(Neo)liberalizing the state – Privatization of core government competencies

For a few decades now and most prominently promoted by the US, neoliberal economics have been on the rise, epitomized in recent austerity policies with regard to countries that have met financial trouble. In particular the drive for privatization of core public services relating to basic human needs, such as water, social services or pensions, has been increasingly criticized because of a perceived incompatibility between the profit motive and social solidarity. This article uses a corpus-based analysis of the discourse on privatization in the US of proponents supporting, respectively opposing it, with an overall corpus size of about 230,000 tokens. It examines how the two groups conceptualize privatization differently and which strategies are applied to fore- or background particular aspects of it.

“All Great Reforms Go Together”—Temperance and Abolitionism

This chapter begins with the starting point of conventional temperance narratives: Lyman Beecher’s Six Sermons on Intemperance (1826), and the American Temperance Society (ATS). Rather than being an admonishment against drinking, his sermons condemned the selling of drink, thus underscoring how the modern temperance movement always tilted against the profit motive of the liquor traffic rather than against booze itself. Understanding prohibitionism as a weapon of the weak, this chapter examines the overlooked role of black temperance at a time when abolitionism and temperance were virtually synonymous. In 1851 Maine rescinded all liquor-selling licenses, making it the first prohibition state: a move applauded by Frederick Douglass and black activists, who equated the bonds of addiction with the bonds of slavery. Even the great emancipator himself—the famously temperate Abraham Lincoln—was instrumental in passing Illinois’s “Maine Law” while a state legislator.

The Temperance Internationale—Social Democrats against the Liquor Machine in Sweden and Belgium

Chapter 3 pivots to European social democracy and the role that the “liquor question” played in its evolution, both in Sweden and Belgium. In Sweden, the so-called Gothenburg system of disinterested management and municipal dispensary became the foremost alternative to prohibitionism. By entrusting the liquor trade to local civic leaders conducting the business on temperance principles, the profit motive was removed, and with it, the negative externalities of the unregulated liquor trade. The chapter charts the evolution of the liquor question in Sweden through the rise of social democratic leader Hjalmar Branting: from imprisoned journalist to Nobel Peace Prize winner and the first ever social democratic head of state. Similar developments are tracked in Belgium, with socialist minister Emile Vandervelde championing the downtrodden Belgian worker, while also opposing the murderous, capitalist-imperialist liquor exploitation of the Congo by its own sovereign, King Leopold II.

Nonprofit expense management and the zero-profit threshold

Purpose In a wide variety of settings, individuals target round-numbered thresholds, relaxing effort when they are out of reach. This paper aims to investigate whether this phenomenon occurs in nonprofits as well. Design/methodology/approach The paper empirically examines nonprofits’ propensity to cut expenses relative to the attainability of the zero-profit threshold. Findings This paper finds nonprofit firms are more likely to cut expenses when faced with small expected losses than with larger losses, and this pattern varies predictably with incentives to reach the zero-profit threshold. Research limitations/implications This suggests managers are motivated by desire to reach the zero-profit threshold rather than to improve firms’ economic situations, as the propensity to cut expenses is lower when the threshold is out of reach. Social implications Additionally, the results suggest that even the lack of explicit profit motive may not quell earnings management behavior. Originality/value These results begin to close the gap in our understanding of expense management in nonprofit firms, showing how operating expenses can be used to manage earnings.

Screening Before We Know: Radical Uncertainties in Expanded Prenatal Genetics

In this article, we discuss the radical uncertainties unleashed by expanded prenatal genetics. We show how we are now routinely screening fetuses in the absence of two essential sorts of information. At the population level, we do not have sound, unbiased data about the prevalence, penetrance, and clinical variability of most mutations. At the level of the proband, it is often too soon to discern relevant information about the fetus’ phenotype. First, we outline the longstanding ethical objections to newborn screening for poorly understood genetic anomalies and disorders, and explain how it limits our understanding of their penetrance and variability. Next, we contrast the strong restrictions and regulations around newborn screening with the more laissez-faire framework for prenatal screening, using the rollout of non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) as the timeliest and most illuminating example. We show how new conditions are added to NIPT kits based on technological feasibility and profit motive, leading to widespread prenatal screening for incompletely understood genetic disorders. Finally, we explore the myriad dilemmas that ‘screening before we know’ creates for counsellors, caregivers, and prospective parents in the age of non-invasive prenatal genetic screening, and argue for an approach that openly embraces the radical uncertainties we face.

Hubungan Kapitalisme dan Produksi

Di dunia jumlah kekayaan diseluruh dunia adalah 359 orang terkaya didunia yang setara dengan jumlah kekayaan 2,9 Miliar orang-orang termiskin didunia. Yang dimana terdapat 5 Miliar penduduk di bumi yang terdapat orang kaya hanya 359 orang jika di rata-ratakan kekayaan mereka sama dengan jumlah kekayaan separuh dari jumlah penduduk di bumi. Misalkan jika 3 orang kaya di dunia bila digabungkan dengan sama dengan GDP 48 negara miskin. Maka dari itu untuk mengatasi permasalahan penduduk di dunia seperti ketersediaan kebutuhan makanan, air, pendidikan dan kesehatan serta mengatasi kelaparan, kekurangan gizi dan wabah penyakit, maka dibutuhkan adalah 4% dari akumlasi kekayaan dari 255 orang terkaya di dunia. Agar bisa memenuhi kebutuhan seperti kesehatan dan makanan maka biaya yang diperlukan sebesar $13 Miliar yang jika dihitung setara dengan pengeluaran pembelian parfum di Eropa. Sehingga Fakta di atas bisa disimpulkan bahwa terjadinya kesenjangan apa itu dari pendapatan atau kekurangan kebutuhan pokok. Dan juga terjadi kontradiksi yang terjadi di masyarakat karena di tengah kesejahteraan dan kekayaan ternyata kemiskinan masih terjadi sehingga terjadi reproduksi kemiskinan dan kesengsaraan yang terus menerus terjadi. Kehidupan masyarakat yang alami saat ini yang disebut dengan kapitalisme. Yang dimana kapitalisme adalah suatu sistem ekonomi sosial yang bercirikan kepada profit motive atau keuntungan yang dikontrol oleh sarana produksi, distribusi dan petukaran dan kepemilikan pribadi.

Hubungan Kapitalisme dan Proses Produksi

Di dunia jumlah kekayaan diseluruh dunia adalah 359 orang terkaya didunia yang setara dengan jumlah kekayaan 2,9 Miliar orang-orang termiskin didunia. Yang dimana terdapat 5 Miliar penduduk di bumi yang terdapat orang kaya hanya 359 orang jika di rata-ratakan kekayaan mereka sama dengan jumlah kekayaan separuh dari jumlah penduduk di bumi. Misalkan jika 3 orang kaya di dunia bila digabungkan dengan sama dengan GDP 48 negara miskin. Maka dari itu untuk mengatasi permasalahan penduduk di dunia seperti ketersediaan kebutuhan makanan, air, pendidikan dan kesehatan serta mengatasi kelaparan, kekurangan gizi dan wabah penyakit, maka dibutuhkan adalah 4% dari akumlasi kekayaan dari 255 orang terkaya di dunia. Agar bisa memenuhi kebutuhan seperti kesehatan dan makanan maka biaya yang diperlukan sebesar $13 Miliar yang jika dihitung setara dengan pengeluaran pembelian parfum di Eropa. Sehingga Fakta di atas bisa disimpulkan bahwa terjadinya kesenjangan apa itu dari pendapatan atau kekurangan kebutuhan pokok. Dan juga terjadi kontradiksi yang terjadi di masyarakat karena di tengah kesejahteraan dan kekayaan ternyata kemiskinan masih terjadi sehingga terjadi reproduksi kemiskinan dan kesengsaraan yang terus menerus terjadi. Kehidupan masyarakat yang alami saat ini yang disebut dengan kapitalisme. Yang dimana kapitalisme adalah suatu sistem ekonomi sosial yang bercirikan kepada profit motive atau keuntungan yang dikontrol oleh sarana produksi, distribusi dan petukaran dan kepemilikan pribadi.

Hubungan Kapitalisme dan Produksi

Di dunia jumlah kekayaan diseluruh dunia adalah 359 orang terkaya didunia yang setara dengan jumlah kekayaan 2,9 Miliar orang-orang termiskin didunia. Yang dimana terdapat 5 Miliar penduduk di bumi yang terdapat orang kaya hanya 359 orang jika di rata-ratakan kekayaan mereka sama dengan jumlah kekayaan separuh dari jumlah penduduk di bumi. Misalkan jika 3 orang kaya di dunia bila digabungkan dengan sama dengan GDP 48 negara miskin. Maka dari itu untuk mengatasi permasalahan penduduk di dunia seperti ketersediaan kebutuhan makanan, air, pendidikan dan kesehatan serta mengatasi kelaparan, kekurangan gizi dan wabah penyakit, maka dibutuhkan adalah 4% dari akumlasi kekayaan dari 255 orang terkaya di dunia. Agar bisa memenuhi kebutuhan seperti kesehatan dan makanan maka biaya yang diperlukan sebesar $13 Miliar yang jika dihitung setara dengan pengeluaran pembelian parfum di Eropa. Sehingga Fakta di atas bisa disimpulkan bahwa terjadinya kesenjangan apa itu dari pendapatan atau kekurangan kebutuhan pokok. Dan juga terjadi kontradiksi yang terjadi di masyarakat karena di tengah kesejahteraan dan kekayaan ternyata kemiskinan masih terjadi sehingga terjadi reproduksi kemiskinan dan kesengsaraan yang terus menerus terjadi. Kehidupan masyarakat yang alami saat ini yang disebut dengan kapitalisme. Yang dimana kapitalisme adalah suatu sistem ekonomi sosial yang bercirikan kepada profit motive atau keuntungan yang dikontrol oleh sarana produksi, distribusi dan petukaran dan kepemilikan pribadi.

The Profit Motive

Throughout the twentieth century, Britain was haunted by debates over its allegedly poor relationship between domestic industry and the financial sector. This controversy reached a climax in 1976 with the Committee to Review the Functioning of Financial Institutions chaired by the former Labour Prime Minister Harold Wilson. Tasked to investigate the claim that British finance was starving out domestic industry, the Wilson Committee gathered evidence from the financial sector, businesses, and organized labour. What has been overlooked is that the committee also invited members of the public to provide testimony of their experiences with financial institutions and between 1976 and 1980 the committee received letters from 258 small savers and retail investors. These personal testimonies allow us to gain a rare insight into the ways in which ordinary savers and investors navigated through a decade of economic turmoil. Making sense of these everyday experiences with the financial markets allows us to better understand the appeal of Margaret Thatcher’s market populism that eventually offered a more optimistic future to an electorate weary of inflation. It also adds colour to our notion of the 1970s as a traumatic period for British savers and investors, at the end of which a more welcoming appraisal of the profit motive emerged in public discourse. But at the same time, with many investors feeling compelled by inflation rates to take higher risks, the decade heralded the acquisitive, short-term, and speculative approach to finance that came to dominate the 1980s.