Issue 20 from taking sides clashing views on political issues Essay - 1

Issue 20 from taking sides clashing views on political issues seventeenth edition - Essay Example How much privacy can we maintain without actually jeopardizing national security? My position stands on the answer to what is warrantless and what is not. Our history shows that innocent people have experienced an invasion of their privacy because of human error regarding whether or not their behavior, contacts, and connections can be considered â€Å"terrorist activity.† Nowadays, it seems like everyone and everything is potentially terroristic and a threat to national security. Extremist opinion and attitude, one way or the other, exist even amongst those who are nothing close to what can be deemed a terrorist. Legally, what is warranted is underlined by the words â€Å"probable cause.† Probable cause is a sticky matter that can come under the consent of a judge, and in cases of emergency, can be exercised in the absence of that permission. Wiretapping, as legalized eavesdropping, is badly in need of judicial oversight. Without the legally necessary protections in place, wiretapping is wide open to abuse and leaves open the possibility of misinformation and unnecessary interrogation. It also effectively closes the door to those doing investigative work, because those who may be caught disclosing information will withdraw, retract, and retreat from all contact when they know the door is open for them to be exposed and possibly killed, even when they are inside informants helping the innate cause. In the topic book, Al Gores states, â€Å"Republican as well as Democratic members of Congress should support the bipartisan call of the Liberty Coalition for the appointment of a special counsel to pursue the criminal issues raised by warrantless wiretapping of Americans by the President.† Since then, the battle has been over the Patriot Act and whether its broad-sweeping secret legal interpretation differs so much in the public

Reading commentaries (( economics )) Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Reading commentaries (( economics )) - Assignment Example The chapter brings readers to attention of the failure of neoclassical theorists to recognize the upheavals that capitalism was going through, which culminated into emergence of new schools of thought by such economists as Bastiat. Capitalism was subverted by a tinge of imperialism, coupled by a severe depression that ultimately resulted in the Great Depression (Hunt and Lautzenheiser 372). Neoclassical economists assumed normal periods of boom and depression. They also assumed that the economy had self-correcting mechanisms which would automatically fall in action whenever the economy underwent depression. Social unrests such as the World War 1, emergence of fascism and Soviet Revolution had a pervasive effect on the stability of capitalism. The chapter reveals that this instability marked the departure of such economists as Keynes from the classical school of thought. Keynes felt the need to reassess his thinking or ideas which were hedged on classical school of thought. In explain ing the failures of the classical economists, the chapter brings to light two untenable issues that dominated the classical theories. The first issue relates to the concept of utility. ... Classical economists assumed that in equilibrium, the entrepreneur did not make profits. They also failed to analyze the negative features associated with the production process under capitalism. The concept of utility and maximizing profits is clearly elaborated in the chapter. Consumers seek to maximize utility out of a given bundle of good while firms seek to maximize profits. The chapter notes that classical economists came up with abstract ideas to explain the concept of utility maximization. For example, classical economists used indifference curves in their explanation of utility concept and diminishing marginal utility. Classical economists assumed an ordinal approach to consumer preference. The authors have dismissed this as â€Å"conceptually impossible† (Hunt and Lautzenheiser 374). A graphical approach has enabled readers to understand the concept of maximizing utility. The assumption here is that there is consistency in the choice made by consumers and that there are only two commodities involved (Hunt and Lautzenheiser 376). The level of consumers’ income acts as the budget constraint. The concept of indifference curves enabled marginal utility of goods to be measured through analysis of the slope of indifference curves. The concept was also important in determining the equilibrium point at which a firm should produce through the use of isoquants. The chapter also explains how a production possibility frontier was used to arrive at combinations of goods that could possibly be produced in a situation whereby there was efficient utilization of capital and labor in the society (Hunt and Lautzenheiser 375). The chapter has devoted to highlighting key criticisms of the neoclassical economics in order to enable students construct balanced opinions. The