Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc -for Peace and Prosperity (GSE4P&andP)

Global Connect Communications

2011-11-01T12:02:00.001-05:00

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Global Connect Communications

Voice of the Patriots & Hager- Fikr Radio Broadcast Services

(GCC_=VoP+HFR)

Editorial Policy

Our Vision & Mission.

1. Global Connect Communications is a multi-media platform for broadcasting global current affairs, that address the critical issues of natural and manmade stories as they unfold in the diverse set of our economic, social, health, ecological and modern technology enterprises.

2. We promote good governance, security and prosperity via global responsiveness, transparency and accountability towards sustainable development and investment opportunities for all.

Our values:

1. Producing and broadcasting High Quality, Original and Challenging Output of the highest creativity, ethical and editorial standards that honors the trust of our audiences across the globe.

2. Creating an interactive knowledge based dialogue, towards innovative, productive and sustainable development, and investment oriented future.

Our Audiences:

1. Audiences: Our Global Audiences can access our broadcast via web, radio and telephone communications.

2. (www.wust1120.com, AM1120, 703.712.432.6620, Saturdays: 14:00-15:00 hrs

I. Our Passion and focus. Our global audiences are at the heart of everything we do. We promote good governance, responsiveness, transparency and accountability based on respect, patriotism and good will to all our stakeholders.

II. Original and challenging output. We are committed to giving our audiences high-quality, original and at times challenging output. Creativity, timeliness and fair and balanced communication is the lifeblood of our organization.

III. High quality and standard content. Equally, we must give our audiences content made to the highest editorial and ethical standards.

IV. Trust and respect. Our passion is driven by patriotic desire to promote respect, trust, confidence and overall interest of our audience’s expectation. We believe their trust depends on it.

V. Balancing freedom and responsibilities. We must therefore balance our presumption of freedom of expression with our responsibilities, for example to respect privacy, to be fair, to avoid unjustifiable offence and to provide appropriate protection for our audiences from harm.

VI. (Note: The Human Rights Act 1998 recognizes the right to freedom of expression, which includes the audience’s right to receive creative material, information and ideas without interference, subject to restrictions in law. It also recognizes the right to private and family life and to freedom of thought, conscience and religion.)

VII. Upholding editorial values all the time.

We seek to uphold our Editorial Values in all we do.

They embody our freedoms and responsibilities and, like the Editorial Guidelines, apply to all our content, whether it is made by ourselves or by an independent company working for us, and whether it is made for radio, television, online, mobile devices, interactive services or the printed word. What follows are challenging requirements, but they are essential to everything we do.

2.Trust, Accuracy, Independence and Impartiality.

I. Trust is the foundation of all the work we do.

II. We are independent, impartial and honest.

III. We are committed to achieving the highest standards of due accuracy and impartiality and strive to avoid knowingly and materially misleading our audiences.

3. Truth and Accuracy

I. We seek to establish the truth of what has happened and are committed to achieving due accuracy in all our output.

II. Accuracy is not simply a matter of getting facts right; when necessary, we will weigh relevant facts and information to get at the truth.

III. Our output, as appropriate to its subject and nature, will be well sourced, based on sound evidence, thoroughly tested and presented in clear, precise language.

IV. We will strive to be honest and open about what we don't know and avoid unfounded speculation.

4. Fairness & Impartiality

I. Impartiality lies at the core of the GCC's commitment to its audiences. There is no partiality based on age, sex, gender, religion, ethnicity, political and cultural diversity.

II. We will apply due impartiality to all our subject matter and will reflect a breadth and diversity of opinion across our output as a whole, over an appropriate period, so that no significant strand of thought is knowingly un reflected or under-represented. Current affairs, calendar drive our broadcast schedule.

III. We will be fair and open-minded when examining evidence and weighing material facts.

5. Editorial Integrity and Independence

I. The GCC is independent of outside interests and arrangements that could undermine our editorial integrity.

II. Our audiences should be confident that our decisions are not influenced by outside interests, political or commercial pressures, or any personal interests.

6. No Harm and Offence

I. We aim to reflect the world as it is, including all aspects of the human experience and the realities of the natural world.

II. But we balance our right to broadcast innovative and challenging content with our responsibility to protect the vulnerable from harm and avoid unjustifiable offence.

III. We will be sensitive to, and keep in touch with, generally accepted standards as well as our audiences' expectations of our content, particularly in relation to the protection of children.

7. Serving the Public Interest

I. We seek to report stories of significance to our audiences, as we believe passionately that the public has the right to know information and events unfolding around them.

II. We will be rigorous in establishing the truth of the story and well informed when explaining it.

III. Our specialist expertise will bring authority and analysis to the complex world in which we live.

IV. We will ask searching questions of those who hold public office and others who are accountable, and provide a comprehensive forum for public debate.

8. Fairness & Balance

I. Our output will be based on fairness, balance, openness, honesty, integrity and straight dealing.

II. Contributors and audiences will be treated with respect and dignity and their confidentiality is always protected unless authorized by them openly.

9. Privacy and Confidentiality of sources

I. We will respect privacy and will not infringe it without good reason, wherever in the world we are operating.

II. Private behavior, information, correspondence and conversation will not be brought into the public domain unless there is a public interest that outweighs the expectation of privacy.

10. Children, Minors and Vulnerable communities.

I. We will always seek to safeguard the welfare of children and young people who contribute to and feature in our content, wherever in the world we operate.

II. We will preserve their right to speak out and participate, while ensuring their dignity and their physical and emotional welfare is protected during the making and broadcast of our output.

III. Content which might be unsuitable for children will be scheduled appropriately.

11. Responsiveness & Transparency

I. We will be transparent about the nature and provenance of the content we offer online.

II. Where appropriate, we will identify who has created it and will use labeling to help online users make informed decisions about the suitability of content for themselves and their children.

12. Accountability

I. We are accountable to our audiences and will deal fairly and openly with them.

II. Their continuing trust in the GCC is a crucial part of our relationship with them.

III. We will be open in acknowledging mistakes when they are made and encourage a culture of willingness to learn from them.

13.Editorial values

I. The GCC's Editorial Values, and the Editorial Guidelines, are rooted in the Governing Board Charter and the Agreement.

II. The Governing Board Charter guarantees the editorial independence of the GCC and sets out its Public Purposes. These are defined as:

a. Sustaining global citizenship and civil society with a focus on Ethiopia, AU, EU & USA and the larger Diaspora communities across the world.

b. Promoting education and learning, investment and sustainable development

c. Stimulating creativity and cultural excellence and business entrepreneurship

d. Representing the Board, its executives and its membership around the world, nations, regions and communities

e. Bringing the Audience to the world and the world to our audiences.

III. Advancing modern communication technologies. We actively promote modern communication technologies and its other purposes, helping to deliver to the public the benefit of emerging communications technologies and services and, in addition, taking a leading role in the switchover to digital radio, internet and television broadcasts.

14. The charter specifies that we should do all we can "to ensure that controversial subjects are treated with due accuracy and impartiality" in our news and other output dealing with matters of public policy or political or industrial controversy.

I. It also states that our output is forbidden from expressing the opinion of the GCC on current affairs or matters of public policy, other than broadcasting or the provision of online services.

II. The Accuracy, Impartiality and Politics, Public Policy and Polls sections of the Editorial Guidelines incorporate the GCC Trust's code as required under the Agreement, giving guidance as to the rules to be observed in connection with the Agreement.

15. Advertisements and Sponsorship

In addition, the agreement forbids any GCC service funded by the license fee or grant-in-aid from carrying advertising or sponsored programs. To protect editorial integrity and independence, the GCC has drawn up its own guidelines on standards for advertising and sponsorship for its commercial television and online services.

16. GCC is a US registered and Washington DC based organization and part of Global Connect Network and Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc, that promote sustainable development and creative investments across the globe.

African Growth and Global Recovery- Fact of Fiction!

2011-10-24T15:09:00.006-05:00

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Our Passion is 2 Reach Our Individual & Collective Potential-Always!

The African Growth is expected to advance the recovery of the Global Economy. The question is how and has this been cleared through AU or member countries. Is this part and parcel of their Growth and Transformation Agenda that they debated and put forward as their agenda towards MDG by 2015 or GIP Global Investment Opportunity by 2050.

As the global population is reaching the 7 Billion Mark, the One Billion poor live mainly in the African Continent that is labelled to advance global economic recorvery. One wonders, if the Africans know this great Strategy for the future recovery and what is their profit margin in this great scheme of things for the next 50 years.

Africans make One Billion of the World Population, yet they share very little of the world wealth.

Many educated professionals are found to be saying Africa Watchout! Regardless the growing growth rates in Africa, it appears that instead of increasing their fair share of profit margins in the global economy, some misguded landlords are leasing the most fertile land to Global Corporations that sank the global economies with exorbitant mortgages that sank the whole global economy where yesteryears' computer balloonists have become today's homeless and shelter mates!

To those unluky technology bubbles watchers, unfortunately, there is no Steve Jobs of Apple Corporation who can design products and send them to emerging markets to manufacture them in effect to give them new technology jobs anymore. His death matters more in those emerging economies where he outsourced the technology to the poor chinese and smart indians. Even the emerging markets are not showing signs of responsiveness, transparency and accountability to their respective stake holders as the technology bubble has not made much change to the lives of average citizens, what is now termed as the 99 percenters!

Scanning the global community it appears that the the North, South, East and West are found not to be able to achieve, the basic needs of survival, that is Marlow's rule of Hierarchies of need; (Food, clothes, Shelter, heath, employment and productivity, etc.

1. Food and nutrition .......African Countries and 40 million US ...foodstampers..... and the Wall Street Speculators who have added food, energy, oil and shelter on their list of bursting balloons!

2. Shelter and residencies.....Europeans and Americans, thank God for the Speculators their houses are bundled in some hedgefunds and American Greed balloons! No body knows how they missed out on the stimulation and recovery packages. God knows what Bush and Obama were thinking giving every thing to Goldman Sachs and Co!

3. Reproduction.... Chinese and Indians, who can choose the sex but not the infant they deserve, due to demographic balloons! Now, the Japanese and Europeans geriatrics have no one to look after them as they were paying their young women not to reproduce! It is pay time now!

4. Clothes.........The Aboriginal communities of Australia and Americas continue to live with little clothes on them as the Models in Paris tend to pay for the little pieces of clothes they use to cover their privates.

5. Civil Rights....The 99% Americans camping at Wall Street and the Greeks and English, rioting for their share of the Global loot!

6. Gainful employment giving way to entertainment and drug abuse, the whole youth is being wasted with no productivity to count but too much social networking to promote revolutions in Arabian countries and now the European and Americans 99% trying to reclaim their fair share of the loot from the 1% Tea Party Goons.

Here comes, NeoColonialism or Neoliberalism and Absentee Capitalim, promoting the Misguided landlease/grab policies to pump inflation ballooooons on food and commodities.

Imagine African Growth converting into Global Recovery, can some one show me how? What do you do to the One Billion African Poor, grab their land, growth and leave them with inflation and hunger? I do not get it, but please read on...... Where is participatory responsiveness, transparency and accountability the whole mark of Good Governance and responsible capitalism?

The World Bank and IMF have an answer for this crisis too! African Growth advancing Global Recovery, what a title... I love it..Read it with caution, the last time Russia and East Asia acceded to their advise they came down crashing from the bursting ballooooooons!

When will we get our Golden Parachutes for safe landing is the real question, 7 Billion people are asking the vanishing ~1% Balloonists!

The modern educated youth will soon occupy the future markets and make their profit margins accessible, responsible and accountable.

The question is how do they transform themselves from the tents to the mansions at Wall Street and Main Street. Look out for the interesting discussions of future local and international elections!

All the same it is worth reading the attached article about African Growth Advancing Global Economic recovery! Is this fact or fiction or fantasy? May be all or none of the above, please read on....

Dr BMJ

African Growth Advances Global Recovery

Overall, global growth is expected to slow down to four per cent this year and next. But this global number masks some important differences. In the advanced economies, the epicenter of the financial crisis, the recovery is still weak and bumpy with unacceptably high unemployment. It would result in an anemic 1.5pc to two per cent growth in 2011/12.

The global economy has entered a dangerous new phase. While the recovery continues, it looks weaker, bumpier, and more uneven; financial stress has risen substantially. The world is suffering from a collective crisis of confidence which is holding back consumption, investment and job creation. This imposes not only economic but also social costs. Uncertainty has been exacerbated by policy indecision and political dysfunction across economies.

A key problem is the huge indebtedness of the developed world. Uncertainty hovers over sovereigns, across banks in Europe, and households in the United States. Adverse feedback loops between the real economy and the financial sector are gaining strength. Concerns about public debt sustainability in the euro area have intensified, leading to fears about the health of banks.

The story is different in the emerging markets and developing countries, with growth projected in the six to 6.5pc range. The two-speed recovery noted last year is still very much evident. If anything, it is getting starker. While the advanced economies face cold headwinds, the emerging markets and developing countries face too much heat.

This is a real bright spot as countries harvest the fruits of sound economic policies and while accommodative policies, especially fiscal stimulus, helped to ease the pain of the crisis, signs of overheating and inflationary pressures are evident in some countries.

A number of key risks are visible here. Continued financial market stress could lead to large and abrupt capital outflows as investors flee to safety. Weaker global growth would hurt emerging markets through reduced trade flows and lower commodity prices. A global slowdown could expose underlying vulnerabilities from excessive credit growth; vulnerabilities that typically stay below the surface in good times.

Downside risks are substantial, without policy action to halt this vicious circle; the global economy could face a protracted period or low growth and high unemployment. Even worse, a downward spiral of uncertainty and risk aversion, dysfunctional financial markets, unsustainable debt dynamics, and a collapse in global demand could not be overlooked.

Resolving the crisis requires two key rebalancing acts; a domestic demand switch from the public to the private sector, and a global demand switch from external deficit to external surplus countries. Progress on both fronts has been weak.

Private demand has not been strong enough to take the baton from public demand. Domestic demand in key emerging markets has not grown enough, due to structural distortions and limited exchange rate flexibility.

Policies have gone halfway toward achieving more domestic and inclusive growth in emerging and developing economies. It is time to finish the job. Policymakers must act now; act boldly and act together. The stakes are high.

The first priority is to deal with balance sheets of sovereigns, banks, and households. On sovereigns, fiscal consolidation as a matter of priority is of high demand, but, pushing too fast will harm growth and jobs. Credible measures that deliver and anchor savings in the medium term will help create space for supporting growth and jobs in the short run.

Policymakers must also focus squarely on job creation. High unemployment not only depresses demand, but also leads to grave human and social costs. This is especially true when unemployment is long-lasting and concentrated among the young and the unskilled.

In the emerging markets, the surplus countries must rely more on domestic demand, especially since domestic-led growth is also more inclusive growth. In the deficit countries, the challenge is to reduce overheating and preserve financial stability.

The encouraging recent developments being observed in sub-Saharan Africa make a welcome contrast to the disappointing recent performance of the advanced economies. For sub-Saharan Africa, an output growth of 5.25pc is projected in 2011; this could rise to 5.75pc percent by 2012.

Beneath these good overall prospects for sub-Saharan Africa, there is considerable diversity. Most Low-Income Countries (LICs) have been doing well, despite the weak world economy; one third of them are expected to grow by more than six per cent this year. However, poor households have been hit hard by rising food and fuel prices, and famine is devastating the Horn of Africa.

Economic developments have been less positive for some middle-income countries. Oil exporters have been enjoying high oil prices, and the non-oil sectors in their economies are projected to grow by 7.25pc this year.

Despite the rebound, the crisis did a lot of damage, the strong momentum in reducing poverty and reaching the

Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) has been stymied. The resilience of Africa is being tested again by sharp increases in food and fuel prices and the fallouts of the sovereign debt crisis in Europe, spilling over to the European banking system. There are also downside risks to the outlook, including volatility in financial and commodity markets, as well as signs that inflation may be on the rise again.

Looking ahead, the policy challenge in Africa will become trickier because of what is happening in advanced economies.

If growth continues to falter in the North, the South will eventually be adversely affected. This could happen through the same transmission channels as in the previous crisis; lower trade, lower foreign investment, lower remittances, and lower aid flows. In the event of an increased impact from the global slowdown, and subject to financing constraints, policies should focus on maintaining planned priority spending. However, some slower growing countries have yet to see output and employment return to potential levels. Policies should remain supportive of output progression; and even more so if global growth wanes.

Most low-income countries are currently growing at an increased pace, but their policy reaction has been too slow to shed the accommodative approach adopted during the previous crisis. As a result, inflation is now rising in a number of them. These countries should tighten monetary policy and focus on medium-term objectives in setting fiscal policy.

With the projected output growth and rising inflation, it is time to rebuild the buffers that served the region so well during the previous crisis. Furthermore, since many African countries need to invest in infrastructure and strengthen social safety nets, domestic revenue mobilization must be a priority.

Oil exporting countries are in a different league. Better terms of trade are providing an opportunity to build up reserves depleted in the aftermath of the previous crisis to cushion price volatility and global slowdown, while at the same time pursuing development goals.

It is now part of conventional wisdom that cooperation saved the world from calamity during the last crisis. Today, collaboration is more important than ever, given the grave and urgent challenges, as well as the complexity and interdependence of the global economy. Everybody must have a voice at that table, including Africa.

What about getting the Globe Back to Work, here is President Clinton's new book

Breaking from Newsmax.com

Bill Clinton New Book Gets It Right

It is unusual for a former president of the United States to write a book offering advice to both Congress and the current president on how to fix a problem the nation faces. But Bill Clinton has a habit of ignoring old and meaningless rules.

As we witness gridlock in Washington, the former president’s new best-seller — “Back to Work: Why We Need Smart Government for a Strong Economy” — is a most welcome addition to the national debate on the fiscal crisis.

Editor's Notes:

To Get Bill Clinton's Book from Amazon – Click Here Now

"Back to Work."Clinton’s book offers a blueprint from which President Barack Obama and congressional Republicans and Democrats alike could use to get the country working again, even before the 2012 election.

Some Republicans might recoil at the idea of taking advice from a popular Democratic president. In hindsight, many of his most partisan critics admit that Clinton's stewardship over the economy was laudable, offering pro-growth and pro-business policies.

As he details in “Back to Work,” Clinton’s tenure witnessed an economic boom as he controlled the growth of federal spending, slashed capital gains taxes (other taxes were modestly increased), and reduced the federal payroll.

By the time he left office, Clinton had not only balanced the budget, but also left surpluses. When he took office, the national debt had jumped to 49 percent of GDP. When he left, the debt had been reduced to just 39 percent of GDP.

Today that same debt is around 70 percent of GDP and growing — a number that ominously pulsates the word “danger" in red.

President Clinton succeeded because he was adept at using the system the Founding Fathers had created, with compromise being a core principle. He worked with then-House Speaker Newt Gingrich and congressional Republicans to forge programs that made the country stronger. For example, he signed into law the most sweeping welfare reform law in history. There are significant lessons here for President Obama.

In “Back to Work,” Clinton criticizes Republicans for not allowing taxes to be consistent with their spending programs. It’s a fair point, though I still believe we have a spending problem and not a revenue problem.

He says that President George W. Bush spent furiously while cutting taxes, with little complaint from Republicans. A rather interesting chart on page 38 details that Obama’s current spending and projected spending have him adding $1.44 trillion in new spending over eight years. The chart shows that President Bush’s budgets actually increased spending by an incredible $8 trillion over two terms.

For sure, it’s hard to affix party labels to out-of-control government spending.

Spending was not the immediate cause of the current economic crisis, Clinton argues. Instead the meltdown was precipitated because banks were “overleveraged with too many risky investments, especially in subprime mortgages and the securities and derivatives that were spun out of them, and too little cash to cover the risks.”

Further, he suggests that “an anti-government obsession” caused a lax regulatory environment that allowed banks and financial institutions to engage in such risky practices.

On this point I would disagree. Like most conservatives, I believe in sensible government regulation, especially in the banking industry. I believe the real culprit was special interests in Washington — not only Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, who spent millions lobbying Congress, but the whole financial industry, which has succeeded beyond imagination in setting lax constraints on lending practices.

Take for example, the no-money-down mortgages, the zero-interest mortgages, and the widely used adjustable rate mortgages — all of which I believe were principal triggers for the 2008 meltdown as these mortgages reset to higher rates. Such mortgage schemes are gimmicks that encourage homebuyers to purchase above their means.

Such is the influence of the financial industry today. Many of these mortgage instruments are still legal, though they should have been banned long ago.

Clinton continually points out that he is “not an ideologue but prefers to focus on what work,” especially preferring programs with empirical evidence of success.

One of the reasons I embrace a low tax, less government approach is that I believe it does work and the empirical evidence is there to prove it.

For decades, all over the world, it has been consistently demonstrated that those countries that have low tax rates with less government as a percent of GDP, will have higher economic growth rates. And it is a truism that countries that have high tax rates and high regulatory environments have lower growth rates. There are some exceptions, usually a Scandinavian country or an emerging nation like Brazil, which heavily benefit from commodity sales and can still raise taxes with impunity.

Clinton clearly grasps the idea that government is not the solution. His book emphasizes what he calls “smart government” which, in his view, means that government works with the private sector to get things done.

The Clinton Foundation, which President Clinton founded, helps the neediest in the world in over 180 countries. It has done amazing work because the foundation leverages government to allow the private sector to do what it does best.

Clinton would like to mimic that success with the U.S. government. He says, for example, that U.S. healthcare costs have soared, now amounting to over 17 percent of GDP. No other country in the world spends on healthcare like we do. He notes that if government worked with the private sector and we spent closer to 12 percent on GDP like France does, we could save at least $870 billion overnight.

Clinton’s smart government program is outlined in 46 actionable items. Republicans and Democrats would agree on over 90 percent of them. He believes that the way to fix the U.S. economy is to first fix the current mortgage crisis, which continues to drag the overall economy.

He calls for such things as renegotiating mortgage principal with people struggling to pay their mortgage, lowering interest rates, refinancing, and other incentives to get home ownership back on track. He’s right on this score.

But there are other ideas that he likes including bringing corporate cash offshore back into the U.S. with certain tax benefits and incentives to create new jobs. He wants to speed up the process by which infrastructure programs are implemented.

And he has actionable ways that we can increase exports and create consumer demand here in the United States. Interestingly enough, 15 of his 46 points deal with reducing the cost of energy while improving the environment. This is a laudable goal and very crucial to economic recovery.

Currently oil is $100 per barrel. Just seven years ago, it was around $25 per barrel. And during Clinton’s presidency it was as low as $17 a barrel.

The high cost of oil is wreaking havoc across almost every economic sector. If oil prices were to be cut, it would be like a global tax cut, freeing up consumer cash and exploding economies around the world. Clinton has excellent ideas to reduce oil consumption. As we do so, demand and prices will fall.

His ideas include government efforts to support biofuels, geothermal energy projects, hybrid cars, and improving our national electric grid system so we can use wind and solar power more efficiently.

Former presidents usually spend their time on corporate boards, the speaking circuit and, of course, the golf course. Clinton has chosen a different path and decided to remain part of the national conversation. His book is an important contribution and well worth reading, even for the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Additional Links:

To Get Bill Clinton's Book from Amazon – Click Here Now

BY MIN ZHU

Min Zhu (PhD) is deputy managing director of the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The 2011 Economics Nobel Laurets on Macro-Economics and Surprises to the system

2011-10-19T15:53:00.001-05:00

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

The new millennium (7504) in Ethiopian Calendar has created new opportunities for Renaissance thinking that is a synthesis of old classical and neoclassical thinking. By synthesis we mean insightful connections of the past and the present to charter a better future.

So, Why the argument.......

Why does neoclassical thinking still dominate economics?

The Sveriges Riksbank’s Prize in Economic Sciences – or the Nobel prize in economics – awarded last week to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims– implicitly claims that economics is a science. But how accurate is this claim? Since its establishment in 1968, many have decried the prize’s elevation of…

Nobel Prize in Economics winners Christopher Sims and Thomas Sargent: in the neoclassic mold. AAP

The Sveriges Riksbank’s Prize in Economic Sciences – or the Nobel prize in economics – awarded last week to Thomas Sargent and Christopher Sims– implicitly claims that economics is a science.

But how accurate is this claim?

Since its establishment in 1968, many have decried the prize’s elevation of economics to the status of a science. This, they argue, gives economics more credit than it deserves.

The critics certainly have a point.

Unlike the subjects studied by the physical sciences, the economy does not obey universal laws, but is a historically contingent human creation.

And unlike many of the other sciences, economics can actually shape its subject of study – through the influence of economic theories on economic policy, for example.

All of this would seem to put economics on much shakier ground than the physical and natural sciences.

But while these criticisms have merit, there’s also a sense in which economics does behave as a science like any other.

Indeed, it is the characteristics it shares with other sciences that helps to explain the rather one-dimensional nature of the Nobel Prize itself.

Scientific paradigms

To appreciate this, it is useful to know a little about the work of Thomas Kuhn and the concept of scientific paradigms. Kuhn wrote about science; he wanted to understand how science changed.

Through detailed historical study, he concluded that the standard account of the scientific method – where scientists formulated hypotheses and then set about trying to falsify them through experiments – was wrong.

An Occupy Wall Street protester. Flickr/ David Shankbone

Instead, Kuhn argued scientific research is governed by “paradigms”.

These are the deep underlying assumptions of a branch of scientific knowledge at any particular time. For example, one could speak of a Darwinian paradigm within evolutionary biology.

Paradigms structure the everyday activities of scientists: what Kuhn called “normal science”. A paradigm determines what counts as legitimate knowledge within a scientific discipline.

“Ideologues and crackpots”

It determines the standards of proof, what kinds of questions should be asked and what methods should be used to solve them. Those who don’t adhere to the ruling paradigm’s assumptions are viewed as ideologues or crackpots, and definitely not scientists.

Kuhn argued that paradigms are sometimes replaced. This explains the occasional radical shifts in scientific knowledge.

Paradigms are replaced if an anomaly is discovered that can’t be explained using the tools of the reigning paradigm. The result is a new paradigm that scientists believe can better explain the anomaly.

More often, however, such anomalies are either ignored or are made to fit into the existing paradigm by using the paradigm’s tools in new and innovative ways. This is where Kuhn’s theories are helpful for understanding economics.

Neoclassical thinking

Modern economics is governed by a paradigm: the neoclassical paradigm.

Economist Paul Krugman bucks the trend. AAP

Neoclassical economics begins with the propositions that the economy is comprised of rational self-interested individuals (consumers and firms) who maximise their utility through voluntary exchanges in markets which, when free from external interferences, produce an efficient equilibrium.

While the paradigm has developed in sophistication since the 1870s, these central propositions remain at its core. Most of the winners of the Nobel Prize have come from the neoclassical paradigm.

This dominant neoclassical paradigm defines what counts as economics, and who counts as an economist. Anyone not sharing these assumptions is often deemed not to be an economist.

Because they don’t conform to the principles of the ruling paradigm, they find it difficult to get published in leading economic journals and to get recognised within the academy.

The problem is there are many scholars who study the economy, and who consider themselves economists, yet whose work is not considered legitimate by those working within the neoclassical paradigm.

Unorthodox economists

These unorthodox, or “heterodox” economists – such as Marxist, institutionalist, Post-Keynesian and feminist economists – use different ways of understanding the economy than the neoclassical paradigm.

This is why very few non-neoclassical economists have ever been awarded the Nobel Prize.

Indeed, many of the Nobel recipients won their awards for dealing with anomalies within the neoclassical paradigm.

Gary Becker for example, dealt with the neoclassical paradigm’s anomaly that individuals were assumed only to be rational self-interested and utility maximising in markets, by developing theories for understanding all human behaviour as self-interested and utility maximising – from personal relationships to smoking.

In doing so he extended the neoclassical paradigm to the study of all social spheres, not merely the economic.

Similarly, Ronald Coase dealt with the anomaly that firms are organised hierarchically, not voluntaristically as neoclassical economics assumes is the case for market participants.

He used the existing tools of neoclassical economics to develop the concept of “transaction costs” as a way of understanding this.

Useful insights

None of this is to deny that Nobel winners have made useful insights. Rather it is to highlight the narrowness of the criteria for the award itself. It necessarily discounts many valuable insights into the nature and dynamics of capitalist economies.

Does this matter? Only if relevance matters. Consider this – Marxist economists understand crises as inherent, recurring elements of capitalist economies.

Several Marxists argued that the most recent economic boom was based upon unsustainable dynamics and would likely end in crisis. Very few neoclassical economists took this view.

We now know who was right. Yet no Marxist economist has ever been awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics. Nor are they likely to be, so long as the neoclassical paradigm continues to define what counts as economic science.

Understanding our Immune System- the Nobel Laureates of 2011 for Physiology and Merdicine

2011-10-15T18:37:00.000-05:00

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Our Passion is 2 Reach Our Individual & Collective Potential 4 Excellence & Success-Always!

Infection Detection Wins Nobel Prize for Three Scientists

October 03, 2011, 12:56 PM EDT

MORE FROM BUSINESSWEEK

By Naomi Kresge, Reg Gale and Albertina Torsoli

The 2011 Nobel Prize for Physiology and Medicine goes to those who helped us understand how our Immune system works.

Both Innate and Adaptive Immunity have got their heroes. Unfortunately the one who discovered Dendrite cells did not live to see the genius he is.

We are here to testify his noble work. May the Lord bless his family and friends.

dR BMJ

(Updates with Hoffmann comment in 12th paragraph.)

Oct. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Three scientists won the Nobel Prize in medicine for research illuminating how the body’s immune system recognizes infection and marshals an attack against it, an award that came three days too late for one of the men.

Jules A. Hoffmann, born in Luxembourg, and Bruce A. Beutler, an American, will share half the 10 million-kronor ($1.5 million) award for studying gene mutations that helped explain how the body activates its first line of defense against microscopic invaders, the Nobel Assembly said today in a statement. Ralph M. Steinman, born in Canada, died before learning that he was to receive the other half of the award for his research into cells that regulate and help adapt the defense mechanisms.

Steinman’s death on Sept. 30 at the age of 68 raises the question of whether he can receive the prize, which can’t be given posthumously, according to the Nobel Foundation’s statutes. The committee wasn’t aware of Steinman’s death and will review the rules in his case, Goeran Hansson, secretary to the Nobel Committee and the Nobel Assembly, said by telephone.

“Our thoughts are with Ralph Steinman’s family and colleagues,” the assembly said in a statement on its website.

The three scientists’ research provided a basis for better vaccines against infections and also for new drugs that harness the immune system to fight cancer, the assembly said. The first of such so-called therapeutic cancer vaccines, Dendreon Corp.’s Provenge, won approval in the U.S. last year.

Cancer Therapy

Diagnosed with pancreatic cancer four years ago, Steinman extended his life using an immunotherapy he had designed himself, New York-based Rockefeller University, where Steinman was a professor of cellular physiology and immunology, said today in a statement on its website.

Steinman was the only patient in a trial of the experimental therapy, and was treated at the university, Joseph Bonner, a Rockefeller spokesman, said in a telephone interview. His death hadn’t been publicly announced before today, Bonner said.

Beutler, born in Chicago, is a professor of genetics and immunology at The Scripps Research Institute in La Jolla, California. The 53-year-old, who received his medical doctorate from the University in Chicago in 1981, said today that he is returning to work at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas.

‘One Gene at a Time’

“My idea right from the beginning, I guess, was to dismantle the immune system one gene at a time so we could track the mutations that cause problems,” Beutler said in an interview by mobile phone today. Beutler said it’s “incredible” to win a Nobel with Hoffman, and with Steinman, whom he met as a young scientist at Rockefeller University.

“I woke up in the middle of the night, and glanced at my cell phone, and the first thing I saw was a message line that just said the words ’Nobel Prize,’” he said. “Needless to say, I grabbed it and started looking at messages. Wow.”

Hoffmann, 70, earned his doctorate from the University of Strasbourg in France and led a research laboratory there from 1974 to 2009. He has French citizenship.

“I didn’t think our contribution would lead to a Nobel Prize,” Hoffmann told reporters by telephone from Shanghai during a press conference in Paris. “We worked on this for 40 years.”

Hoffman, whose mobile phone wasn’t working today, said he found out about the prize from front desk staff at his Shanghai hotel, who contacted him after being flooded with calls from reporters.

Mouse Experiments

Working separately with fruit flies and mice, he and Beutler found that the two types of animals use similar molecules to switch on innate immunity, destroying invading bacteria, fungi and viruses and initiating the inflammation that helps block their attack, according to the Nobel statement.

“The sensors of innate immunity had finally been discovered,” the prize committee said. That “triggered an explosion of research.”

Born in Montreal in 1943, Steinman studied medicine at Harvard University and received his medical doctorate in 1968.

The Canadian researcher discovered the dendritic cell in 1973, the Nobel committee said. Steinman found that the presence of these cells stirred “vivid responses” in the body’s infection-fighting T-cells, the Nobel committee said. Dendritic cells can sense signals from the innate immune reaction, making it possible for the immune system to mobilize T-cells and thwart invaders without attacking the body, Steinman’s research showed.

‘In the Spotlight’

“These discoveries helped to better understand the immune system’s reactions that lead to the eradication of a virus, of cancer cells or of bacteria,” Vincent Serra, chief executive officer of France’s Wittycell SAS, which is developing ingredients to boost vaccines’ effectiveness, said in a telephone interview. “The companies developing products associated to these discoveries are extremely numerous. They are in the spotlight today.”

Bristol-Myers Squibb Co., based in New York, won approval for ipilimumab for melanoma in March. Other companies aiming to follow Provenge onto the therapeutic cancer vaccine market include Oncothyreon Inc. and German drugmaker Merck KGaA with Stimuvax for breast and lung malignancies, and the U.K.’s Oxford BioMedica Plc, with TroVax for prostate, kidney and colorectal cancers.

Laying the Groundwork

“For once the Nobel committee caught this epochal discovery in its early days,” Martin Murphy, chief executive officer of AlphaMed Consulting, who has four decades of health and cancer research experience and has met all three Nobel winners, said in a telephone interview today. “Their research has laid the groundwork for immunotherapy as we know it today.”

Last year’s Nobel prize in medicine went to Robert G. Edwards, a former University of Cambridge professor, for developing in-vitro fertilization.

Annual prizes for achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, peace and literature were established in the will of Alfred Nobel, the Swedish inventor of dynamite, who died in 1896. The Nobel Foundation was established in 1900, and the prizes were first handed out the following year.

An economics prize was created in memory of Nobel by the Swedish central bank. Only the peace prize is awarded outside Sweden, by the five-member Norwegian Nobel Committee in Oslo.

The Nobel Prize in Physics will be announced tomorrow.

--With assistance from Janina Pfalzer in Stockholm and Meg Tirrell in New York. Editors: Kristen Hallam, Robert Valpuesta

To contact the reporters on this story: Naomi Kresge in Berlin at nkresge@bloomberg.net; Reg Gale in New York at rgale5@bloomberg.net; Albertina Torsoli in Paris at atorsoli@bloomberg.net

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Phil Serafino at pserafino@bloomberg.net

Recognizing the Freedom of Libya and Palestine at the UN

2011-09-21T12:36:00.002-05:00

Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc for Peace and Prosperity- www.globalbelai4u.blogspot.com

Our Passion is 2 Reach Our Individual & Collective Potential 4 Excellence & Success-Always!

As we recognize Libya's independence it is high time to do the same for Palestine too!

Surely the Palestinians deserve freedom as the Israelos deserve security and peace

Dr BMJ

Here is the US President at the UN preaching the good news of freedom to Libya and Palestine!

The White House

Office of the Press Secretary

For Immediate Release

September 20, 2011

Remarks by President Obama at High-Level Meeting on Libya

United Nations
New York, New York

11:12 A.M. EDT

PRESIDENT OBAMA: Good morning. Mr. Secretary General, on behalf of us all, thank you for convening this meeting to address a task that must be the work of all of us -- supporting the people of Libya as they build a future that is free and democratic and prosperous. And I want to thank President Jalil for his remarks and for all that he and Prime Minister Jibril have done to help Libya reach this moment.

To all the heads of state, to all the countries represented here who have done so much over the past several months to ensure this day could come, I want to say thank you, as well.

Today, the Libyan people are writing a new chapter in the life of their nation. After four decades of darkness, they can walk the streets, free from a tyrant. They are making their voices heard -- in new newspapers, and on radio and television, in public squares and on personal blogs. They’re launching political parties and civil groups to shape their own destiny and secure their universal rights. And here at the United Nations, the new flag of a free Libya now flies among the community of nations.

Make no mistake -- credit for the liberation of Libya belongs to the people of Libya. It was Libyan men and women -- and children -- who took to the streets in peaceful protest, who faced down the tanks and endured the snipers’ bullets. It was Libyan fighters, often outgunned and outnumbered, who fought pitched battles, town-by-town, block-by-block. It was Libyan activists -- in the underground, in chat rooms, in mosques -- who kept a revolution alive, even after some of the world had given up hope.

It was Libyan women and girls who hung flags and smuggled weapons to the front. It was Libyans from countries around the world, including my own, who rushed home to help, even though they, too, risked brutality and death. It was Libyan blood that was spilled and Libya’s sons and daughters who gave their lives. And on that August day -- after all that sacrifice, after 42 long years -- it was Libyans who pushed their dictator from power.

At the same time, Libya is a lesson in what the international community can achieve when we stand together as one. I said at the beginning of this process, we cannot and should not intervene every time there is an injustice in the world. Yet it’s also true that there are times where the world could have and should have summoned the will to prevent the killing of innocents on a horrific scale. And we are forever haunted by the atrocities that we did not prevent, and the lives that we did not save. But this time was different. This time, we, through the United Nations, found the courage and the collective will to act.

When the old regime unleashed a campaign of terror, threatening to roll back the democratic tide sweeping the region, we acted as united nations, and we acted swiftly -- broadening sanctions, imposing an arms embargo. The United States led the effort to pass a historic resolution at the Security Council authorizing "all necessary measures" to protect the Libyan people. And when the civilians of Benghazi were threatened with a massacre, we exercised that authority. Our international coalition stopped the regime in its tracks, and saved countless lives, and gave the Libyan people the time and the space to prevail.

Important, too, is how this effort succeeded -- thanks to the leadership and contributions of many countries. The United States was proud to play a decisive role, especially in the early days, and then in a supporting capacity. But let’s remember that it was the Arab League that appealed for action. It was the world’s most effective alliance, NATO, that’s led a military coalition of nearly 20 nations. It’s our European allies -- especially the United Kingdom and France and Denmark and Norway -- that conducted the vast majority of air strikes protecting rebels on the ground. It was Arab states who joined the coalition, as equal partners. And it’s been the United Nations and neighboring countries -- including Tunisia and Egypt -- that have cared for the Libyans in the urgent humanitarian effort that continues today.

This is how the international community should work in the 21st century -- more nations bearing the responsibility and the costs of meeting global challenges. In fact, this is the very purpose of this United Nations. So every nation represented here today can take pride in the innocent lives we saved and in helping Libyans reclaim their country. It was the right thing to do.

Now, even as we speak, remnants of the old regime continue to fight. Difficult days are still ahead. But one thing is clear -- the future of Libya is now in the hands of the Libyan people. For just as it was Libyans who tore down the old order, it will be Libyans who build their new nation. And we’ve come here today to say to the people of Libya -- just as the world stood by you in your struggle to be free, we will now stand with you in your struggle to realize the peace and prosperity that freedom can bring.

In this effort, you will have a friend and partner in the United States of America. Today, I can announce that our ambassador is on his way back to Tripoli. And this week, the American flag that was lowered before our embassy was attacked will be raised again, over a re-opened American embassy. We will work closely with the new U.N. Support Mission in Libya and with the nations here today to assist the Libyan people in the hard work ahead.

First, and most immediately: security. So long as the Libyan people are being threatened, the NATO-led mission to protect them will continue. And those still holding out must understand -- the old regime is over, and it is time to lay down your arms and join the new Libya. As this happens, the world must also support efforts to secure dangerous weapons -- conventional and otherwise -- and bring fighters under central, civilian control. For without security, democracy and trade and investment cannot flourish.

Second: the humanitarian effort. The Transitional National Council has been working quickly to restore water and electricity and food supplies to Tripoli. But for many Libyans, each day is still a struggle -- to recover from their wounds, reunite with their families, and return to their homes. And even after the guns of war fall silent, the ravages of war will continue. So our efforts to assist its victims must continue. In this, the United States -- the United Nations will play a key role. And along with our partners, the United States will do our part to help the hungry and the wounded.

Third: a democratic transition that is peaceful, inclusive and just. President Jalil has just reaffirmed the Transitional National Council’s commitment to these principles, and the United Nations will play a central role in coordinating international support for this effort. We all know what is needed -- a transition that is timely, new laws and a constitution that uphold the rule of law, political parties and a strong civil society, and, for the first time in Libyan history, free and fair elections.

True democracy, however, must flow from its citizens. So as Libyans rightly seek justice for past crimes, let it be done in a spirit of reconciliation, and not reprisals and violence. As Libyans draw strength from their faith -- a religion rooted in peace and tolerance -- let there be a rejection of violent extremism, which offers nothing but death and destruction. As Libyans rebuild, let those efforts tap the experience of all those with the skills to contribute, including the many Africans in Libya. And as Libyans forge a society that is truly just, let it enshrine the rights and role of women at all levels of society. For we know that the nations that uphold the human rights of all people, especially their women, are ultimately more successful and more prosperous.

Which brings me to the final area where the world must stand with Libya, and that is restoring prosperity. For too long, Libya’s vast riches were stolen and squandered. Now that wealth must serve its rightful owners -- the Libyan people. As sanctions are lifted, as the United States and the international community unfreeze more Libyan assets, and as the country's oil production is restored, the Libyan people deserve a government that is transparent and accountable. And bound by the Libyan students and entrepreneurs who have forged friendships in the United States, we intend to build new partnerships to help unleash Libya’s extraordinary potential.

Now, none of this will be easy. After decades of iron rule by one man, it will take time to build the institutions needed for a democratic Libya. I’m sure there will be days of frustration; there will be days when progress is slow; there will be days when some begin to wish for the old order and its illusion of stability. And some in the world may ask, can Libya succeed? But if we have learned anything these many months, it is this: Don’t underestimate the aspirations and the will of the Libyan people.

So I want to conclude by speaking directly to the people of Libya. Your task may be new, the journey ahead may be fraught with difficulty, but everything you need to build your future already beats in the heart of your nation. It’s the same courage you summoned on that first February day; the same resilience that brought you back out the next day and the next, even as you lost family and friends; and the same unshakeable determination with which you liberated Benghazi, broke the siege of Misurata, and have fought through the coastal plain and the western mountains.
It’s the same unwavering conviction that said, there’s no turning back; our sons and daughters deserve to be free.

In the days after Tripoli fell, people rejoiced in the streets and pondered the role ahead, and one of those Libyans said, “We have this chance now to do something good for our country, a chance we have dreamed of for so long.” So, to the Libyan people, this is your chance. And today the world is saying, with one unmistakable voice, we will stand with you as you seize this moment of promise, as you reach for the freedom, the dignity, and the opportunity that you deserve.

So, congratulations. And thank you very much. (Applause.)

END

11:24 A.M. EDT

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Global Strategic Enterprises, Inc -for Peace and Prosperity (GSE4P&andP)

Global Connect Communications

African Growth and Global Recovery- Fact of Fiction!

The 2011 Economics Nobel Laurets on Macro-Economics and Surprises to the system

Scientific paradigms

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Neoclassical thinking

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WATCH THE VIDEO

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