Inflation in the United States Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Inflation in the United States - Research Paper Example The case with the nation of the United States is not in any case different. Recent report from U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported in less than a month ago that the price index for all items has increased by 1.4 percent over the first twelve months (USDL, 2012). This could be an indication that inflation rates have increased in the United States. However, as the following chat indicates the increase in inflation has not increased in a rate that would affect the economy. The CFI-U chat above shows only a very slight upward shift on the consumer price index during the period suggested by the report. This period is subsequently followed by a period of lower CFI-U as indicated by the chat. The lowering of CFI-U indicated by the chat show that inflation rate in the United States has been decreasing since July this year. Moreover, the raise in CFI-U is very slight thus indicating that the increase in inflation during that period was insignificant. The current consumer price index is lower than the one that was reported five years ago. This indicates a significant decline in the inflation rates in this country. Inflation in a country is mainly caused by economic activities and the volatility of the economy. One reason why United States has been able to reduce inflation is that it has been able to reduce the volatility of its economy. Another reason is that it has been able to increase the economic activities undertaken on its economy. All this has been done through adapting an effective monetary and fiscal policy. Fiscal and monetary policies have been identified as the most essential tools of solving economic problems. In solving economic problems, the two policies help to reduce the inflation rates in an economy. Moreover, they help to sustain low inflation rates in an economy despite the external factors that might try to increase the inflation rates. According to Yang & Traum (2010), the fiscal policy adapted by the United States focuses on adjusting government spending and tax rate. Increase in government spending has several effects to this country’s citizens. Among these effec ts is the increase in the commitment of the government in the provision of essential services. This raises the standards of living of individuals in this country thus resulting to economic growth. Lowering tax on the other had stimulates economic activities in a nation. United States has been maintaining a low tax rates in its economy thus raising the aggregate demand and expenditure in its economy. The raised aggregate demand and expenditure stimulates the economic activities thus resulting to economic growth. The economic growth has been enabling this nation to lower its inflation rates and sustaining the low levels of inflation. United States has been maintaining low interest rates on its economy. This is mainly aimed at reducing the supply of money. As a result, it could be categorized as a contradictory monetary policy (Dwivedi, 2010). The policy plays a very significant role in raising the price of this country’s currency. This assists in reducing the inflations rates i n the economy of the United States. However, in an attempt to overcome unexpected increases in inflation, the monetary authority in this country is forced to introduce expansionary monetary policy in the economy. Expansionary monetary policy is one that focuses on increasing the supply of

Data Warehouse Gantt Chart and PERT Chart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Warehouse Gantt Chart and PERT Chart - Essay Example The task assignments have overloaded certain resources. This is because, when setting predecessors, only adjacent tasks have been considered in certain cases. For example, some of the tasks to which the resource named Goran has been allocated on the same day are 75, 76, 109 and 110. Task 76 has a dependency on task 75 and task 110 has a dependency on task 109. But, because the same resource is involved, there is a dependency between tasks 76 and 109 as well. Ignoring dependencies such as these has resulted in that resource been overloaded. Hence tasks assignments need to be reworked. The dependencies could be simplified if they were set using the summary task numbers instead of the detail task numbers. Task 170, 'Test d_contactInfo table' has tasks 109, 110 and 111 as predecessors all of which are sub tasks of task 108, the building of that table. Predecessor could be set as 108, thereby, simplifying dependency management. There are several milestone tasks. They have been used to mark significant tasks which need to be completed before proceeding to later tasks. It is not prudent to deploy the system without validating it in the two migration environments.

Cruel and Unusual Punishment Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1250 words

Cruel and Unusual Punishment - Essay Example Despite widespread outcry on the cruelty associated with the death penalty, many countries around the globes still practice it and view it as a perfectly legal form of extreme punishment. Whether to uphold or abolish the death penalty has been a controversial subject in many societies, in the world. This is because of the divergent views that different people have based on phenomenon such as culture, political ideology and religion. The United Nations, for example, has in recent times adopted resolutions though non binding, advocating for the abolishment of executions giving emphasis on the sanctity of life. The European Union also outlaws the practice of capital punishment in its area of jurisdiction through the second article of the European Union Charter of Fundamental Rights. This has proved to be ineffective since countries like the Unites States, Indonesia, India and China, which hold a large part of the global population, still practice capital punishment (Mandery 45). Accordi ng to Amnesty International, two nations each year have abolished capital punishment in their criminal justice systems since 1976. Counties such as Germany, Australia and Spain strongly against the practice of capital punishment regardless of the crime committed. Capital punishment dates as far back as 8th Century B.C in Babylon, where twenty five different crimes were punishable by death. The Hittite code of the 14th Century B.C also embraced capital punishment. Most astonishing of them all was the draconian Athens code of the 7th Century B.C, which set out death as punishment for all crimes. In early civilizations, the death penalty got executed thorough drowning, firing squads, impalement, lynching, decapitation and crucifixion. In present day, capital punishment gets executed through the use of lethal injection, firing squads, lethal gas, hanging and electrocution (Radelet 46). The death penalty in the Unites States has been an issue of insurmountable concern for a long time. Th e precedence of capital punishment in Americas came as a result of British influence on the then colony. Though capital punishment had been occurring, the first recorded execution took place in Virginia in 1608. The early 20th Century marked the resurgence in the execution of the death penalty. The 1930s marked the decade with the largest number of executions in the history of America. In the 1950s, the public began to voice their opposition to capital punishment. This led to a drop in the number of executions. In the 1960s, the legality of capital punishment got challenged. Before 1960, the eighth, fifth and fourteen amendments were interpreted as having endorsed the death penalty. It was later suggested that the death penalty was unusual and cruel, and hence unconstitutional in accordance to the Eighth Amendment (Mandery 77). In 1985, the Supreme Court ruled that the 8th Amendment had an evolving standard of decency which marked progress of a society that was coming of age. This n ewly found decency no longer had room for the death penalty. As a result, the Supreme Court began refining the administration of the death penalty by ensuring that it was practiced with little or no pain inflicted. Whereas the 8th Amendment of the Constitution of the United States restrains the government from cruel and unusual punishments, the ambiguity of the term ‘cruel and unusual’ has over the years fuelled the controversy about the constitutionality of capital p

Data Warehouse Gantt Chart and PERT Chart Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 500 words

Data Warehouse Gantt Chart and PERT Chart - Essay Example The task assignments have overloaded certain resources. This is because, when setting predecessors, only adjacent tasks have been considered in certain cases. For example, some of the tasks to which the resource named Goran has been allocated on the same day are 75, 76, 109 and 110. Task 76 has a dependency on task 75 and task 110 has a dependency on task 109. But, because the same resource is involved, there is a dependency between tasks 76 and 109 as well. Ignoring dependencies such as these has resulted in that resource been overloaded. Hence tasks assignments need to be reworked. The dependencies could be simplified if they were set using the summary task numbers instead of the detail task numbers. Task 170, 'Test d_contactInfo table' has tasks 109, 110 and 111 as predecessors all of which are sub tasks of task 108, the building of that table. Predecessor could be set as 108, thereby, simplifying dependency management. There are several milestone tasks. They have been used to mark significant tasks which need to be completed before proceeding to later tasks. It is not prudent to deploy the system without validating it in the two migration environments.

Pleasantville Point of View Essay Example for Free

Pleasantville Point of View Essay In Pleasantville, the main two characters were David as Bud and Jennifer as Mary Sue. These two teens are from the 1990s and get taken back to the 1950s sitcom â€Å"Pleasantville†. When they are taken back into time, the two teens took back with them modern day ways and alter the universe in â€Å"Pleasantville†. David and Jennifer didn’t try to stir up things for the town intentionally. David wanted to keep things the same so they can go back home and keep things in â€Å"Pleasantville† pleasant. Jennifer wanted to go back home as but as long as he had to stay there. She wasn’t going to do right like her brother want her to. Jennifer felt differently. She felt like they were too boring for her and wanted to shake things up a little bit. She wanted to bring the 1990s into the 1950s and kind of stirred things up. As time was going by and things started to change day by day; some of the older folks didn’t want the change. They wanted things to stay the way they have always been. The dad played as George was your standard dad that went to work every day and came home and expected to have his wife waiting on him hand and feet with dinner cooked. The mother Betty was your typical mother that got the kids up, fixed breakfast, ironed, had dinner cooked, etc. When David alerted the fireman that there was afire but had to say cat. That was when things started to change. The other teenagers wanted to know how he knew about the fire. They wanted to know what was outside of â€Å"Pleasantville† and for once the books had words and they wanted to know more. They were intrigued to learn new things and wanted to know more. They weren’t afraid to venture out amp; absorb new things and experience life. David was a kid that was shy and afraid. He never went for the things he wanted in life. Back at his school in the 1990s he was afraid to ask out this girl he had a crush on. He stood from afar and watched while another guy was talking to his crush and asked her out instead of him asking. He never built up enough courage to talk to her or anyone else. At school he felt very out of place. He was an outsider. When he was in â€Å"Pleasantville†, he felt at home. He knew the storyline and he knew everything was going to be the same way every day and never change. As the movie went on he tried to keep things just as they were but that was hard because his sister kind of stirred it up a little. As time was passing by, he began to wonder why his color never changed while others around him were changing. His time didn’t come so sudden because he still hasn’t figured out why he was taken back into time. He still hasn’t overcome he fear and lived life yet. The turning point was when he was showing compassion for his mother when she was afraid of being seen in color and when he took up for her when the young men were hounding her for being in color and posing nude just because she was different than they were. Once he took up for his mother in the sitcom. He overcame his fear and for once stood up for himself as well as someone else and didn’t back down. Jennifer was that typical 1990s girl that wanted to be kind of rough, hard, bad, and sleep with a guy to get them to want to be with her. That is what she knew because of how her generation was brought up. So when she gets to â€Å"Pleasantville†, she really wants to go back home and go back to her normal life to go on her date. She doesn’t want to listen to her brother and follow his instructions. She just wants to do her own thing. The town is too boring for her. There is no excitement. So when she finally decides to go out with Skip. She decides to be bad and go to lover’s lane and do more than hold hands. Her and Skip continue to do it for a while and she all of a sudden becomes bored with having sex. When Skip came to her window and wanted to have sex with her. She didn’t want to because she was studying. Now that was a shocker. For once in her life she’s more concerned about school work than a guy. She was so proud that she actually finishes reading a book for the first time in her life. That was her turning point in her life. She put her education first instead of trying to get a guy to like her. She set herself apart from the other females in the sitcom that became how they once were vice versa. The overall message is to believe in you and never lose hope. Don’t let anyone or yourself stop you from doing or becoming anything you want to do. David wasn’t shy or afraid anymore and Jennifer for once cared about herself and didn’t think about her old ways for once. With David learning compassion and bravery; he takes that back home when his mother is back early at home and is feeling down. He comforts his mother and I’m pretty sure he will take everything he has learned with him in his everyday life. Jennifer got her life together and wanted to stay a bit longer to continue to work on herself before she came home. She actually thought about college. Jennifer took control of life and didn’t let anyone influence her decision. Everyone just needs a push or a situation to go through to make their behavior change for the good. Like I once stated was that you should never lose hope and believe in yourself. Go for the gold in life and never back down from a challenge.

Anti Oppressive Theory And Practice Social Work Essay

Anti Oppressive Theory And Practice Social Work Essay Anti-oppressive theory and practice in social work seeks first to recognise oppression  in communities, societies, and cultures, and thereafter to eliminate the pressure and undo the sway of such oppression. Anti-oppressive practice is by and large understood to be an omnibus term that includes, but is not limited to, diverse practice approaches like feminist, anti-racist, critical, radical, and structural frameworks. Anti-oppressive social work stands as such for a variety of theories and practices that adopt the perspective of social justice. It should thus more appropriately be considered to be a perspective or stance toward practice rather than a practice approach. Dominelli (1998) perceives anti-oppressive social work to be a type of social work practice that searches for social barriers and structural inequalities in activities that are conducted with service users or workers. Anti-oppressive practice tries to offer more suitable, responsive and perceptive services by reacting to the needs of individuals without considering their social status. Dominelli (1998) feels that it represents a person oriented philosophy and an egalitarian system of values that is concerned with lessening the venomous results of structural inequalities upon the lives of people. It is a methodology that focuses both on processes and on outcomes and is an approach of structuring relationships between persons that strives to empower users by lessening the adverse results of hierarchy during their interaction with each other and the activities they do together. Social workers need to reinforce their abilities and attitudes for the conduct of anti-oppressive practice in many ways. Dalrymple and Burke (1995) state that social workers should obtain knowledge and understanding of their own selves, the majority social systems, different groups and cultures, and of fundamental human rights in order to effectively face issues on personal and structural levels and pursue anti-oppressive practices. This short study takes up the need of social workers to become aware of and familiar with human rights and various cultural issues, especially those relevant to their service users, in order to engage in effective anti-oppressive practice. Special emphasis is given in the study to domestic violence against women of ethnic and immigrant communities in Ireland, many of whom face physical and mental abuse in their households, even as they otherwise suffer from the discriminatory attitudes and behaviour of people of mainstream and dominant communities. Readying Social Workers for Anti-oppressive Practice Oppression is essentially entrenched in society for the maintaining of its unequal status quo. Contemporary social workers are experiencing the unique development of an anti-oppression approach that is gradually replacing long-established social work models of individual rehabilitation and self fulfilment. The verbalisation and mounting sophistication of the anti- oppression approach has been and continues to be considerably influenced by ethnic, feminist, gay and lesbian, disability, and other social movements. The need to challenge inequality is an important driver of anti-oppressive practice, even as it is important to recognise that all challenges may not be successful and furthermore be distressful for the person or group who are challenging and those who are being challenged. Anti-oppressive practice plainly draws from a social model of difference. It builds on social constructionist models of differences, racial, ethnic, gendered, and others, which are created within the conte xt of unequal social power relationships. It thus strongly argues for the development of practice that confronts, challenges, and alters unequal structures at all levels. An important dimension of challenging inequality concerns the building of self-awareness and understanding of how the social location of the social worker influences the communication between the worker and the individuals or groups who are being challenged. The practice of reflecting and thinking is intrinsic to the anti-oppressive way. Dominelli (2002, p 9) argues that knowledge of oneself helps in equipping individuals for undertaking anti-oppressive tasks. Self-knowledge, for Dominelli, is central to the range of skills required of a reflective practitioner. Social workers, to be successful in anti-oppressive practice, should be able to critically reflect on their own selves in practice and on the ways in which their biographies influence their practice relationships. The ability to critically assess the experiences of oppression of service users requires them to examine the ways in which personal, cultural and structural issues and processes fashion the difficulties that service users bring up with service agencies. An understanding of human rights and various cultural issues, experts feel, can also help them significantly in knowing their own selves, realising the impact as well as the reasons for continuance of oppression in modern day society, and in addressing such issues. Human Rights and Cultural Issues Anti-oppressive practice, with its focus on reduction of all forms of social inequality, is closely associated with the bringing about of social justice. Much of modern day oppressive activity goes against the tenets of social justice and concerns the undermining, denying or taking away of fundamental human rights of individuals or groups of people. Human rights constitute the fundamentals on which modern day society has developed in the post Second World War era. Whilst human rights have progressively developed over centuries, widespread awareness about them grew only after the 1940s in the aftermath of the holocaust atrocities and the demise of colonialism. The Universal Declaration of Human Rights in 1948 by the United Nations was a step taken by the global fraternity to ensure that human rights would not be compromised in future by the actions of people, groups or states. Such rights include the right to life and property, the right of expression, the right to security from discrimination and the right to protection from physical and mental harm. Oppression nevertheless continues to occur in societies across the world, and often with the tacit of overt support of various governments that signed the UN declaration and thereafter legislated to protect human rights in their own countries. Whilst oppression and empowerment in social work practice do relate to bringing about of social justice, they do not specify minimal and fundamental requirements for human existence. This compels social workers to view individuals who have to arrange for themselves when they are denied human rights by dominant powers. Social workers who are familiar with human rights can however readily and effectively apply human rights perspectives to spot violations. They can view situations of oppression and discrimination as circumstances in which various infrastructural and legal resources can be applied for effective elimination of oppression or negation of its impact. The awareness of human rights and adoption of human rights perspectives can help social workers to frame circumstances concerning oppression into those of violations of rights, thereby making governments and citizens accountable for addressing and resolving such violations. Domestic violence, discrimination and inadequate education thus become instances of violation rather than of inadequate satisfaction of needs. Social workers with human rights perspectives can apply greater force to the challenging of unfair resource distribution, inequality and oppression. Awareness about the culture of service users and the differences that exist between the cultures of social workers and different service users can also help social workers on understanding different ways of oppression, especially so in groups like immigrants or ethnic minorities, whose cultures are vastly different from members of the dominant groups. Culture represents the integrated and distinct patterns of behaviours, including thoughts, values, beliefs, customs and actions of racial, religious, ethnic, or social groups. It is considered to be the totality of ways that is passed through generations and includes ways in which individuals with disabilities or persons from different religious or ethnic backgrounds experience their environments. With the main mission of social workers being the enhancement of well-being and helping to satisfy fundamental human needs of persons who are poor, vulnerable, and oppressed, they can improve their practice effectiveness significantly by understanding and becoming sensitive to cultural diversity and uniqueness. The acquisition of such knowledge can help social workers in understanding the essence of social diversity and oppression with regard to race, ethnic background, national origin, age, sex, sexual orientation and physical or mental disability. Such knowledge and understanding can help in the achievement of cultural competence and enable them to integrate and transform their knowledge of persons and groups of people into specific attitudes and practices. Whilst the development of cultural competency is important for social workers, the diverse backgrounds of service users, especially in urban locations, make this process difficult and challenging. Oppression and Domestic Violence against Women Domestic violence against women results directly from the inequalities between men and women. It denies women their very basic human rights, i.e. the right to health and undermines the development of communities and societies. General factors like marginalisation and poverty and specific aspects like race or ethnicity, result in some women becoming more vulnerable to domestic violence. Whilst men also face domestic violence, the lower social status of women, especially in certain communities and cultures exposes them to greater risk, even as the number of incidences of domestic violence against women appears to increase at an alarming pace. Domestic Violence refers to the use of physical or emotional force or threat of physical force, including sexual violence; in close adult relationshipsà ¢Ã¢â€š ¬Ã‚ ¦.The term domestic violence goes beyond actual physical violence. It can also involve emotional abuse; the destruction of property; isolation from friends, family and other sources of support; threats to others including children; stalking; and control over access to money, personal items, food, transportation and the telephone. Such violence causes extensive physical, emotional and mental damage to women. It prevents them from participating in society, limits their access to resources and their ability to take part in activities like work, travel and education. Apart from such adverse consequences, domestic violence against women damages the physical, emotional and mental development of children, hurts their performance in school and affects their life chances. Domestic violence also results in economic costs for the individual and for society that arise from missed work, health care costs and costs of social work assessment and intervention for women and other affected family members. Domestic violence against women is a serious problem in Ireland. A 2002 report on Sexual Abuse and Violence revealed that one woman in four in Ireland had faced some sort of sexual abuse during her lifetime and one in five had suffered sexual assault as an adult. Ireland witnessed 109 murders of women between 1996 and 2005, 72 of which occurred in their homes. All the murders were perpetrated men and 50 % of these by partners or ex-partners. Ireland has been experiencing rapid inward migration since the 1990s, a phenomenon that has made one of the most homogenous societies in the EU culturally and ethnically diverse. Whilst domestic violence occurs across race, religion and class, migrant women experiencing violence at home face additional structural barriers on account of immigration status, lack of familiarity with language and racism, which significantly hamper their options for protection and support. A 2008 study by Paula Fagan reveals that migrant women experiencing violence at home face four important barriers, namely (a) immigration legislation, (b) restrictions on usage of public funds, (c) racism from larger society and ostracism from own communities on re[ort of abuse, and (d) cultural differences with, and lack of understanding from, mainstream society, which increase their distress and vulnerability, reduce their options with regard to social security, exacerbate their fear of isolation and create barriers their seeking of assistance and protection. Fagans report reveals that the discretionary character of the countrys immigration system presents unique challenges both for women and social workers in establishing rights, entitlements and protections for migrant women experiencing abuse. With no protections yet in place for women whose status are dependent on their husbands/partners or for those restricted from social welfare payments, options for keeping women safe are severely restricted. A key finding of this report is that, while there needs to be improvements in Irelands domestic violence legislative and policy framework for all women, there are specific failures in this system for migrant women linked to immigration legislation, policy and procedures.

Financial Statements Essay -- Economy, Financial Distress

Financial Statements basically show the historical performance or record of the company at some previous point of time. By the time when financial statements are made public, changes are many economical areas such as market conditions, currency exchange rate and inflations can change the values of assets and liabilities. In this case there often exist discrepancies between book value of assets and their market values. In above case there might be companies that are healthy and many go through period of financial distress. In particular is the threat of not being able to meet debt obligations. The first Indication of financial distress is when firm does not have enough liquid assets (short-term assets) to cover (pay for) current liabilities (short-term liabilities) when this happen than firm ability to covering long-term liabilities is reduced resulting in creditors taking on more risk than the investment of loaning money to the firm is worth. When company is facing financial distress, book value of company liabilities can become worth more than the market value of the same liabilities. If this happen, than firm is in danger of not meeting its obligations to creditors. In this case creditors may not be paid and in worst of financial distressed time, the creditors may receive nothing in interest or principal, if the firm files for bankruptcy. The importance of financial-decision making goals is to increase shareholders’ value and to keep them away from financial distress. The Predicting of financial distress is an early warning signal to keep investors from being loss. It has been more than 70 years, since Ramser & Foster, and Fitzpatrich in 1931-1932, and 44 years, since Beaver (1966) but still they have not found the theory... ...earches this paper extends the previous research work done on financial distress. We have used modified Altman Z Score as a proxy for the financial distress. After including the financially distressed and financially healthy firms in our sample, we have seen the effect of financial distress on corporate cash flows. Prior to this work hardly any paper can be seen which studies the impact of financial distress on corporate cash flows, especially in Asian context. Our work adds to the literature in a sense that it not only identifies the financially distressed firms but also measures the effect of financial distress on operating cash flows of the firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. Our work also contributes to the literature in establishing a fact that whether the model of financial distress developed by Altman is relevant in Pakistan’s Corporate Environment. Financial Statements Essay -- Economy, Financial Distress Financial Statements basically show the historical performance or record of the company at some previous point of time. By the time when financial statements are made public, changes are many economical areas such as market conditions, currency exchange rate and inflations can change the values of assets and liabilities. In this case there often exist discrepancies between book value of assets and their market values. In above case there might be companies that are healthy and many go through period of financial distress. In particular is the threat of not being able to meet debt obligations. The first Indication of financial distress is when firm does not have enough liquid assets (short-term assets) to cover (pay for) current liabilities (short-term liabilities) when this happen than firm ability to covering long-term liabilities is reduced resulting in creditors taking on more risk than the investment of loaning money to the firm is worth. When company is facing financial distress, book value of company liabilities can become worth more than the market value of the same liabilities. If this happen, than firm is in danger of not meeting its obligations to creditors. In this case creditors may not be paid and in worst of financial distressed time, the creditors may receive nothing in interest or principal, if the firm files for bankruptcy. The importance of financial-decision making goals is to increase shareholders’ value and to keep them away from financial distress. The Predicting of financial distress is an early warning signal to keep investors from being loss. It has been more than 70 years, since Ramser & Foster, and Fitzpatrich in 1931-1932, and 44 years, since Beaver (1966) but still they have not found the theory... ...earches this paper extends the previous research work done on financial distress. We have used modified Altman Z Score as a proxy for the financial distress. After including the financially distressed and financially healthy firms in our sample, we have seen the effect of financial distress on corporate cash flows. Prior to this work hardly any paper can be seen which studies the impact of financial distress on corporate cash flows, especially in Asian context. Our work adds to the literature in a sense that it not only identifies the financially distressed firms but also measures the effect of financial distress on operating cash flows of the firms listed on Karachi Stock Exchange. Our work also contributes to the literature in establishing a fact that whether the model of financial distress developed by Altman is relevant in Pakistan’s Corporate Environment.