Thursday, November 28, 2019

Liberalism is a governance ideology. In contrast, Essays - Politics

Liberalism is a governance ideology. In contrast, Foucault presents neoliberalism as an approach that was followed in a series of market and government decisions, rather than as an ideology. These ideas, of liberalism and neoliberalism, were both explored in Michel Foucault ' s manuscript The Birth of Biopolitics (Foucault 1978-1979), in the eighteenth century English context for the former, and the twentieth century American context for the latter. For the purposes of this paper, the liberalism of eighteenth century England will be referred to as classical liberalism ' , and the neoliberalism of twentieth century United States will be referred to simply as neoliberalism ' . In a nuanced way, Foucault shows that one need not subscribe to the ideals of classical liberalism in order to follow a neoliberalist approach, and vice-versa. That is, while they may often result in similar decisions being taken, there is no inherent commonality between classical liberalism and neoliberalism; they are distinct and do not depend on each other. By examining what Foucault believed classical liberalism to be, what neoliberalism was, and by drawing the distinctions between the two, it will be demonstrated that the two labels do indeed refer to distinct approaches to governance. Classical Liberalism On the whole, classical liberalism is thought to be an ideology of how one ought to govern. It concerns itself with questioning whether government is governing too much, or too little, with a preference for a less intrusive government leading to a tendency to challenge more on the " too much " side. Indeed, classical liberalism is an exploration of the space devoid of an overbearing government, but practical insofar that it acknowledges the need for some governmental restriction. People must be free, but to discover a state in which freedom is an achievable goal for all, the actions of some must be restricted to a certain degree in the interest of the freedom of the many. There is, in the classical liberal state, a constant negotiation between freedom as a function of minimalist government intervention in the affairs of its citizens, and between a perception of danger that requires government to restrict every individual ' s freedom to the minimal extent required to ensure the greatest possible freedom for the greatest possible number of individuals. The function of government is thus to ensure and to limit freedom. That is, laws must be viewed in the context of enabling and limiting freedom. Further, the law ' s purpose is to give its citizens rights, or to give them or the state utility. A law that is freedom enabling usually is a law that bestows or protects people ' s rights, whereas a law that brings the citizen or the state utility is usually freedom limiting. The law ' s role can be seen as a trade-off between security and freedom. For example, an individual may desire to publish a b ook, and the right to do so is codified into freedom-giving law. In contrast, the state and the majority of people both have a vested interest in not having a book supporting the Holocaust in circulation because of the civil unrest and consequent loss of security it might bring, and thus the state restricts the rights of its citizens to publish such content in a freedom-limiting law that gives the utility of safety to the state. Similarly, one individual may desire to make use of another individual ' s creativity by copying a song; in order to enhance utility for both the state and the creator of the work of music and to encourage the production of creative works, the state may limit the use that an individual may make of the creator ' s work. Classical liberalism holds the dogma of Adam Smith to be true. Left to its own devices, the market will establish a natural price that will reflect the balance of supply and demand and will be optimal for society. As described b y Foucault, the invisible hand will guide the market, and in its glory, will allow for Europe as a whole to prosper: " this idea of progress, of a European progress, is a fundamental theme in liberalism " (ibid, at 54). This is a

Sunday, November 24, 2019

The eNotes Blog Tacos with Pynchon, Burgers withHemingway

Tacos with Pynchon, Burgers withHemingway Spencer Tracy and Ernest Hemingway with Friends at La Florida (â€Å"Floridita†), Havana, Cuba. Ernest Hemingway Collection. John F. Kennedy Presidential Library and Museum, Boston. In between drinking (Hemingway) and hiding (Pynchon), these two iconic writers were known to procrastinate in the way that many of us who write do: by chowing down.   While stuffing our faces may partially delay the pain of composing, its not all duck-and-cover.   Writing often requires mulling. As Umberto Eco notes, Writing doesnt mean necessarily putting words on a sheet of paper. You can write a chapter while walking or eating. A new discovery for me, by way of the  Paris Review,  is a site called Paper and Salt,  a blog devoted to the love of food and literature.   (Maybe Ill start another called  Windex and Waffles,  which, granted, does not have quite the appeal of the former but I do tend to clean everything, and then EAT everything, when I have Major Writing to accomplish.)   Anyway, its pretty entertaining to hear about Pynchon and his love of Beer-Braised Chicken Tacos.   Apparently,   Pynchon could often be found   Ã¢â‚¬Å"wearing an old red hunting-jacket and sunglasses, doting on Mexican food at a taco stand.† Throughout the late 60s and 70s, Pynchon became a regular at El Tarasco in Manhattan Beach (It’s still open today, if you want to follow in his culinary footsteps).  Neighbors would frequently spot him  chowing down- the notorious hermit, lured into public by a burrito. Hemingway had his favorites, too.   Among them was the humble hamburger, pan-fried, not grilled.   Among his papers was found these explicit instructions for cooking Papa a proper burger: PAPA’S FAVORITE HAMBURGER. There is no reason why a fried hamburger has to turn out gray, greasy, paper-thin and tasteless. You can add all sorts of goodies and flavors to the ground beef minced mushrooms, cocktail sauce, minced garlic and onion, chopped almonds, a big dollop of piccadilli, or whatever your eye lights on. Papa prefers this combination. Ingredients 1 lb. ground lean beef 2 cloves, minced garlic 2 little green onions, finely chopped 1 heaping teaspoon, India relish 2 tablespoons, capers 1 heaping teaspoon, Spice Islands sage Spice Islands Beau Monde Seasoning  ½ teaspoon Spice Islands Mei Yen Powder  ½ teaspoon ** 1 egg, beaten in a cup with a fork About one third cup dry red or white wine. 1 tablespoon cooking oil What to do Break up the meat with a fork and scatter the garlic, onion and dry seasonings over it, then mix them into the meat with a fork or your fingers. Let the bowl of meat sit out of the icebox for ten or fifteen minutes while you set the table and make the salad. Add the relish, capers, everything else including wine and let the meat sit, quietly marinating, for another ten minutes if possible. Now make four fat, juicy patties with your hands. The patties should be an inch thick, and soft in texture but not runny. Have the oil in your frying-pan hot but not smoking when you drop in the patties and then turn the heat down and fry the burgers about four minutes. Take the pan off the burner and turn the heat high again. Flip the burgers over, put the pan back on the hot fire, then after one minute, turn the heat down again and cook another three minutes. Both sides of the burgers should be crispy brown and the middle pink and juicy. ** Spice Islands discontinued its production of Mei Yen Powder three years ago. If you don’t have any in your pantry, here’s how to recreate it: 9 parts salt 9 parts sugar 2 parts MSG If a recipe calls for 1 teaspoon Mei Yen Powder, use 2/3 tsp of the dry recipe (above) mixed with 1/8 tsp of soy sauce. Geez, all this writing about writing and food is making me  hungry.   Go. Eat something! And eventually, sit your butt down and write.

Thursday, November 21, 2019

DB1 Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 250 words

DB1 - Essay Example Forecasting is the practice of predicting the sources of expected revenues while budgeting details the use of the expected revenues (Dlabay & Burrow, 2007). Forecasting data is mainly used in preparing the budgets. Budgeting allows the organization to control the cash flow of the organization (Shim, Siegel & Shim, 2012). In summary, budgeting entails preparing a financial plan while forecasting involves predicting the future revenues and expenditure. Budgeting is mainly done for a financial year unless forecasting that can take longer periods (Crosson & Needles, 2011). There are certain differences between operating budgets and cash budget. Operating budget is mainly prepared for each income statement components such as the production budget, sales budget (Crosson & Needles, 2011). Operating budgets mainly provide a blueprint on how the business will conduct its operations in a certain period of time like the expected production level, the sales volumes (Dlabay & Burrow, 2007). On the other hand, cash budgets are prepared after the preparation of operating budgets. The cash budget contains the receipts, disbursements, the cash deficit or surplus (Burton & Thakur, 1998). Zero based budgeting approach requires each cost element to be justified. The budget allowance is usually zero. Each budget is prepared from zero based instead of the previous year’s budget as the base (Crosson & Needles, 2011). Each manager must justify the need for spending through detailed proposals of costs, purpose, alternative courses of action and measures of budget performance. Zero based budgeting will improve efficiency through detecting inflated budgets and recognizing obsolete operations (Crosson & Needles, 2011). The budgeting approach leads to greater incentives for responsible decision making and increases communication and coordination in the organization (Burton & Thakur, 1998). Forecasting is predicting the future events,