The International Monetary Fund (IMF)
International Monetary Fund (IMF), international economic organization whose purpose is to promote international monetary cooperation to facilitate the expansion of international trade. The IMF operates as a United Nations specialized agency and is a permanent forum for consideration of issues of international payments, in which member nations are encouraged to maintain an orderly pattern of exchange rates and to avoid restrictive exchange practices. The IMF was established along with the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development
The IMF's Main Business: Macroeconomic and Financial Sector Policies In its oversight of member countries' economic policies, the IMF looks mainly at the performance of an economy as a whole—often referred to as its macroeconomic performance. This comprises total spending (and its major components like consumer spending and business investment), output, employment, and inflation, as well as the country's balance of payments—that is, the balance of a country's transactions with the rest of the world.
The IMF focuses mainly on a country's macroeconomic policies—that is, policies relating to the government's budget, the management of money and credit, and the exchange rate—and financial sector policies, including the regulation and supervision of banks and other financial institutions. In addition, the IMF pays due attention to structural policies that affect macroeconomic performance—including labor market policies that affect employment and wage behavior. The IMF advises each member on how its policies in these areas may be improved to allow the more effective pursuit of goals such as high employment, low inflation, and sustainable economic growth—that is, growth that can be sustained without leading to such difficulties as inflation and balance of payments problems.
The IMF's Purposes
The purposes of the International Monetary Fund are:
i. To promote international monetary cooperation through a permanent institution which provides the machinery for consultation and collaboration on international monetary problems.
ii. To facilitate the expansion and balanced growth of international trade, and to contribute thereby to the promotion and maintenance of high levels of employment and real income and to the development of the productive resources of al...
... middle of paper ...
...the Poverty Reduction and Growth Facility pay a concessional fixed interest rate of ½ percent a year.
To strengthen safeguards on members' use of IMF resources, in March 2000 the IMF began requiring assessments of central banks' compliance with desirable practices for internal control procedures, financial reporting, and audit mechanisms. At the same time, the Executive Board decided to broaden the application, and make more systematic use, of the available tools to deal with countries that borrow from the IMF on the basis of erroneous information.
In most cases, the IMF, when it lends, provides only a small portion of a country's external financing requirements. But because the approval of IMF lending signals that a country's economic policies are on the right track, it reassures investors and the official community and helps generate additional financing from these sources. Thus, IMF financing can act as an important lever, or catalyst, for attracting other funds. The IMF's ability to perform this catalytic role is based on the confidence that other lenders have in its operations and especially in the credibility of the policy conditionality attached to its lending.
In The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain, Twain’s main characters depicted the societal issues of racism in the South. Huck Finn, a poor white boy, and Jim, an African American slave, both encounter situations that cause these characters inter turmoil because of the societal standards of the time. According to Mark Twain in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,
Adventures of Huckleberry Finn In recent years, there has been increasing discussion of the seemingly racist ideas expressed by Mark Twain in Huckleberry Finn. In some extreme cases the novel has even been banned by public school systems and censored by public libraries. The basis for these censorship campaigns has been the depiction of one of the main characters in Huckleberry Finn, Jim, a black slave. Jim, is a "typical" black slave who runs away from his "owner," Miss Watson. At several points in the novel, Jim's character is described to the reader, and some people have looked upon the characterization as racist. However, before one begins to censor a novel it is important to separate the ideas of the author from the ideas' of his characters. It is also important not to take a novel at face value and to "read between the lines" in order to capture the underlying themes of a novel. If one were to do this in relation to Huckleberry Finn, one would, without doubt, realize that it is not racist and is even anti-slavery. Through society, Huck’s father and Huck, Mark Twain reveals a challenge to slavery.
These international economic institutions should possess substantial transparency considering their policies directly affect the public. Instead, the IMF and similar institutions have no accountability to the public of which it is supposed to serve. Through lack of transparency, countries with major influence in the IMF such as the U.S. can indirectly impose its own investment agenda upon the country in crisis. If actions of the IMF were directed through a democratic process, more logical and productive policies would develop. If the IMF promotes transparency through the policies it imposes on developing countries, it should set an example through its own governance.
Throughout history critics have criticized Mark Twain about Huckleberry Finn being a racist novel and Twain himself being a racist. Mark Twain, through his writings in Huckleberry Finn make it clear he does not support racism in any way. For example, Mark Twain portrayed Pap Finn, a racist, as an uneducated, alcoholic that beats his kid. On the other hand, he portrays Jim, a slave, as a caring, loving father and a trustworthy companion to Huck.
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, by Mark Twain, is considered a classic novel from the realism period of American Literature that accurately depicts social conventions from pre-civil war times. Despite this reputation as a historical lens of life on the Mississippi River, elements of blatant racism overshadow the regionalist and realist depictions. Huck Finn does not promote racism because all derogatory or racist remarks are presented as a window to life during the 1850s, in a satirical context, or to show Mark Twain's moral views on racism.
In 1982 James Q. Wilson and George Kelling developed a theory call “The Broken Window Theory.” The theory is based on the aesthetics of urban decay in neighborhoods, which perpetuates and fosters a canvas for the causation of serious criminal activity and social disorder to flourish. Today, the theory is much more than a “broken window.” The principles include social disorganization, lack of social capital, neglected properties, and economically distressed communities on government assistance due to the lack of economic opportunities. In addition, media and social media outlets have created and sustained a false narrative vilifying law enforcement causing civil unrest in urban areas. The malign actions of a few officers have created an anti-law enforcement sentiment creating
...nd adventurous story displaying life shortly after the civil war. The plot is no way shows racist views, and actually shows anti-racist views. Those who consider the Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a racist book haven’t read and understood the book and its meaning. Just because it uses “offensive” and confound language doesn’t make it racist. This novel should definitely be allowed in high schools, but not in middle or elementary schools, because that age group is most likely not mature enough to understand the true meaning of the book.
The novel ‘The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn’ was published in 1885. It was not until the 1950’s, after Twain’s death, that the novel started getting accused of being racist. Mark Twain had a few messages to get across to his readers, he emphasised on showing that specific society how ridiculous they were treating slaves by using humor and satire. This novel can be interpreted in many different ways, he has many different type of characters that all have different personalities. One of Twain’s biggest goal while writing this novel was to create sympathy for certain characters, specifically Jim and Huck. He effectively used multiple techniques to create sympathy such as, setting, symbolism and style.
There is a major argument on whether Mark Twain’s novel, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel or not and if it should be taught in schools. A great amount of people found this book to be demeaning to certain races and thought that Twain used racist words quiet loosely in this book. It was also thought the book should be banned from school reading lists because of the racial contexts. While others found The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn a great book that reveals the true racism that happened during the pre-Civil War era. This is novel is about a young troublesome named Huckleberry Finn who runs away from his alcoholic abusive father with a black slave named Jim that ran away from his owner Miss Watson. Huck and Jim create this unlikely friendship on their way to a better life full of freedom. This novel Huckleberry Finn should continue to be taught in schools because it shows realism, satire, and a friendship between Huck and Jim.
To consider banning this novel simply because it has situations and characters that are considered racist is superficial. The novel does show the relationships between blacks and whites in the nineteenth century. However, it shows these situations not to promote racism against blacks, but for the reader to better understand the subject. The character of Jim is shown to be caring and considerate towards Huck and more mature and human than the society allows him to be. Although he is shown to be this way, Twain shows the irony and hypocrisy of treating a mature man like simple property. The novel also shows how a boy, who is a product of this hypocritical society, comes to realize the true nature of his friend Jim and how deranged the societies beliefs are. In showing these ironic situations and the transformation that Huck goes through the reader sees racism in a real life setting. People who want to ban the book miss the idea entirely. Instead of getting rid of something that is supposedly racist, they only perpetuate racism by denying others a good source of material on the subject.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (2000). The IMF and the World Bank: puppets of the neoliberalism onslaught. Retrieved April 05, 2014, from MIT website: http://www.mit.edu/~thistle/v13/2/imf.html
...e end of the novel, Huck and the reader have come to understand that Jim is not someone’s property or an inferior man, but an equal. To say that The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a racist novel is absurd, but there are always some hot-heads claiming that the novel is racist. These claims are not simply attempts to damage the image of a great novel, they come from people who are hurt by racism and don’t like seeing it in any context. However, they must realize that this novel and its author are not racist, and the purpose of the story is to prove black equality. It is vital for the reader to recognize these ideas as society’s and to recognize that Twain throughout the novel does encourage racist ideas, he disputes them. For this reason, and its profound moral implication, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn should not be removed from the literary canon. [1056]
The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is a novel written by Mark Twain. The novel was published in 1885 and depicts the Southern Antebellum society. The book sheds light on the issues of slavery and racism that were rampant during the era. The book shows the life of Huck Finn, a boy who does not want to conform to the norms of the so called civilized society. His struggle is shared with a runaway slave named Jim who accompanies Huck on a journey down the Mississippi were they forge an unlikely friendship. Throughout the book one can see Huck mature into a young man who embraces people of color as equals. Although the book accurately depicts the racism of the era, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is not a racist novel because it uses satire to demonstrate the nonsensicality of racism.
The IMF plays a pivotal role in the international economy system. As its initial goal about reconstructs world’s international payment system, such as contributes to surveillance of the global economy, to stabilize exchange rates, to lend money to help countries to resolve emergency situation but with certain conditions and should pay back in a short time. The IMF has done a large number of things to help the world economy, not only in the western countries, but in many developing countries as well.
the effect that the work of the IMF and the World Bank have had on the