Part 1
But if it were asked by what sign it can be known whether a given people is well or ill governed, that would be a different matter, and the question of fact might be determined.
It is, however, not settled, because everyone wishes to decide it in his own way. Subjects extol the public transquillity, citizens the liberty of individuals; the former prefer security of possessions, the latter, that of persons; the former are of opinion that the best government is the most severe, the latter maintain that it is the mildest; the one party wish that crimes should be punished and the other that they should be prevented; the one party think it well to be feared by their neighbours, the other party prefer to be unacquainted with them; the one party are satisfied when money circulates, the other party demand that the people should have bread. Even though there should be agreement on these and other similar points, would further progress be made? Since moral quantities lack a precise mode of measurement, even if people were in accord about the sign, how could they be so about the valuation of it?
For my part, I am always astonished that people fail to recognise a sign so simple, or that they should have the insincerity not to agree about it. What is the object of political association? It is the preservation and prosperity of its members. And what is the surest sign that they are preserved and prosperous? It is their number and population. Do not, then, go and seek elsewhere for this sign so much discussed. All other things being equal, the government under which, without external aids, without naturalisations, and without colonies, the citizens increase and multiply most, is infallibly the best. That under which a people diminishes and decays is the worst. Statisticians, it is now your business; reckon, measure, compare. (301words)
Part 2
A plummeting dollar is giving Britons a better reason to look across the Atlantic for their holidays than they`ve had since 2009, with a steadily gaining euro making the continent a pricey option.
The pond hit a 17-month high of $1.67 on Thursday while dropping to its lowest against the euro since March 2010, after the US Federal Reserve reaffirmed its commitment to keep interest rates close to Opc in order to stimulate growth.
This has encouraged investors to buy higher-yielding assets such as the euro, sending the dollar Index to a three-year low.
“We are not talking about any inherent euro strength, really, it`s just the next best alternative to hold and is strong by default more than anything else” said Glenn Uniacke, a senior dealer at foreign exchange brokers Monocarp.
Whatever the negative nuance is around it, Europe is combating the debt sides of things, but the Fed and US government has no demand to so. They`re talking about raising debt ceilings rather than combating it, so in the very short term there`s very little appetite to be holding dollars.”
Already the third biggest set of visitors to the States, the upshot for British tourists is that while a standard room at the Four Seasons in Paris will set you back the equivalent of £666 a night, you can expect to pay £478 for the New York counterpart.
When the pound hit a 26-year of high of $2.11 in 2007, the number of Britons heading stateside climbed 8pc to 4.5m, but with the 2009 low of $1.37only 3.9m crossed the Atlantic, a 15pc drop from the previous year. The decrease in how many tourists going to the US inevitably hit the amount Britons spent there too, falling 32pc from 2008 to a total of $11.4bn in 2009. (299 words)
Note:
Monocarp: 简称MC,是英国一家专门从事外汇、期货、期权等金融服务的国家化公司。