making cash and deposits, there is usually a negative savings rate. These discrepancies are fairly due to institutional distinctions between countries. These include the degree to which old-age pensions are financed by government rather than through personal savings, and the level to which governments offer insurance against sickness and unemployment. The age composition of the population is also significant, as the elderly tend to run down financial assets obtained during their working life. This implies that a country with an ageing population will generally have a low household saving rate. The conformist view is that savings contribute to higher investment and hence higher GDP growth in the short run (Bacha, 1990; DeGregorio, 1992; Jappelli and Pagano,1994). The central idea of Lewiss (1955) traditional development theory was that increasing savings would accelerate growth. Kaldor (1956) and Samuelson and Modigliani (1966) studied how different savings behaviors induced growth. On the other hand, many recent studies have concluded that economic growth contributes to savings (Sinha and Sinha, 1998; Salz, 1999;Anoruo and Ahmad, 2001). Over the last 10-15 years, household saving rates have increased in Austria, Germany and Sweden and remained stable in Belgium, France and Switzerland. A downward trend over the same period has occurred in Canada, Italy, Japan, Korea, Poland and the United States. (OECD (2010), National Accounts of OECD Countries, OECD, Paris) The main factors contributing to differences among countries are listed below: The income effect: in general higher income leads to a higher saving rate; The wealth effect: profits or losses on financial and non-financial assets and liabilities affect built up wealth, and thus probably expenditure, but not on income. Higher wealth may then lower the saving rate; Credit facilities: in countries (e.g. UK and US) where consumption credit was easier to finance, saving rates may be comparatively lower; Institutional factors such as differences in social security schemes, especially pension schemes and the tax system; The proportion of own-account entrepreneurs and small unincorporated enterprises, within the household sector, because producers may have a different saving behaviour; Households expectations as regards the future economic situation; Cultural and social factors. Hondroyiannis (2004) analyses the long term and short term causal factors of aggregate private savings in Greece using data for the time frame of 1961-2000. By considering the financial and demographic advances during this phase, the long run savings utility which is susceptible to real interest rate, public funds, liquidity, old dependency ratio and fertility changes, is approximated on the foundation of an absolute life-cycle hypothesis. The significance of short-run divergences is obtained using vector error-correction model estimation. The empirical evidence proposes the continuation of a stable long-run savings function in Greece both in the long- and short-run periods and the policy inferences of such an association are accessible. According to Barba and Pivetti (2008), rising household debt in USA made low wages and increasing aggregate demand to arise simultaneously. In the USA, according to the figures of the Federal Reserve Board, consumer credit outstanding reached 25% of disposable personal income (DPI) in 2006. This was the peak of an upward trend that has characterised the period since the first half of the 1980s, following 15 years during which the consumer credit-income ratio averaged around 18%. Increasing household debt in developed countries like USA has been mostly due to the noticeable fall in household savings and this had an adverse effect on economic growth. Salotti (2009) claims that the current account is inclined by changes in US private savings which aid to generate and maintain world imbalances. A panel of 18 developed countries for the time dimension of 1980-2005 is used to check this claim by examining the components of total household savings. They merge two lines of literature: the first line from consumer theory, bearing in mind particularly the `wealth effect, the second line from aggregate private savings theory. Unit root and cointegration tests are performed to evaluate the most suited method for estimation of the long run savings function and to derive the cointegrating relationship. The group means FMOLS is exercised to approximate the model. The empirical evidence goes in line with the theory where a rise in wealth should adversely affect the household savings. In addition, when significant descriptive variables, such as national savings and populace dependence ratios, are incorporated in the model, material wealth becom es the only type of wealth to (inadequately and negatively) control household savings in developed countries. Howitt, Agnion, Comin and Tecu (2009) wanted to test if a country can grow more rapidly by saving further as they believe that household saving is of deep concern as it allows entrepreneurs to undertake their business and also reducing the agency cost that usually acts a hindrance for foreign investors. Since domestic saving counts for improvement, and consequently growth, it thus allows the home industrialist to put equity into this joint enterprise, which reduces an organization setback that would else discourage the foreign shareholder from contributing. In rich countries, domestic entrepreneurs are already known with limit know-how and consequently do not need to draw foreign outlay for investment, so domestic saving is not important for growth. The higher the household savings and the lower the household debt a country has, the more economic growth it can at least forecast to make. The finding is based on a cross-country non-overlapping panel over the period from 1960 to 2000. T hey use a sample of 118 countries, all those for which there exists data on per-worker GDP and on the saving rate. The cross-country regression shows that lagged savings is positively related with productivity growth in poor countries but not in rich countries. 2.0 EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE Empirical evidence deals mainly with the previous works of various authors all around the world. There have been many works carried out by different authors and they reached certain conclusions which may be further developed and their results vary among the countries. The first case considered is on the United States of America (USA) and then they further scrutinise what happened in the developed and emerging countries. 2.1 STUDIES ON THE USA As noted in Thomas and Towe (1996), research into household saving/consumption behaviour in recent years has inclined to centre on probing for long-run relationships between saving (or consumption) and selected macroeconomic variables. In large part, this shows the fact that the data involved have been found to be non-stationary. This implies that conventional statistical methods cannot be used to test relationships between movements in the savings rate and other (non stationary) macro variables. This approach also implies that short-run movements in the savings rate may be driven by deviations from the long-run relationship between saving and its fundamental determinants. Callen and Thimann (1997) studied the empirical determinants of household saving in USA using cross sectional and panel data from 21 OECD countries for 1975-95.) They find that household saving fell from 13% during 1975-81 to only 11% in 1982-89 but it has then stayed stable in general. Variables that capture the structure of the tax system and the financing and generosity of the social security and welfare system are added to the set of potential explanatory variables. The results indicate that there is an central role for public and corporate saving, growth, and demographics in controlling household saving, while some role is also established for inflation, unemployment, the real interest rate, and financial deregulation. The results also propose that the tax and the social security and welfare systems have an important impact on household saving. Bà ©rubà © and Cà ´tà © (2000) examine the structural factors of the household savings rate in Canada over the previous 30 years, using co integration techniques. The main result is that the real interest rate, expected inà ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã¢â‚¬Å¡ation, the ratio of the all-government à ¯Ã‚ ¬Ã‚ scal balances to nominal GDP, and the ratio of household net worth to personal disposable income are the most significant causal factors of the trend in the personal savings rate, as calculated in the National Income and Expenditure Accounts (NIEA). The outcomes also recommend that the fast fall in the NIEA personal savings rate in current years mainly shows a change in the trend constituent of the savings rate, rather than a temporary different approach from the trend. Tipett (2010) uses many methodological approaches and draws on longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1979 and also uses multilevel logistic regressions to investigate the relationship between the hypothesized mechanisms and the probability of holding non-collateralized debt. Analysis of Survey of Consumer Finance data shows that the amount of household debt increased faster than household asset increases (see also Bucks, Kennickell, Moore, Fries, and Neal 2006; Kennickell 2009), and Keister (2000) shows that overall wealth has been growing at the same time that the percentage of households with zero or negative net worth has also been rising. 2.2 STUDIES ON DEVELOPED ECONOMIES Carroll and Weil (1994) present Granger-causality tests for 38 countries for which they have fine data, and show that increases in growth radically head increases in saving. Dekle (1993) presents comparable Granger causality regressions for a group of fast-growing countries and finds that growth positively Granger-causes saving in every country in his sample. Edwards (1995) looked at data from a panel of 36 countries over the period 1970-92. Using lagged population growth, openness, political instability, and other lagged variables as instruments, he concludes that the rate of output growth has an important, positive effect on saving. Andersson (1999) believes that the worldly interdependence between saving and output has been measured in recent empirical studies which obliged some authors to question the conventional idea of a causal chain where saving precedes growth via capital accumulation. As divergent to the previous studies, which have mostly used panel-estimation processes, the tests of causal chains are performed in time-series sets. Saving and GDP are approximated in bivariate vector autoregressive or vector error-correction models for Sweden, UK, and USA, and tests of Granger non-causality are executed within the estimated systems. The core results shows that the causal chains linking saving and output vary across countries, and also that causality linked with amendments to long-run dealings might go in diverse directions than causality associated with short-term instabilities. Jappelli and Padula (2007) reconsidered savings inclinations in Italy, summarizing existing empirical evidence on Italians motives to save, relying on macroeconomic indicators as well as on data drawn from the Bank of Italys Survey of Household Income and Wealth from 1984 to 2004. The macroeconomic data indicate that households saving has fallen considerably, although Italy continues to class above most other countries in terms of saving. The microeconomic data show a strong correlation between the propensity to save and the level of current income, as well as a strong correlation between income and indebtedness. International panel data put forward that saving is robustly linked with the growth rate of income, and that saving changes parallel growth change, as shown by Attanasio, Picci and Scorcu (2000) using the 150 countries of the World Bank Saving Database. 2.3 STUDIES ON EMERGING MARKETS Emerging markets are economies which are currently in the process of fast growth and industrialisation. There are at present 28 emerging markets in the world with the economies of China and India being considered certainly as the two largest. New conditions were surfaced in recent years to portray the largest developing countries such as  BRIC  standing for  Brazil,  Russia,  India, and China. The relationship between savings and economic growth has received increased notice in recent years especially in developed and emerging economies [see Bacha (1990), DeGregorio (1992), Levine and Renelt (1992), and Jappelli and Pagano (1994)]. This might not be distinct to the central foundation of Lewiss (1955) traditional development theory that increasing savings would accelerate economic growth. Research efforts by Kaldor (1956) and Samuelson and Modigliani (1966) examined how different savings behaviours would induce economic growth. Caroll and Weil (1994) used five year averages of the economic growth rate and savings for OECD countries and found that economic growth Granger caused savings. However, the reverse was obtained when dummies were included in their estimation. Using Granger causality tests, findings by Sinha and Sinha (1998) and Sinha (1999) found that economic growth rate Granger caused the savings growth rate for Mexico and Sri Lanka respectively. Jappelli, Tullio and Marco Pagano (1994) test whether the measures of liquidity constraints help to explain the international differences in national saving rates, as forecasted by their model. They also test an outcome of that model, namely that the effect of growth on saving is greater where liquidity constraints are more determined. The data cover a panel of 19 countries (all the main OECD countries are included) and are drawn from Modigliani [1990]. Observations are averages of annual data for three periods: 1960-1970, 1971-1980, and 1981-1987). Findings show that the two variables are negatively linked (the correlation coefficient for the entire sample is -0.55). They have empirically measured the soundness of three propositions, namely that liquidity constraints on households raise the saving rate, strengthen the effect of growth on saving, and promote productivity growth in models in which growth is endogenous. Using cross section data between 1960 and 1997 and Granger causality methodology, Anoruo and Ahmadi (2001) observed the causal relationships between the growth rate of domestic savings and economic growth for seven African countries -namely Congo, Cote dIvoire, Ghana, Kenya, Nigeria, South Africa and Zambia. Their studies established that savings are co-integrated in all of the countries except for Nigeria and that economic growth Granger-causes the growth rate of domestic savings for all the countries considered except Congo where reverse causality was obtained. Matos (2002) used among other parameters, the ratio of residents funds deposited in the financial system to aggregate monetary asset M2 (1947-2000) as a proxy of financial development, empirical tests support the view that it is vital to maintain the publics confidence in domestic financial assets to improve GDP growth prospects. This ratio may reflect an intangible asset of the financial intermediaries, i.e. the general publics confidence that contracts between customers. Kwack and Lee (2005) investigate the extent to which income growth and uncertainty and demographic factors affect the domestic real saving rate in Korea. They test an extended life cycle hypothesis and demography hypothesis with Korean time series data from 1975 to 2002. The results of the tests show that the aggregate saving rate is positively affected by the moving average of the growth rate of income and the variance of the income growth. The positive effect of the income growth differs from the negative effect found household survey data were used. Adebiyi (2005) employed quarterly data spanning between 1970 and 1998 to examine savings and growth relationships in Nigeria using Granger causality tests and impulse response analysis and concluded that growth, using per capital income, is sensitive to, and has an inverse effect on savings. Mohan (2008) believes that household savings in India has contributed significantly to its economic growth which recorded a steady rise over the last decades. Mohan found some empirical relations whereby in the argument that high levels of debt-GDP lead to high interest payments relative to GDP, which crowd out government capital expenditure and reduce the overall saving rate, two relationships are of critical importance: the responsiveness of changes in the saving ratio with respect to changes in the fiscal deficit levels; and the responsiveness of government capital expenditure to changes in the level of interest payments. Mohan (2006) experienced the path of causality between economic growth and savings in different economic income classes. The ADF test indicates that both log GDP and log GDS have unit roots in the level data. In the presence of unit roots, the variables need to be differenced in order for the series to be stationary. Without differencing the data, a causality tes t would lead to misspecification. To examine the direction of causality between saving and economic growth in Nigeria during the time frame 1970-2007, Oladipo ( 2009) used the Toda and Yamamoto (1995) and Dolado and Lutkepohl (1996) TYDL methodology. The variables of interest for savings and economic growth are positively co-integrated indicating that there exists a steady long run equilibrium relationship. Furthermore, the findings also revealed a unidirectional causality between savings and economic growth and thus the corresponding role of FDI in growth. In order to establish the link between economic growth and saving in Nigeria during the time frame of 1970-2007, Abu (2010) used the Granger-causality and co-integration techniques. There exists co-integration and long-run equilibrium between the variables savings and economic growth according to the Johansen co-integration test. There is also the causality runs from economic growth to saving, implying that growth triggers and Granger produces saving. Hence, the Solows hypothesis that saving leads to economic growth, and recognize the Keynesian theory that it is economic growth that leads to higher saving, is discarded. CHAPTER 3-DATA ANALYSIS 3.1 Sources of data The economic growth rate, household debt and household saving rate, price level are available on the Global Finance website. The interest on savings, consumption and investment are available on the Nationsmasters website, the World Bank website and the Penn World Table website. 3.2 The Econometric Model In this section, a model is developed to measure the impact of household debt and household saving among other factors, on economic growth. The model for growth for country i in time t is as follows: EGit= ÃŽÂ ± +ÃŽÂ ²1 HDit + ÃŽÂ ²2 HSit + ÃŽÂ ²3 Rit + ÃŽÂ ²4 Pit + ÃŽÂ ²5 Cit+ ÃŽÂ ²6 Iit + Uit Where EGit= Growth Rate of Real GDP per capita at constant prices HDit = Household Debt as a % of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) HSit= Household Savings as a % of Disposable Income Rit = Interest on Savings Pit= Price Level of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) Cit= Consumption Share of CGPD (GDP PER CAPITA) Iit= Investment Share of CGDP (GDP PER CAPITA) Uit = the disturbance term 3.3 Economic Growth When per capita GDP or any other means of calculating total income rises, economic growth arises and this is usually registered as the yearly rate of change in GDP. Economic growth results from advances in productivity in terms of more production of goods and services with the same factors of production. The dependent variable economic growth is measured by real GDP per capita. At times, total GDP figures are not reflective of the actual performance in the economy. Hence, GDP per capita is a better measure as it is liable to fewer errors and some errors tend to affect population estimates and thus they have offsetting impacts. Furthermore, the natural log of real GDP will be taken into account to avoid any large outliers. Screen-shot-2009-09-01-at-14 3.4 Household Saving Household saving can be defined as a percentage of household disposable income which is not consumed and household savings rate can be calculated on gross or net basis. Depreciation is considered in the net savings rate which is more commonly used compared to the gross savings rate. Comparisons of savings rate among countries become hard by these two different measures of gross and net savings rate due to distinct social security and pension programmes, variable tax schemes which have an impact on disposable income. The household savings rate of a country can be affected by age of the economys population, the accessibility of credit, general wealth issues, cultural and social factors. Nevertheless, household savings rates are still a good a measure of an economys income in relation to consumption over time. A country can finance its debt domestically if it has a relatively high level of household savings. High debts levels funded mostly by foreign creditors are less persistent than high debts levels financed by internal savings. Consumption allows GDP to grow and this is a significant factor in economic expansion. With the existence of financial crisis, the whole economy could be dampened with lower consumption due to higher debt and lower savings level. A larger portion of GDP growth should then come from FDI, exports and government expenditure. Household saving is the most essential domestic source of funds to back capital outlay and this is a substantial boost for economic growth on the long term basis. Household savings rate vary greatly among countries as shown in the chart. This is partially due to the level pensions schemes are financed by government rather through personal saving and also to the extent governments offer insurance against sickness and unemployment. savings01 Considering the time dimension in the table above, the savings rate were relatively steady or somehow rising mildly in France, Austria, Italy, Norway and Portugal but have been decreasing in United States, Canada, Japan and Australia. If the social security and insurance payments of USA are considered, its savings rate would be striking. 3.5 Household Debt When a country has a substantial degree of household debt, it increases its inclination to financial crisis and this acts as a hindrance for economic growth. There have been forecasts about house bubbles which were caused and thus creating the countries to be overheated. A large portion of the economic growth was centred on household consumption which was backed by loans from banks. When banks noticed the lack of credit worthiness from consumers who even lost their confidence in the financial system, there had been strict controls over the lending conditions for loans. As a result, the ongoing vicious circle preceded a major decline in economic growth following the fall in consumption and repayments of debts. Analysing the graph results with the conclusion that USA is not the only main country having experienced the worst GDP slowdown but many other countries like Iceland and Portugal are following suit with the level of household debt actually rising substantially. It would not be logical for a country burdened by a large level of household debt to expect its economic performance to flourish in the coming years. HouseholdDebtSelectedCountries household-debt-vs-savings Source:   Lew Rockwell 3.6 Rates of interest The rate of interest has a great influence on the given level of aggregate disposable income which is divided between consumption and saving. However, it cannot be predicted with conviction that a lower interest rate would imply more disposable income will be dedicated to consumption and less to saving or vice versa. As a matter of fact, there can be a rise or fall in the total amount saved following a change in interest rate and this depends on the income and substitution effects and their strengths of their net effects. A higher level of future consumption arises at the detriment of present consumption with substitution effects due to higher interest rates and thus resulting in more savings in the present period. On the other hand, a consumers future income compared to his present income can be increased following higher interest rate and this leads to higher consumption by borrowing from future income and hence, less is saved. However, this may not be necessarily the case for lower income earners who would save only a small part of their incomes even when interest rates are high. The substitution effect will then outweigh the income effect and there will be a direct link between income and rate of interest. For some people who prefer to save a greater portion of their incomes, the income effect may offset the substitution effect and thus higher interest rates would result in lower present savings level real-interest-rates 3.7 Price level/Inflation One of the theoretical concepts of economics says that when there is a change in the price level, this may affect consumption and savings positively or negatively. It is usually believed that households confidence in money erodes when there is inflation and hence, they have the tendency to save more since inflation actually raises the variance of expected real income. The fact that consumers have greater preference for unplanned increases in savings compared to withdrawals, it usually incites consumers to save more when inflation is high. There is also an indirect effect of inflation whereby the real value of nominal asset is diminished and thus the real value of liquid assets decreases the net household wealth. Real consumption is often reduced and savings rate increases. 080625_global_inflation (1) 3.8 Consumption The total value of goods and services purchased by people aggregated over time is called consumption and it is usually the greatest GDP component. A countrys economic performance is often assessed on its consumption levels. Different income earners would be consuming differently depending on their standard of living and purchasing power. Consumption is usually determined by current income, accumulated savings and expectations on future income. Consumption and consumer debt trends 3.9 Investment When an owner usually acquired property for the purpose of generating income like plants and equipments, this is called investment as it is spending on income-generating assets. If a country wants to achieve long term sustainable economic growth, it should be able to the rates of accumulation of capital be it human or physical so that it can result in more efficient assets and so that the whole population can have access to those assets. With the help of financial instruments, markets, and institutions, the extent to which information, enforcement and transactions costs can have their impact on savings rates, investment decisions, technological innovations and steady-state growth rates can be improved. Average annual investment growth in the first six quarters of recovery Source: National Bureau of Economic Research; National Inco

Conformity Essay -- essays research papers

According to Leon Mann, conformity means ‘yielding to group pressures’. Everyone is a member of one group or another and everyone expects members of these groups to behave in certain ways. If you are a member of an identifiable group you are expected to behave appropriately to it. If you don’t confirm and behave appropriately you are likely to be rejected by the group. Like stereotypes, conforming and expecting others to conform maintains cognitive balance. There are several kinds of conformity. Many studies of conformity took place in the 1950’s which led Kelman to distinguish between compliance, internalisation and identification. Compliance is the type of conformity where the subject goes along with the group view, but privately disagrees with it. Internalisation is where the subject comes to accept, and eventually believes in the group view. Identification is where the subject accepts and believes the group view, because he or she wants to become associated with the group. Leon Mann identifies normative conformity which occurs when direct group pressure forces the individual to yield under the threat of rejection or the promise of reward. This can occur only if someone wants to be a member of the group or the groups attitudes or behaviour are important to the individual in some way. Apart from normative conformity there is informational conformity which occurs where the situation is vague or ambiguous and because the person is uncertain he or she turns to others for evidence of the appropriate response. Thirdly, Mann identifies ingratiational conformity which occurs where a person tries to do whatever he or she thinks the others will approve in order to gain acceptance (if you make yourself appear to be similar to someone else, they might come to like you). The first major research into conformity was conducted in 1935 by Sherif who used a visual illusion, known as the auto-kinetic effect. Sherif told his subjects that a spot of light which they were about to see in a darkened room was going to move, and he wanted them to say the direction and distance of the movement. In the first experimental condition the subjects were tested individually. Some said the distance of movement wasn’t very far in any directio, others said it was several inches. Sherif recorded each subjects response. In the second experimental condition, Sherif gathered his subject... ... and Willis give some criticisms of the early research into conformity. Firstly the studies do not identify the motive or type of conformity. Do the subjects conform in order to gain social approval? Are they simply complying? Do they really believe that their response is correct? Secondly Hollander and Willis claim that the experiments do not identify whether the subjects are complying because they judge that it’s not worth appearing to be different, or because the actually start to believe that the groups judgement is correct. Hollander and Willis also claim that the studies cannot show whether those who do not conform do so because they are independant thinkers or because they are anti-conformists. And Lastly, they claim that the studies seem to assume that independance has to be good and conformity has to be bad. However conformity is often benificial. Sherif and Asch have each conducted fairly artificial laboritory experiments which showed that about 30% of responses can be explained by the need or desire of the subjects to conform. These experiments may not accurately reflect real life when conformity might be benificial and sometimes contribute to psychological well-being.

Anthony Burgess :: essays research papers

John Anthony Burgess Wilson was born on February 25, 1917, in Manchester, England. He was raised up by this aunt and later by his stepmother. He studied at Xaverian College and Manchester University, where he studied English language and literature. During World War II, Burgess served at the Royal Army Medical corps. In 1942 he married Llwela Isherwood Jones, who died of alcoholic cirrhosis in 1968. Burgess taught at Birmingham University, worked for the Ministry of Education, and was a teacher at Banbury Grammar School from 1946 to 1950. His first novel, A Vision of Battlement, was published in 1965. In 1954 Burgess became an education officer in Malaya and Brunei. He wrote his first trilogy Time For A Tiger (1956), The Enemy In The Blanket (1958), and Beds In The East (1959). The work â€Å"juxtaposed the progressive disintegration of a hapless civil servant against the birth of Malayan independence†(). Later, Burgess returned to England and was diagnosed as having a cerebral tumor, and given twelve months to live. Burgess busily wrote novels and reviews, so the money can support his wife. However, the doctor made a mistake; Burgess did not have a tumor. The author lived another 33 years, producing over fifty books and journals. Between 1960 and 1964 Burgess wrote eleven novels. The Wanting Seed (1962) â€Å"depicted an overpopulated England of the future, caught up in the alternating cycles of libertarianism and totalitarianism† ( ). In 1962, he wrote his most famous novel A Clockwork Orange, which made him famous as a satirical novelist. In 1971, the novel was made into a film by Stanley Kubrick. The novel was â€Å"born from the growth of teenage gangs and the universal application of B.F. Skinner's behavior theories in prisons, asylums, and psychiatric clinics† ( ). In 1968, Burgess wrote a humorous novel called Enderby (1968), which â€Å"followed the travels of an unconformist poet in England and the continent† ( ). In 1968, Burgess married an Italian â€Å"countess† ( ). In 1972, he was appointed a literary adviser to the Guthrie Theatre, Minneapolis. Burgess published in the 1970s and 1980s thirty books, among them The Earthly Powers (1980), â€Å"which is considered by many critics Burgess's finest novel. It was narrated by an 81-year-old successful, homosexual writer, Kenneth Toomey, a figure loosely based on W. Somerset Maugham† ( ).

Lady Liberty

It was 1885 in New York City. A little boy named Frederick Bloomsmen was hurrying down the streets to get to his master's shop. â€Å"Mayhap if I hurry, I'll get to see Lady Liberty,† Frederick thought. But as he ran along, he heard the town clock strike 6:00. â€Å"Oh no! I've got to make haste!† Frederick said desperately. Frederick had been delivering a saddle to the cart builder and had spent too long talking to the cart builder's son. Slam! The door to his master's store opened and shut as Frederick ran in. â€Å"Where have you been† Mr. Ezra (for that was Frederick's master's name) roared. â€Å"Delivering the saddle, sir, just as you asked me to,† Frederick answered timidly. â€Å"Well, you're late!† Mr. Ezra boomed. It was finally Saturday, Frederick's day off. He ran down the streets, as if racing the wind to see who could get to Lady Liberty skeleton first. Suddenly, he stopped still, for in a shop window sat the loveliest carved figure of Lady Liberty herself! His eyebrows slid up. He ran into the shop. â€Å"Excuse me, sir, how much money is that figure of Lady Liberty?† Frederick asked. â€Å"Well laddie, it's worth 15 cents but I'm lowering the price to 10 cents.† â€Å"Ten cents,† Frederick's head rang out as he ran home, â€Å"Where can I get such a fortune?† The next Monday, Frederick had almost forgotten the figurine. â€Å"Mr. Ezra, sir, may I please have my wages?† â€Å"All right, lad, but only because you haven't been sassin' me.† He opened the cash register and dropped a nickle into Frederick's outstretched palm. Halfway there! Frederick's head seemed to yell out with joy. Now he thought about how pretty that figure would look on Mama's mantle. † I'll give it to her for her next birthday,† he said aloud. â€Å"What was that, boy?† Mr. Ezra said. â€Å"Nothing,† Frederick said quickly, blushing bright red. The next morning after his chores were done, Frederick ran to the shop where the figure of Lady Liberty sat, to see if she was still there. Phew! There it was, looking as gorgeous as ever. The next week, Frederick got his wages. Another nickle! He finally had 10 cents. But as he walked down the roads he thought, â€Å"What if they need just 10 more cents to finish the Statue of Liberty?† And so silently he headed for the donation box. He listened to the cling as the coins dropped into the box. As the months flew by, Frederick's birthday was drawing nearer. One day, as he was running down the streets to see the Statue of Liberty, a shopkeeper (actually the very one that carried the figurine of Lady Liberty) called out from his shop. â€Å"Frederick! Wait! I've got a birthday present for you!† So Frederick stopped and went inside the shop. The shopkeeper handed him a small box. â€Å"Open it,† he urged. As Frederick did so, his eyebrows slid up as his mouth went down. For there, beautifully arranged in a pile of white tissue paper, sat the figurine of Lady Liberty! Frederick felt dizzy with happiness as he left the shop. Mama's birthday came just as quickly as Frederick's had. Frederick re-wrapped Mama's birthday present. When the time came for her to open it, her mouth dropped in surprise. â€Å"Why Frederick, where did you get this?† she asked in bewilderment, â€Å"It's beautiful! I absolutely love it! I'll put it on the mantle.† Frederick had to tell her the entire story, which was similar to the one I have just finished telling you now.

Christian Values and America’s Historical Documents Essay

While socially networking, a person will run into many different opinions on all topics. People have their own beliefs and ways of looking at things, so when I was expounding on my ideas, the inevitable topic of religion was brought up. As much as the Golden Rule flows through most religions, there are people who are not able to put their ego aside and open their minds to the simplest possibilities. The specifics of this topic were of such that the United States was founded on Christianity. Religion and politics are highly volatile topics and most people will only argue emotionally instead of stopping and critically thinking about any information they may be given on these two subjects. Many people believe that the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence were founded on Christian values, but in closer examination, they both have vague wording and Deist beliefs. Counterarguments There are several reasons that people believe that the historic documents of the United States were written with Christian values in mind. One reason is, in the 19th Century, a movement started which believed that the settlers were led here by the hand of God (Allison, 1998). This was a popular belief and many people still hold true to this belief. It is taught in public schools that the colonists came over from England because of religious persecution. Another argument for this way of thinking is that, because of the belief that God showed the settlers where to go, that He also must have had led the Founding Fathers to write the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States (Allison, 1998). This lead to the belief that God is needed to preserve not only religious institutions, but also democracy. Human rights are seen to be given by God, which, in a nation that was intolerant of non-Christians, meant the Judeo-Christian God (Cherry, MD, 2011). Our Founding Fathers separated Church and state, but not God and state. Church and state and God and state are sometimes seen as  the same idea, which can be confusing, even to a Christian. In addition to this, many believe that this country was founded with Christian values because of a statement that was made in Madison’s Federalist Paper Number 37 where it states, that only, â€Å"†¦ a finger of that Almighty hand† could have shown him the insight to write the Constitution (Ferguson, 1987). United States Constitution The United States Constitution was written in such a way as to be intentionally vague and without Christian values, but Deist values instead. The Constitutional Convention had many problems in coming up with this historic document. Every man that attended this convention had their own ideas and ways to convey what they believed needed to be included in this document. Vague Wording Ben Franklin’s ambiguous wording in the Declaration of Independence led Madison to exaggerate the wording even further in the Constitution. The intentionally ambiguous wording that Madison used in the Constitution was used â€Å"to bring conformity within a divided country,† (Ferguson, 1987, p. 159). In the 14th Amendment it states, â€Å"Any person†¦,† but when this document was written African-Americans were not considered people, so Jim Crow Laws were kept in place in many areas of the country. In the convention meetings leading up to what the Founding Fathers wrote to become the Constitution, compromises were made. In the second amendment, it states that people have a right to keep and bare arms. What makes this vague is that most of us take this to mean any, and all people, but what the Constitutional Framers meant was to indicate those that were in the militias. So, those â€Å"people† that were in the â€Å"militias† could keep and bare â€Å"arms,† not just anyone could. Deist Beliefs The Constitution forms a secular document and is in no way related to God (Walker, 2004). God was not forgotten in the writing of the Constitution. This omission was purposely done to keep the government and religion separate from each other. The Constitution’s preamble starts out â€Å"We the people†¦,† and clearly states the intention of the men who framed the Constitution, including â€Å"establish Justice, ensure domestic Tranquility,  provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity†¦.† Nowhere in the Constitution is the word God, so there would be no mistake as to the thoughts of Madison. The First Amendment to the Constitution even states that, â€Å"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the exercise thereof†¦,† which means that the government is not supposed to support any one religion or to stop any individual from practicing their religion or lack thereof. Religionists and atheists are able to equally practice their belief system because of this. This alone is a contradiction to the First Commandment, which demands fealty to a specific god (Trent, 2012). The Constitution’s confusion stems from the ambiguous wording of the Declaration of Independence. Declaration of Independence The Declaration of Independence’s wording and belief system is not only vague, but also Deist. This historic document did not take sides and was intentionally meant in an unbiased way. This can be shown in several different ways. Vague Wording Ambiguity in the wording of this document by Ben Franklin tends to give many the misunderstanding by using phrases such as, â€Å"Nature’s God† and â€Å"their Creator,† which leads people who are Christian, by default, to the thought that this is a Christian-based document. Wording such as this is intentionally vague, because it comes from the belief in a higher power; whatever that may be to each individual as opposed to strictly Christian beliefs. The intentionally vague wording, such as, â€Å"unalienable rights† and â€Å"laws of nature,† transcends the political, and even the religious, arguments of from where these rights came from and by whom they were given. One of the words in the introduction is necessary and when this document was written, this word had a much more significant meaning than we have today for it. Back then, it meant that it was something that was made in association with fate and was beyond control of human agents. An example of this meaning is the Revolutionary War was going to happen and there was nothing anyone could do about it. The division of the people between England and the settlers could not have been repaired by anyone or anything. Deist Belief System As it is stated in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary, Deism is a movement or system of thought advocating natural religion, emphasizing morality, and in the 18th Century denying the interference of the Creator with the laws of the universe. The Founding Fathers, such as Ben Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and several others, were only strictly Christian in appearance, but Christian-Deist in belief. These men followed the works of philosophers, such as Descartes and Voltaire. This led these men to question Christian beliefs. Believing in what the classic philosophers wrote, had the Founding Fathers put the test of reason to every idea and assumption. When they put this test to religion, they found they needed to strip away revelation, which led to Deism (Johnson, 2004). The Founding Fathers were very closed-mouth about their personal religion, but encouraged religious tolerance and a belief in God. When writing the Declaration of Independence, they were in reality writing the reason of their actions to the rest of the world for why they did what they did. In short, it was a foreign policy document. The second and most famous paragraph of the Declaration of Independence states that the Founding Fathers believed that it was self-evident that all men are created equal. The Creator, as is believed by any one person, granted all men with certain rights; life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, which is given by the universe’s natural laws. This one belief shows that at least some of the Founding Fathers were Deists, as this is a Deist belief. The Declaration of Independence is interpreted many different ways to fit neatly into everyone’s individual belief system, when it should just be read the way it is, and not try to make more of it than it is. The Declaration of Independence is a statement of why everyone deserves liberty and freedom. Conclusion The Declaration of Independence and the Constitution of the United States were written without Christian values because when the settlers came to America they were trying to get away from a government that was telling them what to do and how to believe without the â€Å"voice of the people† reaching those in power. If the Declaration of Independence and Constitution were written with Christian values, the Founding Fathers would not have put in  the segments about religious freedom into these documents. I believe that if Christian values were used to write the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence, that religious freedom would not have been a part of these historic documents. Everyone has their own way at which they look at and perceive things, and they will make things fit into their belief system to make it easier for them to understand. Sometimes, this is not necessarily the way that things in history were meant to be interpreted, such as the Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. We are taught this in school through text books, at home with taught beliefs, and political affiliations see this topic differently, but if we break out of the mold, and try to think for ourselves, we can learn and enjoy from the simple beauty in which these documents were written. With an open mind, we are more apt to realize the original intent of historical events and documents. References Allison, J. (1998). Declaration of Independence: It’s Purpose. Retrieved from http://candst.tripod.com/doipurp.htm Cherry, MD, R. R. (2011). American Judeo-Christian Values and the Declaration of Independence. Retrieved from http://www.familysecuritymatters.org/publications/id.9876/pub-detail.asp Ferguson, R. A. (1987). Ideology and the Framing of the Constitution. Early American Literature, 22(1987), 157-165. Formisano, R. P., & Pickering, S. (2009). The Christian Nation Debate and Witness Competency. Journal of the Early Republic, 29(Summer), 219-248. Johnson, R. L. (2004). The Deist Roots of the United States of America. Retrieved from http://www.deism.com/deistamerica.htm Rubicondior, R. (2012). Founded on Christian Principles? Retrieved from http://rosarubicondior.blogspot.com/2012/04/founded-on-christian-principles.html Trent, B. (2012). First Amendment or First Commandment. Up Front, May-June (N/A), 10-11, 37. Walker, J. (2004). The Government of the United States of Am erican is not, in any sense founded on the Christian religion. Retrieved from http://www.nobeliefs.com/Tripoli.htm