Home Karnataka SET 2014 Karnataka SET 2014 Paper 1 General (31-40) Thirunavukkarasu TC Wednesday, April 27, 2016 0 Post a Comment Top comments Newest first LISQUIZ KSET SERIES Noam Chomsky has presented his views on the functioning of democracy in USA in the following passage. Read the passage and answer questions 1-6 : American power is diminishing, as it has been in fact since its peak in 1945, but it’s still incomparable. And it’s dangerous. Obama’s remarkable global terror campaign and the limited, pathetic reaction to it in the West is one shocking example. And it is a campaign of international terrorism – by far the most extreme in the world. According to received doctrine, we live in capitalist democracies, which are the best possible system, despite some flaws. There’s has been an interesting debate over the years about the relation between capitalism and democracy, for example, are they even compatible ? I won’t be pursuing this because I’d like to discuss a different system – what we could call the “really existing capitalist democracy”, RECD for short, pronounced “wrecked” by accident. To begin with, how does RECD compare with democracy ? Well that depends on what we mean by “democracy”. There are several versions of this. One, there is a kind of received version. It’s soaring rhetoric of the Obama variety, patriotic speeches, what children are taught in school, and so on. In the U.S. version, it’s government “of, by and for the people”. And it’s quite easy to compare that with RECD. In the United States, one of the main topics of academic political science is the study of attitudes and policy and their correlation. The study of attitudes is reasonably easy in the United States : heavily-polled society, pretty serious and accurate polls, and policy you can see, and you can compare them. And the results are interesting. In the work that’s essentially the gold standard in the field, it’s concluded that for roughly 70% of the population – the lower 70% on the wealth/ income scale – they have no influence on policy whatsoever. They’re effectively disenfranchised. As you move up the wealth/ income ladder, you get a little bit more influence on policy. When you get to the top, which is may be a tenth of one percent, people essentially get what they want, i.e. they determine the policy. So the proper term for that is not democracy : it’s plutocracy. These characteristics of RECD show up all the time. So the major domestic issue in the United States for the public is jobs. Polls show that very clearly. For the very wealthy and the financial institutions, the major issue is the deficit. Well, what about policy ? There’s now a sequester in the United States, a sharp cutback in funds. Is that because of jobs or is it because of the deficit ? Well, the deficit. Europe, incidentally, is much worse – so outlandish that even The Wall Street Journal has been appalled by the disappearance of democracy in Europe. “ ..... Economic policies have changed little in response to one electoral defeat after another. The left has replaced the right; the right has ousted the left. Even the center-right trounced Communists (in Cyprus) – but the economic policies have essentially remained the same : Governments will continue to cut spending and raise taxes.” It doesn’t matter what people think and “national governments must follow macro-economic directives set by the European Commission.” Elections are close to meaningless, very much as in Third World countries that are ruled by the international financial institutions. That’s what Europe has chosen to become. It doesn’t have to. Returning to the United States, where the situation is not quite that bad, there’s the same disparity between public opinion and policy on a very wide range of issues. Take for example ..... national healthcare. The U.S., as you may know has a health system which is an international scandal, it has twice the per capita costs of other OECD countries and relatively poor outcomes. The only privatized, pretty much unregulated system. The public doesn’t like it. They’ve been calling for national healthcare, public options, for years, but the financial institutions think it’s fine, so it stays : stasis. In fact, if the United States had a healthcare system like comparable countries there wouldn’t be any deficit. The famous deficit would be erased, which doesn’t matter that much anyway. 1. What is Chomsky’s opinion on capitalist democracy ? Does not supports it Supports it He has no opinion Supports it conditionally 2. What is bothering American public ? Healthcare Jobs Deficit Capitalism 3. What is the economic situation in Europe ? Depending on American based financial institutions Depending on third world Depending on global financial institutions Depending on internal financial institutions 4. What is Chomsky’s take on American Healthcare system ? Scandalous Serving wealthy Serving poor Efficient 5. What is the suggestion here to reduce deficit in America ? Healthcare as in Europe Better public health care Healthcare supported by international financial institutions Model healthcare 6. What did shock The Wall Street Journal ? Establishment of democracy in Europe Defeat of left and right parties in Europe Establishment of Communists rule in Europe Vanishing of democracy in Europe 7. 10 men can complete a piece of work in 15 days and 15 women can complete the same work in 12 days. If all the 10 men and 15 women work together, in how many days will the work get completed ? 6 6 1/3 6 2/3 7 2/3 8. Find the sixth term in the following series : 2, 4, 12, 48, 240, ? . 960 1440 1080 1920 9. It was Sunday on January 1st, 2006. What was the day of the week on January 1st, 2010 ? Friday Saturday Sunday Wednesday 10. A merchant has 1000 kg of Sugar, part of which he sells at 8% profit and the rest at 18% profit. He gains 14% on the whole. The quantity sold at 18% profit is 400 kg 560 kg 600 kg 640 kg Tags: Karnataka SET 2014 Share This Article
