I’d like to suggest everyone to read this book. The issues presented in this book are relevant and needs to be addressed in the immediate future with a sense of urgency. With the presidential elections coming up, this book will be a good read for the voters and the candidates.

My reflections on the book is given below..

The economy has been changing. Until the late 19th century, all economies were agrarian. From the late 1800s until the 1960s, most developed countries moved from agrarian societies to industrial societies. The 21st century marks the change to global economy in a global village, the concept of a boundary less world; the production and marketing of goods and services worldwide. Information Technology is transforming society from its manufacturing focus to one of service. The concept of “global village” came up with the booming of internet and communication technologies. In terms of doing trade and business, national borders became less significant because of the communication technology advances and ease of transportation. Corporations are evolving to fit in a global village to do global business, which means that companies go and look for low production costs (anywhere in the world) and sell the products or services anywhere in the world? This is a business model we all have to accept and it is going to stay for at least next 20 years and technological inventions are bound to help the global business in every possible way. In a global village the terms “outsourcing” and “souring in” are not relevant. They are relevant only when we talk about countries.

Now the United States is growing 2%-3% and probably going south. Europe is growing 2%-3% and Japan is growing 1%. China with 1.3 billion people is growing 11%, India, a new resurgent power with 1.1 billion people is growing 9%; and Russia is growing 8% or 9%. Latin America and the Middle East are growing. ( I collected the data above from another article that I read in the past. )

Looking at the data above, we can see that the global business has benefited developing countries in terms of growth.

Wealth produced in a nation depends on how much we produce, not on how much we consume. Also the standard of living depends on the wealth created. So with the current global economy trends, there is a likelihood that the standard of living of the middle class in US will go down and that of the middle class in developing nations will go up. Which means that the resource consumption in these countries is going to go up. A wealthy nation, short of resources for its people, may try to get access to resources by any means. Future conflicts and wars may be for the resources if not triggered by religious fanatics.

In the book, the Senator talks about the low wage exploitations, poor working conditions and other unfair practices in the developing nations. Much of the unhappiness is focused on China, where the US trade deficit through the first 11 months of 2007 totals $237.5 billion. There could be further increases in the deficit with China according to predictions from analysts. Congress is considering bills that would impose economic sanctions on China if it does not allow its currency to rise in value faster against the U.S dollar. Businesses contend that the Chinese are manipulating their currency by keeping it undervalued by as much as 40% to gain price advantages against US companies. (Again this data is from another article on yahoo) But we have to accept that these are issues over which we have only limited control.

On top of everything, economists fear a possible recession in US.

War against terrorism and its consequences and impact on US and its economy is another related topic of discussion.

If we can not reverse global economy to our benefit, what can we do? Repeating Senator Dorgan’s words “I believe our country has a right, even in global market place, to determine the kind of economy and future it wants for itself.”

And who should take the responsibility?

The primary responsibility of any government in a country is to provide protection and security for its people, in a very broad sense. So ultimately it lies with the political machinery to face and solve
this problem. ” We need leadership once again in America – leadership that will have the vision and courage to begin taking care of things here at home. Yes, our world is increasingly global. ..but still we all live here, and we want good jobs and the prospect of better life and an improved standard of living here. Huge budget and trade deficits threaten our future. Incompetent trade agreements threaten our jobs and undermine our manufacturing base. If these are left unchecked, the land our children will inherit will be a weaker country with fewer good jobs and less opportunity…” the book says.

I salute Senator Byron L. Dorgan for taking up the historic mission of writing such a book.

Author: Anil Sreenivasan
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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Movies such as Star Trek, Star Wars, Battlestar Galactica, Gattaca, Logan’s Run, 2001, and most recently the Blockbuster Matrix has done wonders in expanding the base of readers and fans of the genre. Of course to truly understand how all this came to be, perhaps it might be wise to understand the entire history. So, I’d like to recommend a very good Audio Book Lecture Series, which can be found on the NetLibrary System, easily accessible online once you have a library card to most major libraries;

“From Here to Infinity: An Exploration of Science Fiction Literature – Modern Scholar Lecture Series” by Drout, Michael D. C.; Publication: Prince Frederick, MD Recorded Books, 2006.

This audio book modern lecture series is 7 hours and 33 minutes long, and you might have to listen to it twice to really get acquainted with the history of Science Fiction. It explains all the authors, their styles, concepts, trilogies, series, and the sub genres, many of which are a little out there, not very politically correct and way outside the mainstream; such as Sci fi horror and fantasy.

Drout was very careful to give proper tribute and acknowledge the genius of the greats like Isaac Asimov’s Foundation Series and the excellent and numerous works by Arthur C. Clarke and others. I hope you will enjoy this audio book as much as I have.

Lance Winslow enjoys community philanthropy – Lance Winslow likes small business. Lance Winslow has also been involved in the Oil Industry; http://www.oilchangeguys.com/aboutus.shtml/.

Author: Lance Winslow
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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The movie Evan Almighty has spurred a lot of interest in the story of Noahs Ark. We all know the story, and The Bestiary, written by Nicholas Christopher, tells a different side of this story. Did you ever wonder what happened to the unicorn or the or the dragon?

The Bestiary tells us that these creatures are not mythical, they really existed and their extinction was due to the fact that they were denied access to Noahs ark. But we still know of them because they were all carefully catalogued in a mysterious book called The Caravan Bestiary.

This book is a tale of one mans pursuit of this mysterious book. It is a scholarly sleuth that is reminiscent of the DaVinci code. We travel the world and haunt some very old places in our pursuit of the book but this novel goes beyond the normal fantasy sleuth tale and takes you on a trip somewhere else.

There is a message in this book. It is a reverent look at the creatures of our world, both mythical and real. And it is a warning message about the path of extinction that is currently being taken by many of the special creatures that now inhabit the earth. It asks the question: Shouldnt we do something? Before too many more beautiful creatures are added to the list of mythical creatures that once maybe existed? This is a thinking persons fantasy novel that, even though is fantasy, it is very relevant and important to the world we live in today. It is currently available by pre-order only and scheduled to be released in July 2007.

Visit the Authors epic fantasy site at: epic-fantasy.com – The webs only epic fantasy site.

For Daily news, reviews, insights, and information about fantasy and medieval topics visit his blog:

Heroic Dreams Never Give A Sword to A Man Who Cant Dance

Author: Will Kalif
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital pipeline

Computer: There is a lot of debate on whether a student should get a computer or not and even more as to what sort of computer they should get.  There are a few things that must be taken into consideration here.  The first consideration is whether or not there is internet access in the dorm room.  If the answer is no, the only sane way to go is a laptop.  If the dorm room has internet access either through hardline or WiFi you can either go with a desktop or a laptop depending on personal choice and budget.

A desktop will always be cheaper than a comparable laptop, and is much easier to upgrade at a later date.   The downside of desktops is the case has to go somewhere which may or may not be in the way and the monitor will take up some of usually very limited desktop space.  The plus side of a desktop is they rarely fail because they get knocked around or dropped unlike laptops.  if something happens to your desktop or monitor there is almost always someone around who at 11:30 pm can quickly fix it or at least retrieve the paper you were writing and is due the next morning, not so with a laptop.

The big benefit to a laptop is portability, this something that conquers many barriers for people.  The biggest downside to laptops are the relatively small screen size the small keyboard, finicky touchpad mouse, and fragility.  You can conquer all of those issues save for fragility very easily by buying an keyboard, mouse and monitor to use at your desk.  Even more than death by dropping the biggest issue with laptops is how often keys break off even with careful users.  This is something that can’t be fixed without taking it to a repair place and losing the use of it for upwards of a several days to several weeks.  It will still function and all but the broken key will work just fine, but it is a huge pain in the ass when the broken key is the enter key or spacebar, they only thing you can do is carry around an extra keyboard or get it fixed.

Anyway, let’s go ahead and focus on the present and future. A text entitled the “Book of Shadows” that may aid you in this process. Of course, it all depends on what it is you’re open to. Children always seem to ask adults a lot of questions that are difficult to answer. The answers to these questions may lie in a school text book, in the Bible, and other times they may be discovered in the Book of Shadows.

A few individuals in Salem, Oregon harbor a serious interest in the Book of Shadows. This book is regarded as an incomparable piece of literature by these people. To be honest, I had never read this mysterious book. I recall the sequel to “The Blair Witch Project” when I think Book of Shadows. Have you seen this movie? If you havent, then let me inform you that it was a step up from the original.

The first movie was basically a bad home video that everyone got all hyped up about. I think that it was utterly ridiculous. There were more shots of the dark ground than anything else. Many glib individuals actually thought it was real. It was real, and yet the cast were at the movie awards. In my opinion, the second one was more like a real scary movie than the original.

You’ll enjoy checking out the Book of Shadows if you wish to dabble in witch craft, sorcery or black magic. You an easily access this book by getting on the web. These days, there are tons of books online that you can check out. See if you like the Book of Shadows first before you buy it.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning Book of Shadows. Visit our site for more helpful information about Charmed the Book of Shadows Spells and other similar topics.

Author: Morgan Hamilton
Article Source: EzineArticles.com