John Maynard Keynes*

1. John Maynard Keynes was a British economist and he was big on doing the opposite of what most economists believed should happen. His father was an economist and he also went to very elite schools in Britain. He gained connections from where he attended school and after he had later joined the forces for a few years he had a great start into the field of economics. His ideas were different than most others and he viewed how things should be run very differently. 2. John Maynard Keynes believed this about government.When the unemployment rate begins to rise, Keynes believed the government should begin to run a surplus and pay off the debt of the previous downturn. He also like i said earlier believed in a different type of economics. 3. I disagree with him because even though the people in later generations will not have to pay for the debt in a way they will still be paying for those mistakes. There parents will grow up in poverty and less of what they could have and when they are raised they will miss the opportunities to grow in a healthy environment. Behavior that is learned from one generation is passed down to the next through the way they were raised and the way they raise their children. So really he may think he is getting rid of debt and problems but this just will make the people poor causing a chain link effect throughout generations that is harming. In our economy today we are going through some of the same things. Our economy just took a big fall worldwide. Many countries, even super powers are finding themselves in a lot of debt. We could do what Keynes would do and get rid of the debt or we can deal with it now.

SOCCER! and the WORLD CUP!* GO ENGLAND!

Soccer is the most popular sport in the world. I agree with this sentence. Soccer is the sport i enjoy the most. It is so fun to play i just started playing 3 years ago and i love it so much because it is fun and non stressful. It also is challenging and a complex sport that requires a lot of skill and even once you have learned the basics and fundamentals you are still getting better and better each day that you are practicing. I am so excited for the world cup it is going to be awesome! i am cheering for England! GO ENGLAND GO! haha but really soccer is a wonderful sport that is loved worldwide<3

Standard of living*

Standard of living is only one aspect of quality of life. It is a common measure of the quantity and quality of goods and services. Standard of living consists of a few things. The resources that are available to you and what is provided for you. It also depends on how hard you work and the kinds of jobs that are available to you.

Standard of living and Quality of life are often mistaken for the same thing. And this is proven in many peoples terminology. Before even writing this I even said to myself, "What is the difference? Quality of life includes more than just property material and other resources. It is peoples desire to improve the way they live. Some of the things included in this are a clean environment, personal safety, political rights, and the ablity to have your rights met.

For example every person has a right to certain things, this would be their quality of life. Their standard of living would be the quality of the goods they receive or gain. Globalization in some people’s opinion has improved the standards of living and quality of life. Others argue that it is having ill affects on their quality of life and standard of living.

A huge example of the different affects of globalization due to this is Asia and Africa. Asia and Africa. At one point a while ago they were the same in poverty percentage. Asia now has passed Africa and gotten out of poverty because they embraced globalization and by doing so improved their standard of living as a country.

Africa is still now suffering because economically they have stayed still these past years and not embraced what could have improved their standard of living and quality of life dramatically. It is a big change between two countries that were in the beginning in the same boat.

Knowledge Economy

What is a knowledge economy ? A knowledge Economy is when knowledge is used to promote economic benefits. This helps the economy improve and develop through global competition. It is mostly through global technologies such as computer software, telecommunications and virtual services.

Also educational research institutions are a large part of this competition. Canada is having trouble finding their identity in all of this. We need to find occupations where we can compete and win.

We need to step up to that next level of global competition or we will be left behind and forced to buy from the people who have made global competition a part of there economy. We want to make this an opportunity for the people in Canada instead of a threat.

It's like the world has jumped onto a merry-go-round and we have to choose to jump on while it's still moving, cause it's not going to stop or we can just stand and watch and not benefit from what is available to us.

It really is a hard predicament because in order to become a larger part of the knowledge economy, Canada is going to have bad affects for short term at first but in the end it will be worth it in the long term. It is a tough decision. Let 2.4 million people lose their jobs right now so that in the long run we will have more influence on a global level.

The Zapatista people live in Chiapas and are very poor. Every year dozens of people pay money to travel to give aid to these people by helping with their crops. To describe the Zapatista people some might say that they have been left behind in globalization. Most of the people that are travelling down there are part of anti-globalization groups. Chiapas is a state in the southeastern region of Mexico. There are 4 million people who live there.

Many of the people are descendents of the Mayan people who were indigenous to South America. A sad statistic of the people there is that 40 percent of the population suffers from malnutrition. The reason they are so poor is because of the Spanish conquest 500 years previous. They were forced to grow their subsistence crops. The food that was taken from these crops was not a sufficient amount to almost just feed their families.

For centuries these people have been living in poverty, it has been ignored by a lot of people in the world, including the government. I was unaware of the situation with the Zapatistas until reading and researching about their situation. I think that people may be ignoring their need for help but a lot of people I think are uninformed, like I was an hour ago.

The people or the government there cannot ignore that saddening statistics of the poverty down anymore. Things that are helping the situation are the free trade agreement between them and the United States.

The European Union*

The European Union is an organization of countries. It also is the largest most powerful common market. It has a huge population of almost 457 000 000. Some of the things that the European union is working to develop are security policies, citizen rights and regional development, also environmental protection.

Some of the advantages of the European Union are increased trade, the amount of subsidies to the east. Their are also no restrictions onthe movement of people, capital goods and services across national borders. Since the European Union is a common market. A common market is the strongest form of regional integration. Regional integration is a process in which states enter into a regional agreement in order to enhance regional cooperation through regional institutions and rules.

Some disadvantages of the European Union are: Changes in the economy will form new economic patterns and many industries will not be able to compete with lower costs.With free movement of labour and capital, the most skilled workers may get higher benifets and wage weakening the other people in the economy. There can also be a loss of independence in many areas.

An example of the disadvantage that is happening right now is the excess debt in Greece. Greece is part of the European Union and since they are in debt they do not just suffer their country but the whole union.

I do not think that Canada and the United states and Mexico should form a union. Especially at this time. The American economy is still recoverying and is still in a lot of debt. Mexico may have many resorts but it also has many poor communities. We are better off independent for the most part.

The World Bank.

The purpose and function of the World Bank and the International monetary fund is to provide financial assistance to less developed countries to reduce poverty and improve living standards. Financial assistance is provided, such as loans, low interest or grants. The money is usually used for things that are needed in these countries. Such as, health systems, education and sometimes infrastructure.

The World Bank is actually divided into two institutions. The first one is the International Rank for Reconstruction and Development also know as IBRD. The second one is The International Development Association also know as the IDA. The purposes for these associations are different. The IDA is there to help the world’s poorest countries. The IBRD is there to help low and middle income countries.

I think that they have accomplished a lot as a government. I would not call them just a more expensive government. They are doing some amazing things for these people that so desperately need help. They have in the past 20 years: Made the proportion of people living in poverty in less developed countries fall by half, form 40% to 21%.
Also the life expectancy in less developed countries has increased by 20 years. The number of children dying before the age of five has been reduced by 50%. Adult illiteracy has been halved to 25%.

The World Bank also has many great ways to help less developed countries get out of debt. I like they way that this bank solves problems. They do not just give the solution to the people and fix everything. They find ways to help the people earn their way into and out of things. For example they do not just take all their debt away. They are there to help these people learn new techniques that will make them more efficient as a country. This includes cutting government spending, selling public assets to the private sector, and following the principles of free market capitalism. Then debt relief is put into place if they have proven to do the above things.