...legalizing it and therefore taking away the drug cartels number one source of income. The U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy ... says that more than 60 percent of the profits reaped by Mexican drug lords are derived from the exportation and sale of cannabis to the American market (Armentano2). It is ridiculous to think that the United States can put out a statistic like this and ignore the fact that if they legalized the drug there would be less violence because there would be no point for Mexican drug cartels to try and smuggle the drug into the U.S. In the article “Blame Prohibition, Not Pot Smokers for Violence in Mexico”, published by AlterNet.org, Tony Newman tells us how the people who run the “Just Say No” campaign against drugs have a new scheme in which they plan to blame people who smoke pot for the violence in Mexico. They are hoping to stop younger people from smoking marijuana if they associate it with the murder of people by the drug cartels in Mexico. There are a few problems with these campaigns: They are inaccurate in some cases, and downright dishonest in others.Office of National Drug Control Policy It is disingenuous to connect the average American's marijuana consumption to the horrific violence of Mexico's drug war. The average pot smoker's growing and purchasing of marijuana has no relationship to the violence along the border that is the result of large-scale drug trafficking. It isn’t hard to understand that the legalization of marijuana...
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...Position Paper Khadijah Shabazz CNSL 5203 Dr. Sampson Prairie View A&M University 9/20/2015 The legalization of drugs is one of the most controversial and debated topics of the 21st century. There are both negative and positive reasons to legalize them as well as negative and positive reasons to keep them prohibited. According to LEAP, Law Enforcement Against Prohibition, drug prohibition is the true cause of much of the social and personal damage that has historically been attributed to drug use. It is prohibition that makes these drugs so valuable – while giving criminals a monopoly over their supply ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP").LEAP goes on to say that criminal gangs are driven by the huge profits from this monopoly, criminal gangs bribe and kill each other, law enforcers, and children and as such their trade is unregulated and they are, therefore, beyond our control ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP"). It is LEAP’s belief that by eliminating prohibition of all drugs for adults and establishing appropriate regulation and standards for distribution and use, law enforcement could focus more on crimes of violence, such as rape, aggravated assault, child abuse and murder, making our communities much safer ("Why Legalize Drugs? | LEAP"). Another positive aspect of the legalization of drugs is financial gains. According to the International Business Times in a study for the Cato Institute, Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer on economics at Harvard University and a senior...
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... But there have always been varying ulterior motives. According to Baylor University Professor of Sociology, Dr. Diana Kendall, the Marijuana Tax Act of 1937 was passed solely to criminalize marijuana by taxing it; this would dissuade migrant Mexican workers who smoked marijuana to seek employment elsewhere and not take jobs from U.S. citizens as the country struggled during the Great Depression (Kendall, 2010). Last year, voters in Colorado and Washington State approved legislation that supported the commercial growth, sale, possession and use of recreational marijuana. In response, United States Department of Justice, Deputy Attorney General James Cole, promulgated policy that established the posture for enforcing marijuana laws against people or organizations to that: Distribution of marijuana to minors; revenue from the sale of marijuana from going to criminal enterprises, gangs and cartels; the diversion of marijuana from states where it is legal under state law in some...
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...Global Politics: The feasibility of universal drug liberalization as an emerging phenomenon RWaterhouse Globalization & The War on Drugs: Assessing alternatives to criminalization The purpose of this paper is to address universal drug liberalization as a feasible alternative to the current drug control regime specifically in North America and potentially applicable elsewhere. With an in depth analysis of the historical regulation, implementation of law, and resulting consequences we will be able to see how nations are effected by complex drug politics and why there has been a global paradigm shift in looking spiritedly at the ideal of decriminalization. I argue in favor of liberalization by bringing to attention the violence associated with the commodification of illegal drugs, what the re-directed costs of control could mean for domestic investment into proactive drug awareness education, and finally recognizing Portugal’s success and weaknesses in the adoption of a compete legalization agenda. Following will be a discussion of concluding thoughts centered on the efficacy and feasibility of universal liberalization in today’s globalized world. Historical Context Libertarianism has almost always had position in political discourse but has been majorly popularized through public attention within the era of globalization. (article) Control of drug consumption has always been a contemporary ingredient in the political reform of Canada and the America’s and...
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...The so-called “War on Drugs,” as declared by the Nixon administration in the signing of the Comprehensive Drug Abuse Prevention and Control Act of 1970, marked the beginning of the current era of mandatory minimum sentencing, racism, privatized prisons, and a powerful constituency that profits as a result of the prohibition of drugs. Psychoactive substances have been apart of the human experience as long as humans have walked the earth. There is little hope that drug production will ever be curtailed, so long as there is a demand; a demand that has remained steady even though it has been forty years since the beginning of said war. As Judge James P. Gray from the Superior Court of Orange County has so plainly put it: “Where did this policy come from? Unfortunately I have conducted an inquiry into this and I have determined that drug prohibition laws came for reasons of racism, empire building, and ignorance.”(Booth) The War on Drugs is politically motivated as a means of profiting. One may ask them self how government can financially benefit from such policies. In fact, they benefit in a myriad of ways. The government spends an exorbitant amount of money in an attempt to combat drug production and drug usage. The U.S. government has spent over a trillion—that’s right a trillion—dollars in its attempt to eradicate the drug problem. With so much time, effort and money there should be something to show, right? Wrong. Today drugs are more prevalent, more potent and cheaper than...
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...Note, some of these are trivial, but most require thought. 1. Holding everything else constant, an increase in the perceived riskiness of a stock would lead to (an increase in / a decrease in / an ambiguous e¤ ect on) its stock price. 2. Recently, there was stronger-than-expected jobs growth. As a result stock markets went up when the news came out. This (would / would not ) be considered an argument against the e¢ cient markets hypothesis. 3. Suppose …nancial market participants expect a corporation to gain $5 per share, but the corporation gains only $4 per share. Holding everything else constant, according to the e¢ cient markets hypothesis, the price of the stock will (increase / decrease / be unchanged ) when the $4 per share gain is announced. 4. Suppose a company decides to retain a higher percentage of earnings so that its dividend payment to stock-holders decreases. “Lower dividends means that stock prices will decrease.” This statement is (true / false). Holding everything else constant, the increase in retained earnings would decrease stock prices. However, a change in retained earnings often leads to a change in perception of growth rate of dividends. If g increases, stock prices would tend to increase. The net result will be an ambiguous e¤ ect on stock prices. SHORT ANSWERS NO CREDIT WILL BE GIVEN FOR JUST STATING THE CORRECT ANSWER. 1. Suppose you observe that after a …rm makes an unanticipated earnings announcement, there is an immediate jump in...
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...The teleological argument is one of the five arguments for the existence of god. It attempts to prove gods existence by using our experience of the world or universe around us. This makes it a posterior in nature. Teleological arguments can essentially be broken down into two main types pre Darwinian and post Darwinian. We shall focus on pre Darwinian as these are the most traditional of these two arguments. Further sub division of teleological arguments can be identified in the guise of design qua regularity and design qua purpose. It is within these areas that we the find the thinking of two philosophers Aquinas(13thC) and paley (19C). The teleological design argument gets its name from the Greek word telos which mean end, goal or purpose it is this end or purpose that both Aquinas and paley are looking for that will suggest the existence of a divine creator. We will begin by outlining Aquinas fifth way from the governance of things or the design qua regularity argument. Aquinas observed the universe and concluded that everything in it must be working in some kind of order. In particular he noticed that natural bodies (flowers or insects) behaved in a regular way. For example a daffodil flowers every spring time he then goes on to notice the fact that these natural bodies lack intelligence, by this he means they are not conscious of there own movement. A daffodil does not know that it is spring time but flowers unconsciously. He concludes that as they lack the intelligence...
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...ISSN 1471-0498 DEPARTMENT OF ECONOMICS DISCUSSION PAPER SERIES OLIGOPOLY AND TRADE Dermot Leahy and J. Peter Neary Number 517 December 2010 Manor Road Building, Oxford OX1 3UQ OLIGOPOLY AND TRADE Dermot Leahyy National University of Ireland, Maynooth J. Peter Nearyz University of Oxford and CEPR December 13, 2010 Abstract In this chapter we present a selective analytic survey of some of the main results of trade under oligopoly. We concentrate on three topics: oligopoly as an independent determinant of trade, as illustrated by the reciprocal-markets model of Brander (1981); oligopoly as an independent rationale for government intervention, as illustrated by strategic trade and industrial policy in the third-market model of Spencer and Brander (1983); and the challenges and potential of embedding trade under oligopoly in general equilibrium as illustrated by the GOLE model of Neary (2002). Keywords: GOLE (General Oligopolistic Equilibrium); reciprocal dumping; strategic trade policy. JEL Classi…cation: F12, L13 Prepared for the Palgrave Handbook of International Trade, edited by Daniel Bernhofen, Rod Falvey, David Greenaway and Udo Kreickemeier. We are grateful to Daniel Bernhofen, Monika Mrázová and Tony Venables for helpful discussions. Dermot Leahy acknowledges the support of the Science Foundation Ireland Research Frontiers Programme (Grant MAT 017). y Department of Economics, National University of Ireland, Maynooth, Maynooth, Co. Kildare, Ireland;...
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...Marking-to-Market: Panacea or Pandora’s Box? Guillaume Plantin London Business School Haresh Sapra University of Chicago GSB Hyun Song Shin Princeton University August 13, 2007 Abstract Financial institutions have been at the forefront of the debate on the controversial shift in international standards from historical cost accounting to mark-to-market accounting. We show that the trade—o s at stake in this debate are far from one-sided. While the historical cost regime leads to some ine ciencies, marking to market may lead to other types of ine ciencies by injecting artificial risk that degrades the information value of prices, and induces sub—optimal real decisions. We construct a framework that can weigh the pros and cons. We find that the damage done by marking to market is greatest when claims are (i) long—lived, (ii) illiquid, and (iii) senior. These are precisely the attributes of the key balance sheet items of banks and insurance companies. Our results therefore shed light on why banks and insurance companies have been the most vocal opponents of the shift to marking to market. We are grateful to both our editor, Ray Ball, for his advice and comments and to an anonymous referee for many useful comments. We also thank participants at the 2007 Journal of Accounting Research conference as well as participants in various seminars, and, in particular, Doug Diamond, Ron Dye, Xavier Freixas, Milt Harris, Charles Goodhart, Raghu Rajan, Rafael Repullo...
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...of abortion done, which is the termination of a pregnancy. To kill an unborn using horrible procedures is not only wrong for the doctors to perform, but morally wrong too. I believe abortion should only be legal if it is done in the first trimester of pregnancy or if a pregnancy will physically effect the mother. Besides those reasons, abortion should be outlawed because abortion is considered murder, unwanted babies can be adopted, and abortion can harm the mother’s body. Abortion is simply murder because you are killing a living being for your own interests or reasons. Firstly, pro-choice activists believe that aborting a fetus is not murder because it isn’t a human being yet. According to an article from sexinfo.edu on arguments for and against abortion, “The fetus is a human being from the moment of conception, this means abortion is murder.” Secondly, pro-choice activists also say that the baby will not feel any pain which is not only untrue but it also is painful for the mother. According to an article called Do Unborn Children Feel pain, “Many pro-life doctors maintain that fetuses can feel pain by 8 weeks after fertilization (about the time most surgical abortions take place).” Lastly, it is unfair to the baby who has no say in anything to be aborted. “The child who is in the womb of the mother has not done anything wrong to deserve death, but because of the situation that the mother is in the child has to die.” (http://stopabortion.weebly.com/) Think of yourself...
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...they are a constitutional right that must be upheld no matter what someone’s God teaches. The Bible was a moral compass for the Founding Fathers of our country and not our law. We built this country ground up on the belief of freedom and equality, and the Bible has yet to win against the Constitution. There should not be an argument about which is more important, or which one is right, because that is all relative. The Constitution is our country’s promise from the founders. We, as a free people in this nation, have the luxury to choose to believe in God. We have a right to believe in what we want. Therefore there should be no legislation that caters to the will of certain religions. The belief is not what ruins and divides us, it is the institution of such belief that becomes a side pain of our political ambitions. This is a free country, with free thought, and free action. Actions have consequences, but we can still choose to act. It is required by law that the government upholds the constitution in a non-religious manner. I believe that the Economy's status comes from the morale and education of the people... and what makes people happy and smart? School being better, rights being more accepted, ect. THEN people will be willing to invest in this country, and the economy will boom. We just NEED to realize it will not happen in 4 years, let alone 8. History has shown that it will take time and we need to make...
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...Writing Tips For Economics Research Papers∗ Plamen Nikolov, Harvard University † June 10, 2013 1 General Tips about Writing Style When I read your term papers, I look for your ability to motivate your question using economic logic, your ability to critically analyze the past literature, and your ability to recognize empirical problems as they arise. In particular, it is important that your term paper demonstrates that you are more knowledgeable, analytic, and sophisticated about the economics of health or development economics than we would expect, say, a clever editorial writer for The New York Times to be. You should present evidence, cite literature, explain economic trade-os, and generally approach the issue from an analytic perspective. Sometimes, a student is tempted to stray into opinion-page, journalistic writing in his or her term paper. Do not do this. Teaching good economics writing is one of the goals of the departmental writing requirement and is a valuable lesson for potential thesis writers. You will get a lower grade if your writing is • ungrammatical, • unclear, • journalistic. If you have trouble writing grammatically, please leave yourself some extra time and go to a writing 1 tutor . Clarity is the rst priority in economics writing. Do not worry about being snappy if you are being clear. Journalistic writing is characterized by the lack of an analytical tone. Below, you will nd some notes about the...
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...Writing Tips For Economics Research Papers∗ Plamen Nikolov, Harvard University † June 10, 2013 1 General Tips about Writing Style When I read your term papers, I look for your ability to motivate your question using economic logic, your ability to critically analyze the past literature, and your ability to recognize empirical problems as they arise. In particular, it is important that your term paper demonstrates that you are more knowledgeable, analytic, and sophisticated about the economics of health or development economics than we would expect, say, a clever editorial writer for The New York Times to be. You should present evidence, cite literature, explain economic trade-os, and generally approach the issue from an analytic perspective. Sometimes, a student is tempted to stray into opinion-page, journalistic writing in his or her term paper. Do not do this. Teaching good economics writing is one of the goals of the departmental writing requirement and is a valuable lesson for potential thesis writers. You will get a lower grade if your writing is • ungrammatical, • unclear, • journalistic. If you have trouble writing grammatically, please leave yourself some extra time and go to a writing 1 tutor . Clarity is the rst priority in economics writing. Do not worry about being snappy if you are being clear. Journalistic writing is characterized by the lack of an analytical tone. Below, you will nd some notes about the...
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...their opinions can be. For myresearch paper, I challenged mysel f to write it about why same-sex marriage should not belegalized. A f ter three days o f research, I regret to in f orm you that, with the in f ormation I f ound,there is no logical reason whatsoever that same-sex couples should not be able to get married. Ihave tried so very hard to f ind a logical argument against it but I was not able to get any reasonsagainst it. I f I may use an analogy, their argument is like a large bucket with a hole in the bottom,except the hole is as large as the top. Also, the bucket does not actually exist but they re f use toaccept that and pour into it anyway. Be f ore I started my research, I thought o f a f ew reasons Ithought I could go f urther with but when I tried to make them work, I could only f ind argumentsagainst them. The reasons I thought same-sex marriage should not be legalized are because amajority o f people voted against it, there would be less procreation, and it would complicate laws by rede f ining marriage.In the United States o f America, we have a democratic f...
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...Economics Thesis Supervisor Accepted by. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Peter Temin Elisha Gray II Professor of Economics Chairperson, Department Committee on Graduate Studies Essays in Banking and Risk Management by James Ian Vickery Submitted to the Department of Economics on August 15 2004, in partial fulllment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Economics Abstract This thesis consists of three essays at the intersection of banking, corporate nance and macroeconomics. Unifying the essays are two themes: rstly a focus on how rms (Chapter 1 and Chapter 2) and individuals (Chapter 3) insure against, and react to, sources of macroeconomic risk; secondly the role of nancial institutions in the transmission of macroeconomic shocks. Turning to specics, Chapter 1 is a theoretical and empirical examination...
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