Final Presentation Transcription

Good afternoon everyone we are group one of the politics and economy. I am Robert and he is Knot. The issue we will be presenting today is “Should We Consider Social Welfares While Developing Economy”

Let not talk too much on the introduction and let us begin with a brief look on the outlines. First, we will focus on the purpose or motivation just to give you people a clear idea of what we are going to be presenting. Then we will talk about Trade & Business, followed by that Agriculture & Sunset Industry, then Government Efficiency. Last but not least we will sum up our argument in the conclusion.

The purpose of our presentation is to discuss the issue about should we consider social welfares while developing Economy. Our group is divided up into two thoughts, one supporting for the developing of Economy, and the other one argues for the rights of the minority.

First, trade and business. Maybe some people here have no idea of what ECFA means? So I will explain it a little bit. The term stands for “Economy Cooperation Framework Agreement”. Just think this way to make it easier. ECFA is a kind of trade agreement or treaty signed by two countries in order to pursue economy profit such as tax-free.

I am on the supporting side of signing the ECFA. If Taiwan refused to sign this treaty then we will face the challenge of international isolations.

Before entering my point I will like to tell a story about a frog under the well. How many of you here have heard the story before? Ok then I will give a brief summary of the story. The story is like this once a upon a time there was a frog living under the well, since he had a fantastic environment and sufficient need under this well he thinks that the outside would not be as good as this one. This story was later used to describe someone that isolate himself and do not know what is outside.

Now have the story that I just said in mind and think about what I am going to say. With the world connected more together with transportation and communication our world is like a global village, where we are no longer independent individuals but have to depend on one another for it is like a supply chain where a place provide resources and the other manufacture the product.

Next we move on to agriculture and sunset industry. I am on the side of elimination where because I think it is because of the current trend, efficiency and production.

When I talk about elimination what I mean exactly is not to get rid of all the old industry but a kind of reform and transformation. I will explain it in three categories. First it is a tendency to improve the old producing way to an avant-garde one and there is no fault in having adapted to new innovations. Second, in order to gain a good living standard we will have to transform the old methods into something improved as to increase the quality of our lives and to make it more convenience Third, since it is human instinct to pursue cheap things we can not help but to adopt to new producing methods where we can make more products.

Now we will see one example about transformation that I was talking about. Traditional farmers cultivates what they thinks might make the best profit or what they want, which may sometimes end up receiving no profit at all because of the market demands. However, we could not say to have farmers to get rid of because then we will have nothing to eat at all. In order to solve this problem I will like to introduce the concept of “suitcase farmer” in which farmers no longer cultivate according to their feelings but instead following what is the most profitable in the stock market, so as to make more money and to lower the risk.

Last we will talk about government efficiency. Before talking about government efficiency, we have to look on the term capitalism. Capitalism is the most wide used economy system in the world. However, how to have capitalism function the way we want is to be discussed.

 Now we will take Singapore as an example of the clean government. Singapore is a typical capitalism country. Singapore had transformed itself from a British colonial pot city into one of the world’s financial Centre. And it even becomes the head of the Asian four dragons. The success of Singapore is due to its small and medium-sized enterprises. It responds to the work-gain concept we mentioned above. Also government’s economy policy is essential too. To avoid moral corruption the Singaporean government used severe laws such as life-imprisonment to restrict their people from going down.

Annotation 3 Transcription

Good afternoon everyone we are group one of the politics and economy. I am Robert and he is Knot. Our topic today is Capitalism: A tool of the government.

Ok, to begin with I will like to introduce the tern Capitalism to every one of you. The way how capitalism functions is like different gears that twisting and pushing one another to operate the concept. As a result, capitalism is divided into two categories of people, the middle class who are those people with capitols and properties and the wage workers who had nothing at all. The two groups, therefore, worked as complementary toward one another for the middle class provides capitols and techniques and the wage workers provide labor.

Many wonders and criticism had been made to question the fairness of capitalism. The argument is that if capitalism continues to function. The problems will soon occur. The opposed people argues that the middle class will eventually be more wealthy while the workers still workers.

However, just think for a moment. If you have to work very hard every day and you get the same amount of rewards as those who are lazy. Do you think it is fair? Think this way if you have a lot of things to study like English literature, American history and have annotations to write and your classmates in response only watches movies do you still think it is fair? I don’t think so. The purpose of capitalism is to reward those hard working people with the amount of prize they deserved. It is like how the Chinese proverb goes “As you sow, so as you reap” A work and gain concept. Therefore, it is clear to see which one is more fair isn't it. Huh.

Even with this perfect concept there is still one fatal defect and that is moral corruption. Moral corruption includes corruptions like temptations and laziness. Take this for example if you are listening to a very boring class and wanted to take out your smartphone to play it is a kind of temptation. If we use it on the economy it will result in corruption. However, it is inevitable to face these challenges, therefore, strong self-disciple is required and also other outside factors such as strict laws.

Now we will take Singapore as an example of the clean government. Singapore is a typical capitalism country. Singapore had transformed itself from a British colonial pot city into one of the world’s financial Centre. And it even becomes the head of the Asian four dragons. The success of Singapore is due to its small and medium-sized enterprises. It responds to the work-gain concept we mentioned above. Also government’s economy policy is essential too. To avoid moral corruption the Singaporean government used severe laws such as life-imprisonment to restrict their people from going down.

Capitalism itself is with good intention, but moral corruption is what makes it notorious. However, it is impossible to avoid such defect to happen for there are various temptations throughout our life. As a result, simply trusting the innocence and efficiency of the government is not enough. It should be accompanied with a set of strict laws to watch it. After all, we can conclude that “Capitalism is nothing but a tool of the government that depends on who is using it”.

Transcription (1)

The topic for our group is should we consider social welfares while developing economy; and I am standing on the view of developing economy. Ok I will start, there is a article written on the internet by the chairman of the Taiwan new century foundation, he points out there is a concept of gross national happiness, he says that it is the future indicator for determining a country’s development. Because in the past we always use GDP to determining a country is a developed country or not, but the problem with GDP is that it does not take education, social welfares and so on for consideration. But there is just one simple question I will ask you. How do you develop social welfares if you don’t have money? Just simply develop like education and you don’t have money. How do you get all the books all the teachers and all the professors? So I think that it is nonsense for saying that we don’t develop economics and spend all your money on education. And I think the problem with the Taiwanese government now is that everyone, most of the people they do not agree what the government says. They think the government is only doing things to benefit the rich people, the government don’t take poor people into considerations. There are even saying says that the Taiwanese government should follow the examples of the West to develop economy and to maintain social welfares, but the question is that we all have different histories. Because during world war two our economy was damaged by the wars but in the West their developing their economy at that time so they already have a long history if stable economics, so that is why they can develop their social welfares. And I think public opinions we don’t have to take care of them, because public opinions contains the risk of inconsistency and variability because the public opinions changes over time, so it is important to have a decision maker to make good decisions. So there is an example I brought up to you is the Taiwan’s Ten Major Constructions (十大建設) at that time many people, many article, many arguments says that is project is only for the good of the rich, because poor people they cannot drive on the highway, what is the point of building the highway; but the prime minister at that time蔣經國 he insisted on building these construction he thinks that If you want a country’s economy to develop you need these constructions. And the result turns out to be a success and even beyond. Many people were out of poverty and became successful people and they make a lot of money. So I think you cannot just say you want to develop social welfares but in the meantime you are developing economy you are developing social welfares too.