End of Poverty Guide Essay Example for Free

End of Poverty Guide Essay Sachs throws out the normal ways of thinking about the causes of poverty in countries, for instance that people are lazy or stupid, or the countries are not democratic, and that corruption is wide-spread. Fifty percent of the world’s population exists on less than one dollar per day. He believes that much of the problem is structural, which can only be dealt with through the help of the rich countries. Sachs believes, first of all, that all current debt owed by the poor countries should be cancelled. Secondly, if the rich countries would increase their development aid from .2% to .7% there would be enough money available to increase the economic growth so that all countries would no longer be extremely poor. If MAI is to become known as an agency which teaches a new way of dealing with poverty, then we need to become aware of this book and Sachs understanding and approach to poverty. Chapter Twelve really speaks to CHE. I have tried to review what has appeared to me to be the most salient points, chapter by chapter. All chapters are not treated equally. I primarily do this exercise for myself to help me understand the key points from the book. If they are of any help to others, then that is a plus. I have gone into more detail in the other synopsis I have done because of the possible guidance this book can give us for a new paradigm for dealing with poverty individually, locally, nationally and globally (which in reality we are already on the road in doing). Some things are both structural and governmental issues and I am not suggesting that we get involved in these, but change must begin at the village level and then we can scale up our strengths from there. Chapter OneA Global Family Portrait Sachs sets the stage for his thesis and book using examples of Malawi, Bangladesh, India, and China to show different levels of poverty. He talks abut the ascending ladder of economic development for countries. †¢ Lowest are those who are too ill, hungry, or destitute to get even a foot on the bottom rung of the development ladder. They make up the bottom 1/6 of the world’s population, or one billion people. They are the poorest of the poor and live on less than $1 a day. †¢ A few rungs up the ladder at the upper end of the low-income countries are another 1.5 billion people. They live just above the subsistence level. These two groups make up 40% of the world’s population. CHE targets both of these groups, and especially with the first group. †¢ Another 2.5 billion include the IT workers of India. Most of them live in the cities and are moderately poor. †¢ One billion or one-sixth of the world come from the rich developed countries. Sachs says the greatest tragedy of our time is that one-sixth of the world’s population is not even on the first rung of the ladder. A large number of the extremely poor in level one are caught in the poverty trap and cannot escape it. They are trapped by disease, physical isolation, climate stress, environmental degradation, and extreme poverty itself. He breaks poverty into three levels: †¢ Extreme poverty means households cannot meet basic needs for survival. This only occurs in developing countries. World Bank says their income is less than $1 a day. †¢ Moderate poverty is where needs are generally just barely met. World Bank says this represents countries where their income falls between $1 and $2 per day. †¢ Relative poverty generally describes household income level at being below a given percentage of the average national income. You find this in developed countries. He then presents the Challenge of our Generation which includes: †¢ Helping the poorest of the poor escape the misery of extreme poverty and help them begin their climb up the ladder of economic development. †¢ Ensuring all who are the world’s poor, including moderately poor, have a chance to climb higher in economic development. He believes that the following can be done: †¢ Meet the Millennium Development Goals by 2015. †¢ End extreme poverty by 2025. †¢ To ensure well before 2025, that all of the world’s poor countries can make reliable progress up the ladder of economic development. †¢ To accomplish this with modest financial help from the riches countries, which will be more than is now provided per capita. Chapter TwoThe Spread of Economic Prosperity Sachs uses several graphs in this chapter. I will not go into detail on these, but I will point out some salient points: †¢ All regions of the world were poor in 1820. †¢ All regions experienced economic progress, though some much more than others. †¢ Today’s richest regions experienced by far the greatest economic progress. As an example, Africa has only grown at .7% a year while the USA at 1.7%. This may not seem much, but when compounded year-by-year, it results in the great differences between the two. †¢ The key fact today is not the transfer of income from one region to another, but rather that the overall increase in the world’s income is happening at different rates in different regions. Until the 1700’s, the world was remarkably poor by today’s standards. A major change was the industrial revolution coming to certain regions and not to others. The steam engine was a decisive turning point because it mobilized the vast store of primary energy which unlocked the mass production of goods and services. Modern energy fueled every aspect of the economic takeoff. As coal fueled industry, industry fueled political power. Britain’s industrial breakthrough created a huge military and financial advantage. But Britain also had existing individual initiative and social mobility than most other countries of the world. They also had a strengthening of institution and liberty. Britain also had a major geographical advantageone of isolation and protection of the sea, in addition to access to the oceans for worldwide transportation for their goods and importation of other countries’ goods. Sachs then goes on to outline what has fostered major economic growth: †¢ Modern economic growth is accompanied by people moving to the cities, or urbanization. This means fewer and fewer people produce the food that is required for the country. Hopefully, food price per farmer decreases as larger plots are farmed more productively. This also means sparsely populated land makes good sense when many farms are needed to grow the crops, but sparse land makes little sense when more and more people are engaged in manufacturing in the cities. †¢ Modern economic growth fostered a revolution in social mobility which affected social ranking of people. A fixed social order depends on status quo and agrarian population. †¢ There is a change in gender roles with economic development. This affects living conditions as well as family structure. The desired number of children decreases. †¢ The division of labor increases. By specializing in one activity instead of many, producti vity increases. The diffusion of economic growth occurred in three main forms: †¢ From Britain to its colonies in North America, Australia and New Zealand. (It was therefore relatively straight-forth to transfer British technologies, food crops and even legal institutions.) †¢ A second diffusion took place within Europe that ran from Western Europe to Eastern Europe, and from Northern Europe to Southern Europe. †¢ The third wave of diffusion was from Europe to Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Sachs believes that the single most important reason for prosperity spread is the transmission of technology and the ideas underlying it. The technological advances came at different times. †¢ The first wave revolved around the invention of the steam engine which led to factory-producing goods. †¢ The second wave in the 19th century was led by the introduction of the rail and telegraph. It also included the introduction of steam ships instead of sailing ones, and the construction of the Suez Canal. †¢ The third wave was initiated by electrification of industry and urban society. Along with this came the development of the internal combustion engine. †¢ The fourth wave came in the 20th century with the globalization of the world due to new methods of communication starting in Europe. †¢ There came a time of a great rupture which took place with the start of World War I, and sidetracked economic development for awhile. This led to the Great Depression which led to World War II. †¢ A fifth wave took place right after World War II, and in 1991. It began with the massive efforts of reconstruction of Europe and Japan right after World War II. Trade barriers began to come down. There were three worlds: the first was the developed West, the second was comprised of Socialist countries, and the third was made up of undeveloped countries (which were made up of the old colony countries). The world therefore progressed on three tracks. The problem was that the second and third worlds did not share in economic growth and actually went backward. By closing their economies, they closed themselves off from economic development. So what did this mean to the poorest of the poor countries? †¢ They did not begin their economic growth until decades later. †¢ They faced geographical barriers of being land-locked †¢ They faced the brutal exploitation of the colonial powers. †¢ They made disastrously bad choices in their national policies. Chapter ThreeWhy Some Countries Fail In this chapter, Sachs looks at the cause of poverty and possible solutions. He first deals with, how a family’s per-capita income might increase: †¢ The first way is through savings either in cash or similar assets like animals, etc. †¢ The second way is shifting to crops that bring a higher yield per hectare, and then adding value to the crop (which is what we teach in our PAD training). †¢ The third way is adopting new technology, which improves their productivity. †¢ The fourth way is resource boom, which means to move to a much larger and more fertile farm. The flip side of increasing their economic growth is by decreasing their per capita income which is more than just the opposite of the above factors: †¢ Lack of savings is of course one way to reduce per capita income. †¢ Lack of trade, meaning that a household hears of the new crop but cannot take advantage of it and stays with what they have. †¢ Technological reversal is when something like HIV hits an area and children lose their parents etc. †¢ Natural resource decline is where the land becomes less and less fertile producing less and less crops. †¢ Adverse Productivity Shock is where a natural disaster hits like a drought, tsunami, earthquake, typhoon, etc. †¢ Population growth lessens per capita income where the father has two hectares of land and it is divided among his five sons at his death. Now Sachs begins to get into the true heart of poverty on a country level: †¢ The poverty trap itself is where poverty is so extreme that the poor do not have the ability by themselves to get out of the mess. †¢ Physical geography plays a major role where countries are land-locked with poor or no roads, a lack of navigable rivers, or situated in mountain ranges or deserts with an extremely high transportation cost. The low productivity of the land is another factor in the geography. †¢ The fiscal trap is where the government lacks the resources to pay for the necessary infrastructure on which economic growth depends. †¢ Government failure happens when the government is not concentrating on high priority infrastructure and social service projects. †¢ Cultural or religious barriers especially as it relates to gender inequality play a significant role in dampening economic growth. †¢ Geopolitics such as trade barriers can impede economic growth. †¢ Lac k of innovation and technology plays a role if people cannot try new things because they cannot risk failure, or because they do not have funds to do so. Sachs believes that over the span of two centuries, the lack of using new technology is why the richest and poorest countries have diverged. †¢ He shows a scatter-gram graph showing there is a demographic trap as well. The higher the fertility rate, the lower rate of economic growth there is in a country. When they have too many children, they cannot invest in education, nutrition, or health, except maybe for the oldest male. One of the best ways to lower the number of children per family is through the education of the girls. Sachs then goes into detail in putting countries into different classes. He points out that none of the rich countries in North American, Western Europe or East Asia have failed to grow economically. All the problems lie in the developing world where 45 of these countries had a fall in GDP. Not all of these countries are in sub-Saharan Africa. He also points out that the oil-exporting and ex-Soviet countries, all high income countries, did not increase their economic growth evenly, primarily because of their authoritarian political structure. He also points out that the most important factor is agriculture. Those countries that used high yield cereals per hectare and that used high levels of fertilizers are the poor countries that tended to experience economic growth. In Africa, the land is much less densely populated but they use neither high yield cereals nor fertilizers and they had falling food production per capita. But they also have far less roads for transporting extra crops to markets and they depend on rainfall which is generally more erratic than high-producing agricultural countries. He also goes on to point out the following: †¢ Economic growth is rarely uniformly distributed across a country. †¢ Governments also fail in their role in allowing growth that might enrich the rich households, while the poorest living in the same area seldom seem to benefit. †¢ Another detriment to growth can be culture especially as it relates to women inequality. Chapter FourClinical Economics (CE) Sachs compares clinical economics to clinical medicine. He lays out five parameters for Clinical Economics: †¢ CE is made up of complex systems. The failure in one system can lead to cascades of failures in other parts of the economy. You therefore need to deal with very broad and multiple issues. †¢ CE practitioners need to learn the art of clinical diagnosis. The CE practitioner must hone-in on the key underlying causes of economic distress and prescribe appropriate remedies that are tailor-made to each country’s condition. †¢ Treatment needs to be viewed in family terms, not individual terms. The entire world is part of each country’s family. If countries work together they can have far more impact than working in isolation. †¢ Good CE practice requires monitoring and evaluation. More than just asking if the goals are being achieved, but also asking â€Å"why?† and â€Å"why not?† †¢ The development community lacks the requisite ethical and professional standards. Economic development does not take its work with the sense of responsibility that the task requires. It demands that honest advice be given. He points out where economic development practice has gone wrong: †¢ The rich countries say, â€Å"Poverty is your own fault. Be like us, have a free market, be entrepreneurial, fiscally responsible and your problems will be gone†. †¢ The IMF period of structural adjustment which supposedly dealt with the four maladies of poor governance, excessive government intervention in the markets, excessive government spending, and too much state ownership were not solved by the IMF prescription of belt tightening, privatization, liberalization, and good governance. †¢ The responsibility for poverty reduction was assumed to lie entirely with poor countries themselves. He then lays out his differential diagnosis for poverty reduction. He believes the Millennium Development Goal (MDG) goes a long way in reducing poverty. Once the diagnosis is completed, a proper treatment regime must be carried out. In doing differential diagnosis, questions must be asked in each one of the following areas: †¢ Identify and map the extent of extreme poverty from the household level all the way up through the community to the country to the state in all areas of life. †¢ The second set of questions deals with the economic policy framework. †¢ The third set deals with the fiscal framework. †¢ Fourth deals with physical geography and human ecology. †¢ Fifth, the questions deal with the patterns of governance. History has shown that democracy is not a prerequisite for economic development. †¢ Sixth are questions which deal with cultural barriers that hinder economic development. †¢ The last are questions that are related to geopolitics which involves a country’s security and relationship with the rest of the world. The next six chapters, five through ten, deal with specific countries that have gone through this process, and their results. His results are quite impressive. I will not deal much with each country, but an individual chapter might be of interest to the RC involved if he is interested in such things. Chapter FiveBolivia’s High Rate of Inflation Problem: A hyperinflation rate of 3000% (30 times) between July 1984 and July 1985 with a longer term hyperinflation rate of 24,000%. Lessons Learned: †¢ Stabilization is a complex process. Ending a large budget deficit may be the first step but controlling the underlying forces that cause the budget deficit is much more complex. †¢ Macroeconomics tools are limited in their power. †¢ Successful change requires a combination of technocratic knowledge, bold political leadership, and broad social participation. †¢ Success requires not only bold reforms at home, but also financial help from abroad. †¢ Poor countries must demand their due. Chapter SixPoland’s Return to Europe Problem: By the end of 1989, Poland had partially suspended its international debt payments. The economy was suffering from high rate of rising inflation and there was a deepening political crisis. Sachs’ approach in Poland, as in other countries, was built on five pillars: †¢ Stabilizationending the high rate of inflation, establishing stability and convertible currency. †¢ Liberalizationallowing markets to function by legalizing private economic activity (ending price controls and establishing necessary laws). †¢ Privatization identifying private owners for assets currently held by the state. †¢ Social netpensions and other benefits for the elderly and poor were established. †¢ Institutional Harmonizationadopting, step-by-step, the economic laws, procedures, and institutions. Lessons Learned: †¢ He learned how a country’s fate is crucially determined by its specific linkages to the rest of the world. †¢ Again the importance of the basic guidance concept for broad-based economic transformation, not to stand alone with separate solutions. †¢ Saw again the practical possibilities of large-scale thinking †¢ He learned not to take â€Å"no† for an answer, press on with your guidance. †¢ By the time a country has fallen into deep crisis, it requires some external help to get back on track. †¢ This help may be in the form of getting the basics right which includes debt cancellation and help to bolster confidence in the reforms. Chapter SevenRussia’s Struggle for Normalcy Problem: The Soviet Union relied almost entirely on its oil and gas exports to earn foreign exchange, and on its use of oil and gas to run its industrial economy. In the mid- 1980’s, the price of oil and gas plummeted and the Soviet Union’s oil production began to fall. Sachs suggested three actions of the West (but generally they were ignored by the West): †¢ A stabilization fund for the ruble. †¢ Immediate suspension of debt repayment followed by cancellation of their debts. †¢ A new aid program for transformation focusing on the most vulnerable sectors of the Russian economy. Lesson Learned: †¢ Despite much turmoil and rejection much went right so that eventually Russia became a lopsided market economy, still focused on oil and gas. †¢ Russia has a gigantic land mass which causes it to have few linkages with other nations of the world. †¢ Their population densities are low and agrarian and food production per hectare remains low. Over history, 90% of the population has been rural, with cities few and far between. This hinders economic growth. †¢ Without adequate aid, the political consensus around the reforms was deeply undermined, thereby compromising the reform process. Chapter EightChina Catching Up after a Half Millennium Being Isolated Problem: China lost its economic and cultural lead that it had in its early history. Sachs points out five dates which caused this: †¢ 1434 China had been the technological superpower. This year Emperor Ming closed China to the rest of the world and stopped their advanced ship fleets from going out to the world. †¢ 1839 China finally ended its economic isolation. †¢ 1898 Several young reformers tried to gain power and were stopped. †¢ 1911 Ching Dynasty collapsed and by 1916 China was falling into civil unrest. Their military took control of the empire. †¢ 1949 the rise of the Maoist Movement. He then compares China to Russia: †¢ The Soviet Union and Eastern Europe had massive foreign debt while China did not. †¢ China has a large coastline that supported its export growth, while Russia and Eastern Europe do not. †¢ China had the benefit of large off-shore Chinese business communities which acted as foreign investors, while Russia and Eastern Europe did not. †¢ The Soviet was experiencing a drastic decline on their main export product, oil and gas. †¢ The Soviet Union had gone further down the industrialization road than China. Chapter NineIndia Market Reform Which Was the Triumph of Hope Over Fear Problem: India was controlled by a business, British East India Company, which was driven by greed, and it did everything to maximize profit for the company at the expense of the country. Though India’s population throughout history has been Hindu, vast numbers of Muslims and Christians lived in and sometimes dominated the land. India had poor political and social structures because the land was broken into many small kingdoms governed by many different leaders. In addition, India has the caste-system of stratification of peoples. With independence from the British in 1947, Nehru looked for a path to self- sufficiency and democratic socialism. The Green Revolution had a major impact on the country as high yield crops were introduced. By 1994, India now faced four major challenges: †¢ Reforms needed to be extended especially in liberalization and the development of new and better systems. †¢ India needed to invest heavily in infrastructure †¢ India needed to invest more in health and education of its people, especially the lower castes. †¢ India needed to figure out how to pay for the needed infrastructure. Lessons Learned: †¢ The 21st century is likely to be the era when this poor country’s economic development is substantially reversed. †¢ The country has announced electricity for all as well as essential health services and drinking water for everyone. These are achievable goals and the basis for much-needed investment. †¢ The Hindus did not stifle growth. The Green Revolution and then market reforms overrode the rigidness of the caste-system and the slow growth of the 1950’s and 1960’s. †¢ India has become increasingly urbanized, thereby further weakening the caste-system. †¢ Democracy is wearing away age-old social hierarchies. †¢ India has grabbed the potential of the internet and IT and is leading the way for developing nations in this regard. †¢ India’s varied geography and its miles and miles of shoreline fosters its market position for the manufacture of products. Chapter TenAfrica and the Dying Problem: Three centuries of slave trade were followed by a century of colonial rule which left Africa bereft of educated citizens and leaders, basic infrastructure, and public health facilities. The borders followed arbitrary lines, not historic tribal lines which now divided former empires, ethnic groups, ecosystems, watersheds, and resource deposits. The West was not willing to invest in African economic development. Corruption was not the central cause for their economic failure as he showed. In the 1980’s, HIV became the worse killer of mankind. In 2001, life expectancy stood at 47 years, while East Asia stood at 69 years, and developed countries at 78 years. Sachs spends time looking at the major diseases of malaria, TB, diarrhea, and HIV. He says poverty causes disease and disease causes poverty. Lessons Learned: †¢ Good governance and market reform alone are not sufficient to generate growth if a country is in a poverty trap. †¢ Geography has conspired with economics to give Africa a particularly weak hand. Africa lacks navigable rivers with access to the ocean for easy transport and trade. †¢ Africa lacks irrigation and depends on rainfall for their crops. †¢ Farmers lack access roads, markets, and fertilizers, while soils have been long depleted of their nutrients. Chapter ElevenThe Millennium, 9/11, and the United Nations. The beginning part of this chapter deals with the Millennium Development Goals. Sachs says that the goals and commitment to reach them by 2015 convey the hope that extreme poverty, disease, and environmental degradation could be alleviated with the wealth, the new technologies, and global awareness with which we entered the 21st century. He says the first seven goals call for sharp cuts in poverty, disease, and environmental degradation, while the eighth goal is essentially a commitment to global partnership. Because you have all seen them, I am not including them here. Regarding 9/11, he says we need to keep it in perspective. On 9/11, 3000 people died for once and for all, but 10,000 people die each day from diseases that are preventable. He believes we need to address the deeper roots of terrorism of which extreme poverty is an important element. The rich world needs to turn its efforts to a much greater extent from military strategies to economic development. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke of freedoms we were fighting for in WWII and for which we still should be attempting to accomplish: †¢ Freedom of speech and expression everywhere in the world. †¢ Freedom for every person to worship God in his own way everywhere in the world. †¢ Freedom from want which translates into economic development. †¢ Freedom from fear which translates into a worldwide reduction in armament, a reduction to such a point that no nation will be in a position to commit an act of physical aggression against any neighbor. One major thing he is suggesting is that the rich countries elevate their giving to .7% of their GNP from the average of .2% it is today. The rest of the chapter is about President Bush and the USA policies and actions. Chapter TwelveOn-The-Ground Solutions for Ending Poverty This chapter is really talking about CHE, but Sachs does not realize it. He says that the world’s challenge is not to overcome laziness and corruption but rather to take on geographic isolation, disease, vulnerability to climate shocks, etc. with new systems of political responsibility that can get the job done. He talks about a village of less than 1,000 in western Kenya, in a Sauri sub-location (in Siaya district in Nyanza province) that he visited, which opened his eyes. He found what we find place after place that they are impoverished, but they are capable and resourceful. Though struggling to survive, presently they are not dispirited but determined to improve their situation. He then goes on to describe the needs of a rural African community, the same type of community that we deal with every day, as shown in the abundance of applications we receive for CHE. A major problem, he feels, is that the farmers do not have the money to buy fertilizer that would impact their crop productivity drastically. Also they have no school or clinic. He then begins to calculate what it would cost per person to bring a school and teachers, simple clinic and staff, medicines, agriculture inputs such as seed and fertilizer, safe drinking water and simple sanitation, and power transport and communication services. The total cost for Sauri is about $350,000 a year, which converts to $70 a person per year, which could revolutionize the community. If he did CHE, the total cost and per person cost would be greatly reduced. He then goes ahead and extrapolates this up for the country of Kenya to $1.5 billion. At the same time he points out that Kenya’s debt service is $600 million a year and that it needs to be cancelled. But one problem that donors talk about is corruption needing to be eliminated. If countries do not eliminate corruption, they would not be eligible for relief. Also, a budget and management system need to be designed that will reach the villages and be monitorable, governable, and scalablea set of interventions to ensure good governance on such a historic project. The key to this is to empower village-based community organizations to oversee village services. Most of what he says in this chapter sounds like CHE to me, but we can do it at even a lower cost and we have the experience to implement it. That is why I said earlier that we need to talk to Sachs about CHE. He then goes on with this theme but changes the venue from rural to urban in Mumbai, India in a slum community built smack up against the railroad tracks, one-house deep. He points out the outstanding needs are not latrines, running water, nor safety from trains, but empowerment so they can negotiate with the government. He then mentions that several groups have been found and empowered to do this in this community. Again sounds like CHE for urban poor. Sachs says what this community needs is investments in the individual and basic infra-structure that can empower people to be healthier, better educated, and more productive in the work force. CHE deals with the individual side of the equation. He ends this chapter by discussing the problem of scale. He says everything must start with the basic village. The key is connecting these basic units together into a global network that reaches from impoverished communities to the very centers of power and back again. This, too, is what we are talking about when we describe scaling-up and creating a movement and then forming it into councils and collaborative groups. He believes the rich world would readily provide the missing finances but they will wonder how to ensure that the money made available would really reach the poor and that there would be results. He says we need a strategy for scaling up the investments that will end poverty, including governance that empowers the poor while holding them accountable. I believe CHE fits his prescription. Chapter ThirteenMaking the Investments Needed to End Poverty Sachs says the extreme poor lack six kinds of capital: †¢ Human Capital: health, nutrition, and skills needed for each person to be productive. †¢ Business Capital: the machinery, facilities, and motorized transport used in agriculture, industry and services. †¢ Infrastructure Capital: water and sanitation, airports and sea ports, and telecommunications systems that are critical inputs for business productivity. †¢ Natural Capital: arable land, healthy soils, biodiversity, and well- functioning ecosystems that provide the environmental services need by human society. †¢ Public Institutional Capital: commercial law, judicial systems, government services, and policing, that underpin the peaceful and prosperous division of labor. †¢ Knowledge Capital: the scientific and technological know-how that raises productivity in business output and the promotion of physical and natural capital. He spends several pages on charts showing income flow. He also uses the example of child survival and how it applies to the six kinds of capital. He makes the point that even in the poorest societies, primary education alone is no longer sufficient. He says all youth should have a minimum of 9 years of education. He says technical capacity must be in the whole of society from the bottom up. He talks about trained community health workers and the role they can play. Villages around the world should be helped in adult education involving life and death issues such as HIV. The main challenges now is NOT to show what works in small villages or districts but rather to scale up what works to encompass a whole country, even the world. Again sounds like CHE and where we are going. He goes through several examples where major diseases are being dealt with such as malaria, river blindness, and polio, as well as spread of family planning. He also briefly talks about the cell phone revolution by the poor in Bangladesh and how East Asia has established Export Processing Zones, all of which are improving the life of the poorest of poor nations. Chapter FourteenA Global Compact to End Poverty He says the poorest countries themselves must take seriously the problem of ending poverty and need to devote a greater share of their national resources to accomplish this. Many poor countries pretend to reform while rich countries pretend to help them. The chronic lack of donor financing robs the poor countries of their poverty-fighting zeal. We are stuck in a show play that is not real. There are two sides in a compact. In this compact, there should be the commitment in the rich countries to help all poor countries where the collective will to be responsible partners in the endeavor is present. For the other poor countries where authoritarian or corrupt regimes hold sway, the consequences for the population are likely to be tragic but the rich countries have their limits also. He spends time looking at several countries that have Poverty Reduction Strategies where some are working and some not. Ghana is a star in his book. He says a true MDG-based poverty reduction strategy would have five parts: †¢ A Differential Diagnosis which includes identifying policies and investments that the country needs to achieve the MDGs. †¢ An Investment Plan which shows the size, timing and costs of the required investments. †¢ A Financial Plan to fund the Investment Plan, including the calculation of the MDG financing gap, the portion of the financial needs that donors will have to fill. †¢ A Donor Plan which gives multi-year commitments from donors for meeting the MDGs. †¢ A Public Management Plan that outlines the mechanisms of governance and public administration that will help implement the expanded public investment plan. During the 1980’s and 1990’s, the IMF forced Structural Readjustment on the poor countries which did not work. The poor were asked to pay all the expenses for new services. They then moved to a compromise called Social Marketing where the poor were asked to pay a portion of the expense. But neither plan worked because the poor did not have enough even to eat, much less pay for electricity. He says a sound management plan should include the following: †¢ Decentralize. Investments are needed in all the villages and the details for what is needed needs to be established at the village level through local committees, not the national capitol or Washington DC. †¢ Training. The public sector lacks the talent to oversee the scaling up process. Training programs for capacity building should be part of the strategy. †¢ Information Technology. The use of information technologycomputers, e-mail and mobile phones needs to increase drastically because of the dramatic increase of knowledge that needs to be transmitted. †¢ Measurable Benchmarks. Every MDG based poverty reduction strategy should be supported by quantitative benchmarks tailored to national conditions, needs, and data availability. †¢ Audits. No country should receive greater funding unless the money can be audited. †¢ Monitoring and Evaluation. Each country must prepare to have investments monitored and evaluated. He then goes through the following Global Policies for Poverty Reduction: †¢ The Debt Crisis. The poorest countries are unable to repay their debt, let alone carry the interest. Therefore, for each country that agrees to the guidelines noted previously, their debt must be cancelled if there is to be true poverty reduction. †¢ Global trade Policy. Poor countries need to increase their exports to the rich countries and thereby earn foreign exchange in order to import capital goods from the rich countries. Yet trade is not enough. The policy must include both aid and trade. The end of agriculture subsidies is not enough for this to happen. †¢ Science for Development. The poor are likely to be ignored by the international scientific community unless special effort is made to include things that help the poor. It is more critical to identify the priority needs for scientific research in relation to the poor than to mobilize the donor community to spur that research forward. That would include research in tropical agriculture, energy systems, climate forecasting, water management, and sustainable management of ecosystems. †¢ Environmental stewardship. The poorest of poor nations are generally innocent victims of major long-term ecosystem degradation. The rich countries must live up to the ecology agreements they have signed. The rich countries will have to give added financial assistance to the poor countries to enable them to deal with the ecosystem problems. The rich countries will have to invest more in climate research. Chapter FifteenCan The Rich Afford to Help the Poor? He asks the question â€Å"Can the rich countries help the poor?†, and his answer is â€Å"Can they afford not to do so?† He gives five reasons that show that the current effort is so modest. †¢ The numbers of extremely poor have declined close to 50% two generations ago to 33% a generation ago to 20% today. †¢ The goal is to end extreme poverty, not all poverty, and to close the gap between the rich and the poor. †¢ Success in ending the poverty trap will be much easier than it appears. Too little has been done to identify specific, proven, low-cost interventions that can make a difference in living standards and economic growth (CHE does this). †¢ The rich world is vastly rich. What seemed out of reach a generation or two ago is now such a small fraction of the vastly expanded income of the rich world. †¢ Our tools are more powerful than ever, including computers, internet, mobile phones, etc. He then spends time in doing calculations to show how this can be accomplished. First he starts with the World Bank. They estimate that meeting basic needs requires $1.08 per person per day. Currently, the average income of the extremely poor is 77 cents per day, creating a shortfall of 31 cents per day or $113 per person per year. He then shows that this represents only .6% of a nation’s GNP. The MDG target which many countries have agreed to is .7% of their GNP. Later on, he shows that the USA is only spending .15% for aid to the world. Sachs then spends time on a six-step process to do a needs assessment to come up with the real number needed: †¢ Identify the package of basic needs. †¢ Identify for each country the current unmet needs of the population. †¢ Calculate the costs of meeting the unmet needs through investments, taking into account future population growth. †¢ Calculate the part of the investments that can’t be financed by the country itself. †¢ Calculate the MDG financing gap that must be covered by donors. †¢ Assess the size of the donor contribution relative to donor income. He proposes that interventions are required to meet the following basic needs: †¢ Primary education for all children with a designated target ratio of pupils to teachers. †¢ Nutrition program for all vulnerable populations. †¢ Universal access to anti-malarial bed nets for all households in regions of malaria transmission. †¢ Access to safe drinking water and sanitation. †¢ One-half kilometer of paved roads for every thousand population. †¢ Access to modern cooking fuels and improved cooking stoves to decrease indoor air pollution. He states extreme poverty (a lack of access to basic needs) is very different from relative poverty (occupying a place at the bottom of the ladder of income distribution) within rich countries, and goes through a more detailed approach of implementing the six steps. He points out that not all donor assistance is for development. Much is used for emergency relief, care for resettlement of refugees, geopolitical support of particular governments, and help for middle-income countries that have largely ended extreme poverty in their country. Also, only a small portion of development aid actually helps to finance the intervention package. Much of it goes for technical assistance which is not part of the MDG numbers. He spends time on the question, â€Å"Can the USA afford the .7% of their GNP?† He responds with a deafening â€Å"Yes!† He does this in multiple ways, one of which is to show that the increase is only .55%, which would be hardly noticed in the US’s average 1.9% increase year-by-year of its GNP. Chapter SixteenMyths and Magic Bullets This is an interesting chapter because Sachs shoots down commonly held beliefs concerning the causes and solutions for poverty. He uses Africa as his case to do so:. †¢ Contrary to popular conception, Africa has not received great amounts of aid. They receive $30 per person per year but only $12 of that actually went to be used in development in Africa. $5 went to consultants of donor countries, $3 went to food and emergency relief, $4 for servicing Africa’s debt and $5 for debt relief. In reality, in 2002, only six cents per person went to development. †¢ Corruption is the problem which leads to poor governance. By any standard of measure Africa’s governance is low, but not due to corruption. African countries’ governance is no different than other poor countries in the rest of the world. Governance improves as the people become more literate and more affluent. Secondly, a more affluent country can afford to invest more in governance. †¢ There is a democracy deficit. This is also not true. In 2003, 11 countries in Africa were considered free, with 20 more partially free, and 16 not free. This is the same as is found in other regions of the world. Democracy does not translate into faster economic growth. †¢ Lack of modern values. Again, this is also false. Virtually every society that was once poor has been castigated for being unworthy until its citizens became rich and then their new wealth was explained by their industriousness. He traces this trend in multiple countries. One major factor that does cause change is the change in women’s position in society as their economic situation improves, which accelerates the growth. †¢ The need for economic freedom is not fully true. Generally market societies out perform centrally planned economies. This leads to the thought that all is needed is that the people must have the will to liberalize and privatize which is too simplistic. He shows that there is no correlation between the Economic Freedom Index and annual growth rate of GDP. †¢ The single idea of Mystery of Capital put forth by Hernando de Soto which relates to the security of private property including the ability to borrow against it is also incorrect. Most poor hold their assets such as housing and land. †¢ There is a shortfall of morals which is thought to be the main cause of HIV in Africa. A study shows that Africa men are no different in the average number of sexual partners they have than any other part of the world. †¢ Saving children only to become hungry adults leads to population explosion. Actually it has been shown that the best way to reduce the fertility rate is to increase the economic status. In all parts of the world (except the Middle East) where the fertility rate is over 5 children, those countries are the poorest ones. As children survive, the parents feel less of a need to have more children which is a result of improved economic conditions. †¢ A rising tide lifts all boats. This means extreme poverty will take care of itself because economic development will pull all countries along to improvement. A rising improvement does not reach the hinder lands or mountain tops. †¢ Nature red in tooth and claw means that economic improvement is based on survival of the fittest and those who cannot compete fall behind. This is a Darwin thought which seems to still prevail throughout the world. Competition and struggle are but one side o f the coin which has the other side of trust, cooperation, and collective action. He rejects the doomsayers who saying that ending poverty is impossible. He believes he has identified specific interventions that are needed as well as found ways to plan and implement them at an affordable rate. Chapter SeventeenWhy We Should Do It There are several fallacies which affect the USA’s giving: †¢ The American public greatly overestimates the amount of federal funds spent on foreign aid. The US public believes that the government is providing massive amounts of aid. A 2001 survey by the University of Maryland showed that people felt that US aid accounted for 20% of the federal budget versus the actual of .15%. That is 24 times smaller than the actual figure. †¢ The American public believes that the US military can achieve security for Americans in the absence of a stable world. This has been proven untrue especially with 9/11. †¢ There is a fallacy in belief that there is a war of cultures. For many, this relates to Biblical prophesy of Armageddon and end times. The problem in the US is not opposition to increased foreign aid but a lack of political leadership to inform the public how little the US does supply, and then asking the US public to supply more. Hard evidence has established a strong linkage between extreme poverty abroad and threats to national security. As a general proposition, economic failure (an economy stuck in a poverty trap, banking crisis, debt default or hyper-inflation) often leads to a state failure. A CIA Task force looked at state failures between 1954 and 1994 and found that the following three factors were most significant in state failure: †¢ Very high infant mortality rate suggested that overall low levels of material well-being are a significant factor in state failure. †¢ Openness of the economy showed the more economic linkages a country had with the rest of the world, the lower chance of state failure. †¢ Democratic countries showed fewer propensities to state failure than authoritarian regimes. He then reviews what the US government has committed to since 9/11: †¢ Provide resources to aid countries that have met national reform. †¢ Improve effectiveness of the World Bank and other development banks in raising living standards. †¢ Insist on measurable results to ensure that development assistance is actually making a difference in the lives of the world’s poor. †¢ Increase the amount of development assistance that is provided in the form of grants, not loans. †¢ Since trade and investment are the real engines of economic growth, open societies to commerce and investment. †¢ Secure public health. †¢ Emphasize education. †¢ Continue to aid agricultural development. In reality, little progress has been done by the US to the accomplishment of these goals. But he does spend time discussing where plans were established and that funds were flowing where massive amounts of aid were provided by the USA: †¢ End of World War II with the Marshall Plan which revitalized Europe and Japan. †¢ Jubilee 2000 Drop the Debt Campaign started slow but ended up with large amount of national debt being cancelled in the poorest of countries. †¢ The Emergency Plan for HIV is providing $15 billion to fight this pandemic. The bottom line of this chapter is, â€Å"OK, USA and other rich countries, you are saying good things, now step-up to the plate and do what you have agreed to do.† Chapter EighteenOur Generation’s Challenge Our generation is heir to two and a half centuries of economic progress. We can realistically envision a world without extreme poverty by the year 2025 because of technological progress which enables us to meet basic needs on a global scale. We can also achieve a margin above basic needs unprecedented in history. Until the Industrial Revolution, humanity had known only unending struggles against famine, pandemic disease, and extreme povertyall compounded by cycles of war, and political despotism. At the same time, Enlightenment thinkers began to envision the possibility of sustained social progress in which science and technology could be harnessed to achieve sustained improvements in the organization of social, political, and economic life. He proposes four thinkers which led this movement: †¢ Thomas Jefferson and other founders of the American Republic led the thought that political institutions could be fashioned consciously to meet the needs of society through a human-made political system. †¢ Adam Smith believed that the economic system could similarly be shaped to meet human need and his economic design runs parallel to Jefferson’s political designs. †¢ Immanuel Kant called for an appropriate global system of governance to end the age-old scourge of war. †¢ Science and technology, fueled by human reason can be a sustained force for social improvement and human betterment led by Francis Bacon and Marie-Jean-Antoine Condorcet. Condorcet put much emphasis on public education to accomplish the goals. One of the most abiding commitments of the Enlightenment was the idea that social progress should be universal and not restricted to a corner of Western Europe. He said now it is our generation’s turn to help foster the following: †¢ Political systems that promote human well-being †¢ Economic systems that spread the benefits of science, technology, and division of labor to all parts of the world. †¢ International cooperation in order to secure a perpetual peace. †¢ Science and technology, grounded in human rationality, to fuel the continued prospects for improving the human condition. He then spends three or four pages discussing the good and bad points of the Anti-globalization Movement which is taking place. He also spends time discussing three movements which made these kind of changes in the world in their time: †¢ The end of Slavery †¢ The end of Colonization †¢ The Civil Rights and Anti-Apartheid Movement He closes with discussing the next steps which are: †¢ Commit to ending poverty †¢ Adopt a plan of action built around the Millennium Development Goals †¢ Raise the voice of the poor †¢ Redeem the role of the United States in the world †¢ Rescue the IMF and World Bank †¢ Strengthen the United Nations †¢ Harness global science †¢ Promote sustainable development †¢ Make a personal commitment to become involved Summary This is an interesting book with new perspectives for me, and which is beginning to be taken seriously by the world. I believe, as stated earlier, that MAI’s role is on-the-ground solutions for ending poverty through CHE which is spelled out in Chapter 12. But, as also noted, we can do it at a far lower cost than he estimates because of our commitment to empowering people to do things on their own and primarily with their own funds.

Consequences Of Commercial Sex Work

Consequences Of Commercial Sex Work Prostitution or commercial sex work, the practice of providing sexual services in return for payment, is one of the oldest professions of the world. Every civilisation mentions the presence of prostitution in some form in their respective literature. Moreover, with the change of time, the face of prostitution has changed a lot with varied consequences. The commercial sex workers have moved out of a confined wall of brothels to streets so as to attract customers. Sex work as a profession is not a natural choice for the most sex workers but they are put into the profession either by force, human trafficking, or are victim of economical or social injustice. However, research advances in this field, though not new, has been very scant. The present study attempted to study the consequences of sex work in terms of perceived stress, loneliness and wellbeing. A total of 115 active female commercial sex workers from different cities of India were requested to participate in the present study. Measures of Perceived stress, loneliness and PGI wellbeing was used to get the responses from the respondents. Using a 2 (level of age) x 3 (levels of number of clients per day) factorial design results were achieved. The ANOVA results indicated a significant effect of number of clients on the measure wellbeing. However, only interaction of age and number of clients was found to be significant on the measure of perceived stress among the commercial sex workers. Furthermore, main effects were not found to be statistically on the measure of loneliness. In addition, correlation results indicated a negative relationship between number of clients per day and well being. Interestingly, a negative correlation between perceived stress and age of the respondents suggesting aging relives from stress arising out of the profession was observed. The measure of loneliness revealed no relationship between any of the measure under study. The results have been interpreted and implications have been discussed the light of available literature and contemporary theoretical approaches. Introduction Prostitution is widely described as the worlds oldest profession. Prostitution, the practice of selling sex for cash or other immediate compensation, has existed across cultures and times from the ancient Greeks, through religious servitude, to todays sex scandals that have rocked several countries. Prostitution also crosses class lines, from the poor streetwalkers with their stereotyped drug habits and abusive pimps to the high-class brothel and escort service workers with their designer clothes and stylish apartments. While the prostitute technically sells a service, namely sexual intimacy, the ways in which prostitution is discussed suggest that, at least to modern sensibilities, she is selling far more than that. Common euphemisms for prostitution in English include selling her body and selling herself, conflating the body and the self with sexual intimacy indicates that sexual intimacy both defines and controls the body and the self. Buyers of sex are not restricted to any one class or clan; however, throughout the world mobile populations of men form a large proportion of sex consumers. Transport workers, seafarers, businessmen and men who are separated from their families and communities either by migration or by joining the armed forces are regular clients. Nevertheless, sex work remains criminalized in many countries and sex workers are subject to human rights violations in many more. Most analyses of prostitution suggest that both men and women enter prostitution, either professionally or temporarily, as relative amateurs, for economic and monetary reasons or are forced to indulge in sex work profession. Certainly, through most of history there were few professions open for women, especially if they had little or no family support or they lacked the education or class status to aspire to the few professions that respectable women could participate in. Conversely, many people who advocate a departure from the shame culture surrounding sex in a variety of arenas, including sex work, argue that some prostitutes work in order to challenge repressive gender roles which restrict womens sexuality to a romantic ideology and oppressive patriarchal marriages. As these activists are also working to change womens opportunities and thus eliminate prostitution as a forced, last-ditch option for staying alive, they are not simply romanticizing prostitution but complicating it b y forcing the world to consider the positive choices of sex workers. More so, females in their early teens are more vulnerable and get lured into the profession not by choice but more due to immaturity. However, adult women may also be vulnerable to economic, social and psychological pressures leading to the choice of sex work profession. There is nothing magical about a girls eighteenth birthday that guarantees that she can make free and unpressured choices. What seems more important in the context of prostitution and the controversy over choice is the individuals ability to manage power hierarchies and to retain an element of control within them (WHO, 2001). Nevertheless, very little is known about the demand for sex worker services. Sexuality is not a subject that is much discussed in India. Contrary to cultural ideals that stress chastity before marriage and fidelity within it, men commonly stray from this norm. While this behaviour is generally not as pronounced as in societies in East and Southeast Asia there is consistent, although largely anecdotal evidence to indicate that a large minority of men are clients of sex workers. Mobile groups of men: male migrants in the cities; truck drivers; those in the armed forces; and travelling businessmen are frequently cited as important client groups. Many young men are initiated into their sexual lives by prostitutes (UNFPA, 2001). Rapidly escalating prevalence rates for HIV indicate that monogamy is not necessarily practised (Lousie, 2000). This applies to men from all social classes. Threats to physical and psychological wellbeing come from working conditions, as well as from clients, the public, and the police encountered in the working environment. Both the public and the police use harassment and violence to monitor sex workers behavior. Besides, street-based sex workers are subject to constant attention, scrutiny, and harassment. In contrast to street-based workers, sex workers who operate in other venues are relatively invisible but are still likely to be the subject of harassment and assault leading to depleted state of well being. Regarding sexual and physical health, the sex workers are at a high risk of sexually transmitted disease (STD). Undeniably, the importance of the link between sexual abuse injuries and STIs has been recognized. Specially, in the context of the trafficked, they are often victims of repeated sexual abuse and coercion into involuntary sex acts, which may include vaginal rape, forced anal and oral sex, forced unprotected sex, gang rape, sex during menstruation, and sex accompanied by violent or degrading ritual, which not only have physical consequences but also affects the psychological state of the victims. Moreover, the dimensions of coercion and violence within the given situation also increase womens risk of infection by limiting womens ability to negotiate how sex takes place and whether condoms are used. Gynecological complications are the most common health problem faced by trafficked women as a result of the abuse context, which may be in terms of tearing of the vaginal tract an d genitals, sexually transmitted infections, unwanted pregnancy, risks to reproductive and sexual health and above all HIV/AIDS. Above all social stigma the sex workers face is more enduring and affects them more psychologically and is devastating for them. However, they still continue to indulge in the profession for various reasons. Stress and loneliness is one of the consequences accompanied with shattered wellbeing which may be observed among the sex workers. In view of these beliefs, numerous authors have been interested in exploring sex workers sexual health. However, the psychological exploration in the lives of sex workers in Indian context could not be seen. Within this backdrop, present study attempted to explore the consequences of sex work in terms of perceived stress, loneliness and wellbeing. METHOD Sample: A total of 115 active female commercial sex workers from different Red light areas and prostitution belt, located in cities of India, were requested to participate in the present study. Looking at the extent of study and the difficulty in finding participants for the study, purposive sampling method was used to select the sample. Respondents were female sex worker in the age range of 14-45 years. Tools: Apart from including demographic items in the interview schedule measures pertaining to perceived stress, loneliness and wellbeing was used to get appropriate responses, suitable to the objectives, from the respondents. Perceived Stress Scale (PSS): Perceived Stress Scale (Cohen, Kamarck, Mermelstein, 1983) was used to understand the stress pattern of the respondents.PSS included 14 items to be rated on a 5-point Likert type scale ranging from never (0) to very often (4). UCLA Loneliness Scale: The UCLA Loneliness Scale (Russel, 1996) was included to assess subjective feelings of loneliness of the respondents (commercial sex workers). The items in the scale were to be rated on a four point scale ranging from never to often. PGI Wellbeing Scale: PGI Wellbeing scale developed by Verma, Verma, (1989) included 20 items intended to measure the subjective wellbeing of the respondents. Forced type yes/no response was to be put against the items and a high score on the scale indicated high degree of wellbeing. The interview schedule was supplemented by actual observation of the situation. Procedure: Initially, all the respondents were contacted at their workplace and objectives of the study were explained. With great difficulty the respondents agreed to participate in the study. Data was collected from different Red light areas and prostitution belt, located in various cities of India. All the respondents were assured of confidentiality of their location and responses and were thanked for their participation in the study. RESULTS AND DISCUSSION Using a 2 (level of age) x 3 (levels of number of clients per day) factorial design results were achieved (Table 1). The ANOVA results pertaining to perceived stress have been shown in table 2. No statistically significant effect of the main effects of age (F (1, 109)= 0.246; p>.05) and number of clients (F (2, 109)= 2.785; p>.05) on the perceived stress is observed. The mean results, however, revealed that the respondents of younger age (M= 29.61) perceived more stress than their upper age (M= 27.12) counterparts. With regard to number of clients per day, it was revealed that the respondents dealing with 5 or more clients (M= 28.41) were more stressed than their other counterparts dealing with 3 or less clients (M= 28) and with 4 clients (M= 27.29) per day. Conversely, interaction of age and number of clients (F (2, 109) = 7.732; p When 23 ANOVA was applied to the measure of Loneliness, neither did age (F (1, 109)= .329; p>.05) nor did the number of clients per day (F (2, 109)= .327; p>.05) reveal any significant effect. Similarly, the interaction effect (F (2, 109)= 2.784; p>.05) also was not significant. However, it was the younger respondents (M= 29.67) who perceived loneliness more than their counterparts (M= 28.77). Conversely, respondents dealing with 4 clients daily (M=29.18) experiences loneliness more than their counterparts dealing 5 or more (M= 28.80) and 3 or less (28.20) clients on daily basis. Ordinarily, loneliness exists because of the isolation people feel in them. The isolation can come as a result of loss of someone or something people are dearly attached with and when it is taken away experience of loneliness creeps in. Its usually because of this separation that creates the feeling of loneliness. However the result seems to indicate that loneliness is experiences similarly across age group of the sex workers and that number of client is also not important. A 23 ANOVA was applied to see the effect of age and number of client on wellbeing. The results indicated a significant effect of number of clients on the measure wellbeing (F (2, 109) = 3.55; p The correlation results (table 2) indicated a negative relationship between number of clients per day and well being. It suggests that number of client is a potent source of good or depleted wellbeing among the commercial sex workers. Interestingly, a negative correlation between perceived stress and age of the respondents. This result seems to suggest that with aging these sex workers are more adjusted to the daily demands of the work they do and consequently are more relieved and hence less stress. Furthermore, the measure of loneliness revealed no statistically significant relationship between any of the measure under study once again suggesting that the feeling of loneliness is not affected by either age or number of clients and also it is not statistically related to stress or wellbeing for the commercial sex workers. Conclusion Socio-economic factors such as financial handicap, trafficking, unemployment and peer influence are the major factors encouraging the growth of the sex industry in India. Stress as a function of age and number of client is an important factor was used in the present study but revealed no significant effects. However, clients number was significant with wellbeing. Age and number of client was also not significant with the measure loneliness. Some of the other studies have documented an association between sex trading and multiple traumas and other characteristics associated with psychological distress (El-Bassel et al., 1997; Fullilove, Lown, Fullilove, 1992; Kelly, et al., 1992). This finding should be viewed in the light of two limitations. First, because of difficulty in finding the respondents random or systematic sampling procedure could not be used, thus, the conclusions may not be representative of all women in this trade. Second, the present study did not consider stressful life events, such as trafficking, socio-economic conditions prior to entering flesh trade, childhood abuse, and domestic violence, etc., that could confound the relationship between sex trading and perceived stress among this population. These associations notwithstanding, the question as to what extent psychological distress and loneliness is a consequence of commercial sex work and its possible relationship with various other psychological variables remains unanswered by this study. Future studies are needed to examine culturally relevant appraisals, coping style, psychological symptoms and their consequences on the commercial sex workers. Knowledge of psychological factors can be used to develop interventions for this population. Despite these limitations, this study has implications for assessing and possibly providing possible intervention for mental health problems of sex workers. The level of perceived psychological stress among sex workers highlights the need to assess their need for psychological interventions. The feeling they have of being stigmatized because of the nature and status of their work likely contributes to their stress (Fullilove, Lown, Fullilove, 1992) and shattered wellbeing because the wellbeing results were slightly at the lower side. More so, for the majority of commercial sex workers, commercial sex constitutes their major source of income and it was revealed that given a chance they would like to leave the profession. In this line, women who are ready to leave this profession should have some policy from the government addressing their rehabilitation and alternate source of income generation. Gaining access to public assistance may enable some women to reduce their dependency on sex trading. Those who are not willing or able to leave sex trading need training to develop strategies to reduce the dangers of their work. By and large, high number of partners and inconsistent risky sex conditions among these sex worker, as reported, indicate that these women will continue to become infected with STDs, if not yet affected, and get into drug abuse as well. Thus, government and providers of public health must intensify their efforts to bring them into the mainstream of the country.

Pest Analysis of McDonalds in Malaysia

Pest Analysis of McDonalds in Malaysia PEST stands for Political, Economic, Sociological, and Technological. PEST analysis is an effective tool to audit companys environmental influences which can be used for strategic decision-making. The PEST analysis is a very useful tool to understand and analyze market growth, market position, future potentials and direction for a particular business so A PEST analysis can be termed as a business measurement tool. PEST analysis summarizes the external environment in which the business is planning to operate or already operating. However, an effective follow up and proper response plan is required to ensure optimum use of PEST analysis (Luthans Doh, 2008). This report aims to discuss PEST analysis of McDonalds in Malaysia. The report is divided into five parts. First part is introduction where the basic theory and application of PEST analysis is discussed. The next part is detail explanation of four components namely Political, Economic, Sociological, and Technological of PEST analy sis. The third part of this report highlights PEST analysis for McDonalds in Malaysia. The final part of this report discusses conclusion and summary analysis. 2.0 Background of the Company: 2.1 Introduction: McDonalds is a popular brand name in fast food industry. McDonald has 34,000 restaurants in 119 countries serving roughly 69 million people every day. Worldwide around 80% of McDonalds restaurants are franchised and generally owned and operated by independent local entrepreneurs (McDonalds, 2013). McDonalds annual report 2012 shows that worldwide the company generated operating income of 8.5 billion in 2011 with 9.7% growth over 2010 (McDonalds Corporation, 2012). McDonalds Malaysia opened its first store in 1982 in Kuala Lumpur. According to the figure of 2009, McDonalds Malaysia manages 194 restaurants nationwide catering the need of 10 million customers monthly. McDonalds Malaysia is growing significantly with 15-20 restaurants per annum. In order to manage day to day operations McDonalds Malaysia has around 8,000 local employees who are working in different outlets and near about 150 personnel are working in the headquarter (McDonalds Malaysia, 2009). 2.2 Company History: Ray Kroc the founder of McDonalds corporation started his business with Richard and Maurice McDonald by buying franchising right in 1950s to operate McDonalds restaurants in the USA. In 1961, he bought complete shares of the company from the McDonald brothers. In the last quarter of 1980, Golden Arches Restaurants Sdn. Berhad. (GARSB) received permission to bring McDonalds in Malaysia. The first McDonalds opened on 29 April 1982 at Bukit Bintang, (McDonalds Malaysia, 2009). 2.3 Products are Services: McDonalds offer wide variety of fast food and beverages including burger, nugget, chicken fries, French fries, set meals etc. Moreover the restaurant serves different type of coffee, carbonated beverages, ice creams and flavored drinks (McDonalds Malaysia, 2013). McDonalds continuously does research and update its menu to keep the market share. Cost leadership and price differentiation is McDonalds one of the key marketing strategies (McDonalds Corporation, 2008). 3.0 Introduction to PEST analysis: It is mentioned earlier that PEST stands for Political, Economic, Social, and Technological. This tool is used to evaluate the market for both new entrants and existing business units. This analysis tools are a framework for assessing a situation. It can be applied to evaluate a position or a strategy, company direction, new marketing proposition or even a new idea. Thorough analysis of the environment in which the firm functions empowers a company to take advantages of opportunities as well as minimize the threats. PEST framework often encourages proactive thinking and brainstorming rather than relying on instinct (Luthans Doh, 2008). 3.1 Political: Political factors often refers government intervention, entry barriers, tax or tariff structures which are designed to benefit Government or the citizen. The political environment has huge influence on the business. Political stability, regulations, spending power of consumers often shapes the profitability of a business (Oxbridge Graduates, 2013). There are certain factors which influence political situation of a country which includes ecological or environmental issues, current legislation home market, future legislation, international legislation, regulatory bodies and processes, government policies, government term and change, trading policies, funding, grants and initiatives, home market lobbying/pressure groups, international pressure groups, wars and conflicts (businessballs.com, 2010). 3.2 Economic: Economic factors comprise many factors e.g. stability, income status, income parity, purchasing powers, unemployment rates, exchange rate, interest rates etc. there is no doubt that these factors plays a vital role in decision making for an industry or a business (Oxbridge Graduates, 2013). It is necessary to consider certain factors while analysis economic situation of a country, for example, home economy situation, home economy trends, overseas economies and trends, general taxation issues, taxation specific to product or services, seasonality and weather issues, market and trade cycles, specific industry factors, market routes and distribution trends, customer or end-user drivers, interest and exchange rates, international trade and monetary issues (www.businessballs.com, 2010). 3.3 Socio-Cultural: Socio- cultural factors refer to the pattern and trend of demand which generally occur due to the nationality, religious or culture. As for food industry it is evident that local taste and preferences will decide the acceptance of particular food products. In order to survive and grow local likings and disliking should be followed. So a thorough understanding about local market is required to ensure successful business (Oxbridge Graduates, 2013). The cultural and social influences on a particular business vary country-wise. When a Socio-Cultural situation is analyzed lifestyle trends, demographics, consumer attitudes and opinions, media views, law changes affecting social factors, brand, company, technology image, consumer buying patterns, fashion and role models, major events and influences, buying access and trends, ethnic or religious factors, advertising and publicity, ethical issues should be considered (www.businessballs.com, 2010). 3.4 Technology: Technological factors shape the production output and efficacy of the plant and operation. As for the food industry it is seen that employment of technology brought fruitful results in the food industry (Oxbridge Graduates, 2013). Technology is a critical success factor to achieve and sustain competitive advantages. Moreover, this is a key driving force of globalization. An analyst considers competing technology development, research funding, associated or dependent technologies, replacement technology or solutions, maturity of technology, manufacturing maturity and capacity, information and communications, consumer buying mechanisms or technology, technology legislation, innovation potential, technology access, licensing, patents, intellectual property issues, global communications while evaluating technological situation (www.businessballs.com, 2010). 4.0 PEST analysis for McDonalds in Malaysia: 4.1 Political Components: Malaysia is a multicultural country with three major ethnic groups namely Malay, Chinese and Indian. Moreover, the country has few indigenous groups who live mostly in East Malaysia. Evidently, these groups live in peace without any major clashes (Rex, 1991). Moreover, this country is a popular tourist destination. According to Malaysian Tourism Board in 2012 around 25.03 million international tourists visited Malaysia and on an average 64,000 tourists landed in Malaysia everyday which is 7.2% higher than the inbound tourist in 2011 (MTPB, 2013). The apparent political stability is one of the main attracting factors for foreign as well as local investors. Pro- business government mentality, stable political situation and a good legal system shows attractive prospects for investors. Moreover, in order to attract large investments, the government offered greater portion of foreign equity ownership in businesses and enterprises under the Promotion of Investment Act (PIA), 1986. Market-o riented economy and an educated multilingual workforce made Malaysia as one of the popular destinations for investment (Tsen, 2005). So, McDonalds has tremendous opportunities in Malaysia and the company can capitalize this harmonious political situation for further expansion. 4.2 Economy Factors: The global financial crisis has affected the whole world at the end of 2007 resulting sharp decline in global trade and it also increased the unemployment rate in many countries. The good thing is Malaysia was not affected severely by the recession like its neighboring country Singapore. One reason could be Malaysia learnt its lessons from the previous financial crisis which occurred in 1997. Moreover, McDonalds dealt the problem efficiently by reducing product price and offering value meals. This is how McDonalds managed to maintain sales figures and performed better compared to its competitors. Currently, Malaysian economy is growing at a pace of 4.5-5% per annum. The rate of Malaysian Ringgit against US Dollar was steady at average 2.95 (Zheng, 2009). The . 4.3 Socio- Cultural Factors: As it was mentioned earlier that Malaysia is a multi- religion and multicultural country. Islam is considered official religion in Malaysia and more than 50% of population is follower of Islam in Malaysia. So naturally the concept of Halal plays important role in Malaysian food industry (Muhammad, Isa, Kifli, 2009). To respect the religious sentiment of Muslims and to comply government rules McDonalds in Malaysia does not serve any pork item. Moreover, McDonalds follow strict Halal compliances while buying the main ingredients e.g. chicken or meat from suppliers. Beef is one of the popular food items for many Malaysians especially Muslims, that is why data shows that in Malaysia the bestselling McDonalds product is Big Mac (McDonalds Malaysia, 2009). Recent trend shows that the Millennial generation in Malaysia are becoming health concern. 4.4 Technological factors: Malaysians are becoming more and more technology oriented. Social networking sites are playing vital role in every aspect of Malaysian peoples lives especially the younger generations are heavy users of internet and other IT gadgets (Miniwatts Marketing Group, 2010). McDonalds Malaysia has its own website and also it has strong Facebook and other online social networking presence. It disseminates corporate information as well as various promotions and events through these channels (McDonalds Malaysia, 2013). However, it certainly lacks in some aspects where the other competitors are way ahead. For example, McDonalds did not have internet ordering system until recently. Moreover, the delivery service in inadequate and often does not cover most of Kuala Lumpur let alone other cities (McDonalds Malaysia, 2013). In order to sustain in todays competitive business world McDonalds should design appropriate strategies to response changing need of the customers. 5.0 Conclusion: A PEST analysis is an excellent tool to understand the external affecting factors of business. It enables the company to capitalize the opportunities as well as minimize the potential threats. This report has outlined a PEST analysis for McDonalds Malaysia. However, it should be remembered that todays business world is very dynamic, demanding and ever changing so in order to ensure maximum success, the factors should be analyzed and updated on a regular basis (Luthans Doh, 2008). 5.1 Summary of the PEST Analysis: The summary of PEST analysis McDonalds Malaysia is mentioned below: Political: Despite of being a multi-cultural society, Malaysia enjoys a peaceful environment. Moreover the government is trying to encourage investments in various ways so McDonalds can use this opportunity for further expansion. Economic: Though Malaysia was not badly affected by 2007 world recession but still McDonalds was prepared and had taken timely measures. The overall economic improvement of Malaysian opens new opportunities for McDonalds. Socio- Cultural Factors: McDonalds has managed to blend with Malaysian culture nicely and understood local preferences very well, as a result McDonalds is a household name in Malaysia. However, recent health consciousness among Malaysians poses a threat for McDonalds. However, McDonalds can capitalize this change in consumer behavior by offering healthier foods e.g. organic foods, salads etc. Technology: McDonalds understands the need of technology applications. It has strong presence in online social medias e.g. Facebook. The communication patterns and preferences are changing, McDonalds should respond to these changes by innovation.

Acid Rain :: Free Essay Writer

Acid Rain Acid rain is caused by extra amounts of sulphur dioxide and nitrogen oxides. Natural sources of sulphur oxides and nitrogen oxides do exist, but are balanced by nature. Normal rain reacts with alkaline chemicals from the region's bedrock that are in the air, soils, lakes, and streams. This neutralizes the rain. However, if rain is more highly acidic, then the natural neutralizing chemicals can eventually become depleted. This is what is happening with more than 90% of the sulphur and 95% of the nitrogen emissions coming from humans. Approximately 40% of the nitrogen oxides come from transportation, about 25% from thermoelectric generating stations, and the balance from other industrial, commercial, and residential combustion processes. These pollutants come from the use of coal in the production of electricity, from smelting, and from the internal combustion engines in most cars. Once released into the atmosphere, they are converted into such pollutants as nitric acid and sulfuric ac id, both dissolving easily in water. This results in acidic water droplets that can be carried by prevailing winds, returning to Earth as acid rain, snow, or fog. This effects the lakes by changing the pH balance. As the water pH approaches 6, crustaceans, insects, and plankton begin to disappear. When the pH is slightly above 5, major changes start to happen, less desirable species of mosses and plankton may begin to flourish, whereas others will lessen in numbers and die off. Below pH of 5, the water is to acidic for many fish, the bottom is covered with undecayed material, and the shores may be dominated by mosses. Animals also are affected. Some ducks, for example, depend on fish and other organisms for nourishment and nutrients. As these food sources are reduced or eliminated, the population in that area declines and the reproductive success of the birds is affected. Plants are effected too. The acids can alter the protective waxy surface of leaves, lowering disease resistance. It also may slow down or stop plant germination and reproduction. The acids will accelerate soil weathering and removal of nutrients, which the plant need. And it will make some metals more soluble, for example, aluminum will be come high in concentration in the soil and clog the roots of the plants, stopping the intake of vital nutrients.   Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  Ã‚  These are all good reasons we must be looking for new means of energy, in the very near future.

The Rain Man Essay -- Movie Film Rain Man Rainman Essays

The Rain Man The Rain Man stars Dustin Hoffman and Tom Cruise. The movie was made in 1988. The movie is about an autistic man named Raymon, who is a idiot savant played by Dustin Hoffman and his fast, talking self absorbed, egocentric brother Charlie Babbitt, who is played by Tom Cruise. A egocentric person is a person with the simple recognition that every living thing views the world from a unique, self-oriented perspective(LIFE: Inherently Egocentric written by James Craig Green http://pw2.netcom.com/~zeno7/ego.html). Charlie is a car salesman whose business is going down hill. Charlie and his girlfriend are on their way to Palm Springs when Charlie gets a call from his friend and co-worker. He tells him that his fathers' lawyer has been trying to reach him, because his father was dead and the funeral was the next day. Charlie who never had a good relationship with his father decided to go out there to pay his respects and to go get his share of his fathers estate. When the lawyer read the will, Charlie finds out all he received was his fathers' 1949 Buick and his prized rose bushes. The lawyer says the rest of the estate is going to a beneficiary. Charlie is mad at what his father did. He tries to find out who get everything else, because it is worth about three million dollars. Charlie finds out the name and location of the beneficiary, but does not know anything else. So Charlie goes to Wallbrook institution to find out who this guy is. While he is inside a man comes up to Charlies' car and hop s in. He says he drove it just last week. After Charlie asks him a couple of questions he finds out that they are brothers. Charlie's first impression of Raymon is that he is retarded. Charlie decides in order to get his cut of his fathers' money, he will abduct his brother and wait for them to hand him his one and a half million dollars as a ransom because he thinks he deserves it. Charlie takes Raymon from Wallbrook and heads out on the road back to Los Angeles. Charlie tells him if they make it back soon they can go and see a Dodgers game. Charlie's girl friend objects to what Charlie is doing to Raymon and decides to leave him. The next morning Charlie and Raymon go out for breakfast and Raymon starts to throw a fit when the maple syrup is not on the table before they order. He also wants toothpicks to eat with, not the knife and fork provided. C... ...ctured and safe. The fact that Raymon is a brilliant idiot savant would be interesting but have little value in his day to day life. Charlie's portrayal as an egocentric person was also very believable. It was obvious from the beginning of the movie that he viewed everything that happened very personally. He was self-centered and could not think of others. By the end of the movie he learns to think of others including Raymon and he even wants to incorporate Raymon into his everyday life. I think it happened too quickly though, I mean how many people can go from being egocentrical to a person who is at the exact opposite side of how to live life. Even today autism is not recognized or else it is misunderstood by the public, parents and professionals. This film put a lot of the rumors of autistics and savants to rest. Before this movie not a lot of people had known how you could recognize an autistic person. This film was a really good film. As stated before this film not many people knew much about autistic people. This film opened up the eyes of people to autistics. This was the first film to actually show how autistic people live and how they like to have a daily schedule.

A Game of Thrones Chapter Three

Daenerys Her brother held the gown up for her inspection. â€Å"This is beauty. Touch it. Go on. Caress the fabric.† Dany touched it. The cloth was so smooth that it seemed to run through her fingers like water. She could not remember ever wearing anything so soft. It frightened her. She pulled her hand away. â€Å"Is it really mine?† â€Å"A gift from the Magister Illyrio,† Viserys said, smiling. Her brother was in a high mood tonight. â€Å"The color will bring out the violet in your eyes. And you shall have gold as well, and jewels of all sorts. Illyrio has promised. Tonight you must look like a princess.† A princess, Dany thought. She had forgotten what that was like. Perhaps she had never really known. â€Å"Why does he give us so much?† she asked. â€Å"What does he want from us?† For nigh on half a year, they had lived in the magister's house, eating his food, pampered by his servants. Dany was thirteen, old enough to know that such gifts seldom come without their price, here in the free city of Pentos. â€Å"Illyrio is no fool,† Viserys said. He was a gaunt young man with nervous hands and a feverish look in his pale lilac eyes. â€Å"The magister knows that I will not forget my friends when I come into my throne.† Dany said nothing. Magister Illyrio was a dealer in spices, gemstones, dragonbone, and other, less savory things. He had friends in all of the Nine Free Cities, it was said, and even beyond, in Vaes Dothrak and the fabled lands beside the JadeSea. It was also said that he'd never had a friend he wouldn't cheerfully sell for the right price. Dany listened to the talk in the streets, and she heard these things, but she knew better than to question her brother when he wove his webs of dream. His anger was a terrible thing when roused. Viserys called it â€Å"waking the dragon.† Her brother hung the gown beside the door. â€Å"Illyrio will send the slaves to bathe you. Be sure you wash off the stink of the stables. Khal Drogo has a thousand horses, tonight he looks for a different sort of mount.† He studied her critically. â€Å"You still slouch. Straighten yourself† He pushed back her shoulders with his hands. â€Å"Let them see that you have a woman's shape now.† His fingers brushed lightly over her budding breasts and tightened on a nipple. â€Å"You will not fail me tonight. If you do, it will go hard for you. You don't want to wake the dragon, do you?† His fingers twisted her, the pinch cruelly hard through the rough fabric of her tunic. â€Å"Do you?† he repeated. â€Å"No,† Dany said meekly. Her brother smiled. â€Å"Good.† He touched her hair, almost with affection. â€Å"When they write the history of my reign, sweet sister, they will say that it began tonight.† When he was gone, Dany went to her window and looked out wistfully on the waters of the bay. The square brick towers of Pentos were black silhouettes outlined against the setting sun. Dany could hear the singing of the red priests as they lit their night fires and the shouts of ragged children playing games beyond the walls of the estate. For a moment she wished she could be out there with them, barefoot and breathless and dressed in tatters, with no past and no future and no feast to attend at Khal Drogo's manse. Somewhere beyond the sunset, across the narrow sea, lay a land of green hills and flowered plains and great rushing rivers, where towers of dark stone rose amidst magnificent blue-grey mountains, and armored knights rode to battle beneath the banners of their lords. The Dothraki called that land Rhaesh Andahli, the land of the Andals. In the Free Cities, they talked of Westeros and the SunsetKingdoms. Her brother had a simpler name. â€Å"Our land,† he called it. The words were like a prayer with him. If he said them enough, the gods were sure to hear. â€Å"Ours by blood right, taken from us by treachery, but ours still, ours forever. You do not steal from the dragon, oh, no. The dragon remembers.† And perhaps the dragon did remember, but Dany could not. She had never seen this land her brother said was theirs, this realm beyond the narrow sea. These places he talked of, Casterly Rock and the Eyrie, Highgarden and the Vale of Arryn, Dorne and the Isle of Faces, they were just words to her. Viserys had been a boy of eight when they fled King's Landing to escape the advancing armies of the Usurper, but Daenerys had been only a quickening in their mother's womb. Yet sometimes Dany would picture the way it had been, so often had her brother told her the stories. The midnight flight to Dragonstone, moonlight shimmering on the ship's black sails. Her brother Rhaegar battling the Usurper in the bloody waters of the Trident and dying for the woman he loved. The sack of King's Landing by the ones Viserys called the Usurper's dogs, the lords Lannister and Stark. Princess Elia of Dorne pleading for mercy as Rhaegar's heir was ripped from her breast and murdered before her eyes. The polished skulls of the last dragons staring down sightlessly from the walls of the throne room while the Kingslayer opened Father's throat with a golden sword. She had been born on Dragonstone nine moons after their flight, while a raging summer storm threatened to rip the island fastness apart. They said that storm was terrible. The Targaryen fleet was smashed while it lay at anchor, and huge stone blocks were ripped from the parapets and sent hurtling into the wild waters of the narrow sea. Her mother had died birthing her, and for that her brother Viserys had never forgiven her. She did not remember Dragonstone either. They had run again, just before the Usurper's brother set sail with his new-built fleet. By then only Dragonstone itself, the ancient seat of their House, had remained of the Seven Kingdoms that had once been theirs. It would not remain for long. The garrison had been prepared to sell them to the Usurper, but one night Ser Willem Darry and four loyal men had broken into the nursery and stolen them both, along with her wet nurse, and set sail under cover of darkness for the safety of the Braavosian coast. She remembered Ser Willem dimly, a great grey bear of a man, half-blind, roaring and bellowing orders from his sickbed. The servants had lived in terror of him, but he had always been kind to Dany. He called her â€Å"Little Princess† and sometimes â€Å"My Lady,† and his hands were soft as old leather. He never left his bed, though, and the smell of sickness clung to him day and night, a hot, moist, sickly sweet odor. That was when they lived in Braavos, in the big house with the red door. Dany had her own room there, with a lemon tree outside her window. After Ser Willem had died, the servants had stolen what little money they had left, and soon after they had been put out of the big house. Dany had cried when the red door closed behind them forever. They had wandered since then, from Braavos to Myr, from Myr to Tyrosh, and on to Qohor and Volantis and Lys, never staying long in any one place. Her brother would not allow it. The Usurper's hired knives were close behind them, he insisted, though Dany had never seen one. At first the magisters and archons and merchant princes were pleased to welcome the last Targaryens to their homes and tables, but as the years passed and the Usurper continued to sit upon the Iron Throne, doors closed and their lives grew meaner. Years past they had been forced to sell their last few treasures, and now even the coin they had gotten from Mother's crown had gone. In the alleys and wine sinks of Pentos, they called her brother â€Å"the beggar king.† Dany did not want to know what they called her. â€Å"We will have it all back someday, sweet sister,† he would promise her. Sometimes his hands shook when he talked about it. â€Å"The jewels and the silks, Dragonstone and King's Landing, the Iron Throne and the SevenKingdoms, all they have taken from us, we will have it back.† Viserys lived for that day. All that Daenerys wanted back was the big house with the red door, the lemon tree outside her window, the childhood she had never known. There came a soft knock on her door. â€Å"Come,† Dany said, turning away from the window. Illyrio's servants entered, bowed, and set about their business. They were slaves, a gift from one of the magister's many Dothraki friends. There was no slavery in the free city of Pentos. Nonetheless, they were slaves. The old woman, small and grey as a mouse, never said a word, but the girl made up for it. She was Illyrio's favorite, a fair-haired, blue-eyed wench of sixteen who chattered constantly as she worked. They filled her bath with hot water brought up from the kitchen and scented it with fragrant oils. The girl pulled the rough cotton tunic over Dany's head and helped her into the tub. The water was scalding hot, but Daenerys did not flinch or cry out. She liked the heat. It made her feel clean. Besides, her brother had often told her that it was never too hot for a Targaryen. â€Å"Ours is the house of the dragon,† he would say. â€Å"The fire is in our blood.† The old woman washed her long, silver-pale hair and gently combed out the snags, all in silence. The girl scrubbed her back and her feet and told her how lucky she was. â€Å"Drogo is so rich that even his slaves wear golden collars. A hundred thousand men ride in his khalasar, and his palace in Vaes Dothrak has two hundred rooms and doors of solid silver.† There was more like that, so much more, what a handsome man the khal was, so tall and fierce, fearless in battle, the best rider ever to mount a horse, a demon archer. Daenerys said nothing. She had always assumed that she would wed Viserys when she came of age. For centuries the Targaryens had married brother to sister, since Aegon the Conqueror had taken his sisters to bride. The line must be kept pure, Viserys had told her a thousand times; theirs was the kingsblood, the golden blood of old Valyria, the blood of the dragon. Dragons did not mate with the beasts of the field, and Targaryens did not mingle their blood with that of lesser men. Yet now Viserys schemed to sell her to a stranger, a barbarian. When she was clean, the slaves helped her from the water and toweled her dry. The girl brushed her hair until it shone like molten silver, while the old woman anointed her with the spiceflower perfume of the Dothraki plains, a dab on each wrist, behind her ears, on the tips of her breasts, and one last one, cool on her lips, down there between her legs. They dressed her in the wisps that Magister Illyrio had sent up, and then the gown, a deep plum silk to bring out the violet in her eyes. The girl slid the gilded sandals onto her feet, while the old woman fixed the tiara in her hair, and slid golden bracelets crusted with amethysts around her wrists. Last of all came the collar, a heavy golden torc emblazoned with ancient Valyrian glyphs. â€Å"Now you look all a princess,† the girl said breathlessly when they were done. Dany glanced at her image in the silvered looking glass that Illyrio had so thoughtfully provided. A princess, she thought, but she remembered what the girl had said, how Khal Drogo was so rich even his slaves wore golden collars. She felt a sudden chill, and gooseflesh pimpled her bare arms. Her brother was waiting in the cool of the entry hall, seated on the edge of the pool, his hand trailing in the water. He rose when she appeared and looked her over critically. â€Å"Stand there,† he told her. â€Å"Turn around. Yes. Good. You look . . . â€Å" â€Å"Regal,† Magister Illyrio said, stepping through an archway. He moved with surprising delicacy for such a massive man. Beneath loose garments of flame-colored silk, rolls of fat jiggled as he walked. Gemstones glittered on every finger, and his man had oiled his forked yellow beard until it shone like real gold. â€Å"May the Lord of Light shower you with blessings on this most fortunate day, Princess Daenerys,† the magister said as he took her hand. He bowed his head, showing a thin glimpse of crooked yellow teeth through the gold of his beard. â€Å"She is a vision, Your Grace, a vision,† he told her brother. â€Å"Drogo will be enraptured.† â€Å"She's too skinny,† Viserys said. His hair, the same silver-blond as hers, had been pulled back tightly behind his head and fastened with a dragonbone brooch. It was a severe look that emphasized the hard, gaunt lines of his face. He rested his hand on the hilt of the sword that Illyrio had lent him, and said, â€Å"Are you sure that Khal Drogo likes his women this young?† â€Å"She has had her blood. She is old enough for the khal,† Illyrio told him, not for the first time. â€Å"Look at her. That silver-gold hair, those purple eyes . . . she is the blood of old Valyria, no doubt, no doubt . . . and highborn, daughter of the old king, sister to the new, she cannot fail to entrance our Drogo.† When he released her hand, Daenerys found herself trembling. â€Å"I suppose,† her brother said doubtfully. â€Å"The savages have queer tastes. Boys, horses, sheep . . . â€Å" â€Å"Best not suggest this to Khal Drogo,† Illyrio said. Anger flashed in her brother's lilac eyes. â€Å"Do you take me for a fool?† The magister bowed slightly. â€Å"I take you for a king. Kings lack the caution of common men. My apologies if I have given offense.† He turned away and clapped his hands for his bearers. The streets of Pentos were pitch-dark when they set out in Illyrio's elaborately carved palanquin. Two servants went ahead to light their way, carrying ornate oil lanterns with panes of pale blue glass, while a dozen strong men hoisted the poles to their shoulders. It was warm and close inside behind the curtains. Dany could smell the stench of Illyrio's pallid flesh through his heavy perfumes. Her brother, sprawled out on his pillows beside her, never noticed. His mind was away across the narrow sea. â€Å"We won't need his whole khalasar,† Viserys said. His fingers toyed with the hilt of his borrowed blade, though Dany knew he had never used a sword in earnest. â€Å"Ten thousand, that would be enough, I could sweep the Seven Kingdoms with ten thousand Dothraki screamers. The realm will rise for its rightful king. Tyrell, Redwyne, Darry, Greyjoy, they have no more love for the Usurper than I do. The Dornishmen burn to avenge Elia and her children. And the smallfolk will be with us. They cry out for their king.† He looked at Illyrio anxiously. â€Å"They do, don't they?† â€Å"They are your people, and they love you well,† Magister Illyrio said amiably. â€Å"In holdfasts all across the realm, men lift secret toasts to your health while women sew dragon banners and hide them against the day of your return from across the water.† He gave a massive shrug. â€Å"Or so my agents tell me.† Dany had no agents, no way of knowing what anyone was doing or thinking across the narrow sea, but she mistrusted Illyrio's sweet words as she mistrusted everything about Illyrio. Her brother was nodding eagerly, however. â€Å"I shall kill the Usurper myself,† he promised, who had never killed anyone, â€Å"as he killed my brother Rhaegar. And Lannister too, the Kingslayer, for what he did to my father.† â€Å"That would be most fitting,† Magister Illyrio said. Dany saw the smallest hint of a smile playing around his full lips, but her brother did not notice. Nodding, he pushed back a curtain and stared off into the night, and Dany knew he was fighting the Battle of the Trident once again. The nine-towered manse of Khal Drogo sat beside the waters of the bay, its high brick walls overgrown with pale ivy. It had been given to the khal by the magisters of Pentos, Illyrio told them. The Free Cities were always generous with the horselords. â€Å"It is not that we fear these barbarians,† Illyrio would explain with a smile. â€Å"The Lord of Light would hold our city walls against a million Dothraki, or so the red priests promise . . . yet why take chances, when their friendship comes so cheap?† Their palanquin was stopped at the gate, the curtains pulled roughly back by one of the house guards. He had the copper skin and dark almond eyes of a Dothraki, but his face was hairless and he wore the spiked bronze cap of the Unsullied. He looked them over coldly. Magister Illyrio growled something to him in the rough Dothraki tongue; the guardsman replied in the same voice and waved them through the gates. Dany noticed that her brother's hand was clenched tightly around the hilt of his borrowed sword. He looked almost as frightened as she felt. â€Å"Insolent eunuch,† Viserys muttered as the palanquin lurched up toward the manse. Magister Illyrio's words were honey. â€Å"Many important men will be at the feast tonight. Such men have enemies. The khal must protect his guests, yourself chief among them, Your Grace. No doubt the Usurper would pay well for your head.† â€Å"Oh, yes,† Viserys said darkly. â€Å"He has tried, Illyrio, I promise you that. His hired knives follow us everywhere. I am the last dragon, and he will not sleep easy while I live.† The palanquin slowed and stopped. The curtains were thrown back, and a slave offered a hand to help Daenerys out. His collar, she noted, was ordinary bronze. Her brother followed, one hand still clenched hard around his sword hilt. It took two strong men to get Magister Illyrio back on his feet. Inside the manse, the air was heavy with the scent of spices, pinchfire and sweet lemon and cinnamon. They were escorted across the entry hall, where a mosaic of colored glass depicted the Doom of Valyria. Oil burned in black iron lanterns all along the walls. Beneath an arch of twining stone leaves, a eunuch sang their coming. â€Å"Viserys of the House Targaryen, the Third of his Name,† he called in a high, sweet voice, â€Å"King of the Andals and the Rhoynar and the First Men, Lord of the SevenKingdoms and Protector of the Realm. His sister, Daenerys Stormborn, Princess of Dragonstone. His honorable host, Illyrio Mopatis, Magister of the Free City of Pentos.† They stepped past the eunuch into a pillared courtyard overgrown in pale ivy. Moonlight painted the leaves in shades of bone and silver as the guests drifted among them. Many were Dothraki horselords, big men with red-brown skin, their drooping mustachios bound in metal rings, their black hair oiled and braided and hung with bells. Yet among them moved bravos and sellswords from Pentos and Myr and Tyrosh, a red priest even fatter than Illyrio, hairy men from the Port of Ibben, and lords from the Summer Isles with skin as black as ebony. Daenerys looked at them all in wonder . . . and realized, with a sudden start of fear, that she was the only woman there. Illyrio whispered to them. â€Å"Those three are Drogo's bloodriders, there,† he said. â€Å"By the pillar is Khal Moro, with his son Rhogoro. The man with the green beard is brother to the Archon of Tyrosh, and the man behind him is Ser Jorah Mormont.† The last name caught Daenerys. â€Å"A knight?† â€Å"No less.† Illyrio smiled through his beard. â€Å"Anointed with the seven oils by the High Septon himself.† â€Å"What is he doing here?† she blurted. â€Å"The Usurper wanted his head,† Illyrio told them. â€Å"Some trifling affront. He sold some poachers to a Tyroshi slaver instead of giving them to the Night's Watch. Absurd law. A man should be able to do as he likes with his own chattel.† â€Å"I shall wish to speak with Ser Jorah before the night is done,† her brother said. Dany found herself looking at the knight curiously. He was an older man, past forty and balding, but still strong and fit. Instead of silks and cottons, he wore wool and leather. His tunic was a dark green, embroidered with the likeness of a black bear standing on two legs. She was still looking at this strange man from the homeland she had never known when Magister Illyrio placed a moist hand on her bare shoulder. â€Å"Over there, sweet princess,† he whispered, â€Å"there is the khal himself.† Dany wanted to run and hide, but her brother was looking at her, and if she displeased him she knew she would wake the dragon. Anxiously, she turned and looked at the man Viserys hoped would ask to wed her before the night was done. The slave girl had not been far wrong, she thought. Khal Drogo was a head taller than the tallest man in the room, yet somehow light on his feet, as graceful as the panther in Illyrio's menagerie. He was younger than she'd thought, no more than thirty. His skin was the color of polished copper, his thick mustachios bound with gold and bronze rings. â€Å"I must go and make my submissions,† Magister Illyrio said. â€Å"Wait here. I shall bring him to you.† Her brother took her by the arm as Illyrio waddled over to the khal, his fingers squeezing so hard that they hurt. â€Å"Do you see his braid, sweet sister?† Drogo's braid was black as midnight and heavy with scented oil, hung with tiny bells that rang softly as he moved. It swung well past his belt, below even his buttocks, the end of it brushing against the back of his thighs. â€Å"You see how long it is?† Viserys said. â€Å"When Dothraki are defeated in combat, they cut off their braids in disgrace, so the world will know their shame. Khal Drogo has never lost a fight. He is Aegon the Dragonlord come again, and you will be his queen.† Dany looked at Khal Drogo. His face was hard and cruel, his eyes as cold and dark as onyx. Her brother hurt her sometimes, when she woke the dragon, but he did not frighten her the way this man frightened her. â€Å"I don't want to be his queen,† she heard herself say in a small, thin voice. â€Å"Please, please, Viserys, I don't want to, I want to go home.† â€Å"Home?† He kept his voice low, but she could hear the fury in his tone. â€Å"How are we to go home, sweet sister? They took our home from us!† He drew her into the shadows, out of sight, his fingers digging into her skin. â€Å"How are we to go home?† he repeated, meaning King's Landing, and Dragonstone, and all the realm they had lost. Dany had only meant their rooms in Illyrio's estate, no true home surely, though all they had, but her brother did not want to hear that. There was no home there for him. Even the big house with the red door had not been home for him. His fingers dug hard into her arm, demanding an answer. â€Å"I don't know . . . â€Å"she said at last, her voice breaking. Tears welled in her eyes. â€Å"I do,† he said sharply. â€Å"We go home with an army, sweet sister. With Khal Drogo's army, that is how we go home. And if you must wed him and bed him for that, you will.† He smiled at her. â€Å"I'd let his whole khalasar fuck you if need be, sweet sister, all forty thousand men, and their horses too if that was what it took to get my army. Be grateful it is only Drogo. In time you may even learn to like him. Now dry your eyes. Illyrio is bringing him over, and he will not see you crying.† Dany turned and saw that it was true. Magister Illyrio, all smiles and bows, was escorting Khal Drogo over to where they stood. She brushed away unfallen tears with the back of her hand. â€Å"Smile,† Viserys whispered nervously, his hand failing to the hilt of his sword. â€Å"And stand up straight. Let him see that you have breasts. Gods know, you have little enough as is.† Daenerys smiled, and stood up straight.

Psychology and It’s function Essay

The American Heritage dictionary defines psychology as â€Å"the science that deals with mental processes and behavior.† The difference between a literature and a psychology major is that a literature major is already seeing their patients. Every day a literature major opens up their books, and finds out something else upon a host of characters psyches. They are presented with odd situations, with broken characters, and they must come to an understanding of whom that character is in order to understand their actions. Literature aids us in our understanding of reality by giving us fictionalized example of how real people would act in intense situations. A good author makes you believe his or her characters are real, and understand why they do what they do. This is particularly apparent in Araby by James Joyce, and As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner Araby, by James Joyce allows its reader to see life through the eyes of an adolescent struggling to be a man. It allows the reader to see the reality of what it’s like to feel unaccomplished and pathetic. The boy in the story is trying to make his voyage to the bazaar, his new adventure to mean that he’s entered a new phase of life. Time suddenly seems to slow down in the story as the boy waits for Saturday to arrive. â€Å"I could not call my wandering thoughts together† he complains â€Å"I had hardly any practice with the serious work of life which, now that it stood between me and my desire seemed to me child’s play, ugly monotonous child’s play.† (Joyce, 29) Illustrated in the story are the real emotions the boy is feeling as both a man too old to be child, and a child too young to be a man. The boy’s arrival at the bazaar, and inability to purchase anything shows him that he is not ready to be the man he is striving to be by triumphantly impressing Mangan’s sister. The story is a study on the popular reality of adolescence. â€Å"Gazing up into the darkness I saw myself as a creature derided by vanity; and my eyes burned with anguish and anger† reflects the boy, finally  realizing that the whole quest was frivolous, the girl was a fantasy. So, in this end he has gained some self-realization. His ability to recognize his youth and his ignorance is a growth. This sort of insight into the psyche of an adolescent could be found after years of study of adolescent psychology, or it could be learned through a powerful illustration like Araby. Araby, like much literature, provides us with an example of how many young boys feel about life–frustrated, unaccomplished, and eager to grow up. In â€Å"As I Lay Dying† by William Faulkner we the reader get a unique opportunity to understand and see into the psyche of nearly every character in the book. We get a full picture of the character’s reality by seeing the actions of the novel from various perspectives. Faulkner teaches As I Lay Dying readers that no one perspective is correct, which is a valuable lesson to bring to the real world. The novel, simply from the way it is written, teaches us a great deal about how different people’s views of situations effect how they interact within them. In the novel Cash is able to feel accomplished, important, and like he can do something about his mother’s death by building a coffin. Dewey Dell cannot understand this, she is disgusted that he’s built his coffin right outside the window where Addie can see it. Neither one of them communicates with each other or allows their emotions to be revealed. This sort of breakdown of communication between families is often a cause of fighting within households. Often, we do not understand that different people almost always have different perspectives, and explaining them could prevent resentment and anger. By giving us various narrators and no overall â€Å"judge† of the situation, Faulkner is allowing us to see this about both the novel, and reality. Often in literature gives us an example of how people act in real life. I find myself relating literary examples to what’s happening in my life almost every day. How often do we as a society hear the term â€Å"Big Brother† in reference to the way our government is acting? Many novels we read in class gave us an understanding on how people interact with each other in real life. A true literary analyst sees the characters world as a reality, and often feels like a psychologist, trying to get the root of the meaning of a character’s actions.