Purpose of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies in America :: Economy

Purpose of the Monetary and Fiscal Policies in America The Monetary and Fiscal Policies, although controlled by two different organizations, are the ways that our economy is kept under control. Both policies have their strengths and weaknesses, some situations favoring use of both policies, but most of the time, only one is necessary. The monetary policy is the act of regulating the money supply by the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, currently headed by Alan Greenspan. One of the main responsibilities of the Federal Reserve System is to regulate the money supply so as to keep production, prices, and employment stable. The â€Å"Fed† has three tools to manipulate the money supply. They are the reserve requirement, open market operations, and the discount rate. The most powerful tool available is the reserve requirement. The reserve requirement is the percentage of money that the bank is not allowed to loan out. If it is lowered, banks are required to keep less money, and so more money is put out into circulation (theoretically). If it is raised, then banks may have to collect on some loans to meet the new reserve requirement. The tool known as open market operations influences money and credit operations by buying and selling of government securities on the open market. This is used to control overall money supply. If the Fed believes there is not enough money in circulation, then they will buy the securities from member banks. If the Fed believes there is too much money in the economy, they will sell the

Cambodia - The Rise of the Khmer Rouge and the Genocide (1976-1978) Ess

During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labor camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation-a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia-ruining the lives of millions. As a strong communist organization with aims for Cambodia that would leave the country in dire need of help, the Khmer Rouge defectively impacted the easy-going life Cambodians knew. With much determination, the Khmer Rouge was an insurgent movement of varying ideological backgrounds developed against the Lon Nol regime in 1960 (Rowat 2006). It began as a left-wing organization made up of a small group of French educated communists, but soon grew to become Cambodia?s leading and most influential political party. Following the establishment of the party, the Khmer Rouge?s revolutionary army grew rapidly, aiming to consolidate its control taking over most of the country (Dennis 1988). Their leader Pol Pot was an admirer of Maoist communism, which is where the group?s strong communist ideas originated. Pol Pot?s ideologies for the future of Cambodia were truly corrupted and powerfully triggered the downfall of the nation of Cambodia (Peace Pledge Union 2007). Pol Pot wanted to wipe out all traces of the old Cambodia and start a new society, one that was strictly ordered and structured by a series of rules. With the Khmer Rouge becoming even more powerful in the very late 1960s, US bombers interfered to st... ... 30 000 Vietnamese. In December of 1977, the Khmer Rouge broke off diplomatic relations with Vietnam, who retaliated with an attack 30 km into Cambodia in 1978 (Sutherland 1990, p. 158). Upon occupation, the Vietnamese were welcomed at first by the Cambodians as their saviours from the Khmer Rouge extremists (Sutherland 1990, p. 161). During the Khmer Rouge regime, Cambodia was turned into a giant labour camp creating a system of terror, genocide, and attempted cultural annihilation, a series of drastic events that the country is still recovering from. The years contained within this regime were devastating for the nation of Cambodia, with the establishment of the Khmer Rouge, a left-wing Communist political party whose actions have had an overwhelmingly detrimental effect on the political, economic and social structure of Cambodia, ruining the lives of millions.

Greenmail & firing employees Essay

The term is a greenmail is formed by combining the terms greenback and blackmail, invented by journalists and commentators who saw the practices of corporate raiders as a form of blackmail. The target company is financially held hostage, and is legally forced to pay the greenmailer to go away. Greenmailing is a variation on the corporate raid or hostile takeover. The greenmailer commonly targets a publicly traded company that is cash rich but often undervalued, with large assets and possibly a solid customer base. Other targets are companies that are simply inefficient. The greenmailer isn’t really interested in the business of the company. It doesn’t want to own the company, improve it, or further build it up. It will, if forced to acquire the target, sell its parts off piecemeal, which can bring a greater profit than selling the whole target. This is called asset stripping and involves replacing management and firing employees. Greenmail proved lucrative for investors such as T. Boone Pickens and Sir James Goldsmith during the 1980s. In the latter example, Goldsmith made $90 million from the Goodyear Tire and Rubber Company in the 1980s in this manner. Occidental Petroleum paid greenmail to David Murdoch in 1984. However, if a proper greenmail occurs, the greenmailer merely secures a significant stake in the target company. The greenmailer can offer to end the threat to the target company by selling its share back at a substantial premium. The target or â€Å"mark† can also go private with the same results: a profit to the greenmailer. The greenmailer gets away with no oversight, low overhead, and its profits. The target is left poorer and without the assets that attracted the raid in the beginning. A company which agrees to buy back the bidder’s stock position avoids being taken over. In return, the bidder agrees to abandon the takeover attempt and may sign a confidential agreement with the â€Å"greenmailer† who will agree not to resume the maneuver for a period of time. Greenmail is a corporate defense mechanism to buy back shares from shareholders attempting to control the firm. The practice has many critics but it can result to potential windfall for the company by protecting company shares from low takeovr bids and gives the firm the opportunity to restructure management. While benefiting the â€Å"greenmailer†, the company loses capital and other assets. This hamstrings its future growth potential. This means the shareholders lose as well in addition to impacting the supplier and customers economically linked to the company. Generally the company’s existing management may remain in place but the employees usually see their ranks reduced. Courts in states such as Calfornia have favored shareholder lawsuits, based on the contention that greenmailer constituted a breach of fiduciary responsibility. Greenmail is arguably counter productive because once such a payment becomes public others may feign a takeover attempt. Greenmail is money paid by a company (or allied company or individual) to acquire its own shares of stock from a shareholder who is threatening to take control of, or unwanted influence over, the company. In the parlance of the financial community, strategies to prevent a takeover are called a â€Å"Poison pill†. This implies that the corporate raider will suffer if they try to swallow the target of the takeover. This involves a myriad of arcane changes in the details of corporate ownership structure, investment market rules, and may involve legal requirement in the jurisdiction where the company is incorporated. Individual states may pass â€Å"protectionist† laws that impose limits for launching formal bids, or obligations to seek shareholder approval for the buyback of its own shares, and in Federal tax treatment of greenmail gains have all made greenmail far less common since the early 1990s. Heckmann et al. v. Ahmanson trial in July 1989. This was one of the final cases involving the payment of †greenmail†. Greenmail is slang for targeted share repurchases – transactions in which a company repurchases shares from specific holders, rather than on the open market. In the 1980s, it was not uncommon for companies to pay greenmail to large investors who were challenging corporate management and threatening a takeover of the firm. In this case, Disney had paid a premium price to repurchase shares accumulated by Saul Steinberg’s Reliance Group. Working with attorney Michael Hennigan, I explained to the jury how this could damage Disney’s other shareholders and to estimate the amount of the damage. Following my direct examination, as Arthur Liman was standing to begin his cross, the judge decided recess the trial early for the July 4th holiday. During the recess, the case settled. It was the only greenmail case in which plaintiffs received a cash settlement.

Media Studies Help Essay

Paragraph 1:Explanation of the textual analysis task: What film poster you have chosen, the director of the film and year it was released. How you are going to analyse its use of genre conventions (mise-en-scene). The conclusions you will be able to draw (whether the poster maintains genre conventions or challenges them, who the target audience is and why etc). Paragraph 2:Science Fiction conventions used in the mise-en-scene (meaning and effect created by this): Location Lighting Colour Costume Character Positioning and Expression Props Typography CGI and Special FX Paragraph 3:Science fiction stock elements in the poster (remember you are only looking at the poster, not discussing the film it advertises!): Stock settings Stock narratives Stock characters Stock iconography Paragraph 4:SPECIFIC Target Audience Demographics (not just WHAT they are, but WHY these are the demographics): Age Gender Nationality Race Religion Income/class Level of education Marital Status Hobbies/interests Paragraph 5:Institution behind the poster: Which production company produced the film that the poster advertises? What other films does this company produce? Who is the film’s director? What other films does the director create? Similarities and differences between the film advertised on your poster and the other films created/produced by the same person/company. E.g. If Spielberg is the director then he is known and widely recognised for creating ‘family’ films that stick to generic conventions, whereas the Wachowski Brothers (who directed The Matrix) are known for pushing genre boundaries. Paragraph 6:Comparisons with other film posters: How does your main poster compare to other Science Fiction posters? Similarities and differences in their use of generic conventions. Meaning and Effect created by the differences between the posters (do any of them challenge/subvert the Sci-Fi conventions?). Paragraph 7:Reflectionist Approach: What issues in society does the poster reflect? If it does not reflect any issues in society then you must explain this and think about why this might be.

HR Project Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

HR Project - Assignment Example In order to comply with this strategy the workplace environment of the firm has to change to become more attractive for the personnel. Employees get better at their jobs over time when they master the learning curve. The learning curve is a graph that depicts the mastery of skill by an individual or group of people over the course of time (Answer). Having competent employees that know how to provide customer service will ensure that the company retains all its current business contracts. In order to make the company grow the managers of the company have to emphasize the marketing function. Satisfied corporate customer can serve examples that can be showcased by the executive salespeople when a making a pitch to a sales lead. Increasing the sales of the company can improve the profitability of the company. Another way to improve the profitability of the firm is by lowering cost. In order to improve the individual performance of the employees of the company the managers have to take measures to make it happen. A way a manager can influence the performance of the workers is by motivating them. Motivation can be defined as individual forces that account for the direction, level, and persistence of a person’s effort exerted at work (Schermerhorn & Osborn & Hunt). A way to motivate employees is by providing rewards or incentives. For example the customer service personnel can be given a bonus based on the amount of satisfied customers they serve during a work shift. Managers can also provide non-financial rewards to motive employees such as giving them recognition and telling them they are doing a good job. In order to relieve the tension at work the company should increase the amount of break times the employees are entitled too. Retaining talent is important for the company. A way to inspire these workers is by offering promotion or ascension opportunit ies. Another important

A Controversial Issue The Death with Dignity Act Essay

A Controversial Issue The Death with Dignity Act - Essay Example In any case, it requires very critical analysis before any substantive stance can be adopted. One of the fundamental issues in the Act arises out of the very fact that it concerns human life which is deemed by many to be a sacred affair. In any case, the issues emerging out of this controversy are mostly in support or in antipathy on the application of the whole Act. Controversy It has to be realized that even in areas where The Death with Dignity Act is sanctioned, its application still faces myriad challenges arising from the opponents of the whole agenda. The Act proposes that people who are mentally fit but terminally ill should be given the option of using drugs that can hasten their deaths. This should happen in cases where death appears imminent or when the patient experiences a lot of suffering courtesy of the illness. Doctors and activists are on either side of the debate on whether the Act should be applied. Religious organizations are forging their stance on this topical i ssue on the strong premise that life is sacred and should never be taken for granted to the extent of hastening one’s death (Or: Public Health Division, 55). While the Act grants the patients the right to be given the drugs to quicken their deaths, its enforcement still faces challenges as most doctors are not very comfortable with prescribing such drugs to the patients who need them. In this regard, it becomes very difficult for the patients to get such services. In the same way, most doctors are prohibited by their employers to prescribe such drugs and will therefore never offer services in this respect. While the law was successfully passed in Oregon in 1994, its application still lingers given the many challenges and controversy surrounding the whole issue. In the State of Washington, the law went into effect successfully in 2009 after it was passed in 2008 without any legal challenges being raised (Hillyard, 28). The major issue presently is however the need to provide e ducation to the masses on the whole subject of the Act in order to limit much of the ongoing debate and to enable the people to fully understand how the Act operates. In this respect it would become possible to reject the law or to adopt it without much of the present controversy. As a major argument in support of this Act, it is realized that several patients normally undergo a lot of both physical and mental pain and suffering when diagnosed with terminal illnesses. In order to remedy and mitigate some of these cases, it was therefore deemed appropriate in some states that the Death with Dignity Act would thereby provide the best alternative. Basically, it is a matter of individual choice and its application is based upon the fact that the patient has to be 18 years and older and be mentally sound in the process (Public Health Division, 56). Without doubt, it seems that the Act offers patients the option of ending their lives with some level of dignity since they can actually deci de when and where to actually die. Most opponents of this law have simply regarded it as a form of â€Å"assisted suicide† where a patient is lawfully given the option of taking away their life. Religious organizations especially Catholics have been very loud in opposing the law on the belief that life is very sacred and should only be taken away by God. They vehemently oppose any form of the law that might give a patient the option of deciding when to die. As such, doctors operating under such organizations are prohibited from practicing the law or referring patients to other doctors who might assist them. Most of these organizations also claim that the law might be severely abused as most people would be pressured to simply end their lives pt such a without the

Philosophy quizes Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 5000 words

Philosophy quizes - Assignment Example The need for self-realization is the reason behind birth, thus the need for a chariot, which is the earthly body. Once one's desires are fulfilled and begins to love nothing else but the â€Å"Self†, one reaches the state of Nirvana, making rebirth unnecessary. 3. In â€Å"Questions of King Milinda,† monk Nagasena discusses the state of non-self --- that there is no inherent and permanent essence to the self --- which is in contrast with the Katha Upanishad belief that there is a â€Å"self.† Thus, there is no essence of a chariot. Nagasena compares the chariot to humans, and follows it with a discussion on how the chariot consists of several parts, each one important on the supposed essence of the chariot. However, since each part is without permanence, each ever-changing, the essence therefore does not exist. 4. Void must be added to the concept of movement. According to Lucretius, the composition of things are not kept close together. There is some void within things that allows movement. He argues that without empty space or vacuum, movement would not be possible. If there is no empty space, every movement would disturb the other things occupying the universe. 5. Descartes argues that there is a mind-body dualism, making it possible for the mind to exist without the body, and the body to exist without the mind. ... And since substance, as Hylas presents it, depends on sensible qualities of things as well, it would have the same absurd layers of substratum underneath it up to infinity. Hylas concludes that he is already confused too as to what conceiving material substance means. 7. The problem Philonous presents about things existing without anyone perceiving them is that if things are to be perceived for them to exist, then the trees in the Quad would not exist at hours when no one perceives them. 8. Ideas are there due to impressions, and Hume states that there is no â€Å"self† because one cannot find a solid impression of the â€Å"self.† He answers to objections thrown at him by stating the limits of human knowledge. He states that his philosophy is intended to discover things that are presented to the senses. Furthermore, he states that no good would come out from excessive skepticism. SS.R 13-15 9. Ryle states that Descartes face some motives that do not go along well toget her. First, Descartes, along with other philosophers, states that mental words are different from physical ones, and that they do not refer to physical processes, but rather of non-physical ones. However, Ryle argues that in describing the mental, Descartes still uses words that talk about the physical, which Ryle states is an incorrect usage of grammar mechanics. Ryle maintains that in talking about the mental, words such as â€Å"effect,† â€Å"process,† â€Å"thing,† â€Å"change,† â€Å"stuff,† etc. should not be utilized since they pertain to physical things. In reading Descartes, one could see that he arrives at the mind by presenting how it is not like the