REFLECTION

In the ES1102 globalization essay, we were expected to choose one problem we deemed most serious as mentioned by Goldin in his TED talk. Then, we were required to elaborate on solutions that could or had been used to ease the situation. I chose income inequality as the most serious problem because when the public does not have the basic capability to even sustain their daily livings, it is highly likely that they do not bother about other issues and government efforts to involve their citizens to take part in their programs would be fruitless. During the process, I faced some difficulties in finding solutions that were really effective as every solution was coupled with objections and disagreements. At the end, I reflected about the boon and bane of each measures and chose to describe the most direct measures, such as increasing the minimum wage for the poor and increasing income tax for the rich, which the general public can see the effects of these measures almost instantaneously. We were then expected to hand in drafts and edit again, which allowed me to discover some grammatical issues that I have yet to improve. I plan to revisit the PowerPoint slides prepared by the ES department and gradually be more familiar with the technical part of this language.

Final Draft of ES1102 Globalisation essay

Income Inequality results from rapid Globalization

Globalization is the international connection of countries that results from the flow of goods and services, human resources, concepts and other aspects of life. It is well known for the tremendous benefits a country can gain from participating in globalization as seen in China’s economy. It has been improving rapidly since its adoption of the open-door policy in 1978 for foreign businesses (Toshihiko, 2003). Supporters of globalization may be quick to argue that globalization has resulted in huge improvements in various aspects, for instance, the reduction of unemployment  and more income equality. Yet, this is likely not the case. Income inequality is actually happening within many countries. Current solutions to deal with this phenomenon are to raise minimum wage of the poor and impose a higher tax on the rich to reduce their net income. 

Income inequality, in simple terms, refers to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This issue can be reasoned to be due to the increase of foreign businesses in countries. With an increase in foreign investments, there is no doubt that there will be an increase in demand for workers, especially in the manufacturing and food industries. While this indeed reduces unemployment, the pay for the workers is actually rather low; it is even lower than US wages in 1960s, (Shumlin & Malloy, March 2014) after the adjustment for inflation. On the other hand, the rich recieve more income and hence become richer, as their final goods and services will cost much more than the resources used to manufacture them. This is how income inequality has arisen in spite of the hope that globalization would help promote income equality.

Many countries adopt minimum wages for the poor like the United States of America (USA) where it is $7.25 per hour. (Shumlin & Malloy, March 2014) This ensures that the poor have enough to sustain their daily life and at the same time, reduce income inequality. In this way, the poor gets a higher pay than they may get if there is no such measurements adopted. These countries tend to revise their minimum wage and increase it when necessary. An example would be the recent announcement made by President Barack Obama in March to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2017. Many supported this announcement as it means a significant increase in the income for the poor, and at the same time, due to higher wage expense incurred by companies, the rich will experience a reduction in net income. This helps to narrow the disparity in net income, and hence, promote income equality. However, this may result in another issue. With a decrease in net income levels, the companies may just reduce the number of workers to ensure a minimal loss. This means an increase in the unemployment rate and the efforts to reduce income inequality would be to no avail. My suggestion for this possible issue is to have government regulations which says that companies require to hire minimum number of workers with minimum wages to be enforced according to the size of companies. This ensures that the companies do not just lay-off the workers when faced with an increase in minimum wages and the current workers will not be overworked because of doing more work for the same wage.

In addition, many countries also tax the rich a higher tax rate, so that the government can use the higher tax collected from the rich, and redistribute to to the poor. This can be done so by giving the poor a subsidized rate for their medication and education benefits, using the tax collected to help them. In this way, a higher tax causes the rich to have a lower net income, and with the poor net income not changed under this policy, the income gap narrows. An example will be Singapore’s education system where students under Financial Assistant Scheme (FAS) will have a large fee subsidy and at the same time, and are ensured of receiving equal opportunities in overseas exchange despite facing financial troubles. The government uses the taxpayer’s money to do so, and the rich in Singapore would contribute a large amount, whilst the poor have a minimum amount or even no tax to pay. This therefore helps to reduce the income gap in countries like Singapore and ensure a more manageable living.

In conclusion, globalization indeed helps the countries to improve in terms of employment rates and technological progress. Yet, there is a need to tackle the issue of income inequality cautiously with the above-mentioned solutions to ensure that workers, regardless of financial status, enjoy the benefits of globalization.

References:

Toshihiko, H. (2003). http://sjc-r.stanford.edu/research/publication/DP/pdf/DP2003_001_E.pdf

Shumlin, P. & Malloy, D., (March 2014) Three reasons why a $10.10 minimum wage is good for America. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/opinion/shumlin-governors-minimum-wage/

FINAL DRAFT OF READER RESPONSE

In Lotbiniere (2009) "Malaysia drops English Language teaching" article, he discussed the possible reasons why the government had decided to drop the PPMSI policy and implement a new policy instead. Lotbiniere showed two sides of a coin, those who supported and those who opposed the policy. One of the reasons given by the government was the existence of English language disparity in terms of rural and urban areas, yet, he mentioned that many suspected the main reason was the government opposition party had gave them political pressure by saying that PPSMI compromised malay heritage.


Though Lotbiniere's article was mainly on presenting the current situation of Malaysia's decision, the fact that the students’ results for maths and science had dropped by 2.5%, I agree with the government’s decision of having English being taught in a separate class. The main reason why the government chose to remove the PPSMI was English is more unfamiliar to the students and it will be easier for students to learn in the language that they are used to. Maths and Science are the primary subjects emphasized by many education systems to drive development and progress around the world. These are important to Malaysia so that they can catch up with the global economics and hence, it is important for the citizens to have a profound knowledge in these subject areas.

Learning English in a separate subject helps the students to fully understand the technical usage of English correctly. If they learn English to learn Maths and Science, they probably will only know the English technical terms for these subjects. This will still pose a problem when they want to communicate with the speakers from other countries. Having it taught in a separate class, the students can learn how to communicate in English via different mediums like oral and written. After which, it is easier for them to learn how to write scientific papers which then, they are only required to learn certain technical terms in English. Otherwise, they still have to learn the correct way of phrasing and sentence structures. Actually, what matters is how students present their ideas for readers to understand, which is difficult to learn when English is a tool for learning Maths and Science, instead of being treated as another subject. A very good example will be China’s education system, which managed to develop many global speakers with impressive communication and technical skills. This has been proved to be really successful as many Chinese students manage to do really well academically when they study abroad. 

From my personal interactions with my China’s friends, they say that they initally faced communication issues but they rectified them rather fast as they took extra English classes in the British Council and learnt formal English. Therefore, it is easier for students to learn English and Maths in their preferred language and to have English in a separate class. 

Third Draft of ES1102 Globalisation essay

Income Inequality results from rapid Globalization

Globalization is the international connection of countries that results from the flow of goods and services, human resources, concepts and other aspects of life. It is well known for the tremendous benefits a country can gain from participating in globalization as seen in China’s economy. It has been improving rapidly since its adoption of the open-door policy in 1978 for foreign businesses (Toshihiko, 2003) to be set up in China. Supporters of globalization may be quick to argue that globalization has resulted in huge improvements in various aspects, for instance, the reduction of unemployment  and more income equality. Yet, this is likely not the case. Income inequality is actually happening within many countries. Current solutions to deal with this phenomenon are to raise minimum wage of the poor and increase a higher tax on the rich to reduce their net income. 

Income inequality, in simple terms, refers to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This issue can be reasoned to be due to the increase of foreign businesses in countries. With an increase in foreign investments, there is no doubt that there will be an increase in demand for workers, especially in the manufacturing and food industries. While this indeed reduces unemployment, the pay for the workers is actually rather low; it is even lower than the wage in 1960s, (Shumlin & Malloy, March 2014) after the adjustment for inflation. On the other hand, the rich recieve more income and hence become richer, as their final goods and services will cost much more than the resources used to manufacture them. This is how income inequality has arised in spite of the hope that globalization would help promote income equality.

Many countries adopt minimum wages for the poor like the United States of America (USA) where it is $7.25 per hour. (Shumlin & Malloy, March 2014) This ensures that the poor have enough to sustain their daily life and at the same time, reduce income inequality. In this way, the poor gets a higher pay than they may get if there is no such measurements adopted. These countries tend to revise their minimum wage and increase it when necessary. An example would be the recent announcement made by President Barack Obama in March to increase the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour by 2017. Many supported this announcement as it means a significant increase in the income for the poor, and at the same time, due to higher wage expense incurred by companies, the rich will experience a reduction in net income. This helps to narrow the disparity in net income, and hence, promote income equality. However, this may result in another issue. With a decrease in net income levels, the companies may just reduce the number of workers to ensure a minimal loss. This means an increase in the unemployment rate and the efforts to reduce income inequality would be to no avail. My suggestion for this possible issue is to have government regulations which says that companies require to hire minimum number of workers with minimum wages to be enforced according to the size of companies. This ensures that the companies do not just lay-off the workers when faced with an increase in minimum wages and the current workers will not be overworked because of doing more work for the same wage.

In addition, many countries also tax the rich a higher tax rate, so that the government can use the higher tax collected from the rich, and redistribute to to the poor. This can be done so by giving the poor a subsidized rate for their medication and education benefits, using the tax collected to help them. In this way, a higher tax causes the rich to have a lower net income, and with the poor net income not changed under this policy, the income gap narrows. An example will be Singapore’s education system where students under Financial Assistant Scheme (FAS) will have a large fee subsidy and at the same time, and are ensured of receiving equal opportunities in overseas exchange despite facing financial troubles. The government uses the taxpayer’s money to do so, and the rich in Singapore would contribute a large amount, whilst the poor has minimum or even no tax rate to pay. This therefore helps to reduce the income gap in countries like Singapore and ensure a more manageable living.

In conclusion, globalization indeed helps the countries to improve in terms of employment rates and technological progress. Yet, we have to tackle the issue of income inequality cautiously with the above-mentioned solutions to ensure that workers, regardless of financial status, enjoy the benefits of globalization.

References:

Toshihiko, H. (2003). http://sjc-r.stanford.edu/research/publication/DP/pdf/DP2003_001_E.pdf

Shumlin, P. & Malloy, D., (March 2014) Three reasons why a $10.10 minimum wage is good for America. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/opinion/shumlin-governors-minimum-wage/

THIRD DRAFT OF READER RESPONSE

In Lotbiniere (2009) "Malaysia drops English Language teaching" article, he discussed the possible reasons why the government had decided to drop the PPMSI policy and implement a new policy instead. Lotbiniere showed two sides of a coin, those who supported and those who opposed the policy. One of the reasons given by the government was the existence of English language disparity in terms of rural and urban areas, yet, he mentioned that many suspected the main reason was the government opposition party had gave them political pressure by saying that PPSMI compromised malay heritage.


Though Max's article was mainly on presenting the current situation of Malaysia's decision, the fact that the students’ results for maths and science had dropped by 2.5%, I agree with the government’s decision of having English being taught in a separate class. The main reason why the government chose to remove the PPSMI was English and Maths are more technical and it will be easier for students to learn in the language that they are used to. Maths and Science are the primary subjects emphasized by many education systems to drive development and progress around the world. These are important to Malaysia so that they can catch up with the global economics and hence, it is important for the citizens to have a profound knowledge in these subject areas.

Learning English in a separate subject helps the students to fully understand the technical usage of English correctly. If they learn English to learn Maths and Science, they probably will only know the English technical terms for these subjects. This will still pose a problem when they want to communicate with the speakers from other countries. Having it taught in a separate class, the students can learn how to communicate in English via different mediums like oral and written. After which, it is easier for them to learn how to write scientific papers which then, they are only required to learn certain technical terms in English. Otherwise, they still have to learn the correct way of phrasing and sentence structures. Actually, What matters is how students present their ideas for readers to understand, which is difficult to learn when English is a tool for learning Maths and Science, instead of being treated as another subject. A very good example will be China’s education system, which managed to develop many global speakers with impressive communication and technical skills. In China, Maths and Science are taught in English as it is the language that the students are most familiar with. This has been proved to be really successful as many chinese students manage to do really well in academics when they study abroad. 

From my personal interactions with my China’s friends, they say that they initally faced communication issues but they rectified them rather fast as they took extra english classes in the British Council and learnt formal English. Therefore, it is easier for students to learn English and Maths in their preferred language and to have English in a separate class. 

Second Draft of ES1102 Globalisation essay

Income Inequality resulted from rapid Globalization

Globalization is the international connection of countries resulted from the flow of goods and services, human resources, concepts and other aspects of life. It is well known for the tremendous benefits a country can gain from participating in globalization; China’s economy has been improving rapidly since its adoption of open-door policy in 1978 for foreign businesses (Toshihiko, 2003) to be able to venture to China. Supporters of globalization may be quick to argue that thus globalization has resulted huge improvements in various aspects, for instance, the reduction of unemployment rate and more income equality. However, income equality might arise when foreign businesses set up companies in the country and hire the locals with a market wage. Yet, this is likely not the case. Income inequality is actually happening within many countries. Current solutions to deal with this phenomenon is raising minimum wages of the poor and increasing a higher tax on the rich to reduce their net income.

Income inequality, in layman terms, refers to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer. This issue can be reasoned to be due to the increase foreign businesses in the country. With an increase in foreign investments, it is no doubt that there will be an increase in demand for workers, especially in the manufacturing and food industries. While this indeed reduces unemployment, the pay for the workers are actually rather low; it is even lower than the wage in 1960s, (Peter & Dan, March 2014) after on adjustment for inflation. On the other hand, the rich get more income and hence richer, as they work in the tertiary industry, their final goods and services will cost much more than the resources used to manufacture them. This is how income inequality arises in spite of hoping that globalization would help promote income equality instead.

Many countries adopt minimum wages of the poor like the United States of America (USA) of having $7.25 per hour. (Peter & Dan, March 2014) This ensures that the poor have enough to sustain their livings and at the same time, hoping to reduce income inequality as in this way, the poor gets a higher pay than they may get if there is no such measurements adopted. These countries tend to revise their minimum wages and increase it when necessary. An example will be the recent announcement made by President Barack Obama in March to increase the minimum wages to $10.10 per hour by 2017. Many supported this announcement as it means a significant increase in the low incomes, and at the same time, due to higher wage expense incurred by companies, the rich experiences a reduction in net income. This helps to narrow the disparity in net income, and hence, promote income equality. However, this may result in another issue. With a decrease in net income levels, the companies may just reduce the number of workers to ensure a minimal loss. This means an increase in unemployment rate and the initial hope to reduce income inequality would be to no avail. My suggestion to this possible backfire is for government regulations for minimum workers with minimum wages to be enforced according to the size of companies. This ensures that the companies do not just lay-off the workers when faced with an increase in minimum wages and the current workers will not overstrained for doing more work for the same wages.

In addition, many countries also tax the rich a higher tax rate, so that the government can use the higher tax collected from the rich, and redistribute to to the poor. This can be done so by giving the poor a subsidized rate for their medication and education benefits, using the tax collected to help them. In this way, a higher tax causes the rich to have a lower net income, and with the poor net income not changed under this policy, the income gap narrows. An example will be Singapore’s education system where students under Financial Assistant Scheme (FAS) will have a large fee subsidy and at the same time, and are ensured of receiving equal opportunities in overseas exchange despite facing financial troubles. The government uses the taxpayer’s money to do so, and the rich in Singapore would contribute a large amount, whilst the poor has minimum or even no tax rate to pay. This therefore helps to reduce the income gap in countries like Singapore and ensure a more manageable living.

In conclusion, globalization indeed helps the countries to improve in terms of employment rate and technological progress. This, we cannot deny. Yet, we have to deal with income inequality cautiously with the above-mentioned solutions to ensure that workers, regardless of financial status, enjoy the benefits of globalization and improve together with the economy.

References:

Toshihiko, H. (2003). http://sjc-r.stanford.edu/research/publication/DP/pdf/DP2003_001_E.pdf

Gov. Peter, S. & Gov. Dan, M., (March 2014) Three reasons why a $10.10 minimum wage is good for America. http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/opinion/shumlin-governors-minimum-wage/

First Draft of Essay: income inequality resulted from rapid globalization

Income Inequality resulted from rapid Globalization

Globalization is the international connection of countries resulted from the flow of goods and services, human resources, concepts and other aspects of life. It is well known for its tremendous benefits a country can gain from participating in globalization; China’s economy has been improving rapidly since it adopts its open door policy in 1978 for foreign businesses to be able to venture to China. Supporters of globalization may be quick to argue that thus globalization has resulted huge improvements in various aspects like the reduction of unemployment rate and more income equality. However, I beg to differ. Income equality might arise when foreign businesses set up companies in the country and hire the locals with a market wage. Yet, this is likely not the case. Income inequality is actually happening within many countries. Current solutions to deal with this phenomena is raising minimum wages of the poor and a higher tax income on the rich to reduce their net income.

Income inequality, in layman terms, the rich gets richer and the poor gets poorer. This issue can be reasoned to be due to the increase of foreign businesses in the country. With an increase in foreign investments, it is no doubt that there will be an increase in demand for workers, especially in the manufacturing and food industries. This indeed reduces unemployment, yet, the pay for the workers are actually rather low; it is even lower than the wage in 1960s, ^[1] after adjusted for inflation. On the other hand, the rich gets more income and hence richer, as they work in the tertiary industry, their final goods and services will cost much higher than the resources worth to manufacture it. ^[2] This is therefore, how income inequality arises despite hoping that globalization would help to promote income equality instead.

Many countries adopt minimum wages of the poor like the United States of America (USA) of having $7.25 per hour. ^[3] This ensures that the poor has enough to sustain their livings and at the same time, hoping to reduce income inequality as in this way, the poor gets a higher pay than they may get if there is no such measurements adopted. These countries tend to revise their minimum wages and increase it when necessary. An example will be the recent announcement made by President Barack Obama in March to increase the minimum wages to $10.10 per hour by 2017. ^[4] Many supported this announcement as it means a significant increase in the poor incomes, and at the same time, due to higher wages expense incurred by companies, the rich experiences a reduction in net income. This helps to narrow the disparity in net income, and hence, promote income equality. However, this may resulted in another issue. With facing a decrease in net income, the companies may just reduce the number of workers to ensure a minimal drop in profit. This means an increase in unemployment rate and the initial hope to reduce income inequality would be waivered. My suggestion to this possible backfire will be government regulations of minimum workers with minimum wages according to the size of companies. This ensures that the companies do not just lay-off the workers when facing increase in minimum wages and the current workers will not be too taxed to do more work with the same amount of wages.

In addition, many countries also tax the rich a higher tax rate, so that the government can use the higher tax collected from the rich, and redistribute to the poor. This can be done so by giving the poor a subsidized rate in terms of medication and education benefits, using the tax collected to help them. In this way, a higher tax causes the rich to have a lower net income, and with the poor net income not changed under this policy, narrowing the income gap. An example will be Singapore’s education system whereby students under Financial Assistant Scheme (FAS) will have a large amount of fees subsidized and at the same time, ensuring that they receive equal opportunities in overseas exchange despite facing financial issues. The government uses the taxpayer’s money to do so, and the rich in Singapore would contribute a large amount, whilst the poor has minimum or even no tax rate to pay. This therefore helps to reduce the income gap in countries like Singapore and ensure the better poor-rich income gap.

In conclusion, globalization indeed helps the countries to improve in terms of employment rate and technologies benefit. This, we cannot deny. Yet, we have to deal income inequality cautiously with the above-mentioned solutions so to ensure that workers, regardless of their financial status, enjoy the benefits of globalization and improve together with the improved economy.

References:

[1], [3] and [4]:
Gov. Peter, S. & Gov. Dan, M., (2014,March) Three reasons why a $10.10 minimum wage is good for America. Retrieved from http://www.cnn.com/2014/03/05/opinion/shumlin-governors-minimum-wage/

[2]:
Retrieved from: http://www.res.org.uk/details/mediabrief/4381941/Globalisation-Increases-Wage-Inequality-By-Rewarding-Skills-More-Highly.html

(self-reference)

http://www.economist.com/node/8554819

http://www.globalization101.org/globalization-may-increase-inequality/