A Soft Drink Tax According to John Stuart Mill Essay

The Coca-Cola brand has built itself into a staple of American culture. This is a terrifying thought for public health advocates who see Coke and other soft drinks as being major culprits behind a growing national health crisis. Empirical evidence shows that over-consumption of soft drinks clearly causes harm to the individuals who consume them, however, the waging battle over soda legislation will not be won on the grounds of health alone. The argument that Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and other soft drink firms present is deeply rooted in American values and cannot easily be trumped. What they argue for is freedom of choice. In his book On Liberty, John Stuart Mill states, â€Å"over himself, over his own body and mind, the individual is sovereign† (9). If an individual chooses that he wants to drink soda pop, he should be allowed a high degree of liberty to make that decision. Such is the foundation of a soft drink firm’s purported right to exist. If consumers demand it, Coca-Cola executives will get as red in the face as their soda cans stating that they play an innocent and vital role in fulfilling that demand. One method through which public health advocates wish to regulate soft drinks is in the implementation of a soda tax. Advocates for such a tax may argue that individuals who harm themselves by overindulging in soda should be limited in their consumption. Since supply and demand are sensitive to market conditions, a tax would undoubtedly lower the quantity of soda demanded, particularly in low-income families where obesity and diabetes are most common. Mill claims that â€Å"to tax stimulants for the sole purpose of making them more difficult to be obtained is a measure differing only in degree from their entire prohibition, and would be justifiable only if that were justifiable. Every increase of cost is a prohibition to those whose means do not come up to the augmented price; and to those who do, it is a penalty laid on them for gratifying a particular taste† (99). Soft drink firms would cite Mill here in their argument that individuals’ â€Å"choice of pleasures and their mode of expending their income, after satisfying their legal and moral obligations to the State and to the individuals, are their own concern and must rest with their own judgment† (99). While Mill’s line of reasoning would appear to speak against a soft drink tax, he goes on to remind us that â€Å"taxation for fiscal purposes is absolutely inevitable†¦ It is hence the duty of the State to consider, in the imposition of taxes, what commodities the consumers can best spare†¦ [and] to select in preference those of which it deems the use, beyond a very moderate quantity, to be positively injurious† (100). Being that over-consumption of soda pop is certainly injurious to the consumer, and especially in light of the current economic downturn in this country, Mill would approve of a soft drink tax as an effective means through which to produce revenue for the State. While a tax on soft drinks would be permissible by Mill’s standards, some proponents of soft drink legislation would go so far as to ban their sale altogether. However, even if the vast majority of the public were motivated to impose such a ban, Mill would hesitate to condone such a severe form of coercion. The basis for Mill’s harm principle is that â€Å"the only purpose for which power can be rightfully exercised over any members of a civilized community, against his will, is to prevent harm to others† (9). Although soft drink firms have a clear interest in â€Å"promoting intemperance† (99) in order to generate profit, those firms will argue fervently that the consumption of soda is not such a great evil that the State would be justified in â€Å"imposing restrictions and requiring guarantees which†¦ would be infringements of legitimate liberty† (99). Therefore, in order to present a stronger argument for a ban on soft drinks, advocates would do well to prove that in drinking soda pop, individuals cause harm not only to themselves, but also to others. To consume soft drinks to the point of excess can lead to the deterioration of an individual’s health. This may appear to be a self-regarding action until one considers the cost such individuals impose on taxpayers. Citizens whose unhealthy lifestyles regularly land them in the hospital eat up government health care, at which point their actions cease to be self-regarding and become harmful to society at large. With this in mind, are we still to protect individuals’ liberty to drink soda pop? Soft drink firms may point to Mill in arguing that the accountability for such harm lies not with soda, but with the society that raises gluttonous individuals. If grown people are incapable of properly taking care of themselves, society must consider that it â€Å"has had absolute power over them during all the early portion of their existence; it has had the whole period of childhood and nonage in which to try whether it could make them capable of rational conduct in life† (80). It is on this point that we must consider the role that mass media plays in the world today. The pervasiveness of corporate advertising in the U. S. manipulates children’s impressionable faculties of reason, subverting the ability of even responsible parents and educators to impart rational consumption habits on their young ones. Mill writes that he could not see how people could witness an act of self-harm and think it â€Å"more salutary than hurtful, since, if it displays the misconduct, it displays also the painful or degrading consequences which, if the conduct is justly censured, must be supposed to be in all or most cases attendant on it† (81). This argument is undermined by the fallacy of soft drink advertising, which positively portrays the act of drinking soda without showing the adverse long-term effects of its consumption. When a world-class athlete endorses soda pop, susceptible consumers, particularly children, are inclined to associate soft drinks with scoring goals and dunking basketballs rather than with cancer and heart disease. In arguing against the proliferation of soft drinks, one should appeal to a fundamental component of Mill’s doctrine, which states that his harm principle does not apply to â€Å"children or of young persons below the age which the law may fix as that of manhood or womanhood. Those who are still in a state to require being taken care of by others must be protected against their own actions as well as against external injury† (9). In other words; children do not have the maturity to make rational, informed decisions that lead to actions that could potentially cause them harm, for instance, the act of guzzling down a 99 cent Coke. The American Beverage Association would echo John Stuart Mill in saying that â€Å"human beings owe to each other help to distinguish the better from the worse, and encouragement to choose the former and avoid the latter† (74). It is their argument that parents and educators, not government, are responsible for dissuading children to consume soft drinks. Indeed, parents and educators can form a partnership in banning the sale of soft drinks in schools, but it is beyond their power to prevent a non-responsible child from seeing a deviously enticing soda ad on TV and irrationally choosing to spend his or her allowance on soda pop. Therefore, the State would be justified in regulating children’s access to soft drinks by legally coercing soft drink firms to discontinue their advertisements geared toward children, as well as by imposing a minimum age requirement for the purchasing of soft drinks.

Walt Disney: the Quintessential American

Disney: The Becky Tashkulova Mr. Brown American History 25 May 2011 Walt Disney: The Quintessential American You’re riding a rollercoaster in a Disney theme park in Orlando, Florida. You look around at the incredible architecture and imagination that is flowing throughout the park. You start wondering if your childhood would be the same without the man behind all this greatness. Walt Disney was a man full of charisma, joyfulness, and positivity. He never backed down or felt discouraged after failing.He was a man who knew what he wanted and ended up getting it; he was a go-getter. His legacy is celebrated every year by the making of new Disney movies and he is appreciated throughout the world. If you ask an average person who is the quintessential American, his or her response would be someone like George Washington, Theodore Roosevelt, or Abraham Lincoln. Although those are great examples, they don’t portray the same traits as America would. This paper will show how Wal t Disney is the quintessential American.Just like America, Walt Disney is prejudiced, catalytic, and persistent. Many people use â€Å"racist† in a wrong form. To be racist is to keep one race from doing something; while Walt Disney never did that. He was prejudiced against other races, which means unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, especially of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group. Although there is no hard proof to show that Walt Disney was prejudiced, he did show it in his creations, or so we think (Gabler). The Three Little Pigs† featured the wolf dressed as a Jewish peddler. The American Jewish Congress protested that the characterization was so â€Å"vile, revolting and unnecessary as to constitute a direct affront to the Jews. † According to Walt Disney Archives, Walt referred to Italians as â€Å"garlic eaters† and used a variety of crude terms for blacks. To this day, many critics assume that the crows in Dumbo are shown as stereotypes. But Walt was no closet racist. At home he always preached racial, religious and ethnic tolerance to his two daughters.Under his supervision, Disney studios was inhospitable to many minorities, few of whom said to worked there, said that they were virtually verboten on the screen (Gabler). Everyone sees America as this â€Å"welcoming† and â€Å"interracial† country, but no one remembers all the terrible and hypocritical things that America has done in its history. Some would say America is paradoxal, or hypocritical, or contradictory, and while all those words do describe America, no one seems to describe America as prejudiced. The Chinese Exclusion Act was brought up in Congress due to the overflowing population of Chinese in the United States.The US needed workers to build the Transcontinental Railroad, so they brought in the Chinese to build it. After it was all done, no one knew what to do with the Chinese that were left in the coun try and the incoming ones. So Congress decided to pass the Chinese Exclusion Act, which permitted the Chinese entering the US starting from 1882. Congress passed the National Origins Act in 1924 because of the crazy amount of immigrants moving to the US. It excluded any Eastern and Southern Europeans and almost all Asians and other nonwhites from entering the US.This act instituted admission quotas by using the 1890 census to determine the population of a particular nationality group; the government then only allowed 2 percent of that population into the nation. After the Japanese hit Pearl Harbor in 1941, Franklin D. Roosevelt had issued an order to â€Å"punish† all the Japanese living in the United States. The order gave the military broad powers to ban any Japanese citizen from a fifty to sixty mile wide coastal area stretching from Washington state to California and extending into southern Arizona.The order also authorized transporting these citizens to assembly centers, or concentration camps, hastily set up and governed by the military in California, Arizona, Washington state, and Oregon (Executive Order 9066). What does it mean to be persistent? According to the modern day dictionary it means, persisting, especially in spite of opposition, obstacles, discouragement, etc. , persevering, lasting or enduring tenaciously. Walt Disney was seen as determined and hard working, never giving up, and always having faith.His views and visions came from the fond memory of yesteryear, and persistence for the future. Disney’s brothers, Roy and Raymond, had gone off to war and although he was too young to enlist his parents insisted on him not going to war. So he forged his parents’ signature on a passport to go over to France as part of the Red Cross Ambulance Corps (Cole, 21). This particular action shows that Disney would not take no for an answer. He wanted to help out, so his determination showed the most during this event in his life.After completing a set of his 1st cartoons, and working every night in his garage with a borrowed camera, he sold his first set of cartoons to a local theater in Kansas City, Newman Theatre: Newman Laugh-O-Grams† (Cole, 25). His 1st production of Alice in Wonderland had failed, so he started working on his other cartoons but when his first animations company had failed, declaring bankruptcy in the spring of 1923, he had asked Margaret Winkler, who was previously interested in Alice in Wonderland, to distribute the money in the creation (Cole, 28).Although there was a nasty court case after, Disney focused on the positives and kept on moving forward. After his bankruptcy in New York, Disney moved to California, but he was simply too young and inexperienced. So he started the same business as he did in Kansas City and started advertising his cartoons. At first, he had trouble-finding buyers, but finally he sold a serious to a local theater (Cole, 30). His life motto, â€Å"Keep Movin g Forward† was included in a Disney creation of â€Å"Meet the Robinsons† to show Walt’s persistence and optimism.It meant to never stop, never give up, and just to â€Å"Keep Moving Forward†. This motto also shows that Disney chose to stay positive. He was never pessimistic and tried his hardest to give his all. He worked hard and even after having failed attempts at starting his own animation company, he never gave up and just kept on going. All of his hard work paid off, and we can see his magnificent work and amazing determination today. When you think of America, what is the first thing that comes to mind? First man on the moon, the hunt for Osama bin Laden, the Apollo Program, and the struggle during the Cold War perhaps?All those things were achieved by America because, America always needs to be the best of the best and beat everyone in anything. Russia sends in a man in space, America tries to override it by sending rockets in space and trying to land on the Moon. The Apollo Program was commenced because of this crazy race/competition going on with the U. S. S. R. The program was designed to land humans on the surface of the Moon. Six of the missions completed their task by landing on the moon, while the others only orbited Earth’s surface. This shows how hard America tried to get someone on the Moon, in which they succeeded (Williams).The first man on the Moon was the result of the Apollo Program. The legendary man’s name was Neil Armstrong. As spacecraft commander for Apollo 11, the first manned lunar landing mission, Armstrong gained the distinction of being the first man to land a craft on the moon and first to step on its surface. After the tragic events of 9/11, there was a hunt to find the leader of the Al-Qaeda. After a crazy and hectic search for Osama bin Laden, the elite American forces had found him in a custom-built hideout, not far from a Pakistani military academy. It was long believed that he wa s hiding in caves around the world.His body was quickly buried at sea with a stunning finale to a furtive decade on the run (Osama bin Laden). Despite the inconclusiveness of the Korean War, the existence of Cuba as a Soviet satellite 90 miles from Florida, the draft dodgers and Weathermen terrorists, despite the American retreat from Vietnam, the Watts riots of 1964, the Watergate, the humiliating 1979 occupation of the U. S. embassy in Tehran, from 1947 to 1989, the U. S. successfully contained and defeated the Soviets in the Cold War's long and tedious struggle (Bay). That took extraordinary persistence.It took resilient, adaptable, creative and able military and security services. But most of all it took the basic, consistent support of the American people. The ones, who go to work, pay the bills; wear the police and military uniforms. And as John Kennedy once said â€Å"bear any burden †¦ to assure the survival and the success of liberty. † (Bay). â€Å"It all star ted with a mouse† is what everyone says about the Disney franchise. If you think about it, Disney had drastically changed our lives. Walt Disney can be described as catalytic, which means to be relating to or causing or involving catalysis; â€Å"catalytic reactions†, revolutionary.The Disney franchise is a big part of American culture. Kids would do anything for tickets to one of the theme parks. Florida is the top tourist city in America and the only reason it is, is because of the Disney theme parks. Just like America has affected the world with its charm and magic, so has Walt Disney. We celebrate his birthday and his accomplishments every year. His legacy will remain forever. Walt Disney has affected our generation so much and it all started when a mouse character appeared in his series of cartoons, â€Å"Oswald†.When Steamboat Willie opened at the Colony Theater in New York on November 18, 1928, Walt knew that he created something that will change the whole world (Crafton, 5). It signaled the beginnings of animation history. Most people credit Walt Disney as the one who started the animation history, however some critics say that animations have been around since late 1800s (Crafton, 6). If you travel to any country abroad, everyone would know of America as these â€Å"cowboys† who run around with lassos, on horses, chasing Native Americans. That, dear readers, is the magnificent influence of America all over the world.Although everyone sees Americans as these fat, lazy, stupid human beings who eat McDonalds and watch television everyday, Europeans, Asians, Indians, Africans, etc. , praise the United States. Believe it or not, American culture has been so influential everywhere, that everyone wants to live in the US. The culture and entertainment are huge aspects of the influence that America has had on these second world, third world, and even first world European countries. There are KFC’s, McDonalds’, and other â€Å"typical† American fast food restaurants all over the world.America is so powerful, that the celebrities, movies, and any television shows are shown in, almost, every country in the world. Entertainment and culture are not the only features that America has brought over to the rest of the world. After the all-known Revolutionary War, War of Ideas was going around the world. And what it was is that, all the countries that were ruled by kings and queens were starting to ponder upon their rulers. They wanted independence and freedom of speech. The French Revolution that happened shortly after America gained independence from Great Britain can prove that.Now all these countries were starting to revolt because they thought if an underdog, like America, can defeat and break away from a powerhouse, like Great Britain, so can they. To be the quintessential is to be the essential part of something. Walt Disney is indeed the essential whole of everyone’s lives. America and Walt have both been persistent, catalytic, and prejudiced to the world. And although they’ve been the bad guys sometimes, they have tremendously affected the whole world by their great determination and willpower.They have done great things like the Apollo Program, creating Mickey Mouse, landing a man on the Moon, leaving a tremendous legacy behind, etc. And as Ralph Waldo Emerson once said, â€Å"To be great, is to be misunderstood † (Emerson) Works Cited Bay, Austin. â€Å"RealClearPolitics – In Praise of American Persistence. † RealClearPolitics – Opinion, News, Analysis, Videos and Polls. Creators Syndicate Inc. , 3 May 2011. Web. 11 May 2012. . Bell, Elizabeth, Lynda Haas, and Laura Sells. From mouse to mermaid: the politics of film, gender, and culture.Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1995. Print. Cole, Michael D. Walt Disney: creator of Mickey Mouse. Springfield, N. J. , U. S. A. : Enslow Publishers, 1996. Print. Crafton, Donald. Befo re Mickey: the animated film, 1898-1928. University of Chicago Press ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1993. Print. â€Å"Executive Order 9066: The President Authorizes Japanese Relocation. † History Matters: The U. S. Survey Course on the Web. N. p. , n. d. Web. 17 May 2012. . Gabler, Neal. â€Å"Walt Disney–prince or toad?. † Los Angeles Times 22 Nov. 2009, sec.Entertainment: n. page. Los Angeles Times-California, national, and world news. Web. 14 May 2012. â€Å"Osama bin Laden is dead – CBS News. † Breaking News Headlines: Business, Entertainment & World News – CBS News. CBS Interactive Inc. , 1 May 2011. Web. 17 May 2012. . Peet, Bill. Bill Peet: an autobiography. Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1989. Print. Williams, Dr. David R. â€Å"The Apollo Program (1963 – 1972). † Welcome to the NSSDC!. N. p. , 24 Nov. 2008. Web. 17 May 2012.. Emerson, Ralph Waldo. Self reliance. Hoboken, N. J. : BiblioBytes, 199. Print.

Brainstorm By Howard Nemerov Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Brainstorm By Howard Nemerov - Essay Example Although the span of time in which the events of this poem happened is short, it is very detailed, and the details are very clear. It shows how much can happen in a very short time. If I were to liken this poem to a thing, then it would be to a photograph that captures the details of a beautiful moment. This poem describes a moment of reflection for the speaker, where he faces a storm while in the house, and where his mind takes him to an imagined circumstance of becoming the house, of feeling the crows on his head while he is the house, of being torn down by nature, and of being reborn again into something new. Reading the poem, I noticed a rhyme scheme on alternate lines. In some cases, the author used internal rhyme to satisfy the rhyme scheme. The poem has two stanzas, with the first stanza consisting of the bulk of the poem and the second stanza consisting of only one line, which somehow serves as a punch line. Simile can be observed in line 6, where the silence of the wind is likened to a blind man walking through the house. Personification can be observed in lines 7 to 8, where the timber and sap of the house are said to ‘revolt’ from the hold of the washer, bank, and spike. By line 16, I noticed the author used ‘blind’ thrice already, but in different contexts. The first instance refers to the ‘window blinds’, the next is the blind man, and lastly, when the window vanes blur or ‘began to blind’ with rain. At first, it disturbed me, but then maybe the author meant it this way because it probably symbolized something. The house and c rows are personified as they talked to each other. The speaker is then worried that ‘the secret’ might be out as the crows and the house talk. The secret is that â€Å"houses are only trees stretched on the rack.† If nature knew this secret, then it would claim what is rightfully hers; rain will put rust in the nails, shingles will be warped with

Crown vs Dhanani Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1000 words

Crown vs Dhanani - Essay Example Courtroom Number and Name of the Judge: The courtroom number was 308 and the presiding judge was R. Low. Level of Court: The trial took place on what is a provincial court level. Facts: The defendant, Mr Ayaz Dhanani, was convicted of fraud as well as breach of his prior conditional sentencing. What transpired was that Mr Ayaz Dhanani sought to have his house refurbished and subsequently sought out a furniture company to accomplish this task. The issue was further complicated when the cheque that Mr Ayaz Dhanani wrote to the furntire company bounced due to insufficient funds available in his account. For writing a bad cheque, Mr Ayaz Dhanani was arraigned and served a brief period of time in jail. After which, he was released on a conditional sentence. During the period of his conditional sentence, Mr Ayaz Dhanani was found by authorities at the Shangri-La hotel. When apprehended, Mr Ayaz Dhanani was consuming large quantities of expensive liquors and had a very large sum of cash on his person as well as in the hotel’s vault. He was subsequently taken into custody and pleaded guilty to all charges. Procedural History: Mr Ayaz Dhanani (the defendant) was subsequently convicted of fraud and sentenced to serve jail time. Once he was released from detention, his conditional sentence placed restrictions on his mobility and certain freedoms. Due to the fact that he flagrantly violated these conditions, he violated his conditional release and was subsequently taken back into police custody. Issues: Did Mr Ayaz Dhanani violate his conditional sentencing? Decision: Mr Ayaz Dhanani was found guilty of all charges and sentenced to one day in prison. In addition to this jail time, the court also ordered Mr. Ayaz Dhanani to perform an unspecified amount of community service. Reasons: Judge R. Low’s decision was subsequently based on the following two reasons. 1) Mr Dhanani did not seem to appreciate the importance and gravity of the conditional sentence which he was given and was â€Å"living large† in the face of it. 2) Mr Dhanani did not seem to grasp the seriousness of his crime as it related to what he had done to his parents. The argument that the crown prosecutor pursued with relation to this case hinged upon the fact that Mr Ayaz Dhanani was found to be drinking alcohol that was in excess of $60 dollars per glass. At the same time, he was staying in what could only be deemed a luxury hotel. In addition to violating the terms of his conditional release, Mr Dhanani was in personal possession of a very large sum of sequentially numbered US bills ($12,000.00). Thus this provided even further evidence of a breach of his conditional sentencing. Likewise, the argument that the prosecution eloquently made was that due to the fact that Mr Ayaz Dhanani’s parents had already been forced to sell their house in order to pay for the debts incurred by their son, the money that was found in the hotel vault of the Shangri-la should h ave immediately found its way back into the hands of his parents. The fact that this did not occur coupled with the fact that Mr Ayaz Dhanani was apprehended while â€Å"living large† was yet another proof that the good faith conditional release was not respected by him. The judge further stated that due to the lack of lessons learned coupled with his â€Å"unwillingness to be mature†, the court was left no choice but to put him into custody. The defence was left to argue, rather weakly one might add, that the result of the lavish accommodations and drinks that Mr Dhanani was enjoying were the result of his female friend who was paying for these. Furthermore, the defense argued that the money that was found in the safe was not a pertinent legal concern. Ratio: Specific: A conditional senten

African and american politics of social change Article

African and american politics of social change - Article Example and for the fact that they are portrayed negatively by the society, the young black men in the American community have undergone extremely harsh treatment from authorities compared to the white young men. This article is purposefully out to understand the aspects surrounding the young black men in the American society; it also seeks to examine ways in which the government and the stakeholders can offer assistance in order to help the young black men engage in reasonable and fruitful activities in terms ameliorating their lives; through mentorship, as well as conducting restoration for those who have reached extreme levels of drug abuse and criminal activities. This article also seeks to identify the main problems faced by the young black men, as well as the causes of those problems. An initiative was initiated by president Obama this past month dubbed My Brother’s keeper; this enterprise aims to enhance the survival opportunities of young black men. This is a positively vital effort intended to aid the young black men as it is considered one of the most vulnerable groups in the society. As indicated earlier in the article, there is a likeliness of young black men leaving the school system and engaging in criminal activities, therefore attracting the attention of disciplinary and administrative systems such as juvenile and criminal justice structures. Disagreements have sprung up regarding the basis of the complications, but a few are doubtful that drastic measures must be undertaken to address the problems. Obama highlighted a number of interventions one being a program based in Chicago known as becoming a man; this program has the aim of curbing the violent nature of the teenagers through teaching cognitive social skills for example self-control, the ability of studying the reactions and intentions of others more accurately as well as conflict resolution. Naturally, most young individuals have short vehemence and upon provocation they tend to lash out at

What do You Understand by Economic Protectionism Essay - 1

What do You Understand by Economic Protectionism - Essay Example On the contrary, a country that is in least need of a given commodity or produces the commodity locally will raise the rates of import tariffs for the particular product to discourage importation of the commodity (Korber 2000, p. 10). In the views of Riley (2006), economic protectionism can also be achieved through the imposition of quotas. A county in dire need of a particular commodity will actually lift import quotas to encourage further importation of the particular commodities. Conversely, a country that is capable of producing sufficient or relatively adequate amount of a given commodity for its economy may opt to lower the importation quotas of a given commodity (Riley 2006). Under serious circumstances, a country may impose embargoes declaring total ban on importation of a particular commodity (Riley 2006). Export subsidies for locally produced goods can also be used to encourage bulk production and importation of particular commodities into the economy (Korber, 2000, p. 9). Riley (2006) reports that, in the case countries are engaging in free trade, the government may opt to formulate preferential government procurement policy and state aid to ensure that it allocates spending that will only benefit domestic producers as opposed to foreign suppliers. This case is common in the member countries of the European Union, which award contracts to members of the organization. Similarly, governments may also structure the anti-dumping tariffs to protect the local producers and industries from the economic disadvantages that may be caused by high importation of cheap commodities. The European Union imposed anti-dumping tariffs to Norway against cheap exportation of reared salmon to the Scottish and Ireland market, which ruined domestic trade in the two importing countries. Another example of anti-dumping laws emerged when the European Union blocked inflow of Chinese television tubes, aluminium foil and zinc oxides that were believed to sell far below the averag e domestic price, thereby suffocating local producers. In a move to gain local economic advantage, China reduced the value of the Yuan far below the US dollar thereby resulting to low cost of Chinese products in the USA and international markets. This resulted to increased consumption of Chinese products in import countries, slowing the output of the individual importer countries. The need to protect the US economy saw the Congress pass protectionist bill that banned importation of foreign iron and steel for construction purposes (Mankiw 2009). Trade barriers otherwise known as economic protectionism presents positive and negative implications to the economy almost in equal measure. Krol (2008, p. 2) reports that the imposition of trade economic protection policies by the US economy in 1979 resulted to massive loss of jobs as most manufacturing companies were either cutting their production or facing automatic closure thereby raising the net cost of US economy. The principles of mar ket protectionism led to the abolishment of production activities that required unskilled labour and adoption of production activities that demanded skilled labour in the US economy. This action saw the US specializing in the production of high tech machines and electronics with increased export tariffs of the products while raising importation tariffs of products like clothes and shoes produced by the unskilled labour in the developing countries (Krol, 2008, p. 3). This resulted into low prices

How Individuals Appraise Their Own Physical Attractiveness Essay

How Individuals Appraise Their Own Physical Attractiveness - Essay Example The current research was motivated by a desire to better understand how people make judgments about their own attractiveness and how such self-appraisals may systematically vary as a function of the context of time. In Study 1, individuals rated their past self as physically less attractive than their current self. This study is informative in demonstrating that judgments of self-perceived attractiveness vary as a function of temporal perspective. In Study 2, individuals rated their future self as more attractive than their current self. This study is informative in serving as an initial demonstration of how temporal biasing influences future self-appraisals of attractiveness. Furthermore, in both studies, temporal biasing of attractiveness was moderated by an individual difference variable–attribute importance (Study 1) and social comparison orientation. The results of Study 1 are consistent with the view espoused by Mac Davis — participants perceived themselves as mor e attractive now than in the past. Moreover, this pattern was found among only those individuals for whom physical attractiveness was important to their self-concept. Thus, taken together, the results supported the hypotheses. With these results in hand, a second study investigated whether people perceive their future self to be more attractive than their current self. The overall results of Study 2 are consistent with predictions: Respondents rated their future self as more attractive than their current self.