Economics The Russian Experience Essay Example for Free

Economics The Russian Experience Essay The economy of the Soviet Union was based on a system of state ownership and administrative planning which meant that the state was the single decision organ in economic matters. The economic growth was guided by what was then called Five Year Plans crafted by the national decision makers appointed by the state. This approach made it easy for the resources to be harnessed to achieve set objectives. The economic set up concentrated more in building capital goods, machine manufacture and the chemical industry. The economic setup was top down model that offered little option for feedback to move to the decision makers. This made it hard for the decision makers to assess the effects of their decisions with a view to eliminate destructive ones. It therefore made it hard for the decision makers to abandon earlier decisions that failed to work or that produced negative results. (http://www. answers. com/toic/history-d-the-soviet-union-1985-1991). The economic setup, otherwise called communism, often resulted into the problem of over or under production of goods. The system paid little attention to the production of consumer goods and this led to black markets thriving. This black market had a counter effect on the economic agenda of the planners. The system was also very bureaucratic delaying issues that required urgent decisions. This scenario led to a back logging of decisions, which overwhelmed the decision makers with time. Middle level managers began to agitate for freedom to deal with customers and suppliers directly for them to more effectively respond to the economic laws of demand and supply. This agitation built up to eventually break the Soviet Union because the decision makers and the political leaders of the time failed to respond to these demands responsibly. (http://www. answers. com/toic/history-d-the-soviet-union-1985-1991). The economic setup of the Soviet Union had made some big gains, which enabled them to become industrialized faster than other economic fronts. Failure to respond to arising issues was what contributed to its downfall. Strong institutions had already been setup such as the agricultural sector, foreign trade as well as the financial sector. All capital goods were collectively owned with little exceptions. Individual property ownership was minimal. The ownership controversy also contributed to the Soviet Union breakup. Since then Russia has had to undergo intensive reform program to enable them to respond to the largely capitalistic world economy (Moszczynska, undated) A key sector that is the focus of the reform process is the financial sector. The Russian economy is reliant on oil and the fluctuations of prices affect the economy adversely. To alleviate such adverse effects, the financial sector needs reforms because it offers smoother transition into the envisioned economic setup. A challenge facing Russia and other countries as they transit from command economy to the free market economy is imbalance created by foreign trade. These countries have begun to import goods that were in short supply but on the other hand exports have began to decline. This slows down the recovery process since exports spurred growth previously. When the exports are more than the imports, a country is performing well economically and this is reverse for these former Soviets. Consumption growth had for a time led to an increment is real wages but productivity growth has stagnated those gains. This again is due to the heavy reliance on the oil industry for economic growth (Barnard, 2000). In addition, there is little investment outside the oil and metal industries. This means that as much as the motive is to create wealth for the citizenly, there cannot be much success if no considerable investment is made. In fact investments in other areas has been declining over time. The investment climate in Russia is still hostile which slows down the ability of the reform process to spur growth. The economic system only favor large business establishments leaving small and medium sized enterprises struggling. The government’s authorization requirements are stringent while corruption has been rife. This has led to more resources being allocated to large firms. With the medium sized enterprises grounded, no much growth can be achieved. The banking system is also inefficient since it only lends to the large establishments. The reform of the banking sector has largely depended upon political climate but a legal framework is needed to effectively reform this sector. A better framework to regulate the banking industry has to be put in place (Kahan, 2001). The reform process of the Russian and other former Soviet countries are on the right track. There are enough challenges in the implementation process of the proposals but they are gaining ground. Under performing areas have shown indications of growth. The recovery process, though, calls for political will among the leaders to drive the process. No much progress would be realized if political will is lacking. The effects of the Cold War need to be eliminated from the fore. The Russian economy has great potential and if the strategies respond appropriately to upcoming issues, the Russian economy would perform better. The Russian economy performance had put Russia ahead of other countries. It was not entity based on wrong principles. The major problem was the bureaucratic system that had been set that made it difficult to respond to rising issues. If the economy is to acquire the envisioned status it once had, it has to respond to arising issues.

Lewis Carrolls Alice In Wonderland Essay -- Lewis Carroll Alice In Wo

Lewis Carroll's Alice In Wonderland â€Å"So she sat on, with closed eyes, and half believed herself in Wonderland, though she knew she had but to open them again, and all would change to dull reality . . .† (Carroll 119). Wonderland: a place where everything is different and the imagination is free to roam wild. A place where it does not matter how big a person is, but the intellect that is in a person. Existing in the dreams of children everywhere, wonderland is a place of escape, causing a person to think in new, different ways: a place like no other. Through his novel, Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll captures and writes about a little girl’s adventures through her own dreamland. Upon waking up and telling her sister about her dream, her sister contemplates on wonderland, feeling as if she can throw her troubles away and escape to its enchantment. However, being older and having more responsibilities than Alice, she is forced to return to reality. But will the wonder land leave Alice forever? Wonderland is a place of the imagination that makes a person question all that is around him but gradually minimizes with age. Wonderland is a place of enchantment. Nothing is as it should be. Everything that a person has come to expect in reality becomes questioned until he begins doubting who he really is. When Alice first embarks on her journey through wonderland, she too wonders if she has changed instead of her surroundings: â€Å"Dear, dear! How queer everything is to-day! And yesterday things went on just as usual, I wonder if I’ve changed in the night? Let me think: was I the same when I got up this morning? I almost think I can remember feeling a little different. But if I’m not the same, the next question i... ...composed of a fifty-two deck of playing cards, taking on daily roles as painters and royalty, nothing is how it seems in reality. Wonderland is a place far from the life Alice is used to living. Wonderland is a place of imagination for children of all ages. When Alice’s sister awakens from her mini-dream about Alice’s wonderland, she hopes that Alice will be able to keep this imagination with her as she grows up. She wishes Alice to be able to make other children’s â€Å"eyes bright and eager with many a strange tale† (Carroll 120). Although the novel she reads in the park with Alice no longer has the pictures that Alice enjoys reading, her sister still carries a part of wonderland with her hidden waiting to expose itself. Works Cited Carroll, Lewis. Alice’s Adventure’s in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass. New York: Barnes & Noble Books, 1999.

Cultural teachers Essay

Cultural teachers are about people who intently or otherwise came and left with time. It’s about meeting and embracing interesting and less interesting characters who weaved some of my life’s cultural values. It’s about friends who come and go in the passing of time and it’s them that shaped my individuality and identity. What ordinary people mostly see is not usually what my friends see in me. These people may see my exact opposite but it is only my friends who sees the real me. Before I met them, I had two sides of individuality- what I am and what I really am. But as my friends would say, there is nothing wrong with having two sides. What may be wrong is choosing a side and never show the other. The struggle of both sides was greatly handled by my friends. It was a long and difficult struggle but my friends helped me to end it in order for me to grow. Now that I have grown up, I realized that without the help of my friends, I would have not lived any cultural value up to now and I would have still remained a different person as before. As many would say, individuality has its own justification. If at some point one’s individuality is questioned or criticized or discriminated against, so long as one does not interfere with other people’s lives nor deprive them of their own happiness, one owes nobody an explanation for what he does and for who he is. But through the critics of my friends, I was able to come up with the real me. And I salute them for making me the person I deserved to be. This experience can be linked to Geert Hofstede’s Individualism wherein no matter how everyone stand out in their choice, in whatever means of comparison; still no one is different from everyone. Still you see the same differences with the person who may be sitting right next to you, getting his own share of life’s bittersweet moments. Inevitably, my enemies are my cultural teachers too. Yes, they are, in one way or another, but they don’t necessarily be specific persons but also things and situations that I perpetually consider as perpetual enemies such as cigarettes, junk foods, noisy places, heavy traffic, among others. They influenced us in all aspect of living. Somehow, my actions are being geared towards keeping away from these enemies. I see them as hindrances from my actions to achieve my goals. My thoughts are greatly influenced as well. Since I think of them as interruptions and intrusions, I tend to focus more on the things that will give me benefits instead. That is, showing my enemies that I am better off without them. Simply said, enemies challenge me to show off the best in me. Cultural values are also disrupted if you’ve got enemies. The enrichment and preservation of these values are corrupted. But I look at it as assessments on how to uphold the integrity of the values I believe in. My enemies trigger a more dispiriting affective experience. The more you’re affected, the more they pushed you down. That is why I make sure to find a way to boost my morale by stepping up to the test. The action and behavior towards my enemies are matched with one of Hofstede’s cultural dimensions, the Uncertainty Avoidance. Although an enemy causes so much anxiety, there are still ways to reverse its impact. If I may say it, I spare myself from things that are highly distressing. In the same way I dispose all the negative results of having an enemy, and use it as a tool to avoid circumstances that could interrupt my living values and lifestyle. Lastly, my cultural values have been influenced mostly in school through my teachers. Acting mainly as my second parents, teachers are my sources of knowledge and advancement. I expected them educate me using morals and necessary subject matters for me to achieve a much-coveted diploma. They’re with me in reaching the zenith of my ambitions through sharing the knowledge that they had acquired from years of studying. They helped me make a stand and defend my conviction. The values that I got from them have also helped me cope with my day-to-day concerns and they have influenced me a lot for they know what’s right and wrong with things in life. Their language and conduct as well speak of a vast reservoir of knowledge and wisdom. As part of the youth, I tend to be very idealistic, sensitive and vulnerable, crying out all the injustices in this world with passion. I passed harsh judgments and lashed out at anyone easily who didn’t meet my expectations. But as teachers, they have changed the way I perceive things in life. They have made me believe that I should try to have more patience, so that I could somehow balance things with intelligence and logic. Subconsciously, they have inculcated in me their own beliefs and principles without them knowing it. Without these mentors, I know I wouldn’t be able to know anything at all. In short, I owe them almost everything, if not all, the things that I have learned in life. Considering that I have been with my teachers for long years, I would probably be relating this to the Long-Term Orientation of Hofstede in his Cultural Dimensions. Teachers have done so many things through the years that I was still with them in school. They have not just stepped in to the classroom and painstakingly teach what I, as a student doesn’t know academically but they have also left a legacy – a legacy that not all can grasp. Reference Geert Hofsted – ITIM (n. d. ). Cultural Dimensions. Retrieved September 18, 2008, from http://www. geert-hofstede. com/

American Dream

American Dream The concept of American dream is often used for the description of any nation-wide ideology, which unites the Americans. The variety of nationalities and races, which populate the South American continent, and the historical fact of their unity caused urgent need for the formulation of the exclusive doctrine, which would rally natives from different countries into unique nation. It is rather an interesting fact that the American dream arose through one and a half centuries after formation of the USA. The concept was included into the book Epic of America in 1931 by historian and writer James Truslow Adams. The main idea was that each person, who owns his abilities, energy and diligence, is capable to achieve a lot by fair means in life – become respectable and well-off, or even the President of the country. However, every inhabitant of the USA puts in this definition his own pictures of the wonderful future. Although such idea is considered by many skeptics as a social utopia, it is one of the brightest motive forces for migration to the United States in the human history. The analysis of poll’s results testified that those who believe, and those who disbelieves, have very different outlooks on life. At the end of January in 2009 the real possibility of the American dream realization was believed in by 56% of the Americans. Those who are sure that the American dream is not more, than just a good phrase, tend to blame power. They explain the inability to bring this dream into life by the following statements: The country’s authorities do not care of such people like me (44%) We are not aspired to ideals’ achievement† (29%) A cost-of-living is too high (27%), I am a pessimist (10%). Except for these reasons, there is a recent loss of work places or transition to a low-paid position. All in all, the American dream is one of the good things to believe in, and, who knows, if there were more such pleasant things in life, it could change for the better.