Long-Term Growth and Development of a Nation - Dissertation Example

Background Political will is one of the most important elements in ensuring long-term growth and development of a nation. The policymakers are capable of formulating a plan but its presentation is solely at the discretion of the president and the senators. The policy variables over the country are almost the same. However their present achievement and future prospects can be seriously influenced by political will. A bunch of corrupt politicians will only think and work for their own benefits and the nation will definitely suffer. At the every beginning of the political order and economy, the main concern of a ruler would have been to ensure safety from the attacks of the other nations. However, later on, providing food to its inhabitants also entered the agenda. In course of time, as the concept of ruler became primitive and obsolete, a more democratic set up came into origin, feeling for the mass, compelled them to consider policies addressing issues like unemployment, inflation, inequality and racism received more importance and priority. The United States of America was always a land of freedom. As stated by Abraham Lincoln it was a land “for the people, of the people and by the people”. No doubt, USA is considered as one of the earliest democratic set up which entered the election process long back during 1860s. Interestingly, the policies that were taken by the government at that time remained unaltered with some minor additions till 2007. Some major issues Racism USA has always been a place where the black and the white people interacted with each other and so it was obvious that racism would have been a prime concerns for the USA government. Soon it was understood that blacks were lagging behind without proper education and medical attention. That followed from their nominal level of earnings. Though the government tried to eradicate such inequality and help the black people to mingle with the main stream of the USA society, but even today, the initial oppression and lack of social amenities block the black people to feel at par with other US citizens. Exceptions are there but exceptions can never be examples. While the Democratic Party is known as the architect of modern day racism, the Republicans have been following a policy of attacking racism at its very roots. The delegation head J.C. Watts pointed out, “we are going to attack racism at its roots, we have to focus on education, on economic empowerment, and on rewarding hard work” the Republicans are aware of the Democratic policy of keeping the blacks in poverty and hunger in order to turn them against the republicans during election time and induce them to cast protest votes. Republicans are against the racial quotas and social welfare benefits. However I feel they should incorporate these in order to win the confidence of the blacks. Thus the Republicans aim at winning the hearts of the blacks and help them gain a respectable position such that they may have little ground for protest. According to Frances Rice, chairman of the National Black Republican Association, “The Democrats fight every effort of Republicans to get blacks out of poverty because they know that once blacks become prosperous, the Democratic Party will lose its power base”. Working at the grassroots level would be essential for this. The Republicans cannot work towards the betterment of the blacks without a policy of approaching the problem secretly, slowly and on a one-to-one level. The democrats know that for politics’ sake they cannot let the blacks prosper. However prosperity cannot come to a nation if a large section of the population or inhabitants lie impoverished and in misery. However the United States by its very constitution, stand against bigotry and hence racism. In the words of Watts, “Our country was built on a foundation of liberty and equality for people of all races, religions, and backgrounds. The principles of tolerance and equality remain the core of our identity as a nation”. However the most recent blow to the efforts against racism were disturbed when the 9/11 massacre took place. The threat would fall on the Arabs and Muslims. Recently, after 9/11 took place this hatred even spread towards the harmless Sikhs of India. The idea of promoting the Ku-Klux-Klan (KKK) complemented the Democratics’ interest. In this scenario, addressing the issue of racism is becoming a sensitive and vulnerable issue. Addressing at the grassroots level is necessary. Sometime kind of NGO based work may help. The government might hire social work agencies that would secretly participate in the daily lives of the blacks, without letting others know their true identity. These social organizations are often quite successful since they work at the micro level and it is easier to address the needs of the individuals. An overall improvement in their living standards needs to be brought about in this fashion. Unemployment Once upon a time USA was considered to be a golden land of Eldorado. People from different region of the world came to US to make fortune but somewhere this inflow eroded job opportunity for the by birth USA citizens. More interestingly, the present wave of outsourcing robbed the common mass of their left over job opportunities. In the forthcoming USA presidential election, outsourcing is becoming an important issue to address. In a recent estimate, it has been found that the USA is reeling under the total pressure of three million USA youth. If employed, all these youths would have provided a lump sum to the countries economgmy, which is now at a recessionary mode. An interesting policy undertaken to combat the evils of unemployment was the federal-state system of unemployment insurance. This was mainly introduced to address the needs of involuntarily unemployed workers in order to maintain the aggregate purchasing power at a constant level. While control of inflation at a politically acceptable rate of unemployment is the major economic goal of the nation, the different in economic goals between political parties in America is significant. In a democratic set up policies are often conditioned by political forces. Now, the Democratic Party and the Republican Party differ in their standpoints. While the former people protest against unemployment the latter is more bent to speak against inflation. This is primarily because of the fact that the former holds more manpower or human capital and hence bears the social costs of unemployment. On the other hand, the later party consists of up scale groups and bear greatest losses from inflation. The revealed preferences and the economic interests of both the parties finally determine the policies and measures taken by each of them and how these actions differ. While the democratic administration prefers to follow expansionary policies, which would generate low unemployment and growth but also increase the risk of inflation. The republicans are more inclined to stand against inflation and thus follows disinflationary policies while discourages stimulation for aggregate demand and employment. An expansionary policy will be helpful for the initial stages, as it will also help to address the needs of the group D staffs. Working conditions The studies carried out by the other sociologists in different regions reveal some evidences of the evil effect of globalization on the service sector. In this context he cites the work done by Peter Alder in ‘Paradise Laborers’. It talks about the emerging trend of 24hours of working throughout week in this post industrialization period and talks about the oppressive characteristics of the job involved. Work position segregation takes place according to gender. For instance women would specifically work as room attendants while men as engineers and housemen. Coming to the hotel industry he finds that work allocation is ‘notoriously ghettoized’. The author, Dan Zuberi of “Differences that Matter” lays stress on the policy tools, which could ensure the eradication of miseries of the poor workers. It talks about the structural challenges encountered by the section of working poor in the nation. He points out how sociologists often ignore the role of policy tools in giving birth to a better social picture in terms of mobility. The author claims that he is glad his research brought him in contact with people from different ethnicities and origins. Their lives and struggles in both the professional and personal fronts have been taken as examples to demonstrate the conditions of these workers in America and Canada. The important places concentrated upon are Seattle, Washington and Vancouver. A study of the hotel and hospital industry finds a prominent place here. As a part of his qualitative survey he got to interact with these participants and carried out a close observation in order to perceive “the policy and institutional differences in macro-national-level outcomes” (Zuberi, 2006, 23) owing to its versatile nature, multilevel analyses, interpretation and ambitious suggestions, the book can serve as a suitable teaching tool for students of sociology and policy. The hotel and hospital industry at Seattle and Vancouver finds several single parents. The mothers often find no option but to take the first job available no matter how hard the conditions are or how low the pay is. If they try to exercise a choice or make themselves more comfortable in the scenario, they might have to pay a huge cost in terms of children’s clothes and food. (Zuberi, 2006, 15) The case of Sujita Hassam, an Indian who had come to California after marriage, thinks of her dream to come true. The next few years taught her that the conditions, in terms of service were no better than in her homeland, India. The wages ranged from $8 to around $6 per house. The author attempts to portray a comparison of the labor and poverty policy of Canada and US and lays special emphasis on the divergence in policy. While the first chapter on the case study foreshadows the next theories and suggestions, the author compares the union and non-union hotels. The benefits and problems of unionized labor have been pointed out. The effect of differences in the national framework is realized in fields like union, health care and social welfare policies have been put forward. The three chapters that concentrate on this aspect opens with a different in the policies between the two nations and then the text moves on to explain how this variation has affected the hotel employees. While talking about the labor policy differences between USA and Canada, the author highlights that the union members are benefited since it brings about collective bargaining power and thus ensures better job security, benefits and working conditions. While Canadian labor policy finds 35 percent workers as union laborers, in USA the percentage has come down to 14 percent from a 30 percent inclusion before 1970. This difference in labor policy have ensured a stronger labor power and better social scenario in Canada compared to U.S. One similar pattern found in both the cities lie in the working pattern of the hotels. In both cities it may be noticed that the union hotels enjoy higher wages than non-union ones. The differences have come down in Vancouver due to the induced effect of the increasing union wage, which naturally brings up the wage of non-unionized laborers. This is done in order to maintain adequate section of workforce under non unionize section. The chapter on health-care policy highlights the differences in health policies of Canada and United states. The universal Canadian system has achieved higher coverage and expenditure per person compared to the combination of private and public systems in US. However in this regard, the differences in attitudes, behaviors and outcomes in health are almost the same. While studying the effect of the health care policies on the lives of the workers and their families in the hotel industry of both the nations, a rising percentage of uninsured workers is found in U.S. this section comprises of 44 million working population which is larger than the total Canadian population. Thus the workers are better off in Canada. The author shows that little research has been done in the sector of health care policy differences. He says, “little research has been done on how social policy matters in the lives of working-poor families” (Zuberi, 2006, 86) For instance the long ‘waiting period’ of health insurance benefits deter the workers at Seattle from entering the insurance contracts. Public investment policies also affect the quality of life positively or negatively. The author points out the difference in needs and the supplies. The investments are more oriented towards public parks, community recreation, urban development, transportation, education and safety. Now the question arise whether these are adequate and the right indicators of “quality of life”. The low-income families hardly find any use in these amenities. They need to meet their basic needs in life, for which a decent job, family health, faith, and beliefs are the common parameters of measuring quality of living. They do not think in structural terms and are rather concerned with their individual gains. The words of a hotel worker may bring out this aspect vividly, “I consider I am here, because first for me is good health, and second I have a work and my family is very important to me. . . . They are doing well and I almost paid my home” (Zuberi, 2006, 139). In the concluding chapters, the author argues that unionism, activism and political action may work towards eradication of poverty and inequality by focusing on social change and structural transformation. (Zuberi, 2006, 152) The sectors, which could be the ideal targets for reform activities, are health care, labor laws (for instance, employment insurance benefits), taxes (reinstitution of progressive tax like Canada), early childhood education and investment in community institutions. Job security question needs to be emphasized more than the dispersion policies in firms. These provide a crucial ground for the policymakers to begin their task. As the author concludes that, “comparing the lives of hotel industry employees in Vancouver and Seattle demonstrates how differences in health policy, labor policy, unemployment policy, and other social policies affect the quality of life and levels of material hardship experienced by hourly hotel employees and their families” (Zuberi, 2006, 174), the readers cannot help but agree and perceive the well integrated differences and application in the practical world. We may borrow the policies and methods, which under suitable conditions may provide us with better outcomes. If U.S. implemented the public assistance and unemployment policies, the nation’s poverty will be reduced greatly. Therefore the policy differences impact the macro level trends. (Zuberi, 2006, 22) According to many,” poverty can be reduced dramatically in the United States if the political will exists” (Zuberi, 2006, 13) The working conditions reflect different dimensions of globalization and the opening of doors to new avenue sin the workplace. While the women’ liberalization have enabled them to enter work place activities, in some cases it has made the living standard stagnant and poor. The women of low-income families often end up as single mothers and hence have no choice in their job scenario. Cheap labor, lack of promised benefits, extensions of working hours are responsible for the need of the creation of a better policy framework. The most interesting part that is brought out through the reading is the comparison of the policy framework in different sectors between the to nations and how adoption of some of these policy tools can change the working and living conditions in U.S. Collective bargaining might act as an effective policy tool for the workers to improve their conditions and help them improve their working conditions to a great extent. Some adaptation from the Canadian policies would be helpful in this regard. The need for improvement in the lives of wageworkers made them protest against low pay, poor working conditions and abusive treatment led to the formation of other parties like the Socialist Labor Party (1877). There were protest movements against the working conditions and this led to a differentiation between progressives and conservatives. Immigration Due to the proximity of Mexico and land connectivity with the nation, thousands of Mexicans illegally makes their encroachment to America. In a recent trend plenty of Asian and South Asian people too are looking for opportunities in America, which they feel is the far more lucrative. However they often end up jobless and take up servile jobs. Strict policy tools to control this inflow and design the social and economic framework in order to discourage this inflow are necessary. The congress legislature have been concerned with immigration and designing of policies to meet the required goals in that direction. In some ways this increasing inflow of people might be advantageous. Most of this excess population would be eager to work at a cheap wage rate and this gives an edge to business. It also promotes cultural diversity further. If the companies are capable of producing at low wage rate the prices may come down. However we need to consider the negative side of the issue. For instance, the immigrants do not pay taxes and the nation would be incapable of investing in public services. Illegal immigration is one of the main concerns. Such immigrants might be carriers of deadly diseases above everything. Both Republican and the Democratic Party want to combat illegal migration and want to design policies against it. Republicans are however divided in this issue. Although Bush wants to appeal to the immigrants and keeps this as the first goal, the pro growth advocates support immigration on the ground of greater business prospects. When we come to illegal immigrants there are other interest groups involved with the issue. The two parties are busy blaming one another rather than addressing the problem. Strict policies are required to combat immigration. Legal immigration may be checked via strict monitoring and control. Some of the common measures feasible could be increasing the border patrolling agents, tampering the proof residency cards, computerization of INS and constructing a wall around the U.S. and other nations which are under the threat of immigration. Inflation: if an economy is experiencing stagnation, then it may get combined with inflation and create stagflation. From the last few years, price hike for USA products may be an example of that. On one hand people are reeling under huge pressure of unemployment and on the other they have to cope up with rising prices and all these combined, have turned their life into a living hell. At this critical juncture a proper way to address inflation will definitely ensure larger amount of vote. The opposing forces of employment and inflation and the impact it has on the nation’s policies have been discussed before. Money supply operations may be used to reduce or control inflation. If the inflation is demand led then policies to reduce aggregate demand may be helpful. This will be through reduction of employment or allowing employment to suffer if necessary. Again, in case of cost-push inflation production costs need to be brought down. Monetary policies may be effective to bring down the official interest rates through a contraction in money supply. Higher interest rates brought about by contractionary monetary policy will reduce the level of household borrowing from the market. The increase in mortgage interest will bring down the effective household demand and thus reduce market demand. Since cost of borrowing funds rises, the firms will invest less. This rise in interest arte may also bring about reduction monetary inflation. The federal Bank had once lowered the federal rate in order to control recession in 2001 but later raised it in order to control inflation in 2004. However the economy could be saved from a further recession by stock market signaling and ensuring adequate investment activities. A policy of moderation needs to be followed such that the public economic behavior does not undergo too many alterations. Technological upgradation Till now, USA is considered as the supreme of the world. This is mostly for its economic prowess rather than economic brilliance. From the 70s, with the introduction of Japanese car in the USA market, the USA auto industry is experiencing a sharp fall in productivity and profit and in almost all other industrial sectors is experiencing a recession. Stagnant technology combined with higher wage is leading to this situation. On one hand if outsourcing can be stopped and a rational wage combined with technological up gradation can be adapted, US economy may turn around. All the above-mentioned issues need to be addressed in order to steer the nation towards prosperity. A nation free from these maladies would be a dream country and hypothetical indeed. The above discussion sometimes puts forward individual opinions of some people but as a member of Progressive Coalition we need to choose our strategy carefully and designer objectives constructively. 1. http://usinfo.state.gov/scv/Archive/2005/May/26-584068.html 2. http://www.newsmax.com/kessler/democratic_racism/2008/02/25/75308.html 3. http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0002-8282%28198605%2976%3A2%3C66%3APPAMPA%3E2.0.CO%3B2-Y&size=LARGE&origin=JSTOR-enlargePage 4. http://www.studyworld.com/newsite/ReportEssay/SocialIssues/Political%5CImmigration_Problem_in_the_U.htm 5. http://useconomy.about.com/od/inflationfaq/f/Control_Infla.htm 6. http://www.history.com/encyclopedia.do?articleId=219534 Read More