Showing posts with label few. Show all posts
Showing posts with label few. Show all posts
Saturday, October 12, 2013
News of the last few days
a) January-June fiscal results:
The government claims that it is exceeding its expectations in reducing the deficit. However, this is only logistical. Increase of tax income is only in 7% and the goal was 13%. What the government is doing to keep deficit in check is not executing the budget in terms of expenses (!). The government is not paying or delays various salaries, internal debts etc plus it has cut down 3 billion from the public investment program.
So deficit is only achieved by not executing properly the expenses.
b) Political mutations:
With the left coalition of SYRIZA collapsing between its internal constituents, a new party is arising (Democratic Left) with mr Kouvelis as the leader. On the right, Mpakoyianni is trying to create a new right party after being separated with the main right party (New Democracy).
c) More taxes and pension reform:
More taxes have been activated (VAT 23% instead of 21% and pension reform has been voted.
d) In real-term economics:
A lot of small-mid businesses are bailing out of the market. The pressure is enormous. There are various quite commercial streets where you can see 10 or 20 shops in close proximity closed. A lot of ordinary people is facing problems in paying their taxes, their insurance or their everyday expenses. On top of that theres the pressure for the loan debts and theres been a constant stream of suicides (>400 per year).
e) Greece-Turkey
There has been a lot of tension lately, including oil research in the Aegean (by Turkey) which traditionally has been a point of extreme tension. Theres also tension through various incidents including airplanes/helicopters/ships, war exercises, rescue operations etc. The Greek side is generally diffusing / downgrading the tension.
ReadThe RestEntry..
The government claims that it is exceeding its expectations in reducing the deficit. However, this is only logistical. Increase of tax income is only in 7% and the goal was 13%. What the government is doing to keep deficit in check is not executing the budget in terms of expenses (!). The government is not paying or delays various salaries, internal debts etc plus it has cut down 3 billion from the public investment program.
So deficit is only achieved by not executing properly the expenses.
b) Political mutations:
With the left coalition of SYRIZA collapsing between its internal constituents, a new party is arising (Democratic Left) with mr Kouvelis as the leader. On the right, Mpakoyianni is trying to create a new right party after being separated with the main right party (New Democracy).
c) More taxes and pension reform:
More taxes have been activated (VAT 23% instead of 21% and pension reform has been voted.
d) In real-term economics:
A lot of small-mid businesses are bailing out of the market. The pressure is enormous. There are various quite commercial streets where you can see 10 or 20 shops in close proximity closed. A lot of ordinary people is facing problems in paying their taxes, their insurance or their everyday expenses. On top of that theres the pressure for the loan debts and theres been a constant stream of suicides (>400 per year).
e) Greece-Turkey
There has been a lot of tension lately, including oil research in the Aegean (by Turkey) which traditionally has been a point of extreme tension. Theres also tension through various incidents including airplanes/helicopters/ships, war exercises, rescue operations etc. The Greek side is generally diffusing / downgrading the tension.
Thursday, May 16, 2013
How Society Works A Few Critical Elements Summarized
Why do people do what they do? What really explains our behavior? Are those talkshow hosts and columnists really making sense?
The media, not to mention daily conversations, are filled with overly simple explanations of social behavior. Prominent examples include the "follow the money" explanation of why politicians and corporate executives do what they do. Another class of explanations explains everything in terms of reproductive urges. Everything is really about sex. Sex, reproductive urges, and money do explain some of human behavior. Most any economist, psychologist, or sociologist will say that sex and money are not complete and comprehensive explantions of human behavior.
Mass Media Influence - Television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the World Wide Web condition our perceptions of ourselves and of whats good/bad/problematic in the world. Television and magazines are especially powerful influences on our images of beauty, success, and fitness. This aspect of the media has been so heavily, and accurately, covered by others that there is little point addressing the subject here.
Peer Pressure - People encourage us to do things, or at least plant ideas in our heads
Psychological Drives and Impulses - Emotions, errors in perception or reasoning, and drives for such things as group affiliation, safetly, reproduction, and affection exert strong influences on our behavior.
Free will is clearly constrained by individual psychological makeup and culture.
Biology and Genetics - Biology and genetics are sometimes used interchangeabley, but they are not interchangeable concepts. Genetics refers to inherited traits and the biological material that transmits those characteroistics. Biology encompasses many, many processes that occur in the human body. Biological processes and genetic traits are obviously linked to many physical and mental characteristics. Our phyiscal and mental characteristics certainly influence our lives in many ways. No geneticist would ever defend the general position that anyone with trait X will do Y.
Socialization - This is the process of learning about language, good bahevior, bad behavior, "proper" goals and aspirations, and other cultural information that we need to get along in society. Socialization does not proceed in the same way for people of a particular race, religion, ethnic background, or social class. All of this things influence what we learn.
Much socialization, arguably the most important part, occurs before age18. For a person to make a major change in how they were socialized ("brought up" in popular language) is difficult. The desire for change or the ability to succeed could well be influenced by the same socialization thats now causing a problem.
Family, peer groups, schools, churches, and the mass media are all agents of socialization. We learn about God and morality from church and family and friends. We learn the knowledge and skills deemed important for the individual, with much of the learning taking place in school. The content of the messages we encounter is largely beyond our control as children. Even as adults we can only exercise limited control of our own socialization. Rising
Standards and Expectations - Im thinking of the rising standards that people feel they must live up to. People think that they need to do much more than their parents did. Parents need an intercom system for the baby, a minivan, a yard for the kids, and a college savings plan. This thinking is healthy for those who sell intercom systems, minivans, and suburban real estate. Parents and the natural environment suffer over things that are not necessary for proper child development, or good for the environment.
The standards for being a a success seem to keep going up and up: "Hes 40 but cant afford to live in DuPont Circle (or substitute any expensive neighborhood) and drive an Acura. What a loser!" The standards for being a good provider go up with the proliferation of new, pricey products and services that can supposedly turn parents into good parents.
It should now be clear that social behavior is more than just a matter of biology or genetics or money. There is much more involved than people simply deciding to do this or stop doing that. Social forces that are hard for us to understand combine with psychology, genetics, and biology to influence us. By extension, our schools, churches, families, and governments are all influenced by various social and psychological forces.
ReadThe RestEntry..
The media, not to mention daily conversations, are filled with overly simple explanations of social behavior. Prominent examples include the "follow the money" explanation of why politicians and corporate executives do what they do. Another class of explanations explains everything in terms of reproductive urges. Everything is really about sex. Sex, reproductive urges, and money do explain some of human behavior. Most any economist, psychologist, or sociologist will say that sex and money are not complete and comprehensive explantions of human behavior.
Mass Media Influence - Television, newspapers, radio, magazines, and the World Wide Web condition our perceptions of ourselves and of whats good/bad/problematic in the world. Television and magazines are especially powerful influences on our images of beauty, success, and fitness. This aspect of the media has been so heavily, and accurately, covered by others that there is little point addressing the subject here.
Peer Pressure - People encourage us to do things, or at least plant ideas in our heads
Psychological Drives and Impulses - Emotions, errors in perception or reasoning, and drives for such things as group affiliation, safetly, reproduction, and affection exert strong influences on our behavior.
Free will is clearly constrained by individual psychological makeup and culture.
Biology and Genetics - Biology and genetics are sometimes used interchangeabley, but they are not interchangeable concepts. Genetics refers to inherited traits and the biological material that transmits those characteroistics. Biology encompasses many, many processes that occur in the human body. Biological processes and genetic traits are obviously linked to many physical and mental characteristics. Our phyiscal and mental characteristics certainly influence our lives in many ways. No geneticist would ever defend the general position that anyone with trait X will do Y.
Socialization - This is the process of learning about language, good bahevior, bad behavior, "proper" goals and aspirations, and other cultural information that we need to get along in society. Socialization does not proceed in the same way for people of a particular race, religion, ethnic background, or social class. All of this things influence what we learn.
Much socialization, arguably the most important part, occurs before age18. For a person to make a major change in how they were socialized ("brought up" in popular language) is difficult. The desire for change or the ability to succeed could well be influenced by the same socialization thats now causing a problem.
Family, peer groups, schools, churches, and the mass media are all agents of socialization. We learn about God and morality from church and family and friends. We learn the knowledge and skills deemed important for the individual, with much of the learning taking place in school. The content of the messages we encounter is largely beyond our control as children. Even as adults we can only exercise limited control of our own socialization. Rising
Standards and Expectations - Im thinking of the rising standards that people feel they must live up to. People think that they need to do much more than their parents did. Parents need an intercom system for the baby, a minivan, a yard for the kids, and a college savings plan. This thinking is healthy for those who sell intercom systems, minivans, and suburban real estate. Parents and the natural environment suffer over things that are not necessary for proper child development, or good for the environment.
The standards for being a a success seem to keep going up and up: "Hes 40 but cant afford to live in DuPont Circle (or substitute any expensive neighborhood) and drive an Acura. What a loser!" The standards for being a good provider go up with the proliferation of new, pricey products and services that can supposedly turn parents into good parents.
It should now be clear that social behavior is more than just a matter of biology or genetics or money. There is much more involved than people simply deciding to do this or stop doing that. Social forces that are hard for us to understand combine with psychology, genetics, and biology to influence us. By extension, our schools, churches, families, and governments are all influenced by various social and psychological forces.
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