“A cashless economy is secure.” This is according to India’s Prime Minister, Narendra Modi. Below is an interesting article on how India is working on becoming a cashless country. Read the article then answer some discussion questions.
1. What do you think about a cashless society? 2. What are the pros and cons of cash? 3. Is having a cashless society an assurance that one country’s economy will be stable? 4. What are the effects of the digital world in your society?
One of the main principles of EU membership is “free movement”. Which means you don’t need to get a visa to go and live in another EU country. But, some British citizens don’t agree with this idea.
On the other hand, there are those campaigning for Britain to stay in the EU, as it makes selling things to other EU countries easier. And the flow of immigrants fuel economic growth and help pay for public services.
1. What do you know about Brexit? 2. Do you think it is better for the UK to leave or stay in the EU? 3. What are the good things about being in the European Union? 4. Is it better for a country to be part of a union or be totally independent? 5. How important is the European Union?
These days it seems that every country has problems regarding its economy, employment rate and social welfare. Swiss nationals made a life-changing decision regarding it’s social welfare policy.
Read the article below and express your opinions about it.
1. Why do you think voters rejected the proposal? 2. Is a guaranteed monthly state income a good idea? How happy would you be at getting a $2,500 monthly salary for free? 3. Is it better to give people a salary or give them welfare payments? 4. What’s the best way to deal with income inequality?
An Italian court has ruled that stealing a small amount of food due to starvation is not a crime. A man’s sentence was overturned because his lawyer argued that he only committed the crime out of desperation.
Read the article about the man who had stolen food “in the face of the immediate and essential need for nourishment” and an Italian court ruled that this is not a crime.
Around 10 per cent of British people in their early 70s are now working. It is the highest figure since records began. How do you feel about this? Do you think that the government should do something about this?
Read the article below and answer some discussion questions.
For the longest time China has sat tight with the law of one child per family. But, in 2015, the country announced its plan of lifting the old law and moving forward with two children per family.
Read the article below then express your thoughts about the topic.
1. What do you know of China’s previous one-child policy? 2. Is it good for the government to pass such laws? 3. How would you describe the population in your country?
Having one’s own business used to be something people did post-retirement. But with the long-drawn out unemployment crisis in Spain, it has become the only option left for many. The real issue however, is how to convert these people ‘s talents and skills into a regular source of income.
Watch the video and find out if self-employment is the key to the unemployment problem in Spain.
Discuss:
1. What do you think of self-employment as a source of income? Would you consider it yourself? 2. Do you think the Spanish government is doing enough to support self-employed individuals? 3. What qualities should a self-employed individual have in order to succeed? 4. What are the pros and cons of being self-employed?
We are living in a wealthier world. The number of people living in extreme poverty has halved in recent decades. More people own cars and mobile phones. But why do we still see poverty?
Listen to the podcast then be ready to answer some discussion questions.
In China, being Caucasian can open doors to a Hollywood style career. With thousands of high-rise apartment units to sell, housing developers have turned to talent agencies that specialize in renting out foreigners to clients. A white face is supposed to make a place “truly international” which should then translate into sales.
Read more and see how the Chinese use image to solve the real estate glut and in the process transform the average Joe into a celebrity of sorts.
In Spain, tourists have been spending billions of Euros from January to July alone.
This is said to be helping the country recover from the economic crisis. However, some top Spanish vacation destinations have experienced drawbacks from the heavy influx of tourists in the recent years, forcing authorities to impose stern measures to control the situation.
Tourist spending in Spain sets new record, boosting economic recovery
Foreign tourists spent €37.129 billion between January and July alone – the highest in recorded history, according to a report released by the federal Tourist Expenditure Survey released on Thursday.
This was an increase of 7.7 percent over the same time period from last year.
Spain has received a record number of tourists so far this year at 37.9 million, who have in turn been spending record amounts of cash each day – dropping on average €113 per person daily.
And each tourist spent nearly a grand – €978 – over the course of their vacation under the Spanish sun.
Tourists from the UK lined the coffers of Spain’s tourism industry the most, spending a total of €7.58 billion. But although one in four tourists you may see poking around gift shops hail from the British Isles, the British only contributed a fifth of the total tourist spend.
It was the American tourists, though, who seemed to have the deepest pockets with each US native spending on average €161 per day.
Catalonia, the coastal region in northeastern Spain, earned the most from tourism racking up €8.588 billion a figure that represents amost a quarter (23.1 percent) of all of the money spent by tourists across Spain.
But despite the fact that tourists have been bringing in evermore money to the cash-strapped country, Spain has seen backlash against mass tourism in recent years at some of the top vacation spots.
Magaluf is among those resorts attempting to crack down on tourists behaving badly through a raft of new bylaws prohibiting exhibitionism and binge drinking.
And Benidorm on the Costa Blanca will now be employing the help of British bobbies to patrol the shores where more than one million Brits holiday each year.
Money may not grow on trees, but in Spain it sure seems to grow on tourists as holidaymakers bring in more cash than they ever have before.
Discussion Questions:
1. What do you think leads to more tourists coming to your country? 2. Do you think tourism helped a lot in improving Spain’s economic condition? 3. What are the benefits and drawbacks of tourism? 4. What other places in Spain should be developed for tourism?
