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Collective Bargaining is Needed to Voice Opinion Collective bargaining is needed by people in any job. Within any firm there exist feedback structures that enable workers to communicate with managers and executive decision makers. However, there are some issues which affect workers significantly, but run against the p... | |
As discussed in the first proposition side argument, we can curtail the rights of individuals if we see that those rights lead to a large negative consequence for the state. In this situation proposition is happy to let some public sector workers feel slightly disenfranchised if it leads to fewer strikes and a situatio... | |
If school is so expensive, than shouldn't the government be subsidizing school costs instead of forcing parents to send kids to school when they can't afford the books and clothes? It is also unfair to assume that parents on welfare on neglectful and do not value education. Supporting meal programs in schools and subsi... | |
Parents on welfare are more likely to need the incentives to take on the costs of sending children to school. Parents on welfare benefits are the most likely to need the extra inducements. They generally tend to be less educated and oftentimes be less appreciative of the long-term value of education. In the late 90's,... | |
The purpose of welfare is not to better society per se; it is to support those who have fallen into bad times and need extra help. Expecting people to render a service in exchange for help is demeaning and it undermines the purpose of welfare which is to help people get back on their feet versus tell them what they hav... | |
The policy has been effective in the past The main goal of this program is increasing school enrollment overall. If it was too much to expect from families, then the program would have failed in the cases that it was instituted. However, the opposite has been the case. 12.4 million families in Brazil are enrolled in a... | |
But the program in Brazil is biased towards rural communities versus cities. In the two largest cities in only 10% of families are enrolled versus 41% in the rural areas of Brazil [1] . To consider the program effective it needs to work equally with all members of the poor, which it does not. [1] 'How to get children ... | |
Just because students attend school does not mean that they are going to receive a quality education. The best educated children are those whose parents are involved heavily in their school, helping them with their homework, and pushing them to excel1. Without involved parents, students can become just as easily discou... | |
It is morally acceptable to make welfare conditional. When society has to step in and provide for those who've proved themselves unable to provide for themselves that should reasonably create certain expectations on the part of those being helped. In almost every aspect of life, money is given in return for a product,... | |
Requiring school attendance allows welfare to be the hand-up that it is meant to be, and keep children out of crime. In the US, girls who grow up in families receiving welfare handouts are 3 times more likely to receive welfare themselves within three years of having their first child than girls who's families were ne... | |
Yet if kids aren't going to school anyway it doesn't matter if the schools are inadequate. Getting kids in schools is the first step to improving the education situation and the dropout rate. As long as we look at the education system in the US and around the world as dismal and overwhelming, nothing will change. | |
There is nothing that says the two are mutually exclusive. Linking welfare to school attendance could be instituted next to other reforms that overall would create greater incentives for children to do well in school. | |
Connecting welfare to failure of parents is unfair. This policy requires that parents be held accountable and punished for the actions of their children. It suggests that their failure in instilling good values is because they care less than middle-class, educated parents. That is a broad and stereotypical assumption.... | |
It is unjust to make welfare conditional Welfare should not be used as a tool of social engineering. These are people who cannot provide even basic necessities for their families. Asking them to take on obligations by threatening to take away their food is not requiring them to be responsible, it's extortion. It is no... | |
School does not an education make School attendance is not a positive outcome in and of itself. It should be encouraged only if it is conducive to learning and acquiring the meaningful education needed to break out of the poverty trap. Blaming the poverty cycle on kids failing to attend school ignores the fact that sc... | |
There should be rewards for success in school, versus punishment for failure to attend. This problem could be addressed by subsidizing school supplies or rewarding good attendance records with additional cash. Cutting benefits will only hurt the children we are trying to help, with their families deprived of the resou... | |
It is perfectly just to ask people to adjust behavior in exchange for funds. In fact, if the tax payers' dollars were being poured into an unchanging situation that would be unfair and unproductive. For a long time the US, and countries around the world, have struggled with making welfare a program that can lift people... | |
If families have incentives to send their children to school, and raise their children with a value of education, stressing the need for them to go to school they are more likely to finish high school and lift themselves out of these environments. The reason why some children would rather work then go to school is beca... | |
One needs to differentiate between mature, developed, but indebted economies like the US, the UK, and developing, cash-rich economies like the BRICs. Their share of the world economy might be increasing, but they would be better served investing their money in infrastructure and development, not in the IMF. Only then t... | |
Under representation of emerging economies Claims that power within the IMF is distributed according to the reality of the members’ weight in the global financial system are inaccurate. The IMF reflects the financial system as it was 50 years ago and has done little to acknowledge the growth of countries like Brazil, ... | |
That is an argument for reforming the economic foundations and philosophy of the IMF, not necessarily its governance. One cannot simply conflate the leadership of Western nations with neoliberal policies. Keynesianism is also a western economic doctrine. Maybe the IMF should be encouraged to adopt it in some cases. | |
Unbalanced decision making The decisions taken by the IMF have a deep impact on the entire global financial system and on developing countries in particular, whose economies are especially sensitive to global changes. Yet, the Western, developed countries have the greatest sway in the decision-making process, with dev... | |
The primary function of the IMF has now become that of a lender of last resort [1] . It keeps governments that are on the cusps of a default, solvent. Membership in the IMF is optional, as is borrowing from the fund. Countries only have to do what the IMF tells them when they take its money. Western countries get to ha... | |
You don’t need to experience food shortages to understand the importance of food. The IMF position, however, is that financial stability is a precursor for long-term growth and prosperity. Therefore, in the short term, balancing budgets might take precedence over any other legitimate concerns countries might have, like... | |
Neoliberal foreign policy Western dominance leads to economic policies and loan conditions rooted in neoliberal economic principles, like austerity measures, which overemphasize cutting public spending. These often actually end up badly hurting developing economies, increasing inequalities and poverty (Malawi is a pro... | |
IMF-led policies' Impact on access to food and healthcare Since Western countries do not suffer from food shortages, they do not understand how vital food and access to healthcare is for survival in the developing world. The IMF treats food and healthcare in its policies just like any other commodity on the market, so... | |
Member countries can not unilaterally increase their quotas8. So even if a country, like the BRICs became rich enough to afford buying a bigger share, it would be in the interest of Western nations to block such a move to retain the power under the status quo. Western countries are still, rightfully, dominant players.... | |
As vocal as developing countries have been about the need for a change in leadership at the IMF, they have often failed to come up with viable alternatives to European candidates and recently, when given the opportunity, they failed to rally around Christine Lagarde’s (the new MD) only serious competitor: Mexico’s Agus... | |
Capitalism and a guiding principle of IMF policy making Capitalism as guiding principle: At its core, the IMF is a capitalist, financial institution, not an exercise in proportional representation and democracy, and it has to function on that premise. Drastic changes in the quota systems that would see the West ceding... | |
Gradual and abrupt change To paint the IMF as western dominated and unresponsive to shifts in the global financial order is inaccurate. The IMF is gradually accommodating the growing stance of emerging economies like China through reforms to its quota system [1] . Also, among the countries with the 10 biggest quotas a... | |
Western states as large scale shareholders Western countries are the biggest contributors to the IMF. They bring in the most money and, until recently, have rarely required loans from the institution themselves. In any business, the biggest shareholders get to have the most say in the decision-making process. The IMF ... | |
The role of managing director For its entire existence, the managing director of the IMF has always been European. This has created considerable discontent within the developing world, with developing countries feeling disenfranchised and, therefore, less likely to trust and cooperate with the Fund [1] . [1] Musoko, ... | |
Precisely because Europe is now the IMF’s biggest client, its MD should not come from Europe. Questions about the independence a European in such a position are already being raised, with some pointing to the fact that the fund has been much more generous with the European PIGS than with any of its previous clients. A ... | |
Unbridled capitalism is not a viable response. A balance has to be struck between economic interests and political imperatives. The IMF is also a political institution, not a private bank. Its money comes from countries, and therefore the IMF should be accountable to its member states that pay for its very existence. T... | |
There remains a danger of not learning from past mistakes. Forced evictions are unlawful, and have minimal benefits in terms of human development [1] . Evictions only show the natural path of the lawless nature of capitalism. Within capitalism, public space becomes privatised over time in order to enable the creation, ... | |
Forced evictions are a natural path of development. Forced evictions have occurred globally across time, they show the natural progression of development. Cases across Europe and the USA show evictions were a feature of cities and urbanisation in the past. London experienced numerous ‘slum clearances’ from the 18th to... | |
Forced evictions are not solutions as those displaced will simply build new shanty towns so it will not stop rapid growth. They fail to tackle underlying issues across African cities - such as the lack of access to adequate housing, services, and bad governance. | |
Forced evictions pave the road for African cities to set a trend towards Eco-Cities. A key character of global cities are the global connections made. Whether financial, economic, political, or cultural - global cities become a fundamental hub providing key resources. Forced evictions provide space in overcrowded, uno... | |
Forced evictions are necessary to change perceptions. Western media and institutions often present an image of 'Africa' which fails to understand the reality, and continues to position 'Africa' as the 'other', 'unknown', and in need of assistance. Cities across Africa are an opportunity to change this idea of Africa. ... | |
It remains questionable whether the FIFA World Cup has been a success for South Africa, and for the majority of South Africa's citizens. The costs of forced evictions have outweighed the benefits in the international arena. The publicised nature of evictions across South Africa, in the build up to FIFA 2010, highlighte... | |
Since 2000, over 2mn experienced forced evictions in Nigeria [1] . Recent plans to implement the Eko Atlantic project along Lagos’ coastline has been designed with an intention for reducing emissions, protecting the vulnerability of Victoria Island to climate change, and promoting sustainable development. However, an e... | |
The idea of promoting a ‘slum-free’ environment is often used to justify evictions. However, for just urban planning, alternative methods need to be used. On the one hand, cases show how slum upgrading can be achieved through community organisations and the provision of tenure security. Organisations such as Abahlali B... | |
Forced evictions are a means to control rapid urbanisation and gain global city status. Africa is undergoing rapid urbanisation of 3.5% per year (by comparison China’s is only2.3%). [1] With the rising number of ‘Megacities’ [2] across Africa, the government need to introduce methods to control the sprawling nature of... | |
Forced evictions will create cities without slums in the long-run. Slums and informal settlements need upgrading; and the percentage of slums remains highest in Sub-Saharan Africa [1] where slums can be up to 72% of the urban population. [2] Slums are unhealthy spaces - spaces where disease festers, there is limited a... | |
Forced evictions are following, and imposing, the law. A heavy hand is need for rights to be granted to all in the future. A majority of informal settlements are also illegal, future cities in Africa need to be built on a sense of legality and law. | |
Slums and informal settlements are constraining African cities from becoming global players. Space needs to be cleared and new investors attracted, which will bring positive development. As a result of Johannesburg’s global status, Johannesburg’s Stock Exchange has continued to grow and improve [1] . Exchange Square, i... | |
Forced evictions are political land grabbing. Politics justifies, and legitimises, forced evictions. Previous cases across African cities [1] show how ethnicity, race, and political party preferences, are heavily embedded in the process. Inhabitants may have legal rights to occupy land - however, as in the case of the... | |
The housing crisis is unresolved by forced evictions. Across African cities there is a housing crisis - whereby there is a mismatch between housing demand and supply. Kigali, capital of Rwanda, for example needs to build half a million new homes. [1] As evictions continue the crisis is being exacerbated. Evictions dis... | |
Denying individuals rights to the city commons. Forced evictions create an exclusive city. The process of evictions means individuals are targeted, and criminalised, particularly the poor. The right to the city - to use the city, live in the city, and build the city - is denied to the poor and criminalised. Such denia... | |
Forced evictions are inhumane, and make state violence an increasing reality in African cities. Forced evictions are unjust and reflect a threat to human rights. By carrying out such events, the state has become a key actor enforcing violence, fear and insecurity to those whom remain in need of protection [1] . In Lua... | |
Forced evictions are needed to resolve the crisis. The crisis is emerging not out of a mismatch between supply and demand, but rather a lack of space and the inefficient use of space available. Plans need to be followed for housing to meet need, and evictions ensure such ambitions can be achieved. Evictions provide spa... | |
African cities should not aim for ‘global city’ status. There is debate as to the extent to which Africa is experiencing rapid urbanisation. Data shows that across several countries in Sub-Saharan Africa, in reality, urbanisation is slowing or static [1] . A process of counter-urbanisation is occurring as a result of ... | |
Evictions show the government are recognising residents as holding rights and entitlements - rights to live in a safe environment, rights to a home, and rights to sanitary conditions. The Millenium Development Goals will be met as a result of such policies - ensuring environmental sustainability, reducing child mortali... | |
Within cities land grabbing is a myth. A number of cases shown as political land-grabbing and rent-seeking are misrepresented, and misunderstood. Difficulties remain in defining what is a land grab and the extent of which the state, and politics, are involved in land speculations. The media coverage of evictions in Mo... | |
The change to remittances may or may not benefit the countries themselves. It is likely that remittances will go directly to individuals. Rwanda may have managed to persuade Rwandans in foreign countries to put money into its sovereign wealth fund but this will often not be an option or individuals will not want to giv... | |
Provides autonomy for developing countries Rwanda has been trying to increase the size of remittances in order to increase its autonomy. The President Paul Kagame has said “aid is never enough and we need to complement it with homegrown schemes to accelerate growth.” He wants “a higher level of direct ownership in the... | |
Remittances are of course an excellent way of reducing poverty for those who receive them; more broadly however they are unlikely to be successful. Money sent back as remittances are unlikely to be used to target the development needs of the nation so it will not be creating the basis of sustainable growth in the futur... | |
Remittances creates freedom of choice for individuals Changing from ODA to Remittances is good for freedom of choice in two ways. First tax breaks and other incentives will mean that migrants have more money. It will clearly be up to the migrant to decide if they want to or can afford to send their money home; they c... | |
This creates freedom of choice for the donor, but at the same time takes it away from the recipient. Recipients, whether governments or NGOs, will no longer have the money to spend. They will no longer be able to target that funding towards those areas that need it most instead the money will bypass them. | |
Remittances reduce poverty There has been a lot of concern that aid, particularly from governments and international organisations, does not always help reduce poverty; it might simply create dependence, or it prevents local enterprise. Dambisa Moyo points out that “Between 1970 and 1998, when aid flows to Africa were... | |
While developed countries may be making it more financially attractive to come to them to work and send back remittances in practice they are unlikely to actually allow more immigrants into their countries. Secondly the brain drain is not all negative for the countries concerned; migrants may return home with new skil... | |
Of course not all aid is ending, it will simply fall to aid agencies and charities to provide for the very poorest rather than governments. These aid agencies will no longer need to help out those who are getting remittances so will have more to spend on the poorest. There may even be an increase in individual donation... | |
Remittances won’t be focused on development work Official development aid is spent on projects that will help encourage long term growth for poor countries, for example building schools and hospitals. These benefit the education and health of the recipient country. Remittances on the other hand are most likely to be s... | |
Encourages a brain drain Any change from aid to remittances is going to create a brain drain because it will encourage working abroad. If developed countries governments are going to provide tax breaks or top up money for remittances then it becomes more attractive to work abroad and send back remittances because they... | |
Money won’t go to where it is needed most. Aid goes where it is needed, remittances don’t. Development aid is able to be focused on those who need it most, the poorest, those who are unable to grow their own crops etc. Sub-Saharan Africa gets $28bln in ODA or 20.9% of aid [1] whereas only $60bln or 11.5% of remittance... | |
This is to ignore the influence of remittances on the market. Of course ODA may build a school, but it is just as likely to make something that the donor country believes the recipient needs when it does not in fact need that investment. Money being sent home and then invested in an individual’s information will help s... | |
Employers’ reluctance to hire older staff and attempts to remove aging staff from payrolls can both be addressed more efficiently via the free market. It is true that employer-provided pension plans are beginning to falter under the burden of an increasingly long-lived work force. However, this only serves to illustra... | |
Maintaining access to pension and healthcare plans Creating a mandatory retirement age ensures that businesses will be able to maintain employees’ pension plans and healthcare schemes. In many liberal democracies that operate without centralised, government sponsored welfare systems, the support provided by employers... | |
Dismantling gerontocracies A mandatory retirement age creates increased opportunities for younger workers, especially in higher ranking jobs. There is no need to apply a universal retirement age will across every sector of the economy. Different retirement ages can reflect the differing demands of particular jobs. Th... | |
It is justifiable, in the interests of public safety and the reputation of key professions, to compel individuals to retire from jobs that are dependent on high levels of physical or mental health. However, proposition’s attempt to depart from the status quo is deeply flawed. The proposition side seem to be presenting ... | |
It is equally naïve to assume that professional education can only be delivered effectively by an age-based hierarchy. A more dynamic approach to the division of labour within the professions could eliminate an overreliance on seniority-led training and professional development. For example, both the UK and the USA d... | |
As stated in side proposition’s first argument, the age at which retirement becomes mandatory can be flexible. The state will always be able to raise or lower the retirement age in response to demographic factors, such as the rate at which diseases of senescence begin to appear in the general population. Spain [i] and ... | |
Maintain the diversity of the labour market Compelling retirement at a set age reduces the diversity of the labour market. The advantages of employing older workers are increasingly being recognised. Higher levels of experience, training and education make for a more adept, reliable employee and lower training costs. ... | |
Professional roles and professional knowledge It is naïve to assume- as side proposition do in their opening argument- that standards of innovation, knowledge and insight will improve within a business simply because it is compelled to hire younger workers. This is especially true of the professions – jobs and busines... | |
Western workers are remaining healthier for longer The populations of almost all wealthy western liberal democracies are aging. Quite simply, individual citizens are living longer. Throughout the EU the number of individuals of working age is likely to drop from the 2010 figure of 305m to 286m in 2030. Concurrently, t... | |
Diversity within the labour market is less important than inclusiveness. States are less likely to implement schemes that will allow individuals from disadvantaged socio economic backgrounds to obtain expensive forms of vocational or higher education if those individuals will be prevented from putting their skills to u... | |
Nobel Laureate economist Paul Krugman. Argued in 2004 that: “Social Security is a government program that works, a demonstration that a modest amount of taxing and spending can make people's lives better and more secure. And that's why the right wants to destroy it." [1] The problem with Social Security is not that it ... | |
Privatising social security will increase the amount of money that reitrees can draw on Private accounts would provide retirees with a higher rate of return on investments. [1] Privatization would give investment decisions to account holders. This does not mean that Social Security money for the under 55’s would go to... | |
Social Security is not in crisis and there is no need for privatization. Social Security is completely solvent today, and will be into the future because it has a dedicated income stream that covers its costs and consistently generates a surplus, which today is $2.5 trillion. Proposition’s dire prediction of the colla... | |
Privatising social security would improve economic growth Privatizing social security would enable investment of savings. Commentator Alex Schibuola argues that: "If Social Security were privatized, people would deposit their income with a bank. People actually save resources that businesses can invest. We, as true sa... | |
Privatizing Social Security would harm economic growth, not help it. Privatization during the current economic crisis would have been disaster, and so doing it now is a risk for any upcoming or future crisis. Privatization in the midst of the greatest economic downturn since the Great Depression would have caused house... | |
The social security system is unsustainable in the status quo Social Security is in Crisis. Social Security in the United States, as in most western liberal democracies, is a pay-as-you-go system and has always been so. As such, it is an intergenerational wealth transfer. The solvency of the system therefore relies on... | |
The American people do not oppose privatization -in fact, most support it. A 2010 poll showed overwhelming support for personal accounts. Republican voters support it 65-21, but even Democrat voters like it, 50-36. [1] A poll commissioned by the Cato Institute through the prestigious Public Opinion Strategies polling c... | |
Most of these arguments can be undercut by noting that the privatization of Social Security accounts would be voluntary, and thus anyone who believed the argument that the government invests better would be free to leave their account as it is, unchanged. Those who believe they can do a better job of investing and man... | |
Privatising the social security system would harm economic growth Creating private accounts could have an impact on economic growth, which in turn would hit social security's future finances. Economic growth could be hit as privatizing Social Security will increase federal deficits and as a result debt significantly, ... | |
The problems with the social security are systemic, not inherent Social security is currently solvent and will be into the future due to its dedicated income stream that consistently generates a surplus, which today is $2.5 trillion. This surplus will even grow to approximately $4.3 trillion in 2023, It is only after ... | |
Privatising social security will harm retirees As Greg Anrig and Bernard Wasow of the non-partisan think tank the Century Foundation argue: "Privatization advocates like to stress the appeal of 'individual choice' and 'personal control,' while assuming in their forecasts that everyone’s accounts will match the overall... | |
Privatization would increase national savings and provide a new pool of capital for investment that would be particularly beneficial to the poor. As it stands, Social Security is a net loss maker for the American taxpayer, and this situation will only continue to get worse unless privatization is enacted: those born af... | |
While it is of course socially desirable that everyone be able to find gainful employment and pursue happiness, this is not accomplished even remotely by the existence of a minimum wage. In fact, it denies more people the ability to pursue happiness because the minimum wage forces unemployment up as it becomes more exp... | |
The minimum wage provides a baseline minimum allowing people to embark freely in the pursuit of happiness Without a minimum wage, the lowest paid members of society are relegated to effective serfdom, and their decisions of these members often force others to follow suit, accepting similarly low wages. There is no rea... | |
Employers are not stupid. Many do see the value of higher paid workers and appreciate their harder work and dedication. That is exactly why a minimum wage is unnecessary; firms in pursuit of their own self-interest will pay workers competitive wages. Furthermore, social welfare payments will not decrease with the adven... | |
The minimum wage aids in the propagation of social justice and the fair treatment of workers Businesses operating in a free market are concerned principally with their bottom lines. In order to increase profits, firms will seek to exploit workers, to lower wages as far as possible. This exploitation will continue inde... | |
There is no social justice in denying people the ability to work. The minimum wage serves to benefit insiders who are employed and harm outsiders who do not have jobs and cannot get them due to the dearth of jobs created by the wage laws. [1] The state may have the best interests of its citizens at heart when it instit... | |
The incentive to enter the illicit market is actually higher when there is a minimum wage. While the relative advantage of entering the black market might be diminished for some who can enter the legitimate workforce and find employment, the higher numbers of people now unemployed would find it necessary either to seek... | |
Higher wages boost economic growth Employees work harder when they are paid more, but employers can often be more concerned with the short-term bottom line and will not treat workers in the lowest echelons of their firms with much consideration, viewing them instead as disposable and replaceable economic units. [1] Ma... | |
The minimum wage encourages people to join the workforce rather than pursuing income through illegal channels When wages are extremely low the incentive to enter alternative markets is increased. This is particularly harmful in the case of illegal markets, such as those for drugs or prostitution. [1] When there is lit... | |
While economies may bounce back somewhat less quickly from downturns if wages are prevented from falling beneath a set minimum, it is a worthwhile sacrifice for the sake of preventing the exploitation of workers. The minimum wage is particularly important to uphold in times of recession, since increased unemployment en... | |
The state has an obligation to protect people from making bad decisions. Just as it tries to protect people from the harms of drugs by making them illegal, the state protects people from exploitation by setting wages at a baseline minimum. Everyone deserves a living wage, but they will not get this if there is no minim... | |
Individuals gain a sense of dignity from employment, as well as develop human capital, that can be denied them by a minimum wage The ability to provide for oneself, to not be dependent on handouts, either from the state in the form of welfare or from citizens’ charity, provides individuals with a sense of psychologica... | |
The free market tends to treat workers fairly In the absence of a minimum wage the free market will not tend toward the exploitation of workers. Rather, wages will reflect the economic situation of a country, guaranteeing that employment will be at the highest possible rate, and not be hampered by an artificial minimu... |
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